Thc H.~/gie~tic Aspect of FIw.," Jl,~f, ctt~rt~. 249 performed, there is every reason to believe that the cure will be permanent. I must not omit to express my indebtedness to Sir Victor Horsley for having given me the great advantage of seeing him perform this operation, and for advice regarding in- struments and other things.

ART. XI.--The HygieJtic Aspect of Flax Jla~t~lfact~lre. ~ By HENRY S. P~'RDO~% M.D. ; Certifying Factory Sur- geon, Belfast. ThE city (Jf Belfast and the surrounding district are very ex- tensively engaged in the industry- that is to say, the cultivation of flax, , of yarn, linen wear- ing, finishing and bleaching. There are no flax scutching mills near Belfast, but they are to be found in our country districts, where the farmers grow their flax crops. In these mills, the flax is bruised in rollers, so as to remove the outer coat or fibre, and this precess was formerly a very dusty operation; however, the introduction and use of fans to extract and remove the dust from the atmosphere is now general, and the air is much purer. The persons employed in our scutch mills are so engaged only for a few months in the year, consequently when the scutching is over, they return to their usual " out-of-door" occupation. The first stage of flax manufacture, as employed in our mills, is, I think, the most unheMthy. The process may be classed under the heads of heckling, sorting, machine heckling, and preparing. These workers are the most liable to puhnonary attacks, due to the inhalation of fine vegetable dust caasing dyspncea, called by the workers " pouce," then meclianical bronchitis ("bronchite trau- mati(lue" ) ensues, frequently terminating in fibroid phthisis. There are always more o~ less cough and loss of weight. These symptoms may go on for four or five years A Paper read iu the Fourth Section (I-Iygib.ne Industrielle et Profes- sionnelle) of the International Congress of Hygiene and Demography, held in Brussels, September 2, and following days, 1903, in answer to the question--" Quelle est l'influence d. travail dans ]es salles de filature de lin, sur la sant4 des ouvriers ? Quelles sont les mesures ~ prendre, notam- ment au point de rue de ]a temp4rature et de 1'4tat hygrom4trique de Fair, pour am41iorer les conditions du travail darts ces sMles ? " 250 The Hygienic Aspect of Flax MaT~ufacture. before phthisis occurs. It is, however, right to remark that a very great improvement has taken place in the heck- ling and sorting departments of our mills, and as a result improved health of the workers. This is due to the excel- lent and unique system of ventilation invented by H.M. Inspector of Factories, Mr. Osborne, and which has now been in use for the past few years; in fact, I cannot speak too highly of the same. The workers in our carding rooms are females, generally '~ld or middle-aged. Some years ago, on entering the card- ing ro.om, you would not be abl~ to distinguish anyone for a few minutes, owing to the dust-laden atmosphere, and, when able to reeognise the workers, you would see each attendant at a carding machine with her nose and mouth covered by a large " lap of ," that acted as a respirator. At present, owing to the introduction of fans in carding rooms carrying away dust and other impurities, the atmo- sphere is much purer, and the " tow " respirator is not seen as frequently as in fl~rmer years. The hard-worked hecMmg machine boys, varying from twelve to sixteen years of age, do not suffer so much from diMcu]ty of breathing, chiefly owing to their youth and vitality. They do not remain for very long at this occupation, as they gelmrally go to other trades. You can generally, however, tell a " machine boy" by his stunted physique, and slightly rounded shoulders. I have known several of these boys leave the mills in spring time, obtain work in the brickfields so as to be in the open air, returning to employment in the mill during winter. The children employed as " doffers" (French " dS- monteurs"), and also the young persons working in the spinning roems, do not suffer from the inhalation of dust, but are exposed dMly for several hours to heat and vapour, arising from the hot water through which the flax passes during the process of spinning. Their clothes are more, or less damp, although at the present time the compulsory wearing of waterproof aprons from neck to knees is in force. These workers go barefooted owing to the floor of spinning room always having water lying upon same. Their leav- ing a hot, moist atmosphere, and emerging at once into a ('old or frosty air, especially ,~t night, frequently causes l~v ])R. HENRY S. I'URDON. 251 bronchial attacks. This observation applies also to those who wo.rk in the sheds. On arriving at their homes (the sanitary condition of many, however, is not good), the bedrooms are badly, or not at all, ventilated, and generally over-crowded. I have seen a small room, barely sufficient, for one, occupied by four, two in ea.ch bed, whilst a sack filled with straw or chaff was pushed up the chimney to prever/t ingress of air even the keyhole in the door was pasted over with paper.a Three or four girls, unless living with their parents or relatives, generally club together, and occupy one room, which does for both sleeping and living in. They generally have use of the kitchen for eot.,king purposes. The reason of this is that the wage.s-- twelve shillings or thereabouts --would not. be sufficient, to support one lcerson in food, rent, and clothing. The food used is chiefly tea and ordinary bakers' bread for the three meals a ,lay, with occasionally a little bacon, salt fish, or an egg ; also on rare occasions oaten-meal porridge with butter- milk for supper. The hecklers and sorters, all adult males, consume a geod deal of whisky, which, as a stimulant, re- lieves their