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ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1912 OF H.M. CHIEF INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES.
165 with this
subject
in the
present report.
He says that out
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1912 OF H.M. CHIEF of 19 cases of fatal accidents in only 9 was it clear that attempts at resuscitation were made by means of artificial INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES. respiration, and that even when this was tried the effort was discontinued after insufficient interval. Mr. Ram refers to THIS report1has recently been issued by H.M. Stationeryan instructive paper on Electrical Accidents read before Office. This volume, like its predecessor, which we noticed the Electro-Therapeutical Section of the Royal Society appreciatively on its appearance,2 contains particulars of of Medicine by Dr. S. Jellinek of Vienna,3 and also to the work of the Factory Department of the Home Office an important letter to THE LANCET on the Dangers of for the year under review. Electricity, by Dr. Reginald Morton, president of the section.4 As in the previous report, the bulk of the present volume, In view of the importance of this matter Dr. Morton’s which occupies 274 folio pages, is devoted to the sectional declaration in his letter to us cannot be too frequently reports of the superintending divisional inspectors, or to the repeated: first, that death from electrical shock is only an special reports of the medical inspector, or of the chief lady apparent death, at first ; and, secondly, that there is practiinspector. In a brief preface Sir Arthur Whitelegge, the cally always a time, varying from a few minutes to two Chief Inspector of Factories, summarises the work of his hours, within which it is possible to resuscitate the victim by department for the information and guidance of the Home artificial respiration if resorted to at once. Mr. Ram insists on the importance that no time should Secretary. Sanitation- Cleanliness. be lost in getting assistance after the accident, and To the subject of cleanliness special attention is directed that the efforts should be continued for at least two Owing to the comparative rarity of electric in each of the six divisional reports, which in this regard hours. accidents very few medical men can have had are, on the whole, encouraging ; but in very many instances shock they indicate the urgent need for radical improvement. In actual experience in their treatment ; and it is certain the larger works of the great towns in which articles of food that some, at any rate, do not realise the importance of perseverance in artificial respiration. In a number of are manufactured a high standard of cleanliness is maintained, but in the smaller works the conditions are in many fatal cases investigated by Mr. Ram the persons present instances unsatisfactory. Not only are the premises unsuit- have started this expedient, and a doctor has been sent for, has pronounced the patient dead, and has ably constructed and badly kept, but the filthy habits of the who on arrival workers materially add to the other insanitary conditions. gone away within half an hour of the accident. A case of was cited by a witness at a recent public inquiry, Revolting instances of this are quoted in at least two of the this kind the doctor had pronounced the victim dead, the after where, The condition of bakehouses varies sanitary greatly reports. in bringing the patient round by means succeeded bystanders in different districts. In the large bakehouses. of London, of artificial respiration. In another case a doctor is reported and a standard of cleanliness Birmingham, Glasgow high obtains; but in many of the smaller bakehouses, especially to have said at an inquest that attempts to restore animation in the rural areas of the northern division, the conditions immediately after the accident would have been useless, as are far from ideal. The defects noted include unsuitable he was sure that death must have been instantaneous. and badly kept premises, general want of cleanliness, and Anthrax. insufficient space, in consequence of which flour and fuel The special report of Dr. Thomas M. Legge, H.M. Medical In a bakehouse recently are sometimes stored together. Inspector, contains particulars of investigations respecting inspected the dough was mixed in what was originally a cases of infection by anthrax, and of poisoning by carbon stable. A gully was detected in the centre of the floor monoxide and by arsenic, lead, and other metals, as well as which was apparently connected with a main drain. About the influence of certain industrial dusts " of respecting 10 yards from the door of another bakehouse there was an various kinds in causing mortality from tuberculous and open midden for manure and other refuse ; great numbers of other affections of the respiratory system. flies were seen going between the midden and the bakeThe essential facts bearing on infections by anthrax conhouse. In several country areas in the north the dirty veyed by wool, horsehair, hides, and skins, are indicated in state of the bakehouses is due to the neglect of the local a series