mill. It occurred to me that possibly the soil of the alluvial land in

which the jute was grown in Bengal might be rich in tetanus bacilli, and the incidence of tetanus on jute workers in Dundee therefore be attributable to spores brought over in the mud adhering to the jute fibres.

“In April a woman climbed up upon the travelling feed-sheet of a jute-softening machine while it was in motion. Her foot was caught between the ingathering fluted iron rollers, and was severely crushed and lacerated. Tetanus ensued on about the sixth day after the accident, and proved fatal within twenty-four hours. A sample of dust was collected from under the machine, and was submitted to Dr Andrewes of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, for bacteriological examination. He found tetanus bacilli undoubtedly present in the dust, probably in considerable numbers, and stated that it was unusual to be able to demonstrate tetanus bacilli in such numbers, and with such ease as he had been able to do.

“The point having considerable scientific interest, as showing possibly the same connection between tetanus and jute as is known to exist between anthrax and wool-sorting, and further in emphasising the necessity of careful fencing of machinery, I collected, eight months later, four other samples of jute from factories in Dundee, and one sample of Russian hemp dust to serve as a control. In three of the samples of jute dust, Dr Andrewes reported that tetanus bacilli were present, but that he could not demonstrate their presence in the sample of hemp dust.

“One of the samples in which the bacilli were present was taken from under the same machine where eight months previously the accident had occurred. During the interval the original sample, which Dr Andrewes had retained, appeared to have lost its virulence.

“At the end of December an accident occurred in a jute mill resulting in severe injury to the wrist of a worker. Tetanus developed twenty-six days later, and as has frequently been

noted in cases where the incubation period is prolonged more than three weeks, did not prove fatal. Some dust was collected six weeks after the accident from near the place where it occurred, and was examined with negative results.

“Dr Andrewes’ experiments prove unquestionably that tetanus spores must be present in incredible numbers in much of the dust in jute mills. Fortunately, the disease cannot be brought about like anthrax by inhalation, nor does it develop, as a rule, except as the result of a mixed infection.

“In the ten years 1890–99, 11 fatal cases of traumatic tetanus have been recorded in Dundee. Five of these were workers in jute mills. Of the remaining six, one, aged six, was the son of a yarn-dresser, a second, aged eight, the son of a mill overseer, and a third, aged one, the daughter of a yard-beamer. The possibility of the tetanus in their cases having been brought about by the dust in their parents’ clothing, or in jute material worked at home, is not excluded. In the other three cases there does not appear to have been any connection with jute.

“While not wishing to lay too much stress on the matter, seeing that tetanus germs are to be found in almost every sample of garden mould, I think the figures do show a special incidence of tetanus on jute workers, and I attribute it, as I have said, to the soil in which the jute is grown being particularly rich in the bacilli.

“In India, tetanus is much commoner than it is in this country, and I am informed that one of the most prominent fears before the surgeon’s mind in treating a severe lacerated wound is the possibility of tetanus supervening. Inquiry is being made in India as to the incidence of tetanus among jute workers there.”

Investigations reveal a predisposition among factory workers, and particularly those employed in spinning and preparing rooms, to develop respiratory troubles--broncho-pneumonia, chronic bronchitis, and pulmonary emphysema, being the most prominent. There is also a singularly large number of patients admitted to the local infirmary suffering from lobar pneumonia. Rheumatism is an extremely common ailment, and can be partially accounted for by the great variations of temperature which operatives have frequently to withstand. Multiple tuberculous lesions are frequently observed in the children of the poorer operatives, and thus one finds from time to time young persons at work, with portions of the hands amputated on account of scrofulous or tuberculous diseases of the bones. Slight deafness is widespread among

jute operatives, but other textile workers may be afflicted in a similar degree. The excessive noise of jute-weaving looms, and the persistent loud hum of spinning frames presumably account for much of this. The looms, owing to their large size, and the weight and high speed of the shuttles, are particularly noisy. The possibility of the dust inducing the formation of an obstruction with the waxy secretion of the ear is not excluded; indeed the fine light particles of fibre readily accumulate in the external auditory canal.

A hoarseness or huskiness of voice is met with frequently, and is especially marked in preparing and spinning operatives. Whether this is due to overstraining of the voice, shouting above the noise of the machinery, or to dust irritation of the vocal chords, has never been clearly demonstrated. Anæmia in its commonest forms is a frequent ailment among all the operatives, but doubtless careless and injudicious feeding contributes to this condition of health.

An illness locally known as “mill fever” attacks about one-fourth of the persons who commence labour in factories for the first time. The symptoms make their appearance a few days after work is started, and take the form of one or more of the following: headache, backache, lassitude, thirst, and slight fever. The attack lasts about from three to four days, and yields to antifebrile medicines followed by tonics. It has been observed that the patients are usually young people, and are frequently of weak constitution, or badly nourished.

In drawing definite conclusions as to the incidence of these ailments in jute operatives, one is confronted by the difficulty of differentiating between what is caused by the industry, and what is the natural result of poor feeding and bad housing. No absolutely reliable statistics have yet been compiled relating to the health conditions of the workers; indeed there is much scope for further research in this direction.

The low physical and social condition of a section of the operatives is a marked feature of this industry. The class alluded to is generally distinctly diminutive in appearance, being of light weight as well as of short stature. For the most part they are employed in the relatively disagreeable processes, namely, preparing and spinning, and, as before mentioned, they earn smaller wages than weavers. It is needless to say that most of this class are indifferently housed. At the census return of 1891 there were 22,206 persons living in single-roomed houses in Dundee, an

average of 2.6 per house. Of two-roomed houses there were 17,834, containing 81,488 inmates, an average of 4.56 per house. Generally speaking, the single-roomed abodes shelter the worst paid operatives. These single rooms are at times badly crowded, and the sanitary accommodation, if such exists at all, in spite of extensive improvements effected in recent years, is often an open manure heap, the tenants using pails for house refuse, etc.

Typhus fever is almost constantly prevalent in Dundee, 39 cases occurring in 1899, with 5 deaths, and up to the 13th November 1900, 49 cases, 6 terminating fatally. These figures may indicate to a certain extent the amount of destitution and overcrowding which exists.

The infantile death-rate is high, the figures for the last few years being as follows:--For 1897, 194; 1898, 181; 1899, 169 per 1000 births. The lamentable neglect of young infants leaves its impress on the children who survive, many of them presenting a puny and delicate appearance when applying for employment at twelve years of age.

The poverty or greed of the parents drives these children, the most undersized and least able to withstand the injurious effects of a factory life, to work at the earliest possible age, and the indoor life discourages growth and development.

The reports of the inspectors of jute mills in East India show that the industry is considered there to have no particularly deleterious effects on health. The mills, however, are built with very high roofs, and are largely open to the sky. The climate permits of this, and accordingly the ventilation gives no trouble. Another fact has to be borne in mind in comparing Indian operatives with those employed at home. The former are migratory, only remaining a year or two at the industry, and, presumably, insufficient time is given for any injurious effects to betray themselves; whereas in Scotland, the bulk of a lifetime is spent by a worker in a jute factory.

HARRY J. WILSON.