The Irish standard., 1908-02-29

man could declare him to be a drunk.
ard without having to answer for it
and when he reached his top pitch OF
violence I simply walked out of ths
examination room and let him have il
to himself.
Il did only the fair thing by that
hibition Of slSilful acting or whether he
sically. Did he heed it? Well. OF
course not.
Some men who look as if they
ought to know better are more finica
even than women with respect to triv-
ial defects in their physical makeup.
Last month examined man of forty
or SO who at once approved himself tc
me as good risk.
HE was quite unusually sound in
every particular, and, the main exam
ination over, 1 was winding up with
what we call the trimmings-the minor
points of the examination
Kindly open your mouth as wide
as possible I requested him, desiring
to see his tonsils and such like.
Il could see him stiffen under that
request, and knew the reason why. ]
had seen as soon as he entered the ex-
animation room that he had a whole
mouthful. upper and lower rows, of
false teeth on plates. That was his
sensitive point.
whats my mouth got to do with
this examination? he asked me a bit
crisply.
Il told him that the mouth screened
certain physiological devices and con-
traptions that had to be passed upon
by the medical examiner.
"'Well, my mouths all right he
said quite curtly. 4 guess you can
take my word that far. If I'm right in
every other essential respect I guess
my mouths not going to make me a
poor risk
Il had. in order to conform to the
company's rules, to insist upon his
. ~ AAA6 AAtC eb Wow VI lIlC 1lllcI OA llIS
/ facial orif1ce. made Il wretched
blunder, however, in my effort to mol
lify him by adverting to his teeth.
1.-The examination Of the mouth ]
said. with significance which took
pains to emphasize. does not refer
wholly to the condition Of the teeth.
nor, indeed, to any lack of natural
teeth. Some persons are esteemed
quite fair risks who have no teeth of
their own at all, and
'Thatll be about all the cracks you
need to make about my teeth the odd
, ly sensitive chap broke in upon me
there. My teeth are my own affair,
and nobody else's,' and blessed If he
didn't quit in a huff right there, put
ting on his clothes as if there were a
fire in the building and clomping out
like q man grossly insulted.
There are some men who, when they
strip for examination by an insur-
ance company medical examiner. real
ly are Of the belief that they are car
cass perfect, so to speak, and these, as
a rule, so right up in the air when
they're told that they have some slight
physical defect, even If the defect be
not Of disqualifying character.
HAS this varicose vein that is
forming on your right leg given you
much trouble yet?' asked a man whom
l put through the hopper a while back.
"'Varicose vein on my right leg
You're dreaming, old boy.' he replied,
and his air was such that 1 couldn't
doubt that he really did not know that
Never met Mister varicose in my life.
You're mistaking me for the last fell
low you examined
"'Well, there it is, right enough, and
l put my finger on the vein.
"'Oh. that's just a protruding liga-
ment or something-nothing like var
icose vein,' he was good enough to in
form me.
| 'Well. I couldn't possibly let him get
away with so outspoken a denial as
that. and to save my professional face
I was simply compelled to insist upon
it that he had a varicose vein that was
developing most industriously. He be-
came as mad as a hornet over what lie
called my overworked medical mans
imagination, and brought the examin-
alton to an abrupt halt right there.
He was back in a few days. howl
ever. told me that he'd been an under
sized chipmunk in disputing my word
as to that ridge on his leg, and went
through with the examination easily
enough.
| "A big chap who had the scar left
by an abscess on his right elbow some
years before, grew positively pale when
examining the spot where the abscess
] ho1