of useful tables relating to such occurrences in the sanitary authorities. year under review. Investigation has established the danger attaching to certain dust-extracting machines, Dr. F. W. Sanitary Cogiveniences. Eurich having cultivated anthrax from samples of dust This important subject is dealt with at length by several submitted to him. Attempts are now being made to deal of the inspectors, female as well as male. In London and with this dust by means of exhaust ventilation. All the in most of the great towns the standards adopted by the cultivations from materials without trace of blood were authorities are fully abreast of modern sanitary knowledge, isolated colonies, contamination of the wool having but many instances are given in which affairs are in a taken place in India during the process of deplorable state. The chief defects noted are : (1) want of apparently The numerous instances in which anthrax was washing. privacy, due to insufficient separation of closets from the found in East India wool by Dr. Eurich sets at rest all work places ; (2) failure to provide supervision, and resulting existing difficulties arising from our ignorance of persistence of filthy conditions ; (3) structural defects in the previously whether or not consignments of East India wool really conclosets, although these have mostly been constructed under tain anthrax. With Dr. Eurich’s aid the Anthrax Investithe sanction of the local authorities. Dealing with this Board have continued their bacteriological examinamatter in a special report a lady inspector remarks upon the gation tion of all reported cases of anthrax. Among the results of obtuseness in matters of propriety of employers who cannot special interest may be mentioned the necessity of abandonsee for themselves that to set men to control the daily use of ing the hitherto prevailing theory of "no blood, no women’s conveniences is intolerable in civilised opinion." anthrax," for anthrax spores have been cultivated from Bathing Facilities. material-especially East India wool and skin mohairs-in In several large works in the Midlands, where arduous which there was no evidence of blood. The explanation of labour causes profuse perspiration, baths are now being this as due to Itub-washing " is at least a probable one. In an interesting recent paper5 Dr. Eurich has set forth introduced, greatly to the comfort of the workers. In Birmingham the authorities have constructed a number of his suggestions for the prevention of wool-sorters’ disease. cottage baths, which are constantly used and highly It has been shown experimentally that where wool is in a appreciated. In Glasgow no large bakehouse is considered loose state, and consequently easily permeable, anthrax complete without a bath, and bathing facilities are being spores in blood-clots will be killed by "steaming " in about 15 minutes. As far as blood-clots are concerned, this provided in other large establishments in that city. method of disinfection is apparently satisfactory. But, -Electrical Accidents. from possible injury to the fleeces, the difficulty of In spite of the great increase in the use of electricity it is apart wool in bulk by steaming will probably,prove disinfecting satisfactory to learn that the number of accidents therefrom insurmountable. Experiments in this direction are, however, in factories is decreasing. Mr. G. Scott Ram deals fully being continued by the Anthrax Investigation Board. 1 Factories and Workshops Annual Report for 1912 of Chief Inspector. Folio pp. 274. Wyman and Sons. Price 2s. 5d. [Cd. 6852.] 2 THE LANCET, July 20th, 1912, p. 176.
THE LANCET, Nov. 23rd, 1912, p. 1452. 4 THE LANCET, Nov. 30th, 1912, p. 1539. of the Sanitary Institute, November, 1912, p. 507. Journal 3
5
166 in Kilmarnock, and has baen successfully applied to dressing Summarising the experience of the Of the 29 reported cases of poisoning by coal gas, which machines elsewhere. contains about 8 per cent. of carbon monoxide, a considerable northern district, Mr. W. Williams writes that in few directions the actions of the inspectors been more productive proportion occurred in gasworks. Eleven persons were over- than have in their efforts to secure the removal of dust from come by escape of gas from the fittings in the work-places, and nine cases of poisoning were due to discharge of exhaust workrooms, and with the increasing number and experience of the ventilating engineers the standard of attainment is gases from a gas engine. In these cases the town gas-supply constantly rising. In many processes in which a constant was mixed with water gas which contained about 45 per cent. of CO. Thirty-three cases, with five deaths, were caused by fog of dust was considered unavoidable a few years ago the blast furnace gas, which contains about 35 per cent. of CO. atmosphere is now clear, and a very high degree of skill has In 1912, as in previous years, the total loss of life was frequently been displayed to ensure that the exhaust increased by the circumstance that in their gallant attempts arrangements shall not lead to inconvenience either from to save their comrades several of the rescuers themselves want of adjustability or from draughts of cold air.
