Diseases of the lungs from mechanical causes : and inquiries into the condition of the artisans exposed to the inhalation of dust / by G. Calvert Holland.

  • Holland, G. C. (George Calvert), 1801-1865.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Diseases of the lungs from mechanical causes : and inquiries into the condition of the artisans exposed to the inhalation of dust / by G. Calvert Holland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    tensively employed. If not judiciously used, it injures the temper of the article. The modern grinding wheels are built in the town, and are seve- ral stories in height, and no regard whatever has been given to the ventilation of them. Each room is occupied by eight or ten in- dividuals belonging to different branches. In former times, the wheels were well ventilated by dilapidated roofs, shattered doors, and broken windows ; but in the recent structures, these natural means are carefully guarded against, so that the clouds of dust which rise from the stone, envelope the grinder, and continue to play round his head. The respiration is continually disturbed by the inhalation of the numerous floating particles of stone and metal. The increased frequency of pulmonary disease in this class of artisans, is principally to be ascribed to the general introduction of dry grinding, and the less ventilation secured by the expensive structures of modern times. Wheels are now erected at the cost of ten or twenty thousand pounds, and in situations where land is valuable ; hence the consideration to economise space, to the certain destruction of the health of the grinder. In studying the evils arising from the occupation, it is neces- sary to make a few remarks on the habits of the workmen. There is much that may be said in extenuation of their dissipa- tion and ignorance. In most of the branches, children from nine to twelve years of age can be made useful, and unfortunately are frequently employed without any previous education. The ex- tremes of commercial prosperity and adversity are, perhaps, equally injurious to the moral and mental condition of the arti- sans. When trade is good and wages high, they are apt to spend much time in drinking and sensual enjoyments, deriving the means of indulgence from their children or apprentices. In a period of depression, diminished labour and depreciated wages are accompanied with great suffering—far greater to the grinder than to any other class of workmen. His expenses of wheel- room, independently of house-rent, are from eight to sixteen pounds per annum, and remain the same in all conditions of trade. At the present moment, wrotchodnoss prevails to an awful extent. The injurious effects of the occupation are greatly ag- gravated by poverty, over-exertion, and dissipation. ^