Appendix B to the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. Cap. 151 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines. / Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Mines.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Appendix B to the report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. Cap. 151 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines. / Presented to both houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    had worked under-ground varied considerably. The mean period of work before the commencement of their attacks of illness was 28 • 5 years; one man had however only been able to work for five years, another had been a miner for 53. These facts show a decline of strength and a failure of health at periods of life much earlier than those at which men engaged in out of door occupations at the surface ordinarily become invalided. It would have been satisfac- tory to have instituted similar investigations as to the state 10 of a considerable number of men employed in similar occupations at the surface in the same districts. This the time at my disposal did not afford me the oppor- tunity of doing. From, however, the limited enquiries and observations which were made I do not hesitate to assert that the condition of the mining population is much less satisfactory in a sanitary point of view than that of men employed in laborious occupations out of doors, as masons, stone-cutters, farm labourers, fishermen, &c., that their capacity for severe labour is exhausted at an earlier period 20 of lifej and that their health also fails at an earlier age. The forms of indisposition which were met with among the miners were the following :— Diseases of the Miners. 1. General Debility, Indigestion, Rheumatistn, S)-c.—I have already alluded to the delicate state of many of the miners and to the frequency with which they complained of dyspeptic symptoms and of rheumatic pains. Generally, however, these affections are not so severe as to prevent their working, but the men are constantly ailing, and on the 30 occurrence of some slight exciting cause, a trivial accident or an ordinary cold, have attacks of severe iUness and are laid by for a long time before they are capable of resuming their work underground. In some cases also the dyspeptic symptoms are very severe. The miner ha? little appetite ; the food which he takes causes flatulency, pain or sickness and vomiting. His bowels are in an uncertain state, often obstinately confined, in other cases relaxed, or passing from one condition to the other. Symptoms of hepatic disorder are 40 not uncommon. Several of the men stated that their illnesses of different kinds commenced with attacks of jaundice, and the ailing men have very frequently a more or less deep bilious tinge of the eyes and surface generally. They suffer also from pdes and pass blood by stool, some- times to such an extent as materially to reduce their strength. In three cases the dyspeptic symptoms were so severe as to have unfitted the men for work, and in two of the cases there could be no doubt that there was serious organic 50 disease of the stomach and other viscera. These patients were aged f 2, 61, and 67; they had worked underground for 36, 50, and 51 years respectively, and had been laid by for 7 months but previously ailing 2 years, for a year and a half but far from well for 6 or 7 years, and for 4 months. Rheumatic affections of different kinds are, as would naturally be supposed, extremely common among the miners. Generally they take the form of subacute rheu- matism or of chronic pains affecting the trunk or limbs, especially the back and loins,—lumbago, or the hips,— 60 sciatica. In few of the cases of disease among the men were some symptoms of this kind absent. In the cases of chest affection pains in the sides, apparently intercostal rheu- matism, were common, and occasionally excessive tenderness of the surface was found. Several of the men said that they had formerly had attacks of rheumatic fever, and I met with one case in which mitral valvular disease had supervened on such an attack, and a second in which there had been symptoms possibly of shght rheumatism at the time the cardiac affection commenced. 70 In one instance a man had paraplegia caused by working with his legs in cold water; a second patient, who also suffered from miners' asthma with mitral valvular disease, had been subject to rheumatism for many years, and after a slight twist of the leg felt something give way in the knee and had not been able to work since. He apparently had a false cartilage in the joint, which on his using any exertion produced irritation. He had worked several years under ground as a miner but had latterly been employed in the sump shaft. Another man, 45 years of age, who 80 had worked in damp and draughty shafts, was entirely incapable of working from chronic rheumatism. 2. Slow Fever.