“It will be perceived that the flax manufacturing operatives suffer far more from phthisis and diseases of the respiratory organs than the other two classes—i.e. the rest of the artisan and labouring population, and the gentry and mercantile classes—nearly three-fifths of those that die annually being taken off by diseases of the respiratory organs, while in the other two classes the average amounts to about two-fifths. The death-rate among those employed in the preparing rooms is exceedingly high, being thirty-one per thousand; few of those employed in these rooms live beyond sixty years. The reason that the machine boys appear to suffer so little is that when they become ‘poucey’—i.e. asthmatic—from flax dust, numbers of them leave the mills on account of suffering from chest affections, and go to other trades, where they linger out a diseased existence, or die from phthisis, and their deaths have been placed in the second class.

“In the machine and preparing rooms the atmosphere is constantly loaded with the flax dust called ‘pouce.’ … The irritating quality of the dust is felt upon the throat, which soon becomes dry. This irritation gradually creeps into the lungs and produces chronic inflammation of the lining membrane, which soon manifests its presence by the worker being attacked each morning with a paroxysm of dyspnœa and coughing. The dyspnœa is sometimes so great that he takes hold of the table of the machine in order to enable him to get over the attack more easily. This state is so well known that when a worker is seen suffering so he is said to be ‘poucey.’ Those employed in the roughing, sorting, hackling, and preparing of flax suffer from this affection, and in the great majority of cases die from phthisis, &c.… The spinners are frequently attacked with vertigo and fainting, and many accidents have occurred by their falling on the machinery. They also suffer from varicose veins and œdema of the ankles.” After describing the “mill fever” consequent on first employment, Dr. Purdon adds: “A peculiar eruption also attacks the uncovered parts of the body. This I call lichen. I have never seen an adult affected with it. The cause is said to be the effect of the flax water on the young person’s skin.” He recommends that no half-timers be employed in the unhealthy processes, and that those who are so employed should be at least fifteen years of age, healthy, and well developed; a thorough system of ventilation should be carried out in these rooms; the wearing of the Baker respirator made compulsory; a quarterly inspection of the mill by the certifying surgeon, who should see the effect the work has on the constitution of those engaged, and, if suffering from incipient disease, they should be obliged to cease working; also there should be an examination on every fresh engagement. “In order to lessen as much as possible the number of deaths that occur among children, each mother ought not to be allowed to resume work for at least two months after the birth of her child, and then should be obliged, when going to work each day, to bring her child to a public crêche, paying for its support a certain sum per week. She at present pays an old woman who farms them. The crêche ought to be visited weekly by the certifying surgeon, who is to inspect each child, and if he finds any to be suffering from want of maternal nourishment, or from disease, he is then to send a printed notice to the employer of the mother, stating that she is required to take care of her sick child. She is not to be allowed to return to her work until the child ceases to require her attention. The crêche to be under Government inspection.”

§ Deaths of Belfast Mill Workers.—Matters are substantially the same to-day in Belfast as they were when Dr. Purdon wrote. The factories were under the Act then as they are now, and, with the exception of raising the age of half-timers and fixing the limit of a month after confinement as the period during which a mother may not be legally employed—amendments which apply to every branch of textile and non-textile industries—no changes of any importance have been made. I am enabled to give here the mortality returns extracted from the Belfast register of the deaths of mill-workers during the year 1891, and they will show in the most convincing manner the effect of this occupation upon health.

