Document pBJgKQr47NRav9y6mMV1vLME6
FILE NAME Kohler KOH
DATE 1933 Feb
DOC KOH115
DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION Conference Proceedings - Effects of Dusts Upon the Respiratory System
R. G. KNUTPON : Copumissioner
Heldat Medinah AthletloClub
" November 16-17 1932
FEBRUARY 191 wee FEBRUARY 3
ge
'
vid
he .
te Yat fh
a,nd
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.
INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION
OF
WISCONSIN
FRED M. WILCOX Commissioner Chairman
R. G. KNUTSON
CommissionST
VOYTA WRABETZ Commissioner
A. J. ALTMEYER Secretary
HARRY A. NELSON Director of Workmen's Compensation
Proceedings of Conference Concerning
EFFECTS OF DUSTS UPON
THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM
Held at Medinah Athletic Club Chicago November 16-17 1932
CONTENTS
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16 MORNING Session
Page
Fred M. Wilcox Chairman Industrial Commission of Wisconsin
Preliminary remarks
~~
5
Address of Dr. Leroy U. Gardner Director of Saranac Labo-
ratory for study of tuberculosis
00
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 16 AFTERNOON SESSION
Address of Dr. W. Irving Clark Medical Director of Norton Company Worcester Massachusetts _......-.----..... 882
Discussion _-.
--
a
---
882
Continuation of address of Dr. Gardner
~
Address of Donald E. Cummings Assistant Director of Saranac Laboratory for Study of Tuberculosis 81
Discussion cen ne nen enn .~.---2-.-en-e
-
--
103
Thursday November 17 Morning Session
Discussion of addresses of Dr. Gardner and Mr. Cummings__ 112
Address of Dr. H. S. Willis Pathologist of Wm H. Maybury Sanatorium Detroit Michigan ...-.----------~-------
124
Address of J. J. Bloomfield Sanitary Engineer U. S. Public
Health Service awennoe
noo
----. 136
Thursday NovEMBER 17 AFTERNOOn Session
i
Address of Dr. Albert E. Russell Surgeon U. S. Bureau of
|
Mines ne eee oe we 2222. ee 0 e 2
167
Discussion .
weewnnenwennanacee
~ 188
APPENDICES
APPENDIX Biographical
sketches
~_.--...--.---.--_.----
208
APPENDIX List of persons who attended conference______ 213
PROCEEDINGS OF CONFERENCE CONCERNING EFFECTS OF DUSTS UPON THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM HELD BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION OF WISCONSIN AT CHICAGO
ILLINOIS NOVEMBER
16-17 1932
Wednesday November 16 1932. Morning Session
By MR FRED M. WILCOX Chairman Industrial
Commission of Wisconsin
Let the record show that there are present with me here at this conference the other members of the commission Mr. R. G. Knutson and Mr. Voyta Wrabetz Mr. Harry A. Nelson Director of Workmen's Compensation for our commission Mr. Arthur B. Doe Attorney of Milwaukee representing management and Mr. L. A. Tarrell and Mr. W. J. Goldschmidt Attorneys of Milwaukee representing the em-
ploye group Present also are Dr. A. W. Gray of Milwau-
kee and Dr. J. B. MacLaren of Appleton representing our committee for the development of a dust and fumes code
also our Mr. W. C. Muehlstein Director of the Sanitation Department I think we will register the rest of you by
aid of registry slips so that the attendance record may be both accurate and complete
First of all I want to express for the commission its ap-
preciation of your readiness to come here for this conference and doubly so for the readiness of insurance carriers and insurers in Wisconsin to make it possible for us to get together for consideration of this important subject I think at the outset I can perhaps clear a bit of the air if I would remind you that there are only a few states that undertake to cover diseases of occupation under compensation
outstandingly Wisconsin While California North Dakota
6
Connecticut and Massachusetts have laws under which it
appears they may take care of the whole field I am not so sure that they are doing it There are certain other states
that have laws which under a schedule enables sufferers
from occupational diseases specifically listed in the law to have the benefits of compensation That of course eliminates from protection any person suffering from a disease
that is not listed in the law Some states are doing noth-
ing in this field If they compensate any particular type of disease which they may call occupational they do it under the accidental injury provision of their law under the theory that where there is a single contact and injury results that the situation squares with the idea of accident and they are compensating for such disease under the theory that they are accidental injuries We did the same
thing in Wisconsin and we do it now with many types of
diseases such as typhoid fever anthrax ivy poisoning and
the like These are rated as diseases of particular indus-
tries when they arise out of the employment but under the aware compensable as accidents rather than otherwise
It is important to bear in mind that under the Wisconsin
Act disease coverage is not limited to the typical occupa-
tional diseases of medical literature but the provisions of
the law are broad enough to extend to any type of disease
which an industry produces or to which a particular plant
operation exposes its employes Typhoid fever is a good
illustration We can think of others Ivy poisoning is not recognized as an occupational disease It is a disease that
you acquire because you come in contact with poison ivy
It is not present on all farms On many farms there is none of it But it may be on a particular farm so it be-
comes a hazard to employes on that employer's premises Just so chicken pox scarlet fever whooping cough and other children's diseases are diseases to which teachers are peculiarly exposed but they are not diseases which we commonly think of as occupational in character
It is a difficult matter to determine the extent of dis-
ability in many types of injury Wisconsin found great ad-
vantage in an intensive study of various phases of typical
injuries other than dismemberments We went out much as we are going today and got information as to the ex-
7
tent of disability normally attaching in these specific types of injuries Then we set up rules and figures by which we undertake to estimate disability resulting from such injuries not dismemberments sucahs an ankylosed knee or
elbow loss of rotation shortening of leg and that sort of injury From those tables the commission and our indus-
tries safety men plant managers personnel directors doctora lawyers insurers and the injured men themselves may get their bearings and determine what is the approximate extent of disability This procedure is very conducive to
uniformity of administration We had the orderly help of the American Medical Association in the development of
the rules by which Wisconsin measures the extent of dis-
ability of an eye and those rules have been formally adopted for guidance Our experience in that field has been so satisfactory and has given us such assurance of better type of administration that we are ready and glad to turn to this plan of developing something in the field of pneumoconiosis silicosis and tuberculosis of the lungs and the respiratory -diseases which are if they are produced
by an industry compensable under the laws of Wisconsin
Silicosis is probably recognized as a typical occupational
disease It should be included in the schedules of those
states which presume to compensate for occupational diseases if they are in fact concerned with the protection of
employes suffering disability from occupational hazards
Failure to do so leads unmistakably to the conclusion that
schedules have for their purpose the eliminating from coverage of injuries to the lungs and to the respiratory tract The difficulty is not in determining the extent of disability
in the case of silicosis and tuberculosis The difficult task
is to determine whether or not the plant operation had any-
thing to do with -whether the exposure had anything
to do with the condition that the employe now presents And
if so is it solely responsible for it is it partially responsible for it is it just an aggravating factor or was this industry not responsible at all These are serious questions and that is the field that gives the difficulty To gain a better un-
derstanding of this whole subject we have arranged this
conference
We have some cases pending before us that form the
8
subject matter basis for our holding of this hearing There are men appearing here today who have no concern with incidental cases Their investigation and their consideration of the subject is beyond an incidental case Sometimes it is embarrassing for them to appear in behalf of litigants and we have thought to avoid any such embarrassment and to proceed on the plan of a conference for free discussion on the part of those who have come to be recognized as authority in this field It is our desire that those who appear proceed with their discussion without questions until they have finished unless they may wish for
the purpose of demonstrating a particular point to call
upon us to interpose a question or a query at that point After they have finished it is our wish that the commissioners and the attorneys who are here have the privilege of asking any questions that they may see fit We are anxious to complete the conference by tomorrow evening The doctors and the engineers who are here will be able to stay through tomorrow I am glad this is so because of the importance of the subject Unless there is some other question or some other statement that I should make at this time I think we are ready to proceed as outlined
First we will call upon Dr. Leroy U. Gardner Saranac Lake New York
By DR LEROY U. Gardner Saranac Lake N. Y.
