The object of the paper is to draw attention, for the first time at an actuarial meeting, to the effects of continuing inflation on the proceeds of life policies and to discuss the possibility of devising some means of amelioration.

The course of commodity prices is examined from the beginning of the nineteenth century to the present time, and examples are given of the effects of inflation on policies effected in 1904 and maturing for payment in 1924. Reference is made to the experience of Germany and Austria during the currency debacle of 1922 and 1923.