Epitome of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 155 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines / presented to both houses of Paliament by command of Her Majesty.

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

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Epitome of evidence taken before the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the condition of all mines in Great Britain to which the provisions of the Act 23 & 24 Vict. cap. 155 do not apply, with reference to the health and safety of persons employed in such mines / presented to both houses of Paliament 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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    instance, and it may run into asthma; but I think that since we have become better acquainted with the stethe- scope, and the proper examination of the chest, we have not so many or are not likely to have so many cases reported as consumption. 10.903. In your opinion what is the state of tlie disease when it first sliows itself in any miner working iinder ground y—I .should think that it was congestion of the mucous membrane. 10.904. (Mr. Holland.) Tou mean congestion of the lining membrane of the bi'onchial tubes ?—Yes. 10,906. (r'Aco'/z/Mii.) What is the next stage after a man has been affected which the disease assumes r*— You would get inflammatory action, and you would get a very large discharge in some instances—great expectoration; in others you would not; and you might get ulceration, and you would get the air cells and air tubes closed up, and you get dilatation of the bronchial tubes, which of course would render a man less able to labour. You would then in the end of the matter get the heart disordered, and have, more espe- cially, perhaps, dilatation. 10.906. What is the nature of the expectoration in the earlier stage ?—Generally a yellowish mucus. 10.907. Does that increase as the disease goes on?— It is not always that the form of the disease is exactly alike in every case ; you may have cases of chronic bronchitis with very little expectoration. 10.908. But where it proceeds so as at last to endanger life or to prevent the man working, does the expectora- tion ever show anything peculiar P—Nothing tubercular. They spit up a great deal of powder smoke, as we call it. I have seen the same thing in blacksmiths when they have been working at the smithies and so on; but it is very I'cmarkablc for how very long a time a miner will spit u]i this black stuff' after leaving a mine, and after having been ill for months. 10,910. (Mr. Holland.) That is about the limit, is it not ?—That is, as well as I can recollect. I cannot give any limit to it. I could not say, for instance, that I had seen it after the men had been away 12 months or six months. I think that within six months you may see it. 10,914. (Chainnan.) At what age should you say that they are generall}'^ affected ?—I should say about 45 ; from 45 to 50 you find them beginning to fail in that way very much. 10,922. Do you think that a holiday is important for recovery ?—I think so, very frequently. l(i(923. And would that tend to complete recovery ?— I do not think that it tends to perfect recovery. It might tend to it if a man was put under very favour- able circumstances at once, but a man is very much relieved by his holiday. When once affected, I do not think they ever become perfectly sound again, or not frequently. 10.924. But by working on the surface they may live a long time P— Yes, and do very well. 10.925. But if a man so affected went down to work again, what would be the period of his existence ?—I cannot state. It would depend upon how far the disease had gone ; but I am giving you my practice towards the men. I am- always very anxious when once they have thorough chronic Isronchitis to prevent their going under- ground at all. 10.926. Then it is your opinion that the disease from which they suffer is chronic bronchitis ?■—Yes, and the consequences which would result from chronic bron- chitis. 10.927. {Mr. Holland.) What do you think that it commences with ? Do you think that it begins with irritation of the bronchial membrane P—Yes. 10.928. Followed shortly by thickening or congestion of that membrane ?—Yes. • 10.929. Is chronic bronchitis an early disorder?—I think that you would get common bronchitis, and that when the miner had worked on with the same symptoms you would get chronic bronchitis. You would get larger expectoration, which you would not have so much at first. 10.930. Does the effort to expectorate without being able to do so often continue a long time ?—I do not know that it does very long. .10.931. A month or two ?—Yes, I dare say that it does, but I have never had an opportunity of watching as to its duration. I fancy that after a man has been labour- ing tinder disease of the lungs for a considerable time it rather disappears when he begins to have a free expectoration. The membrane also possibly gets (A.) thinner, I think, after there has been very free expec- Ik toration from it; but the bronchial cells would get fMu dilated, for instance. 10.933. You have spoken of the heart being dis- ordered ; do you think that that is a consequence of the limg disease, or independent of it?—I think that it is a consequence of it. 10.934. You think that it is in consequence of an im]ieded passage of blood from pulmonary circulation ? —-I think so; that the heart participates in the disordered state of the lung, the lung not performing its functions well. 10,943. What do you think is the cause of the irrita- tion of the bronchial membrane ?—I think that the smoke and dust would be the most likely causes, the carbon and particles from blasting, and so on. 10,948. Have you noticed any great improvement in the health of the miners during the 30 years that you have practised here ? Do they break up later in life than they did ?—I think that they do. I think that our men ai-e rather better than worse. 10,951. Is that a very strong impi-ession P—-Most decided in this neighbourhood. In Breage, for instance, and those neighbourhoods, I think that our men are better men at 50 than they used to be. I do not know that the cause is to be attributed to any improve- ment in mining. I think that there are other reasons for it. 10,962. To what do you attribute that improvemeiit ? —To better clothing, better living, and better habita- tions. 10.967. Do you observe any difference between the state of health of the miners and the .agriculturists?— The miner' has generally less fat about him,—less ffesh about liim. so to s])eak; but he is generally more muscular. 10.968. [Mr. St. Auhyn.) He is in a better condition? —In one sense he is. 10.969. {Chairman.) Is he in a better condition to resist disease ?—No. Mr. John Henky Lambkick. 11.643. {Mr. Holland.) You have, I believe, been in practice here as a surgeon for a long time ?—About 12 years. 11.644. Have you seen a good deal of the miners complaint, that complaint from v/hich they generally suflei' P—Very frequently, and continually those cases fall into my hands. 11.645. Are you of opinion that there is a marked dis- . tinction between what is called miners' complaint and phthisis ?—I think so. 11.646. Have you any doubt about it?—No; it is a bronchial affection principally, and we call it miners' consumption. I think that it is decidedly a bronchial affection. 11.647. Have you often seen pneumonia mixed with it ?—Very often in its eailier stages. 11.648. What do you think is the first morbid condi- tion ; bronchial —Yes ; and then the substance of the lung is afterwards attacked. 11.655. Do you also attribute it 'to alternations of temperature ?—Yes. 11.656. And to the powder smoke ?—Yes; that is one element decidedly. Capt. James Phillips. 11.775. [Chairman.) Do you enjoy good health?—I believe very good. 11.776. Do you feel yourself very well.''—Yes. I have been working underground all that time, and I have been underground every day. 11.777. Have you evei' been in the doctor's hands ?— No, not for anything particular, to say anything about. 11.778. Do you go underground now ?—Yes, some- times every day in the week, always three and four times in a week; the last week in a taking I go under- ground every day; but I suppose on an average four days a week. 11.779. You go underground on an average four days a week throughout the year ?—Yes. Capt. William Skewis. 11,973. {Chairman.) Have you ever known any of the miners to suS'er from Avorking in those ends ?—I have knowii men to suffer, but not in Crelake.