Carbon Monoxide.
perished. Metallic Poisoning.
.
Of the cases of arsenical poisoning, which were few in THE number, the majority were due to the handling of bird skins THE NINTH RESEARCH REPORT ON METROPOLITAN WATER-SUPPLY.1 recently imported from the East Indies, seven boxes of which yielded on examination from 16 to 17 lb. of white arsenic. Compared with previous years, there was in 1912 a Dr. A. C. Houston, Director of Water Examination, Metrodiminution of lead poisoning in some processes and an Water Board, has recently issued his ninth research increase in others. Recent experience tends to emphasise politanon the London water-supply, and it proves to be of a report the view that control of sources of dust is the most imand at the same time very reassuring interesting highly portant factor in reducing the number of attacks, ’and this character. These scientific investigations carried out by Dr. can best be accomplished by periodical medical inspection. Houston since 1905 have enabled him to advise with greater Dr. Legge expresses the belief, based on the investigations confidence matters affecting the quality and safety of upon of Mr. G. E. Duckering,6 H.M. Inspector in Birmingham, the metropolitan water service. It is not so long ago that that if the amount of lead present in the air breathed con- sanitarians of some eminence looked with grave suspicion tained less than 5 milligrammes per 10 cubic metres of the water-supply of London, mainly because its chief upon air, cases of encephalopathy and paralysis would never sources were two contaminated rivers, the Thames and the occur; and he further believes that somewhere about Lea, into both of which sewage, after more or less adequate 2 milligrammes of lead is the daily dose which, inhaled as treatment, was discharged by up-river towns and districts. fumes or as dust, may in the course of years set up chronic Water from such a source, it was contended, was very likely plumbism. Of the 517 cases of lead poisoning in males the to become an agent in the diffusion of certain diseases, and proportion noted as severe was nearly 20 per cent., or 9 per particularly of typhoid fever. But as the result of Dr. cent. less than in the decade 1900-1909. Of the total cases Houston’s investigations we are perhaps warranted now recorded in the table 82 were suffering from paralysis and in regarding the Thames (and presumably the Lea also) 63 from weakness of arms or loss of power. The cases with less disfavour than formerly. This investigator in of lead encephalopathy numbered 11. The reported cases of has shown that faecal streptococci are not previous reports mercurial poisoning were few in number, several of which uniformly present in the river water except in very sparse" occurred in the manufacture of felt hats. A useful paper numbers ; he has also demonstrated thatunculti vated dealing with this subject, by Dr. F. E. Tylecote, of Man- typhoid bacilli die more speedily than theircultivated"" chester, has already been noticed in these columns.7 The brethren in Thames water under conditions of storage, and possibility of mercurialism affecting the wearer of felt hats that "cultivated"typhoid bacilli cannot maintain their would appear to be not altogether remote. vitality for more than a few weeks. In the report now under consideration attention is directed to certain reassuring inIndustrial Dzcsts and Respiratory Diseases. It is familiar knowledge that the effect of dust in the vestigations concerned with the search for pathogenic causation of disease differs greatly according to the nature bacteria in raw unpurified river water, and notice is called of the dust, the more injurious kinds being those containing also to the negative results of an exhaustive search for The evidence silica. Several years ago inquiry was made concerning the B. typhosus in samples of crude sewage. thus leads Dr. Houston to think that the he has acquired excessive mortality in the Stockbridge district among ganister workers exposed to dust from that material, which consists river Thames might be reinstated in public opinion as a almost entirely of free silica. A table is now given showing source of water-supply provided that the river water is that in the period 1891-1900 the mortality among ganister always adequately stored prior to filtration. workers was equal to 82 -9 per cent. of the total deaths ; and The Search for Pathogenic Microbes in River Water. although the ratio has since fallen, it still amounted to A short summary is given of the previous inquiries 67-8 per cent. in the period 1901-1911. Dr. E. L. Collis, H. M. Inspector of Factories, has long been occupied in special respecting the presence of B. typhosus and Gaertner’s investigations concerning the effect of mineral dust on bacillus in raw river water. Taking all Dr. Houston’s obsergranite cutters, ganister workers, and stonemasons, among vations together, involving the study of 29,470 specially all of which pulmonary tuberculosis is inordinately fatal. selected colonies from 257 raw river water samples, only two After diligent inquiry, Dr. Collis suggests, inter alia, the typhoid-like organisms were discovered, and out of 22,141 generalisation that dusts containing free crystalline silica are other colonies from 101 samples examined only one Gaertnerassociated