Chapter LVIII

EYE DISEASES AND EYE ACCIDENTS IN RELATION TO
INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATIONS

The subject to be discussed in this article is a very wide one. To treat all industrial occupations and the relations they bear to eye diseases and eye accidents would be impossible in the space at my command. It will, however, be found that the various trades which are brought under notice cover a considerable part of the whole area. They may be regarded as perhaps the most important, and some, at all events, will represent also the dangers arising from cognate or allied industries. For the most part I have treated of occupations in which I have myself been particularly interested.

The subjects to be considered may be conveniently arranged under the following divisions:

_1st._ Diseases due to occupations involving prolonged use
or excessive strain of the eyes, such as nystagmus in miners,
and others.

_2nd._ Diseases due to occupations involving the use of
certain poisonous substances, such as dinitrobenzol, bisulphide
of carbon, tobacco, lead, etc.

_3rd._ Diseases due to occupations involving exposure to
excessive light or heat, or both, such as burnishers, steel
melters, electric welders, etc.

_4th._ Injuries or accidents amongst grinders, iron and
steel workers, masons, coal miners, weavers, etc.

_1. Diseases due to occupations involving prolonged use or excessive
strain of the eyes, such as nystagmus in miners and others._

Coal miners, as a result of their employment, are specially prone to a peculiar affection of the eyes called “nystagmus,”[166] which is characterised by oscillations of the eyeball. The sufferer, too, complains of objects dancing before his eyes. In this disease objects appear to move either in a circle or an ellipse. Headache is often present, and especially giddiness, which sometimes causes the miner so to stumble about that he is compelled to leave his work in the mine. The movements of the eyeball are chiefly rotatory; to-and-fro oscillations are sometimes superadded; these are rarely vertical, but the rotatory are seldom, if ever, absent. The rapidity of the ocular motions varies greatly: from sixty to one hundred and fifty motions may be counted in a minute; I have observed them as frequent as three hundred and fifty. Both eyes are affected, but the rapidity of movements may vary in the two eyes. The more rapid the oscillations the less extended is the excursion of the globes. The oscillations are arrested by turning the gaze downwards below the horizontal line, and miners often learn to rest their eyes in this way. Looking upwards, and especially obliquely to one side or the other, rapid movements of the head, lowering of the head and suddenly raising it, are means of increasing the rate of movements of the eyeballs, or, in other cases, of rendering them evident. Placing the patient in the position he would assume at his work is another method. Tremors of the head (noticeable to the hand placed on the head), of the eyelids, and of the muscles of the face or neck, are often associated with nystagmus, and so is torticollis or “wry-neck” in some cases. Night blindness has been alleged to be present, but there is some reason to dispute this; the nystagmus alone is a sufficient cause for any difficulty in seeing in a failing light. Errors of refraction, myopia, hypermetropia, and astigmatism are often present, but bear no causal relation to nystagmus; visual acuity is generally unaffected. Colour perception is good, and, so far as the movements of the eyeballs permit of testing, the field of vision is normal. The onset of the disorder is often brought about by some attack of illness. It is generally met with in men who have worked in the mine for some years. Ninety per cent. of cases occur in persons from twenty-five to forty-five years of age.

(_Photo. taken in coal mine with Magnesium Flash
Light._)]

(_Photo. taken in coal mine with Magnesium Flash
Light._)]

Nystagmus is found in miners (coal-getters) engaged at the coal face, who work in a more or less constrained position of body and of eyes. It is desirable to get coal in as large pieces as possible, and, to do this, they undercut, or “hole” the seam. A man sits with his legs crooked up, lying almost on his side, and strikes the coal with a horizontal swing of his pick at the bottom of the coal seam. He will cut away the coal to a height of from 18 inches to 2 feet, and then as he gets deeper in he draws his body under the coal, lying on one side or the other. The process is called “holing,” and sometimes the undermining may be continued from 2 or 3 feet to as much as 7 or 8 feet; the distance varies considerably. As he proceeds with his work the miner applies timber supports to keep the coal from falling. This just described is called “bottom-holing,” but the seam may be attacked in the middle (middle-holing) or at the top (top-holing). A miner engaged at this work will direct his gaze to different parts, as it becomes necessary for him to strike, for the eyes will follow the pickpoint, but the tendency will be for the gaze to be directed upwards (using the ocular elevators) more or less obliquely. He will lie sometimes on one side and sometimes on the other; his legs will be crooked up, his head thrown back and flexed more or less on the shoulder beneath. This position is shown in the photographs, which were taken in the mine with a magnesium flash-light, of a man whilst actually at work. Ninety-eight per cent. of all cases of nystagmus coming under my notice have been in men occupied at the coal face and more or less engaged at this kind of work. The thickness of the coal seam varies greatly in different parts, but work of a very similar nature is done in coal mines in all countries.

There are others working in a mine beside the coal-getters. Among these are those who attend to the roads, fill the waggons (fillers), push these (trammers), or drive the ponies. There are also deputies or overlookers, whose work it is to see to the safety of the places the men work in, both as to freedom from gas and as to the condition of the roof of the mine. These latter occasionally suffer from nystagmus, and a consideration of the work they perform will show that it necessitates the same upward and oblique direction of the gaze. Frequently also these men have previously worked as coal-getters. The photograph shows a deputy examining the roof by striking it with his stick to ascertain its soundness. It must be remembered that the height of the working places and passages in the mine is nearly always so low that this alone compels a constrained attitude. “Onsetters,” whose duty it is to see to the ascent of the full, and descent of the empty coal tubs, sometimes get nystagmus, as do also “timbermen.” It may be accepted as a rule that all cases of nystagmus occur in those who are either working, or have worked, as coal-getters, or that the work in which they have been employed has been one in which an upward direction of the eyes has also been necessitated for more or less prolonged periods. 7 The etiology of the affection must be sought in this constrained position of the eyes by which chronic weariness is induced in the elevator muscles of the eyes. Like effects are found in other muscles of the miner, producing wry-neck, tremors of the head, and quivering of the eyelids. It is thus similar to other occupation neuroses, and in the same category as those met with in writers, compositors, telegraphers, ballet-dancers, and many others.

Nystagmus occurs in miners working with all kinds of lighting. I have met with it in workers with safety lamps, candles, large open lamps, and when the artificial light was really good. There is, however, some reason for believing that the strain is greater the worse the light, and that nystagmus is met with in greater frequency under such conditions. Other things, as to the nature of work, being equal, the disease will probably be most frequent with the worst light.

Nieden says that 5 per cent. of miners suffer, and my observations support this generally; in some parts, however, the percentage is higher. For instance, among men working at a colliery with candles I found that 6 out of a total of 140 were absent from work for nystagmus, and this represented only a portion of those whom an examination would have ascertained to be actually affected with the disorder. Romiée gives the percentage for Belgium as high as 20, but possibly he includes less marked cases.

The prognosis is good, and, even in old-standing cases, if the directions as to work are followed, the nystagmus will usually disappear. Treatment consists essentially of a change of the kind of work. In some cases it will suffice if the patient ceases from coal-getting, without altogether stopping work in the mine, but generally it is advisable, especially if the nystagmus be of high degree and of some standing, to recommend cessation altogether from work underground. After relief has been effected return to the mine is practicable, provided the head can be kept straight, and the upward turn of the eyes avoided. Resumption of the old kind of work is followed, sooner or later, by a recurrence of the symptoms. Medicinal treatment is also of service.

(_Photo. taken in coal mine with Magnesium Flash
Light._)]

Though so peculiarly an affection of miners, nystagmus is met with, but much less frequently, in other occupations. I have observed it in various employments, and have collected together a series of cases in which it occurred, viz., in compositors, metal roller, plate layer, plank cutter, saw maker, sanitary tube maker, fitter, iron founder, cage worker in the mine, glass manufacturer, youth in confectionery warehouse, and a man engaged in hanging up harness, and in another employed at the screens at the surface of a coal mine. These instances occurred in circumstances closely comparable to the work in the mine as to strain of the elevator muscles of the eyeball, and where, of course, the influence of illumination had no place. They may be held as definitely corroborating the views set forth as to the causation of this affection in miners.

_2. Diseases due to occupations involving the use of certain
poisonous substances, such as, dinitrobenzol, bisulphide of
carbon, tobacco, lead, etc._

_Dinitrobenzol_ is largely employed in the making of explosives, such as roburite, sicherheit, etc., a class of explosives which find special employment in coal mines.

The dinitrobenzol is brought to the factory in slabs, say 15 inches square, and about 4 inches thick. The first process is to grind these to powder in an apparatus with steam rollers. During this process a good deal of dust is given off, and there is a smell of bitter almonds. The next step is to take the powder thus obtained to the mixing shed, where it is mixed with oxidising salts and other materials in a large pan, and heated with steam. It remains there for several hours, and it is then cooled by cold water being pumped on the outside of the shell. When cool, the material is turned out of the mixer. It is during the removal of the material from the mixer that workmen are especially exposed to the vapour, but the dangers are lessened by the adoption of a cowl to the mixer, and also by the use of a fan. The explosive prepared in this way is put away in cylinders and kept until required. The next step is to take it to the filling room, where it is put into cartridges, which are then weighed and stamped, and finally these go to the dipping room, where the cartridges are waterproofed by being dipped in liquid paraffin wax.

The most injurious work is that of grinding and mixing, especially the latter. Men are employed in these processes. For the “filling” of the cartridges, and for the “dipping,” women and girls are employed. In the first named, the powder is shovelled into the cartridges and directly handled; a good deal of dust is given off. Respirators and gloves are used, as they are also by the men mixing or grinding. The dippers are apparently the least exposed to the injurious effects, yet they, nevertheless, suffer. The greasiness about the hands from the paraffin may also aid absorption. Here also gloves and respirators are worn. There is not much dust, the powder being confined inside the cases.

Some years ago several patients were under my care whose impaired vision was due to working with dinitrobenzol. An opportunity was afforded me of investigating the manufacture of this material, its effect on vision and the general health of the employés.[167] The eye symptoms may be summarised as follows: failure of sight, often to a considerable degree, to a more or less equal extent on the two sides; concentric contraction of visual field, with, in many cases, a central colour scotoma; enlargement of retinal vessels, especially the veins, some blurring of the edges of the optic disc, and a varying degree of pallor of its surface. The condition of retinal vessels spoken of is observed in workers with the dinitrobenzol independently of complaints of defective sight. Cessation of work with dinitrobenzol tends to recovery. The general effects appeared to be chiefly exerted on the blood and the nervous system. In some cases there were also gastric symptoms. With reference to the blood changes, the occurrence of very marked anæmia in girls, who lived practically in the country, and who worked in well ventilated rooms, was particularly striking. The symptoms and physical signs of anæmia in men, working under the same hygienic conditions, were perhaps still more noteworthy. That some other change, however, in the blood was also present was evidenced by the blueness of the lips and finger tips, which was observed in several cases. The colour of the urine was also remarkable.

The chief nervous symptoms were numbness of the extremities and unsteadiness of gait. The latter was noticed especially at the close of a day’s work in the factory, and was much aggravated by indulgence in alcohol.

Dinitrobenzol may, it appears, either be absorbed through the skin, ingested, or be taken in through the air passages. What the poison then becomes does not appear to have been satisfactorily ascertained, but its action on the blood is definite. Specimens of blood drawn from the fingers of two of my patients were found to be thin and black-looking. Dr MacMunn, of Wolverhampton, very kindly examined some specimens which were forwarded to him, and reported on them (as he did also of the urine, which was dark, almost black like porter), that, spectroscopically, all the specimens of blood sent showed nothing abnormal.

The explosives under consideration are used in coal mines, and cases have been recorded of men who became affected by dinitrobenzol employed underground.

At the invitation of Commander H. P. Smith and Dr Dupré, the following suggestions for preventing the deleterious effects of dinitrobenzol on those engaged in its manufacture were drawn up by me for their report.

(1) That the different processes should as much as possible be conducted in the open air, or in large, well-ventilated sheds.

(2) That in the “mixing,” closed vessels should, as much as possible, be employed.

(3) Fans, which have been adopted in other trades with great advantage, might also in this one be of service.

(4) Respirators are in use, but their employment is, as far as I am aware, optional. Those protecting both the nose and mouth are, up to a certain point, of service. I do not think they are a sufficient safeguard against the fine vapour entering the respiratory system. It occurred to me that during the process of “mixing” especially, it might be possible to shut the workman off from the vapour and fine dust by means of a kind of diving-bell apparatus, with a communication behind open to the air. A mask, such as has been used, I believe, in Germany, might answer the objects desired.

(5) Handling by the bare hand or direct exposure of the skin should be avoided. The filling could, perhaps, be performed automatically. The hand should, moreover, be protected by gloves. These should be capable of being cleaned, and possibly indiarubber might be used by preference. The cleaning of the gloves is an important matter, because those worn with any of the substance clinging to the interior, as would be the case after they had been in use for some time, would allow of absorption taking place under the still more favourable circumstances afforded by the warmth and moisture of the hand. Special clothing should be provided, the workmen and women being compelled to change their clothing on entering and retiring from work. Dressing-rooms should be provided, and washing enforced. Food should only be partaken of away from the sheds where the mixing, filling, etc., take place, and particularly is it important to insist on washing before meals, and removal of the special clothing.

When used in the coal mine it is desirable that means should be taken to prevent any of the powder adhering to the outside of the cartridges, that combustion should be complete, and that the use of cartridges should be restricted as much as possible to well-ventilated places, so that currents of air would speedily dilute and carry away any deleterious vapours.

As a result of the report by Dr Dupré and Commander Hamilton P. Smith, notice to observe the “Special Rules” recommended in their report was served on the different manufacturers.

The effect of _bisulphide of carbon_ in causing impaired eyesight has been shown by many instances. Rubber-making has been the industry in which those suffering have been mostly observed. The bisulphide is a very active and penetrating solvent, and it is used to dissolve and carry into the rubber chloride of sulphur, which is the vulcanising agent. This process is called “curing,” and it is during it that the fumes of the bisulphide are given off and act injuriously on the general system of those exposed to them, as well as in some cases causing injury to eyesight. Some time since I visited rubber-works in which about 200 hands were employed, and witnessed the process of “curing.” The rubber cloth which it was wished to vulcanise was brought into contact with the wet surface of a wood or slate roller, which revolved in a trough in which was the bisulphide holding the sulphur in solution. The shed in which the curing was done was very open, and was well calculated to allow of the ready escape of the fumes. The vapour was a heavy one, and tended very much to keep low, especially in wet or damp weather. Any apparatus to carry off the fumes, therefore, should be one to draw them downwards. Among the workers I saw one man who had evidently two years ago suffered from amblyopia, which appeared to have been characteristic. He changed his work to another part of the factory, and recovered. A considerable alteration has, I understand, been brought about in the vulcanising process, and since attention was first directed to the subject, bisulphide has been much less employed in rubber-works. The sulphur is now mixed with the rubber, and the vulcanising is done by subjecting the otherwise finished article to a high temperature. The bisulphide in the future is even less likely to be required, and therefore in this class of occupation, at all events, it may be expected that impaired eyesight will be more infrequent.

_Tobacco_ was the first agent to be recognised as causing toxic amblyopia. It is doubtful whether it can be classed properly with occupation disorders. Galezowski,[168] however, asserted that visual troubles occurred in those engaged in the manufacture of tobacco in consequence of the absorption of nicotine powder. He further advised that the working places should be well-ventilated, and recommended a change of occupation for those affected. This statement finds corroboration by De Schweinitz, who states that amblyopia may occur in those who do not use tobacco in any form, but who work in tobacco manufactories. He has related a very remarkable case of this character in a young woman. All of the symptoms disappeared when she was removed from the tobacco factory. On the other hand, Shears[169] has related that he visited the large factory of Cope Bros., where 1200 men and women were employed, and that he made careful inquiries in each of the departments of the foremen, but from none could he learn of instances of sight failure. Lee at the same time made observations at a large factory at Chester, with similar results. Sheffield is celebrated for its snuff, the two kinds, Top Mill and Bottom Mill, being well known. There are also several smaller tobacco works about the city, but my attention has in the last twenty years never once, as far as I remember, been directed to a case of tobacco amblyopia in a worker at any of these places. Dowling[170] in America has also gone into this matter. At a factory where 3000 were employed, half being females, he examined 150, or 5 per cent. Ninety per cent. of the males used tobacco in some form or other, and 20 per cent. chewed, in addition to smoking liberally pipe or cigar. These are his conclusions: “When I commenced my examination I was under the impression that the constant inhalation of the dust and the odour of tobacco in the workshops would tend of itself to bring about symptoms of tobacco amblyopia. I am induced to think this hardly takes place, for in my examination I found those who did not smoke were uniformly free from troubles of vision of a toxic nature, and the females were almost universally free from the trouble, that is as far as I examined them.”

_Iodoform_ is largely used in surgical practice. A few instances have been recorded of impairment of vision resulting from its employment as a dressing for large burns, etc. The characteristics of the affection were similar to those met with in tobacco amblyopia, in chronic poisoning by bisulphide of carbon, and other toxic amblyopias. Inquiry addressed to perhaps the largest makers of iodoform in this country elicited the reply, that they had consulted the Medical Attendant of their men, and he confirmed the opinion expressed by the foreman, that they had never known of any injury to the sight from the manufacture of iodoform. If there was carelessness in the manufacture pungent vapours would be evolved; but that was always a sign of something being wrong.

Men employed in dye factories and other manufactories requiring the handling and preparation of the various _coal-tar_ products are reported to be subject to visual troubles, cases having been recorded from time to time.[171] Galezowski gives headache, dizziness, malaise, deficiency in visual acuity, photophobia, and ciliary injection as symptoms from which the workers suffer, but, as is pointed out by Knies, the connection of these ocular complaints with the _aniline_ used is uncertain.

M’Kinlay[172] has recorded a case of intense pigmentation of the cornea and conjunctiva in a man who was a worker in aniline dyes. Reduction of vision was also caused.

_Arsenic_ is extensively used in the arts, and has been the cause of many cases of poisoning, for example, from wallpaper and articles of clothing. Its use for artificial flowers and wallpapers has much abated. Casey Wood mentions that makers of Paris green, painters, and paperhangers, as well as those who take the drug for medicinal or cosmetic purposes, are liable to suffer from visual disturbances, from conjunctival hyperæmia and eczema of the lids, which are regarded as evidences of arsenical poisoning. Amblyopia and optic neuritis have been reported as due to arsenic.

The occupations in which _lead_ or its compounds, in one way or another, are used are multitudinous, and those liable to be affected by lead poisoning belong, therefore, to a numerous class. Among these are painters, plumbers, etc., and, in Sheffield, file cutters. In this latter occupation the file, when being cut, rests on a “bed” made of lead, and each blow of the hammer causes minute particles of lead to disperse and to charge the atmosphere of the workroom. Chronic lead poisoning in file cutters results from inhalation of these particles, and from the uncleanly habit of wetting the hands at the mouth. In acute lead poisoning there are no eye symptoms, but in chronic lead poisoning central and peripheral affections of sight are common. The brain and nervous system are frequently seriously affected in chronic plumbism, and kidney disease is also frequently occasioned thereby. Sight is liable to be affected in association with both these conditions. Apart from them, however, lesions of the eye are often occasioned by chronic lead poisoning. Unilateral or bilateral optic neuritis is met with, and more frequently an affection of the optic nerve (retro-bulbar neuritis) very similar to that occasioned by tobacco and other agents producing “toxic amblyopia.” Recovery from these last-named (peripheral) conditions is frequent. Palsy of one or more of the eye muscles has been met with.

3. _Diseases due to occupations involving exposure to
excessive light or heat, or both, such as burnishers, steel
melters, electric welders, etc._

Silver, either the metal or electro, when finished, has a very highly reflecting surface. The most important for our purpose of the processes by which silver goods have to be brought to the proper polish, is the finishing or burnishing. This is usually done by girls, who brighten the surface with a blunt tool. These girls are frequently the subjects of hyperæsthesia of the retina, by which they are often compelled to relinquish the work entirely. Coloured glasses and correction of refractive errors help in some cases. Those engaged in the process called “buffing” suffer in a similar manner.

Excessive heat associated with intensity of light is met with in iron and steel works in the different processes connected with the making of the iron, and the converting of it into steel. There is, I think, no definite evidence that men exposed to the heat and glare of the furnaces or from the molten metal suffer materially in their eyesight, though some assert that disease of the background of the eye is occasioned in some instances. The men are, in consequence of the heat, prone to sweat a great deal, and frequently wear little clothing above the waist. The temperatures before which they work are, to an outsider, something almost astounding, especially if he remembers that the temperature of an ordinary well-lighted fire in a grate is about 500° F. There would seem to be a very marked difference in the way a temperature is borne, when it is below 2000° F., and when above it. Up to that figure a man can look at the metal in a furnace with comparative ease, but before it gets to 3000° F. he is compelled to wear coloured glasses when doing so. A friend, at some large iron and steel works, gave me the following notes: “In dealing with cast iron, the heat of the metal would be about 1800° to 2000°, and the men employed take no precautions. The heat of the molten metal would be about 2700° to 2800°, while the heat of the gases in the furnace would be about 200° or 300° more. The furnacemen have to wear deep blue glasses to protect their eyes from the glare of the furnace. With this precaution we have not observed their eyes to suffer in any marked degree. The heat of Bessemer metal is about 3000° F. to 3200° F.; in this case there is not the same necessity as in the Siemens to watch the hot metal, consequently the men do not wear glasses. We do not observe any ill effects directly traceable to the heat. In the case of the Siemens men, I should say that without protection the eyes would suffer considerably. After looking at a Siemens’ furnace without glasses, it is several minutes before the eye can see ordinary things again.”

There is, moreover, a further difference between the two processes, viz., Bessemer and Siemens. The former has, as just mentioned, the higher temperature and the more dazzling glare, but the steel is melted and the process completed in about twenty minutes, and it is only necessary for one man to take close observations, and this he does by means of a spectroscope, and is as far as 30 feet from the molten metal. The Siemens process takes ten hours, and during this period the whole of those engaged will, as the door is frequently drawn up, be taking observations to see whether the melting is proceeding properly. This is constant and regular work, and they are obliged to use coloured glasses.

In addition, in these large works, are the castings, forgings, rolling of armour plates, and many other things. A huge forging, of perhaps 60 or 80 tons, is drawn out of a furnace with a temperature of from 2000° to 2500° F., and placed under a powerful hydraulic press of 10,000 tons power, where, with the men all around, it is hammered with as much apparent ease as putty is manipulated by one’s fingers.

The glare and dazzling in the Bessemer and Siemens processes must be seen to be realised. Generally speaking, in fact almost always, it would seem as if the men engaged in these various kinds of work could submit to exposure to the high temperatures and intense lights with impunity, if they will only use coloured glasses when employed with the higher temperatures and the more dazzlingly bright lights. Occasionally, however, one meets with men who appear incapable of continuing to bear these conditions. They feel their eyes painful, and it is some time after cessation of labour before the discomfort passes away. Such as these have sometimes to seek another occupation. On the other hand, the readiness with which, it may be after an accident to one eye, men will often return to their employment before the furnace or fire, is surprising.

Glassblowers are asserted to be frequently the subjects of cataract, and it has been sought to connect this tendency with the powerful heats to which their work exposes them, and also to the sweating which accompanies it. They work around open-mouthed furnaces and close to pots of molten glass, and are thus exposed to intense heat and light. I have, however, seen something of glass-blowers from time to time, and my experience, whilst it does not allow me to support this assertion of the frequency of cataract among these men, may be regarded as too limited to contradict the statements which other observers have made. Should extreme heat and consequent loss of moisture be regarded as sufficient causes for the production of cataract, then it should be found especially among iron and steel workers. My experience does not, however, show that this is the case.

_Exposure to Electric Light._--Several instances have been recorded showing the serious effects on the eyes of those exposed to the glare of this powerful light. The following may be mentioned.[173] Two men were employed on an electric street railway. One man thrust a blade of a screwdriver into a motor cylinder and “immediately he was flashed by the powerful light and stunned by the powerful current.” When seen five hours after, the eyelids were closed and he was suffering intense pain, but he was able to resume his work next day. The second man struck a “live electrical circuit” with a steel file, and instantly there was a flash of light and he was rendered unconscious. The eyelashes were singed and the arms burnt, and there was great pain. It was not until the fifth day that he could return to work. A more severe case[174] is reported of a man engaged as engineer in the power-house of an electric car line. He was using a wrench to some machinery, when accidentally his elbow came into contact with another machine forming a short circuit. The whole electrical force--1000 ampères--used to propel the cars several miles, passed down the forearm and out at the elbow. The electrical discharge was succeeded by a loud report following an intense flash of light. The man was knocked down, but only lost consciousness for a few seconds. When seen an hour after, the skin of the arms, hands, face, and neck, in fact, of all exposed parts, was burnt; the effects were like those caused by boiling water; the eyelashes and eyebrows were burnt off. The ocular conjunctiva looked as if a strong solution of nitrate of silver had been applied to it, and the corneæ had the appearance of ground-glass, especially in the centres, so that the impression was given that they were both destroyed. It was, however, found that only the epithelial layers were affected. Ultimately sight was recovered, but photophobia remained for some time.

