Phthisis in relation to life assurance : read before the Hunterian Society, Wednesday, 26 October 1892 / by Thos. Glover Lyon.

  • Lyon, Thomas Glover.
Date:
[1892]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phthisis in relation to life assurance : read before the Hunterian Society, Wednesday, 26 October 1892 / by Thos. Glover Lyon. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    The following is the result of the investigation of the mortality experience of the Mutual Life Office, between 1847 and 1890, amongst those of its members who had given on entry a family history of consumption. A large number of these in the earlier part of the period were taken at ordinary rates, and it is only recently that it was thought necessary to charge an extra on account of family history. These lives must therefore be looked upon as being, so far as personal examinations is concerned, of robust, physical condition. Family history was not recorded before this period at this office. The work of thus selecting all the policies containing a family history of phthisis was performed by myself, but in any future investigation it would not be necessary for the medical officer to go through this somewhat laborious though interesting work; it would be sufficient if a clerk was set to pick out all policies where the following causes of death appeared: consumption, phthisis, decline, debility, haemoptysis, chronic pneumonia, tuberculosis. The medical officer might then look over the papers and mark those causes of death which might be safely considered phthisis. By this means a certain small part of the experience of the offices would be wasted, but the medical work of the investigation would be reduced to a minimum. The rest of the work, after it has been decided into what classes the cases should be arranged, is entirely actuarial. Mr. Manly, in bringing his paper before the Institute of Actuaries, explained that he had put the results into such a form that the experience of other offices might be easily super-posed, and then a really reliable solution of the problem be arrived at. The following is a summary of the report, the words between inverted commas being Mr. Manly's:
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