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Essays and addresses" The plaintiff was thrown from an upper berth in a sleeping car and thereby sprained his wrist severely it is not contended by the defendants that this was not an injury within the meaning of the policy and, had the injury healed within a short time, no doubt the company would have paid the $150 per week without demur. But the injury did not heal, it is not yet healed, and it is doubtful whether it will ever be much im- proved the company find themselves charged with an obligation to pay $150 per week for years, per- haps until the death of the plaintiff ; and hence they dispute liability. Several medical men of eminence were examined at the trial : without at all reflecting on any other, it seems to me that the evidence of Doctor Anderson gives the most satisfactory explanation. He says that some time ago, probably some ten or fifteen years before the accident, there had been a tuber- culous condition of part of the pleura, probably the apex of the left lung: any existing tuberculous mass had become encysted so as to leave no apparent disease the patient would be quite well, wholly un- conscious of any trouble, danger, or disease; and there would be no danger of another outbreak pro- ceeding from the original disease. But an accident happens, tissues are injured, a lessened resistance to the "germs" occurs, these, otherwise innocuous, find a nidus into which to in- trude and in which to become active. prev next |