with a death-rate from phthisis which increases in like microbe was detected. It is very probable, therefore, proportion to the amount of such silica inhaled. Hitherto that B. typhosus and Gaertner’s bacillus are not attention has been centred on the relation between dust habitually present in small amounts (10 c,c.) of raw river inhalation and pulmonary tuberculosis, although it is beyond water. If the typhoid microbe when added artificially in question that other diseases of the lungs are caused by dusts large numbers to the raw river water cannot be isolated after Evidence respecting these diseases is from one to three weeks’ storage, and if the B. typhosus of various kinds. difficult to obtain, and they are certainly less fatal to those cannot be found in 10 c.c. of river water which is destined affected ; nevertheless the damage due to dust-such, for to be stored for several weeks antecedent to filtration, it is example, as that generated in stripping cotton-cardingobvious that the facts adduced by Dr. Houston must have a machines-is very serious, and requires official attention.high practical significance, and we can reasonably infer that Further progress is reported respecting mechanical dustif river water be stored for four weeks prior to filtration, the removal in cotton mills; practically all the mills in margin of security is great-much greater indeed than was Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Glasgow are now provided with iFormerly believed-in view of the practically negative Exhaust draught for the :esults attending the prolonged search for the typhoid efficient ventilating plants. removal of dust from granite lathes has given satisfaction 1bacillus in the river water. 6
Dangerous Processes in the Coating (Cd. 3793). LANCET, Oct. 26th, 1912, pp. 1137 and 1166.
Special Report
with Lead, &c., 1907 7
THE
on
of Metal
1 Metropolitan Water Board. Ninth Research Report by Dr. A. C. Houston, Director of Water Examination, on Search for Certain
Pathogenic
Microbes in Raw River Water and in Crude
Sewage.
subject
in the
present report.
He says that out
ANNUAL REPORT FOR 1912 OF H.M. CHIEF of 19 cases of fatal accidents in only 9 was it clear that attempts at resuscitation were made by means of artificial INSPECTOR OF FACTORIES. respiration, and that even when this was tried the effort was discontinued after insufficient interval. Mr. Ram refers to THIS report1has recently been issued by H.M. Stationeryan instructive paper on Electrical Accidents read before Office. This volume, like its predecessor, which we noticed the Electro-Therapeutical Section of the Royal Society appreciatively on its appearance,2 contains particulars of of Medicine by Dr. S. Jellinek of Vienna,3 and also to the work of the Factory Department of the Home Office an important letter to THE LANCET on the Dangers of for the year under review. Electricity, by Dr. Reginald Morton, president of the section.4 As in the previous report, the bulk of the present volume, In view of the importance of this matter Dr. Morton’s which occupies 274 folio pages, is devoted to the sectional declaration in his letter to us cannot be too frequently reports of the superintending divisional inspectors, or to the repeated: first, that death from electrical shock is only an special reports of the medical inspector, or of the chief lady apparent death, at first ; and, secondly, that there is practiinspector. In a brief preface Sir Arthur Whitelegge, the cally always a time, varying from a few minutes to two Chief Inspector of Factories, summarises the work of his hours, within which it is possible to resuscitate the victim by department for the information and guidance of the Home artificial respiration if resorted to at once. Mr. Ram insists on the importance that no time should Secretary. Sanitation- Cleanliness. be lost in getting assistance after the accident, and To the subject of cleanliness special attention is directed that the efforts should be continued for at least two Owing to the comparative rarity of electric in each of the six divisional reports, which in this regard hours. accidents very few medical men can have had are, on the whole, encouraging ; but in very many instances shock they indicate the urgent need for radical improvement. In actual experience in their treatment ; and it is certain the larger works of the great towns in which articles of food that some, at any rate, do not realise the importance of perseverance in artificial respiration. In a number of are manufactured a high standard of cleanliness is maintained, but in the smaller works the conditions are in many fatal cases investigated by Mr. Ram the persons present instances unsatisfactory. Not only are the premises unsuit- have started this expedient, and a doctor has been sent for, has pronounced the patient dead, and has ably constructed and badly kept, but the filthy habits of the who on arrival workers materially add to the other insanitary conditions. gone away within half an hour of the accident. A case of was cited by a witness at a recent public inquiry, Revolting instances of this are quoted in at least two of the this kind the doctor had pronounced the victim dead, the after where, The condition of bakehouses varies sanitary greatly reports. in bringing the patient round by