Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1891-01-10
DEATH AMONG FlREMEN.
About Forty Per Cent. succumb to Resplr-
atory Diseases.


Dr. Mays Of this city has recently
been conducting Investigations for the
purpose Of determining what proportion |
OF deaths among firemen are due to con-
sumption OF the lungs. The results APP
pear in the Philadelphia Medical and
Surgical Reporter and they reveal the
fact that this class Of men are singular
ly prone to fall victims to that gravest
Of maladies.
He sent out circular to each of the
fire departments OF the principal Amer
lean cities, and the returns showed that
during given period there had been
4S4 deaths from all causes, 144 OF these
deaths being caused by consumption, 3S
by other diseases OF tho lungs 100 by other
diseases than consumption and those OF
the lungs, and 1870 by accident.
According to this showing very nearly
one-third of those who died had con-
sumption, and a larger number died
from that disease than in consequence
of accidents, Notwithstanding the haz-
ardous nature of their calling. But
this, says the doctor, does not give a
true idea of the freman's liability to
pulmonary diseases; nor, perhaps, of his
whole liability to consumption, for 1t is
quite certain that this disease makes
frequent beginning in pneumonia or
bronchitis among these men.
The total number of deaths from pneu-
monia were thirty-eight, but there is
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 even il this
suspicion is not we'll founded, in any
case it still remains fact that forty per
cent. Of the causes of death to which the
fireman is liable come through respir-
atory diseases
Considering that firemen are picked
men, and subject to the rigid phi ysical
examinations when they enter upon
their 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 it is conta-
gious, and Of germ origin.
DR.. Mays emphasizes the fact that
tiremen, of all men, are the least liable
to contract consumption by contagion,
hence he believes that the results of his
investigations among this class of men
goes long way to prove that consump-
ton can not possibly be dependent upon
a single specific cause. He says that he
who carefully watches the different
steps in its development must feel that
it rises only when and where the bodily
energies are Slapped and exhausted, re-
CARELESS Of the absence or presence of
exposure TO specific germ. Hence
any cause which is capable of destroy
ing the 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 are more open to
enervating and depressing physical in
fuences, or who suffer greater depriva-
tions of rest and sleep than the fremen
of large cities. Liable to be called out
at any time, their life is, in great part,
one of perpetual excitement The sud.
den transition from warm room to ac-
tive duty on cold winters night
sometimes the urgency being so great
that they are compelled to finish theil
toilet en- route to a fire; the daring, the
excessive and almost superhuman eXer.
ton demanded in battling with the
flames; the extreme oscillations of TEN
perature to which their bodies are sub
jected, bathed in Precipitation at one
moment and drenched and chilled by ar
| icy stream Of water the next; the neces
, sity during emergencies of wearing ant
even sleeping in wet clothing from one
fire to another are burdens which nj
: human constitution can long success
fully Withstand, and are unquestionably
some OF the most prominent cause!
which undermine the health OF these
self-sacrificing men and make them 81
vulnerable to the disease under consid
GRAFTON. -Philadelphia Press.