M. Patissier. “There is sometimes to be observed on the surface of their skin a psoriform eruption, which by some writers is ascribed to the irritation of the woollen cloth which these artisans are continually handling. Guldner, however, considers that this eruption is produced by their mode of living.”
Witness. “I never saw or heard of any peculiar eruption on the skin of the tailors, though they perhaps do not attend sufficiently to personal cleanliness. The dye of cloth is sometimes bad, but I never observed any effects from it.”
M. Patissier. “Tailors are apt to prick themselves with their needles, and these wounds often bring on festerings.”
Witness. “That is certainly the case; the needle may carry with it some of the dye, and the festering may also be occasioned by the bad state of the body.”
M. Patissier. “They almost all have decayed teeth, which are destroyed by the habit of biting their thread with them. It is very rare to see a tailor of advanced age with any front teeth.”
Witness. “That is certainly so: they have many of them bad teeth, but I have not noticed any deficiency of the front teeth.”
M. Patissier. “Their sight is soon enfeebled by the fine work which they have to execute, often at night by the light of candles. When they work in the evening at open windows, they are liable to be affected by earache, tooth-ache, cold in the head, and sore eyes.”
Witness. “That is very correct with respect to the tailors in town, but it is not noticed so much with tailors in the country.”
M. Patissier. “The sedentary life which they lead produces heavy, soft flesh, that has no firmness; they generally are thin in body, legs are spare and feeble, and their complexion rather jaundiced.”
Witness. “Almost all this will be found to be the effect of habits that have nothing to do with the trade.”