OF DURHAM AND NORTHUMBERLAND. 201 
evident. All consider disease to be an entity, whereas, like life, 
it is a non-entity; it cannot exist per se, and can only be re- 
cognised as a state or condition, that state or condition being 
modified, perverted, or suspended vital action. Supposing, then, 
vital action to mean what is understood by life, modified or 
perverted vital action as what is understood by disease, and 
cessation of vital action as what is understood by death, we 
find that the two latter states—disease and death—are induced 
by influences brought to bear on the former state—life. It is 
thus the part of the physician not merely to relieve suffering and 
restore the balance of vital phenomena when deranged, but also 
to endeavour to detect and point out those influences which 
modify and destroy vital action—which induce the states known 
as disease and death. By so doing, his good offices will benefit 
not only those who live with him, but also the generations which © 
are to follow. 
It has been my privilege to attend to the ailments of pitmen 
daily during the last twelve years, and the object of this paper 
is not to add any new fact to physiology, nor to detail any new 
form of disease, but to show what effect the exclusive habits and 
peculiar occupation of the coal miner of the North of England 
have on his health and length of life. 
A few years ago a gentleman came into this neighbourhood to 
fill an important situation in one of our large collieries. He 
arrived at his destination late at night, and slept at the inn. 
The following morning, on looking out, he immediately called 
the landlord and asked what all those cottages were for. -& Cot- 
tages, sir, those are the pitmen’s houses.” ‘‘ Good gracious!” 
said the Southerner, “I thought pitmen lived in the pit.” 
I think it will hardly be necessary to say they do not live in 
the pit; nevertheless they work there, and while at their work 
they breathe an atmosphere conveyed to them by artificial means, 
and often mingled with gases unfitted for respiration. They live 
in villages built expressly for them, at a short distance from the 
shafts of the pits. The villages consist of parallel streets or 
rows of houses. There are single rows and double rows. The 
houses are built end to end. Those in the single rows have one 
