El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-10-18
THEY BRING NEW AILMENTS.
Modern Inventions That are RespOn-
c.iLIo f.,,, S4.o ,,..o No Iod;na

Science in indeed responsible for
many diseases, which were unknown to
our forefathers. "Telephone ear" is
one of these 1t is an affection of the
ears caused by constant listening at
the vibrating Diaphragm OF the in
strument. The operatives in the eX-
change rooms suffer from it most fire.
quently, and often results in deafness.
Another curious trade disease of the
ears is that known as "bOiler's max
er's," or 'riveter's ear" Men who
work in large factories where boilers
are made and riveted nearly all have
this, the constant changing of the ham
mers in the riveting rooms and the vi
bration of the machinery being respon-
sible for it. The disease is interesting
from another point of view, however,
for the men suffering from it, though
they can hear perfectly in the midst of
the noise of the boiler room-can hear
even the slightest whisper-are stone
deaf directly they get outside, where
everything is comparatively quiet.
They can hear, too, if they are in q
train passing at express speed through
a tunnel, when ordinary people could
not hear the loudest shout; and it has
even come into our experience to have
to go with such man into the riveting
room in order to make him hear some
| thing we had to say to him. Modern
science can certainly claim the type
writer as one of it's products, and as
such products generally do, it carries q
disease in its wake which is known as
typewriter cramp." 1t is
analogous to writers cramp,'
able complaint, may affect the whole
are as follows: First, the operator
feels a weakness in the hands, followed
by failing vision. Then if the type
writing is continued the letters of the
copy begin to dance, and she can not
read them. If the work be then con-
tinued from dictation the hands begin
to refuse to act, and are soon powerless
and limp as rag, while the operator
herself stammers aud seems to be quite
unable to grasp the meaning of any
| thing, that is said to her. A long rest
preferably sea voyage-is the only re-
medy for the complaint. Between
typewriters and tea-tasters there is no.
thing in common unless it be that they
| have the same initial letter and that
| they both have trade diseases.
The tea-taster does not, Of course,
swallow all that he tastes-he would
have to be of super-aldermanic pro-
portions if he did. But some of his
| hastings are of necessity swallowed,
and this constant assimilation of strong
tea produces in the course of years q
| form of heart disease somewhat like
| ''alcoholic heart.'' 1t can, of course,
be contracted without being a tea-tast-
er, by the simple process Of drinking
tea of sufficient strength, and in large
enough quantities, and it is then
known to doctors as ''tea-drinker' s
heart"
| One of the least known of trade COM
| plants is, we believe, ''hospital feet
"Housemaid's knee and "hospital
throat most people have heard of,
but a particular malformation of the
feet which hospital nurses frequently
get is hardly SO well known. It con
sists of gradual stretching of the
tendons and muscles of the foot, ar
elongation which continues until the
whole sole of the foot is quite fat. 81
far as We personally can judge the
wearing of slippers in the ward is re
sponsible for this. When wearing
slippers people cannot walk with the
toe and heel action which nature in
tended-they must shuttle along or the
slippers will not keep on. If, there
fore, nurses would attach to thei
slippers little straps such as one Fee
upon the shoes OF small children and til
them over the'instep they would be abl
to walk properly and equally silently
and we think that hospital feet would
in another generation of nurses be
thing of the past.-LOndOn Standard