An Investigation into the Nature of Black Phthisis | Page 2

years,
he sinks under the disease; and, on examination of the chest after death,
the lungs are found excavated, and several of the cavities filled with a
solid or fluid carbonaceous matter.
During the last ten years, my attention has been much directed, in the
course of my professional labours in the neighbourhood of the
coal-mining district of Haddingtonshire, to the above phenomena in the
pathology of the lungs, which have not hitherto been brought so fully
before the profession, as their importance demands. The subject
presents a very interesting field of investigation to the physiologist and
pathologist.
When we consider the difficulties which the medical man has to
encounter, in prosecuting his researches in morbid anatomy in a mining
district, it is sufficiently explained why the peculiarly diseased
structures in the body of the coal-miner should have been left so long
uninvestigated.
Not many years ago, the obstacles in the way of post mortem
examinations among colliers were insurmountable, and consequently,
till lately, few medical men could obtain permission to examine, after
death, the morbid appearances within the chest of a collier. With the
rapid advance in the general improvement which has been going on, the
collier's position in society has become greatly elevated; and his
deeply-rooted superstitious feelings have been, to a great extent,
dissipated. Let us hope that the school-master will find his way into
every collier's dwelling, enlightening his too long uncultivated mind;
and that the foolish prejudices shall cease, which have been hitherto the
barriers to post-mortem examinations in his community.
The only medical writers, as far as I am aware, who have brought this
subject before the notice of the profession, are, Dr J. C. GREGORY, in
the report of a case of peculiar black infiltration of the whole lungs,
resembling "Melanosis," (Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal, No.
cix., October 1831); Dr CARSEWELL, in an article on "Spurious
Melanosis," (Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine, Vol. iii); Dr
MARSHALL, in a paper in The Lancet for 1836, entitled "Cases of

Spurious Melanosis of the Lungs;" Dr WILLIAM THOMSON, now
Professor of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, in two able essays
(Medico-Chirurgical Transactions of London, Vols. xx. and xxi.),
wherein he gives a number of very interesting cases, collected from
various coal districts of Scotland, illustrating different forms of the
disease; Dr PEARSON, in the Philosophical Trans. for 1813, on the
"Inhalation of Carbon into the Pulmonary Air Cells;" and in a paper, by
Dr GRAHAM, in vol. xlii. of the Edinburgh Medical and Surgical
Journal.
Recently, professional and other writers have directed attention to the
influence of various occupations in the production of diseases of the
chest. The pernicious employment of the needle-pointers, razor and
knife-grinders of Sheffield, and other manufacturing towns in
England,[1] have not only engaged the attention of the public at large,
but science has been at work to ascertain, with as much accuracy as
possible, the relative effects of the different avocations, on the
constitutions of those occupied in these destructive employments.
Researches of this nature tend much to the well-being of society, as
they make us acquainted with the maladies and sufferings peculiar to
certain classes of our fellow-men; and point out, also, the causes of
their early decay, and premature death. The coal-miners--those in
whose behalf I would now solicit the intervention of science--are most
valuable in their place, and their exhausting labours promote, in no
small degree, our domestic comforts.
Some of the diseases of colliers have in past time been very much
overlooked by the medical inquirer. There has been, within the last few
years, a very searching investigation as to the employment of women
and children in coal-mines; and by the laudable exertions of Lord
Ashley--a nobleman whose name shall ever be honoured among miners,
and by all who have the true interests of that community at heart--an
Act of the Legislature has been passed, declaring it unlawful for any
owner of any mine or colliery whatever, to allow any female to work
therein; and also enacting, that no boy under the age of ten years can be
employed in mines. It is to be regretted, however, that his Lordship did
not embody in his measure, provisions enforcing the free ventilation of

mines under government inspection; for nothing would tend more to
improve the health of those employed in them.
In the course of the inquiry, which formed the prelude and basis of
Lord Ashley's Act, much valuable information regarding the diseases of
colliers was elicited; and no one can peruse the voluminous
parliamentary report pertaining to these investigations, without being
struck with the very general prevalence of affections of the chest
among miners. It is to be hoped, that the interesting facts in regard to
disease, which this recent most necessary investigation has laid open,
will be