Hi everyone - And we're off on a new year - the more hopeful & positive 1851!!! Isabel has already posted the entire year of 1850 previously; if you didn't see it, please visit our website, or check the List Archives. This was a book review, but the paper thought it so important they expanded their coverage. If it was important then, it's important for you, too! >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> THE WEST BRITON AND CORNWALL ADVERTISER, transcribed by Julia Mosman 3 Janurary 1851 LITERATURE, & C. [one section, on the edge of the page, was not in perfect condition; I have entered the words that seem to be correct, given that some of the letters were clear, and some not, in brackets. When I could not understand the letters, I've put .....] Practical Observation on the Diseases of the Cornish Miner, Part 1 - Consumption. By William Wale Tayler, M.R.C.S.E., Surgeon to Fowey and Par Consols Mines, &c., London; John CHURCHILL, Princes- street, Soho. The importance of the subject of the above work demands [from]  us a lengthened notice. It is dedicated to Mr. H. [Mere]dith, who was selected by the late Mr. Treffry, to carry to completion the great constructive works which Mr. Treffry had undertaken, but was unable to finish before the period of his decease. Mr. Treffry was a great benefactor to his native county, in providing for its labourers extensive employment; and we are glad to see allusions in the above work, which bring these his good deeds to grateful remembrance. We fully agree with the author, that "if every surgeon engaged in extensive practice among a class of people peculiar in habits, occupation, and constitution, were to give the result of his experience to the world, he would do some service to humanity." We hope that other surgeons connected with the mines of this county, may be induced to follow the example of Mr. Tayler, and through some medium publish such observations as they may deem of importance. Having been surgeon of the mines of Fowey and Par Consols for the last fourteen years, Mr. Tayler has had extensive experience of the diseases to which Cornish miners are subject, but first, he gives the following description of the men themselves: "The true Cornish miner," he says," is quite of a distinct race from the agricultural labourer of the county, and they differ as essentially in habits, appearance, and temperament, as if they belonged to separate nations. In stature, he is generally below, rather than above the middle height; in form not stout, but compact, well proportioned, exhibiting no great muscular development, though his strength and powers of bearing fatigue are surprising; in temperament ..lent and irritable; his distinguishing characteristics are shrewdness, intelligence, indomitable perseverance, and a fondness or passion for what in the dialect of the county is called "venturing." Mr. Tayler justly conceives that this persevering and "venturing" spirit strongly operates to excite the Cornish miner to seek for the earth's mineral treasures. Most persons who have found an opportunity to observe the habits of the Cornish miners, will also agree with him, that the majority of them are industrious, moral, and sober men. He observes that "the miner is generally a religious man, and usually a member of some of the numerous dissenting sects with which Cornwall abounds, seldom of the Church of England. His [reading] is almost entirely confined to religious subjects, for in the many hundred cottages I have visited, I have rarely seen any other books than "The Pilgrim's Progress," "the Bible," or tracts connected with "Wesley's Life and Associations."  He notices also the frequency with which labouring miners  engage in public religious services, as preachers or prayer-leaders. And we are glad to find the [following] testimony, by one who has had so many opportunities of observing, with regard to the industrious and pro...... habits of the miner:   "The miner is also an industrious man; many of them may be seen, after returning from their set hours of work, often after toiling all night, labouring diligently in their [garden] or potato-ground. Indeed, he is rarely idle; on a ..... when precluded from out-door work, he occupies his time in mending the children's shoes, or in some of the [tech]nical contrivances in which miners greatly excel. They take a great deal of pride in their gardens, which are [as] remarkable for their neatness, than for the beauty and quality of their flowers and vegetables, often being able to compete successfully with the horticultural productions of the gentry in the neighbourhood, as the various exhibitions and gardening societies annually testify. He may also be termed a provident man, two out of three being voluntary members of some benefit society, paying from 14s. to ... a year, in addition to what may be termed the compulsory payments to the mine-club, so that in sickness, unless under peculiar circumstances, he is not necessitated to apply for parochial relief. Now, on this point, I must make a few remarks, because many persons are too apt to imagine, in[deed] to assert, that miners are the most improvident of labourers, while I consider them more approaching to a self-supporting class than any other description of working men in the kingdom; if this were