LIFE INSURANCE AS A SCIENCE 221 



the relatively new process of pulp manufacture is carried on by three 

 distinct methods, the mechanical, the soda, and the sulphide, each of 

 which represents different conditions affecting health and longevity, 

 which require to be taken into account in the acceptance of this 

 class of risks. In electrical engineering the truly astonishing pro- 

 gress which has been made during the past few years has resulted in 

 entirely new conditions, which no prudent company can safely 

 ignore. As an illustration I may mention the introduction of elec- 

 tricity into mines which has recently been made the subject of a 

 special official inquiry in England and by state mine inspectors in 

 this country. The enormous development of electrical industries 

 in general has resulted in entirely new conditions, which cannot be 

 considered in the light of past experience. Mining engineering, per- 

 haps most of all, requires serious consideration, and among other 

 new factors affecting health and longevity I may mention the ex- 

 tensive introduction of coal-cutting machinery into the bituminous 

 coal-mines of our Western States. In ore-milling and smelting new 

 processes are constantly supplanting old methods, and here again 

 present-day practices cannot be determined by past experience. As 

 an illustration of the benefits to health arising from the utilization 

 of waste products I may mention the modern appliances in smelters 

 by which many of the health-injurious vapors and gases are converted 

 into profitable by-products. 



The general conception of insurance law limits this term to the 

 settlement of legal difficulties arising from the contractual relations 

 of the company and the policy-holder. Most of the works which 

 essay upon the subject, from Park and Marshall to the latest digest 

 and dissertation, treat of insurance law in this narrow and restricted 

 sense. We have not as yet a comprehensive work which includes 

 the relation of the companies to the state and public policy in addi- 

 tion to the relations at law of the company to its policy-holders and 

 agents. The brief consideration which I am allowed to give to this 

 subject precludes proper treatment of so complex a relation as that 

 of insurance to legal science, and at best I can only indicate the more 

 important results of law, jurisprudence, and social regulation affect- 

 ing insurance interests. 



Under modern conditions the conduct of a life insurance business 

 is beyond the reach of individual or private enterprise. It is to-day 

 an accepted principle of government that " life insurance is a business 

 of so sacred a character, and involving issues so important to the 

 national welfare of each country, that it must be the subject of 

 special legislation in order to safeguard the interests of the insured. 

 ... It is their savings in the shape of premiums and their accumu- 

 lations which constitute almost the entire resources of every life 

 insurance company, and it cannot be a subject of unconcern to any 



