OF DURHAM AND NORTHUMBERLAND. 207 
of deaths of miners, fifteen years old and upwards, in nineteen 
districts of England and Wales, during the five years 1849-53, 
from all causes 7,434 deaths registered. Of these, 81 were 
occasioned by small-pox, 810 from cholera and diarrhxa, 434 
by typhus, 101 by other zymotic diseases, 304 by diseases of 
the brain, 361 by heart disease and dropsy, 1,663 by phthisis, 
790 by diseases of the lungs, 260 by diseases of the stomach 
and liver, 71 by diseases of the kidneys, 37 by diseases of the 
joints, 1813 by violent deaths, and by other causes 709. 
From this we observe that violence is the most frequent cause 
of death. Accidental violence also incapacitates the pitmen 
from work oftener than any special disease or ailment. Acci- 
dents, if not immediately fatal, are not often so ultimately. 
During the last seven years 260 men who had got injured at work, 
were under my care for periods varying from one week to six 
months; and although many were cases of an apparently hopeless 
nature, all recovered but two, one of whom had organic disease, 
and the other went to work too soon, and partook largely of 
stimulants. In all those cases, many of which were compound 
comminuted fractures, there did not occur one single instance of 
pyzmia, that complication which is so common and so fatal in 
the accident wards of all our large hospitals. Phthisis stands 
next as the most prevalent cause of death. From my own 
experience, I should say that phthisis is not a prevalent disease 
amongst the pitmen of the North of England, and I have further 
to notice in this district the absence of the so-called black 
phthisis or carbonaceous lung. I asked three intelligent pitmen 
who had worked in Scotch mines if they could account for the 
prevalence of the disease there. One attributed it to imperfect 
ventilation, another to the heaviness of the coal dust, the third 
said it was partly owing to the nature of the dust and partly to 
the oil lamps they wore on their heads. It is interesting to 
note that writers on pathology have attributed this disease to 
each of these causes. Under the head Diseases of the Lungs, 
we have 790 deaths. Attacks of pleuro-pneumonia are not 
unfrequent, and bronchitis is common. It is rare to find an old 
pitman, who has moved about much from one colliery to another, 
