on wool sorter's eye and he dies from the disease.78 The phrase "personal injuries" may include the case of a workman suffering a total loss of sight in both eyes from an acute attack of optic neuritis caused by coal tar gases escaping from furnaces about which he worked," and a case where the inhalation of damp smoke and drenching with water resulted in lobar pneumonia.80 But injuries sustained from a fall due to a faint or an epileptic seizure do not entitle a workman to compensation unless there is some peculiar hazard connected with the place of the fall.81

§ 98. Previously existing diseases

It is fundamental principle that the employer takes the employé subject to his physical condition when he enters his employment. Compensation losses are not made solely for the protection of

ing in pneumonia, of which he died. Upon the evidence adduced the court found that the pneumonia was caused by the chill, and that death resulted from "injury by accident." Alloa Coal Co. v. Drylie, 1 Scot. L. T. 167, 4 N. C. C. A. 899.

78 Brintons, Ltd., v. Turvey (1904) 6 W. C. C. 1, C. A., and (1905) 7 W. C. C. 1, H. L.

In Higgins v. Campbell, 1, K. B. 328, affirmed A. C. 230, a workman employed in a wool-combing factory, in which there was wool which had been taken from sheep infected with anthrax, contracted that disease by contact with the anthrax bacillus which was present in the wool. In that case compensation was allowed, and it was held that the workman was injured by accident arising out of and in the course of his employment, within the meaning of the English Act of 1897. The court treated the disease as caused by an accident, by one particular germ striking the eyeball. It was considered that the accidental alighting of the bacillus from the infected wool on the eyeball caused the injury. It was treated as if a spark from an anvil hit the eye. This may be seen from the statement of Lord Macnaghten: "It was an accident that the thing struck the man on a delicate and tender spot in the corner of his eye."

79 (Wk. Comp. Act 1911, pt. 2, § 1) In re Hurle, 217 Mass. 223, 104 N. E. 336, L. R. A. 1916A, 279, Ann. Cas. 1915C, 919.

80 In re McPhee, 222 Mass. 1, 109 N. E. 633.

81 Kowalski v. Trostel & Sons, Rep. Wis. Indus. Com. p. 17.

employés in normal physical condition, but for those also who are subnormal,82 except in exaggerated cases where, in consequence of constitutional diseases or disorders, such as tuberculosis or

82 Fischer v. Union Ice Co., 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 72. The Compensation Act does not make any exception for cases of injury to men whose health is impaired or below the normal standard. Neither does it except from its benefits the man who carried in his body a latent disease which in case of injury may retard or prevent recovery. It applies to every man who suffers disability from accidental injury, and does not exclude the weak or less fortunate physically. Hills v. Oval Wood Dish Co., Mich. Wk. Comp. Cases (1916), 11.

The above-stated principle was applied in each of the following cases: Where the workman had an abnormally high blood pressure, rendering him liable to hemorrhage in the eyes at any time when engaging in violent work or exercise, and a hemorrhage did occur while he was doing work in the course of his employment, he was entitled to compensation. Gurney v. Los Angeles Soap Co., 1 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 163. That the fractures of the workman's legs were due to a disease of the bones would not, unless the bones were made brittle by some virulent disease of long standing, overcome the rule that the employer is responsible for results of injury, though such results be more serious than would be the case with a normal person. Block v. Mutual Biscuit Co., 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 274. A slight prior inflammation, causing redness of the eyelids and making the eyes vulnerable to heat and smoke, did not deprive a fireman of disability indemnity for blindness, where the heat and smoke seriously aggravated the previous condition, so as to make incurable what might have been easily cured. McGrath v. City of San Jose, 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 349. Where, following an accidental wrench to the back, an employé developed osteo-arthritis, of which no symptoms had theretofore appeared, although investigations showed that a chronic disease of the spine had begun, but disability had been precipitated only by the accident, and there were no indications of chronic infectious disease to which the osteo-arthritis might be attributable, the employer was liable for compensation. Turner v. City of Santa Cruz, 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 991. Where there was involved no tearing of the ligaments or fascia of the workman's feet, but rather a disability which developed as a result of his being in bed for many weeks, and later extraordinary use of his right foot while on crutches, his pre-existing flat-foot condition did not constitute a defense against a claim for disability resulting from the injury to such flat feet. Frech v. San Joaquin Light & Power Corp., 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 948. It is no defense that the injuries would not have been as great, except for the effect of prior injury received before entering the employment of the defendant. Bedini v. Northwestern Pacific R. R. Co., 1 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 312.

