DANGEROUS TRADES
THE HISTORICAL, SOCIAL, AND LEGAL
ASPECTS OF INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATIONS
AS AFFECTING HEALTH, BY A NUMBER
OF EXPERTS
EDITED BY THOMAS OLIVER, M.A., M.D., F.R.C.P.
MEDICAL EXPERT ON THE WHITE LEAD, DANGEROUS TRADES, POTTERY, AND
LUCIFER MATCH COMMITTEES OF THE HOME OFFICE; PROFESSOR
OF PHYSIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF DURHAM; PHYSICIAN TO
THE ROYAL INFIRMARY, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1902
TO
THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM HENRY ASQUITH, K.C., M.P.
AND
THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT RIDLEY
TO WHOM, AS HOME SECRETARIES, THE EDITOR IS IN A VERY SPECIAL
MANNER INDEBTED FOR THE MANY OPPORTUNITIES AFFORDED
HIM OF ACQUIRING THAT PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE WHICH
HAS ENABLED HIM TO BRING TOGETHER THE
INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THE FOLLOWING
PAGES, THIS BOOK IS, WITH
GRATITUDE AND RESPECT,
DEDICATED
PREFACE
This is the first occasion on which, on the special lines indicated
in this book, any adequate attempt has been made in this or any other
country to deal with the conduct of trades and other occupations in
respect to the dangers to life and health to which the workers are
liable.
The subject is year by year engrossing more of the attention of the
public, and this has been evinced in many ways, _e.g._, in the
amount of space devoted by the Press to the subject of leadless-glaze
in pottery, and to the manufacture of matches without phosphorus, etc.
The increasing interest displayed by the public in social affairs
has led to a corresponding desire for accurate information as to the
condition in which their fellow-men and women live and work. This
volume is a response to a widely-expressed demand for a true and
authoritative statement on this important subject--a subject which
concerns thousands upon thousands of our fellow country-people.
The field covered by “Dangerous Trades and Occupation Diseases” is
a very wide one, and, as there is no one person competent to deal
adequately with the whole, it has been found desirable to engage the
co-operation of experts on the various trades with which the volume
treats.
In carrying out this scheme, an enormous amount of information which
has hitherto been unrecorded or inaccessible has been brought into
focus and made available for reference.
The language employed has been kept as free as possible from
technicalities. It is confidently believed that this volume will be of
considerable value, not only to medical men, whose practice brings them
into contact with the working classes, to Certifying Factory Surgeons,
Factory Inspectors, and employers of labour, but also to the educated
public and to professional men interested in the hygienic side of
industrial problems and in occupation diseases. It is hoped also that
it will be of assistance to members of both Houses of Parliament.
Whilst congratulating myself on my good fortune in securing the
assistance of many distinguished and able specialists, I take this
opportunity of expressing my warmest thanks to Dr Whitelegge, Dr
Morison Legge, Miss A. M. Anderson, and especially to Commander
Hamilton Smith, R.N., of the Factory Department of the Home Office, for
their help in various ways, and to all my contributors for their ready
acquiescence and loyal support.
THOMAS OLIVER.
NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE,
_March 1902_.
LIST OF CONTENTS
PAGE
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION. By THOMAS OLIVER, M.D., F.R.C.P., 1