—The miners frequently state that they have suffered from what they call slow fever. This term they evidently apply to at least two distinct forms of affec- tion. One of these is the ordinary typhoid or continued fever, well known to be generally due to the decomposition of animal matter and consequently to be met with in imperfectly drained houses and districts. This affection I saw both in Camborne and St. Just, and at the latter 90 place found that it had prevailed extensively and fatally. Nor was this surprising when the state of the cottages was considered, for they displayed in many cases all the circumstances which are well known to be conducive to the development and spread of the disease. The other form of affection is one which is clearly due to the occupation of the miner, and of this I met with two very characteristic cases, and the symptoms were frequently described to me by other persons who had suffered from the affection. The disease usually appears to commence gradually after the miner has been working under ground for some years. 100 It generally occurs after he has been employed in a close end where there has been very imperfect ventilation or great heat, or when he has been working at tribute for some time at a scarcely remunerative rate, so that he has not been able to obtain an adequate amount of wholesome and nutritious food. The patient's appetite first fails, often he experiences an entire repugnance to food and the little which he takes does not agree with him, giving rise to sense of distension, weight or pain, or being fallowed by retching and vomiting. There are frequently colicky pains HO in the abdomen; the bowels are confined, and the patient not unfrequently has piles, passes blood by stool, and has pain or tenderness in the region of the liver. He usually also suffers from headache, dizziness, and depression of spirits, rapidly loses flesh, and soon becomes so pro- strated as not to be capable of continuing his work. The failure of power is sometimes first experienced in the arms in striking; more frequently, however, there is weakness in the loins and lower extremities, especially experienced in ascend- ing the ladders; and usually there are pains in all parts of the 120 body and particularly in the back and limljs. With these symptoms there is generally some shortness or difficulty of breathing, but rather from weakness than any active affection of the chest. Marked feverish symptoms are also experienced, burning heat in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, aggravated towards the after part of the day; with extreme restlessness at night, so that the patient obtains no sleep and rises in the morning less refreshed and more prostrated than when he went to bed at night. In one of the cases which I saw there was a peculiar desponding or 130 depressed expression of countenance, and the face was sallow and pale but very unlike the sallow paleness of a person suffering under malarious influence. The sufferer had a peculiar glassy eye, the tongue was thickly furred and the breath offensive; there was some tenderness in the region of the liver and the bowels very much confined. There was no impairment of the resonance on percussion in any part of the chest, but the chest did not move freely and fully with the inspiratory and expiratory acts and the respiratory sounds were very feebly heard. The heart's 140 sounds and action and the pulse at the wrist were also feeble. This form of affection seems to be very aptly termed slow, it prostrates the patient, and renders him alto- gether unfit for work, without being at any time actively ill. He is rather out of condition than ill, and is propor- tionately long before he recovers his health and vigour. The men state that when they feel themselves a little better they frequently try to resume their work underground, but a few days, or even a few hours, often again prostrates them 150 and compels them to relinquish the attempt. One of the patients to whom I have referred was a man 37 years of age, who had worked as a miner for about 20 years with- out suffering from his occupation till the occurrence of the attack. When I saw him he had been laid by for 7 months, and though he had two or three times attempted to resume work, he had soon been compelled to give up again. The other patient was a man 38 years of age, who had worked underground for about 25 years. He when seen had been incapable of work for five weeks. 160 The result of this affection varies. I met with instances in which the men said they had suffered from slow fever for several months, 15 or 20 years before, and had entirely recovered from it, and been able to work steadily ever since. In other cases, however, it is only the commencement of a state of indisposition which is never entirely overcome, and ultimately determines one or other of the forms of disease to be hereafter described. 3. Affections of the respiratory organs.—By far the most common forms of disease met with among the miners are 17O affections of the respiratory organs, asthma, bronchitis or pneumonia or the two combined, and phthisis or tubercular consumption. Indeed, of 83 cases of disease tabulated in the Appendix, 54 or 65^06 per cent, were of this description. Miners' Asthma.—The broncho-pneumonic and asthmatic affections are so common as to have received from the miners, and indeed in the district generally, the names of miners' asthma, disease or consumption, and of the 54 cases of disease of the respiratory organs 41 may be regarded as of this description. 180 The disease is described as varying considerably in its