Medical Examinations for Life Insurance

ut no one need be without a supply of test-tubes and reagents, or the skill and knowledge requisite for their use. It is true, however, that, in practice, cases will rarely come before the Examiner in which an examination will either be proper or necessary, and it should never be done when it can safely be avoided ; nor should the Examiner ever permit himself to subject the applicant to the trouble and annoyance of furnishing him with a specimen of his urine, merely for the purpose of acquiring experience for himself, or of impressing the company employing him with exalted ideas of his scientific ability. Yet cases may and do sometimes arise, when important interests are at stake, and when it becomes the duty of the Examiner to at least make a chemical examination of the urine; in all such cases, the matter should be fully explained to the applicant, that he may understand its necessity and reasonableness. The following table, compiled chiefly from Da Costa and Golding Bird, shows the morbid elements most likely to present themselves to the Insurance Examiner, together with the best means for their detection MORBID ELEMENT PHYSICAL CHARACTERS. TtSTS AND REACTIONS. ALBUMEN. BLOOD. Sp. gr. varies t'nirn 1,010 to 1.025; color light; a precipitate of a light color generally falls after a few hours. Color red, smoky or dingy; deposits, on standing, a brownish or coffee ground sediment; if in large quantity, minute coagula may be seen at the bottom of ...