This paper was intended to be a further paper in the series that has been presented to the Students' Society featuring the work of the Actuary overseas. The first was T. R. Suttie's paper, ‘The Actuary in Canada’ (J.S.S.13, 199), and subsequent papers were by D. Drybrough, ‘Life Assurance in Australia’ (J.S.S.14, 1), and by de Smidt, Williams and Rodger, ‘The Actuary in South Africa’ (J.S.S.14, 348). In view of the fact that a number of British actuaries are now working in the United States, it was thought that a further paper might deal with the position there, despite the difference that in this case actuaries do not look to the Institute and the Faculty as the seats of learning, although Spurgeon's text-book was until recently an official text-book for the Society of Actuaries.