San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-10-12
A TASTE Of PURGATORY.
The Terrible Heat In the Nevada Mtnes
Heroic Treatment Of ComAtose Miuers.

The Terrible Heat In the Nevada Mines
Heroic Treatment Of Comatose Miners.
From tho Virginia (Nev.) EnterpriseI
Those who have not recently explored
the lower levels Of the leading mines Of
the Comstock can have but very faint
conception Of the heat prevailing there
in at the present time. The heat Is ter
rible even in the winter; 1t is like the
breath of furnace, and in most places
where men are obliged to work 1t is de-
ficient In oxygen, that disappearing
ingredient having been burnt out by the
many candles used, and In various ways
absorbed and exhausted. It can be felt
piercing through the little clothing
worn, drying the saliva in the mouth,
and almost shriveling the eyeballs. A
temperature of 120 to 1870 degrees Is 50
much above blood heat that the process
of cooking begins in the human frame.
But for the floods Of perspiration cover
ing the body the flesh would really be
cooked to certain extent. A famous
English philosopher has given an ac-
count of his going into an oven hot
enough to cook beefsteak, and remain
ing there till one lying near him was
actually cooked. Had it been the dead
instead of the living body Of the philos-
opher that accompanied the beefsteak 1t
would undoubtedly have been "done to
a turn" All that saved the expert
menter, as he himself says, was
the fact that he was constantly In
a state of profase perspiration;;
A temperature above the natural
heat Of the body undoubtedly attacks 1t
and causes the flesh to undergo the first
stages Of cooking. This happens to q
miner the moment perspiratiOn ceases
to flow from the pores Of the skin. The
stomach is first affected, then the brain.
1t is probably through disorder OF and
sickness at the stomach that per-
SEPARATION is checked. As soon as per-
SEPARATION ceases to flow the body begins
to cook, and first of all, apparently, the
brain, as the man at once becomes de-
lirious-as wildly insane as any patient
in lunatic asylum. Cases of this kind
occur much more frequently than is
supposed or generally known. OF late
they have been very frequent in the Cal
ifornia and Consolidated Virginia
Mines. When a miner suddenly begins
to rave and talk incoherently his COM
panions " doctor'' him. 1t is rough
treatment they give him, but it is found
to be very effective. The man affected
is seized and carried to the coolest place
in the vicinity, when he is bound hand
and foot and put through a process OF
rubbing. The friction Is applied to the
stomach, which is found to be the seat
of the trouble, and in which knots near
ly the size of mans fist are found to
have formed. These must be rub
bed out, and as soon as they
disappear perspiration again starts
and the man regains his senses. The
rubbing is sometimes done with
piece Of gunny sack, but, as this is liza
BILE to cause useless abrasion Of the skin,
pick-handle is preferred. To be rub
bed down with a pick. handle in the
hands of a muscular miner is not such
reat ment as any man in his senses
would be likely to greatly desire, nor
does the miner, even in his delirium,
desire it, therefore he is tied in such
way that he can not resist. The miners
say that they can bring a man out all
right by their method Of treatment in
less than half the time that it would be
done by the physicians. A day or two
since at the Consolidated Virginia the
men took one of their companions, who
became deranged from the heat, tied
him at the end of rope, and lowered
him about 100 feet to q place where ne
could be conveniently doctored, "then
went at him with their pick handles and
soon brought him out all right. Day
before yesterday thing happened in
the Consolidated Virginia shaft, which
borders on the miraculous. A man was
standing on a plank that was placed
across the shaft when he suddenly faint
ed and fell upon his back, lying as Sc
curely along the plank as though he had
been placed there with the greatest
care. 1t was quite wonderful,
too, that he remained just as he
fell sufficiently long to allow his fellow
workmen to reach him and withdraw
him from his perilous position. Not
once in ten thousand times would a
mans life be saved when fainting in
such position. The shaft mentioned
is so fearfully hot that beside it purga-
tory would be reckoneda cooling.off sta
ton. Although the men who work there
are a species of human salamander-
like the philosopher who got into the
oven along with the beefsteak-still they
can not work but about 10 minutes at q
time. They then fall back and let others
come to the front. In this way OF work.
ing it is asserted that there are places in
the bonanza mines where it Is now costing
SIG per day to do the work of one man.
The men could do nothing at all but for
the liberal supply of ice and ice-water
allowed them. They swallow ice-water
by the gallon, and frequently pour the
same over each other. In these hot
49, H. 49, aba,,t OK ,oupda of ice