The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1880-07-01
A STRANGE DISEASE.
TheTerrIbIe Malay which attacks the
Miners OF 81 60tlhTd.

TheIerfibie malhgg hhith s1i'a'h Wv
Miners of 81 6OtltArd'
The GazetLa PieniJnteSe gives some in
terestlDg particulars concerning The
effects on the health Of the men en-
ployed in the ST. Gothard tunnel, OF the
unfavorable conditions in which they
are compelled to work, with special
reference TO a disease engendered by the
presence in the iniestines of animalcula
having a certain resemblance to trichi-
ia. The general appearance OF the st.
Gothard mihera, particularly Of those
of them-and they are the II njority-
affected by the malady in question, is
described as deplorable in the extreme.
Their faces are yellow, their features
drawn, eyes half closed, lips d~iscolored,
the skin is humid and the gait difficult.
II they eat with appetite they cannot
digest, and when wine is taken in 1t is
invariably rejected. Let a man be as
strong as he may. three or four months
work in the tunnel Injuries his health,
and at the end of a year, or a little
more, ne is n confirmed invalid.
Professors Calderini, of Parma, and
Bozzolo and P%agliani, OF Turin, have
made several visits to Airolo for the
purpose of studying the disease on the
spot. Theyistatc that 81 event or eighty
per cent. of the men are suffering from
thus complaint, to which they give the
name OF dnenlid dnkglOstznld, 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 dnkyLOStOma in the in
%testine, is endemic in Egypt and Brazil.
Thirty per cent. of the cases are CLASH
fed as "sevcre;" and among the men
who have wrought in the tunnel a year
or moro, ninety-iye per cent. are
affected. For boys of from fourteen to
sixteen, many of whom, / a 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 a condition of body favora-
BILE to the development of GnenltG dnFy-
loStOnld.
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, rs 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 at
the rate OF $50 pounds a day, the smoke
from 400 to 500 oil lamps, and the K
halations from the bodies OF 400 men
and forty horses. Add TO shis that a
like number Of men and horses have
been working night and day in each sec
tion of the tunnal for years, that there
is IN entire absence of sanitary appli-
anCes, and that the temperature has
averaged from eighty to ninety-five de-
grees Fahrenheit, and we have n state
of things inimical to life and health rs
can well be conceived. OF this the NOR
talily among the horses affords ample
proof. They are kept in a great tunnel
only eight hours out of twenty four, yet
they d~ie-generally dropping down dead
az If struck by r hullet--at the rate of
twenty-five per cent. per month; that
is, the average duration of equine life in
the St. Gothard tunnel has been exactly
four months.