The Washington times., 1901-08-04
NERVOUSNESS And WRECKS
High Tension Blamed for Acct
dents on English Railways.
The Strain Responsible for Mental
Disorders-signal Men Affected in
Their General Hcnith-The Care of
Wounded Men On ships of War.

LONDON. Aug. 3.-Two or three impor-
tant points were brought out at the an
nual meeting of the British Medical As
sociation this week. DR.. Alexander Scott
OF Glasgow, made the alarming assertion
that most railway accidents were due to
neurosis of railway men, caused by the
nerve tension of their duties. To prove
this he cited many cases which had come
under his own observation.
A man who had been promoted from
fireman to engineer soon complained of
dyspepsia. The usual remedies failed.
and he sent the man to a consulting
physician. The latter also failed to cure
the man. Then the engineer went through
a whole course of quack medicine, with
out any success. 1t was only after big
smash-up on the railway, a result of
which the man was dismissed that he
finally got well. He had simply been suf
fering from nervous tension
Another man VINO had been working on
a farm became a railway servant and af-
terward a signal man. The nervous ten
sion was so great that it brought on
headache, weariness, and insomnia He
ultimately recovered auG is now an eX-
cellent workman, but not 4 signal man.
Another case cited was that of a sig
nal man. who was found on the ;loor in
oonvulsions. When he was able to speak
he said he never entered the signal box
without feeling that he the brink
OF a precipice, and that some day dis
astr would occur.
Another man, who was put in the sig
nal box. after doing general railway
JrS, developed acute mania in the form
of an affection of the nervous cells.
DR.. Scott referred to the Slough acci-
dent In this case the engineer declared
that he did not know how he had run
pySt the danger signal The jury found
that the engineer had been afflicted for
the moment with alteration of the mind.
! Il this SAME man had conveyed over 150.-
CVfOjU passengers without Il single mis-
take.
turning TO the question of driving cleo
triC cars. DR.. Scott stated that a Glasgow
man who was used To driving horses was
pat on an electrical vehicle. He caused
snash-up in which one person WAS
killed and several injured IT was proved
the man had not tasted drink, and the
case was one of nervous tension. The
doctor thought it was time to consider
whether more attention should not be
paid to the temperament of railway men,
and he deplored the fact that the medical
profession was SO poorly represented at
enquiries in regard to the causes of rail-
way accidents.
tion Of provision for wounded men in
modern naval enga gements. Owing to the
alteration. in the construction of ships. the
old arrangement, under which the wound
cd were carried to the cockpit. cannot be
continued, and, in the opinion of Fleet
Surgeon kirker, the most humane course
now adopted by the French and Jap
anese-ls TO leave the wounded sailors
where they are until the action is over
and men Cdn be spared to carry them in
ambulances which it will take some me-
chanical skill to devise
The wounded are as safe on deck for
a short time as elsewhere, and modern
wounds do not cause a dangerous loss OF
blood. 1t is essential, however. that each
snip should have an operating room,
which at present is not included in the
accepted designs.
u appears that the general health of
sailors on warships is good. iron being
much better than Wood for sanitation;
bnt some improvements are greatly re-
quiTed.