Injuries without external manifestation

Within the meaning of the New Jersey Workmen's Compensation Act an accident is an unlooked for and untoward event which is not expected or designed. Bryant v. Fissell, 000 N. J. Law 000; 86 Atl. Rep. 458.

In relation to an accident insurance policy the United States Supreme Court has defined the term "accidental" as follows: "The term 'accidental' was used in the policy in its ordinary, popular sense, as meaning happening by chance; unexpectedly, or as not expected. If a result is such as follows from ordinary means, voluntarily employed, in a not unusual or unexpected way, it cannot be called a result effected by accidental means. But if, in the act which precedes the injury, something unforeseen, unexpected, unusual occurs which produces injury, then the injury has resulted through accidental means.' Mutual Accident Assn. v. Barry, 131 U. S. 100, 121; 9 Sup. Ct. R. 755; 33 L. Ed. 60.

2. Injuries without external manifestation.1

Evidence that an employé was strong and healthy up to the time he complained of a hurt received while at work on heavy lifting, and that he died suddenly a few days thereafter for no other assignable cause, is sufficient to show that he sustained some external injury, although there were no external manifestations thereof. Re S. W. Powers, Op. Sol. Dep. C. & L., p. 176.

A workman was employed in a millrace, where he had to work for a fortnight up to his knees in water. As a result he contracted inflammation of the kidneys and died. It was held that this was a personal injury by accident. Sheeran v. F. & J. Clayton & Co. (1909), 44 Irish L. T. 52; 3 B. W. C. C. 583.

certained facts it becomes one of law. Bryant v. Fissell, 000 N. J. Law, 000; 86 Atl. Rep. 458.

From the table of contents of this article it will be seen that a number of cases are discussed relating to injuries as to which there were no “external manifestations." This paragraph merely calls attention to the gen

Injuries due to gradual wearing or constant use of particular members 3. "Bends."

It has been held that "bends" (a condition brought about by working in compressed air), was in the nature of a rupture or lesion of some one of the internal organs, due to the change between high and normal atmospheric pressure, and was therefore an accidental injury entitling a workman to compensation under the Federal Act. Re William Murray, Op. Sol. Dep. C. & L., p. 201.

4. Injuries due to gradual wearing or constant use of particular members.

Contracting "beat hand" or "beat knee," a miner's disease or injury caused by the gradual process of continued friction, is not an accident. Marshall v. East Holywell Coal Co. (1905), 7 W. C. C. 19.

Applicant was pinning shirts while in the employ of the defendant. The continual pressing against the heads of the pins of the side of the right forefinger resulted in the finger becoming hard. A white spot appeared, and the finger grew steadily worse. Pus developed and applicant was totally disabled for about three weeks, at the end of which time she recovered so as to be able to do light housework. Defendant refused payment on the ground that there was no evidence to connect the alleged injury with an accident growing out of the employment. This was one of the difficult cases that come before Industrial Accident Boards. Held that applicant was entitled to recover, because the nature of her work made it a moral certainty that the injury resulted as claimed. She was denied reimbursement for medical and surgical treatment because she did not afford the defendant an opportunity to furnish the same. She was awarded the sum of $24.38 for two weeks' total indemnity and for ten weeks' partial indemnity. Smith v. Munger Laundry Co., Cal. Indus. Acc. Bd., Nov. 19, 1913.

eral principle, leaving the discussion of specific injuries to their appropriate titles.

Germ or poison entering system through break in skin

A workman gradually acquired paralysis of his right leg through the strain of riding a heavy carrier tricycle for his employers. At the end of five years the condition incapacitated him from work. It was held that the paralysis was not a personal injury by accident, and that the workman was not entitled to compensation. Walker v. Hockney Brothers (1909), 2 B. W. C. C. 20.

Rectal abscess and blind fistula alleged to have been brought on by being compelled to sit on cold iron are not such injuries as entitle the employé to compensation under the Federal Act. Re Andrew Wilkes, Op. Sol. Dep. C. & L. 175.

See also the cases of Elizabeth Hewitt, cited ante, page 343, J. V. Trammell, cited ante, page 344, and M. A. Crellin, cited ante, page 344.

5. Germ or poison entering system through break in skin.

A workman has been held to have suffered an injury by a germ or poison getting into the system through a break in the skin. Higgins v. Campbell & Harrison and Turvey v. Brintons Limited (1904), 1 K. B. 328; 6 W. C. C. 1; affirmed by the House of Lords (1905), A. C. 230; 7 W. C. C. 1.