DR GARDNER Members of the Wisconsin Commission
and others interested in this subject I am sure I can speak for all the experts and particularly for Mr. Cummings my associate and myself in thanking you for your confidence in us and asking us to come before you The
Chairman has suggested that possibly you may want to
interrupt me from time to time if I do not make myself clear and I wish you would take the opportunity to do so Two protocols have been submitted as a basis for this discussion one of them is developed along more or less anatomical lines leading up to the discussion of the pathol-
ogy of the disease due to the inhalation of dust and the
other apparently framed by a lawyer I would hesitate to
2
used use as a basis for my discussion That could be
later
in the discussion but if you will permit me I will follow
the anatomical outline to develop the subject
ANATOMY
The first subject on this protocol is the discussion of the anatomy of the respiratory tract which must be considered under its several parts Perhaps I can best express what I have to say on this subject with diagrams My ability as an artist is not great but I will attempt to illustrate the
main parts of the tract Nasal and Mouth Cavities Here we see the nose and
this is the mouth cavity The nasal cavity is entered
through the nostrils which are guarded by a series of hairs
They are coarse and their function is to filter out large particles of dust and foreign bodies of any kind which might be drawn into the respiratory tract Inside of the nose if we look at it in cross section we find that there are a series of very fine bones like this located on either side of a
dividing partition which separates the two nasal cavities
Their surfaces are covered by a sticky mucous membrane
reflected over the bones in this manner It also covers the
lateral wall of the nasal cavity This sticky mucous mem-
brane tends to catch and retain foreign particles that enter the nasal cavity Mucus secreted by the cells which cover this membrane may be expelled later carrying away the foreign particles caught there In addition we find that the cells covering this mucous membrane are provided with series of microscopic hairs projecting from their border
These small hairs are called cilia They are in active mo-
tion and the hairs on the different cells all move in unison
creating a current when you see the living cells under the microscope the ciliary action gives the effect of wind blow-
ing over a field of wheat in a progressive sweeping motion
The direction of this motion in the greater part of the nasal
cavity is backward so that foreign particles tend to be carried toward the throat The nasal cavity communicates at
the back of the nose with the called pharynx which
communicates with the larger opening at the back of the
mouth
10
The mouth is not provided with any special protective
mechanism comparable to cilia Here are the tonsils which are located back in the throat which do gather up a certain amount of foreign material but not very much dust They tend to take up bacteria rather than dust Thus air may be taken into the mouth at this point through the lips and 80 into the pharynx or it can be taken into the nose
The two currents of air meet in the back of the throat We
inhale foreign bodies through the mouth or through the nose and in both instances they reach the same place The air then passes down into the windpipe or trachea the tube leading from the pharynx to the bronchi The trachea is also lined by ciliated cells with hair processes The direction of the current of the ciliary action here is upward toward the pharynx tending to carry any foreign material which gets in the trachea upward to a point from which it can be expectorated Large numbers of foreign
bodies are removed in this manner We all know that if
we go down to the cellar to clean the coal bin we very
quickly begin to expectorate large amounts of mucus which are deeply pigmented with black dust By this process one
eliminates a tremendous amount of dust To summarize
the upper respiratory tract consists of a filter in the nose with its tortuous passages lined by a sticky mucous membrane provided with cilia The cilia beat backward toward the pharynx and carry the dust to a point from which it can be expectorated If the dust penetrates beyond this point it enters the pharynx and trachea where ciliary action carries it upward toward the mouth This constitutes the first
line of defense
It has been argued that people who breathe through their
mouths tend to get a good deal more dust into their lungs
than those who breathe through their noses which is ob-
viously true for the reasons already described As long as the mucous membrane is normal and is not influenced by
chronic infectious conditions and chronic disease due to re-
peated injury by dust a great deal of material will be eliminated by the normal mechanism
The Bronchi Let us now consider the bronchi which
are simply tubes similar in structure to the trachea They
carry the air onward into the lung The trachea divides in
11
the root of the lung into two tubes one of which enters either lung and then subdivides into branches These tubes become progressively smaller as they approach the periphery Their inner surface is also lined by ciliated cella throughout their course until the periphery of the lung is reached
Their function is the same as that of the trachea
Pleura The surface of the lung is covered by a membrane which is known as the pleura It extends over the en-
tire outer surface of this organ with reflections inward over the fissures which separate the different lobes In my
drawing I am representing it as much thicker than it would actually be for the purpose of describing some of its details The lung lies in a bony cavity the thorax which is also lined by pleura directly continuous with that over the surface of the lung These two portions of this membrane are known respectively as the parietal or wall pleura and the visceral or lung pleura Between them there is a potential space Their inner surfaces are smooth and they are separated by an extremely thin layer of fluid which serves
to lubricate them so that there will be no friction with the
movements of respiration Blood Vessels Radiating out from the root of the lung
to its extreme periphery are two systems of blood vessels
which I shall not illustrate in detail because of the com-
plexity of the resulting diagram One system is composed of the pulmonary artery and its branches This vessel carries blood from the right side of the heart through the lung Its various ramifications follow as closely as possible the branching of the bronchial tree In addition to this there are branches of the pulmonary vein which start in the periphery of the lung in the capillary blood vessels and
carry acrated blood back to the left side of the heart These two systems of vessels communicate at the periphery
through a system of capillaries In these exceedingly small vessels the function of respiration takes place
In order to understand the process of respiration we must
consider in some detail the structure of the terminal air
spaces If one examines a cross section of a lung he will
find that its consistence is like that of a sponge There
seems to be no particular arrangement of the spaces which
make up this structure and it is only by a process recon-
88
known This phenomena has been
and adsorbing agents
in the lung
conceived as responsible for the harmfulness
it thought that it might absorb either body poisons
since was
substances present in the body
protective or the normal
is the possibility that what-
fluids More likely however of silica to form active ad-
is responsible for the ability
of the
ever
is also responsible for the toxicity
associ- sorbent agents
words the peculiar structure
silica itself In other
of silica undoubtedly
ated with many hoifghtlhye amcotdiivfeicsautrifoancse groups capable of up-
normal life
presents certain
the
the delicate mechanism governing
setting
the degree of harmfulness of
of cells We hope to correlate
structure associated
form of silica dust with the surface
any
with
that
variety
by
using
the
knowledge
of
these
structures
recently obtained by physicists in certain ray studies
a dust is not to be considered dangerous
To recapitulate is not soluble in the body fluids If
either because it is or
the character of the
it is soluble the toxicity depends upon
inorganic
formed There are many known
soluble product and insoluble which are apparently harm-
dusts both soluble
and at high concentra-
less when inhiasltehde omvoesrtlhonagrmpfeurlioodfs all industrial dusts It
is due
tion Silica
of silica
is not yet known whether the daanndgetrooxiucsnpersosduct or to some
to the formation of a soluble
associated with certain
highly active surface phenomena
of harmful-
physical modifications In general the degree uncom-
be correlated with the amount of free or
ness can
In addition to knowing the amount of
bined silica present
in order to estimate its sili-
silica present in any dust
to know the
free
it is equally essential
cosis producing power silica Silica in combination with
physical
state
of
the
free
capable
of
producing
a
pulmonary
other elements is also
the amount of
fibrosis It is therefore necessarwyittho wkhniocwh it is combined
combined silica and the material
combined
that certain substances when
probable It is highly
overcome or partially neutralize the
with silica tend to
case of
of the silica itself Any individual
dangerousness
the
whole
problem
itself
can
be
properly
ana-
silicosis or
thorough knowledge of the
lysed only after obtainnaitnugrea of the causative dust
chemical and physical
consideration with
is another and equally important
There
accomplished of a dust which con-
regard
to
measuring
the
dangerousness of dust
particles
present
refer to the number
of these
tains silica I of air and especially to the size
in a given volume
It is obvious that a high concen-
particles thus suspended in an industrial atmosphere will
tration of dust particles
It is there-
than a low concentration
* be more dangerous
the concentration of
procedure to measure
fore a routine
industries This is
dust
present
in
dangerous
device perfected
by
many
years
of
experi-
at present with a
the U. S. Public Health Serv-
mental work and approved by of air is passed through
ice In brief a measured volumseurface under a certain
an orifice and impinged upon a
into small bub-
level of wetting fluid The air is broken up to the wetting
a large amount of surface
bles which exposes
rise through the fluid and
medium and these bubbles then into the air Dust particles
are eventually discharged again
wet by
in the air are drawn into the impinger
suspended remain suspended in it In other words the
the fluid and
dust The suspending
air is washed cleamneaofsuirtsedsuaspnednddielduted with clean distilled
fluid is placed
fluid is removed
A measured portion of this diluted
water
cell and the number of particles present in a
in a counting
calculation the number of
given volume determined By of air entering the impinger
particles present in a cubic foot
is then determined
far as the col-
This device is efficient and satisfactory as
the
lection of particulate matter is concerned I question col-
particles standard procedure adopted for counting the
is
fluid however The counting
lected in the suspending with ordinary bright field illumi-
done at a low magnification both mathematically and experi-
nation and it can be shoswmanller than 1.5 to 2 microns are not
mentallyTthhiastlpiamrittisctlhese observation to those particles particles greater
particle visible
ask ourselves what
than this size We must now
sizes are significant in producing silicosis
been observed from a study of silicotic lungs
First it has
microns in diameter sel-
that dust particles larger than 10
been
into the air spaces It has therefore
dom penetrate
need not concern ouselves with
universally agreed that we
the concen-
larger than 10 microns in measuring
particles
Moreover has been found
tration of a dangerous dust
90
that the number of particles larger than 5 microns is relatively small in the silicotic lung and the present tendency
is to consider only those particles below this figure It can
also be stated quite definitely that the really hazardous par-
ticles are probably much smaller than 5 microns
I should like to describe an experiment which I have per-
formed to prove this contention Two series of rabbits were inoculated intravenously with very carefully prepared dust
suspensions In the first series of rabbits each animal re-
ceived 1.3 grams of quartz dust particles whose average
diameter was about 9 to 10 microns The second group of
rabbits each received 1.8 grams of quartz dust particles
whose average diameter was 1 to 2 microns At serial in-
tervals animals in each series were killed and compared
In brief it can be said that the larger particles provoked almost no fibrous reaction while the smaller particles pro-
duced a fibrosis so extensive as to result in the death of
nearly all the inoculated rabbits after eighteen months Dr.