not the case, the poor-rates in Tywardreath and St. Blazey would be treble their present amount. The farmers and other rate-payers have never formed any idea of the large sums of money paid by benefit-clubs for the support of sick miners, in addition to that derived ... [from] payments to the mine-club." "Every miner working at Fowey and Par Consols mines [have] 2s.3d. a month deducted from his earnings for the following purposes:  9d. for the surgeon, by which the miner and his family are entitled to medical and surgical attention; 6d. for the widow's club, by which the wife receives GBP 5 at the death of her husband; and 1s. to the sick club - by this last payment a member is entitled to GBP 1 a month, when prevented from working by illness; the payment in a case of accident commencing immediately, but in every other kind of sickness not until he has been home one month. This arrangement has been in existence more than thirty years, and has answered most satisfactorily, though numerous individuals have been receiving sick pay for a long period, even for twenty-five years. I am surprised the plan is not universally adopted throughout all the mines in the county; and I think it might be advantageously imitated by manufacturers and others who have a large body of men in their employ. By a very trifling addition to the monthly contribution, the labourer might be put in such a position as to be quite independent of parochial relief, "a consummation most devoutly to be wished.' The author remarks on the great partiality for dress which [they] and their families exhibit, and which may be seen in the mining districts every Sunday. The "mine-maidens," he says, "carry this fondness to extremes; all the dresses exhibited in the plates of the monthly books of fashion, may be seen at Tywardreath or St. Blazey on a fine Sunday afternoon, not even omitting the additional accompaniments of parasols, lace-edged pocket-handkerchiefs, &c."   He observes, however, (on the other side of the account) that they are "strong, healthy, active, well-formed girls, and make for the most part very good wives, generally contriving to hold the reins of power in their own hands, ruling their husbands and his finances, with a good deal of tact and dis[cretion]; for be it known that the whole of the earnings or [gettings] are generally entrusted to the wife's care; and, like a good Chancellor of the Exchequer, she lays out the surpluses to the best possible advantage." The author notices - what is very commendable - the affectionate interest which miners' families generally take in the welfare of their kindred. It also appears that the superstitious notions once prevalent amongst the mining population, in regard to the efficacy of what are termed "charms," &c., seem to be rapidly disappearing before the diffusion of enlightenment. The author is glad to observe that "even within the last few years, a great change has taken place" in this respect. He next draws the distinction between the labour of tutwork and tributors, which is well known to most of our readers; and in doing so he makes the following remarks: "A miner's son generally begins at the age of fourteen or fifteen to accompany his father in his labours underground, and even at an earlier period; but this extremely youthful [initiation] to the art is not, as a stranger might imagine, at all injurious to his future health, for I have ascertained, by [repeated] inquiries, that the oldest miners now capable of working are those who commenced in their earliest youth." "Many of the miners live from four to five miles from the seat of their work, which I consider is very injurious to their constitutions; imagine a man, after working eight hours in a place so hot, that the very water he has carried down with him in his keg has become undrinkable from the intense heat - and moreover that he has been working quite divested of all clothing* - and then walking several miles in the depth of winter, exposed either to heavy [...], or to the intense cold of frost or snow; and yet all [this] danger is quite unnecessarily incurred, as there are plenty of habitations to be found in the neighbourhood of the mines. Many of our readers who have read from year to year our reports of the proceedings of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society, may remember that from time to time papers have been read before that Society containing statistics of the prevalent diseases and mortality amongst our mining population. It is stated that there is a critical period in a miner's life, when if certain symptoms appear he should at once discontinue underground labour. But  the difficult question is - how shall he obtain sufficient labour above-ground, so as to support himself and his family? This question is well worthy [of] the consideration of [phil..thropists]; the man who could form and get put into ... a plan by which the working miner (whenever it was necessary) could be assisted at this critical period of his life, would be entitled to the lasting thanks of the miners of Cornwall. The author of this work proposes emigration as a means of providing labour above ground for the miner, when he can no longer, with safety to his health, work in the levels. The importance of the subject is such, that we transfer Mr. Tayler's