A quarter of a century has elapsed since the publication of complete mortality tables of life annuitants for office use. Statistics showing the results of the Continuous Mortality Investigation have been published from time to time, but, partly as a result of the war, the Joint Mortality Committee have not attempted to construct complete new tables of mortality and monetary functions until the present time.

Mr Elphinstone, in his recent paper to the Faculty of Actuaries, has reawakened interest in the method of graduation devised by Sir Edmund T. Whittaker some 32 years ago. Except for Professor A. C. Aitken who, in a paper( in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a note in the Transactions of the Faculty of Actuaries, gave a brilliant alternative solution of the equations on which Whittaker's method depends, English and Scottish writers have paid little attention to the method. Robert Henderson's paper published in 1924 stimulated American actuaries, and their investigations have continued up to the present time. The book by Kingsland Camp (reviewed J.I.A. lxxvii, 327) gives numerous practical developments of Robert Henderson's work. Students should not overlook a most valuable paper by Charles A. Spoerl which deals comprehensively with almost every aspect of the subject.