![]() ![]() They arose also when silica-rich stones were used for grinding or sharpening objects, such as metal edge tools and cutlery, serious lung damage being again most evident among workers employed in confined spaces for prolonged periods. 2 Such particles could be found wherever granites, sandstones, and similar rocks were drilled, cut, blasted, crushed, and polished. 1 Silicosis was by then well known as a pulmonary disease afflicting workers in dusty occupations where prolonged inhalation of fine particles of "free" silica (quartzite) led to a progressive fibrosis of the lungs. According to the radiologist who photographed the sick miner's chest, the X-ray exposures provided "quite sufficient" evidence that King suffered from silicosis. In June 1929 Edgar King, a coal miner from southwest England, was sent to Bath Hospital for a radiographic examination. ![]() The article also questions recent accounts of lay epidemiology as an adequate model for understanding the progress of such innovations in medical history. In contrast to some recent interpretations, and also to the narrative of progress that practitioner historians have developed since the 1940s, this article suggests that the use of this technology was contested for much of this period and the interpretation of X-rays remained disputed and uncertain into the 1950s. ![]() This article examines the introduction of a particular technique, x-radiography, and its use by radiologists and others in debates on the causes and consequences of silica inhalation by the laboring population in Britain during the early decades of the twentieth century. ![]() Surprisingly little research has been undertaken on the United Kingdom, which provided much of the early expertise and medical research in respiratory diseases among industrial workers. Recent historical scholarship has drawn attention to the importance of patient attitudes, popular protests, and compensation claims in the formation of a "lay epidemiology" of such a disease, frequently challenging the scientific orthodoxies devised by large corporations and medical specialists. The history of silicosis provides an important chapter in the history of occupational and environmental health. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |