Chapter XC: Appendix: Special Rules (5)

[40] The deafness of a stupid boy or girl is not usually the result of a defect in the organ--but rather of brain-organisation. It requires intelligence and often training to hear well--that is to say, to receive impressions and interpret them rapidly.

[41] The question as to whether alcohol is a food is too large to discuss here. There is nothing to show that alcohol itself contributes to the building up of the body. Breaking down in the system into carbonic acid and water, it supplies warmth, thereby aiding the vital force; and by sparing the fat which should perform this function, and allowing it to be deposited in the tissues, it adds to the body weight, and is therefore indirectly a food.

[42] _Decennial Supplement to the 55th Report of the Registrar-General_, Part II. By John Tatham, M.A., M.D. Eyre and Spottiswoode.

[43] _Hygiene and Diseases of Occupations_, by Dr Arlidge, p. 306. Percival & Co.

[44] These figures relate exclusively to Lancashire, which is the seat of the cotton industry.

[45] Dr Ogle’s Decennial Supplement to the 45th Report of the Registrar-General.

[46] There is also the opinion that beriberi is nothing else than arsenical poisoning, but this awaits confirmation. T. O.

[47] Note that in all cases I have given the nearest round figures in order to avoid encumbering the figures with fractions.

[48] By the addition of the words “or other appliance” to the definition of “mill-gearing,” the Act of 1901, Sec. 156, would now appear to include all belts by which the first moving power is communicated to any machine in the expression “mill-gearing.”

[49] To show the importance of following this injunction, it is only necessary to mention an accident recorded in the _Electrical Review_. While a man was cleaning an electric street lamp at Boston he received a shock and was killed, his body being suspended from the wires. A man who endeavoured to remove the body came in contact with it, and was dashed to the ground with such violence that he died shortly afterwards.

[50] _Metals_, Huntington and M’Millan, p. 124.

[51] This process is more fully described on p. 313.

[52] _Bulletin de l’Inspection du Travail_, 1901, No. 1., p. 77.

[53] According to the Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1897, there were 370 cases of plumbism reported as having occurred during 1897 in white lead works. The average number of persons employed in such works was, in 1896, 2499, and of these some were engaged in the manufacture of red and yellow lead. One person out of seven of those employed in white lead works suffered from plumbism during that year. For 1898 the statistics as indicated below did not show any abatement, a circumstance which led to a communication being sent from the Home Secretary to the manufacturers as to the desirability of replacing the old stoves by others of newer design, and the introduction of other mechanical and structural arrangements with effective precautions.

Month. Males. Females. Total.
January 14 31 45
February 22 14 36
March 13 24 37
April 14 19 33
May 18 28 46
June 21 9 30
July 28 9 37
August 31 5 36
September 67 1 68
October 38 2 40
November 34 1 35
December 46 1 47

This table shows the transference of the incidence of plumbism from female to male operatives. Since the introduction of new stoves for drying, also other methods of mixing white lead, plumbism has considerably decreased.

[54]

NUMBER OF PERSONS, male and female, employed in white lead
manufacture in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne district during two years
previous to the abolition of female labour, 1898, and two years
since. Supplied by Mr H. J. Wilson, H.M. Inspector of Factories.

+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | 1896. | 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | 1900. | +-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+-------+---------+ |Males. | Females.|Males. | Females.|Males. | Females.|Males. | Females.|Males. | Females.| | 328 | 565 | 329 | 571 | 648 | 350 | 741 | 227 | 769 | 231 | | \ | / | \ | / | \ | / | \ | / | \ | / | | 893 | 900 | 998 | 968 | 1000 | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+

Instead, therefore, of the number of hands employed in the white lead industry in this district having diminished since the abolition of female labour in the dangerous processes, the total number employed is greater now than five years ago.

[55] Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Factories, 1897, p. 53.

[56] _Journal of Hygiene_, vol. i., p. 104, quoted by Dr Morison Legge.

[57] “Lead Poisoning.” Gulstonian Lectures, delivered at Royal College of Physicians, by Thomas Oliver, M.D. Published by Young J. Pentland, Edinburgh.

[58] _British Medical Journal_, 22nd September 1900.

[59] Oliver, in Allbutt’s _System of Medicine_, vol. ii., “Lead Poisoning.”

[60] Combe’s method in use in Paris, see p. 290.

[61] Messrs Locke, Blackett & Co.

[62] Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Factories, 1900, p. 313.

