"'I met with very few colliers above forty years of age, who, if
they had not a confirmed asthmatic disease, were not suffering
from difficult breathing.'—_Fellows, Report_, s. 57; App. pt.
ii. p. 256.
"Phœbe Gilbert, Watnall, Messrs. Barber and Walker: 'She
thinks they are much subject to asthma. Her first husband,
who died aged 57, was unable to work for seven years on that
account.'—_Fellows, Evidence_, No. 105; App. pt. ii. p. 256.
"William Wardle, collier, forty years of age, Eastwood: 'There
are some who are asthmatical, and many go double.'—Ibid. No. 84,
p. 287, 1. 40.
"Mr. Henry Hemmingway, surgeon, Dewsbury: 'When children are
working where carbonic acid gas prevails, they are rendered more
liable to affections of the brain and lungs. This acid prevents
the blood from its proper decarbonization as it passes from
the heart to the lungs. It does not get properly quit of the
carbon.'—_Symons, Evidence_, No. 221; App. pt. i. p. 282, 1. 38.
"Mr. Uriah Bradbury, surgeon, Mirfield: 'They suffer from
asthma.'—Ibid. No. 199, p. 278, 1. 58.
"Mr. J. B. Greenwood, surgeon, Cleckheaton: 'The cases which have
come before me professionally have been chiefly affections of the
chest and asthma, owing to the damp underfoot, and also to the
dust which arises from the working of the coal.'—Ibid. No. 200,
p. 279, 1. 8.
"J. Ibetson, collier, aged fifty-three, Birkenshaw: 'I have
suffered from asthma, and am regularly knocked up. A collier
cannot stand the work regularly. He must stop now and then, or he
will be mashed up before any time.'—Ibid. No. 267, p. 292, 1. 42.
"Joseph Barker, collier, aged forty-three, Windybank Pit: 'I have
a wife and two children; one of them is twenty-two years old; he
is mashed up, (that is, he is asthmatical,) he has been as good a
worker as ever worked in a skin.'—_Scriven, Evidence_, No. 14;
App. pt. ii. p. 104, 1. 60.
"Mr. George Canney, surgeon, Bishop Aukland: 'Do the children
suffer from early employment in the pits?' Yes, seven and
eight is a very early age, and the constitution must suffer in
consequence. It is injurious to be kept in one position so long,
and in the dark. They go to bed when they come home, and enjoy
very little air. I think there is more than the usual proportion
of pulmonary complaints.'—_Mitchell, Evidence_, No. 97; App. pt.
i. p. 154, 1. 2.
"Mr. Headlam, physician, Newcastle: 'Diseases of respiration
are more common among pit-men than among others, distinctly
referable to the air in which they work. The air contains a great
proportion of carbonic gas, and carburetted hydrogen. These
diseases of the respiratory organs arise from the breathing of
these gases, principally of the carbonic acid gas.—_Leifchild,
Evidence_, No. 499; App. pt. i. p. 67, 1. 11.
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