Consumption, its relation to man and his civilization, its prevention and cure / by John Bessner Huber.

  • Huber, John Bessner, 1864-
Date:
[1906], [©1906]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Consumption, its relation to man and his civilization, its prevention and cure / by John Bessner Huber. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

    127/560 (page 113)
    OCCUPATIONS Sil'Y OF Lb.tire. Very important is it to consider the conditions of life outside the working hours; here the workingman's social stratum is important. For instance, the very poor man goes in the evening to a squalid home and eats food cooked outrageously in a frying-pan. It has been said (I make no doubt of it) that many a poor man is driven to drink by the dreadful things which his wife has prepared for him to eat. An experienced nurse'reports as folloAvs: What is the particular factor in the home life which predisposes more than any other to this disease ? The nurses almost invariably answer, ' Poor food, poor in quality, in quantity, and, worse still, the way in which it is cooked.' Cornet notes from the records of a number of Berlin mutual aid associations that there is among engravers a mortality from tuberculosis of 40 per cent., among waiters 45 per cent., painters 47 per cent., polishers 54 per cent., bookbinders 63 per cent., cabinet and piano- makers 55 per cent., upholsterers 61.5 per cent. It is quite certain that in factories where there are no cuspidors, and where careless and uncleanly consumptive workingmen spit on the floor, so that the sputum is swept up in the dust, the danger of infection is greater. And the dissemination of sputum may occur in other ways, as by emptying cases of mull or in beating carpets and cloths. In many cases it is difficult to determine the sources of infection. The City of Munich presented at the Dresden Exposition of 1903 an analysis of its cases of tuberculosis on the basis of occupation. The greatest number of cases came from the classes described as workers in dust, and of these, especially those in metal dust. Next came the workers of wood, such as carpenters ; then the manufacturers of clothing; while the fisherfolk and farmers are apparently hardly represented. We shall see that these data correspond fairly well with others. In Fig. 30, for which I am indebted to Miss Brandt, fifty-three occupations are specifically considered. The consumptive death- rate of marble and stone-cutters is shown to be six times that of bankers, brokers, and officials of companies,—an excellent reason, among others, why one should cast his lot among the latter fraternity, if possible. The high mortality among marble and stone-cutters is undoubtedly due to irritation of the respiratory tract by remote inhaled particles of stone. The high mortality among cigarmakers is due largely to the irritating effects of tobacco upon mucous membranes ; but the bad air and the wretchedly unsanitary condition under which these people work, both in factories and in their homes, are essential factors. Cabi- ^ New York Medical News, Oct. 24, 1903.