The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1880-05-28

T~hererrfbie Nfsisdy winch AttsoEs IN
Miners OF Nt. Gothard.

Thetrerrfbie Nfsisdy winch Attacks the
Miners OF %. Gothsrd.
The Gdsctta Remontese gives some ins
teresting particulars concerhings Che
effects on the health Of the men en-
ployed In the St. Gothard tunnel, Of the
unfavorablel conditions In which they
are compelled to work, with special
reference to q disease engendered by the
presence In the intestines Of aDimaleula
having a certain resemblance 70 trichi-
ma. The general appearance Of the St.
Gothard miners, particularly Of those
of them-and they are the majority.
affected by the malady In question, ID
described as deplorable In the extreme.
Their faces are yellow, their features
drawn, eyes half closed, lips discolored,
the skin is humid and the gait difficult.
If they eat with appetite they cannot
digest, and when wine is taken In 1t Is
invariably rejected. Let a man be az
strong as he may. three or four months
work in the tunnel Injuries his health,
and at the end of a year, o. q little
more, he is a confirmed invalid.
Professors Calderini, of Parma, and
Bozzolo and Pagliani, of Turin, have
made several, visits to sAirolo Tor the
purpose of studying the disease on the
spot. They state that 80 venty OF eighty
per cent. of the men arc suffering rom
this complaint, to which they give the
name of dnenpia ankolostsmd, a term de-
rived from the worm found in the in
testines of a miner who died In the
Turin hospital last year. A somewhat
similar malady, arising from the
presence Of the ankylostoYsd In the in
t~estine, is endemic in Egypt and Brazil.
Thirty per cent. of the cases are olassi-
fed as "severe;" and among the men
who have wrought in the tunnel a year
or moro, ninety-fve per cent. are
affected. For boys of from fourteen to
sixteen, many of whom, I car per-
sonally testify, are employed in the tun-
mel, the professors stigmatize it as "a
veritable hell" continuous labor in its
pestiferous atmosphere being almost
certain death for the young. Professor
Buzzolo Is of the opinion that ten hours
spent in the tunnel are sufficient to
bring about q condition of body favora-
J BILE to the development of anemia anky-
lostoma.
The disease, though it has probably
prevailed more or less for years. has
only shown itself to an alarming extent
during the last six months. Several
causes have contributed to produce this
result. The distance Of the points Of
attack, as the extremities of the gal
leries where the perforators were at
work, have been called, from the re-
spective entrances ION the north side
nearly five miles) rendered ventilation
extremely dificult-an evil which has
increased by the occasional freezing Of
the compressers. The air thus INSULT.
GENTLY renewed was further vitiated by
the perpetual explosions of dynamite
of which the consumption has been al
the rate OF ego pounds a day, the smoke
from 400 to 500 oil lamps, and the ex'
halations from the bodies of 400 mer
and forty horses. Add to this that 6
like number of men and hors1 have
been working night and day in each sec
ton of the tunnel for years, that there
is an entire absence of sanitary appli'
ances, and that the temperature ha!
averaged from eighty to n~inety-ive de
grees Fahrenheit, and we have a stat
of things inimical to life and health a,
can well be conceived. Of this the NOR
tality among the horses affords ampl'
proof. They are kept in a great tunne
only eight hours out Of t~wenty-four, ye
they die-generally dropping down deaf
as if struck by a bullet-at the rate o
twenty-five per cent. -er month; tina
Is, the average duration Of equine life il
the st. Gothard tunnel has been exactl,
four months.