Of the many ways that the electric light is liable to be injurious may be mentioned that of _electric welding_. This process is one that is becoming very largely used in iron works, and it effects its purpose so rapidly that it is likely to find still further employment. I have met with many men who have suffered from exposure to the intense light emitted in electric welding. On several occasions the opportunity has been given me of witnessing the process. The heat produced is so intense that metal runs at once like solder. So rapidly, indeed, is this effected that, without seeing the process, it seems incredible. To protect the eyes from the intensity of the light, the onlookers use large shields with glass in the centre arranged in alternate layers of blue and red, there being four thicknesses. The man engaged in working the process in one factory with which I am acquainted, uses a helmet to protect his head and face. In the front of the helmet is a glass window made up of six layers, alternately red and blue. At another place the men stand behind a wooden screen about 4 ft. high, with a sliding top, in which is a glass window for the workman to observe the work upon which he is engaged. The sliding top can be raised or lowered according to the height of the man or the nature of the exact work to be done. The window is made up of four thicknesses of glass, two green and two blue, and there is a plain glass fixed in front of these, as it can be more easily replaced, this being required by the liability of the front glass to be spoilt by deposit on its surface. This arrangement protects the man much more than the helmet. The men’s trousers may be burnt by the metal splashing on them, and this screen gives more protection than the helmet would do. The top part of the screen is narrower than the bottom, to enable the men to get their arms freely round it so as to work on the metal in front, and the broad lower part forms a rest for their arms. Any parts of the body which are exposed to the light may get burnt, and many suffer severely in this way. If the eyes “catch” the light they feel the effects at once, but the worst generally does not come on until some hours afterwards, and most men will say that the most acute stage is during the night succeeding the exposure. The eyes feel swollen and as if filled with burning sand, and the pain is very severe. There is swelling of lids; so much so that they cannot be opened, and there is lachrymation. All night the pain will last, but the next day the worst will be over, and often by a day more the eyes will be quite right again.

Terrier and Malakoff have each published very interesting observations bearing on this subject, as has also Wildmark. The latter especially appears to have settled the point as to whether in these cases it is the heat or chemical rays that act so hurtfully. Taking advantage of the different actions of glass and crystal--the former absorbing chemical rays, the latter, or crystal, allowing them to pass--he showed that if a pencil of light before reaching the skin was made to pass through a disc of glass, in the centre of which was a hole filled with a small disc of crystal, the redness of the skin was observed only in the central area, a proof of its dependence on the chemical rays. Malakoff pointed out that though the light was so intensely dazzling the thermometer was only raised 2° C. at a metre distant, but it must be borne in mind, however, as a workman mentioned to me recently, that the metal acted upon during welding becomes very hot, so that standing close by is hardly possible.

Some idea, also, may be given of the heat involved in electric welding by the following data, supplied to me by an experienced electrical engineer. He stated that, at one works, the temperature during electric welding would measure about 3000° C. (7000° F.), and that it was not an unusual thing to measure 3000° C. in an electric furnace. In the absence of photometric measurements, he assumed the luminosity of the arc for electric welding would be about 8000 candle-power.

The action of the electric light upon the eye is to all appearances confined chiefly to the conjunctival or corneal surfaces. Very possibly, however, it occasions also a hyperæmia of the retina, and one case is on record of a boy who got a central scotoma from looking at an electric light placed in the roof, like those resulting from the action of direct sunlight.

With the prudent use of the protectors mentioned the light can be observed with little risk of injury.

4. _Injuries or accidents amongst grinders, iron and steel
workers, masons, coal miners, weavers, etc._

It is difficult to obtain anything like accurate statistics as to the numbers blinded by accident. Magnus, in his tables, makes 8.5 per cent. of all cases of blindness as due to accident. In this calculation no count is made of those blind in one eye only, and the far larger number who have sustained permanent injury in varying degrees short of blindness; and even if such a computation were true for the community generally, the number must be greatly exceeded in large and populous centres, especially in those in which iron and steel are important industries.

A brief reference only to statistics is necessary. Mr Watson, the able Secretary of the Miners’ Permanent Benefit Fund, has given me the following figures as to the proportionate frequency of eye accidents among miners, to other accidents. In all these accidents the miners have been rendered unfitted from continuing their work, at least temporarily. The figures are for fifteen years arranged in periods of five years. The number of non-fatal accidents dealt with is 48,262.

+-------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| Period. | No. of | No. to Eye. | Percentage.|
| | Accidents. | | |
+-------------+------------+-------------+------------+
|1884 to 1888 | 16,870 | 857 | 5.08 |
|1889 to 1893 | 12,768 | 670 | 5.24 |
|1894 to 1898 | 18,624 | 979 | 5.25 |
+-------------+------------+-------------+------------+
| Total | 48,262 | 2506 | 5.19 |
+-------------+------------+-------------+------------+

The average yearly membership for each period was--1884 to 1888, 22,410; 1889 to 1893, 17,876; and 1894 to 1898, 23,005.

The Equalised Druids Society gives to those of its members who are permanently incapacitated from following their employment a grant of £100. The number of cases of all accidents in which this grant was made during the last five years was 57, and of that number it was given seven times owing to eye accidents.

My own infirmary figures also testify to the large number of eye accidents annually occurring in the district with which I am more particularly acquainted. Of the last 2554 patients who have passed through my wards at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, 2038 were men, and 516 women. Of the 2038 men, 622 were admitted for accident, or 30.52 per cent. This percentage has kept fairly uniform, but at periods of great trade activity the ratio of accidents to other cases admitted has gone up. Of the 516 women, only 36, or 6.9 per cent., were for accidents. The important part occupation bears to the number of eye accidents is well illustrated by these statistics. The men not only exceeded the women very largely in actual numbers, but still more so by percentage, this latter being six times as great as for the women.

