The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-02
OF THE WORKERS
yILADIES PECULIAR to- GER
tam FORMS OF TRADE.
Tney Range From bends To Writer'S CramP
ship Engineers, Preachers, stone
critters. Wcayers, All Subject %
,IaladIcS Caused by Their Occupation
The More CaiIinHs, the Mere DiBeaess.

W NeN0NNA W
The More CSilinEs, the Mere DiSeaess.
When man was a semi-ape and ranged
,he prehistoric hills the maladies that
beset him were as few and as simple es those
vbich afliot mis- simian brothers In the
African jungle to-day.
AZ n rule he died a death OF primitive
violence. A bear gobbled him, q snake
hi him or a strange herb poisoned him.
In time Of plenty he ate too much and dice
81 terrific stomach ache; In hard times he
.tnryei TO death. Instead of microbes and
had drainage he feared lions, bliHzards,
falling trees, swift rivers, reptiles, lightning
and the men Of rival tribes. He seldom
died in bed.
But when civilization began to develop
specialization and life grew complex, baoilli
began to play a part In human affairs.
The man who showed an unusual capacity
for chipping flint arrow heads spent his
whole time at the task, and his customer
The hunters and warriors brought him his
STARE Of meat and drink
Bv and by there were whole groups Of
arrow makers, and the CONSTANTS OF their
work began to tell or them. AL day they
crouched over their fiints, breathing flint
dust. And so, in the course Of time, there
arose among them a tendency to grow hol-
low chested and to spit blood, and the world
vas face TO face with tuberculosis pull
monalis.'
When the stone age melted into the age OF
bronze more diseases arose. Workers in
copper began 10 be afflicted with sores;
rich copper merchants ate too much and
died Of govt; vineyards were established and
drunkenness was invited.
By and by there were hundreds OF diseases
and II was necessary for one whole class Of
men to spend their tins combating them.
Hence arose the early wise men. soothsayers,
charm sellers, magioians and priests.
Their doses and decoctions, instead Of de-
stroying the old diseases, merely served to
create new ones, and so we OF to-day havein-
herited an illimitable store Of ills. In mod
ern Americans, 1t is a meek and lowly organ
that cannot show two dozen fatal maladies
peculiar to itself. The heart has fifty. The
brain has a thousand.
All the while new diseases are being
evolved as civilization becomes more and
more complex. Last year, for example,
probably 500 men In America and Europe
died Of the bends. And what Is that' Sim
ply a malady caused by breathing air al
high pressure.
In building tunnels and e~xcavating for
piers it is necessary TO send men down into
~caissons in which the air. instead Of being
at its ordinary pressure Of is pounds TO the
square inch, is at so or 100 pounds Few
men can stand this pressure long and even
those that can ordina lily suffer alarming
after effects. Coming out into the open air
again their ankles AID knees swell, they
vorntt and fhoro ara anOntotn0 natna In
their heads. Sometimes they sink into q
oomatoss state and die.
Fortunately modern medicine tries to
keep pace with modern maladles, and 30 It
ia usual , possible to oure this disease. 1t
i.due as a rule to the fact that the transition
from the outer air to the ~oalsson, or vios
versa, ia made too rapidly.
The body has too little time to adapt
itself TO the change. The cure, then, con.
sists in giving It q better chance.
The man who topples over In agony after
leaving a caisson IL sent back and the pres
sure lie reduced very slowly. In Europe,
he tunnel and bridge builders maintain
special chambers for this purpose. As a
result the mortality in bends has been re-
iuced TO 3 per cent
Unfortunately there are other occupation
llbSdSeb WHICH pTCbCIl kIOuttT UIliiCulUlcb,
Some Of them in truth may be cured only
by the patient abandoning his trade
One Of these is ~chalacosis, which is q NAL
tdy Of the lung. 1t is caused by breathing
great quantities Of stone dust
You have often observed, no doubt. that
when a marble or stone building nears
completion men 60 all over Its surface
With sandblasts, cleaning and smoothing
he stone, Well. these blasts send up a
,l,.,l ~ Cnalx, naw,iarad ufona and ekn
workmen are forced to breathe It.
At first their bronchial tubes make a
rave effort TO .eSpel the dust and they
cough n great deal. But by and by the
lungs are overcome n the minute par
ilcles Of stone begin TO invade the lungs
themselves. The result is ohalacosis. which
IS a form OF Observation-Disclosures. which
means n scarlike overgrowth Of lung
tissues.
stonecutters. knife grinders, brass work.
ers. coal miners and all other workmen
Who have to breathe dust OF any sort day
after day suffer from varieties OF this dis
ease. All city jewellers are Its victims
more or less.
The lungs and bronchial tubes OF a ooun-
tryman are bright and rosy In appearance,
nut those OF a city man, are usually dark
and dull looking. A coal miners are often
condition does not seem 10 induce tuber-
colosis. Miners, though their lungs are
always abnormal seldom die OF consump-
ton.
Wind instrument players suffe r from a
malsdy called emphysema. The small air
passages in their lungs are inf ated no
much and so often hat the surro unding
cells are mashed fat.
A secondary result is that the lungs them
selves attain unusual dimensions and the
patient develops an inflated chest, shaped
IKE a barrel. This condition, however,
Ia by no means peculiar to cornetists and
horn blowers. II 10 a symptom, also. In
various definite pulmonary rhaladies.
Workers In chemicals are subject to all
sorts Of unusual Affections. Those who
take part In the manufacture Of rubber,
Tor example. are often badly injured by the
yspors Of sulphide Of carbon-an exceedingly
III smelling liquid used TO dissolve the elastic
gum. These vapors cause headaches, neu-
ralgia, a staggering gait and violent bodily
pains, followed sometimes by dellrium and
mania.
Workers in anime dye factories are sub
Get 10 vertigo and other distressing ills,
The cause here il the inhalation Of anlline
'Auor. Fortunately II IL possible 70 relieve
these symptoms without much difficulty,
and IN the case Of most men time seems to