Blood poisoning through use of a hypodermic needle is an accident. Bailey v. Interstate Cas. Co., 8 App. Div. 127; 40 N. Y. Supp. 513, aff'd, 158 N. Y. 723; 53 N. E. 1123.

Shortly after a fall of coal from the roof exactly where a collier was working, he complained that his foot hurt him. Twelve days later he died of tetanus. Two days after the fall he showed his foot to his wife, who found it swollen and with a sore on the outer side. Six days after the fall his foot was seen by a physician, who found an abrasion on the outer side and a scar on the sole; both wounds were healing and in much the same state. On the day before his death there was no trace of the wound on the side of the foot, but the small scar on the sole of the foot was still to be seen— healed. The County Court Judge found that there was an

Germ or poison entering system through break in skin accident at the colliery as a result of which twelve days later the collier died from tetanus. It was held on appeal that there was evidence to support the finding. Stapleton v. Dinnington Main Coal Co. (1912), 5 B. W. C. C. 602.

Where death results from erysipelas, which follows as a natural, though not as a necessary consequence of an accidental wound, upon the cheek, it may be deemed the proximate result of the wound and not of the disease, within the requirements of an accident policy that death must result solely from accidental means. Caldwell v. Iowa State Traveling Men's Association, 000 Iowa 000; 136 N. W. Rep. 678.

An infection of the hand and a secondary infection of the leg, resulting from an abrasion of the skin and the accidental introduction of a foreign substance, is an injury within the meaning of the Federal Act. Re L. B. Green, Op. Sol. Dep. C. & L., p. 199. In the last-mentioned case the workman was overhauling a pump from the United States Ship "Vigilant" when his hands became infected. The attending physician made an incision and removed pieces of hard material resembling spicula of coral. It appeared that the pump had come from a vessel which had been in service in Oriental waters, which accounted for the foreign material. It was held that under such circumstances he was entitled to compensation.

In the middle of the

Applicant was unloading sugar. morning he complained that his left arm was hurting him and showed his associates that it was swollen and stiff. On the following morning he was unable to work and had to proceed to San Francisco for medical treatment, but the arm suppurated and applicant was disabled for 43/7ths weeks. His application for compensation was denied on the ground that the injury was the result of an occupational disease, commonly known as "sugar poisoning," which does not come within the provisions of the act and that therefore no personal injury was accidently sustained by the applicant. Held that there was no evidence to sustain the contention

Germ or poison entering system through break in skin

that disability resulted from an occupational disease, but that the evidence and the circumstances warranted the decision that applicant's arm had been scratched by one of the sharp corners of a bag of sugar. He was awarded $44.57 for the period of temporary total disability and also the cost of medical and surgical treatment not to exceed the sum of $100.00. Miller v. California Stevedore and Ballast Co. and The Fidelity and Deposit Co., Cal. Indus. Acc. Bd., Oct. 2, 1913.

Applicant was injured while in the employ of the defendant. He had to split a piece of fire-wood without an axe, using a pick, which caused a sliver some 10 feet long and 6 inches wide at one end and tapering to a point at the other, to "bark" his left leg just above the ankle. The accident was not at first reported because it was not considered serious. After working two or three days the leg became so swollen and so painful that he was unable to do any work. The medical testimony corroborated the statement of the applicant. Erysipelas developed, followed by ulcers. Held that there was an accident and that applicant was entitled to compensation under the Law. The amount awarded was $108.70 for a period of 92/7 weeks. Nash v. General Petroleum Co., Cal. Indus. Acc. Bd., June 26, 1913.

A gardener while digging in his employer's garden, was injured by a nail piercing his foot through his boot and died. subsequently from tetanus. It was held that the accident arose out of and in the course of his employment, and his dependents were entitled to compensation. Walker v. Mullins (1908), 42 Irish L. T. 168; 1 B. W. C. C. 211. A collier died of blood poisoning due to an abscess of his knee. There was no evidence as to how the abscess was caused. His work was in a very narrow seam, and necessitated his working on his knees. It was held that there was no evidence of personal injury by accident arising out of and in the course of the employment. Howe v. Fernhill Collieries (1912), 5 B. W. C. C. 629. But see Thompson v.