An Investigation into the Nature of Black Phthisis / or Ulceration Induced by Carbonaceous Accumulation in the Lungs of Coal Miners

by Archibald Makellar

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 the means of directing the attention of scientific men to the subject, with a view to obviate, as far as human efforts can, the evils which have been exposed. It may at first appear difficult, to point out the means of removing effectually the causes of the pulmonary carbonaceous disease of miners, but, be the difficulties what they may, humanity encourages us to make the attempt.

In the first place, let us endeavour to ascertain the cause, and secondly, to suggest means for the mitigation or prevention of this scourge.

My present remarks do not refer to coal-miners in general, but to a district in Scotland, in the Lothians, east of the river Forth, where the labour is hard, and where its severity is in many cases increased by a want of proper attention to the economy of mining operations. These operations, as at present carried on, are extremely unwholesome, and productive of diseases which have a manifest tendency to shorten life. I draw the materials of my description from what I saw in a part of that district referred to, where the various cases, hereafter to be adduced, came under my medical treatment, and where I had the privilege of examining the morbid appearances after death.

The locality[2] in which my observations were made, is that part of the Lothians, extending from south to north, stretching from the foot of the Lammermoors towards the sea-coast, including the coal-works of Preston-Hall, Huntlaw, Pencaitland, Tranent, and Blindwells. In this range of the coal-formation, the seam of coal is variable, but generally exceedingly thin, varying in thickness from eighteen inches, to three or four feet. It is with difficulty that mining operations can be prosecuted, from the extremely limited space in which the men have to move, and from the deficient ventilation. It appears, after thorough investigation, that in the majority of the coal mines above mentioned, ventilation is very much neglected, and that this neglect is partly caused, by the immunity of these mines from carburetted hydrogen gas, which exempts them from the danger of explosion. But though there be no explosive gas, there is generated, to a certain extent, in the more remote recesses of the pit, carbonic acid and other gases, producing the most injurious effects—impairing the constitution by slow degrees, and along with the more direct cause (the smoke from the lamp, candle, and the product of the combustion of gunpowder,) making progressive inroads on the health of the unfortunate miner. And how, I ask, can it be otherwise, in such circumstances? So long as it is possible for him to go on—so long as there is air enough to support the combustion of the lamp or candle, the labourer must proceed with his toil. I say, from there being no fire-damp, less attention is paid to ventilation, and it is a common occurrence with colliers in these localities, to be obliged to leave their work, from there not being a sufficiency of oxygen to keep their lights burning, and support respiration; and this temporary cessation of labour under such circumstances is regarded as a hardship by some proprietors, while the bodily sufferings of the miner, shut up and necessitated to labour in this situation, are little considered.

After labouring beyond a given time in those confined situations, there is a much freer action of the respiratory apparatus, the oxygen is considerably exhausted, and to make up for this deficiency, the volume of air inspired, (impure though it be,) is much greater. Every now and then, there is a disposition to draw a deep breath, followed by a peculiar and gradual decrease of strength. Therefore, in these forcible expansions of the chest, it is to be expected that a considerable quantity of the floating carbon will be conveyed to the cellular tissue.

The atmosphere of the coal mine at length becomes so vitiated, by the removal of the oxygen in breathing, and the substitution of carbonic acid, that the respiration becomes gradually more difficult, and the exhausted labourer has ultimately to retire from the pit, as there is no other mode by which the noxious air can be removed—owing to the underground apartments being so small—than by gradually allowing purer air to accumulate. The miner is thus enabled to return to his employment.

It is about thirty years since miners in this district adopted the use of coarse linseed oil, instead of whale oil, to burn in their lamps; and it is very generally known, that the smoke from the former is immensely greater than that from the latter, and many old miners date the greater prevalence of black spit to the introduction of the linseed oil. This change took place entirely on the score of economy. Any one can conceive how hurtful to the delicate tissues of the respiratory organs, must be an atmosphere thickened by such a sooty exhalation.

It is now known, that this disease originates in two principal causes, viz., First, The inhalation of lamp smoke with the carbonic acid gas[3] generated in the pit, and that expired from the lungs; Second, Carbon, and the carburetted gases which float in the heated air after the ever-recurring explosions of gunpowder, which the occurrence of trap dykes renders necessary.