The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1894-09-03
AILMENTS or COOKS.
Diseases 10 which Taey Are Peculiarly
Liable III Their Lave og Drink.

Diseases 10 which Thsy Are Peculiarly
Liable and Their Isove og Drink.
Parisians nc well rs foreigners who
take their meals In the sumptuous.
and more or less gilded restaurants
of Paris seldom give q thought eli
Their to the places IN which are pre-
pared the dishes served or to the pro-
fessional maladies of most Of those
who prepare these dishes. Al study
Of the kitchens and cooks Of Paris is
interesting, because there are more
than Z, 300 of the latter, because they
contain q corporation and are divid-
ed into mutual aid societies.
OF very limited dimensions, the
kitchens Of the great restaurants of
Paris are as q general thing situated
below the sewers, without air. with
out light, except what can be got
from glass lights or openings In the
pavement. The gas is burning there
constantly and causes o heat which,
added TO that of the fires, makes
these cellars q veritable place of tor
ture, in which thousands of work
men, dripping with sweat, pass the
greater part of the day in preparing
the dishes which are afterward serv-
| ed to us
Examination shows that there are
no places where more maladies ex-
ist than in the Partisan kitchens.
Two respectable physicians who at
tend to the medical service of the
Mutual Aid Society of the Corpora
ton Of Cooks OF Paris ought to know
something about the matter, and in
order not to be taxed with exaggera-
| ton on this subject we cannot do
better than give the testimony of
these medical men. The cooks Of
Paris, say these gentlemen, are not
only those of Paris, but also those of
the large cities-for the hygienic con-
ditions under (which these cooks
work are everywhere the same-gen-
orally suffer from alcoholism, anR-
mia, rheumatism, liver complaint,
pulmonary tuberculosis. Besides
nearly all of them have varicose
veins, hernia, ulcers and affections of
the skin.
These inirmities are so frequent
that it has been necessary to change
the rules for admission to the society,
those having the maladies named
having been formally refused admis-
sion. The need OF being constantly
ON their feet as well as the heat of
the fires softens the tissues and di-
lates the veins. In order to endure
what they have to undergo and to
Quench the thirst which consumes
them, the cooks are obliged to drink,
and as barley water or water mixed
with wine or coffee does not strength
en- them sufficiently, and as, more
over, the stomach is disordered by
emanations from the gas and coal,
they take alcoholic drinks, yer.
mouth, absinthe and an endless Sc.
ries Of bitters. Once started on this
road, the cooks become either alec.
holic or dyspeptic; the liver is at
tackled; vomiting and chronic diar'
rhea r frequent.
The sudden variations OF tempera.
ture to which these men. of from %
to 80 years, are exposed on quitting
the range to go outdoors orto the re
frigerators predisposes them to rheu,
matism and phthisis. Finally we al
lude to the burns. the willows, the
chaps and alterations OF the hands
which are customary with dishwash
ers and pot cleaners, to point out thai
such affections are very difficult Il
cure.-Journal dies Economists.