1865.] Smith qii the Health of Metal Miners. 225 



In the evidence adduced by the Commissioners we are surprised to 

 hear that the boiler is considered so unusually dangerous ; it is true 

 we have found sulphate of copper in water used for raising steam, but 

 surely this cannot be commonly used in Cornwall. Water such as 

 that is most destructive, as it dissolves the iron rapidly. 



Whilst speaking of this subject, we may mention the very beautiful 

 discovery of young Dr. Bischoff, of Bonn. He finds that the oxide 

 of iron, of which there is so much where pyrites is burned, can in a 

 very moderate heat be converted by carbon into metallic iron, still 

 retaining its fine texture. Water passed through this is freed from 

 copper in an instant. This may in some places be found a valuable 

 process. It is not absurd to expect that the process may be available, 

 so far as to bring drinking water within the nearer reach of some 

 of the miners, because, if the copper is removed, it is easier to remove 

 the iron. 



We shall be asked, What interest can there be in providing water 

 for a county like Cornwall, in which the winds from every quarter 

 are said to bring rain ? But, true as this may be, we have found per- 

 sons going two miles for water to drink. The streams are poisoned, 

 and the carriage of water is one of the greatest burdens on the poor of 

 some districts. 



How do Miners know that the Air is Bad ? — They actually wait to 

 see if a candle will burn in it. Let us imagine people in a ball-room 

 saying, " This room is well fitted for dancing, and is well ventilated, 

 because the lights are burning, and we can see the people." No ; we 

 have learned that people may faint even when the lights burn well ; 

 and we never yet have heard of people dancing until the lights went 

 out for want of air. No such foolish persons have, in all probability, 

 ever existed. Still the work of the miner is nearly as hard as 

 dancing, and he sometimes remains until the impurity has increased 

 till it is thirty times greater than the amount of increase that is 

 considered admissible in well-regulated houses. 



Wet Clothes.— The miner is one of the few, if not the only man, 

 who works in a warm and moist climate diu-ing the day, and comes 

 at night to real winter in his wet clothes. The Commissioners recom- 

 mend changing-houses at all mines; and Lord Kinnaird has given 

 a model of one with every convenience. 



It must not be supposed that every miner is wet, or that every mine 

 is unprovided with a warm changing-house. We have met miners who 

 preferred to work below because it was dry, and free from the cold 

 winds and storms of the upper world, or " the grass," as they called it. 



In some districts there is an actual dispute among men as to the 

 advantages of the two worlds — the one below or the one above. Still 

 the medical witnesses consider the moisture one of the greatest evils, 

 and the cause of frequent rheumatism. 



Heat — is not in proportion to the depth of a mine according to 

 the agreement of all, but it is said to be greatest where there are 

 sulphur compounds. The oxygen is in all probability admitted by 

 the mining openings, and a slow combustion begun, if it did not exist 

 previously, although to a small extent. 



