The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-01-24
RAILpoAp MgN.s HEAR1Nq.

saftey of the Travelling Public Does
 Not Depend on Normal Condition of Ear.
 Dr. zilliacus, a Finnish physician has undertaken an interesting investi- gation into the hearing of railway servants is his country and has pub lished the results of his studies in the latest number of the reports of the Finnish Medical society and in the Sevenska Dagbladet. The matter is one of considerable interest, says the Lon don Lancet, especially as Dr. Zillia- GUS investigation deals among other things with the degree in which de- fleets of hearing among engine driv- CTS and stokers may be accompanied by serious dangers not only to the employees of the railway, but also to the general travelling public. The oc" currence of aural diseases, with their accompanying defective power of hear- ing, among railway servants has been the object of many inquiries in dif- ferent European countries, the results of which, in the majority of cases, have been very similar, continues the Lancet. With increasing years of ser- vice an increasing number of aural diseases, accompanied by defective hearing, has been demonstrated, but Dr. Zilliacus considers that the in fiuence exerted by age alone, inde- pendently of the years of service, on the powers of hearing had been over looked by practically all observers. He examined the organs of hearing of the railway personnel of a certain line and he examined also those of persons belonging to the classes of society similar to that of the railway servants.
 During the years of 1895 and 1896 all the persons employed on the railway industry at Helsingfors were exam ined, In the year 1902 there were eX- amined, with preference to the organs of hearing 40 other persons-fremen, engine drivers, guards and brakemen, Finally, for the sake of comparison, in the year 1905 were examined the hear ing of 249 persons In the prison of Sornas, consisting of laborers, me- chanics and factory workers.
 The comparison demonstrated a striking agreement between the amount of defective hearing among the railway servants and among per- sons who had not had anything to do with the railway industry, In fact, the number of those who possessed normal powers of hearing was even less among the latter than among the railway personnel who was examined. Dr. zilliacus therefore speaks very decidedly against the generally accept- ed idea that service on the lines of railways, especially on the engines, has a hurtful effect on the powers of hearing of the staff,
 IL is another question as to the de- gree in which defective hearing on the part of the personnel of the train may have bad effect on the safety of the movements of the train. This question has been answered in Europe in yari- ous ways; some, especially aural sur geons, insist on normal hearing in en- zine drivers and firemen; others, who have as close a Knowledge of the serv- ice on the locomotives and of the de- mands that Is makes on the powers of hearing of these functionaries, give as their apinion that even a very de- fective hearing does not involve any danger to the security of the moVe- ments of the train.
 In Finland this question has been the object of a discussion by com mittee appointed by the government to which Dr. zilliacus in his capacity as expert was summoned He gave it as his opinion that the demand for ab- solutely normal hearing on the part of | the railway personnel cannot be met and is also unnecessary, If this de- mand were to be compiled with, not less than 62 per' cent, of the employ es whom he had examined, none of whom had yet reached the age of 51 years, would have to be dismissed The possible drawbacks due to defec- tive hearing among railway servants ought, he considered, easily to be counteracted by so simple a measure as the use of a code of optical signals
 For example the guard might be obliged at the same moment that he whistles notifying departure to give a signal in daylight with his hand and after nightfall with a lantern Dr. Zilliacus, while insisting that service on the railway has not the deleterious Influence on the powers of hearing that has been attributed to it in many quarters, points out that those defects of hearing which have been observed to exist increase in number and gray l ity with the increase of years and service and are to be found just as often and in just the same increasing degree among persons whose occupa- tions expose them to deleterious ex- lternal influences similar to those to which railway servants are exposed during their work, The demand fol normal hearing among railway ser wants, he thinks, is unnecessary. as
 with the needful amount of care a person of even greatly diminished pow CTS of hearing may be able to per. form his duties properly, so long as
 they do not depend on the right com. prehension of acoustic signals.
 AGAINST MRS. HAWLEY,