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Wales, probably begins at an earlier age. Thus for the purposes of the table, age 65 has been taken as
the first year of age in the period of decline, but the expectation of life for males in England and Wales
at age 65 equals 10.31 years, while in London the expectation of life for males of this age is only
equal to 9.76 years. If, therefore, the age at which decline begins be defined as the age at which
the expectation of life first falls below 10 32 years, this age for males will be age 64 in London,
and the resulting loss in the working period and period of decline will work out at 6.5 per cent, and
9.9 per cent, respectively. If the figures shown in the table for females be compared on similar lines
it will be found that London females lose 3.1 per cent of the period of infancy, 4.7 per cent, of the
school age period, 3.2 per cent, of the working period of life and 8.3 per cent, of the period of decline.
If the age at which the period of decline begins be defined in the case of females as the age at which
the expectation of life first falls below 11.27 years (the expectation of life in England and Wales at
age 65 being 11.26 years) it will be seen that although the expectation of life of females in London
at age 65 is lower than that for the same age in England and Wales the expectation of life at
age 64 is greater than 11.27 years, and the age of decline for females must therefore be assumed
to be almost identical in the two communities.
Table IX.

In the Supplement to the Fifty·fifth Annual Report of the Registrar-General, Part II.,
Dr. Tatham, in discussing the new healthy districts life·table, 1881-90, points out that "the better
the health conditions represented by the life table are, the less is the increase of the expectation, the
sooner is the age of maximum expectation attained, and the sooner also is an age reached at which the
expectation falls below that at birth." These points are illustrated by a table which I here reproduce,
supplemented by the results obtained from the present London Life Table, 1891-1900—

In London, therefore, in 1891-1900 the expectation of life of males at birth was 40.98 years
increasing to a maximum at 3 years of age of 52.02 years or an increment of 11.04 years or 26.9 per
cent, of the expectation at birth. After age 3 the expectation decreases year by year until it falls
below the expectation at birth in the 18th year of age. In the healthy districts in 1881-90, the
expectation among males was 51.48 years at birth, increasing to a maximum of 58.35 years at 2 years
of age, one year earlier than in London, an increment of only 6.87 years, or 13.3 per cent., and
falling below the expectation at birth in the 12th year of age or 6 years earlier than in London.
Among the many valuable applications of the life table is its use in making accurate comparisons
of the mortality obtaining at different periods in the same community. Comparisons