rgh, connected with the North
British Railway.

[20] Dr Hamilton's of Falkirk paper in the Edin. Med. and Surgical
Journal, Vol. xlii.

[21] I have very lately, through the kindness of Mr Girdwood, surgeon at
Falkirk, had an opportunity of examining two or three iron-moulders in
that district. Both from the nature of the employment in those iron
works, and the character which the pulmonary affection exhibits, the
fact of inhalation is fully established. The moulder is at a certain
stage of his labour enveloped in a cloud of finely-ground charcoal, a
portion of which cannot fail to find its way to the lungs in breathing.
He is subject to tickling cough, and as the disease advances, the
respiratory sounds, which indicate considerable bronchial irritation,
present themselves, and ultimately become dull, and in some parts
obscure.

Of the several cases which I saw with Mr Girdwood, one, who has not been
labouring for some years as a moulder, occasionally expectorated black
matter, and in the other two, there was general dullness of both lungs;
and, I doubt not, impaction.

[22] It has not been in my power hitherto to procure so satisfactory a
chemical analysis of the blood as I would wish, but through the kind
assistance of Dr Douglas Maclagan, who has undertaken to conduct the
process, I expect very soon to be able to lay it before the profession.

[23] I found little or no black matter in the lungs of farm servants,
who are much in the open air.

[24] _Vide_ MONTHLY JOURNAL for 1845, p. 702.

[25] At any time when these colliers required venesection, particularly
towards the last stage of the disease, the blood appeared peculiarly
dark and treacle-like.

[26] Could oxygen not be prepared and forced down?

[27] I am happy to find that the attention of the noble proprietor of
the Newbattle coal works is now directed to this subject.

[28] I cannot pass from this subject without an observation on the
beneficial results which have been the consequence of Lord Ashley's
valuable colliery Act. The female Labourers, and particularly the
unmarried, have improved not only in their appearance, but also in
general physical development, since they have abandoned the unhealthy
labour of the coal-mine. They are no longer the squalid, filthy, and
ill-favoured race they formerly were. There is now exhibited on the face
of the collier girl the bloom of health and cheerfulness; and when we
descend to their domestic economy, the