Not many years ago, the obstacles in the way of _post mortem_ examinations among colliers were insurmountable, and consequently, till lately, few medical men could obtain permission to examine, after death, the morbid appearances within the chest of a collier. With the rapid advance in the general improvement which has been going on, the collier's position in society has become greatly elevated; and his deeply-rooted superstitious feelings have been, to a great extent, dissipated. Let us hope that the school-master will find his way into every collier's dwelling, enlightening his too long uncultivated mind; and that the foolish prejudices shall cease, which have been hitherto the barriers to _post-mortem_ examinations in his community. The only medical writers, as far as I am aware, who have brought this subject before the notice of the profession, are, Dr J. C. GREGORY, in the report of a case of peculiar black infiltration of the whole lungs, resembling "Melanosis," (_Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal_, No. cix., October 1831); Dr CARSEWELL, in an article on "Spurious Melanosis," (_Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine_, Vol. iii); Dr MARSHALL, in a paper in _The Lancet_ for 1836, entitled "Cases of Spurious Melanosis of the Lungs;" Dr WILLIAM THOMSON, now Professor of Medicine in the University of Glasgow, in two able essays (_Medico-Chirurgical Transactions of London_, Vols. xx. and xxi.), wherein he gives a number of very interesting cases, collected from various coal districts of Scotland, illustrating different forms of the disease; Dr PEARSON, in the _Philosophical Trans._ for 1813, on the "Inhalation of Carbon into the Pulmonary Air Cells;" and in a paper, by Dr GRAHAM, in vol. xlii. of the _Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal_. 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.