266 FISHERMEN EXEMPT FROM TUBERCULAR DISEASE. 



able physician of that institution, my friend, Dr. Cook- 

 worthy, at my request, has had the goodness to consult 

 its records, and from a communication with which he 

 has favoured me, it appears that of 654 cases of con- 

 firmed diseases of the lungs,* the probable result of 

 tubercles, entered in the register of the Dispensary, 

 234 males, 376 females, whose ages and occupations are 

 given individually, the small number of four only were 

 of fishermen's families, one male and three females, 

 which is in the ratio of one to 163 ; and of watermen, 

 who fish with hook and line, when other work is scarce, 

 generally very poor, and of habits generally by no means 

 temperate or regular, the number, including their fa- 

 milies, did not exceed eleven, of whom ten were males, 

 and one a female, which is in the ratio of one to 58-8. 

 The entries from which the 654 cases are extracted, 

 Dr. Cookworthy states, exceeds 20,000. He assures 

 me, that had he taken scrofula in all its forms, the 

 result would, he believes, have been more conclusive." 



Other returns, supplied by the Registrar-General, 

 render the fact of this exemption of fishermen still 

 more remarkable, especially considering the preva- 

 lency of tubercular consumption in the working classes 

 generally throughout the United Kingdom. 



" If the exemption be mainly owing to diet, and 

 that a fish diet, it may be presumed that there enters 

 into the composition of fish, some element not com- 

 mon to other kinds of food, whether animal or vege- 

 table. This I believe is the case, and that the pecu- 

 liar element is iodine. 



* Phthisis and Haemoptysis. 