Gardner has described the details of the lesions produced in
this experiment but I am interested in pointing out the fact that the reaction was dependent upon particle size since both series of animals received an equal quantity of the
same dust
In order to demonstrate that the reaction was specific for
silica
silica a third series of rabbits was inoculated intravenously
with 1.3 grams of aloxite crystals whose average diameter was 1 to 2 microns Aloxite is an electric furnace product composed of aluminum oxide and it is harder and sharper than quartz Animals in this series developed no reaction
about the dust which collected in the various tissues and
even after many months the animals were found to be es-
sentially normal Therefore we can say definitely that silicosis is apparently highly specific depending upon the pres-
ence of silica and not any hard sharp or insoluble dust in
fine subdivision But even more significant is the fact that the silica dust must be extremely fine in order to produce
silicosis
This experiment is being carried much further in order to prove the contention that even finer particles are still
more dangerous It is obvious that if the smaller particle
sizes are more dangerous those are the ones with which
91
we should be most concerned in determining the dust con-
centration in industrial air Since it appears that the finer
the particle size the more potent is a silica dust it should
be our endeavor to obtain a measure of this fraction For
numerous reasons the practical limit of measurement or separation of dust particles is about micron It is there-
fore my belief that the methods used to measure the concentration of dust in the air should be modified to include this
fraction
At a recent meeting of those interested in this problem
Mr. Fehnel of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and I demonstrated a technique by which this could be accomplished This technique involves the use of dark field illumination and a different counting cell than that now being used It is quite practical and gives results which are representative of the finer particle sizes I should like to urge its tentative adoption for several reasons but particularly because I believe that many of the hazardous occu-
pations are being overlooked It is very possible that cer-
tain dusts are so distributed according to size that they contain relatively few particles over 2 microns and tremendous numbers of particles below this size Such a distribution would constitute a great hazard to any workmen engaged in it and yet would be considered safe when measured by the present approved method Industries in which such a dust is likely to be encountered are the sandblasting industries the grinding industries and those industries involving the use of micro crystalline silica such as that found in Illinois
or Missouri and known as Tripoli
This discussion makes it apparent that it is essential to know the size distribution of dust particles as well as the total number of particles present in an industrial air For this purpose the Owens apparatus is frequently employed This device impinges a small volume of air on a glass slide to which the dust particles adhere By examining this slide under the microscope and measuring large numbers of particles with a special micrometer attached to the micro-
scope the size distribution is determined
This method also presents many technical difficulties and tends to produce large errors when extremely fine dusts are encountered The efficiency of any impinger decreases with
92
the size of the particles encountered and as a result very
fine dusts may not all adhere to the slide The chief dim-
culty encountered however is the problem of measuring
duat below 1 micron It is certain that the method is not even reasonably accurate in this range and even the most
careful and painstaking observer will always be more impressed with the few large and easily visible particles than
the hundreds of small and almost invisible motes For this
reason it is my feeling that though the Owens apparatus is a definite help in evaluating the size distribution it does not provide a complete analysis of this factor It is for this reason that I have suggested a method for separating any
given silica dust into fractions of different size This method which has been described in the Journal of Industrial Hygiene separates the dust into clean cut fractions of
definite sizes from the largest particles encountered in the
air down to micron By using this technique the amount of each size fraction can be determined and by the use of
tables which we have constructed the number of particles
of each size can be obtained From such data may be
plotted a size frequency distribution curve on Hazens log as Drinker has suggested This curve
pornocbeabciolnisttyrupcatepdercan form the basis for any subsequent de-
termination of the number of particles of any size present
in the air of that particular hazardous occupation It might
be of interest to state that there are approximately 20 bil-
lion particles in a gram of quartz dust which is all 4 microns
in diameter approximately 250 billion particles in a gram
of quartz dust 2 microns in diameter over a trillion par-
of quartz dust 1 micron in diameter and
ticles in a gram
of quartz dust micron
over 5 trillion particles in a gram
in diameter These figures indicate that there are at least
twenty times as many particles in a dust which is all
microns in diameter as there would be in a dust which was
all 2 microns in diameter These figures are based on actual
counts not on theoretical considerations which give essen-
tially the same relationship A thorough and complete study of a commercial quartz
dust used for producing silicosis in experimental animals in
the Saranac Laboratory has shown that 90 of all the par-
ticles present micron and greater were below 2
98
in size 70 were below 1 micron and 5o0btawienreed never
micron.s6 micron Results such as these are the
below
belief that with the Owens sampler and it is my sincere
dust
efficient of silicosis will not be solved nor will
is
problem
be developed until consideration
removing machinery
In other words I should
given
to
this
phase
of
the
problem
involved
in
the
estimation
like to make a plea for all those
of size fre-
or the determinations
of dust concentrations consideration the small particles
to include in their
undoubtedly respon-
quencies
particles --for these are the
which are
sible for the development of silicosis
evidence
evidence
sili-
sili-
that To recapitulate We have ebxepienrgimceanutsaeld only by silica in
cosis is apparently specific
The
pathological or all of its many modifications
It
several
with decreasing particle size
reaction of stiloicdaeviinscereaasteeschnique for determining dust con-
above micron
is desirable
centrations which will include all particles size frequency
in size It is equalfloyr daellsiirmapbloerttaontobhtaazianrdaous occupations
