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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![going underground for 20 years, and quite unable to work for 7. In a case of mitral valvular disease in a miner 21 years of age, previously referred to, the lower extremities ■ were edematous. In three other instances there were also dropsical sjTOptoms, doubtless due to cardiac and pulmo- nary obstructions. In two cases there was anasarca con- nected with renal disease. In one of them, a man 21 years of age, hereditarily predisposed to phthisis, laboured under advanced consumjition with (iropsy and albu- 10 minous urine. He had only worked underground for two years and a half. In the other case the man was 29 years of age, had worked as a miner since the age of 15 or \l>, and had been in America, where he had drank much and contracted syphilis. In addition to these cases, a man 57 years of age, who was still working underground, stated that three years before he had suflFored from a general swelling of all parts of the body. The affection came on after exposure to cold and damp, and was attended by pain in the loins and scanty and Ijloody urine, and was doubt- 20 less renal dropsy. He was laid by in consequence for three months and still suffered J'ro;n wcakncs.<5 in the loins, though the anasarca had entirely disapjieared. In the fatal case of miners' disease the kidneys wore found large and somewhat mottled and the cortical portion narrow, but the tumica propria separated readily and the organs did not appear to have undergone any organic change. The miners might certainly be expected to suffer from renal affections subject as they are to be ex])osed to cold and damp, after they have been working haril in hot places 3() and perspiring ])rofusely, and they must be esjjecially sus- ceptible when exhausted by working in close places. The dingy complexion of the men who have long worked underground, and especially of those who suffer from miners' asthma, is very striking, and though occa- sionally partly due to affection of the liver, is, ni many cases altogether disproportionate to any bilious tinging of the conjunctivre which may exist. Indeed some of the men Viho ]ircsent the sallowness in the most marked degree have peculiarly jiale and glassy eyes. I was therefore led 40 to suspect that the sallowness might have some connection with t)ie condition of the su])ra-renal capsules, and the state of those bodies was carefully investigated in the case of miners' disease which was examined after death. One of the capsules was found extremely atrophied, so that it seemed little more than a mass of condensed cellular tissue. The structure of the other was wholly destroyed, and its substance was converted into a cyst with extremely thin parietes. It remains to be ascertained whether the existence of the disorganization of the su]ira-renal b.odies in this case 50 was merely an accidental coincidence, or whether a similar condition is of frequent occurrence in the miners who present the peculiar dinginess of comjilexion which has been described. 7. Diseases of the skin, scrofula, Sfc.—The only impor- tant skin affections which were noticed were two cases of lepra or psoriasis. The subject of one of these was a man 38 years of age; the other was a boy of about 14. Neither presented any peculiar features. Some of the children had also impetiginous eruptions about the face. 60 Though both among the men and boys enlargement of the cervical glands and the cicatrices of abscesses were occa- sionally observed, such were not of by any means of frequent occurrence, and in most cases the affection was sta,ted to have commenced before the subjects went to work under- ground. Several of the men were much marked with smallpox. 8. The two remaining cases included in the tabular statement of the diseases of the miners were the results of injuries which had in each instance been sustained three 70 years before the men were seen. In one case the man was crushed by a fall of stone, and had suffered from shortness of breath and palpitation ever since. In the other intance the man had had his leg broken, and had otherwise been much bruised and shaken. Neither of them had been able to do any work since the occurrence of the accidents. In several cases the men were found to have sustained more or less serious injuries of the eyes and face in blast- ing, and several were nearly or quite blind of one eye from this cause. 80 A large number of the men examined also stated that they had sustained more or less serious injuries and acci- dents, falls from the ladders, crushes, &c. In some instances also it appeared that accidents of comparatively slight description had, doubtless from the state of health of the miners at the time, been attended with serious symptoms that entailed very prolonged periods of absence from work. After the evidence which has been advanced as to the sanitary state of the mining population and the cnianeration of the various forms of disease met with among the miners, 90 it remains to inquire what are the causes which conduce to their unhealthy condition. Causes of Disease amony the Miners, Predisposing causes.