Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1891-01-16
DEATH AMONG FlREMEN.
About Forty Per Cent. Succumb to Respir
atOry Diseases.

Dr. Mays OF UhlS city has recently
beon conducting Investigations for the
purpose of determining what proportion
of deaths among fremen are due to con-
sumption of the lungs. The results ap-
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 a circular to each of the
| fire departments of the principal Amer
lean cities, and the returns showed that
during a given period there had been
434 deaths from all causes, 144 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 1870 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 the 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 is
quite certain that this disease makes a
frequent beginning in pneumonia or
bronchitis among these men.
The total number of deaths from pneu-
monia were thirty-eight, but there is a
good reason for believing that at least
some of these were due to consumption.
From an inquiry into the lengthof 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 if 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-
story diseases.
Considering that firemen are picked
men, and subject to the rigid physical
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
firemen, 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 a long way to prove that consump'
tion 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
1T rises only when and where the bodily
energies are sapped and exhausted, re-
gardless OF the absence or presence ol
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 tC
enervating and depressing physical in
fuences or who suffer greater depriva
tions of rest and sleep than the fremer
of large cities Liable to be called ou
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 grea
that they are compelled to finish thei
toilet en- route to fire; the daring, the
excessive and almost superhuman exer
tion demanded in battling with the
flames; the extreme oscillations of tenn
perature to which their bodies are sub
iected, bathed in prespiration at on,
moment and drenched and chilled by al
icy stream of water the next; the neces
sity during emergencies of wearing ant
even sleeping in wet clothing from on
fire to another, are burdens which n,
human constitution can long success
fully withstand, and are unquestionably
some of the most prominent causes
which undermine the health of thes,
self-sacrificing men and make them S,
vulnerable to the disease under consid
Grafton. Philadelphia Press.