384 



Popular Science Monthly 



wire bristles. If you want to see the fur 

 fly, watch one of these combers. The 

 floor on which the man stands is covered 

 inches deep with fur and the air is thick 

 with it. In passing through a room 

 where one of these machines is in opera- 

 tion, one's hair, eyes, ears and clothing 

 become full of the indescribably fine 

 particles of angora fur which are loos- 

 ened by the machine. Sometimes the 

 operator wears goggles and a respirator; 

 sometimes not. Some factories keep the 

 combing machines in box-like compart- 

 ments so the operator does not sufter. 

 Another harmful practice is the beat- 

 ing of finished fur garments by hand. 



When the fisherman is not-a-fishing he 



takes off the sail of his boat and uses it 



as an awning for his house 



The beater uses two rattan sticks with 

 which he l^elabors the garment, causing 

 hair and dust to fly into the air and set- 

 tle all over him. Recently a machine has 

 been invented which does away with the 

 dirt and dust of the hand-])eating meth- 

 od. It consists of a vacuum device in 

 which is placed a rattan beater which 

 can be operated at any one of three 

 speeds electrically. The vacuum princi- 

 ple is employed to draw all the dust and 

 particles of fur into a bag, instead of 



permitting them to be blown about the 

 room. It is believed that asthma is con- 

 tracted particularly by those persons who 

 handle dyed wolf, racoon and coney 

 skins. Unfortunately, many of the fur 

 workers were exceedingly reticent and 

 offered the physicians very little help to- 

 ward determining their physical condi- 

 tion, fearing to acknowledge any ailment 

 lest their working capacity might be 

 curtailed. It is a noteworthy fact that 

 of the workers in the fur and allied 

 trades, seventy-two per cent were under 

 forty years of age and ninety per cent 

 under fifty. This is conclusive evidence 

 that the fur and hatters' fur trades are 

 dangerous to health. As getting rich at 

 these trades is out of the question, so far 

 as the workers are concerned, the only 

 reason for such an early retirement from 

 the work must be disability. 



There are many ways in which the 

 evils of the fur trades can be mitigated. 

 As sixteen thousand persons are engaged 

 in these trades in New York City, their 

 condition is of vital importance to the 

 public health. For this reason the De- 

 partment of Health has made an ex- 

 haustive study of these trades and efforts 

 are being made to improve present prac- 

 tices. 



When one considers that some of the 

 things suflrered by the victims of mer- 

 curialism are diseased gums, black teeth, 

 severe headaches, nosebleeds, violent 

 tremors of limbs, face and tongue (hat- 

 ters' shakes), and that other diseases 

 among fur workers are bronchitis, asth- 

 ma, tuberculosis, skin diseases, loss of 

 finger nails, blueness of hands, etc., it 

 would seem that the animals whose pelts 

 are used are not the only ones to suffer 

 in order that you may wear a felt hat 

 and a fur-lined coat. 



A House with a Sail 



THE sail on the little shack pictured 

 is not for the purpose of propul- 

 sion. It is used as an awning so that 

 the sun will not make the contents too 

 warm. The hut belongs to a fisherman, 

 who catches fish and crabs and sells 

 them to the motor tourists between Los 

 Angeles and Santa Barbara. The fish- 

 erman uses the sail when out in his boat, 

 but when he gets back he removes the 

 sail from his boat to his hut. 



