cachexia that denote liability to the development of inherited taints. See Hereditary Influences," Part III. Dropsical effusions, phlagmasia dolens, remarkable varicosity of the veins, etc. CONDITIONS THAT POSTPONE. Chronic metritis or endometritis, subinvolution of the uterus, prolapsus, chronic uterine displacements, vesico-vaginal and other fistulæ, severe lacerations, menstrual disorders, profuse leucorrhoeal and other discharges, all reflex disturbances, etc., should postpone until completely cured. MENSTRUATION. Critical inquiry should be made with reference to the past and present performance of the menstrual functions. Has any reported irregularity or imperfection in this respect impaired the general health? Is it a family characteristic, etc. APPENDIX. I.-LEGAL QUESTIONS AS TO THE OFFICE AND EVIDENCE OF THE MEDICAL EXAMINER. T is a matter of interest, as well as of importance, to the Medical Ex aminer to understand his legal relations to the applicant and to the insurance companies. Through the courtesy of Mr. John M. Taylor, Vice-President of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company, we are enabled to present an abstract of a pamphlet written by him on this subject, and for fuller information we refer our readers to the pamphlet itself. HISTORY OF LIFE INSURANCE. In the year 1610, at Florence, Italy, Giovanni Battista insured the life of Sir Knight Brother Ferdinand for the sum of 3000 scudi, the term extending from the August Festival at Piacenza of that year to the Feast of the Epiphany in 1611, the premium being three and three-fourths per cent. of the amount underwritten. The policy was written in quaint mediæval Latin. At that time the Italians were accustomed to call an insurance policy a lottery ticket. But the Italian mind, with its love of speculation and chance, never kept pace with the practical ingenuity of the Anglo-Saxon. This old Florentine policy nearly marks the limit of historic acquaintance with life insurance as a monetary transaction. The policy is "incontestable" and "indisputable" in every legal sense which can attach to such a contract. It is agreed that in the event of the death of Sir Knight Brother, the assurers shall not be able to say, offer or accept anything, unless after full payment. It covers natural or accidental death. It grants free residence and travel anywhere in the world, by land or water. It has no time limit as to its "indisputable "qualities. It is good at issue. It requires no proof of interest in the life insured. It waives in terms all statutes in this behalf, and the claim is payable three days after notice of death. The policy was a pure "gamble" by Batista. But the chief interest in the policy, in this connection, is the fact that it was probably written. with no reference to a physician, or his opinion. It is a curious fact that the first life underwriters reckoned their chance of loss, their real hazard, on death by accident, and excluded death from natural causes. Until the companies themselves, with capital at risk, found by experience that they could not insure all classes, conditions and ages of men for long periods at a given premium, and remain solvent, reference of the risk to a physician was seldom made, and it was at a relatively late date that a medical examination became a common requirement in life underwriting. In the rapid growth of our American life companies all genuine reform in this important matter has come of experience. The companies have followed the courts in their decisions, and in no respect, perhaps, has development been so slow as in the gradual advance of the medical officer to his present station of responsibility and honor. TYPICAL AGREEMENTS IMPOSED BY LIFE INSURANCE COMPANIES. The following typical provisions in the printed application for insurance and medical examination of certain companies mark the limits of the recently attempted changes in the Examiner's responsibilities, and invite discussion of his real relation to the company and to the insurance contract, and of his testimony with some of its limitations: "It is hereby agreed: that all the foregoing statements and answers, as well as those made or to be made, to the society's Medical Examiner, are warranted to be true, and are offered to the society as a consideration of the contract." "Does the candidate expressly waive all provisions of law forbidding any physician who has attended him from disclosing all information which he thereby acquired?" "I also agree that all the foregoing statements and answers, as well as those that I make, or shall make to the company's Medical Examiner in continuation of this application, are by me warranted to be true, and are offered to the company as a consideration of the contract." "Has any answer given by you to any question in this application been made, modified or influenced by any explanation or advice of the Medical Examiner, or any other person?" "I hereby declare and warrant-That I hereby waive all personal or statutory rights which I may have to object to the testimony of any physician or surgeon, whether consulted by me or not, so far as he may have professional or expert knowledge of the facts or information sought or by the interrogatories in this application." FORMER PRECEDENTS. The former relations of Examiners, as set down in law reports and the institutional writers of England and America, may be summarized as follows: (1.) The person whose life is insured, the Examiner and the private referees were regarded, to a certain extent, as the agents of the insured party. (2.) In making replies the referees are the agents of the party proposing the insurance, and their statements are representations made on his behalf, and form part of the contract. (3.) The friend's report and that of the medical referee are regarded in law as statements of the assured party. (4.) If it be proved that the referees knowingly gave false testimonials, the policy shall be void. (5.) The medical referee is the agent, in respect to his replies, of the proposer, and the latter is responsible for any want of candor or neglect by him. (6.) If the fee were paid to the medical referee by the company, the question would arise whether he had not become the agent of the insurers, instead of the applicant. See Bunyon's Law of Life Insurance; Crawley's Life Insurance; Bliss on Life Insurance; May on Insurance. FORMER COURT DECISIONS. But it can no longer be successfully argued or maintained, at home or abroad, that solicitors, Examiners, referees, or other company representatives, are agents of the parties who become insured, and when the significant facts are added that, with us, the Medical Examiner receives his appointment from the company, acts under its instructions, deals with it in all its functions, and is paid by it for its services, it must be assumed upon authority that the office or relation of the Examiner to his company is one of agency for certain important purposes. And here agency means responsibility in a broad sense. The Examiner's acts under these new contract clauses become his principal's, his company's, acts, and the corporation is bound by them within the scope of his authority. That authority now undertakes to cover the whole range of negotiation between the applicant and the company, and the Examiner is made the sponsor for the truth or falsehood, the good or bad faith of the applicant whose statements are "the basis of the contract," and upon whom should always rest the force and effect of the warranty, the first and last consequences of misrepresentation or fraud. The courts have defined the powers and duties of the Examiner in various cases, but the same decisions often turn upon the competence of certain evidence, the admission of medical testimony, or the waiver of rights under statutes as to privileged communications, and to avoid confusion these questions are treated together in the citations of authorities. NOTE. In several of the States of the Union, notably in New York, Missouri, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska and Illinois, there are statutes making the knowledge or information derived by a physician from his patient a privileged communication, and, in some of the States, the statutes have been construed to cover the information or knowledge derived by the Medical Examiner as attending physician and in the matter of making certificates of loss and of testifying as to the causes of death under life insurance policies. At common law no such privilege existed (and the English rule now does not exempt the report of the medical officer, and the courts will order its production if the insured makes out a prima facie case), and it is, there fore, purely statutory. Its significance lies in the fact that if the medical officer is the agent of the company for certain purposes, and does the agent's work, when his testimony may be most needed to defend his company from fraud, or possibly to uphold the integrity or wisdom of his own acts, it may be inadmissible or incompetent by the intervention of the remedial statutes of privilege. For information, the New York statute in this behalf, which served as a model for others, is here cited: "A person only authorized to practice |