In many trades associated with iron and steel in all its varieties, small foreign bodies are very prone to become lodged in the workmen’s corneæ. I take, as an example, the grinders. In the course of the day a grinder may get several “motes,” as he calls them, fixed in his eye, or days may elapse without such a mishap. If the cornea of a grinder be examined carefully with a magnifying glass, it will not infrequently be found to be studded over with minute nebulæ. Although the damage done by each foreign body may often not be serious, yet frequent repetition, by dulling the cornea, will, in many cases, diminish the acuteness of vision. These particles may either be small fragments of stone, or, much more frequently, small portions of steel or emery, which latter is used as a wheel for glazing cutlery, and for other purposes. Of the two varieties of grinding, the dry grinders are more exposed to injury from foreign bodies than the wet grinders. A grinder sits across his bench, or “horse,” and presses the knife or razor blade on the stone. The wet prevents the particles from flying about a good deal, but still a man’s face becomes, as he works, bespattered; nevertheless, a _wet_ grinder seldom gets motes in his eyes. In _dry_ grinding the sparks fly freely, and it is evident that very minute particles of steel or stone are being projected about, and it is the merest chance whether they hit the man’s eye or face, or scatter about the room. The fans, which it is well known have for many years been required in the grinding trade in consequence of its deleterious effects upon the health of the operatives, must be regarded as in some measure a protection. It is interesting to observe the remarkable manner in which a fan draws into it the sparks and particles flying from the wheel. There can, moreover, be no question that the grinder derives considerable immunity from motes by the employment of protective glasses. Grinders admit the protection they afford. If further testimony be needed, it can be found in the condition of the glasses, after having been used for some time by a grinder: they are studded over with small dots occasioned by the impact of the motes.

In the great majority of instances the damage occasioned to the grinder or other operative in which similar mishaps occur is not attended with serious results. The immediate injury may, however, be serious, either directly or indirectly, by the ulceration that ensues. There is another way, also, in which injury results. A man once said to me, pointing to his damaged finger, “This would not have happened if something had not got into my eye, because I could not see my finger on the circular saw.” The operatives, in all the various trades in which iron and steel are used, are liable, though to a less degree than the grinders, to get these motes into their eyes.

In all the large works there are men who have a reputation for their skill in the removal of these motes. The instruments they use are of various kinds--for instance, a blunt lancet, blade of pocket knife, or a pin. Generally speaking, they are unsuitable. In many instances the motes are skilfully removed; in others, there is a good deal of bungling, and not infrequently cases come under observation in which sloughing corneal ulcers have resulted.

It seemed to me not unlikely that septic conditions were set up in consequence of the uncleanly instruments which were so often employed. Dr Shennan of Edinburgh kindly undertook a bacteriological examination of some of these instruments for me. I collected 22 tools used by different men, and Dr Shennan examined the majority of these. Taking all in all, he found nothing pathogenic excepting the staphylococcus pyogenes albus, whose virulence is comparatively slight. Of course there are many sources besides these tools by which a corneal wound may become septic. But good should result if a cleanly and suitable instrument could be made available to the men who remove motes. In some of the works a case, made at my suggestion, is provided, containing iridium-platinum blunt-pointed spuds, together with a small spirit lamp, with directions printed on the inside of the case, saying that before use the extremity of the spud should be sterilised by heating it in the flame of the spirit lamp, or if this be not accessible, in a gas or other flame which may be at hand.

By far the most serious eye accidents happen to men engaged in working iron or steel. The following figures exhibit this in a very lurid light:--

_Steel and Iron._

Steel and iron splinters, rivet
chips, pieces of drill, file, wire,
etc. 173
Nail 5

_Burns._

Metal sparks, flashes, etc. 43
Lime 8
Gas explosion 1
Ammonia 1
Gunpowder 4
Cinder 1
Poker 1

_Miscellaneous._

Dynamite, and dynamite explosion
and cartridge 6
Wood, sticks, and peggy 13
Hook 1
Knife 8
Glass, soda-water bottles, etc. 15
Pick 5
Stone 24
Fork 7
Pin 1
Fist 3
Branch of tree 1
Crane handle 1
Cork 2
Cinder 4
Coal 11
Straw 1
Cat’s claw 1
Sand 1
Ball 1
Pen 2
Firework 1
Boiling oil 1
Tin 2
Band strap 2
Band buckle 2
Chain 1
Kick 1
Brick 1
Thorn 2
Elastic, piece of 1
----
Total 359
====

Out of this total of 359 eye accidents to males, taken from the records for this purpose consecutively, which were so serious as to require admission to my wards at the Sheffield Royal Infirmary, no fewer than 173 were caused by iron or steel, pieces of rivet, of drill, wire, and many other means associated with the iron and steel trades. There were also 43 due to burns from molten metal, sparks, flashes, etc. I am not sure, also, whether to the former number should not be added 5 put down as caused by nails, as most, if not all of them, would have occurred to iron or steel workers.

The opportunities for the infliction of severe injuries to iron and steel workers are multitudinous. They occur in all branches of the trade, in the lighter iron and steel industries as well as in the heavy trades where armour plates and heavy castings of scores of tons are made. A very large proportion of the accidents are occasioned by what is called “chipping” and “fettling.” “Dressing” is the name given in some parts to this process. This work consists in chipping the rough edges from iron and steel castings, ingots, and all kinds of steel and iron work, and among other things, even the large armour plates.

Castings of either iron, steel, or brass are the most dangerous to work upon, because the chippings fly about on account of the metal being brittle. It is very dangerous chipping castings in the corners, or where the “chipping” strikes the metal and rebounds. Chippings from the castings are about ¼ inch to ¾ inch long, and very sharp. When chipping thin plates on the edges, the chippings are sometimes 1, 2, or 3 inches long before they break off. All castings are “fettled” at the foundry, that is, the runners are cut off, and the places where the metal has run at the joint of the moulding boxes are trimmed off.

Whatever be the special kind of metal or steel to be fettled, the manner in which it is done is practically the same. A hammer and chisel, or sate, are used, and with these the roughnesses are removed. Frequently, also, whilst one man places the chisel, another, or even two others, called “strikers,” will use a hammer. I understand that at works where say 1000 men are employed, 200 or more will be occupied more or less in “chipping.” Many men are frequently working close to each other, so that the danger is not only to the worker himself, but to those around. Passers-by are by no means infrequently the victims. The chipper himself is often hit by the rebound of the splinter after it has struck some other object. It must be recollected, also, that in the process spoken of, the danger is not merely from the iron or steel which is being operated upon; there are three other places from which splinters may be given off and cause injury, namely, the hammer head, the chisel head, and the chisel point.

It is obvious that men engaged in work which causes the splinters to fly about so freely, should be so placed as not to be chipping against their fellow-workmen, or in a direction from which passers-by may approach. This is managed in some works by getting the men to chip against a wall, though not too close to it, or, again, by interposing a canvas screen between sets of workmen.