[63] “Die in electrisch. akkumulator fabriken”; Dr Wutzdorff--_Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte_, 1898.

[64] _Encycloped. d’Hygiène_, p. 546.

[65] Quoted by Arlidge in _Diseases of Occupations_.

[66] “Dust from rafters contained 2.64 per cent. metallic lead; top of stock, 14.82, and 22.28 per cent.; from floor under the stock, 2.63, and 4.37 per cent.”--Dangerous Trades Committee’s Fourth Interim Report, p. 29.

[67] Lead Compounds in Pottery: Report to Secretary of State for Home Department, by Professor T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., and Professor T. Oliver, M.D., 1899.

[68] By the term fritted lead is meant a compound of raw lead, silica, and boric acid, etc., fused together at a very high temperature. The product resembles glass in appearance, and is sparingly soluble in acids. It is this substance which, when pulverised and mixed with water and fine clay, can be used as a glaze for coating earthenware. (See p. 349.)

[69] This was written before the Arbitration Meeting at Stoke-on-Trent in November 1901.

[70] In a Parliamentary paper published in February 1902, the number of cases of lead poisoning occurring in earthenware and china works is stated to be 106, _i.e._, 94 less than in the previous year.

[71] Dr MacAldowie, Senior Physician to the North Staffordshire Infirmary, does not regard lead poisoning in the Potteries as the serious malady it is generally believed to be. From 1891 to 1900 the in-patients of the Infirmary numbered 19,505: of these, 213 were lead poisoned patients, of whom 6 died. During the same period there were 91,748 out-patients, of whom 353 were lead poisoned; all recovered. Dr MacAldowie is of opinion that lead poisoning is a curable malady and seldom fatal. Also, that there is greater danger to health by the operatives being exposed to minute than large quantities of lead. Dealing with the low standard solubility of the fritt recommended in our Report, he says: “The proposed extreme reduction in solubility may be fraught with grave danger in the operatives. Where there is prolonged and continuous exposure to the action of lead its toxic effects are aggravated rather than minimized by minute doses.”

[72] “Ueber Bleivergiftungen der Arbeiten in Kachelofen-Fabriquen,” by Rasch. (_Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesund_, 1898, xiv., p. 81.)

[73] Factories and Workshops: Annual Reports for 1899 and 1900.

[74] Included in other Industries.

[75] _Hygiene and Public Health_, London, 1901.

[76] _Our Domestic Poisons_, London, 1879.

[77] _Hygiene Diseases and Mortality of Occupations_, London, 1872.

[78] See also Dr Tatham’s Remarks and Tables, p. 136, etc.

[79] Published by Messrs Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1899.

[80] _Use of Phosphorus in the Manufacture of Lucifer Matches_, 1899, published by Eyre & Spottiswoode.

[81] Holland passed a law, dated 28th May 1901, prohibiting the manufacture of phosphorus matches. This law, which came into force on 1st July 1901, not only prohibits the manufacture of phosphorus matches, but makes it illegal to convey or import them in larger quantity than 100 grammes, or to hold more than this quantity for sale. After January 1902 no such matches are to be kept in stock.

[82] _Hygiène des Professions et des Industries_ (Layet), p. 111.

[83] _British Medical Journal_, 1899, vol. ii., p. 270.

[84] As showing the extreme sensitiveness of the human mouth to phosphorus, I recite the following: Into the rather wide canal of the pipe of a friend who is a smoker there by chance entered a wax vesta, with its head pointing to the mouthpiece. Shortly after smoking the pipe my friend experienced a most unpleasant taste and disagreeable odour. He continued smoking. Next day he had violent toothache. On the second day so severe was the toothache that, on account of the suppurating gums, tender teeth, and painful jawbone, the dentist was obliged to extract five teeth. Although the teeth on their removal were slightly carious, there had been no toothache until the smoking of the pipe on the particular day. The acutely developed pain and rapid destruction of the gums must in this case have been principally caused by phosphorus fume.

[85] Extract from Dr T. Oliver’s Report to the Home Secretary, 20th January 1899.

[86] _Revue d’Hygiène et de Police Sanitaire._ Oct. 1899.

[87] In May 1901 I visited the match works at Pantin, near Paris, and found that as lucifer matchmaking was now regarded as a healthy employment, the regulations previously insisted upon had been very materially relaxed. Since the substitution of sesquisulphide for yellow phosphorus, there has been no illness among the workpeople traceable to their employment.