syphilis, an injured workman suffers for a period far beyond what would be the case if he were in ordinary health,83 in which cases compensation will be awarded only for the longest period of disability for which a normal person sustaining the same accidental injury would reasonably be disabled. It follows that neither a congenital weakness 85 nor a pre-existing disease will render noncompensable an injury received under conditions which would otherwise make it compensable. But this does not, of course, dis

86

84

88 Walters v. Brune, 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 249.

84 Van Dalsem v. Di Fiore, 1 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 229.

Where the employé sustains a slight injury which normally would not result in disability lasting more than a few weeks, and because of a previously existing disease the injury results in a continuing disability, such continuing disability is not compensable beyond the normal period of disability resulting from the injury. Johnson v. Lowe, 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 568. Where an employé, who had long been suffering from a slow tubercular process in progress in the lungs, falls off in front of a handcar and is crushed and bruised under it, he is entitled to compensation for the disability proximately caused by the accident, but not for the continuing disability due to depressed vitality, change of habits and surroundings, and poor hygiene incident to failing resources, these not being caused by the accident, but only remotely attributable to it. Masich v. Northwestern Pacific R. R. Co., 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 545.

85 A claim is not barred by evidence of congenital weakness which may have contributed to cause an injury to result in incapacity. In re Mulverhill, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. 672.

86 In re Madden, 222 Mass. 487, 111 N. E. 379; Forrest v. Roper Furni ture Co., 187 Ill. App. 504.

Decedent, a man over middle age, working in defendant's woodworking shop, at the time of seizure just preceding his death, was furrowing certain posts, pushing them forward against the knives of the furrowing machine by pressing his abdomen forcibly against the end of the post. When he had finished part of them, he sat down, evidently in great pain, and died three days later from internal hemorrhage, which defendant claimed was produced by rupture resulting from cancer. The court held that, though decedent was suffering from internal cancer, such facts warranted a finding that the unusual pressure of the posts on parts weakened by disease was the proximate cause of his death, and hence it was caused by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment. Voorhees v. Smith Schoonmaker Co., 86 N. J. Law, 500, 92 Atl. 280, which cites the case of Jones v. Public Service

Ry. Co., 86 N. J. Law, 646, 92 Atl. 397, holding that, where a passenger suffering from chronic Bright's disease and a valvular disease of the heart, dropped while walking on the street about 20 hours after derailment of the car on which he was riding, the question whether the accident was the cause of his death was for the jury.

Though there is a diseased condition before the injury, and it would not have caused death but for this antecedent condition, still if septicæmia ensues naturally, actually, and apparently unavoidably from the injuries, the case is compensable. Mazzarisi v. Ward, 170 App. Div. 868, 156 N. Y. Supp. 964.

Where an employé has previously been suffering from tuberculosis of the lungs, which condition had become quiescent, and on the happening of the accident, causing a fractured rib, such tubercular condition is lighted up, compensation is payable for increased disability due to the recurrence of the tuberculosis. Birk v. Matson Navigation Co., 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 177. Where a carpenter at work in a cramped position on his knees strained his knee upon arising, which strain results in prolonged disability, and on being operated upon it was discovered that he was affected with fibrolipoma or fatty tumor under the kneecap, not caused by the accident, but previously in existence, though no impairment of the knee had been suffered prior thereto, the disability was compensable. Globe Indemnity Co. v. Terry, 2 Cal. I. A. C. Dec. 682.

In Schmidt v. O. K. Baking Co., 1 Conn. Comp. Dec. 683, on rehearing, it was held that the previous health of the employé is not a factor, provided that it be shown that the incapacity or death of the employé was due to some injury that would be otherwise subject to compensation. In Flotat V. Union Hardware Co., 1 Conn. Comp. Dec. 5, it was held that injuries received two years prior to the passage of the Act, which aggravated the effect of a later compensable injury by accident, were not to be considered.