remarks on it to our columns: "I have said the miner is a short-lived man, and for this there are many obvious causes, in addition to hereditary diseases; the close places in which he has frequently to work, inhaling the most noxious air, the various cold draughts he must encounter at those times when all the pores of the skin are open from perspiration, and, above all, the length of ladders he may have to climb (Fowey Consols is in some parts 300 fathoms from the surface) and, to add to this last danger, young men are very fond of racing up the ladders, striving who shall first reach the surface, a foolish pastime, that too frequently ends in incurable disease of the heart or lungs. >From forty to forty-five is what may be termed the critical period in a miner's life; if he passes the ladder successfully he may probably live many years; now this is the point to which I wish particularly to direct the reader's attention. If at that period a miner perceive his strength to flag, his breathing short after any little exertion, that on climbing the ladders he is frequently compelled to stop on account of the palpitation of his heart, that his appetite is bad, and his flesh wasting, then it is of absolute importance for him to resolve at once to give up working under-ground; and, if he neglect the symptoms described, which are to be taken as so many inward monitors pointing out to him the course he should adopt, consumption, and that, too, of a rapid character, will soon follow. If, however, at this critical period he could change his employment for above-ground work, there is little doubt (unless the lungs be extensively diseased) that, not only might his lif! e be prolonged for many years, but he might be enabled to support, in a great degree, himself and family. This great crisis, this halt or pause, as it were, between life and death in a miner's condition, has not escaped the attention of the benevolent and wealthy of the county. About  eight years ago, circulars were issued from the Royal Polytechnic Society of Cornwall, addressed to all the surgeons connected with mines, containing several important questions, but principally alluding to the one great point, as to the beneficial effect change of employment might produce on a miner's constitution at a period similar to that which I have endeavoured to describe. My reply was somewhat lengthy, and as it was inserted in one of the journals of the Society, I shall here very briefly give the purport of it: "that from having been surgeon from some years to the Restormel iron mines, the greater  portion of which were open workings, I had opportunities of noting the marked change for the better in many miners who had come thence from the deep mines in the West, with (apparently) broken-down constitutions, who at first appeared scarcely able to follow their employment, but in a very little time got through their work as well as their more healthy and youthful comrades." But, unfortunately, surface or above-ground work is very difficult to be found in Cornwall, and though no man can doubt the benefit a change of employment would confer, the grand question presents itself - How is that change to be effected?  It is quite clear that, without some aid, it could never be accomplished by the miner alone. It is easy for a surgeon to say, "My good fellow, if you don't give up under ground work you will kill yourself."  The reply is, "How am I to live, then?  How is my family to be supported?"  The surgeon might reply, " Turn husbandman."  But the objections to such a proposal are so palpable, that they are not worth giving. Besides, as I have already shown, the miner is certain (at least in the mines to which my remarks are principally confined) of GBP 1 a month, when unable to work, from the Miners' Club, in addition to any money he may be entitled to from any benefit society; therefore, to resign such certain advantages, without some equally adequate provision for the future, would be a most imprudent act. I must candidly confess that I am not prepared to give the beneficial reply. The only remedy I can suggest is emigration. If the miner's lungs are not affected, there is no reason why he could not be made the valuable inhabitant of another country. That fact could be easily ascertained; and if the large shareholders, particularly those who reside at a distance from Cornwall, and whose knowledge of mining interests consists in receiving their dividends, were to devote the smallest per-centage of them towards forming a fund for the relief of the industrious miner at the critical period of his existence, who can doubt that, at no distant time, the desired object might be achieved?I have shown, nay, proved I trust - that the miner is for the most part a prudent, industrious, religious man, a good and useful member of society as a husband and a father; and if the reader glances at his life, he must see that he has heavier hardships to encounter, without greater remuneration, than! that of labourers in general;  that he is constantly exposed to severe accidents, and that the great majority either die at an early age, or are ever incapacitated from working, through diseases inseparably connected with their employment. After this introductory portion of his book, Mr. Tayler proceeds to treat of the