“I consider the lodging-shops more injurious to the health of the miners than their work itself. So many sleeping in the same room, so many breaths, so much stour arising from their working-clothes, so much perspiration from the men themselves, it is impossible to be comfortable. Two miners occupy one bed, sometimes three. The beds are shaken once a-week on the Monday morning, when the miners come. Some miners make their beds every night. The rooms are in general very dirty, being never washed, and very seldom swept, not over once a-month. There is no ventilation, so that the air is very close at night.” It is observed of this particular class of men that they are worn out soon after forty; but a large share of this result may also be ascribed to their places of work. The following is a return of the ages of all the miners who died during one year, including those who slept at their own homes, with those who had been accustomed to sleep at the lodging-shops. STATEMENT of Deaths from Disease and Accidents of Miners, Colliers, and Pitmen, in the Unions of Cumberland and Westmoreland, and parts of the Counties of Lancaster and Northumberland (Population Census of 1831, 338,273), during the Year ended 31st December, 1839, as shown by the Mortuary Registers. ┌──────────────┬───────┬───────┐ │ Periods of │Number │Average│ │ Age. │ of │ Age. │ │ │Deaths.│ │ ├──────────────┼───────┼───────┤ │ Under 20│ 37│ 15│ │ 20 Under 30│ 39│ 23│ │ 30 Under 40│ 27│ 33│ │ 40 Under 50│ 27│ 44│ │ 50 Under 60│ 23│ 55│ │ 60 Under 70│ 32│ 64│ │ 70 Under 80│ 17│ 75│ │80 and upwards│ 10│ 86│ ├──────────────┼───────┼───────┤ │ Total deaths │ 212│ 42│ └──────────────┴───────┴───────┘ The following is a summary view of the causes of death, from which it will be seen that out of 212 deaths 69 fell from diseases of the respiratory organs, and of these 52 died from consumption, whose average age of death was no more than 36½, and that no less than 58 were destroyed by accidents. STATEMENT of the Causes of Death amongst Miners in the Unions of Cumberland and Westmoreland and parts of the Counties of Lancaster and Northumberland, during the Year ended 31st December, 1839, as shown by the Mortuary Registers.