18G NATURAL INHERITANCE. [CHAP. x. 



them far from being as exact as is desirable. [See, for 

 example, the discussion on a memoir by Gr. Humphreys, 

 Actuary to the Eagle Insurance Company, read before 

 the Institute of Actuaries. Insur. Mag. xviii. p. 178.] 



Considering the enormous money value concerned, it 

 would seem well worth the while of the higher class 

 of those offices to combine in order to obtain a collec- 

 tion of completed cases for at least two generations, or 

 better still, for three ; such as those in Examples A and 

 B, Appendix G, but much fuller in detail. Being com- 

 pleted and anonymous, there could be little objection 

 on the score of invaded privacy. They would have no 

 perceptible effect on the future insurances of descend- 

 ants of the families, even if these were identified, and 

 they would lay the basis of a very much better 

 knowledge of hereditary disease than we now possess, 

 serving as a step for fresh departures. A main point 

 is that the cases should not be picked and chosen to 

 support any theory, but taken as they come to hand. 

 There must be a vast amount of good material in 

 existence at the command of the medical officers of 

 Insurance Companies. If it were combined and made 

 freely accessible, it would give material for many 

 years' work to competent statisticians, and would be 

 certain, judging from all experience of a like kind, 

 to lead to unexpected results. 



