PRESIDENTIAL]ADDRESS. 635 
use-in mines, and exposed in a chamber to 120° F. dry dulb and 95° F. wet bulb. 
Lhe skin temperature rises to the rectal temperature and the pulse is greatly 
accelerated—e.g., to 150—and there arises danger of heat stroke. The conditions 
are greatly relieved by interposing on the inspiratory tube of the apparatus a 
cooler filled with carbonic-acid snow. The cool inspired air lowers the frequency 
of the heart and makes it possible for the men to do some work at 95° I. wet 
bulb, and to endure this temperature for two hours. J } 
The observations made by Pembrey and Collis on the weaving-mill opera- 
tives at Darwen show that the skin of the face may be 4° to 13° F. higher in the 
mill when the wet bulb is 71° F. than at home when the wet-bulb temperature is 
about 55° F. The tendency of the warm, humid atmosphere of the mill is to 
establish a more uniform temperature of the body as a whole (surface and deep 
temperatures) and to throw a tax upon the power of accommodation as indicated 
by the rapid pulse and low blood-pressure. 
The mill-workers are wet with the steam blown into the sheds, their clothes 
and bodies are moist, and the long hours of exposure to such uncomfortable 
conditions are most deleterious to physical vigour and happiness. The opera- 
tives asked that they might be allowed to work without steam-injectors and with 
diminished ventilation, so that the mill rooms became saturated with moisture 
evaporated from the bodies of the operatives. The old regulations, while for- 
bidding more than 6 parts in 10,000 CO,, put no limit to the wet-bulb tempera- 
ture, and this often became excessive on hot summer days. The operatives were 
quite right. Less ventilation and a lower wet bulb is far better than ample 
ventilation and a high wet bulb. The permissible limit of CO, has now been 
raised to 11 parts in 10,000, and the wet-bulb temperature is to be controlled 
within reasonable limits. 
The efficiency of workers in mills, mines, tunnels, stoke-holes, &c., is vastly 
increased by the provision of a sufficient draught of cool and relatively dry air, 
so as to prevent over-taxing of the heat-regulating mechanism. Mr. F. Green 
informs me that by means of forced draught the stoke-hole of an Orient steamer 
is rendered the coolest place when the ship is in the tropics. 
The electric fan has vastly improved the conditions of the worker in the 
tropics. I would suggest that each clerk should have a fan just as much as a 
lamp on his desk. It will pay the employer to supply fans. 
In the modern battleship men are confined very largely to places artificially 
lit and ventilated by air driven in by fans through ventilating-shafts. The heat 
and moisture derived from the bodies of the men, from the engines, from cooking- 
ranges, &c., lead to a high degree of relative moisture, and thus all parts of the 
ironwork inside are coated with granulated cork to hold the condensed moisture 
and prevent dripping. 
The air smells with the manifold smells of oil, cooking, human bodies, &c., 
and the fresh air driven in by fans through the metal conduits takes up the smell 
of these, and is spoken of by the officers with disparagement as ‘tinned’ or 
‘potted’ air. This air is heated when required by being made to pass over 
radiators. Many of the officers’ cabins and offices tor clerks, typewriters, &c., 
in the centre of a battleship, have no portholes, and are only lit and ventilated by 
artificial means. The steel nature of the structure prevents the diffusion of air 
which takes place so freely through the brick walls of a house. The men in their 
sleeping quarters are very closely confined, and as the openings of the air-con- 
duits are placed in the roof between the hammocks, the men next to such openings 
receive a cold draught and are likely to shut the openings. To sleep in a warm 
moist ‘fugg’ would not much matter if the men were actively engaged for 
many hours of the day on deck and there exposed to the open air and the rigours 
of sea and weather. In the modern warship most of the crew work for many 
hours under deck, and some of the men may scarcely come on deck for weeks or 
even months. Considering the conditions which pertain, it seems to be of the 
utmost importance that all the men in a battleship should be inspected at short 
intervals by the medical officers so that cases of tuberculosis may be weeded out 
in their incipiency. The men of every rating should do deck drill for some part 
of every day. In the Norwegian navy every man, cooks and all, must do gym- 
nastic drill on deck onceaday. In thecase of our navy, with voluntary service, 
the men should welcome this in their own interest. 
