====== A London Life Assurance Office Converted to Homoeopathy by The Evidence of Statistics. ====== {{anchor:s2}}The month of December, 1864, marks an epoch in the history of Homoeopathy, the memory of which will be ardently cherished by every Homoeopathician of the present generation; whilst to this period will frequent reference hereafter be made, as that from which is to be dated a remarkably rapid growth of the system in public estimation. {{anchor:s3}}On the 16th of December, 1864, there met together at the Freemasons Hall, in London, under the presidency of Lord Henry Gordon, a number of Individuals - in no respect identified with Homoeopathy, but simply concerned in the promotion of their own pecuniary interests - to consider the bearing of this system of medical treatment on the health and life of the community. {{anchor:s4}}The parties referred to are the Directors and Shareholders of a company entitled, "The General Provident Assurance Company.{{anchor:s5}}" The object of such institution is, we need hardly remark, commercial gain; and one of the principal means employed, is an investigation, conducted with scientific severity, into the duration of human life, with all the concomitant circumstances which tend to affect the health of individuals and classes. {{anchor:s6}}Hitherto, the actuaries of these valuable institutions have disregarded — and therefore omitted from their calculations - the very important consideration of medical treatment. {{anchor:s7}}The keenness of competition, however, which characterizes every department of trade, in the present day, and stimulates to their utmost extent the intellectual faculties of our men of business, has at length made itself felt, even amongst these very conservative establishments; and, as a consequence, we find, in the case of the General Provident Assurance Company, the Actuary directed to make an investigation into the hitherto unexplored region of comparative medical treatment - with what result it is scarcely necessary to inform the readers of this journal. {{anchor:s8}}To some, at least, of the Directors of the Provident, this result no doubt prevented itself in the light of a discovery; to none could it be otherwise than gratifying to learn, that their labor had been rewarded by the acquisition of data, capable of being turned to very profitable account, in the following well-ascertained facts: - That persons treated by the homoeopathic system enjoy more robust health, are less frequently attacked by disease, and, when attacked, recover more rapidly than those treated by any other system; that with respect to the more fatal classes of disease, the mortality under Homoeopathy is small, in comparison with that under Allopathy; that there are diseases not curable at all, under the latter system, which are perfectly curable under the former; finally, that the medicines prescribed by Homoeopathicians do not injure the constitution, whereas those employed by Allopaths do not unfrequently entail the most serious, and in many instances fatal, consequences. {{anchor:s9}}These data obtained, the Directors had but one duty to perform, alike to Themselves and to their constituents, which was to summon a meeting of their shareholders, and to lay before them the facts they had collected, and the decision at which they had arrived, viz., "to open a special section for persons treated by the homoeopathic system, at a Lower Rate of Premium than that Charged on Other Lives.{{anchor:s10}}" And without a dissentient voice this proposition of their Directors was adopted by the shareholders of the General Provident Assurance Company. {{anchor:s11}}Here, then, we have a testimony borne to the great practical value of Homoeopathy which nothing can gainsay - against which ridicule and abuse, the only weapons by which we have hitherto been attacked, can avail nothing. {{anchor:s12}}It is not with "individual opinion" that our opponents have now to deal — not even with the opinions of such men as the late Archbishop of Dublin; the late Dr. Gregory, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Edinburgh; or the late Dr. Samuel Brown, a man worthy to rank with the illustrious Faraday - all of whom lived and died in the faith of the truth of Homoeopathy - not to mention a host of other names of men, living and dead, in every department of literature, science and art. {{anchor:s13}}It is not with individual opinion, we repeat, that our opponents have now to deal. {{anchor:s14}}They are now confronted with the result of an investigation directed to be made by a body of commercial men, for commercial purposes, - conducted with that marvelous precision which has exalted the investigations of the assurance offices of this country to the rank of scientific verities, - and endorsed by men whose intellectual faculties, when summoned to decide, must have been in liveliest exercise, seeing that they had to determine on a question in which they were without precedent for a guide, and in which their pecuniary interests were deeply concerned. {{anchor:s15}}Well - the question has been decided, so far at least one assurance office, with its Actuary, Directors and Shareholders is concerned; and the fact cannot be concealed. {{anchor:s16}}It will not be long, therefore, we may confidently predict, before other offices will follow this example. {{anchor:s17}}But, however numerous may hereafter become the adopters of this innovation, let it ever be remembered that to the General Provident Assurance Company belongs the distinguished honor of being the pioneer in this movement. {{anchor:s18}}And never let the circumstance be forgotten, which gives life and vigor to the great moral of the narrative, - that the decision arrived at was the result of an investigation suggested by an observation of the ever- increasing conquests of Homoeopathy, especially amongst the highest and best educated classes of society, but cropping out everywhere throughout the world, in spite of the adamantine rocks of ancient prejudice and the alluvial deposits of social and professional influence, - and thereby forcing itself upon the attention of intellectual men of business, whose avocation it is to avail themselves of every legitimate opening for the augmentation of their revenues, and the elevation, in public estimation, of that branch of industry with which they may happen to be connected. {{anchor:s19}}(London Monthly Homoeopathic Review.) ---- ====== DOCUMENT DESCRIPTOR ====== ^ Source: | The American Homoeopathic Review Vol. 06 No. 01, 1865, pages 38-39 | ^ Description: | a London Life Assurance Office Converted to Homoeopathy by The Evidence of Statistics. | ^ Author: | Lmonhomeo | ^ Year: | 1865 | ^ Editing: | errors only; interlinks; formatting | ^ Attribution: | Legatum Homeopathicum |