In THE JOURNAL of Dec. 15, 1888, is published the Proceedings of the Chicago Medico-Legal Society of Oct. 6, 1888, beginning with a paper by Dr. James Burry, Surgeon to the C. S. F. & C. Railroad, who states that within five years $11,000,000 have been paid as damages by English railway companies in cases of alleged injury to the spinal cord, and $300,000 to the Chatsworth sufferers, among whom spinal injtfry cases preponderated. This may seem hard upon the railroad companies, but it would not be reasonable to suppose that the courts would have awarded such sums unjustly in all cases. Imagine the Jay Goulds of the world free to coin millions from the traveling public, unhedged by any fear of damage suits for carelessness, incompetence, or brutal disregard of human life.
Dr. Burry cites the case of Waterman vs. the Chicago & Alton R. R., wherein the defense