The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-11-14
AILMENTS OF WORKERS
Maladies Peculiar to Certain
Forms of Trade.
NUMBER Is INCREASING

Cramp-ship Engineers, Preachers,
stonecutters, Weavers, All Subject
to MaIadies Caused by Their Occu.
patton.
Last year, probably 500 men in AM
erica and Europe died of the bends.
And what is that? Simply a malady
caused by breathing air at high pres
| sure.
In building tunnels and excavating
for piers 1t is necessary to send men
down into caissons in which the air,
instead of being at its ordinary pres
sure 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 ordinarily suffer al
arming after effects. Coming out into
the open air again their ankles and
knees swell, they vomit and there are
agonizing pains in their heads. Some
| times they sink into a comatose state
and die.
| Fortunately modern medicine tries
to keep pace with modern maladies,
and so 1t is usually possible to cure
this disease. 1t is due as a rule to
the fact that the transition from the
outer air to the caisson, or vice ver-
sa, is made too rapidly.
The man who topples over in agony
| after leaving a caisson is sent back
and the pressure Is reduced very slow
| ly. In Europe, the tunel and bridge
builders maintain special chambers
for this purpose. AS result the NOR
tality in bends has been reduced to
per cent.
| Unfortunately there are other occu-
| patton diseases which present great
er difficulties. Some of them in truth
may be cured only by the patient alb
andoning his trade.
| One of these is chalacosis, which
is a malady Of the lung. 1t is caus
ed by breathing great quantities OF
stone dust.
| You have often observed no doubt,
that when a marble or stone building
nears completion men go all over its
surface with sandblasts, cleaning and
smoothing the stone. Well, these
blasts send up q cloud of finely pow
dered stone and the workmen are
forced to breathe It.
At first their bronchial tubes make
a brave effort to expel the dust and
they cough a great deal. But by and
by the little scavengers in the vesti-
bules of the lungs are overcome and
the minute particles of stone begin
to invade the lungs themselves. The
result is chalacosis, which is form
Of pneumonokoniosis, which means
scarlike overgrowth Of lung tissues.
| Wind instrument players suffer
from malady calledf empbysema
The small air passages in their lungs
are inflated SO much and so often that
the surrounding cells are mashed fiat.
to all sorts Of unusual Affections. Those
who take part in the manufacture OF
rubber for example, are often badly
injured by the capers Of surphide Of
carbon-an exceedingly Ill smelling
liquid used to dissolve the elastic
| quill hCoC NdpOlo AACdudCHco,
neuralgia, a staggering gait and vio-
lent bodily pains, followed sometimes
by delirium and mania.
| Weaver's tonsilitis Is a malady fire.
Quently met with among the employees
OF cotton mills, due to the presence
of minute fibres OF cotton in the crypts
of tonsils.
| These tonsils cause a chronic irri-
tation and the way is thus opened for
the entrance Of stray germs. The
malady yields to the treatment indi-
Gated for ordinary tonsilitis.
| Tea tasters, despite the fact that
they seldom If ever swallow any OF
the tea they taste, commonly suffer
arrangements of various bodily func-
tions. The poison in this case is the
very powerful alkaloid to which tea
owes its soothing virtues.
1t is a commonplace of observa-
tion that the excessive use Of any one
| group OF muscles leads to a sort of
local paralysis. This malady was for
merly very familiar in the form OF
what was called writer's cramp.
| 1t was thought that the triumph or
the typewriting machine over the old
fashioned pen would cause it to disap-
pear from the earth, but 1t is now in
full bloom as typewriter's cramp.
Similar neuroses aflict telegraphers,
violinists. piano players. cigarette
makers and milkmaids.
Another form of this serious and
troublesome disease incapacitates mar
inc engineers. These men usually
spend all their time, awake and as
leep, within few feet of their below
ed engines.
The constant vibration overworks
certain Of their muscles--particularl
those of the legs-and the result is a
good deal OF pain. Sometimes this
pain extends UP the back and has
distressing consequences. AS a rule
| ic al hx Or,