St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-01-02
Healthy and Unhealthy Occupations.

There is SAID to be dust everyw here,
but what constitutes dust is variable
material. Many occupations, the work
ing of tibres no less than the working of
metals, develop dust and seriously af-
feet the lungs. Iron often settles there.
A workman who had polished iron,
died, and his lungs were found to be
hardened and actually one per cent. of
iron III their substance. Grinding, par
ticularly needle grinding is very fatal.
| These grinders die at the average age
of thirty-one. The grinding of other
metal products is unhealthy, but to a
less terrible degree, and grinders are
prOverbially neglectful of proper pre-
cautions. Making ground glass is hard
life, and hardly any of the wOrkmen at
it are sound. Thirty-five per cent. die
of consumption, and many lose their
teeth and suffer virtual lead poisoning
DiamOnd-cutters are generally sick
men. Vegetable dust is unhealthy, too
The men who prepare moulds for cast
ings sprinkle them with powdered char
coal. They have finally catarrh with
black expectorations, and die of the dis
ease. Millers do not suffer from inhal-
ing dust, but they have singular skin
disease, Oftenest affecting the left
shoulder, where they carry meal bags.
1t itches at night only, and according to
some authorities, is not vegetable mat
ter but an insect. Making brushes is
bad for the health, as the bits of bristle
get into the lungs. In button making,
bone dust is not injurious, but mother
of pearl is, very. Feather handling is
exceedingly bad for the lungs, throat,
and for the eyes, and artificial flower
making brings poisoning with it.
Working in copper actually makes
the hair green, and the teeth, and it is
said the bones, but it is not injurious.
Copper is seldom worked alone, and
what is called copper poisoning is prob
ably lead poisoning. Seamstresses sut-
fer from poisoning from the stuffs they
work. They also hurt their eyes, but
the sewing machine, it is now held. is
rather benefit than an injury, if used
only Il few hours Il day. 1t is the all day
work at it, i'll bad air that has given it
its bad name. Tobacco working in
wolves Il week or two of sickness at
first, but this is overcome, and after it
the workmen are said to be particular
ly free from epidemic diseases. How
ever its effects upon women are said to
be permanently bad. There is a great
lack of children with them. Bleaching
is a cause of serious trouble from eczma,
which comes from the hot water and
lye, which also gives washerwomen
cracked hands and eczma. Ninety per
cent. of the people employed in prepar-
ing the sulphate of quinine are taken
down with severe eczmatous troubles
and often high fever. This is a disease
that overcomeS new workmen, and
which they only have once. Gasmen
also have skin troubles from the violent
sweating brought on by the heat, and
changes of temperature also develop
rhumatism. There is no brochitis or
lung troubles among them.
The only way in which mirrors can
be made without the horrors of mercu-
rial poisoning is by using silver and let
ting quicksilver alone, but considerable
can be done to improve the condition
of mercury workers if they can he made
to keep clean, and not to eat in their
workshops. Matches in every house
and every pocket, are made at terri
bic cost. Match-makers (not matrimo-
nial but materially have their intellects
dulled by the fumes they inhale, and
suffer dreadful necrosis of the jaw. No
one with imperfect teeth can make
matches and not lose his jawbone and
teeth. Working in rubber produces
''Iubber poisoning" which is accompa-
MED by catarrh and eczma, and is
marked by singular development of
dependency, that leads to despair and
the abandonment of the work, after
which recovery comes naturally on. 1t
is singular fact that offensive odors
are not unhealthy. Tanners are pro-
verbally well. In cholera plaques
tanners are exempt. Butchers hardly
ever know what consumption is. Even
scavengers of the lowest order are very
vel, and stable boys are notoriously
healthy.