Wichita eagle., 1889-05-19

Suffer from Serious Affections.
Those persons who are engaged in out-of
door occupations as a rule, breathe pure
air and have plenty of muscular exercise
They are usually robust and brawny, anC
the average duration Of their lives is long
but, being exposed to alterations of heat
and cold, to winds, rain and snow, they are
liable to acute pulmonary affections anc
rheumatism. Boat-men and fishermen are
quite subject to chronic bronchial catarrh
The latter are said TO suffer greatly from
paneris Of the right index finger due TO the
rubbing of the line.
Farmers and those occupied il agricult-
oral pursuits, says the Boston Globe, are
often attacked with catarrh and pneumo-
MA; among the elderly and aged ones
chronic rheumatism prevails. The life OF
an independent farmer is so free from anx.
iety and SO healthful In its conditions that
IL II were not for the poorness of food set
forth on most farmers tables, their lives
would be much longer and moro comforta-
bic than they are. But in most farm
houses the diet is very much restricted,
the meat consisting Of plenty Of salt pork.
More pitiful wrecks of women, by reason of
hard work and poor food, than some Of the
farmers wives Of New England it would be
hard to find.
Laborers furnish a large number Of
deaths from Bright's disease and phthisis.
There are occupations in which persons
are exposed to extreme artificial heat, where
the atmosphere of the work room is neces-
sarily kept at a high temperature, and
where the ventilation is always poor; for a
rapid change in the air would call for an in
creased consumption Of fuel. Whether the
h erh
cause, it is certain that those working un-
der those conditions are generally sickly,
and their power of resisting disease is much
reduced. Copious perspiration has great
deal to do, no doubt, with the low state of
their vitality, and the sudden changes of
temperature which they undergo after leav-
ing OF work and gong outdoors, render
them liable to catarrhal trouble, both pull
monary and gastric intestinal They are
good subjects for rheumatism and Bright's
disease.
Brickmakers are generally robust men
Those who press the clay into molds by
hand suffer painful crepitation of the ten
dons of the wrist. They are also exposed
to the smoke and heat from the lime kilns,
which produce disease.
Bakers and cooks are exposed to extreme
heat, and nearly always in badly ventilated
and damp places The former work at
night, and their pale, puffy faces are very
characteristic. Both are subject to rheu-
matism and varicose veins. The heat of
the fire and the irritating substances in
which they work produce eruptions of the
skin on the hands and arms and acute in
examinations on the face. OF the two trades,
that OF the baker is the most unhealthy.
The hands of bakers are generally large and
powerful because of the muscular exertion
used In kDeeding dough.
Charcoal burners are exposed to tenn
perature varying fsom los to 112 degrees
Fahrenheit, but do not suffer much, as their
work is done in the open air.
Blacksmiths are strong and healthy men,
partly because only robust men could en-
dure the hard work OF this trade, and partly
because constant muscular exercise tends
TO increase the natural vigor of those who
adopt it. But the extreme exertion and ex-
posture to the heaS of the forge, the great
perspiration and sudden change of temper
ature, are many sources of peril to the
health; and it is the universal opinion of
writers on hygiene that they age very
quickly. The light and heat from the forge,
as well as tho white-hot metal, produce
many diseases Of the eyes. Rlacksmiths
are also said to suffer greatly from head
aches and catarrh. The sudden change eff
temperature naturally produce acute and
chronic rheumatism.
Engineers and stokors on railroads, in
steamships and attending stationary en-
gines, are also exposed TO great heat. On
steamers, where their quarters are very
small, they are most unhealthy class of
men. This IS especially true Of the stokers
They are always pale, subject to catarrh.
rheumatism and pneumonia, and frequently
die of phthisS.
Many writers describe a peculiar affection
which attacks men who clean out the boilers /
of steam engines. They enter by a man
hole, and in few minutes emerge with red /
faces, lips blue, VEINS swollen, interrupted
respiration and the heart beat very percep- /
tlbie. There is peculiar whiteness around /
the lips, as If they had been touched with (
nitrate of silver. They are often sick for /
days after their work, and suffer greatly. !
These workmen are liable TO serious acct .
dents from bursting boilers, breaking T
shafts, etc.
. The men who work at large FORCES. iron
puddlers ana glass blowers are also exposed /
TO intense heat. Hirt states that iron-pud-
dlers WORK from eight to ten hours in air
Of temperature Of ono hundred and
thirty degrees Fahrenheit Such work
men are constantly perspiring pro-
fusely and drink enormous quantities of
water TO mako Up for their loss. They are
subject TO all the diseases incident to such
exposure and sudden changes Of tempera-
ture, viz: bronchitis, pneumonia, rheuma-
usm ana dlarrhoea. They also suffer from
disease of the eyes, the effect of too vivid
light; while the heat produces many skin
eruptions.
Glass blowers take mass Of molten glass
from the furnace on the end of a tube and
blow into It while il is soft As the lung
capacity OF one man is insufficient for the
purpose, two, three or four stand together.
and the tube Is passed quickly from one 20
another Sometimes the end of the tube is
rough, SO the men suffer from cracking of
the lips. Each man should have his own
mouthpece TO insert quickly into the COM
mon tube, but many of the workers dislike
TINS, and se4eave themselves liable TO catch
ing diseases from one another. The violent
effort of blowing tends TO produce empty
soma and heart disease
Dyers, being exposed to wet and con-
slant temperature of one hundred degrees
Fahrenheit are subject to catarrhs and
rheumatism. The fluids in which their
hands are immersed produce skin eruptions
and ulcerations of the hands and fingers.
Laundresses suffer from exposure to ex-
treme heat, and are as a rule aus,mic
Fernois has noticed an habltual taxation of
the left thumb backward, as a result of its
constant use in holding clothes firmly on
the ironing board. According TO Lar!leu.
all the fingers o. the left hand can be bent
Backward 10 a rema rkable extent
TENNESSEE SOCIETY.