The History of Miners' Diseases

Abstract

THIS history covers a wide field. Part 1 begins with neolithic times, when the flint miners apparently suffered from silicosis, which is hence the oldest known occupational disease. The author then discusses the mining situation during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, and finally reviews the investigation of miners' diseases during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Part 2, which forms the bulk of the work, is confined to the nineteenth century, and deals with mining and miners, the diseases of miners, and the beginnings of social and protective legislation. Most of the important work on these subjects, however, belongs to the twentieth century, and we endorse the hope expressed by Prof. Sigerist in his introduction that the author will now write a second volume in which the history of the last fifty years will be discussed.

The History of Miners' Diseases

A Medical and Social Interpretation. By Dr. George Rosen. Pp. xii + 490 + 17 plates. (New York: Schuman's, 1943.) 8.50 dollars.