“The prevailing diseases throughout the whole district are bronchial affections and rheumatism, which may generally be attributed to exposure to cold and rain after leaving the close, warm atmosphere of the mine.
“The miners’ dwellings in Marrick are small thatched cottages, situated very near their work; they are consequently less exposed to wet and cold on their way home, but (although dry and kept tolerably clean) from the want of room and proper ventilation, the inmates are more liable to contagious disorders than the more comfortably lodged miners in the parish of Grinton. In Arkendale the houses are of a somewhat better description, but the drainage is imperfect; the habits of the people filthy and intemperate; cutaneous disorders very common; and they are frequently the victims of typhus and other malignant fevers.
“In the parish of Grinton the houses are of a decidedly superior description. Forty years ago they were mostly thatched with ling or heath; a thatched house is now rarely seen. The miners are all comfortably lodged, generally well clothed, clean, and orderly in their habits; and I have no doubt to these causes may be attributed the great difference between the mortality in this parish and that of Arkendale in the same period.
“In Muker the mortality, in proportion to its population, has been nearly the same as in Arkendale; but many of the miners work occasionally in coal-mines, are more exposed to storms, by reason of their work being at a greater distance from their dwellings; and those dwellings are also of a description inferior to those of the other townships in the parish of Grinton. From these circumstances I infer that the average duration of a lead-miner’s life, and his greater freedom from disease, have increased in proportion to the increased airiness and increased convenience of his dwelling.”
I have already referred to the example cited by Dr. Barham of the health of the miners in one mine, the Dolcoath mine, in the parish of Camborne, in Cornwall, where great attention is paid to obviate agencies injurious to the miners. Care is there taken in respect to ventilation in the mines. “The ventilation in Dolcoath is particularly good, and the men are healthier than in most other mines; there are more old miners.” Care is taken for the prevention of accidents. “Our ladders,” says one of the witnesses examined by Dr. Barham, “are about two fathoms and a half in length, generally with staves one foot apart. We use oak staves; old ship oak we find the best. We formerly used the hafts of the picks and other tools, but found these unsafe, the wood being sleepy and flawed, and sometimes breaking off in a moment, without having shown any outward sign of unsoundness. Iron staves, besides being at times very slippery, are apt to be corroded, so as to cut the hand. We have had no accidents on our footways for a long time.” They have introduced the safety fuse, and the witness says:—“Very few accidents now arise from explosions;” “they used to happen frequently formerly.” Care is taken of the miners on quitting the mines; hence, instead of issuing on the bleak hill side, and receiving beer in a shed, to prevent chill and exhaustion, they issue from their underground labour into a warm room, where well-dried clothes are ready for them, and warm water, and even baths are supplied from the steam furnace, and, in the instance of this mine, a provision of hot beef-soup instead of beer is ready for them in another room. The honour of having made this change is stated to be due to the Right Hon. Lady Basset, on the suggestion of Dr. Carlyon. “Hence in this mine,” says Dr. Barham, “we may fairly attribute to the combination of beneficial arrangements just noticed that in Dolcoath, where 451 individuals are employed underground, only two have died within the last three years of miners’ consumption, a statement which could not, I believe, be made with truth nor be nearly approached in respect of an equal number of miners during the same term in any other Cornish district.” The sick-club of the mine “is comparatively rich, having a fund of 1500l.”
When “care” is mentioned as taken for sanitary measures, it is to be remembered that it is care only at the outset, and that when in habitual action the care required is really less, and the measures should be characterized as means for avoiding care and trouble and diminishing pecuniary loss.
The effect of sanitary care in the mines of Camborne is, so far as it has been carried, marked in the following table, made up by Mr. Blee, a medical practitioner in the neighbourhood, from the mortuary registers, showing the average age of death of the population as compared with the average of death in two other adjacent parishes of Illogan and Gwennap, in both of which some beneficent alterations have been made, especially in Illogan, but the works are stated to be new, and the circumstances not so favourable as at Camborne:—
Table showing the average Ages of Persons dying above 30, and registered, in three years in the Parish of Camborne, in two years in Gwennap, and in one year in Illogan.
| Males. | Females. | Proportion per cent. of Miners’ Deaths by Mine Accidents. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miners. | Not Miners. | |||
| Gwennap | 45 | 60 | 64 | 16 |
| Illogan | 49 | 68 | 64 | 32 |
| Camborne | 54 | 60 | 63 | 5 |
The improvement in Camborne had not reached the residences, where the miners kept pigs, in sties close behind the house, and a dungheap is carefully fostered in a catch-pit adjacent. Dr. Barham, and the medical men practising in the vicinity, attribute to the decomposition of vegetable matter in the “soaked soil from the receptacles near the dwellings a form of fever which has been hanging about Camborne, and has often passed into the typhoid condition, and has been attended with great prostration of strength.”[[30]]