The sizes of the splinters spoken of vary from the most minute to others measuring some inches in length, and they may be thick or thin. The injury inflicted differs, of course, in accordance with the size of the missile and the force with which it is projected. The small fragments may be thrown off with such velocity that they penetrate the eyeball and become embedded in its interior, in some instances passing through the eyelid before reaching the globe. The destruction to sight in this way is very large. I have myself removed from the globe, with my electro-magnet, more than two hundred fragments of steel and iron. One was no heavier than 0.0015 gr.; several were as light as 0.0030 gr. and 0.0046 gr. The largest weighed 36 grs., and there were two others 12 and 9 grs. respectively. It would be out of place to refer here to the results of the extraction of this number of foreign bodies with the electro-magnet. It will suffice to say, that many eyes have been saved by its employment which otherwise would have been hopelessly lost. The injury to the eyeball occasioned by the large chippings may be so extensive that the eye is at once irreparably damaged, or so injured that removal of the globe will subsequently be necessitated.

The dangers of chipping may be minimised by adopting a pneumatic chipper. In some works, for chipping ingots I have seen one at work on a large casting. It has the advantage of accomplishing in one hour what, by hand, would take six or seven hours. It certainly prevented the flying about of splinters in a remarkable manner. They merely curled up and rolled over. It more resembled using a cheese-scoop in a fairly soft cheese than running any tool over hard steel. Up to the present these pneumatic tools have not been successful for “chipping” the rough edges from steel castings.

Another class of severe injuries which are of common occurrence are burns from molten metal. Sparks and flashes fly about freely in almost every instance that molten metal is run into the moulds, but on some occasions, of course, more so than in others, and the portions given off vary much also in size. Injuries caused in this manner were no fewer than 43 out of the 359 consecutive accidents in males admitted into the Sheffield Royal Infirmary. In the forgings, also, great or small, when the iron or steel is being hammered either by hand, or, in the case of larger castings, by a steam or hydraulic hammer, portions are given off from the glowing metal, and those working and the bystanders are exposed to danger of burns.

The knowledge which I have acquired from contact with working men who have been injured, and from periodical visits to the principal works, has long since satisfied me that much of the destructive injury to sight is preventable, and that means should be adopted to lessen the risks to sight which are at present associated with important industries. There is less difficulty in enlisting the support of the employers than in gaining the assent of the men to the adoption of precautionary measures. I know of one firm who make it compulsory on men engaged in “chipping,” “fettling,” “turning,” and other work in which iron and steel splinters are liable to fly off and endanger sight, to wear protectors, which are provided at the expense of the firm. This decision was taken in consequence of a workman being blinded by a chipping.

In considering what kind of protectors men should use, it must be borne in mind that the cost must be very moderate, and that sight should be interfered with as little as possible, if at all. Among iron-workers, glass is practically out of the question. Even thick rock crystal, which has been suggested for some kinds of work, in consequence of its thickness and peculiar manner of fracture, would hardly do. Gauze wire, fitting close to the eye like a cup and attached to the head by a string, is employed by stonebreakers and in some ironworks. Complaint is made of such protectors as being hot and interfering with sight, but there is no question that they afford considerable immunity from accident. Another practical point about protectors is that they should not be liable to rust. For this reason galvanised iron wire, or better, aluminium wire, is of service. The mesh should be sufficiently strong and fine, and sufficiently close to prevent, as far as possible, even small chippings passing through it, and yet to interfere with sight as little as need be. I have had experiments made by allowing men engaged in fettling to “chip” against wire gauze which has been suspended for the purpose, to ascertain how far a mesh answered before deciding to adopt a given size. I have had this netting made[175] into protectors which cover the eyes and adjacent parts. The portion over each eye is bulged forward so as to allow very free play to the eye underneath; the convex surface is a greater protection than one merely flat would be. I have supplied workmen with these protectors, who have used them when chipping, steel melting, and in other dangerous iron and steel work. I learn that they are regarded as satisfactory, that they answer their purpose well as protectors, and that the interference with sight is very little.[176]

I would sum up my suggestions as to the means for protection as follows:--

1. The grinder will find that large glasses made of plain glass, or, indeed, his own spectacles, should his refraction require their use, will afford great protection. Or he may use other protectors, made with glass in front, and gauze surrounding it.

2. The use of protectors should be compulsory for those workers in iron or steel whose employment renders them liable to be injured by iron or steel splinters, or who are exposed to danger from molten metal.

The gauze eye-shield I have described will, I believe, answer the purpose well. The cost is low, and it is worth the employers’ while to supply their men with them.

Other means to be adopted are:--

(_a_) The use of a pneumatic chipper whenever practicable; (_b_) the proper arranging of the men at their work; and (_c_) the use of screens, so as to avoid injury to their fellow-workmen and to passers-by.

It is my belief that a consideration of the facts here advanced will lead to the conviction I have myself long held--that very many eye accidents associated with trades are preventable, and to the view that preventive means should be adopted.

In addition to the classes of workmen more particularly alluded to in the foregoing remarks on eye accidents and their prevention, the following occupations may be briefly touched upon.

_Coal miners_ are prone to be injured by portions of coal striking the eye, and either becoming embedded in the cornea (like the grinders’ motes) or causing abrasion of the surface, or wounds of the eyeball. Eye injuries in the miner appear to be more than usually prone to become septic. Injury may also be occasioned by splinters flying from the pick point, and either sticking in the cornea or penetrating and becoming lodged in the eyeball, in a similar manner to that which happens in “chippers.”

_Agriculturists_ are liable to eye accidents in many ways. In “hedging” injury is often caused by the eye being struck by branches or twigs of bushes, or a thorn may wound the surface or penetrate and remain lodged in the interior of the globe. In threshing and chaff-cutting, among other processes, the lodgment of foreign bodies under the eyelids may occur, or abrasion of the surface of the eye be effected. A special form of ophthalmia has been described as occurring among _hop pickers_. It is characterised by muco-purulent discharge and swelling of the lids. Dr Percy Adams, who has described this affection, considers it is caused by the introduction into the conjunctival sac, or into the cornea, of the small, thorn-like, hairy processes which are found on the hop leaves, bracts, and bines.

It may be generally stated that all engaged in dusty occupations are prone to have their eyes irritated or to suffer from conjunctivitis. This is the case, for instance, in a very dusty coal mine, a dust-laden flour mill, etc.

All workers with stone are liable to eye injury from portions of stone flying off and striking the eye, as they are also from splinters coming from the chisel or hammer. Stonecutters are very liable to have motes in their eyes, and more rarely the injury is much more serious. Stone-masons, masons, bricklayers, and stonebreakers come under this class. Protectors are sometimes used by stonebreakers at their work. Stone “cutting” or “dressing” in the streets is often a source of danger to the passers-by as well as to the workers themselves. Such work should be so arranged that the cutting or dressing is directed against a hoarding or wall.