disease of consumption. He gives a table of mortality from consumption in the parishes of Tywardreath and St. Blazey, for a period of two years, commencing October, 1848, and ending September, 1850. The mortality from that disease alone, during that period, was about one in four. Eighteen of these deaths were of children one year and under, which Mr. Tayler explains by the fact that they were the children of consumptive parents. He states that consumptive persons may frequently be cured, if, in the first stage of the disease - very rarely in the second - never in the third; though with regard to the curativeness of the last stage, he is aware that many high authorities entertain a different opinion. He describes the nature of consumption, and remarks that its cure in a miner, "even in the first stage, depends on a variety of circumstances, - the age, appearance, and habits of the patient - whether the disease be hereditary, and for how many generations - whether both parents were free from the disease ten months before he was born. A miner, twenty-one years of age, whose father had died of consumption, as well as several of his relations, would be, with an affected lung, an unfavourable subject; one in the forty-fifth year must be classed in a similar predicament; and, above all, the miner who had originally been brought up as an agricultural labourer." He next gives instances of erroneous diagnosis, and states that disease of the liver is very frequently mistaken for consumption.  He censures the inconstancy of miners, when suffering from chronic diseases; "they fly from one practitioner to another, and often make use of the receipts of twelve different prescribers in as many weeks. The thought of their family being unprovided for, the anxiety to resume their work (particularly if they have a good bargain),  the unwise importunities of friends and relations, suggesting this or that remedy, works them up into such a state of restless impatience, that from their eagerness to be speedily cured, they take the worst possible means for effecting that object." He cautions them against "the nostroms advertised in newspapers," and the "quacks," or "travelling doctors," as they are termed in this county. Although, however, he states that consumption in the early or incipient state is frequently curable; yet, he observes, "if the miner whose lung has been once affected resume underground work, in nineteen cases out of twenty the disease will return, and the second attack invariably prove fatal; and I would that this important truth could be strongly engrafted on the minds of miners and all who take an interest in their welfare." He next states the various methods of treatment which have been adopted for the first stage of consumption, and then gives the medicine which he has himself found to be most successful:   "The medicine, however, in which for the last three years I have placed the greatest confidence, and am now principally using, is pyro-acetic spirit, or naphtha, as prepared for medical purposes. I know not what influence locality or constitution may have upon the operation of this spirit, but I can most unhesitatingly declare, that is the most valuable remedy I have ever prescribed, not only in consumption, but in other diseases connected with the lungs of miners. In chronic bronchitis, that great precursor of consumption, in my patients, it is almost a specific; and in their harassing spasmodic coughs (to which miners are subject,) it is of nearly equal value."   He has also tried naphtha, in combination with cod-liver oil - of course in separate doses - and thinks that in the earlier stages of the disease, much good may be derivable from their joint operation. But he has never known an instance of benefit from cod-liver oil, when the patient was in the advanced stages of consumption; and such is also the opinion of his colleague, MR. PACE. He gives a remedy for haemorrhage from the lungs or bronchial vessels; and he records some singular cases (no doubt important to the medical practitioner) one of which "may be regarded as favourable to those who advocate the perforation of the chest, in cases of cavernous abscess of the lungs." Mr. Tayler has treated his subject concisely, and with an avoidance, as far as possible, of technicalities, the work being intended as much for the general as the professional reader. This first part is contained within the limits of an octavo pamphlet of thirty-four pages; and we learn that the second part of the work will treat of the next most prevalent maladies amongst Cornish miners, - fever and diseases of the heart. We trust that this work will not only of medical value, but that it will be the means of drawing the attention of mine adventurers, and of benevolent individuals, to the condition of the working miner, that a fund may be raised, or some provision made, in order that when the inroads of disease are first perceptible, the miner may be assisted to obtain some other employment, with the view of regaining health, and supporting himself and his family. *    "divested of all clothing" = miners changed clothes before and after working their shift; they wore a long shirt while in the mines, and usually or often, a loose pair of pants. Julia Mosman OPC for St. Austell, Treverbyn, and Charlestown