Besides the Uses mentioned, it may perhaps not be an unacceptable thing to infer from the same Tables, how unjustly we repine at the shortness of our Lives, and think our selves wronged if we attain not old Age; whereas it appears hereby, that the one half of those that are born are dead in Seventeen Years time, 1238 being in that time reduced to 616. So that instead of murmuring at what we call an untimely Death, we ought with Patience and Unconcern to submit to that Dissolution which is the necessary Condition of our perishable Materials, and of our nice and frail Structure and Composition: And to account it as a Blessing that we have survived, perhaps by many Years, that Period of Life, whereat the one half of the whole Race of Mankind does not arrive. A second Observation I make upon the said Table, is that the Growth and Increase of Mankind is not so much stinted by any thing in the Nature of the _Species_, as it is from the cautious difficulty most People make to adventure on the State of _Marriage_, from the Prospect of the Trouble and Charge of providing for a Family. Nor are the poorer sort of People herein to be blamed, since their difficulty of subsisting is occasion'd by the unequal Distribution of Possessions, all being necessarily fed from the Earth, of which yet so few are Masters. So that besides themselves and Families, they are yet to work for those who own the Ground that feeds them: And of such does by very much the greater part of Mankind consist; otherwise it is plain, that there might well be four times as many Births as we now find. For by Computation from the Table, I find that there are nearly 15000 Persons above 16, and under 45, of which at least 7000 are Women capable to bear Children. Of these notwithstanding there are but 1238 born yearly, which is but little more than a sixth part: So that about one in six of these Women do breed yearly; whereas were they all married, it would not appear strange or unlikely, that four of six should bring a Child every Year. The Political Consequences hereof I shall not insist on; only the Strength and Glory of a King being in the multitude of his Subjects, I shall only hint, that above all things, Celibacy ought to be discouraged, as, by extraordinary Taxing and Military Service: And those who have numerous Families of Children to be countenanced and encouraged by such Laws as the _Jus trium Liberorum_ among the _Romans_. But especially, by an effectual Care to provide for the Subsistence of the Poor, by finding them Employments, whereby they may earn their Bread, without being chargeable to the Publick. _A Discourse concerning _Gravity_, and its Properties, wherein the Descent of _Heavy Bodies_, and the Motion of _Projects_ is briefly, but fully handled: Together with the _Solution_ of a _Problem_ of great Use in _Gunnery_. By _E. Halley_._