Note on the Construction of Mortality Tables by Means of Compound Frequency Curves

In the following pages I shall attempt to give a brief outline of a method of constructing a mortality table from the records of death by age and cause, but without knowing the exposed to risk at various ages. The method may to some appear new and revolutionary, and perhaps a few may assert it is impossible to construct a life table from such data alone without knowing the age distribution of the exposed to risk. It has, however, been done before, although by different methods than those I propose to employ.