invariably at some distance from the centre under the points of crossing, or where one current forces its way under the other. Sudden shifts of wind and calms are met with at the points of confluence as well as at the centre; and the greater portion of those ships which have been reported to have run into the centre never were near it.. A ship may stand into the centre of a storm, from one side, carrying topgallant sails, and yet be reduced to bare poles in passing out on the other. The consequence is that lives and property are being sacrificed, almost daily, by being plunged headlong into the most destructive parts of hurricanes, through those in charge being misled by the absurd and dangerous Circular Theory of Storms. In proof of this, I have but to refer to the case of the "Royal Charter." The anemometrical records of the Liverpool Observatory clearly show that previous to the calm, between six and seven, a.m., of the 26th, the greatest pressure was only 5 tbs. to the square foot; whereas, at noon, five hours after the calm, the greatest pressure was about 28 lbs. Consequently, a ship might have stood into the centre of that storm with a pressure of only 5lbs. on one side, and have met with a pressure of 28lbs. in coming out of it. If a storm is formed by one continuous current of air flowing round a centre, and if the sudden shifts so often reported occur only at the centre, how is it that the temperature and general appearance of the weather change. so suddenly, as they often do, when a shift of wind occurs? I have known the thermometer to fall 20° in less than as many minutes, when a shift of wind has occurred in the Atlantic. Is it reasonable to suppose that the cool current entered was the same as the one quitted, and that it had changed its temperature whilst passing round the centre, or in the space of a few minutes? Surely not. The temperature, appearance of the weather, and force of wind, are seldom the same after the shift as before it; clearly proving, as I maintain, that a

.

hurricane, or gale, is formed by the joint action of two distinct currents of air, and not by one continuous one. It may be said that ships have escaped by adopting the rules laid down. True, but it can easily be shown how two ships may be overtaken by the same storm; both follow these rules, and one may escape by so doing, whilst the other is plunged headlong into the heaviest part of it.

Captain MORTIMER agreed with much that Captain Jinman had said. He once thought that it would be very easy to sail out of a gale by the directions contained in the various works upon cyclones, and formerly had a great respect for Piddington's Horn-book; but experience had made him. gradually lay them on the shelf. He believed that the spiral direction given to the wind arose in a great measure› from the backing-up of clouds, and from the form of the coast line against which the wind impinged.

FIFTH ORDINARY MEETING.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, December 10th, 1860.

The REV. H. H. HIGGINS, M.A., PRESIDENT, in the Chair.

The following gentlemen were elected members:

Mr. JAMES ALexander,

The Rev. HERMANN BAAR, Ph.D.,

Mr. JOSEPH LEYLAND.

Mr. MOORE exhibited, on behalf of Captain Jinman, a remarkably fine group of the shells called Magilus antiquatus, from the Kooria Mooria Islands.

The PRESIDENT remarked that the gregariousness of the species was not generally known.

Mr. MOORE read a portion of a letter from Mr. S. Archer, Surgeon, H.E.I.C.S. (late of Rodney-street), dated from Cashmere, in which he mentioned the interesting fact that he there found in abundance the butterfly so well known in this country as the "clouded yellow" (Colias edusa).

The SECRETARY drew attention to an article in an Australian paper, the Brisbane Guardian, entitled "Cotton and Queensland," in which the eminent capabilities of that country as a cotton-growing district were advocated by Mr. W. Brookes.

The following paper was then read:

F

ON LIFE ASSURANCE: REGARDED AS AN

INVESTMENT.

BY J. BIRKBECK NEVINS, M.D.,Lond.

THE subject of Life Assurance is so extensive that I shall confine myself in the present paper to a very limited portion of it; and shall consider it chiefly in its bearings as an investment, under the following heads :

1st. The Value of Life Insurance, regarded simply as

an Investment for such small sums as the Annual Premiums generally amount to.

2nd. The circumstances which have operated to limit the extension of Life Assurance, notwithstanding its acknowledged advantages. And

3rd. To point out the measures by which it appears that those obstacles may, to a great extent, be removed, and the benefits of Insurance more widely diffused.

1st. The Value of Life Insurance, as an Investment. The object of this section is to show the superiority of this method of investing small sums over any other that is within our reach; and, for this purpose, we shall take the ordinary circumstances under which Life Assurance is now carried on by offices of average respectability and standing; and assume that a person at 30 years of age is able to spare the small sum of £5 per annum, either as an Insurance Premium, or for investment in some other way. Now, the first thing that suggests itself will be the difficulty of finding an investment for so small a sum; and even five times this amount, or £25 ayear, would, probably, in most cases, be in the bank at a mere nominal rate of interest, or would remain at home, bearing no

interest at all. But if it were invested in a Life Insurance policy, the smaller amount would at once insure the sum of £200, and the larger, or £25 a-year, the sum of £1,000, which would be payable immediately in case of death, and would, undoubtedly, form a good investment in that case.

But persons insuring their lives do not expect to die within the year, and thereby make such an excellent bargain; on the contrary, they look for an average, if not for a long, life; and more often think of the responsibility they incur in having to pay the yearly premiums, than of the post-obit advantage to their families from the receipt of money, which the paterfamilias has only handled in order to part with, to be seen by himself no more. We must, therefore, proceed on the supposition that a man will live for an average period, and have to sink his premiums for many many years to come, instead of seeing his wealth increase before his eyes, by the accumulation of yearly investments with profits, which he keeps so to speak-in his own hands.

The following table will, however, exhibit this matter more clearly than any lengthened disquisition on the subject. I have assumed the age of 30 years for the reason that it is the most common one at present for commencing Insurance, i.e., the age at which a family is beginning to grow up around the head of a house. The bonuses which are added in the third column are only such as many offices of a merely average character have proved themselves able to afford. I have also assumed, in the fourth column, that the difficulty of meeting with an investment for such small sums has been overcome, and that the money produces a steady return of 4 per cent., compound interest, which is as high a rate as can with safety be calculated upon, consistently with the essential feature of security.

The first column, then, contains the age of the person insuring.

The second, the number of years he has paid his premiums.