The spirometer, the stethoscope, & scale-balance : their use in discriminating diseases of the chest, and their value in life offices; with remarks on the selection of lives for life assurance companies / by John Hutchinson.

Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The spirometer, the stethoscope, & scale-balance : their use in discriminating diseases of the chest, and their value in life offices; with remarks on the selection of lives for life assurance companies / by John Hutchinson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    external world through the medium of our five senses, yet we may have a case in which three out of the five may he lost, and yet accept the same at the ordinary premium. We would not reject a man hecause he could not smell, or taste, nor yet a man totally blind. A blind person can either take care of himself or he has some one to take care of him, therefore he is taken care of; but a man partially blind is a bad case ; because he chiefly depends upon an imperfect sight, and probably unattended by a guide, consequently he neither has the tact of a blind man, nor the vision of a clear-sighted man, to warn him of danger. We have rejected such a man upon these grounds. Perhaps hearing is the most important sense, for the protection of life ; however the deaf and dumb are more particulai-ly under the care of others. The loss of hearing is a loss to all warning sounds of personal danger;—the bustling city, to the deaf man, is like a dream,—a bustling but silent city. We have known a deaf and dumb man accepted at the ordinary rate, but we have never had an opportunity of examining such for ourselves. There is no reason to think that the loss of a sense shortens life, any more than the perfecting of a sense lengthens hfe. In all such cases as these the chief points to be considered are, the circum- stances qflife, and the requirements demanded therein—the vocation, and the exposures attending that vocation. EKEATA. Page 5, Hne 9, from the top for measurement, read moTement, Page 7, line 10, trom tbe top/or oxygeutrated, read oxygeLated. Page 11, line 9, fiom the top for ' iufliiratiou,' read inftltraiion. Page 15, Hue 6, from tlie bottom /or 3, read '• 4.' Page 27, line 8, from the bottom for acromnial, read acromial. Page 31, liue 8, from the top/or pereumonia. read pneumonia. j Page 62, line 11, from the bottom for weak, read quick.