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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![and freer from choke damp, &e. So far, indeed, as I can judge by the descri])tion of the men, I should think that the workings in the Northern mines were quite as frequently the seat of noxious gases as in Cornwall. Indeed 1 think their reports rather indicated a worse condition of certain parts of the mines in tl>e North than in Cornwall. I have also before stated that, so far as dustiness is concerned, the Northern mines are probably more injurious to the men. 2nd. Race.—Diet of miners.—The miners in the North 10 are certainly a more robust race; and it is probable, upon the whole, their diet is more nutritious than that of the Cornish men. Many of them, at least in some districts, as in Weardale, Nenthead, &c., are small farmers; they have plots of ground sufficient to keep a cow, and thus they are able to obtain milk, and probably altogether more fresh animal food than the Cornish miners ordinarily have. I do not, however, think that there is sufficient diffarence between the miners in the two districts in this respect to explain the differences in their sanitary state. 20 3rd. A(/e at whidi they beyin work.—Throughout the mining districts of the Nortli of England the miners do not now go to work underground at by any means so early an age as in the West. In none of the mines did I find that boys were allowed to work underground before they are 13, 16 or IS years at age. The regulations of the London Lead Company are especially judicious on this point. No one is allowed to work underground in the Company's mines regularly till they are 18 years of age; but as, during winter, for three or four months, the climate 30 is too rigorous for the boys employed at the dressing floors to work on the surface, those boys who are 14 years of age are allowed to work in the mines under the superin- tendence of the older miners during this time, and thus they are gradually inured to the underground work. This arrangement, I am assured by Mr. Carson, the com- pany's medical ofiicer at Nenthead, has very materially conduced to the healthiness of the miners who have come into work since it was adopted. He stated that there is now much less illness among the miners than formerly, and he 40 does not think that, except this regulation and the better ventilation of the mines, there is any other alteration in their condition to which the impi'ovement can be ascribed. When in Cornwall I was much impressed with the early age at wliich the boys were allowed to commence working under- ground, and with the delicate appearance which the younger men so soon acquire when working in the mines, and I think that some restriction as to the age at ivhich the boys should commence is imperatively called for. I think also that an arrangement, like that adopted by the London 50 Company, by which the boys would be gradually intro- duced to the underground work, would be most desirable throughout the mining districts. It does not, however, appear that the longer period of work in the North of England, of the men at present invalided, can be explained by their having commenced mining at a latter period of life than is usual with the Cornish miners. Indeed, most of the disabled men whom I examined had worked under- ground before the regulation referred to was introduced, and at ages quite as early as is now the practice in Cornwall. 60 I find that on the average they began work when only 14 years of (age, and some stated that they first went underground much earlier; the extreme ages at which they commenced being 7 and 18. The circumstances which are mainly influential in favour- ably affecting the sanitary state of the men working in the northern mines, appear to be the comparatively short periods in each week during which the men work in the mines, the ready access to the mines without having to climb the ladders to any extent, the natural temperature 70 of the workings, and the length of time during which they are left free. 4th. Periods of work. The men in the northern mines are ordinarily required to work for 5 eight-hour shifts in each week, making in all 40 hours of work. They are however allowed, if they so like, to work for longer periods than 8 hours, and a common plan is to work 4 daily shifts of 10 hours each. Thus, as the mines are generally at some distance from the mining villages, they frequently work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday ; and return 80 home on the Thursday, spending the remainder of the week in working on their small farms or in their gardens, or for the farmers in the neighbourhood. This plan has a double advantage. There can be no doubt that for men who work in the impure air of a mine the greatest possible protection from suffering is for them to be much in the open air when at th(; surface. The ordinary plan in the district is also for the mines to be vi^orked in only two shifts m the 24 hours, except when driving ends or in cases of emergency. It thus results that the workings are left 90 unoccupied for at least 4 hours in each 24, and entirely for two or three days in each week; an arrangement which allows of the offensive gases generated by the explosion of the blasting powder, and by the respiration of the men at work and the combustion of the candles, being got rid of by natural ventilation. At the same time the workings are so kei)t cool. In Cornwall the mines are generally worked six days in each week, and often for three 8-hour shifts in the 24 hours. 