[88] _Histoire de l’Académie royale des Sciences pour l’Année_ 1719, Paris, 1721, p. 359.

[89] _Edinburgh Med. and Surg. Journ._, vol. viii., 1812, p. 376.

[90] _Untersuchungen über dem constitutionellen Mercurialismus_, by Adolf Kussmaul, Würzburg, 1861.

[91] “Ueber die giftigen Hutmacherbeizen und deren nachtheiligen Einfluss auf die Gesundheit,” by Dr J. Reitz.--_Zeitschrift für die Staatsarzneikunde_, 1829, p. 381.

[92] For description of the machine, see Third Interim Report of the Dangerous Trades Committee, p. 15: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1898.

[93] _Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichen Gesundheitsamte_, vol. v., p. 113.

[94] A. J. Kunkel, _Handbuch der Toxikologie_, p. 123.

[95] Sommerfeld, _Handbuch der Gewerbekrankheiten_, p. 502.

[96] See Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Factories for 1899, p. 138.

[97] Sommerfeld, _Handbuch der Gewerbekrankheiten_, p. 312.

[98] Quoted from _Die Spiegelbeleger_, by Dr H. Schaefer, p. 991, of vol. viii. of Weyl’s _Handbuch der Hygiene_.

[99] For a full description of the processes, see a report by Miss Deane and Miss Squire in the Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for the year 1898, p. 167.

[100] “Dangers du sécretage des poils par le mercure,” _Annales d’Hygiène_, December 1892.

[101] Reference will be found to this source of mercurial poisoning in America in the article on “Occupation Diseases,” by J. H. Lloyd, M.D., in _Twentieth Century Practice of Medicine_, vol. iii., p. 350.

[102] _Gefahren und Krankheiten in der chemischen Industrie_, by Ch. Heinzerling, vol. i., p. 212.

[103] _Manual of Dyeing_, by E. Knecht, C. Rawson, and R. Lœwenthal: C. Griffin, 1893.

[104] _Annales d’Hygiène publique_, vol. xx., p. 83.

[105] _Lancet_, 1854, i., p. 152.

[106] “Mémoire sur les accidents auxquels sont soumis les ouvriers employés à la fabrication des chromates,” _Annales d’Hygiène publique_, 1869, p. 5; and 1876, pp. 5 and 193.

[107] Report on the Condition of Labour in Chemical Works, the Dangers to Life and Health of the Workpeople Employed therein, and the Proposed Remedies: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1893.

[108] “Die in Chromatfabriken beobachtet an Gesundheitsschädigungen und die zur Verhütung derselben erforderlichen Massnahmen,” _Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichem Gesundheitsamte_, vol. xiii.

[109] “The Subsidences in and around the Town of Northwich in Cheshire,” by Thomas Ward, _Trans. Inst. Min. Eng._, vol. xix., p. 241.

[110] Karl Schmeisser, _The Goldfields of Australia_, translated by Henry Louis.

[111] _Statistik der Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft für das Deutsche Reich_, Berlin, 1897.

[112] _Trans. Inst. Min. Eng._, vol. xix., p. 21.

[113] _Trans. Inst. Min. Eng._, vol. xix., p. 27.

[114] _Berichte über die Verwaltung der Knappschafts-Berufsgenossenschaft_, Berlin.

[115] _Zeitschrift für das Berg-, Hütten- und Salinen-wesen im Preussischen Staate._

[116] _Jahrbuch für das Berg- und Hütten-wesen im Königreiche Sachsen._

[117] _Royaume de Belgique--Statistique de Mines, Minières, Carrières, etc._

[118] _Statistique de l’Industrie Minérale en France et en Algérie._

[119] _Rivista del Servizio Minerario._

[120] _The Mineral Industry_, 1898, p. 719.

[121] See also the Annual General Reports upon the Mineral Industry of the United Kingdom and Ireland for the years 1894, 1895, and 1896.

[122] Figures calculated from those given in the “Supplement to the Fifty-fifth Annual Report of the Registrar-General,” 1897. These figures refer to the years 1891–93.

[123] “Supplement to the Fifty-fifth Annual Report of the Registrar-General.”

[124] From statistics kindly supplied by the Secretary of the Association.

[125] Actuarial Report on the Northumberland and Durham Miners’ Permanent Relief Fund, 1897.

[126] _Loc. cit._

[127] In the Mines and Quarries Reports it is given as only 1.63, the difference being mainly due to the fact that in the Registrar-General’s returns, accidents not caused by the miners’ occupation are also included.

