Still the laws of our organization, and which regulate life, appear to be beyond human speculation; and it has been observed that, under ordinary circumstances, we are ruled by a harmonizing system tending to equalize society despite its institutions. Thus, births, marriages, and deaths, appear regulated on a certain scale in proportions singularly similar. This circumstance is rendered obvious by the following tables of nativity at Amsterdam.
| Years. | Still-born. | Born alive. | ||||
| Boys. | Girls. | Total. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | |
| 1821 | 288 | 246 | 534 | 3742 | 3600 | 7342 |
| 1822 | 280 | 222 | 502 | 3887 | 3713 | 7600 |
| 1823 | 268 | 198 | 466 | 3734 | 3448 | 7182 |
| 1824 | 266 | 216 | 482 | 4011 | 3849 | 7860 |
| 1825 | 207 | 173 | 404 | 3802 | 3559 | 7352 |
| 1826 | 231 | 173 | 404 | 3803 | 3635 | 7438 |
| 1827 | 3524 | 3366 | 6890 | |||
| 1828 | 3699 | 3529 | 7208 | |||
| 1829 | 3785 | 3618 | 7403 | |||
| 1830 | 241 | 169 | 410 | 3727 | 3579 | 7306 |
| 1831 | 208 | 168 | 376 | 3843 | 3499 | 7342 |
| 1832 | 210 | 151 | 361 | 3351 | 3101 | 6452 |
A statistical result much similar, was made also in Paris in the Bureau des Longitudes, as appears by the following return:
| Years. | Still-born. | Born alive. | ||||
| Boys. | Girls. | Total. | Boys. | Girls. | Total. | |
| 1823 | 847 | 662 | 1509 | 13752 | 13318 | 27070 |
| 1824 | 810 | 677 | 1487 | 14647 | 14647 | 28812 |
| 1825 | 846 | 675 | 1521 | 14989 | 14264 | 29253 |
| 1826 | 810 | 737 | 1547 | 15187 | 14783 | 29970 |
| 1827 | 904 | 727 | 1631 | 15074 | 14732 | 29860 |
| 1828 | 883 | 743 | 1626 | 15117 | 14484 | 29601 |
| 1829 | 925 | 788 | 1713 | 14760 | 13961 | 28721 |
| 1830 | 943 | 784 | 1727 | 14488 | 14099 | 28587 |
| 1831 | 954 | 755 | 1709 | 15116 | 14414 | 29530 |
| 1832 | 994 | 726 | 1720 | 13494 | 12789 | 26283 |
In these statements, of which many to the same effect might be produced, it is singular that the number of still-born infants bears such a regular proportion with the nativity of living ones.
The proportion of deaths to births is also strangely regular, despite the difference of climate, and institutions, and the state of medical science in various countries, as will appear manifest by the following scales:
| Cities. | Proportion of inhabitants to one death. | Proportion of inhabitants to one birth. | ||||||||
| London | 46 | 0 | } | 46 | 4 | 40 | 8 | } | 35 | 2 |
| Glasgow | 46 | 8 | 29 | 5 | ||||||
| Madrid | 36 | 0 | ⎫ | 32 | 3 | 26 | 0 | ⎫ | 27 | 0 |
| Leghorn | 35 | 0 | ⎪ | 25 | 5 | ⎪ | ||||
| Lyons | 32 | 2 | ⎪ | 28 | 5 | ⎪ | ||||
| Moscow | 33 | 0 | ⎪ | 27 | 5 | ⎪ | ||||
| Palermo | 32 | 0 | ⎬ | 24 | 5 | ⎬ | ||||
| Paris | 31 | 4 | ⎪ | 27 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Lisbon | 31 | 1 | ⎪ | 28 | 3 | ⎪ | ||||
| Copenhagen | 30 | 3 | ⎪ | 30 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Hamburg | 30 | 0 | ⎭ | 25 | 5 | ⎭ | ||||
| Barcelona | 29 | 5 | ⎫ | 26 | 6 | 27 | 0 | ⎫ | 24 | 2 |
| Berlin | 29 | 0 | ⎪ | 21 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Bordeaux | 29 | 0 | ⎪ | 24 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Naples | 28 | 6 | ⎪ | 23 | 8 | ⎪ | ||||
| Dresden | 27 | 7 | ⎬ | 23 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Amsterdam | 27 | 5 | ⎪ | 26 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Brussels | 25 | 8 | ⎪ | 21 | 0 | ⎬ | ||||
| Stockholm | 24 | 6 | ⎪ | 27 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||
| Prague | 24 | 5 | ⎪ | 23 | 3 | ⎪ | ||||
| Rome | 24 | 4 | ⎭ | 30 | 6 | ⎪ | ||||
| 20 | 0 | ⎪ | ||||||||
| 26 | 5 | ⎪ | ||||||||
| 20 | 0 | ⎭ | ||||||||
| Vienna | 22 | 5 | 20 | 0 | ||||||
| Venice | 19 | 4 | } | 18 | 7 | 26 | 5 | } | 23 | 2 |
| Bergamo | 18 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||||||
While such a regular proportion prevails in births and deaths, a still more singular law seems to regulate the commission of crimes, of which the following registers of the cases brought to trial in France is a proof.
| 1826 | 1827 | 1828 | 1829 | 1830 | 1831 | |
| Murder in general | 241 | 234 | 227 | 231 | 205 | 266 |
| With fire arms | 56 | 64 | 60 | 61 | 57 | 88 |
| Swords, daggers, &c. | 15 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 30 |
| Knives | 39 | 40 | 34 | 46 | 44 | 34 |
| Sticks, bludgeons, &c. | 23 | 28 | 31 | 24 | 12 | 21 |
| Stones, &c. | 20 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 11 | 9 |
| Cutting and contusing instruments, tools, &c. | 35 | 40 | 42 | 45 | 46 | 49 |
| Strangulation | 2 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Drowning | 6 | 16 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| Kicks, and blows with the fist | 28 | 12 | 21 | 23 | 17 | 26 |
| Fire | ... | 1 | ... | 1 | ... | ... |
| Unknown means | 17 | 1 | 2 | ... | 2 | 2 |
The criminal statistics of France have produced the following calculation: From 7000 to 7300 criminals are tried every year, out of which number 61 out of 100 are found guilty; 170,000 offenders are charged with minor offences and misdemeanors, of whom 85 in the 100 are condemned to various punishments, and the greatest annual calculation which Quetelet remarks in an annual budget, paid much more regularly than taxes, is as follows: