eumeister's Repertorium_ for December 1844, an abridged translation of
which is to be found in the September number of the _Monthly Journal of
Medical Science_.

It is very evident that the disease there considered is produced by
carbonaceous inhalation, and resembles in all its features the black
phthisis so general amongst the colliers in Haddingtonshire. The morbid
appearances described by Dr Brockmann are very similar to the first and
second division of that disease, presenting a very general carbonaceous
infiltration of the pulmonary tissues; but in none of the stages are
there to be found the extensive excavations discovered in the lungs of
the coal-miner. Dr Brockmann makes three divisions of the morbid
appearances, "The essential (wesentliche), accidental (zufaellige), and
secondary. The first shows an entirely black (pechschwaerze) colour of
the lungs through its whole substance, enclosing not only the air,
blood, and lymph vessels, but also the connecting cellular tissue, the
nervous substance, pleurae pulmonalis, and bronchial glands." In such a
state, it is usual for the lung to remain perfectly normal, and to
exhibit the greatest varieties.

The accidental (zufaellige) is evidently the disease in a more advanced
form, corresponding in a great measure with the second stage of the
morbid action, found in the pulmonary organ of the collier. It is to be
regretted that no accurate description is given either of the character
of the mine, or the nature of the employment in which the miners are
engaged, whether they be coal, silver, or lead mines, and if they are in
the habit of burning coarse lint-seed oil.

There is a very striking similarity between what Dr Brockmann calls the
secondary anatomical changes, and many of those exhibited in the
collier; first, membranes; second, collections of fluid into the pleurae
and pericardium; third, the softened heart, and very general emaciation;
fourth, the extensive venous congestion, with thick black blood.

The liver is described by Dr Brockmann as being small:--in the collier
it is usually puffy, and much congested.

The symptoms do almost in all points accord with those presented in the
collier, as will appear from the following quotation, from the paper.
"In the first stage, there is no local, functional, or general feature
by which we can ascertain that the disease has commenced; probability is
all we can reach. In the second stage, the disease is more obvious.