On anthracosis or coal-miner's phthisis : the spurious melanosis of Carswell / by J. Warburton Begbie.

  • Begbie, James Warburton, 1826-1876.
Date:
1866
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On anthracosis or coal-miner's phthisis : the spurious melanosis of Carswell / by J. Warburton Begbie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    6/24 (page 6)
    the year he had worked, in the midst of much dust, from morning till evening; the remaining three months had been devoted to out-door farm work. This man, of sober habits, had not suffered from any chest affection till commencing, some four or five years before his death, the occupation to which reference has now been made. At that employment he had not worked above a few months when he became short in breathing and subject to cough. After a time he noticed his spit to be dark in colour, and gradually to acquire a black or inky hue. He was able, although with much difficulty, to continue at this work till the beginning of 1856, when from general feebleness, and particularly owing to severe cough and difficulty of breathing, he felt compelled to desist. When brought under my observation in the hospital, this patient had lost flesh and strength to a great extent, and mani¬ fested the appearance of a person who had been for a length¬ ened period suffering from pulmonary disease. The expectora¬ tion was very abundant, and very black. The left front of the chest was universally dull on percussion, and immediately under the clavicle there were the marked signs of extensive excavation. Over the right front the percussion resonance was abnormally clear. The patient had at no time expectorated blood. The course of the disease did not differ in any par¬ ticular from that of ordinary pulmonary phthisis,—hectic fever, night sweats, constant and extremely irritating cough, gradu¬ ally wore out the poor man’s strength. He died on the 2d day of June. On examination of the body by Dr. Haldane, the following appearances were presented. There was great emphysema of the upper anterior portion of the right lung. That lung was of a uniform dark colour both externally and internally, while on pressure a fluid of similar colour, and staining the fingers, escaped. In this lung there was no marked condensation. The left lung was firmly adherent, and the corresponding side of the chest contracted. The lung was of a very dark colour, non-crepitant in the lower lobe, yielding, on pressure after section, a very abundant inky fluid. In the upper lobe there were several considerable excavations, and a few small masses of tubercle. Bronchial glands were enlarged, and of extremely black colour. Liver and kidneys congested, but otherwise normal. ^ The most remarkable feature in this case consists in the circumstance that the subject of it was not a coal-miner, or other operative exposed in any extraordinary manner to the operation of those causes, which, as will be shortly seen, are