distribution distribution curve hazard may be properly evaluated
dealing in order that the true
statistical evidence
I should like to present some
in the lead and zinc
with the known silicosis hazard existing
emphasized mines of Picher Okla As has been repeatedly infection
silicotics generally die becauasnealoyfsias pduelamlsonwairtyh the tuber-
usually tuberculosis This
to have had previous
culosis mortality among miners known of Ottawa County
to silica in or about the mines
exposure
properly Oklahoma
foundation on which to
In order to establish a
rates in silicotics let us
evaluate the subsequent mortality
classes of
first examine mortality rates among the ordinary
Bociety
94
GRAPH A
TUBERCULOFSOIRMSS 1928
DEATHRATES PER 100,000 WHITE MALES
BY AGE PERIODS
TUBERCULOSIS FORMS 1928 -
DEATHRATES PER 100,000 BY SEX LAGE PERIDOS
METROPOLITAN INDUSTRIAL POLICYHOLDERS
100
HETROPOLITAN 7
NY
2
vA ex
US GENERAL
170
POPULATION
>
100 Ll
Wa Vy
10
~
60
MEDATDIRNAORYPDAODILNIARTYAN
40
a
180
WHITE SN 091 a
[ 140
5
AN 120
i N,
4 i
\
-
Ps FEMALES a
/
a
4
as
3
PERIODS PERIODS PRE & AGE PERIODS
*
o
+
y
H
$
| AGE PERIODS OR g RRR AGE PERIODS
Graph A compares the tuberculosis mortulity among three clasN~ fications of white people by age groups The class with the lowest
tuberculosis mortality rate is composed of those persons who are in
sufficiently favorable economic position to be able to own a 1000 or more ordinary life insurance policy The second group is composed of the general population and represents the millions of policy holders under the group insurance division of the Metropolitan Life In
aurance Company The mortality rates in all these groups are apparent from an inspection of Chart A. It will be observed that the male industrial group has the highest tuberculosis mortality rate and that this rate reaches its maximum between the ages of 45 and 54 It would appear that certain factors in industry are responsible for this increased rate Chief among auch probable factors is exposure
to silica duat
85
Table 1
A COMPARISON OF MORTALITY RATES FROM ALL CAUSES
Per 200,000 WHITE POPULATION
Ratio
Year Total Your Hale Female P^nale
U.S.Registration U.S.Registration Area | 1930 1080.0 1927 1172.5 1021.7
Oklahoma Oklahoma
1930 | 778.2 1930 872,1 680.4 680.4
Ottawa Co. Oklahoma 1930 1712.6 1930 j 2056.2 1412
1.15 1.27 1,46
Table 1 compares the mortality rates per 100,000 white population from all causes by sex in the U. Registration Area Oklahoma and
Ottawa County Okla for the year 1930. It will be observed that the mortality from all causes in Ottawa County where there is a silicosis
huzurd is very high and that it is particularly high among the males
97 06
GRAPH I
ALL FORMSPERPER ONLY A COMPARISON OFMORTALITY RATES FROM TUBERCULOSIS
100000 WHITE POPULATION
BOTH SEXES
24/3
GRAPH II
ALL
COMPARISON FORMS 10O0F,000 - COMPARISON
MORTALITY RATES RATES FROM TUBERCULOSIS WHITE POPULATION ONLY BY SEX
3799 789
MINERS
FEMALE
MINERS
|
REGISTRATION AREA - 1930
OKLAHOMA
OKLAHOMA
1930
zd
OTTAWA OTTAWA COUNTY OKLAHOMA - 1930
Graph 1 compares the mortality from tuberculosis all forms per
for both sexes and all ages during 1930 in
1th0e0,0U0.0S.whRiteeg pAorpeulaatOikolnahoma and Ottawa Co. Okla It will be observed that the tuberculosis mortality in Ottawa Co. where silicosis is known to exist is six times as great as that in the state of Okla-
homa as a whole
71.8
v7
US REGISTRATION
AREA - 1927
is
OKLAHOMA 1930
OTTAWA COUNTY
OKLAHOMA OKLAHOMA
the mortality from tuberculosis all forma per
Graph II compares
in Oklahoma and Ottawa
100,000 white population by sex duringth1e93h0igh tuberculosis mortality
County Okla Here it is found that
the males whose mortal-
in Ottawa County occurs principally among
ity rate is four times as great as that among females of the same
county
7
98
GRAPHII
TUBERCULOSIS A COMPARISON OFMORTALITY RATES FROM
ALL FORMS PER 100,000 WHITE POPULATION ONLY BY SEX AND BY
AGE GROUPS OKLAHOMA AND OTTAWAOTTAWA COUNTY OKLAHOMA -1930-1930
OTTAWA MALES
OTTAWACO FEMALES- ~~ 1400 |
POULATIN OKLAHOMA MAL^ S --- > FEMALES --- --| OKLAHOMA 1200
WHITE F 1000
800 T
100
PER 600F
RATE 400
DEATH 200
TO TO 15 20 25 35 Reg ber 75 TO TO Reg ber TO AND 29 44 54 64 74 OVER
AGE GROUPS
Graph III compares the mortality from tuberculosis all forms per 100,000 white population by sex and by age groups in Oklahoma and Ottawa County Okla It is apparent that the male rate in this county is excessive and that this rate increases steadily to reach a maximum of over 1400 per 100,000 at ages 45 to 54
GRAPHIZ GRAPHIZ
AGE THE TUBERCULOSIS MORTALITY RATE PER 100000 WHITE MALE
LEAD AND ZINC MINERS BY
-
GROUPS
OTTAWA
OT AWA
OTTAWA COUNTY
OKLAHOMA 1930
b 6000
10 0 5000 |
4000|
DEATH 2000
| 1000
20 320 3er "
TO TO TO TO 327 320 3er
19 34 44 320 64
74 OVER
AGE GROUPS
Graph IV depicts the mortality from tuberculosis all forms per 100,000 white male miners in Ottawa Co. Okla during 1930. The mortality rate shown in this graph is probably the highest ever recorded for a group of civilized white males The rate rises steadily
to reach its maximum of over 6000 per 100,000 at ages 45 to 54 coin-
cident with 25 to 36 years exposure to silica dust
101 100
Table 11
Mortality Statiation for Ottard County Okla 1930 - White Population 55468
A total of 629 true destha
minera minera - or 23 of all deaths in
145 of these deaths casurred among
the county
of the 145 Minera
11.03
11.013.03 65 Died of -----
other than --------
16 Died of Respiratory Dis
ne
85.8 81 Died of Respiratory
Respiratory Diadanes
Accidents Busoldes Burns of the 145 Hiners 22 Died of
or
GunGun
Shot
------
Wounds
-14.9
of the 123 Remaining Deaths Among Minera 01 Died of Respiratory Dlugos
------- %
than TB or Accidents Accidents Among the liners of
of Death other
follows
1930 care care au
The Chist Cause Ottawa Co. Okle in
Heart Disea30-
Senility--
Nephritis
Apoplexy Cancer-
Parlysis
--- Uranic ---
All Other Gauona
.
eet
-4.1 of all -4.1
3.4 . "
2.8 "
"
"
" -7.6 _ " a
deaths
: " .
.
among
a
. : . .
miners
a . . : oo. .
71 still births not included
additional data relative to the principal causes of deTaathbleamIoInggivwehsite minera in Ottawa County Oklahoma for 1930 It should be observed that 66 of all deathsdeaths were due to respiratory
diseases
GRAPH IT
A
COMPARISON
OF MORTALITY
RATES
FROM
TUBERCULOSIS POLICYPOLICY HOLDHOELRDSERS
100,000 FORMS PER 100,000
WHITE MALE INDUSTRIAL AND WHITE MALE LEAD
ALL
OF THE METROPOL~ TANLIFE INSURANCE CO
CO OKLA AND ZINC MINERS OF OTTAWA CO OKLA - BYAGE GROUPS - 1930
6000 +
100,000
10,00 5000 10,00
PER
+
4000
RATE RATE 3000
OTT CO ZAINCWMINAERS INDUSTRIAL POLICY HOLDERS ~~~
DEATH2000
DEATH
1000
3eTO7 326 TO 3e7
24 3e7
TO 326 54 64
75 TO AND 74 OVER
AGE GROUPS
Graph V compares the mortality rates from tuberculosis all forms white ma eminers of Ottawa County Okla and white
pmearle10i0n,d0u0s0trial policypolicy holders of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co.
