The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-05-08
The Horrible Disease Engendered in
the st. G0thard Tunnel.

The Horrible Disease Engendered in
- the st. Gothard Tunnel.
| The Geneva correspondent of the
London Times writes: The GdzzetG
Piemosatese gives some interesting par
ticulars concerning the effects on the
health of the men employed in the St.
Gothard Tunnel, of the uhfavorable con-
ditions in which they are compelled to
work, with special referenceto disease
engendered by the presence in the in
testines of animalcule having a certain
resemblance to trichine The general
appearance of the St. Gothard miners,
particularly those of them-and they
are in the majority affected by the
malady in question, is described as de-
plorable 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 can not digest,
and when wine is taken it is invariably
rejected. Let man be as strong as he
may, three or four months work in the
tunnel seriously Injuries his health, and
at the end of the year, or little more,
he is confirmed invalid.
Professors Calderini of Parma and
Bozzolo and Pagliani of Turin have
made several visits to Airolo for the
purpose of studying the disease on the
spot. They state that 70 or so per cent.
of the men are suffering from this COM
plant, to which they give the name of
G1ae11et0 071kyloStOn10, term derived
from the worm found in the intestines
of a miner who died in the Turin Hos
pital last year. A somewhat similar
malady, arising from the presence of
the aiakyl0StonaG in the intestines,
is endemic in Egypt and Brazil. Thir-
ty per cent. of the cases are classified
as severe;" and among the men
who have wrought in the tunnel year
or more, ninety-five per cent. are af-
fected. For boys from fourteen to six
teen, many of whom, as can personally
testify, are employed in the tunnel, the
professors stigmatize it as ga veritable
hell,'' continuous labor in its pestiferous
atmosphere being almost certain death
for the young. Prof. Bozzolo is of opin-
ion that ten hours spent in the tunnel
are sufficient to bring about condition
of body favorable to the development of
a7eenasG 01okyI0ston10.
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 gale
ries where the perforators were at work
have been called, from the respective
entrances Con the north side nearly five
miles), rendered ventilation extremely
diflicult-an evil which has increased by
the occasional freezing of the COM
presses. The air thus sufficiently re-
newed was further vitiated by the per-
petual explosions of dynamite, of which
the consumption has been at the rate of
$50 pounds a day, the smoke from 400
to 500 oil lamps, and the exhalations
from the bodies of 400 men and 40
horses. Add to this that like number
of men and horses have been working
night and day in each section of the
tunnel for years, that there is an entire
absence OF sanitary appliances, and that
the temperature has averaged from 80
to 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and we have
state of things as inimical to life and
health as can well be conceived. Of
this the mortality among the horses
affords ample proof.
They are kept in the tunnel only eight
hours out of the twenty-four, yet they
die-generally dropping down dead as
if struck by a bullet-at the rate of 25
per cent. per month; that is, the aver
age duration of equine life in the St.
Gothard Tunnel has been exactly four
months. AS most of the miners en-
ployed in the tunnel are Piedmontese,
the Italian professors, from whose re-
port | have quoted some of the forego-
ing statements, naturally enough call
the attention of their Government to the
facts disclosed therein, and claim their
interference on behalf of the men. 1t is
only fair, however, to mention that the
Swiss papers contest the accuracy of
some of their conclusions, and, while
admitting that the tunnel is by no means
a pleasant place to work in, they affirm
that things are not nearly so bad as
Profs. Bozzolo and Pagliani make out,
anu 1nao Ine lSureS WHICH GneSe SenJle-
men give with reference to the preva-
lence of disease among the men require
confirmation. Be that as it may, you
could not pass seven or eight hours in
side the tunnel, before the boring was
completed, without suffering both at the
time and afterward considerable in
convenience, if not something worse,
and on leaving it your feelings would
not improbably resemble those of the
Austrian journalist who, after similar
experience, telegraphed to his paper:
81 have been in the St. Gothard Tunnel,
and am glad to inform you l have
come out alive"
WAR Upon INSECTS. with the ap-
proach of spring the farmer and gar
xxril hn la1 30 Al