Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-10-07
AN ENGINEERS DISEASE.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
what is Chief Engineer Roebling's dis
ease?" was asked Of an engineer of the East
River bridge.
"a very rare one," he replied. SIT is the
caisson disease, the result of enduring high
atmospheric pressure. You know that these
two great granite piers rest to-day on wooden
boxes, turned bottom upward, called Gals
sons. These were constructed with the same
horizontal dimensions as the towers. For In
stance, that on the New York side was 1O2
by liz feet, and was nine feet high. The
roof of the casson or the bottom of the box.
was made twenty-five feet thick of solid tim
Der, boIted together The cassOn was built on
ways, launched like ship, and when lowed to
the point where the pier was to be located
courses of granite blocks were laid upon the
top. and by this means it was sunk until it
rested on the bed of the river. Then cir was
forced into the chamber Of the caisson by en-
gines on the shore until the water was displaced
and the river bed left bare. This pressure was
maintained day and night and wOrkmen were
employed digging out the earth from beneath
the caisson, so that 1t should gradually and
evenly descend. AS the caissOn settled the ma
sonry on it was built up. so that the top Of the
stone work was always above water.
A good foundation was not reached on the
New York side until we reached depth of
seyenty-eight feet. OF course workmen had to
work In this compressed air, and the chief en-
gineer was with them as he was anxious that
no mistake should be made at the foundation of
the piers The pressure of air required to keep
the water out of the caissOn increased i'm exact
proportion to the depth. When the digging was
begun, the caisson being covered by forty feet of
water, the pressure was about eighteen pounds
to the square inch, but it reached thirty-six
pounds before the Close
did this pressure affect the health of
others %
Very seriously. Some are to-day hopeless
invalids like the chief engineer A number died.
and only the most robust fully recovered. In
four months there were ITO cases. Here is a
medical definition of the disease: 1t is an all
ment depending upon increased atmospheric
pressure but always developed after the pres
sure is removed. 1t is characterized by extreme
pain in one or more of the extremities and
sometimes in the trunks, which may or may not
be associated with epigastric pain and
vomiting In some cases the pain is
accompanied by paralysis more or less
complete, which may be general or
local, but is most frequently confined to the
lower half of the body. Cerebral symptoms,
such as headache and vertigo, are sometimes
present. In fatal cases the symptoms are con-
nected with congestion OF the brain and spinal
fusion and congestion of most of the abdominal
vlscera. The chief engineer has the disease in
an acute form, accompanied Dy intense neuralgia
pains, which seem as though the flesh were
being torn from the bones. The pain is remit
tent and parOxysmal especially If he attempts
to move. In the last year or two he has been
able to move at times with less pain.
but he has suffered from a mild paralysis
which has kept him prisoner at home. You
know he never saw the towers and cables until
he caught sight of them from soft bed on the
deck of the canal boat upon which he was
tOwed on the way from his home in New Jersey
when he changed his residence to Brooklyn.
with him the cerebral symptoms have not been
so acute. and fortunately his brain has been
clear although he has had headache and dizz-
ness. He knows everything that goes on about
the bridge and he takes deep interest in it,
The disease has wrecked his physical lfe and
many man would have prayed for death. but
his keen intellect has found stimulant in the
expectation Ofhaving his name linked with the
greatest suspension bridge in the world and but
tor this believe he would care very little for
this world"