The first International Congress of Actuaries that has been held since the profession of Actuary has been generally recognised, was opened on 2 September 1895, at the Palais des Académies, at Brussels, under the patronage of the Belgian Government, by the Belgian Finance Minister, M. de Smet de Naeyer, who had previously acted as honorary president of the organizing committee. This organizing committee had skilfully performed the laborious duty of collecting the materials and settling the procedure which so largely contributed to the success which attended the meetings of the Congress.

The subject of Insurance, theoretical and practical, has been so copiously and minutely discussed of late, especially in Lectures and Essays, that serious perplexity awaited me when I began to meditate upon my Introductory Address. I felt, under these circumstances, that a Paper constructed on the usual lines must either weary you with tedious repetition or discredit myself with the reproach of platitudes. I accordingly determined to see whether I could not,—at all events, partially,—succeed in adding some novelty and interest to our proceedings by an attempt to ascertain whether the vast Doctrine of Evolution applied in any valid degree to the business in which we are engaged. Such an investigation possesses at least the merit,—however I may fail in my exposition,—of appealing to the sympathy and thought of all concerned in the several Departments of our common work, for results which may be found to bear upon Life Assurance will also, mutatis mutandis, apply to other Branches. I confess, moreover, that the subject strongly attracted my attention on the ground that an enquiry of this interesting character had not previously been attempted.

In view of the present movement on the part of life assurance companies towards a reduction in the rate of interest used in calculating their reserves, it is desirable to have some easily applied method of measuring approximately, with sufficient accuracy for the purpose of a preliminary estimate, or a rough check on fully computed valuation figures, the effect of such a change. The process is simple as regards whole-life policies, classified according to age attained, if the premiums valued represent some stated proportions of the gross premiums; but difficulty arises when the premiums used vary with the rate of interest, as in the case of a net-premium valuation. The following Tables I to VI (see pages 268-271) supply the means of approximating from the net-premium reserves for whole-life policies, under the HM or combined HM and HM(5) Tables, at most rates of interest presently used, to the corresponding reserves at rates one-half or one-quarter per-cent less.

In an Appendix to the Report of Messrs. A. Hendriks, A. H. Bailey, and R. P. Hardy, to the Australian Mutual Provident Society, reprinted in our columns in July 1894 (J.I.A., xxi, 325), Mr. R. P. Hardy elaborated an ingenious method of valuation giving effect to a decreasing rate of interest, assumed to be subject to a constant annual reduction throughout a given period. Tables were added showing the values of annuities and assurances under the conditions mentioned, the rate of interest commencing at £3. 15s., and decreasing one shilling per-cent per annum until the end of the fifteenth year, after which it was assumed to remain constant at £3 per-cent per annum. A novel problem was investigated with great success in this Appendix; and, both on account of the originality with which the subject was treated, and the utility of the results, the contribution will always possess great interest for students of life assurance science.

[After some interesting preliminary remarks on the subject of statistics generally, and the utility of interpolation in their preparation, Professor Westergaard points out that in vital statistics the enumeration of the population at each year of age is seldom wanted, and, in fact, owing to the well known exaggeration in census returns of the numbers living at decennial ages, an adjustment is generally needed. He then proceeds:] The decennial reports by the English Registrar-General of births, deaths and marriages, contain full materials for the study of the mortality of professional men. The report published in 1875 gives a very detailed classification of ages, but it is not so with the next decennial report, which divides the ages into five periods only—15–20, 20–25, 25–45, 45–65, 65 and upwards.

It has been hitherto the rule of the Mutual Life, under the advice of its medical examiners, to decline all applicants who give a history of having had syphilis. I do not know when the rule was first established, but it was probably in the early years of the company. This rule has been enforced almost uniformly, and, if there were any exceptions, they were certainly very rare. During this long period, however, our knowledge of the natural history of this disease has been greatly increased by careful and patient observations, and there has been corresponding improvement in the methods of treatment. Consequently, the question has been raised and discussed by medical men, as to whether, with this better knowledge and treatment, the old rule might not be too rigid, and whether it should not be either annulled or at least amended, and whether such exclusion of syphilitics from the benefits of insurance was not injurious to the company and unjust to the applicants. At the present time there is a strong preponderance of medical opinion that a syphilitic history is not to be considered an absolute bar to life insurance. As a matter of practice in the different life insurance companies the rule depends upon the personal experience, judgment, or prejudice of the medical advisers. I have now endeavoured to consider the question fairly and thoroughly, and to review the latest and best opinions of our medical authorities on the whole history of syphilis and its influence on the duration of the lives of those affected by it.