1828 26,121 201, or 101 per cent. 1834 27,177 209, or 109 per cent. It is proved in a report by _M. Edward Mallet_, one of the most able that have been made from these registries, that this increase of the population has been followed by an increase in the probable duration of life in that city:— │ Proportionate rate of │Years. Months. Days. Increase as compared │ with the end of 16th │ Century. Towards the end of │ the 16th century │ the probabilities│ 8 7 26 100 of life were, to │ every individual │ born ... │ In the 17th century│ 13 3 16 153, or 53 per cent. 1701–1750 │ 27 9 13 321, or 221 per cent. 1751–1800 │ 31 3 5 361, or 261 per cent. 1801–1813 │ 40 8 0 470, or 370 per cent. 1814–1833 │ 45 0 29 521, or 421 per cent. The progression of the population and the increased duration of life had been attended by a progression in happiness: as prosperity advanced marriages became fewer and later;[20] the proportion of births were reduced, but greater numbers of the infants born were preserved;[21] and the proportion of the population in manhood became greater. In the early and barbarous periods, the excessive mortality was accompanied by a prodigious fecundity. In the ten last years of the 17th century, a marriage still produced five children and more; the probable duration of life attained was not 20 years, and Geneva had scarcely 17,000 inhabitants. Towards the end of the 18th century there was scarcely three children to a marriage, and the probabilities of life exceeded 32 years. At the present time a marriage only produces 2¾ children; the probability of life is 45[22] years, and Geneva, which exceeds 27,000 in population, has arrived at a high degree of civilization and of “_prospérité matérielle_.” In 1836 the population appeared to have attained its summit; the births barely replaced the deaths.