means succeeded bystanders in different districts. In the large bakehouses. of London, of artificial respiration. In another case a doctor is reported and a standard of cleanliness Birmingham, Glasgow high obtains; but in many of the smaller bakehouses, especially to have said at an inquest that attempts to restore animation in the rural areas of the northern division, the conditions immediately after the accident would have been useless, as are far from ideal. The defects noted include unsuitable he was sure that death must have been instantaneous. and badly kept premises, general want of cleanliness, and Anthrax. insufficient space, in consequence of which flour and fuel The special report of Dr. Thomas M. Legge, H.M. Medical In a bakehouse recently are sometimes stored together. Inspector, contains particulars of investigations respecting inspected the dough was mixed in what was originally a cases of infection by anthrax, and of poisoning by carbon stable. A gully was detected in the centre of the floor monoxide and by arsenic, lead, and other metals, as well as which was apparently connected with a main drain. About the influence of certain industrial dusts " of respecting 10 yards from the door of another bakehouse there was an various kinds in causing mortality from tuberculous and open midden for manure and other refuse ; great numbers of other affections of the respiratory system. flies were seen going between the midden and the bakeThe essential facts bearing on infections by anthrax conhouse. In several country areas in the north the dirty veyed by wool, horsehair, hides, and skins, are indicated in state of the bakehouses is due to the neglect of the local a series of useful tables relating to such occurrences in the sanitary authorities. year under review. Investigation has established the danger attaching to certain dust-extracting machines, Dr. F. W. Sanitary Cogiveniences. Eurich having cultivated anthrax from samples of dust This important subject is dealt with at length by several submitted to him. Attempts are now being made to deal of the inspectors, female as well as male. In London and with this dust by means of exhaust ventilation. All the in most of the great towns the standards adopted by the cultivations from materials without trace of blood were authorities are fully abreast of modern sanitary knowledge, isolated colonies, contamination of the wool having but many instances are given in which affairs are in a taken place in India during the process of deplorable state. The chief defects noted are : (1) want of apparently The numerous instances in which anthrax was washing. privacy, due to insufficient separation of closets from the found in East India wool by Dr. Eurich sets at rest all work places ; (2) failure to provide supervision, and resulting existing difficulties arising from our ignorance of persistence of filthy conditions ; (3) structural defects in the previously whether or not consignments of East India wool really conclosets, although these have mostly been constructed under tain anthrax. With Dr. Eurich’s aid the Anthrax Investithe sanction of the local authorities. Dealing with this Board have continued their bacteriological examinamatter in a special report a lady inspector remarks upon the gation tion of all reported cases of anthrax. Among the results of obtuseness in matters of propriety of employers who cannot special interest may be mentioned the necessity of abandonsee for themselves that to set men to control the daily use of ing the hitherto prevailing theory of "no blood, no women’s conveniences is intolerable in civilised opinion." anthrax," for anthrax spores have been cultivated from Bathing Facilities. material-especially East India wool and skin mohairs-in In several large works in the Midlands, where arduous which there was no evidence of blood. The explanation of labour causes profuse perspiration, baths are now being this as due to Itub-washing " is at least a probable one. In an interesting recent paper5 Dr. Eurich has set forth introduced, greatly to the comfort of the workers. In Birmingham the authorities have constructed a number of his suggestions for the prevention of wool-sorters’ disease. cottage baths, which are constantly used and highly It has been shown experimentally that where wool is in a appreciated. In Glasgow no large bakehouse is considered loose state, and consequently easily permeable, anthrax complete without a bath, and bathing facilities are being spores in blood-clots will be killed by "steaming " in about 15 minutes. As far as blood-clots are concerned, this provided in other large establishments in that city. method of disinfection is apparently satisfactory. But, -Electrical Accidents. from possible injury to the fleeces, the difficulty of In spite of the great increase in the use of electricity it is apart wool in bulk by steaming will probably,prove disinfecting satisfactory to learn that the number of accidents therefrom insurmountable. Experiments in this direction are, however, in factories is decreasing. Mr. G. Scott Ram deals fully being continued by the Anthrax Investigation Board. 1 Factories and Workshops Annual Report for 1912 of Chief Inspector. Folio pp. 274. Wyman and Sons. Price 2s. 5d. [Cd. 6852.] 2 THE LANCET, July 20th, 1912, p. 176.