5th. Climhing by ladders.—I ha\'e already mentioned that the miners in the North of Elngland have not much 10 climbing by ladders. They, together with their tools, are usually conveyed to their work in waggons drawn bj horses or pushed by their fellows, or by lifts or skips moved by machinery, and have only to cUmb the ladders for 10 to 20 or 30 fathoms in passing up or down shafts ])etween the different levels. This I cannot but regard as a very important improvement upon the plan, generally adopted in Cornwall, of descending and ascending great depths by the ladders. It is, I believe, mainly to the hurried breathing and violent ex- 110 ertion in using the ladders that the frequency of affection of the heart among the Cornish miners is to be ascribed. The absence of this violent exertion and the hurried breathing so caused, goes far, in my opinion, to explain the better sanitary state of the northern miners, and especially the infrequency of diseases of the heart among them. I believe also that their greater vigour is much due to their being less exhausted than the Cornish mmers from being conveyed to and from their work without any ma- terial exertion of muscular power. 120 6th. Temperature of mines.—The mines in the North of England do not appear to be generally so hot as to be injurious to the men. I met with only two or three of the men who made any complaint of this kind. The natural temperature of the mines is a great advantage to the men in two ways : they do not become, by any means, so much exhausted by their work, and are not so much tendered by it as to become very unduly susceptible to cold when at the surface. In the mines in Cornwall in which the workings are very hot, the men suffer much when below, 130 and very readily take cold when at the surface. It is, I beheve, mainly to this cause that the affections of the chest which occur among the miners in the two districts differ. In the North of England active inflammatory affec- tions being rare and the asthma of a less complicated character ; while in Cornwall the men more frequently have active inflammatory afi'ections leading to consolidation and disorganisation of the substance of the lungs. Effects of Dressing the Ores, Smelting, Sfc, on the men employed in those processes. 140 The surface works at the mines in the North of England is entirely performed by men and boys, chiefly the latter. In the London Company's works no boys are employed at the dressing of ores till they are 12 years of age. At Mr. Beaumont's works they commence at 10. I did not on inquiry hear that any of the persons thus employed suffered from the influence of the lead or in any other way from the work. The London Lead Company have smelt works both at Nenthead and Eggleston, in Teesdale, and there were also ] 50 smelt works in use at Allenheads. Formerly, I was told by medical men, in all these districts, that the smelters suffered from lead colic, and the same was con- firmed by the reports of the men themselves. Sometimes, also, they seem to have had the more severe symptoms of lead poisoning, dropping of the hands, &c., but of late years, since the works have been better ventilated, these forms of lead poisoning have entirely disap- peared, though the men still occasionally have colicky pains in the bowels, constipation, &c., and those especially jco suffer in this way who are employed in emptying the flues. Of 25 men whom I examined at different works, who either were then or had been employed as smelters, 10 stated that they had never had any symptoms of lead poisoning, and the other 15 said that they had formerly suffered to a greater or less extent; and all but fi^'e stated that they still occasionally had colic and constipation, though none of them apparently to any serious extent. I examined the condition of the mouth in the men I have mentioned, and of the whole number 14 displayed the blue ] 70 line upon the edges of the gums to a greater or less extent, several had their teeth and gums in a very unhealthy state, and some were pallid and anaemic looking. I did not meet with any cases of paralysis from lead. The acting superintendent of one of the mills had apparently had a sharp attack of lead colic. The men stated that when they entered the flues from the furnaces and the condenser to clear them out at stated intervals, the sulphurous and other gases tried them very much in their breathing, and that occasionally they suffered igo from pain and confinement of the bowels afterwards. The B 4](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23983292_0019.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
