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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    CONTENTS. Page, T. Medical Reports on the Condition of Miners, by Dr. Peacock - - 1 Corn Aval 1 1 North of England 12 Wales -------- - 22 Hcematite Ore Mines - - - - - - 23 II. Medical Report on the Condition df Miners in Cornwall and Devon, by- Mr. Bankart - - - - - - - 94 III. Statistics and Evidence by Dr. Farr, with Epitome of Tables and Diagrams and additional Returns prepared from the Census of 1861 - - - 154 IV. Report on Samples of Air and on Materials used by Miners, and I'>idence, l)y Dr. A. S. Taylor - - - - - - 179 V. Report on the Air of Mines, by Dr. Angus Smith .... - 183 VI. Report on the Air of Mines, by Dr. Bernays - - - - 288 VII. Report on Mines, by Mr. C. Twite, M.E. - - - - - 293 VIII. Report on Mines in the Alston Moor District, by Capt. H. W. Rowe, Manager of the Newtownards Mine ------- 341 IX. Deaths of Males aged 10 years and upwards in each of the years 1859-61 : A Return by the Registrar General ----- 347 X. Ages of Men working in Mines ------ 432 XL Candle and Powder Returns 436 XIT. Bal or Pay Bills - - - - - - - 445 XIII. Coroners Inquests and Accidents 450 XIV. Experiments to test the Ajjplicability of Gun Cotton to Mining Operations - 463 I. MEDICAL REPORT By Thomas B. Peacock, M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician to St. Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, Victoria Park, on West Cornwall. Thomas's Hospital, and to the the Condition of Miners in The following report is the result of observations made during two weeks spent in the mining districts of West Cornwall in July and August 18()2. I then visited the Par Consols mine near St. Austell, the Dolcoath and United mines in the Camborne and Gwennap districts, the Wendron Consols in the neighbourhood of Helston, the St. Ives Consols near the town of St. Ives, and Botallack, Levant, and Wheal Owles in the district of St. Just. At the same time I took notes of 8.'3 cases 10 of different forms of disease met with in miners in the districts named and in the neighbourhood of Liskeard, and examined upwards of 500 men who were found at work in different mines, or who had formerly been employed as miners. General Condition of the Miners. In examining, even casually, a large number of miners, it is impossible not to be struck with the ])eculiarly delicate appearance of many of them, and especially of the older men and of the boys and young men who have 20 worked under ground only for a short time. Instead of having the bright and clear complexions of the young people employed at the surface, those who labour in the mines have a very pale sallow a])pearance, and this they seem to acquire even after having worked underground only for a few months. The middle aged men are less unhealthy looking, but those who have long worked in the mines and are verging towards old age have a prematurely old apparanee, a stooping gait, and an anxious expression of countenance. They are thin, pale, and sallow, and have 30 peculiarly dingy complexions. For men following a la- borious occupation they are by no means muscular, and very generally their pulse at the wrist is feeble. If inquiry be made of them they frequently acknowledge that they are not in good health, complaining of dyspeptic symptoms, want of appetite, qualmishness, sense of weight or flatu- lency after taking food, sometimes pain at the pit of the stomach, and occasional vomiting of the food, and an imcertain condition of the bowels, either confinement or diarrhoea. Very frequently also they suffer from pains in the back and limbs and failure of muscular power; or from 40 breathlessness, especially on any active exertion, tightness at the chest, chronic cough and expectoration, and palpi- tation of the heart. Many of the young and middle-aged men are healthy and robust-looking. Some also are seen, even at advanced periods of life, who state that they have been miners all their lives and are still going under-ground or have only recently ceased to work below, who nevertheless are hale and strong and free from appearances or symptoms of disease. Comparatively few men are, however, found at 50 work who have much passed the middle period of life, and still fewer who under such circumstances appear and report themselves to be in good health. The facts ujjon which these statements are made are confirmed by the reports given in the appendix. It will be there seen tliat in various mines I carefully examined and took notes of the condition of 464 men and boys who were found at work. Of this number 117 were of ages from !) to 20, and of these 42a])peared and stated themselves to be quite well, .38 were pale or had a worn appearance, 37 were go either decidedly delicate looking or complained of some symptoms of indisposition, the proportion of the latter being therefore 31 6 per cent.; 233 of the men were from 20 to 40 years of age, and of this number the pro- portion of healtViy men was larger; the number of the healthy being 112, of the pale and worn 5.9, and of the decidedly ailing and delicate 62, or only 26 • 6 per cent.; 114 were between 40 and 63, and of these the healthy were 43, the ailing 62, the latter constituting 54'3 per cent. Altogether of the 464 men examined 197 were healthy, j-o 106 pale or aged looking, and 161 presented symptoms or appearances of impaired health, the ailing thus constituting not less than 34 6 per cent. It will also be seen that of the men who were labouring under different forms of disease 49 were regarded as permanently in- capacitated from working again as miners and many of them from performing any active labour, and of these persons the average age was 43, the youngest being 21, the oldest 66 years old. The period during which these men