Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1878-08-28
HEAT IN THE NEVADA MINES.
Tho Sick and Delirious and the Rough
Treatment They Get.
From the Virginia (Nev.) Enterprise.

sMC AO"CA AOvCIS Va tuC Ac&uAuS mIuoS U
the Comstock, can have but very fain
conception of the heat prevailing there
IN at the present time. The heat is ter
rible even in winter; it is like the breath
of furnace, and In most places where
men are obliged to work it is deficient In
oxygen, that life-supporting ingredient
having been burnt odt by the many can
dies used and in various ways absorbed
and exhausted. It can be felt piercina
through the little clothing worn, drying
the saliva in the mouth, and almost
shrivelling the eyebrows. A tempera.
ture of 120 to $50 degrees is 20 much
above blood heat that the process ct
cooking begins in the human frame. But
for the floods Of perspiration covering
the body, the flesh would be cooked to !
certain extent. A famous English phi
losopher has given an account Of his 20
ing into an oven hot enough to cook .
beefsteaf, and remaining there till one
lying near him was actually cooked.
Had it been the dead instead Of the liv-
ing body of the philosopher that accom-
panied the beefsteak it would undoubt-
have been "done to turn" All that
saved the experimenter, - he himself
says, was the fact that he was constantly
in a state of profuse perspiration. A
temperature above the natural heat of
the body undoubtedly attacks 1t and
causes the flesh 10 undergo the first stages
of cooking. This happens to q miner
the moment perspiration ceases to How
from the pores of his skin. The stomach
is first affected, then the brain. It is
probably through disorder of and sick
ness at the stomach that perspiration is
checked. As soon a. perspiration ceas 60
to flow the body begins to cook, and first
of all, apparently, the brain, as the man
at once becomes delirious-as wildly in.
sane as any patient in a 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 in the California and
Consolidated Virginia mines. When a
miner suddenly begins to rave or talk
incoherently his companions "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 ap-
piled to the stomach which is found to
be the seat of the trouble, and
in which knots nearly of the size
of mans fist are found to have formed.
These must be rubbed out, and as soon
as they disappear perspiration again
starts and the man regains his senses.
The rubbing is sometimes done with q
piece Of gunny sack, but as this is liable
to cause useless abrasion of the skin, q
pick handle is preferred. To be rubbed
down with pick handle in the hands of
q muscular miner il not such q treat
ment as any man in his senses would be
likely to greatly desire, nor does the
miner, even his delirium desire it, there
fore he is tied in such way that he can
not resist. The miners say that they
can bring man out all right BY their
method of treatment in less than half
the time that it would be done by the
A day or two since at the
Consolidated Virginia tho men took one
of their companions who became de-
ranged from the heat, tied him at the
end of rope and lowered him about one
hundred feet to place where he could
be conveniently doctored," then vent
at him with their pick-handles, and soon
brought him out all right. lay before
yesterday a thing happened in the Con-
solidated Virginia shaft which borders
ON miraculous A man was standing on
q plank that was placed across the shaft
when be suddenly tainted and fell upon
his back, lying rs securely along the
plank as Though he had been placed
there With the greatest care. 1t
was quite as wonderful, too, that he
remained Just - he fell sufficiently long
TO allow his fellow workmen 70 reach
him and withdraw him from his peril
ous position. Not once in ten thousand
times would mana life be saved when
fainting in such position. The shaft
mentioned Is 80 fearfully hot that beside
it purgatory would Be reckoned cool
ing-of station. Although the men who
work there are species of human Gala
mander-like the philosopher who got
into the oven along with the beefsteaE-
still they cannot work but about ten
minutes at Q tune. They then fall back
and let other men come to the 'front.' In
this way of working it is asserted that
there are places in the bonanza mines
whore it is now costing 416 per day 70
do the work of one man. The men could
do nothing at all but for the liberal sup
ply of ice ond ice.waser allowed them.
They swallow ice-water BY the gallon,
and frequently pour the same over each
other. In these hot places they use about
ninety.fve pounds Of ice per day to the
man! Without ice none Of our leading
mines could~ be worked. Men cannot
Ne in tho lower levels without an am
1e supply of ice-water, and even with it
hey are, ~ We have seen, almost cooked
live, and frequently rendered delirious
would die indeed were they not
promptly taken in hand and "doctored." ."
Scripture Improved On.
"A gentleman who can not use tobacco