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
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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![MEDICAL REPORT On THE State of the Miners in the Lead Mining Districts of Alston, Nenthead, Allen- heads, AND Weardale. By Thos. B. Peacock, M.D., F.R.C.P. REPORT 1. In the month of September last I visited the mining districts in the North of England, examhied about 225 men at work at mines near Alston, Nenthead, Allenheads, and in Weardale, and took full notes of 25 cases of disease among miners in those districts, and at Middleton in Teesdale. The forms of disease with which I met consisted of affections of the respiratory organs, disease of the heart, chronic rheumatism, general failure of power, dyspepsia, &c. I also found men suffering from various injuries which they 10 had sustained when working in the mines. 1. Bronchitic affections, Miners' Asthma.—By far the largest number of cases of disease which fell under my notice were bronchitic affections, emjjhysema of the lungs, &c., the conditions known in the district as well as in the West of England as miners' asthma, or miners' disease or complaint. Indeed this form of disease consti- tuted 18 out of the 25 cases of decided disease, which I. have reported in the Ajipendix. In three of these cases the affection was only commencing, and in the remaining 15 20 the disease was so far advanced as to have completely incapacitated the labourer from following his usual occupa- tion. In the former cases the subjects of the disease were .'31, 49, and 5.'3 years of age. In one of the cases there were recent signs of pleurisy. In the more advanced cases the men were generally old ; the mean age of the 15 being 57 ' 7 years, and the extremes of age 70 and GJ, and 44 and 49. In the latter cases, however, the men had been suffering under the disease, in some instances for several years ; the period 30 at which their health had first failed being on the average 49 08 years, and the extremes of age fiO and 56, and 34 and 44. It thus appears that they had been aihng on the average nearly 8 years ; but in some instances the duration of illness was much more prolonged, having amounted to 18 or 20 years. From the statements of the men examined, it apjjears that they became incapable of work on the a\'erage at 55'07 years of age, or at the extreme ages of 63 and 46 ; and the period during which they had worked as miners before 4 0 becoming so seriously ill as to be entirely unable to work was on the average 40'6 years, and the extreme periods 57 and 28 years. These calculations indicate that the health of the miners fails from asthma in middle age ; but it will be subsequently shown that the men in whom the disease assumes the form of pulmonary consumption are incapacitated for work at much earlier periods. I am also satisfied, from infor- mation given me, that the asthmatic symptoms frequent^ if not generally manifest themselves at much earlier periods SO than the calculations would indicate. I was repeatedly told that all miners who have attained middle age suffer in their breathing more or less, and that many of them who are young are similarly affected, though they will not acknowledge it. I met with several men who had gone to work underground at 14 to 16 or 18 years of age, and had only followed the occupation for 8 or 10 years, who said that they had given vij) working as miners, from being then in some degree affected in their breathing; and I have been assured that many men suffer at 30, and few 60 escape beyond 40 years of age. The men who are getting into years, though they may still be able to work, almost always suffer from dilBeulty of breathing, either constantly, or in certain states of the weather, or when labouring under cold. Thus, of 24 persons above 50 years of age, whom I found still working in the mines, and who were questioned as to their health, all but eight stated that they were more or less touched in the wind, or short in their breath, &c.; and some mentioned that they suffered severely in this way. I feel convinced also that had all the men given a 70 correct account of themselves, the proportion of those stated to be ailing would have been even greater. That, however, I should not appear to overstate this fact, I may quote from a report made to me by a medical man of great experience in the diseases of miners. Dr. Ewart, the resident medical officer of the London Company at Middle- ton in Teesdale. A healthy young man enters upon work in a lead mine ; in a few years, more or less, he begins to experience some degree of difficulty of breathing— nothing to hurt him very much as he continues an efficient 80 miner ; still, however, ' he is touched in the wind.' Along with this difficulty of breathing there is an increased expectoration of mucus, often tinged, more particularly after leaving work, of a l)luish black colour. The difficulty of breathing continues, and generally increases as age advances, rendered worse, perhaps, by an attack of bronchitis now and then supervening. On recovering from these attacks, he again resumes work ; or. should it happen that he has no acute attacks, he goes on working with increased shortness of breathing, expectoration and failing strength. 90 His appetite for food is impaired, and what he takes for breakfast is frequently vomited as he walks to his work in a morning. He has great langour, and frequent fits of severe coughing, and evidences of imperfect oxygenation of the blood in the blueness of the lips, &c. He may now have got to 40 or 45 years of age ; he is low in health and strength, ■ and is compelled to give up work, and stay at home as a worn-out miner. But even at home his health cannot be restored. He may wander about for some years, incapable of work, from difficulty of breathing and debility ; in the sum- 100 mer improving a little, but in the autumn, winter, and spring being very liable to acute disease of tlie chest pro- ducing more copious expectoration of muco-purulent matter, tinged or rather streaked with blue or blackish spots. The poor worn-out miner now soon dies exhausted ; that is to say, in a year or two he is cut off by persistent chronic disease of the chest, aggravated by acute or sub-acute seizures lunv and then taking ])lace. This report so clearly describes the asthm-atic affections of miners that it is not necessary for me to dwell 110 further upon the subject ; and I have already fully ex- plained the chief features and course of such affections in my report upon the diseases of the miners in Cornwall. I may, hov/ever, remark that while the asthmatic affections of the miners are similar in the two districts, it appeared to me that in the North the bronchitic symptoms were less fre- quently complicated by disorganization of the lungs, and that the sufferers were less exhausted, and their digestive organs less severely affected, than in Cornwall. I am not in possession of information relative to the 120 usual duration of life in the subjects of miners' asthma in the lead districts of the North of England. From the statements made to me, however, it appeared that not unfre- quently when the miners cease to work underground their sufferings diminish, and, if they have not continued too long, they may ultimately recover so far as to be able to follow some occupation at the surface, and may survive for some years. If, however, their period of work underground has been prolonged, though their breathing when at the surface may be less affected, their strength does not materially 130 return, and for the remainder of their lives they continue incapable 'of undertaking active work, or of following any occupation at all. In these resjjects also the condition of the miners in the North entirely corresponds with that of the Cornish miners. Pulmonary Consumption.—Of this disease I met with four cases. As before mentioned the cases of consumption occured in men at an earlier age than those who suffered from the more decided forms of miners' asthma. The mean ageof thepatientswas 37' 5years, and the extremes of age were 140 42 and 32. In three of the cases the period at which the health failed was ascertained to have been at the ages of 25, 31, and 35|. The patients had worked as miners for 12, 15, and 20 years before the commencement of the disease. In three of the cases there were evidences of hereditary predisposition; near relatives of the miners, and persons , not employed in underground work, having also died of consumption. Indeed the circumstances under which the several forms of disease of the chest occurred among the miners in the North of England were similar to what 150 had been observed in Cornwall. Men originally of feeble power, and especially if predisposed to consumption, falling victims to disease in earlier life, and after a shorter period of work in the mines ; while those not so predisposed, and altogether of more robust constitution, resist the injurious influences of the occupation for a much longer period. The former also suffer from pulmonary consumption, while the latter become the subjects of asthma. Of the prevalence of consumption in the general population I am not able to Sjjeak, but I saw cases of tlic confirmed disease in persons 160 who had not been employed in the mines. 3. Diseases of the Heart and Large Vessels.—I met with only one case of disease of the heart. In this instance the man was 71 years of age, but, though he had worked as a miner for 40 years, he had not been employed in the luines](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23983292_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