Age.Causes of Death.Other Causes.
Phthisis.Respiratory Diseases.
Male.Female.Male.Female.Male.Female.
10——————
11—————1
121—————
13——————
14—5—1—1
1517——21
163142115
17113——16
18317—3—4
19—17——16
20211—1—7
21214—115
22—9—1—8
2315———2
2421211—4
252611——
26—7—212
2719———3
28—5—2—1
29—10—2—2
3015—4—6
31—6—2—3
32—4——33
33—3—112
34—4—3—3
35—6———2
36——11—1
3735—213
38—221—2
3911212—
401411—5
412—11—1
42—2—4—1
43—112—1
44—11113
452——214
46—1221—
47112—12
481—4—11
491—12—1
501—1513
51——11——
52—————1
53——211—
54———1—1
55—1———1
56——1212
57——11—2
58——321—
59—1—11—
60 and upwards——11111820
Total32210427142132

Mortality among Women.—It will be seen that of 413 women who died in the course of the year, no fewer than 210, or more than one-half, died of phthisis, and 125 of these were under the age of 25. Again, there were 71 women who died from respiratory diseases, so that we get a grand total of 281 deaths amongst the women from pulmonary disorders. How closely this terrible state of things is connected with the nature of the occupation may be judged from the following extract from the report of the Medical Officer of Health for Belfast for the year 1892. Commenting on the fact that of the 6,537 deaths registered during 1891, 1,017 were attributable to phthisis, and 1,784 to disease of the respiratory organs, Dr. Whitaker remarks:

“As is well known, a large proportion of our working class population is employed in mills and factories, and I would point out that the nature of their employment must cause any of them having a predisposition to chest affections to be ready sufferers therefrom. Breathing, as they must do, a close, heated atmosphere, laden with particles of flax-dust, fibrous and other matters irritating to the lungs; going from thence directly, it may be, into the cold, damp, or frosty air, poorly and lightly clad; often too young—especially the female workers—to bear the exposure to which they are subjected, it is scarcely to be wondered at that the mortality from these diseases is as great as it is. There is little doubt but that any arrangement by which these changes of temperature could be made less frequent or less trying would be attended with considerable benefit to the health of the workers. Unhealthy occupations principally affect the respiratory organs. The dust of the flax in the manufacture of our staple industry is a serious cause of bronchitis and phthisis, and should lead, if possible, to greater supervision in the ventilation or filtration of the air in our large spinning mills.”

The sickness in the linen and cotton trade is attributable to various causes. There is the dust which rises from the material; the heat and watery vapour; the dust from the Cornish clay which is used in the weaving departments for sizing; the long standing; and the stooping position which has to be maintained in some departments. And if we add to these the strain on the attention throughout all the hours of monotonous work, the great noise, and the bad air poisoned with over-crowding and poor ventilation, we shall agree with Dr. Arlidge that we have cause enough here for disease. Accidents abound in these great mills, where the machines in rapid motion are placed so closely together that the workers are constantly in danger from loose gearing, and flying shuttles from the looms in motion often cause the loss of an eye and sometimes even of life.

Shoddy, Silk, and Lace.—The manufacture of shoddy is attended by the production of an amount of dust that is injurious to the operatives’ health, and the effluvium given off from the rags is another excessively trying feature of this trade. Those who are engaged in it almost invariably have to pass through the ordeal of what is known as “shoddy fever,” a disagreeable though not dangerous illness, the symptoms of which usually last for at least a week, and disappear as the worker grows accustomed to the presence of the dust. Silk weaving is on the whole the healthiest of the textile trades, though here we find a process, which is resorted to also in some departments of the cotton trade and largely in lace-making, which is most prejudicial to health; it is known as “gassing.” This process consists in passing the threads very rapidly through gas jets, the object being to burn away any slight irregularities. Medical evidence shews strongly the evils which befall the operatives who have to spend their time in an atmosphere highly charged with the products of gas combustion, full of fluff and exceedingly hot. The operatives in the lace trade, which is carried on mostly at Nottingham, suffer in an especial degree from “gassing.” There is not sufficient space at my disposal to go into the numerous family of trades in which the worker is liable to suffer from dust given off; but amongst them are carpet-making, hair-dressing, the flock trade, and those departments of the upholstery trade in which fluffy material is used. Unfortunately the drawback noticed by Dr. Arlidge of the lack of precise medical evidence in the cotton trade exists also in these industries.