for 1930. This graph strikingly illustrates the addi-
by age groups
tional hazard imposed by silica on industrial workers
102 Tablo 111
A COMPARISON OF MORTALITY RATES FROM ALL CAUSES AND
FROM TUBERCULOSIS AMONG WHITE FEMALES
U.S.Reg.Aroa Oklahoma
1927
1930
Ottawa County
1930
Death Rate per 100,000
All CausOS
_
1021.7
Death Rate per 100,000
Tuberculosia
83.0
685.4 38.9
1412.6 95.B
Number of Deaths from
Tuberculosis in 1000
Deaths from All Causes
61.7
56.B
67.8
Table III compares the mortality from all causes and from tuberculoaia per 100,000 white females in the U. S. Reg Area Oklahoma and Ottawa County Oklahoma This table illustrates the fact that the
tuberculosis mortality among the females living in a community
where silicosis and tuberculosis are outstanding among the males re-
mains in fairly good proportion to the mortality from all causes as
observed in the U. S. Registration Area
To recapitulate It can be shown statistically that silicotics suffer from an enormous tuberculosis mortality This excessive mortality can be attributed to no other cause than
the inhalation of silica dust
A question was asked relative to the incidence of syphilis
in the Picher area and its effect on the development of sili-
cosis This was a problem in which Dr. Meriwether was particularly interested and he was kind enough to show me
a large number of cases illustrating his contention that sili-cosis did develop much more rapidly in the man who had a positive Wasserman than in the man who had a negative
Wasserman Apparently from the data Dr. Meriwether has
accumulated this contention is true Moreover he found
that in those men who had a positive Wasserman and were
108
given treatment for their syphilis the silicotic process also
seemed to improve during treatment As the Wasserman changed from positive to negative the ray films of these men seemed to improve I think we may draw a fairly ac-
curate generalization that the presence of any infection in a silicotic is likely to result in a more rapidly progressive pathological process than would occur if the infection could
be eliminated I found quite a large number of cases among the Picher
silicotics that had received a diagnosis of suspected tuber-
culosis on the basis of their roentgenograms These men had a large amount of sputum but tubercle bacilli were not found after repeated examinations On further examination of the sputum a number of these men were found to
have other bacteria which seemed to be responsible for their pulmonary infections The main group of organisms re-
sponsible for such infections was similar to the organism which produces syphilis These men were given syphilitic treatment even though they did not have syphilis and some showed marked improvement Dr. Meriwether continued to carry on this work in Picher and reported that of some 20 men treated all had returned to work after having been
disabled for a long time Whether or not this condition obtains in other communities I cannot say but I think it is
true that a man with silicosis is predisposed not only to
tuberculosis but to other infections as well Silicosis con-
stitutes a hazard in causing an increased susceptibility to tuberculosis but it also increases the susceptibility to other
infections Some of these men with infections other than
tuberculosis may offer more hope for effective therapy than
do tuberculous silicotics
Mr. WRIGHT What sort of mines
MR CUMMINGS Lead and zinc mines in Oklahoma
MR WRIGHT Any lead poisoning mixed up with it
MR CUMMINGS No. They are not really exposed to lead vapors and consequently there is no real lead hazard They mine this ore out of hard silica called chert
MR WRIGHt Is there a great deal of silica present in
This rock
104
MR CUMMINGS Yes Over 90 silica It is not quartz
but a flint or chert very dangerous dust
MR TARRELL Are they Finnish laborers
Mr. CUMMINGS No. They are not Finns They are native American whites They come from Kentucky and
Tennessee and are true early American settlers
Mr. KUECHLE Have you gotten anywhere so far with
your experiments that Dr. Gardner referred to on neutral-
izing the poisonous effects of silica in the lungs
I MR CUMMINGS believe that silica does dissolve after
entering the body then a soluble silicate is formed and it is
present about the particles that are collected in the lymphoid areas There are certain chemicals which will precipitate
soluble silicates from their solutions Such substances as
iron salts calcium salts and a great many other substances
will cause this precipitation If it would be possible to
bring such substances into intimate contact with the dust
collected in the silicotic nodules it might also be possible to
precipitate this soluble silicate and thereby neutralize its toxic influence if the soluble silicate is responsible for this
toxicity
be true
There is a fairly good illustration that this may Asbestos is a magnesium silicate in which iron
usually replaces part of the magnesium in the molecule When asbestos is inhaled into the lung the individual fibres
tend to dissolve or hydralyze The fibres swell and some
soluble silica is formed Iron is released by this hydrolysis
and it recombines with the soluble silica to form an insolu-
ble substance Now it so happens that in asbestosis a
definite fibrosis develops but there does not seem to be a
marked increase in the susceptibility to tuberculosis in spite
of this well established fibrosis or asbestosia It may be
possible that the iron which constitutes a part of the asbestos fibre is responsible for overcoming the increased sus-
ceptibility to tuberculosis common to most cases of pneu-
moconiosis
MR DOE Dr. Gardner I gathered from your discus-
sion that there is a great deal of difference between the reaction of silica and other dusts with regard to the character of formation that the scar tissue formation is characteristic
105
of silica and not characteristic of the other dusts you ex-
amined
DR GARDNER That is true
MR DOE Can that difference be detected on ray and
if so how
DR GARDNER I don't believe the character can be detected by ray no The distribution of the reaction is the
thing that we have to rely upon in the ray Possibly the density of the reaction but even that would be likely to fall down It is only when you have the tissue under the micro-
scope that you can be sure Of course you can on gross ex-
amination of the lung determine density to a certain extent
by palpation but the characteristic thing about the silica reaction is its microscopic appearance
MR DOE What would you say as to the characteristic
difference in distribution for instance if you were inter-
preting an ray and did not know what the chemical composition of the dust was and were trying to determine
whether the manifestations on the plate were silicotic or
otherwise what would you look for to make that differen-
tiation with regard to the distribution of the pathology
Dr. Gardner As far as we know today am not a roentgenologist and cannot qualify as an expert but as far as we know today there are only two types of dust that will produce extensive pulmonary changes visible by the ray one is pure silica in one form or the other That produces a generalized fibrosis of the lung characterized by increase
in the linear markings and characterized by the formation
of nodular shadows Such changes tend to be pretty uniformly distributed throughout both lungs with the excep-
tion of small areas over the diaphragm which are generally
left uninvolved Asbestos dust will also produce a generalized fibrosis of the lung but it is not accompanied by the
formation of discrete nodular shadows It is a diffuse
fibrosis and widespread We also know that slate workers working in a silicate get a good deal of diffuse fibrosis I believe Dr. Russell is prepared to discuss slate workers These slate workers also get diffuse fibrosis but not generally as marked as that which occurs in the asbestos group
106
It may be in some instances The reaction to the other types
of dust is ins^>gnificantin our experience as compared with that produced by pure silica or by the silicate asbestos and perhaps the silicate slate When we examine the lung tissue
of the asbestos worker we find that the amount of reaction
is apparently much greater than would appear from the ray plate Just why this should be is puzzling but we have not had opportunity to study as many asbestos work-
ers as we should before we can answer this question
MR DOE Then the discrete character of the distribution and the absence of nodules that is the absence of the
generalized distribution and the absence of nodules would
tend to rule out silicosis
DR GARDNER Yes
MR DOE In your opinion
DR GARDNER In my opinion but this must again be qualified because we may deal with mixtures of dust Dr.
Russell in his work in Barre failed to find nodular fibrosis
in the lungs of many of the granite cutters exposed to a dust containing as much as 30 free silica combined with several silicates It is my belief that probably the silicates and
other siliceous substances modified the action of the silica so that the nodular lesions which would be charac-
teristic of pure silica failed to develop We know the clear
cut and definite picture of silica alone That picture is
characteristic and on that one I don't think we should fall
down When we deal with silica complicated by other sub-
stances or when we are confronted with silicates alone we
are not in position to be so definite
MR DOE When you speak of aluminum oxide do you use that term in the same sense that Dr. Clark does that is
when the percentage of silica is so small 1.76 that for all practical purposes in this inquiry it can be disregarded
DR GARDNER I believe that would be a fair view yes
DR CLARK Combined silica
MR DOE I meant as you described it Dr. Clark would
that apply in your opinion Dr. Gardner to other dusta in
107
combination if the percentage of silica was below say two per cent that it could be regarded as a siliceous dust
DR GARDNER I think it might be I can conceive of
conditions where other substances might favor the reaction
of silica itself I don't know of any such one but it seems
conceivable there might be MR DOE In the work you and Mr. Cummings have
done what possible combinations that tend to minimize the
effect of silica mentioned iron there others DR GARDNER Theoretically iron calcium and alum-
inum might combine with this silica dissolved in the body fluids and prevent its reaction with the body tissues We
have selected all these as possibilities and hope to experi-
ment with them
MR DOE With regard to these particles of less than
two microns they wouldn't reappear in the lungs of the
experimental animals have you an opinion as to whether
that has any significance in dealing with humans Would there be an anatomical difference which might result in particles less than two microns localizing in the lungs of human
beings and not in rabbits
DR GARDNER I think if we were successful in obtain-
ing a sufficient quantity of particles less than two microns
in diameter that probably many of them would remain in
the Jung but I do not know We have not been able with
our apparatus and money available to us to produce such a
quantity and we have not been able to investigate the sub-
ject We had to turn to the intravenous method of experi-
mentation because of the limited amount of material
available
MR DOE What is the mechanics of those tiny particles
in the rabbits getting to the liver DR GARDNER From the ear vein they are carried
through the right side of the heart into the pulmonary ar-
tery they go directly through the capillaries of the lung and are not filtered out there as we had hoped that they might be They are carried back through the pulmonary vein into
the left side of the heart and from the left side of the heart
pumped out to the aorta and the general circulation The
