Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1916-08-20
BY DR.. Woods Hutchinson
The Worlds Foremost Physictan.Author

r INVESTIGATION is fatal TO most be.
liefs.. The majority OF the things
which we know aren't so are not
what we learn out Of books, or from pro-
lessor persons, or impractical scientists
but those which pass current in the
home and on the street and at the cor
ner grocery. Your hard headed, prac-
tical man, who has no use for new
tangled theories, is really the most in
veterate and bigoted theoriat on earth.
who has inherited half OF his working
beliefs and jumped to the other half on
very inadequate evidence
Nothing, for instance could have been
more unanimous and implicit than the
belief OF the average orkaday male
that "wimmin folk as class were weak.
IL, sickly, pindlng sort OF creatures, who
took TO their beds on the slightest prov
ocation and had no constitution to speak
OF. Consumption and declines of all
sorts were their favoritc addictions, they
were never rugged and usually had mo
health 10 speak Of" and if it we're not
for the perpetual shielding and coddlng
and petting which they received from
men folk they would simply lie down and
die 1t used frequently 10 be pointed out
in the rural districts how large a per-
ccntage OF farmers were living with their
second, third and even fourth wives,
whose predecessors had departed this
life Just plumb wore out" by the labor
and responsibilities of working existence.
Nor was It merely popular belief which
held so firmly TO this theory of the gen.
cral poornesS OF womanS health and the
frailness of her physique. Grave and
supposedly scientific actuaries and stats
ticians of life insurance companies, with
the fine instinct for self protection which
has always characterized them and does
still. promptly adopted this belief and for
years refused to issue policies to women
at all.
This was partly due 10 the good.
old-fashloned and equally basecss con.
victon oil The deceitfuness of the sen
And even after the companies began in
most cautious fashion TO accept a limited
number OF female risks at q higher rate
than the sturdicr and more resisting
male, the claborateress OF the eXamina.
ton blanks that were used and the way
they were loaded with protective clauses
in fine print were sight to make angels
weep. II was only within the last dec.
ade Or so that the Medical Examiners
Department got over the habit of shying
violently whenever a woman's apDlica.
ton for insurance was sent in and OF
discouraging female applicants by higher
and special rates. Some companies, even
in this day Of enlightenment still refuse
to insure women at all, and those that do
strongly prefer endowment and other
Limited term" policies. .
But Just as soon as good vital Stats.
tics began TO be accurately kept upon a
large scale--records OF births, records OF
deaths. with precise ages and causes
and the results were put together and
carefully studied. distinct shock to our
theory as to the physical frailness Of the
gentler sex was experienced The first
thing that was discovered was that more
women reached extreme old age than
men. There were in every community
nearly 20 per cent more women over sew
cnty-five than there were men, But as,
OF course, the number OF octogenarians
in the thousand is comparatively small
this was explained by tho assumption
that these were exceptional women who
in some accidental manner had got by
the pitfalls and risks of early and middle
life and then continued TO vegetatc on &C.
count OF the exceedingly quiet. guarded