The Express.
London, England, 1855-01-13 00:00:00

INDUSTRIAL PATHOLOGY.

Br the division of labour, or rather by the oom-1
hination of labour and the division of employments,
the thiegs produced are far superior to those re.
suiting from any other system of work. When
such member of a community specially dedicates
himself to one kind of industrial pursuit, he is
pretty cct min to excel in his particular branch,
however deficient he may be in all other respects.
But, is %TV are beginning to see in England, the
members of a community who carry out the system
of divided employment are not in the end more
stupid or worse informed than others. In fact,
in the conies of time they excel them in all re-
spects; for close attention to any one task, sad
close imikectioa of its difficulties and re-
quirementr. lead to the invention of machinery
which oh:— do the purely mechanical work, and thus
was to the intellectual machine, man, that
put only .n which intellect is chiefly required.
The stew._ engine, the spinning-machine, and we
hope we t : .y soon say the sewing-machine, perform
the work which is, in a certain sense, unworthy of
human l.Lour. The manufacturing districts show
ns that th. intelligence of our countrymen is not
diminiabi.,_.
Neither—ilthough the uninformed often assert
the contrioy, is the general health diminished
by this n., ;hod of labour. The statistics of the
Registrar-t mm' and the Friendly Societies make
it evident that the rate of mortalityrind ill-health
among Vie present race of Englishmen is very
mach less than among their grandfathers. Special
diseases, nowever, as might naturally be sup-
posed, accompany special employments. The Society
of Arts have set themselves a special employment,
which we hope may bring with it no corre-
sponding malady; for it is the investigation
of the matter we have just mentioned, viz.,
the pant( der diseases accompanying particular
handicraft employments. A committee of their
body was appointed to inquire into what
they call " industrial pathology." They, however,
do not take a particular employment and find out
the disease it produces ; but they begin with par-
ticular disease, and find out what work probes
it. They have just made their report WM
" injuries from handicraft work to the ere.'
It is very gratifying to find a non-medical misty
directing i' 4 attention to matters of this kind; sad
the &Rio: of Arts, from its natural connexion with
adages h 4 industrial pursuits generally, enjoys
some alvii.itages in this investigation. We were not
prepared rw the fact which the report discloses, that
the eye it. not often directly injured by handicraft
operations. Many affections seem due simply to
ignorance neglect of well-known hygienic laws,
and all seem capable of being met by simple, cheap,
and univ, Nally attainable means, without any alter-
ation in the modes of manufacture, or interference
with the misters. As to over-use the report says:

The gum.. ni whether the eye, or any of the other organs
of Kam, is . .pable of improvement ia proportion to its
ass, or whet er, like a human mechanical contrivance, it
wears one r•y employment, is a very serious one. A great
deal of our • induct in daily life depends on the way we
anr•'r it t.. ourselves. It is probable that the "wearing
out" contra •ed is the popular saying with " rotting out"
Is often (4..17 attributed to the human body, end that per-
fectly he al.:. organs are made more efficient by u►e—pro•
tided that iiich use does not diminish the nutrition of the
system; bet at the same time, local injury is certainly ex-'
preened in many parts of the body, especially the rye, by
weeklog to . long hours. The explanation appears to be
this, via that after the body her been long employed, audit
mien vigour •lose not remain in each sepiolite organ to en•
able it to do its duty—it cannot be called healthy after the
general strength has been exhausted. " Overwork " meals
working with eke eye in an unnatural condition.
Too much light on the eye, too little light on the
work (as is the cue of sewing black materials), a
flickering nail unsteady light, heat, mechanical injury
from partie; es getting under the eyelid, and chemical
fames--th,,ugh the effect of these last seems generally
very sligh, —are the chief causes of affections of the
sight. Smoking short pipes seems to be a very
efficient e 3 ....destroyer :
A shorai,ser, a voracious smoker, having been compelled
to apply, ttir ugh the failure of his sight, to the celebrated
occulist, D. Alexander, this gentleman, immediately
held the hem • of the wretched sufferer before his °beer wallas,
eadurricil, • Why, you Dave brought this all upon yeureelf.
You are year own eye•ilestroyer ! That short pipe which
you stick it your lips is doing it all. Throw that hal and
filthy thing .side ! There can he no remedy for you until
you drop tbi • vile propensity. Why, man, you are burning
your very ey. halls out of their sockets." So he told him,
and then and afterwards he did what he could for his
patient ; all unavailingly as regarded a complete tee
taration of •eght ; and now, in his visual benightedness, be
ii compelled to sell matches in the 'treats of London. • •
• • • A- the habit is indulged in duriag the long work-
ing hours 01 week after week, the bowl of the pipe closely
sidelirg up ogsiast the leather-like cuticle of the right or
left click, a• it may be, the fine nervous system of the eye,
at has sieney been mentioned, must even be more offended
and damaged, and eventually, perhaps, completely destroyed.
Olasaes and shades for lamps, spectacles, wire
gauze eye-guards, good ventilation, and such simple
means, arc considered sufficient for preventiog moat
affections of the eye caused by handicraft operations.
The report is neither very full nor very striking, as
the commit :es themselves state ; but it is a move in
the right direction, and for that reason we wish to
draw attei,tion to it. We have given a relsurne of it
is another part of our columns.—Daily News.

ARCHDEACON DENISON.