108
liver is a very good filtering organ and so is the spleen They tend to circulate about until they happen to lodge in one of these filtering organs
MR CUMMINGS It should be brought out that if they are inhaled the mechanism would be different than if they came into the lung by way of the blood stream In the blood they are inclined to be rushed on through just as the blood
corpuscles because there is nothing to cause them to come
out whereas if they are inhaled they would lodge inside
I the air space and as a consequence believe they would be
picked up by phagocytes and carried to the lymph nodes
MR DOE Dr. Gardner in the examination made at post mortem of silicotic individuals I think you said sometimes
silicotic nodules were found in the liver
DR GARDNER Yes
MR DOE In human beings
DR GARDNER Yes
MR DOE Presumably the only silica to which that individual was exposed was by inhalation
DR GARDNER Yes
MR DOE How would those particles get to the liver
DR GARDNER We conceive that in this case there has
been an overflow of dust cells from the tracheobronchial
lymph nodes at the root of the lung This overflow has carried these particles perhaps inside phagocytic cells to the venous circulation by which they are delivered to the right side of the heart the right side of the heart pumped them through the lung There they may not be filtered out by the pulmonary capillaries any more effectively than were
the particles which were injected into the ear vein of the
rabbit They would be carried back to the left side of the heart into the aorta and finally be caught in the more ef-
ficient filter of the liver
MR DOE That may be one of the processes that nor-
mally goes on may it not
DR GARDNER I would believe so
109
MR DOE In ridding silicotic lungs of dust
DR GARDNER I would believe so But it is compara-
tively rare to find silicotic nodules in the liver and spleen
of human beings It may be that these particular human
beings who show such lesions are abnormal in some anatomical respects and it may be this is something we have never checked up on that these nodules in the liver and
spleen are composed of extremely fine particles and it may be that this particular individual was inhaling an excess
number of fine particles instead of the more usual ones two
to eight microns in diameter
MR DOE Do you believe that it would be a possi-
bility for men working as machinists that is on drill or borers and machines of that kind to create
presses
sufficient dust to institute a hazard for siderosis that is where there is no sand or no artificial abrasive in the process just the use of the metal itself
Dr. GardneR I rather doubt it I do not believe we
know whether there is such a thing as siderosis We talk about the condition We know that certain hematite miners have red lungs We do not know whether iron in any form alone is sufficient to produce a reaction I have seen the lungs of one boiler maker who had a long ex-
posure apparently to iron dust We were not able to get a good occupational history This man had a peculiar
type of fibrosis in his lungs without tuberculosis He had
a large amount of iron in his lungs It is impossible by
any method that we know of to determine whether that iron was from an external source or whether it came from within the body because iron is one of the components of body tissue Possibly siderosis may be due to contaminat-
ing silica more or less modified by the excessive amounts
of iron in the dust
MR DOE Is there any scientific basis for assuming
now that the inhalation of iron and steel particles from processes such as polishers drill presses and the like where there is no combination of silica that that predisposes to
tuberculosis
DR GARDNER None that I know of I would be inclined to believe that we would not find any
110
%
MR DOE Doctor when you have the reaction which
you described as being characteristic of asbestos and characteristic of other dusts not containing a high percentage
of free silica what is the fact as to whether or not the in-
cidence of tuberculosis among those individuals is higher or lower than the miners in general
Dr. GardnER I have not had any opportunity to ob-
serve such groups myself Our experimental work tended
to show that we could stir up a virulent tuberculous
infection temporarily but it would not progress to any ex-
tent There would be a temporary reactivation of the
latent focus and then the lesion would heal with forma-
tion of considerable scar tissue While there have been reports of human beings dying with a combina-
autopsyof tuberculosis and asbestosis so far as living indi-
tionviduals working in the asbestos industry are concerned
observation generally tends to show that the incidence of
tuberculosis is not excessive
MR DOE Is there any information available that you
familiar with that the incidence of tuberculosis is
are
higher
in
any
industry
or
any
dust
exposure
in
the
country
at large where the silica content we will say is less than
% I mean to include in that silica rayon wool tobacco iron and in combination with silica and millers
and packers and flour mills All sorts of people
DR GARDNER There are the statistics of Dr. Hoffman
reported in the Public Health Service reports but I think these should be examined quite critically and possibly should not always be accepted at their face value There are other factors that come into play besides the one of
dust inhalation which might be responsible for the in-
crease in tuberculosis in these trades I do not know of
sustaining the point of view which you men-
titonieodnfeidgures
DOE Supposing that the exposure in a case con-
MR normal taining we will say less than % just a trace a
amount of silica was very protracted cases like
those which Dr. Clark told us about for thirty to forty
years Would that make any difference in your last con-
clusion
111
Our experience with carborundum dust
view We
DR GARDNER
might be considered a substantiation of such a
in any other way
We also
were at a loss to explainwhiitch contains only a fraction of
found that marble dust
to cause
cent of silica exhibited a slight tendency
one per
progressive for a short
the tuberculous foci to becreotmreogressed and healed It is
while but then they again
in minute amounts
the exposure to silica
possible that if
sufficiently long time and that in
were continued for a
could remain po-
the meantime the tuberculous process
tuberculous
tentially active that one could reactivate a
focus
tuberculosis MR DOE In case of siliceous dust Doctor is there
any distinction to be taken between accacuusriatnegly predispos-
in the first instance or rather more
ing to the disease and reactivating an old process
I do not know I don't think I could DR GARDNER
answer the question
prevalence MR DOE Well on the basis of the ktnhoawtltehdegree pisrenso-
ently available you have already testified
scientific basis for testifying that there is more
those employed in silica than among the population
to those per-
among
at large Would your answer be the same as
those
who had had tuberculosis and had gone into
sons
;
occupations I would more or less agree with Dr. for a
DR GARDNER
kind of dust would be a bad thing
Clark that any
active tuberculous focus in his
potentially person Iwiwtohulad hate to see him for his own good go into
enough about
body dusty industry However I do not know to risk work-
it to do more than theorize I would not want
ing in dust if I myself had such a focus
DOE My point is will anything in the present state
MR
there is any risk
of our knowledge establish the fact that
Dr. Gardner No I don't think we have any definite in-
formation of telling Dr. Gardner
MR DOE Is there any way
of tuberculosis and there la exposure
when you see a case
112
A
to a siliceous dust whether or not that particular case of tuberculosis became superimposed on the pneumoconi-
osis or upon the reaction which might be described by any other name than silicosis or whether the latter merely is incidental with tuberculosis
DR GARDNER That is a very difficult question to de-
cide We can only surmise that when the tuberculosis is
progressing in a more or less normal way starting from an apical focus and gradually extending downward but more rapidly than usual that then perhaps the dust may have been instrumental However we have no accurate basis
of information
Thursday November 17 1932. Morning Session
MR DOE Dr. Gardner yesterday in Dr. Clark's ae-
count of his observations in Worcester he said that in
writing these monographs he had intended to limit the discussion to the results of his studies in connection with the reactivation of old tuberculosis by artificial abrasive dust in your work have you come upon anything which questions the correctness of Dr. Clark's conclusions
Dr. Gardner When I discussed our experiments de-
signed to reactivate latent tuberculosis infections I mentioned the fact that in guinea pigs we were able with carborundum dust to produce reactivation in a certain proportion of animals This result we have been at a loss to explain on the basis of our present knowledge The only assumption which we could make was the fact as Mr. Cummings suggested that there might be in the particular carborundum that we used a certain amount of free
silica and that possibly this free silica was responsible for the reactivating effect The carborundum that we used in our experiments came from a Niagara Falls plant and not
from the same source as that of Dr. Clark's Both are
commercial products said to be composed largely of carbide of silicon but there might very well be differences in them We did not make a chemical analysis of the ma-
118
terial which we used we accepted the manufacturer's
analysis
MR DOE From these experiments on guinea pigs would
that there is any justification for as-
it be your judgment
differently that is
suming that human beings might react
that Dr. Clark's experiments if the analysis were
to say
humans and also as to
the same might be correct as to
guinea pigs and there would be no conflict between those
two results
This is possible of course We have al-
DR GARDNER
obtained experimental results
ways attempted when we
what was being
to check them as closely as possible by In the case of
found in the field of human pathology
human beings except
carborundum we have no data on
what Dr. Clark reports
MR DOE Have you had at the sanatorium at Saranac Lake cases of grinders using an artificial abrasive either carborundum or aluminum oxide
tuberculosis We have never had grinders We have
DR GARDNER
of the Carborundum Company at
had several employes
Niagara Falls who have shown an extensive and these men have given a history of rather long con-
tact with the dust but they have not been grinders Many
of them have been office men The office men however
were in a position to inhale a good deal of dust
MR DOE Is there any means of telling in a case such
have last described as to the duration of the tuber-
as you
can you give in
culosis with reference to the dust exposure
a given case whether the tuberculosis is recent or old and
if so how do you tell
DR GARDNER The cases as they came to us were rather
far advanced pulmonary tuberculosis and it was not pos-
sible in any of them to date the onset I say this with reservation because I did not see them clinically I saw their
ray films and heard them discussed but I could not give
you accurate information
MR DOE Dr. Gardner what or who do you consider are the leading authorities on the subject of silicosis in
Germany
8
114
probably DR GARDNER Boehme is
the best observer in
Germany Ickert has also done extremely good work I
think these two are the outstanding ones
MR DOE Who would you say are the outstanding Eng-
lish workers at the present time
DR GARDNER Kettle in the experimental field and
Middleton in the general field of public health.