[128] _Annales des Mines de Belgique_, vol. v., p. 318. Bergassessor Hundt, “Die Bekämpfung der Wurmkrankheit (Ankylostomiasis) im Oberbergamtsbezirke Dortmund,” _Zeitschrift f. Berg. Hütt. u. Salinen-Wesen im Preussischen Staate_, 1898, p. 184.

[129] J. W. Hiene, “On the Effects of Copper on the Human Body,” _Brit. Ass. Rept._, 1900, p. 697.

[130] Dr Harting and Dr Hesse (quoted by C. Le Neve Foster, _Ore and Stone Mining_, p. 686).

[131] Report of Board of Inquiry at Broken Hill, Sydney, 1893.

[132] _Eleventh Census of the United States_, p. 238.

[133] _Trans. Inst. of Mining Engineers_, vol. xvi., 1899.

[134] _Air and Rain_, p. 167.

[135] See Haldane and Lorrain Smith, _Journal of Pathology_, vol. i., p. 168.

[136] See Clowes, _Detection of Inflammable Gas_, 1896.

[137] Report to the Home Secretary on the Causes of Death in Colliery Explosions and Fires: Parliamentary Paper, 1896.

[138] On the action of carbonic oxide, see papers by the writer in the _Journal of Physiology_, vol. xviii., pp. 200, 430; vol. xx., p. 497; vol. xxii., p. 231; vol. xxv., p. 225; also the above-mentioned Report to the Home Secretary, and Lorrain Smith, _British Medical Journal_, 1889, vol. i., p. 780.

[139] See the very interesting Report on the Snaefell Fire by Professor Le Neve Foster: Parliamentary Paper, 1897.

[140] See Mr Stokes’ Official Report: Parliamentary Paper, 1898.

[141] According to the last Annual Report of H.M. Twelve Inspectors of Mines and Quarries, over 61,000 individuals are engaged as quarry employés inside the quarry, _i.e._, inside the actual pit, hole, or excavation, and over 32,000 outside the quarry, _i.e._, outside the actual pit, hole, or excavation. In some districts a few females are engaged in quarry work.

[142] See Act to provide for the better regulation of quarries: Quarries Act, 1894.

[143] In giving the output of the various explosives, I have been most careful so to classify them as to avoid disclosures which might by any possibility be objected to by those members of the Explosives Trade to whose courtesy I owe the information. For instance, I have not even differentiated between gunpowder and high explosives, owing to the fact that the gunpowder trade is now concentrated in the hands of three or four firms.

[144] In the year 1899 alone 146 accidents with gunpowder in mines killed 15 persons and injured 148 others. Few, if any, of these were reported, and if multiplied by 10 and added to the casualties due to this explosive, the figures under heading No. 1 would be enormously increased.

[145] This is exclusive of accidents in factories which did not cause death or personal injury.

[146] The question as to whether electric firing should be rendered compulsory in dangerous mines is at present _sub judice_, and any expression of opinion on the matter would therefore be out of place, but it goes without saying that the means of firing should be as free from risk as practicable.

[147] Prior to the year 1893, horses, asses, and mules were not included in the definition of the word “animals” in the Orders relating to Anthrax.

[148] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1900.

[149] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1900.

[150] In giving the figures showing the proportion of cases to the total number of patients, any fractions have been omitted for the sake of clearness.

[151] Annual Report of Chief Inspector of Factories for 1896.

[152] The age is raised to twelve by the Factory Act, 1901.

[153] _Vide_ Dr Gilbert’s Photographs of Dermatoconioses, page 269.

[154] Mr Williams, in his annual report to the Chief Inspector of Factories for the year 1900, gives the results of his examination of air from thirty-five weaving-sheds before and after the ventilation had been improved so as to comply with this regulation. The average of the amounts of carbonic acid found in the air of the sheds before the improvement of the ventilation was 13 per 10,000, and after the improvement 7.9 per 10,000. If the usual amount of carbonic acid in the outside air of towns (4 per 10,000) be deducted, the amount of impurity due to respiration is seen to be in the one case 9 parts, and in the other only 3.9 parts per 10,000.

