LIFE INSURANCE AS A SCIENCE 219 



graphical Description of Louisiana, published in 1816. The ultimate 

 tendencies of geographical science in this particular direction are 

 best illustrated in 'the Appendix of Maps to the Report by Sir H. H. 

 Johnston, as Special Commissioner on the Protectorate of Uganda. 

 These maps illustrate with exceptional clearness the average altitude 

 and the salubrity of each district, and it is not going too far to say 

 that we have really more accurate information regarding this distant 

 section of the globe than we have for many sections of our own 

 country. The importance to insurance companies of similar inves- 

 tigations into our own Southern States, and in particular into our 

 new possessions in tropical countries, cannot be overestimated. The 

 works of Sir Henry Johnston illustrate the methods to be followed 

 and the practical results to be attained. 



It is hardly practicable to separate a discussion of geology from 

 the preceding discussion of geography in its relation to insurance 

 science, since every geographical survey contributes to the develop- 

 ment of the science of physiography by the mapping of surface 

 geology and general topography. Areal geology often discloses 

 important factors of soil composition, etc., which have a distinct 

 and well-understood relation to health and mortality; as, for illus- 

 tration, in the clay formations which underlie the Gulf coast of 

 southeastern Texas, and which, in a large measure, are responsible 

 for some perplexing sanitary problems at Houston and Beaumont. 

 The comparatively recent development of scientific soil surveys 

 may here be referred to, for many of the reports which have been 

 published emphasize important points in medical topography. Of 

 special interest, for illustration, are the reports for portions of the 

 Yazoo Delta and the Gulf parishes of Louisiana. In addition, these 

 reports often contain a careful analysis of the elements of climate 

 and other matters of interest and value to life insurance companies. 



It is, however, in the field of economic geology and the mineral 

 industries and mining that life insurance companies have, perhaps, 

 the most important interest. The immense development of the 

 mineral resources of the earth give employment to a vast army of 

 men whose occupations are almost without exception of a dangerous 

 or unhealthful nature. Mining accidents are still of great frequency, 

 and the present-day tendency does not appear to be toward a sub- 

 stantial reduction in the rate. The problem of miners' phthisis is 

 attracting much attention, especially in Utah and South Africa, 

 where exceptional conditions present unusual difficulties. The 

 geological formation of coal areas determines in part the accident 

 frequency from falls of roofs and gas explosions. The mineral com- 

 position of rocks has a direct relation to the frequency of industrial 

 poisoning in the milling and reduction of copper and other metal- 

 liferous ores, while the accident liability of quarrymen depends pri- 

 marily upon the geologic formation of the strata to be removed. 