THE LANCET, Nov. 23rd, 1912, p. 1452. 4 THE LANCET, Nov. 30th, 1912, p. 1539. of the Sanitary Institute, November, 1912, p. 507. Journal 3
5
166 in Kilmarnock, and has baen successfully applied to dressing Summarising the experience of the Of the 29 reported cases of poisoning by coal gas, which machines elsewhere. contains about 8 per cent. of carbon monoxide, a considerable northern district, Mr. W. Williams writes that in few directions the actions of the inspectors been more productive proportion occurred in gasworks. Eleven persons were over- than have in their efforts to secure the removal of dust from come by escape of gas from the fittings in the work-places, and nine cases of poisoning were due to discharge of exhaust workrooms, and with the increasing number and experience of the ventilating engineers the standard of attainment is gases from a gas engine. In these cases the town gas-supply constantly rising. In many processes in which a constant was mixed with water gas which contained about 45 per cent. of CO. Thirty-three cases, with five deaths, were caused by fog of dust was considered unavoidable a few years ago the blast furnace gas, which contains about 35 per cent. of CO. atmosphere is now clear, and a very high degree of skill has In 1912, as in previous years, the total loss of life was frequently been displayed to ensure that the exhaust increased by the circumstance that in their gallant attempts arrangements shall not lead to inconvenience either from to save their comrades several of the rescuers themselves want of adjustability or from draughts of cold air.
Carbon Monoxide.
perished. Metallic Poisoning.
.
Of the cases of arsenical poisoning, which were few in THE number, the majority were due to the handling of bird skins THE NINTH RESEARCH REPORT ON METROPOLITAN WATER-SUPPLY.1 recently imported from the East Indies, seven boxes of which yielded on examination from 16 to 17 lb. of white arsenic. Compared with previous years, there was in 1912 a Dr. A. C. Houston, Director of Water Examination, Metrodiminution of lead poisoning in some processes and an Water Board, has recently issued his ninth research increase in others. Recent experience tends to emphasise politanon the London water-supply, and it proves to be of a report the view that control of sources of dust is the most imand at the same time very reassuring interesting highly portant factor in reducing the number of attacks, ’and this character. These scientific investigations carried out by Dr. can best be accomplished by periodical medical inspection. Houston since 1905 have enabled him to advise with greater Dr. Legge expresses the belief, based on the investigations confidence matters affecting the quality and safety of upon of Mr. G. E. Duckering,6 H.M. Inspector in Birmingham, the metropolitan water service. It is not so long ago that that if the amount of lead present in the air breathed con- sanitarians of some eminence looked with grave suspicion tained less than 5 milligrammes per 10 cubic metres of the water-supply of London, mainly because its chief upon air, cases of encephalopathy and paralysis would never sources were two contaminated rivers, the Thames and the occur; and he further believes that somewhere about Lea, into both of which sewage, after more or less adequate 2 milligrammes of lead is the daily dose which, inhaled as treatment, was discharged by up-river towns and districts. fumes or as dust, may in the course of years set up chronic Water from such a source, it was contended, was very likely plumbism. Of the 517 cases of lead poisoning in males the to become an agent in the diffusion of certain diseases, and proportion noted as severe was nearly 20 per cent., or 9 per particularly of typhoid fever. But as the result of Dr. cent. less than in the decade 1900-1909. Of the total cases Houston’s investigations we are perhaps warranted now recorded in the table 82 were suffering from paralysis and in regarding the Thames (and presumably the Lea also) 63 from weakness of arms or loss of power. The cases with less disfavour than formerly. This investigator in of lead encephalopathy numbered 11. The reported cases of has shown that faecal streptococci are not previous reports mercurial poisoning were few in number, several of which uniformly present in the river water except in very sparse" occurred in the manufacture of felt hats. A useful paper numbers ; he has also demonstrated thatunculti vated dealing with this subject, by