breathing, but the habit often grows. During the daytime common black tobacco is " chewed " largely, and expectoration is frequent. Even the machine boys chew tobacco nearly all the time they are at work. The ('lothing of the young women is not near as warm as it should be in winter, hence we must look for other predis- posing causes, as well as the occupation of the workers in causing phthisis. The spinners, from long standing on a damp or wet tiled floor, are subject to varicose veins, constipation, and hmmorrhoids, whilst in a few cases I have noticed the fissured variety of eczema, or eczema rimosmn, or "fen- dille," on palm of right hand, owing to the spinner wearing a leather cover or pad on +ha.t hand. Of late years the factory authorities (and especially since " I c,~n speak with experience on this matter, as when I began practice in Belfast in 1865 I was appointed medical attendant to workers in Watson, Valentine & Co.'s Factory, UNter Weaving Factory, also Richardson' Sons & Owden, and families of workers of Dunville & Co. This was before any " Truck Act," which has now done away with nearly all such attenda~ce, a~ usually, a small sum was stopped from workers' wages. For several years I held the~e appointments. 252 The Hygienic Aspect of b'l..l" M.,.f, wtur~. a medical man, Dr. Whitelegge. C.B., ha,s beei~ appointed ehief inspector) '~ have caused many well-needed improve- ments in hygiene and sanitation o,f our mills and factories. The problem that. is gradually being solved is how to benefit the working classes, morally and physically, with- out putting any restrictions on the manufactures of the country. The certifying factory surgeon can now see how the employment is agreeing with a young person or child, say after some weeks' work in the mill, and can also certify for certMn kinds of employment not injurious in the sur- geon's opinion to the health of the worker. Our " doffers " (" d6monteurs "), who remove the bobbins from the spin- ning frames, are often, on first entering a mill, attac]~ed by " mill fever," ushered in by shivering, sickness, and pains over the body, likely due to the heat and smell of oil. These symptoms pass off in two or three davs.o The doffers, espe- cially females, have often ,m the forehead and arms a pecu- liar, acneiform eruption, evidently a folliculitis, met with more frequently when Russian flax is being spun. The ancient Irish used coarse homespun linen as a gar- ment, dyed yellow, to kill, it was said, t)ediculi. This eolor must have been obtained from the common whin blossoms, the Ulea' cu'ropa'~ls. The children in country places still dye their eggs at Easter with whin flowers boiled in water with the eggs. The regimens of diet and clothing, compiled for use by those who, in olden times, would live long and see good days, affords a curious shady. In one of these Sir John Harring- ton, in 1624, gives a "A dyet for the heMthfull man," which commends for the summer time " garments of harts- skinnes and calves-skinnes, for the hart is a creature of long life, and resisteth poyson and serpents; therefore I myself use garments of a like sort for the winter season, also," Ire adds, " nevertheless lined with good linen." Lord Bacon had a firm trust in saffron-dyed linen or without, bu~ says " pure fine linen, according to the advice of Hippo- crates, should be worn in winter next the skin ; in summer, coarser linen and oiled." The high scientific attainments and work of the Medical Inspector of l~'aetories, T. M. Legge, Esq., M.A., M.D. Oxon., must not be passed over. Dr. Legge is justly popular with all the Certifying Factory Surgeons. By I)R. th,:xR~" S. I'tUD~_',-. 253 On whatever grounds, whether of sentiment or antiquity, whether of utility or convenience, as well as for durability and comparative cheapness, linen has no rival. Experts of more or less authority, generally less, have written about the evaporation and ra~liation of all fabrics, the conducti- bility, porosiLy, and hygroseopicity of tissues, sometimes giving a verdict in favour of linen, more o~ten against it. In the same way learned reasons can be given for wear- ing White clothes in summer, but nobody takes any notice of them. The immediate sensa,tion of warmth, with igno- rance of ultimate effects, has led to the wearing of woollens as underclothing in winter, and commercial advantage has been very skilfully taken of the situation, while linen ]4as gone to the wall for want of push and assertion.

ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, EDINBURGH. AT a meeting of the College held on July 30, 1903, the following gentlemen, having passed the requisite examinations, were ad- mitted Fellows of the College :--Neil Murphy Gavin, L.R.C.S.E., India; James Campbell Nicholson, L.R.C.S.E., Bangor; Elfred Chalmers Austin, M.R.C.S. Eng., London, W. ; Percival George Albert Bott, M.R.C.S. Eng., London, W. ; William Henry Eden Brand, L.R.C.S.E., Aberdour ; Edwin Harold Brown, L.R.C.S.E., Chesterton, Staffs.; Edward Augustus Bullmore, M.R.C.S. Eng., London, W. ; C. William Darling, M.B., Ch.B., Edinburgh; Francis Wilfrid Harlin, L.R.C.S.E., Edinburgh; Frederick Burroughs Jefferiss, M.R.C.S. Eng., Chatham ; Cecil Ernest Jones-Phillipson, M.R.C.S. Eng., Port Alfred; John .Davis Lithgow, M.B., C.M., Edinburgh; Thomas Hillhouse Livingstone, M.B., Ch.B., Stan- hope, Durham ; Edward Elie Naggiar, M.R.C.S. Eng., Edinburgh ; Eugene Joseph O'Neill, M.R.C.S. Eng., New Zealand; Hans Martinus Peries, L.R.C.S.E., Colombo; James Martin Reid, M.B., Ch.B., Edinburgh; Alexander Sharp, L.R.C.S.E., Boat of Garten ; Hubert Dunbar Shepherd, M.B., Ch.B., Westmoreland ; Thomas Scott Shepherd, M.B., M.R.C.S. Eng., Lancaster ; George Freeland Barbour Simpson, M.B., Ch.B., Edinburgh; Henry Wade, M.B., Ch.B., Edinburgh; and Arthur Whittome, M.B., Ch.B., Edinburgh.