There is some reason for saying that the exception is no stronger than if it had read that the policy should not be held to cover death from the taking of poison, no matter whether the assured was sane or insane at the time of its taking. But on the whole I am disposed to think that it is broad enough to cover death resulting from the voluntary or involuntary taking of poison, provided the poison be of the kind generally regarded as such, that is to say, arsenic, strychnine, carbolic or sulphuric acid, or other drugs com monly known as a poison as distinguished from a drug, or other concoction which, although poisonous, is not generally recognized as such. I wish to so limit my concurrence so that ptomaine or other like poisoning, the taking of an over dose of medicine not generally regarded as a poison, or any other case except one where death directly results from the voluntary or involuntary taking of what the ordinary mind regards as poison, is covered by the policy.
7. Scope and development of personal accident in surance.—In personal accident insurance, for a given sum and other considerations the company agrees to pay to the beneficiaries, if the insured be killed by ac cident, a fixed sum of money; or if the insured be in jured there will be paid to him either a stipulated indemnity for the loss of an important member, as an eye, or a stipulated indemnity per week for the time the injury lasts; but not, of course, in any case v. would the amount paid exceed the face amount of the policy.
The records of accident insurance show very clearly the rise and decline of the popularity of the bicycle. Since the automobile has come into existence an enor mous increase in the business and in the claim costs has occurred. Statistics show that 25 per cent of all the accidents for which benefits are paid occur at home. Another 20 per cent occurred to pedestrians. Automobiles represent 10 per cent, and ordinary forms of recreation the same. At one time the num ber of accidents caused by automobiles and horse drawn vehicles respectively was about the same, but the rapid increase in the number of automobiles is making accidents from this source far more numerous than those caused by the horse-drawn vehicles.
8. Premium.—The basis of accident policies is so much for each thousand dollars of indemnity; ordina rily it is five dollars. Probably the most popular pol icy is the one which is twenty-five dollars a year for five thousand dollars, at death, with proportion ate benefits for injuries which do not result fatally.
These benefits and price have undergone some change, but the most important changes have increased the benefits rather than modified the charge.
One of the features early introduced was a certain percentage of increase in the benefits, usually 10 per cent, for each year up to five after the first time the policy wa's renewed. Thus, a person who had been insured five years, secured for the same sum of money, benefits of seventy-five hundred dollars under the five thousand dollar policy. Another feature was the doubling of the benefits when death was caused under certain circumstances, as in a burning building, on a railroad train or in an elevator.
That such double benefits are of more than ordin ary moment may be illustrated by the case of a noted architect in New York City. Upon leaving a friend's house, where he had been visiting, he called a taxicab, in which he rode from the side street to the avenue. A short distance from his friend's house it collided with a trolley car. The cab was upset and the archi tect so badly injured that he did not recover. His accident policy was for twenty-five thousand dollars, and subject to double benefit for an injury which happened in this manner, and, as it had been in force for a couple of years, the 10 per cent increase made the payment somewhat larger than twice twenty-five thousand dollars.
Accident insurance, like life insurance has been sub jected to all the schemes and strategems of those who seek to defraud, and much wisdom has been required on the part of physicians and those who settle claims.
on losses to detect such plans. It seems incredible that one would purposely injure himself even to the extent of parting with an important member of the body for the purpose of obtaining funds from acci dent insurance, but actual cases show that this has been done.
9. Automobile insurance.—It would appear from the record that the Boston Insurance Company was the first concern to offer policies of insurance against a series of hazards to which the automobile and its owner are subject. Naturally, the machine had al ways been insured against fire by the regular fire pol icy; but broader insurance was required by the devel opment of the machine, and that came into existence. At first its broader coverage was limited to insurance companies devoted to the casualty business; but many of the fire insurance companies have been granted the privilege of engaging in this form of insurance.