Excerpt from On Centenarians, and the Duration of the Human Race: A Fresh and Authentic Enquiry; With Historical Notes, Criticisms, and Speculations<br><br>I may add, in passing, that, seeing that Annuities are chiefly purchased on the lives of females, the record of longevity exhibited in the preceding Table emphasises the teaching of general experience that the practice of Annuity business, now largely increasing in consequence, mainly, of the continuous decline in the market rate of interest upon sound investments, - is in no degree likely to contribute a profit to the Companies which favour this description of transaction. This contention is enforced, also, by the fact that, in Life Assurance, an improvement in the general rate of mortality is favourable to the Companies and partially counteracts the adverse influence of the reduced return from interest obtainable upon their Funds, while, in Annuity business, bot/z these elements combine in joint action against the prosperity of the offices.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.