a town of Prussia, province of West Prussia, and government of Marienwerder, on the right bank of the Vistula, here crossed by a bridge of boats 2700 feet long, 18 miles S.S.W. of Marienwerder. It is surrounded by a wall, and is farther protected by a strong fortress which commands the Vistula. It has a gymnasium, training seminary, house of correction, and an establishment for the reformation of juvenile offenders; also breweries, woollen cloth and tobacco factories, and some trade in corn. Pop. (1849) 7689, besides 2454 military.

GRAUNT, John, the author of Observations on the Bills of Mortality, and the founder of Political Arithmetic, was born at London, April 24, 1620. At an early age he was apprenticed to a haberdasher in the city; and when he entered into business on his own account, he gained the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, passed with reputation through all the offices of his ward, and was first captain and then major of the trained bands. It is not known at what precise time he first began to collect and digest the Bills of Mortality; but it appears, from his own statement, that he had directed his attention to the subject several years before he had any design of publishing the discoveries which rewarded his researches. His book entitled Observations on the Bills of Mortality was published in 1661, 4to, and met with so favourable a reception that a second edition was called for the succeeding year, and others followed. Immediately after its publication, Louis XIV., by a royal ordinance, provided that a more exact register of births and burials should be kept in Paris; and Charles II. conceived so high an opinion of his abilities, that, at the institution of the Royal Society, he recommended Graunt to the choice of the members, with this additional charge, that if they found any more such tradesmen they should be sure to admit them. Graunt appears to have changed his religion, and become Roman Catholic, some time before his death, which took place on the 18th of April 1674. He left his papers in charge of Sir William Petty, who had all along befriended him, and who took care to adjust and insert them in a fifth edition of his work, published in 1676, 8vo. The observations of Graunt may be considered as having formed the elements of that useful science afterwards styled Political Arithmetic, which, therefore, he is entitled to the honour of having founded; and whatever merit may be ascribed to Sir William Petty, Mr Daniel King, Dr Davenant, and others, there can be no