Actuary.

Actuary. The Actuarii, in ancient Rome, were clerks who recorded the Acta of the senate and other public bodies. The term might therefore, so far as its etymology is concerned, be applied to men of business in general. But in the constantly increasing tendency to subdivide labour and specialise functions, there has arisen, in recent times, a distinct branch of business, embracing all monetary questions that involve a consideration of the separate or combined effects of Interest and Probability, especially as connected with the duration of human life; and it is to one who devotes himself to this department of business that the name of actuary has been specially assigned. The investigations and calculations of the actuary supply the principles of operation for the numerous institutions now engaged in the transaction of life-assurance, annuity, and reversionary business. His functions might be briefly defined as the application of the doctrine of probabilities to the affairs of life. There are two Societies of Actuaries in this country: 'The Institute of Actuaries of Great Britain and Ireland,' founded in 1848, and incorporated by royal charter in 1884; and the 'Faculty of Actuaries in Scotland,' established 1856, and incorporated in 1868. The Fellows of the former society are distinguished by the initials 'F.I.A.,' and those of the latter by 'F.F.A.' In the United States, no societies of actuaries have as yet been established.