River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-04-15
1850 -----
TUNNEL TRICHINOSIS.
The Terrible Malady Which Attacked
The Miners OF st. &c hard.
London Times.

GENEVA, March 15-The Gasseta
Piemontese gives some interesting partjc-
ulars concerning the effects on the
health Of the men employed in the st.
Gothard tunnel, of the unfavorable con-
ditions in which they are compelled to
work, with special reference to disease
engendered by the presence in the in
3estines of animalcu'@ having a GER
lain resemblance to trechinae. The
general appearance of the st. Gothard
miners, particularly of those OF them
and they are the majority--effected by
the malady in question, is 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 can not digest,
and when wine is taken it is invariably
rejected. Let a 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 a confirmed invalid.
Profs. Calderini, of Parma, and Boz
zolo and Pagliani, of Turin, have made
several visits TO Airolo for the purpose
of studying the disease on the spot.
They state that 20 to so per cent. of the
men are suffering from this complaint,
to which they give the name of anenia
aakulostona, term derived from the
worm found in the intestines of miner
who died in the Turin hospital, last
year. A somewhat similar malady,
arising from the presence of the anky-
Eostonaa in the intestines, is epidemic in
Egypt and Brazil. Thirty per cent. of
the cases are classified as severe;" and
among the men who have wrought in
the tunnel a year or more, 95 per cent.
are affected. For boys from ID to 16,
many of whom, as | can personally
testify, are employed in the tunnel, the
professors stigmatize it as "a veritable
hell" continuous labor in its pestifer-
Gus atmosphere being almost certain
death for the young. Prof. Bozzolo is
of the opinion that ten hours spent in
the tunnel are sufficient to bring about
condition of body favorable to the
development of aaemsd 0nkyLostono.
The disease, though it has probably
prevailed more or less for years, has
only shown itself 10 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 extremetiCs of the CALLER.
les where the perforators were at work
have been called, from the respective
entrances Ton the north side nearly FIVE
miles) rendered ventilation extremely
difficult-an evil which has increased
by the occasional freezing of the COM
pressors. The air thus insufficiently
renewed was further vitiated by the
perpetual explosions of dynamite, of
which the consumption has been at the
rate of 660 pounds day, the smoke
from 400 to 500 oil lamps, and the ex-
halations from the bodies OF 400 men
and 40 horses. Add to this that a 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 so 10 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and
we have state of things as inimical to
life and health as can well be con-
ceived. OF this the mortality among
the horses affords ample proof
They are kept in the tunnel only
eight hours out of 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 av-
erage 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 oftheir conclusions, and, while
admitting that the tunnel is by no
means pleasant place to work in, they
affirm that things are not nearly as bad
as Profs. Bozzolo and Pagliani make
out, and that the figures which these
gentlemen give with reference to the
prevalence of disease among the men
re quire confirmation. Be that as it
may, YOU could not pass seven or eight
hours inside the tunnel, before the bor-
ing was completed, without suffering
both at the time and afterward consid-
cradle inconvenience, if not something
worse, and on leaving it your feelings
would not improbably resemble those
of the Austrian journalist who, after a
similar experience, telegraphed to his
paper: 81 bave been in the st. Gothard
tunnel, and am glad to inform you
have come out alive"