MR DOE Now in the United States with the excep-
tion of the gentlemen who have been here are there any
people in this country that you regard as authoritative
on silicosis problems
DR GARDNER I would include the men who have been
invited to speak before this group Dr. Sayers of the Bu-
reau of Mines Dr. Lanza of the Metropolitan Life Insur-
Pennsyl- ance Co. and Dr. Pancoast of the University of
Dr. Meriwether of the Bureau of Mines and Dr. ,
vania
also include Dr.
Drinker of Harvard University I would
interested Britton and Dr. Head who have recently become
in the subject
question MR DOE Dr. Gardner suppose that a case of a man
who had been employed as a grinder using artificial abra-
not including carborundum were to come to you for
sives
his tuberculosis from
study to determine whether or not
which he was suffering was occupational what would you
do to try to get at the correct answer to that
how would you go about it if you were the physician whose
decision would furnish the answer to whether he was a
compensable case or not
DR GARDNER Of course one would need an accurate
occupational history with a survey of the dust concentra-
tion in the atmosphere in which he worked a knowledge
of the dust itself its chemical composition its petro-
would want to know when his
graphic composition one
whether he had had
tuberculosis first became manifest
with tuberculosis previous to his entering the
contact
careful clinical
dusty industry finally one should havehiamself In other
and radiographic study of the man
words I would try to find out everything I could about
the individual and his history
115
MR DOE Do you have an opinion Dr. Gardner as to the percentage of adults that contract tuberculosis by
contact
DR GARDNER Opinion is changing on this subject It used to be commonly believed among the group at Saranac Lake that the majority of the cases of adult tuberculosis were due to a recrudescence of a childhood infection
which later became lighted up by physical or mental strain
When I came to Saranac Lake in 1917 the camp was more
or less divided in its opinion on the subject Dr. Baldwin thought practically all such cases were reactivated child-
hood lesions Dr. Lawrason Brown on the other hand
thought that many perhaps 75 were infections from the outside occurring in adult life Today I think the two authorities are willing to admit that there is an even chance for either to occur One cannot tell accurately and
absolutely where the new infection comes from whether
from within or from without The opinion seems to be more or less prevalent throughout the world that occupa-
tional tuberculosis with which we are dealing is in many instances a new infection from without But even after
careful examination at post mortem one can only guess whether one or the other mechanism of infection is in-
volved and some times one can't even guess From the
experimentalists standpoint 1 have been influenced by
the observation that a previous infection tends to immunize against subsequent infections but recently we have had experience which makes me believe that the immunity conferred by one injection of tubercle bacilli is not a steady
and constant affair but that it may fluctuate We now
believe that there may be periods in the life of immunized
animals when resistance is even lower than that in a normal animal At such times the individual may be even more susceptible to infection from without than if he had never
been injected This is still more or less speculative and we
have no absolute proof
MR DOE In examining a hypothetical individual such as I have stated suppose that evidence was produced of
contact with an active case how would you evaluate the significance of that in coming to a conclusion as to whether the tuberculosis was industrial or not
118
Dr. GARDNER If the individual had a well developed silicosis if he gave a history of having had contact with silica in doses of sufficient concentration to produce a characteristic picture of silicosis and if in addition to that he
had a generalized more or less acute tuberculosis I would
certainly think that the individual probably was infected from without rather than having lighted up an old preexisting infection That is on the basis of our experience
with experimental animals
tuberculosis MR DOE I mean to state a case Doctor in which the
dust inhaled is aluminum oxide so that you have a case
where a man who has been employed in such an occupa-
tion and has had actual contact with an active
obviously outside of his employment what signifi-
case
cance would you give to that contact
DR GARDNER If I knew nothing about the man previous to his entry to the industry
MR DOE Yes
DR GARDNER I don't believe I would be able to decide
still alive Of course you do not give me
that is if he were
seek the
the benefit of an autopsy I should of course
of some good clinician for I myself am not a clinician
help
information that you would al-
but I don't think from the
low me I could even guess
MR DOE What is your personal opinion about what
might call the percentage of cases of adults that are
you
would you say that was low
infected from one another
or high
factor There is a good deal of evidence against
DR GARDNER
normal individuals who do not have
adult infection among
There
the additional factor of inhaled dust in their lungs
which can be produced to show there
are
plenty
of
figures individuals
living
intimately
with
one
an-
have been some
other that do not infect each other If you had the
oxide in one member of the group or pair
of aluminpuemrsonal experience I would rather be inclined
much how-
from my
to believe it would not affect the situation very
ever this is only a guess
117
MR DOE Have you an opinion Dr. Gardner as to the number of million particles of concentration of aluminum
oxide dust that could for all practical purposes be consid-
ered safe for workmen over a long period of time
DR GARDNER I would rather leave that question to
my colleague Mr. Cummings
MR CUMMINGS The study made at Barre Vermont
by the U. S. Public Health Service showed that the men exposed to granite dust in a concentration below ten million particles per cubic foot of air seemed to have a much better mortality experience than those in which the dust concentration was higher For this reason they separated
the group exposed to less than ten million particles from the others under investigation because the sickness and mortality rates in this group justified such a distinction These investigators felt that five million particles of granite
determined by the method used by the Public Health Ser-
vice represented a fairly safe concentration of dust Evi-
dence obtained in the Saranac Laboratory would indicate that granite is more potent in producing a fibrosis or in reactivating a tuberculosis than aluminum oxide Conse-
quently I would feel that five million particles of alumi-
num oxide in a cubic foot of air determined by the same
method could be considered a safe concentration for men to work in over a long time
MR DOE When you say long time what do you
mean
MR CUMMINGS Thirty to forty years sir
MR DOE When you say safe do you mean from a
disability through pneumonoconiosis or to tuberculosis or
both
MR CUMMINGS To pulmonary fibrosis I think one has to have that fairly well developed before the increased
susceptibility to tuberculosis becomes very marked
MR DOE Would you say that for aluminum oxide con-
taining less than two per cent silica that that figure of
five million could be substantially increased without chang-
ing the result
118
MR CUMMINGS I believe it could be sir but I wouldn't
be sure We haven't definite evidence either clinical or
experimental to substantiate that fact
MR DOE Let's take a hypothetical suppose that
the concentration were ten million could you estimate the
period of time that such an individual could work without impairing the risk of a tuberculosis complication
MR CUMMINGS I might answer your question indirectly A great many men employed by the Norton Company whose main product is aluminum oxide and not carborundum have undoubtedly been working in a concentration of ten million particles or more for years and as you know the films which Dr. Clark presented failed to indicate a marked pulmonary fibrosis that could be regarded as significant Neither does tuberculosis appear to be a great problem with the Norton Co. Consequently I feel that ten million particles of Alundum per cubic foot
of air could be tolerated by a normal individual over a
period of a great many years than twenty years withousterious damage Our evidence with regard to
the possibility of that man acquiring a new infection or reactivating an old one doesn't permit us to give any ac-
curate information as to what might happen to him in the
presence of that infection
MR DOE When you speak of five and ten million par-
Mr. Cummings do you mean by that under ten
ticles
computation that the Bu-
microns in size by method of
reau of Mines has used
MR CUMMINGS Yes
MR DOE From the pictures which Dr. Clark exhibited
yesterday would you say that those men with the chest findings that appeared were working in a safe concentra-
tion from the standpoint of either tuberculosis complication or a disability from dust inhalation
MR CUMMINGS I don't believe that we have evidence enough to make a statement with regard to the safety *
of any concentration of dust in which tuberculous individ-
uals may work I think that so far as we know the con-
119
if centration of dust they have been working in is fsiabfreosis
we consider only its ability to produce a pulmonary
MR DOE What I meant was from the films themselves
in the absence of fibrosis is there any scientific basis for
that those particular individuals are in any par-
stiacyuilnagr danger of tuberculosis infection so far as their em-
ployment is concerned and their chest findings
It is true that the greater the extent
MR CUMMINGS
which develops after exposure to
of the pulmonary fibrosis
the
the susceptibility and the greater
smiolritcaalitthye gfrreoamtertuberculosis will be Therefore in the
absence of a pulmonary fibrosis in these men one would
feel that no increased susceptibility to tuberculosis ex-
isted However there is one exception which we have re-
peatedly pointed out Experiments with carborundum
dust would indicate that even though it fails to produce
fibrosis there did appear to be an increased
a pulmonary to tuberculosis in the animals that had in-
susceptibility
haled this dust over long periods
MR DOE Then every one of Dr. Clark's employes if he never had been exposed to carborundum
idtusdtidasnod htahpepcehnest picture was substantially as shown here would say that individual was not more
