On a Method of Testing the Solvency of an Assurance Company, with some considerations respecting the Terms upon which a Society’s Business may be Purchased

Extract

It appears to be an admitted principle in the commercial world, that great evils have a tendency to work their own cure. Over-trading will bring about a state of things by which eventually it must be checked, and excessive speculation has its limit by the same invariable law.

More than two years ago, it was quite evident that the rapid manner in which new Companies were being formed for the purpose of assuring lives would ere long produce sad and humiliating results.