Dr. F. E. Tylecote, of Man- typhoid bacilli die more speedily than theircultivated"" chester, has already been noticed in these columns.7 The brethren in Thames water under conditions of storage, and possibility of mercurialism affecting the wearer of felt hats that "cultivated"typhoid bacilli cannot maintain their would appear to be not altogether remote. vitality for more than a few weeks. In the report now under consideration attention is directed to certain reassuring inIndustrial Dzcsts and Respiratory Diseases. It is familiar knowledge that the effect of dust in the vestigations concerned with the search for pathogenic causation of disease differs greatly according to the nature bacteria in raw unpurified river water, and notice is called of the dust, the more injurious kinds being those containing also to the negative results of an exhaustive search for The evidence silica. Several years ago inquiry was made concerning the B. typhosus in samples of crude sewage. thus leads Dr. Houston to think that the he has acquired excessive mortality in the Stockbridge district among ganister workers exposed to dust from that material, which consists river Thames might be reinstated in public opinion as a almost entirely of free silica. A table is now given showing source of water-supply provided that the river water is that in the period 1891-1900 the mortality among ganister always adequately stored prior to filtration. workers was equal to 82 -9 per cent. of the total deaths ; and The Search for Pathogenic Microbes in River Water. although the ratio has since fallen, it still amounted to A short summary is given of the previous inquiries 67-8 per cent. in the period 1901-1911. Dr. E. L. Collis, H. M. Inspector of Factories, has long been occupied in special respecting the presence of B. typhosus and Gaertner’s investigations concerning the effect of mineral dust on bacillus in raw river water. Taking all Dr. Houston’s obsergranite cutters, ganister workers, and stonemasons, among vations together, involving the study of 29,470 specially all of which pulmonary tuberculosis is inordinately fatal. selected colonies from 257 raw river water samples, only two After diligent inquiry, Dr. Collis suggests, inter alia, the typhoid-like organisms were discovered, and out of 22,141 generalisation that dusts containing free crystalline silica are other colonies from 101 samples examined only one Gaertnerassociated with a death-rate from phthisis which increases in like microbe was detected. It is very probable, therefore, proportion to the amount of such silica inhaled. Hitherto that B. typhosus and Gaertner’s bacillus are not attention has been centred on the relation between dust habitually present in small amounts (10 c,c.) of raw river inhalation and pulmonary tuberculosis, although it is beyond water. If the typhoid microbe when added artificially in question that other diseases of the lungs are caused by dusts large numbers to the raw river water cannot be isolated after Evidence respecting these diseases is from one to three weeks’ storage, and if the B. typhosus of various kinds. difficult to obtain, and they are certainly less fatal to those cannot be found in 10 c.c. of river water which is destined affected ; nevertheless the damage due to dust-such, for to be stored for several weeks antecedent to filtration, it is example, as that generated in stripping cotton-cardingobvious that the facts adduced by Dr. Houston must have a machines-is very serious, and requires official attention.high practical significance, and we can reasonably infer that Further progress is reported respecting mechanical dustif river water be stored for four weeks prior to filtration, the removal in cotton mills; practically all the mills in margin of security is great-much greater indeed than was Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Glasgow are now provided with iFormerly believed-in view of the practically negative Exhaust draught for the :esults attending the prolonged search for the typhoid efficient ventilating plants. removal of dust from granite lathes has given satisfaction 1bacillus in the river water. 6
Dangerous Processes in the Coating (Cd. 3793). LANCET, Oct. 26th, 1912, pp. 1137 and 1166.
Special Report
with Lead, &c., 1907 7
THE
on
of Metal
1 Metropolitan Water Board. Ninth Research Report by Dr. A. C. Houston, Director of Water Examination, on Search for Certain
Pathogenic
Microbes in Raw River Water and in Crude
Sewage.