In the preparation of grindstones there is considerable danger to sight. “Millstone building,” in which buhrstone is used, is only a small and decaying industry. Buhrstone comes from France in blocks, which have to be chiselled into wedges to form sections of the circular millstone, which are joined by cement and bound round with hoops of iron. Pieces of stone or tool are liable, during the process of chiselling, to fly about and endanger eyesight.[177]

The workers in quarries are exposed to dangers to eyesight like the cutters and dressers of stone, but the fragments will frequently be larger. Another danger is added, viz., that of blasting. The gravity of the injury inflicted varies considerably. In some, powder grains are studded about the face and eyelids and embedded in the front of the eyeball, occasioning serious danger to sight. In others, the injury may be so severe that sight is irrecoverably lost. It is unfortunate, also, that not infrequently in these serious accidents both eyes are implicated. The same dangers apply to all kinds of work in which explosives are used for blasting purposes, whether above or under ground, as, for instance, in the latter, coal and ironstone mining.

There are only a few parts of the country where ganister is obtained. The largest works of the sort are situated at Deepcar, near Sheffield. The effect of the fine powder produced in the processes required for making the bricks is recognised as hurtful to the lungs of the employés engaged. Besides this, however, the extreme hardness of ganister necessitates blasting, and this is mostly done by dynamite. Two men, within a short time of each other, came under my observation, who had been blinded from this blasting. This occurrence induced me to pay a visit to the ganister works. I found ganister was obtained by quarrying and also underground, where it is found lying underneath a seam of coal. In “scrapping” or breaking the ganister into smaller pieces there is a danger of pieces striking the face or eye, a greater risk probably than in ordinary stone-breaking. The ganister is afterwards broken, in a machine, into small portions. Fragments not infrequently fly off, and might cause injury. From this machine the ganister goes to another, where it is ground quite small and churned up into a thick pea-soup consistence, whence it is taken and placed where the bricks are made, and afterwards burnt in a kiln heated to 2000° F. The dangers attending the working of ganister are not so great as to call for special notice, and, moreover, the industry is a small one.

Burns caused by lime must be mentioned. All workers with lime and mortar are exposed to this danger from these substances getting into their eyes, resulting sometimes in destruction of the cornea and adhesions of the eyelids to the globe. Masons, plasterers, and bricklayers belong to this class. Besides the actual burning, the irritating qualities of lime and cement may occasion conjunctivitis, with ulceration of cornea, and endanger sight.

In wire-drawing, not infrequently the breaking of the wire is a cause of eye accident. The wire is put on a reel, and passed through the plate, and wound round the wire-drawing block. During this process, the tension is, of necessity, very great, but of course depends on the size of the wire. Generally speaking, it is three-fourths of the breaking strain of the wire. If the wire breaks on this block, the “back-lash” may strike a man on the face or head, and then also the last end of the piece might slip and strike a man. The wire is not likely to break until it has passed through the wire-plate or “wortle.”

In the weaving shops one peculiar danger to which persons working are subject is the liability to be struck in the face, or, more especially, in the eye by flying shuttles. This risk has been known and appreciated for many years. The matter formed the subject of a report ordered by the House of Commons in April 1891.

Since then, greater attention has been paid to the provision of guards to prevent accidents. There are many patterns of guards on the market. In principle they are of two classes: 1st, what are known as wing guards, that is, a wire screen of fine mesh canvas placed between the looms. In this case should the shuttle fly, it would be caught by the wing, and thus danger to the weaver at the adjacent loom is obviated. The other system is to provide a rod on the traversing beam which is always over the beam of the shuttle. Should there be a tendency for the shuttle to rise, this would prevent it. With most guards of this description it is practically impossible for any shuttle to fly, but in less efficient ones the shuttle may escape. If it does so, however, it will always be at a low angle, and instead of striking the worker at the adjoining loom or any passer-by in the face or dangerous part, it will simply strike the clothing, and little or no serious result need be anticipated. Since the adoption of these guards the percentage of accidents has been very appreciably reduced.

In a recent case of serious eye injury to a young girl, it was ascertained that the guard for some reason or other had been left off, and the shuttle had flown up and struck her. The liability to accident among these operatives is shown by the statement of this girl, that she had been struck once before on the eyebrow, and at least twenty times on other parts of the body. All the girls working with her had also been struck several times. She had, however, in five years only known of one serious eye injury similar to her own.

In the manufacture of aerated waters there is danger to eyesight from the bursting of the bottles. The industry is carried on extensively in most of the larger towns. Usually the bottles or syphons are filled by machinery, and, in a similar manner, the cork is inserted, or some other method is adopted for sealing the bottles, whether it be a glass ball or screw stopper. If “wiring” is needed, it is then done and the label attached. In addition the bottles are “sighted,” or held up to the light, to see that they leave the factory clean. Another process consists in cleaning the returned empties. In all these processes, but especially so in “bottling,” there is danger of the bottles bursting, and inflicting serious injury to the eye, or cuts on the face or body from the fragments of broken glass. To obviate these dangers the use of faceguards or eye protectors is absolutely necessary, and all machines used for bottling or corking should be fenced round. The manufacture of aerated waters was reported on by the Dangerous Trades Committee (1896),[178] who recommended that all bottlers, wirers, sighters, and labellers, whilst at work, should be provided with faceguards, masks, or veils of wire-gauze. They also recommended the providing of gauntlets for the arms. They further advised the fencing of all machines for bottling, to avoid the possibility of fragments of a bursting bottle striking any worker.

_Bursting of Water-Gauges on Boilers._--Many cases of serious eye injury have come under my notice from the breaking of water-gauges. The liability to danger exists in every description of steam boiler, and breakages frequently occur. Injury may be occasioned by fragments of glass or from scalding, owing to the escape of boiling water and steam. Protection of some sort is necessary. Encasing the gauge in wire netting would suffice to prevent injury from fragments of glass, but it would still allow of the escape of steam and water. Another method is to surround the gauge with a metal casing, in front of which is inserted a window of plate glass to permit of the gauge being visible. A man of considerable experience suggested to me that this metal casing should be left open at the back, so that, in the event of the water-gauge glass breaking, the force of the explosion would be sent backwards. Too frequently no safeguard has been provided, but men occasionally devise means of protection themselves.

SIMEON SNELL.