New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-05-16
A TeleRra oh NInlaIy.

daE OF two ago we quoted under THU
heading paragraph from the Glupdic
The paragraph referred to an empIoye who
had been engaged in telegraph office il
| France. presumably, for nlns years. who
found that he could not form clearly Ger
tain letters Of the alphabet, and who. ate,
endeavoring to manipulate with his thumb
and subsequently with his first and second
fingers and his wrist. fnallr became dis
abled from what has been designated "tele-
graph paralysis" The paragraph concluded
by saying that the 80 called disorder is very
common among telegraph clerks, and it
seems not improbable that much uneasiness
may be caused by the wide publicity
already given to such statement We
have therefore been at some trouble to IN
| quire into the matter, and we are glad to
find that the malady, if such it may really
be designated. is wholly unknown in this
country. correspondent, practical
telegraphist of twenty years standing,
who has had much experience both in
the training and subsequent control of
telegraph clerks, assures Es that he never
| heard of the disease until he saw the para
graph in question: and we learn from other
| sources that case OF the kind described in
| the paragraph has never been known to
occur IN connection with our Geographic
service. either in the days OF Geographic
| companies Or since the acquisition of tha
system by the postoffice. We should i'm
agine that there are more telegraphists
employed in Great Britain than in any
other country, and looking to the promi-
hence given to female labor in our telegraph
offices, it seems probable that if the disease
spoken Of was really incidental to the prac-
tice of telegraphy. it would have developed
itself more rapidly in England than else
where. As we have Just stated however,
it is wholly unknown among Us. We do
not assume, of course, that the partie.
ular case referred to has not occurred.
but we imagine that it is capable of
explanation IN some way or other. IL
appears that different countries use differ
ent forms of Geographic apparatus. and that
varying methods of manipulation are neces-
sary under certain circumstances. In
France, unless We are mistaken. and,
indeed. on the continent generally, a form
of instrument is in use which requires a
rapid nervous style of manipulation which
an English telegraphist would call tap
ping as distinguished from the spumpine''
action mostly in use in this country, In
America we know this to be the case: and
we are not certain that the malady reported
by the French physician has not shown
itself there in an incipient form. The
system of single currents almost universally
adopted in America renders the use of a
short, rapid stroke practca BILE ia sending
over very long distances. and the generally
high pressure system of biography adopted
in the United States would perhaps. |
conduce more to the development of
nervous diseases than that adopted IN
other countries. In England the tele-
graphist generally grasps. or as il |
is technically called. "holds' bis KEY, and |
tapping is confined to the shorter cir |
cults for which the single current appara- |
tus is employed. Cases ave constantly oc- |
curing, OF course, such, for instance, as the |
of the Queens speech, or some |
other heroic part OF telegraphy, in which
the operator becomes tired" from a long
sustained effort, and seeks relief by various
exDedients: sometimes he will change from |
one finger to another sometimes he will |
use the palm of the hand, and sometimes
even the wrist, as the paralyzed telegraph
lst is said 30 have done. But few min
ltes' rest will generally restore his powers:
Of manipulation on the part of the tele-
sraphist will not be found to be greater. as
4 rule, than that occasioned by a protracted
lse of the pen or pencil. Different forms
If instruments have developed the in
,enuity OF the telegraphist in seek
ng relief for his tired and often
fingers. The relief consists not
orm of manipulation, and "Bright's bell
IN instrument now almost obselete-is a
FOOD example of how the telegraphist used
Q rest himself by increasing his labor. The
'bell' is worked by two 'tappers,' and
both hands are EMPLOYED in its
The very difficulty which
occurred to the French telegraphist-yiz:
hat of forming the alpha bet-often occurred
o the manipulatOrs of the "bell' instru.
nent, and it was invariably surmounted by
he operator making a series of strokes
ometlmes as many as twenty or thirty
n one or other of the "tappers,' according
0 which hand was the most "tired." and
hus bringing himself to Zero, so to sneak
SUIT here. as with the Morse" instrument
he inconvenience was only Temporary
nd was generally found to originate
the peculiar constitution of the
peratoz rather than in ANYTHING
onnected with the apparatus or with the
Geographic art generally. 1t has been al.
eyed against the Hughes type printing
Instrument, which is extensively used on
be continent, and of which we ourselves
ave had somewhat heightened and satis.
actory experience, that. owing to the
ocular nervous touch of it's piano-lik
eys. it is calculated to produce nervons
in the operator. But eycsnt
erhaps, IN the case of female telepranbists
Tho are not adapted for winding m tha
eavy weights by which the Hughes instrm.
tent y, Is g. driven, We should say that "play-
'g' on the Hughes instrument is abont =.
armless to the telegraph operator a. olav'