Where a foundry helper received a slight burn from the spattering of hot iron, and later received a second burn in the same place, and also was suffering from a varicose condition, which was aggravated by such burns, necessitating an operation, he was entitled to compensation. Mustaikas v. Casualty Co. of America, 2 Mass. Wk. Comp. Cases, 547 (decision of Com. of Arb.). While the employé, a boy of 16, was operating a milling machine, a piece of emery flew into his right eye. A fellow employé removed the particle of emery a day or two thereafter, using the end of a bone or ivory handle of a tooth brush for the purpose. The eye was badly inflamed at the time of the removal of the emery, and it was shown that the injury itself, together with the physical effects of removing the emery so aggravated and accelerated a sluggish, inflammatory disease of a chronic nature as to cause total incapacity for work. The classification of the disordered condition of the eye before the injury could not be determined with certainty. The Committee of Arbitration and Board held that the employé was entitled to compen

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sation. Fleming v. Mass. Employés' Insur. Ass'n, 2 Mass. Wk. Comp. Cases, 411 (decision of Com. of Arb., affirmed by Indus. Acc. Bd.).

Decisions under federal Act.-A physical injury, which aggravates a previous ailment, so as to disable an employé, where disability would not have been caused, but for such previous ailment, is an injury within the Act. In re Jarvis, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. 219. An accidental injury, received in the course of employment, but arising in consequence of a disease, is an injury within the Act; the accident being regarded as the proximate, and the disease as the remote, cause. In re Clements, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. 228. An injury by a fall, which lights up or aggravates a previous ailment, causing incapacity, was held to be an injury within the Act. In re Springer, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. 267. A physical injury, brass poisoning, which aggravates a previous ailment, here tuberculosis, so as to disable an employé, when disability would not have been caused, but for such previous ailment, is an injury within the Act. In re Devine, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. 277. Claimant suffered an injury which aggravated an existing acute nephritis, causing incapacity; the injury itself not being sufficient to produce incapacity. Claim held to have been established. In re Hickman, Dec. 1, 1913, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. p. 751. An injury in the nature of a strain, which lights up, excites, or aggravates a pre-existing ailment, thereby producing incapacity when the existing ailment had not previously caused incapacity, was held to be the result of the injury. In re Halloran, Op. Sol. Dept. of L. 756.

Injuries held accidental and compensable under English Act, notwithstanding previously existing disease: Where a workman who had an aneurism of the aorta, which was so far advanced that it was apt to burst at any time, was ruptured while tightening a nut with a spanner without any extraordinary strain. Clover, Clayton & Co. v. Hughes (1910) 3 B. W. C. C. 275, H. L. Where a ship's fireman, with diseased arteries, had an apoplectic fit in the stokehold. Broforst v. S. S. Blomfield (Owners of), (1913) 6 B. W. C. C. 613. Where a cerebral hemorrhage was sustained, through overexertion at work, by a workman whose arteries were in a bad condition. McInnes v. Dunsmuir and Jackson (1909) 1 B. W. C. C. 226, Ct. of Sess. Where a workman who had a weak heart, after pushing an empty truck, fell and died soon afterward. Doughton v. Hickman, Ltd. (1913) 6 B. W. C. C. 77, C. A. Where a workman, whose heart was so weak that any slight exertion might cause death, was descending the side of a ship by means of a rope ladder, and, the ladder twisting, he fell into the water; his death not being caused by drowning, but by heart failure. Trodden v. McLennard & Sons, Ltd. (1911) 4 B. W. C. C. 190, C. A. Where a man of low vital condition, who was employed as a trimmer on board a liner, suffered a heat stroke when he was drawing ashes from a ship's furnaces. Ismay, Imrie & Co. v. Williamson (1909) 1 B. W. C. C. 230, H. L. Where a debilitated workman, who had injured his knee, took a long time to get home on a cold day, and contracted pneumonia as a result. Ystradowen Colliery Co., Ltd., v. Griffiths (1910) 2 B. W. C. C. 357, C. A. Where the hand of a workman having gouty diathesis was jarred by a mishit