—Construction of dwellings, drain- age, S)-c.— There can be no doubt that the county of Cornwall is eminently healthy, and there is nothing about the meteoro- logical or geological features of the mining districts which can act unfavourably upon the sanitary condition of the mining population. In the Camborne and Redruth districts the modern cottages are generally well and substantially built, and 100 are very much better than those inhabited by the agri- cultural labourers in the midland counties. They contain generally 2 or .3 or 4 or G rooms ; in the former case being only occupied by one, in the latter by two families. They have usually a small plot of ground in front or behind in which vegetables, potatoes, are cultivated. They are stated, however, not to Ije generally provided with any system of under-drainage, and the lower rooms have rough cast or concrete floors, so that they must be damp. The upper rooms are also not usually ceiled but 110 open directly to the slated roof, and must be hot in summer and cold in winter. With these exceptions, how- evcr, and the want of a larger number of rooms for the separation of the different members of the families, the cottages inhabited l)y the l)ettcr class of workmen are ex- ceedingly good. Some of the cottages are, however, the reverse. They are thatched, and consist of only two rooms, the upper one in the slanting roof; and they are not pro- vided with any system of under-drainage and many of them have no privies. This was the case with, the house in which 120 Mr. Bankart and myself performed the post mortem ex- amination on John Francis, and in several of those adjoin- ing ; and I was informed that many others in Redruth are similarly circumstanced. In Camborne I was taken to a row of thatched cottages, each consisting of only two dark and low rooms, and all of which had no privies and no system of drainage whatever, the inmates throwing everything either into a small back yard or on a common dust heap in the street. There can be no doubt that this state of things must 130 exercise a very deleterious influence over the whole popula- tion. I learn from the resident medical men, that typhoid fever, the unmistakable indication of defective drainage, pre- vails not unfrequently in the district. Were it not for the general healthiness of the climate and locality, the free exposure from the absence of any high hills to the winds blowing from every quarter, the great facilities for natural drainage afforded by the rocky character of the surface, and the great fall of rain, ty]3hoid {ever would certainly prevail extensively. 140 In other parts of the mining districts, I found the condition of the cottages most defective. At Wendron, they consisted of low buildings with thatched roofs con- taining 2 rooms. In one which I visited, there were three beds in a small room up stairs, without any window which admitted of being opened. In this room there v/as a father who was ill and a wife with a little baby in one bed, a married daughter and a baby in the second bed, and the rest of the family consisted of the son-in-law, a daughter about 16, and two sons of 14 and 12. In none of these cottages was 150 there any drainage or privies. The cottages in the St. Just district were also generally most defective. They were small, low, and thatched ; contained only two rooms for large families, and the little windows which were pro\'ided in the sleeping rooms would rarely open. The floors were of concrete, and there was no underdrainage and rarely any privy, the whole refuse being thrown out on a dust heap in front of the door or into a pool of dirty green water, through which it was necessary often to pick the way to reach the door. This district is ele'/ated and 160 perfectly open to the sea and should be most healthy; but from neglect of all attention to sanitary regulations, at the time of my visit in August, it was suffering from typhoid fever, and I was informed by Mr. Searle, who obligingly took me to several of the cottages, that the disease had been prevaihng extensively and fatally for several months. The defective construction and drainage of the cottages cannot, however, afford any explanation of the condition of the miners, for they are less exposed to such injurious 170 influences than the other members of their families. The diet and habits of the miners have been blamed as causes of their unhealthy state. They usually live upon bread and butter and a kind of pie, the pasty, which they take down with them into the mines. This consists of a paste of , flour and water and suet, with a small quantity of meat— fresh meat or pork, and potatoes and other vegetables. It is both an innutritions and indigestible article of food, and may in some degree explain the frequency with which the miners suffer from dyspeptic symptoms, and he connected with the 180 occurrence of the skin affections, lepra or psoriasis, of which diseases cases were met with. There is great reason to believe 3](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b23983292_0009.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
