This is a neatly made, hard-cover volume of 187 pages, printed in well-designed, clear type on paper of excellent quality. These features are mentioned because, in spite of a title suggesting a periodical journal, the format resembles that of a single-issue book. The Editorial Committee, that has produced it, states in a foreword that the Annals of Life Insurance Medicine "will appear as a brochure issued at irregular intervals." This particular volume is sponsored by the Swiss Reinsurance Company, of Zurich, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of that company's activity in the field of "substandard risks."
The concept of substandard risks originated in 1890, with Dr. Oscar H. Rogers, of the New York Life Insurance Company. Until then, applicants for insurance were either accepted or rejected, and almost any impairment, however trivial, was grounds for rejection. Millions of people needing insurance protection, who were then denied it, may now