An Investigation into the Nature of Black Phthisis | Page 3

the means of directing the attention of scientific men to the
subject, with a view to obviate, as far as human efforts can, the evils
which have been exposed. It may at first appear difficult, to point out
the means of removing effectually the causes of the pulmonary
carbonaceous disease of miners, but, be the difficulties what they may,
humanity encourages us to make the attempt.
In the first place, let us endeavour to ascertain the cause, and secondly,
to suggest means for the mitigation or prevention of this scourge.
My present remarks do not refer to coal-miners in general, but to a
district in Scotland, in the Lothians, east of the river Forth, where the
labour is hard, and where its severity is in many cases increased by a
want of proper attention to the economy of mining operations. These
operations, as at present carried on, are extremely unwholesome, and
productive of diseases which have a manifest tendency to shorten life. I
draw the materials of my description from what I saw in a part of that
district referred to, where the various cases, hereafter to be adduced,
came under my medical treatment, and where I had the privilege of
examining the morbid appearances after death.
The locality[2] in which my observations were made, is that part of the
Lothians, extending from south to north, stretching from the foot of the
Lammermoors towards the sea-coast, including the coal-works of
Preston-Hall, Huntlaw, Pencaitland, Tranent, and Blindwells. In this
range of the coal-formation, the seam of coal is variable, but generally
exceedingly thin, varying in thickness from eighteen inches, to three or
four feet. It is with difficulty that mining operations can be prosecuted,

from the extremely limited space in which the men have to move, and
from the deficient ventilation. It appears, after thorough investigation,
that in the majority of the coal mines above mentioned, ventilation is
very much neglected, and that this neglect is partly caused, by the
immunity of these mines from carburetted hydrogen gas, which
exempts them from the danger of explosion. But though there be no
explosive gas, there is generated, to a certain extent, in the more remote
recesses of the pit, carbonic acid and other gases, producing the most
injurious effects--impairing the constitution by slow degrees, and along
with the more direct cause (the smoke from the lamp, candle, and the
product of the combustion of gunpowder,) making progressive inroads
on the health of the unfortunate miner. And how, I ask, can it be
otherwise, in such circumstances? So long as it is possible for him to go
on--so long as there is air enough to support the combustion of the
lamp or candle, the labourer must proceed with his toil. I say, from
there being no fire-damp, less attention is paid to ventilation, and it is a
common occurrence with colliers in these localities, to be obliged to
leave their work, from there not being a sufficiency of oxygen to keep
their lights burning, and support respiration; and this temporary
cessation of labour under such circumstances is regarded as a hardship
by some proprietors, while the bodily sufferings of the miner, shut up
and necessitated to labour in this situation, are little considered.
After labouring beyond a given time in those confined situations, there
is a much freer action of the respiratory apparatus, the oxygen is
considerably exhausted, and to make up for this deficiency, the volume
of air inspired, (impure though it be,) is much greater. Every now and
then, there is a disposition to draw a deep breath, followed by a peculiar
and gradual decrease of strength. Therefore, in these forcible
expansions of the chest, it is to be expected that a considerable quantity
of the floating carbon will be conveyed to the cellular tissue.
The atmosphere of the coal mine at length becomes so vitiated, by the
removal of the oxygen in breathing, and the substitution of carbonic
acid, that the respiration becomes gradually more difficult, and the
exhausted labourer has ultimately to retire from the pit, as there is no
other mode by which the noxious air can be removed--owing to the

underground apartments being so small--than by gradually allowing
purer air to accumulate. The miner is thus enabled to return to his
employment.
It is about thirty years since miners in this district adopted the use of
coarse linseed oil, instead of whale oil, to burn in their lamps; and it is
very generally known, that the smoke from the former is immensely
greater than that from the latter, and many old miners date the greater
prevalence of black spit to the introduction of the linseed oil. This
change took place entirely on the score of economy. Any one can
conceive how hurtful to the delicate tissues of the respiratory