Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1890-12-30
DEATH AMONG rlaEMeN.
About Forty Per Cent. suoeumb TO Respir-
atory Diseases.

About Forty Per Cent. succumb TO Respir-
atory Diseases.
DIR. Mays of this city has recently
been conducting investigations for tho
purpose OF determining what proportion
OF deaths among firomen arc due TO con-
sumption OF the lungs. The results ap-
pear in the Philadelphia Medical and
Surgical Reporter, and they reveal tho
fact that this class OF men are singular
ly prone TO fall victims to that gravest
OF maladies-
lie sent out circular to each OF tho
fire departments OF the principal Amer
lean cities, and the returns showed that
during given period there had been
434 deaths from all causes, la OF these
deaths being caused by consumption, 3s
by other diseases OF the lungs, 122 by other
diseases than consumption and those OF
the lungs, and $50 by accident.
According to this showing very nearly
one-third OF those who died had con-
sumption, and larger number died
from that disease than in consequence
OF accidents. Notwithstanding tho haz-
ardous nature Of their calling But
this, says the doctor, does not give a
true idea OF the fireman's liability to
pulmonary diseases; nor, perhaps, OF his
whole liability to consumption, for 1T IL
quite certain that this disease makes a
frequent beginning in pneumonia or
bronchitis among these men.
The total number of deaths from pnou-
monia wero thirty-eight but there is n
good reason for believing that at least
some of these were due to consumption.
From an inquiry into the length OF sick
ness OF those who are reported as having
died from pneumonia in the Philadel-
phia department probably none died
from acute pneumonia. But evenit this
suspicion is not well founded. in any
cent OF the causes OF death TO which the
fireman is liable come through rospir-
atory diseases.
Considering that fremen are picked
mon, and subject 10 the rigid physical
examinations when they enter upon
thoir duties, they may be considered an
unusually healthy class when they join
their department and singularly free
from even the tendencies to consump-
tion. Now. the. generally accepted the
ory as to the causation OF this disease Is
that it is conveyed from one person to
another in other words, that 1t is conta-
gious, and OF germ origin
DIR. Mays emphasizes the fact that
firemen, OF all men, are Me least liable
to contract consumption by contagion,
hence he believes that the results OF his
Investigations among this class OF men
goes q long way to Prove that consump-
tion can not possibly be dependent upon
a single specific cause lie says that he
who carefully watches the different
steps in its development must feel that
1t rises only when and where the bodily
energies arc sapped and exhausted, re-
gardless OF the absence or presence OF
exposure to specific germ. Hence,
any cause which is capable OF destroy
ing tho vigor and vitality OF the body is
also potential cause OF pulmonary con.
sumption.
So far as he is able to judge, there Is
no class OF men who arc moro open to
enervating and depressing physical in.
luences, or who suffer greater deprlva-
tions OF rest and sleep than the fremen
OF large cities Liable TO be called out
at any time, their lifo is, in great rart,
one of perpetual excitement. The sud
den transition from a warm room to ac-
tive duty on cold winters night
sometimes the urgency being so great
that they arc compelled to finish their
toilet en- route to fire; the daring, the
excessive and almost superhuman excr-
ton demanded in battling with the
flames; the extreme oscillations OF tenn
perature to which their bodies are sub
jectod, bathed in Precipitation at one
moment and drenched and chilled by an
icy stream Of wator the next; the neces-
sity during emergencies OF wearing AMI
oven sleeping in wet clothing from one
fire to another are burdens which no
human constitution can long success
fully Withstand, and are unquostionably
some of tho most prominent causes
which undermine the health OF these
seli-sacri6cing men and make them so
vulnerable to the disease under consid-
Grafton. philadelphia Press.