[155] To the above a note might be added, bearing upon the dangers to health in the manufacture of felt hats from the prepared fur. In the process of manufacture known in the trade as “carotting,” _i.e._, where the rabbits’ skins are brushed with a solution of nitrate of mercury, the workmen are exposed to the inhalation of mercurial and nitrous vapours (a point alluded to by Dr T. M. Legge, p. 442), and as a consequence the teeth become blackened and fall out early. The men who are employed in the post-carotting processes, and who are designated cutters, blockers, and pelt-shakers, often suffer from muscular tremors (hatters’ shakers). In the _British Medical Journal_, February 15, 1902, Dr Charles Porter, formerly Medical Officer of Health for Stockport, and at present County Medical Officer of Health for Shropshire, describes the processes of manufacture and hygiene of felt hat making, and gives illustrations of the rugged, loosened, and discoloured finger nails of plaukers and blockers, as well as of the callosities which form upon the thenar and hypo-thenar eminences of the hands.

T. O.

[156] Now Mr H. B. Fawcus, M.B., Royal Army Medical Corps.

[157] 1 kilometre = ⅝ English mile.

[158] A metre = 1 yard 3 inches.

[159] “The Great Alpine Tunnels,” Francis Fox, _Proceedings, Royal Institution, Great Britain_ (November 1901), p. 422.

[160] Since this was written there has occurred a large inrush of water from the superincumbent calcareous strata into the tunnel, at the Iselle end, which has seriously delayed operations.

[161] See p. 537, Anchylostomiasis in coal miners.

[162] See also Dr Haldane’s remarks _re_ carbonic acid and carbon monoxide gases, “The Air of Mines,” p. 544.

[163] Extracted from the Returns of the Registrar-General.

[164] Mr H. J. Wilson, H.M. Inspector of Factories, informs me that a short while ago a healthy workman while charging a Siemens-Martin furnace was struck on the ear by a spark of molten steel. The particle rebounded off the external meatus and penetrated the drum of the ear, setting up a purulent otitis, which was followed by meningitis, fatal on the ninth day. The particle of steel was found after death in the middle ear.

[165] Report of Dangerous Trades Committee of Home Office, published by Messrs Eyre & Spottiswoode.

[166] _Miners’ Nystagmus_, Snell, 1892.

[167] _British Medical Journal_, vol. i., 1892.

[168] _Des Amblyopias et Amauroses Toxiques_, 1897, page 47.

[169] _British Medical Journal_, 1884, vol. i., page 202.

[170] “Influence of Tobacco on Vision; some Investigations made in Tobacco Manufactories of Cincinnati,” _Cinn. Lancet Clinic_, 29th October 1892.

[171] _Toxic Amblyopias_, De Schweinitz, 1896.

[172] _Trans. of Ophth. Soc. of the United Kingdom_, 1886, vi., p. 144.

[173] Brose, _Knapp’s Archives of Ophthalmology_, March 1894.

[174] Rivers, _Knapp’s Archives of Ophthalmology_, March 1894.

[175] By Priest & Ashmore, opticians, Sheffield.

[176] The interference with sight is not greater than that occasioned by many ladies’ veils.

[177] Report by Dangerous Trades Committee.

[178] _Vide_ also Report, by myself, for the Home Office, and published in the _Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories_, 1901.

[179] Prof. Alexander Ogston, of Aberdeen, _Lancet_, Feb. 22, 1902, gives details of burns caused by the ignition of celluloid combs and collars. He suggests that celluloid should be rendered incombustible by the addition of some chemical.

[180] See “Eye Diseases and Eye Accidents in Relation to Industrial Occupations,” p. 769.

[181] See Final Report of the Dangerous Trades Committee, Appendix.

[182] _Bulletin médical_, 16th December 1899, p. 1126.

[183] _Annales d’Hygiène_, April 1900, p. 358.

[184] See Mr Simeon Snell’s paper, “Eye Accidents,” etc., p. 773.

[185] “On Cancer of the Scrotum in Chimney Sweeps and Others”: Butlin. Reprinted from _Brit. Med. Journal_, 1892.

[186] _Deutsche Zeitschr. für Chirurgie_, xiii., 519, 1880.

[187] Final Report of the Dangerous Trades Committee, 1899.

[188] At the quarries in the Island of Naxos 300 men are employed. Emery stone is too hard to be dug out or even blasted. It is one of the hardest substances known. Large fires are kept blazing round the huge blocks until the natural cracks expand with the heat, when levers are inserted to prise them apart. The process is repeated until the blocks are reduced in size to masses of a cubic foot or less, in which form it is exported. It is estimated that there are still 20,000,000 tons of emery available in Naxos.

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.