A considerable number of investigations on mortality in times past has already been published, and without scarcely any exception they all go to show the same thing, that the mortality now-a-days is much smaller than it used to be. Some of these results are, however, only found by a sort of induction, in considering the conditions of life and the state of medical science in past centuries, and most of the statistical facts do not go farther back than to 1750; for more remote periods, the statistical information which has been gathered is scanty, untrustworthy, and dispersed.

I therefore undertook the task of investigating a distinct class of society during as long a period as possible, hoping thus to be able to confirm or correct our notions on the variations of mortality. The materials were taken from an elaborate biographical work by the Rev. S. V. Wiberg, published 1870—71, with a supplement from 1879.

I confess that the general impression of the results was that of a disappointment. In fact, the materials appeared so incorrect, that distinct numerical conclusions were not admissible. Still, I have thought it of interest to publish the chief results, hoping that, by-and-by, more correct materials may be at hand, and that the readers will consider the results here laid down as merely preliminary.