ysuesscteeprtdiablye ytoou tuberculosis than he would have been had
he had the exposure to aluminum oxide
I would say that positively but it
wouMlRdn'tCUbMeMIsuNbGstSantiated by complete experimental evi-
dence at the present time
MR Dog Is there any experimental evidence to the
contrary
MR CUMMINGS There is not
MR DOE That is all
MR TARRELL In your answer to these questions of Mr. Doe you have assumed a hypothetical case of exposure
only to aluminum oxide dust
MR CUMMINGS Yes sir
50
matter concerned again as I see these questions come up it is a
of
getting important necessary data concerning every individ-
ual industry and every individual person There are many dusts undoubtedly that do not harm at all
and we can't regulate the amount of particles of that dust which should affect a person with 1/10 or 1/1000 as much dust of another sort which might do serious harm to an individual in breathing it It seems to me it comes down to the question of types of dust which are known to do harm
and an effort should be made to find out what sort of harm
those dusts do That may be an impractical sort of thing
but it is certainly something that wants attention
DR CLARK am going to talk at length on the subject
a little later and show some films
DR BELLIS Are we to interpret the expression harm
to the lung as merely the production of fibrosis or are we
to interpret it as an irritation which would favor the onset of infection We certainly must agree that the inhala-
tion of dust is not a hygienic procedure and that infection can ride into the lung on particles of dust so that dust inhalation is certainly harmful but if we are to have this
discussion of silicosis and formation of fibrosis as being the only harmful effect of dust then we have to consider the other dusts as not harmful It seems to me that where we see cases of exposure to emery dust that develop tuberculosis and where post mortem examination does show marked evidence of irritation from dust that we cannot say
that inhalation of emery dust is not harmful
November 16 1932. Afternoon Session
DR CLARK Dr. Gardner has given you an excellent outline of the physiology and pathology of the lung In doing so he has mentioned that there is apparently a different action or reaction of the body tissues especially of the
pointed phagocytic cells to different types of dust He has
out to you that the reaction of the cell to silica dust differs from the reaction of that same cell to carborundum dust
51
I am going to talk to you for a few minutes on the work which I have been doing for the last twenty years in the Norton Company in following up the clinical effect of the
inhalation of aluminum oxide and carbide of silicon dust on the lungs of the workers This manufactory takes these
two substances in their crude form and develops them into grinding wheels so that the workers are exposed to the dust from these two materials in rather large quantities In the past they were exposed to what I should now consider excessive amounts of dust because as you know the development of dust removing apparatus has been comparatively slow and for that reason for many years a number of these men who have been employed many years have been exposed to very large quantities of dust in their early expe-
rience This has been reduced as time has gone on until
now the dust hazard is very materially less than it has been at any time in the history of the company We must remember in considering these cases that they have been exposed to very massive inhalation of aluminum oxide and carbide of silicon dust They have also been exposed to a similar quantity of clay dust because clay is mixed with the artificial abrasive in the manufacture of the wheel and they have also been exposed to the dust of what is called the fired bond of the wheel The bond is the clay after the wheel has passed through the kiln and has been burned and comes out hard in the form which you see the ordinary grinding wheel It is the glue which holds the particles of the grinding wheel together I imagine that the majority
of the men here are interested in the effect of the inhalation
of the dust of the grinding wheels and also of the dust of the artificial abrasive used in polishing I would have you bear in mind there are three things you must consider the effect of the artificial abrasive dust which is thrown off in the process of grinding the effect of the very small quantity of bond which is present in the wheel and which is broken off and becomes dust and the effect on the lung of the dust of the material which is being ground In the majority of cases this material is steel
In the construction of the grinding wheel we have a series of grains of various shapes which are held together by the bond I have thickened up the spaces to show
62
the bond which glues these grains together and if you
put a grinding wheel under high powered glass you will
see it looks something like a surface of a fine sponge The separate grains will stand out glued together by this bond
What are these two substances The average composition
of aluminum oxide and this is an average composition covered by samples taken over eight years in our laboratories
and kept for manufacturing records is combined silicates 1.71 iron oxide 46 titanium oxide 3.27 and aluminum oxide 94.56 The great bulk is aluminum oxide there
is a very small proportion 1.71 of the combined silicates Silica is not present as free silica but is probably confined to the complex silica slag between the crystalline
alumina This supposition is confirmed by petrographic examination Iron is reported as ferric oxide an inherent
custom although it is present almost certainly as ferrous oxide by virtue of the strongly reduced conditions under which abrasive is made Titanium is also properly in a
lower state of opacity than TIO
The other substance we will consider is carbide of silicon
Carbide of silicon is theoretically a silicon compound of 100 purity On account of the fact that the sand coke
and sawdust used in the manufacture are themselves less
than chemically pure the product contains about 98 silicon compound and about % associated impurities
Now the effect of the inhalation of these dusts I have
studied clinically for a period of about twenty years I have published the results in three studies The first one is Dust Hazard in the Abrasive Industry in which I examined a group of men who had been employed in the
for over ten years These men were examined company
by physical examination and rays were taken of their
chests A little later I made a second study in which I reviewed the study made three years before examining
the chests of these men by ray and again having physical
examination made of the chest Each year we have con-
tinued to make physical examinations of the chest How-
rayed wait ever we have not taken that original group and
them because pathological change was apparently occur-
ring in such a slight degree that I felt it was safe to three or four years between ray examinations The re-
examination of the chest by ray will probably take place
this winter on this original group Since that period we have examined two other groups who have been exposed to ten years inhalation of artificial abrasive dust Our
experience in physical examining these men is negative
We find that they are apparently perfectly healthy men We have men who have been manufacturing in this busi-
ness for many years some of them who have been there
forty years and they all appear to be in normal condition so far as the chest goes considering the period of time which they have been working and the age of the men and type of work they have been doing So far as the chest goes we cannot find on physical examination any great abnormalities It is only on the ray that we can find that the men have been working in a dusty atmosphere
In order to show you what the effect of these less harmful
dusts are upon the chest I have brought some ray films Before I show these I thought it would be of interest to you to know how wide spread the use of aluminum oxide
and carbide of silicon wheels is in industry at the present
time because I think this will bring to us the importance
of these dusts
I have this letter from our Market Research Department Grinding wheels and abrasive grain began to be widely used in 1904 and their use rapidly increased up to 1929. These substances therefore have been in use in
large quantities for about twenty years The follow-
ing figures give a rough estimate of the tons or pounds
of manufactured abrasives consumed in the United States
in 1929 1930 and 1931. In the year 1929 there were 63,000
tons of wheels or 106,000,000 pounds of wheels consumed
in 1930 22,00t0ons or 44,000,000 pounds in 1931 33,000
tons or 66,000,000 pounds Of polishing grain including the coated product in 1929-23,037 tons in 1930-11,750 tons in 1931 9,750tons The total wheels and grain used in coated products in 1929 was 76,037 tons in 1930
33,750 tons and 1931-42,750 tons I have made up a selected group of rays endeavoring to
select men of various numbers of years of service and of various ages We don't know how much dust exposure these men had before they came to work for us It is very
54
difficult when a man has been working for you from sev-
enteen to twenty years for him to remember anything
about work he did before he came to your company It is
difficult to find out whether these men have been exposed
to dust prior to their entering our employ and some of them
undoubtedly worked in places where there was a great deal
of dust where for instance there may have been sand blasting and therefore we may not have a pure picture of the result of aluminum oxide and carbide of silicon dust
inhalation You will see that these chest pictures show perhaps a little more marking than the normal man of that age would have but there are none of those patches of fibrous tissue that Dr. Gardner has spoken of
Here is a picture of the chest of a worker thirty
years old with sixteen years exposure There are some
little spots along in here showing that there is some block-
ing of the lymphatics probably due to deposits of artificial
abrasive I would very much like some who are experts
on ray to express opinions on any of these chest pictures These men are working at the present time without any
apparent trouble The next picture is of a man having
sixteen years exposure age 39. This man has been ex-
posed to artificial abrasive dust and also to a clay dust Now I show you a picture of one year more 18 years exposure This man has been exposed to the dust due to truing of wheels That work is extremely dusty He has been exposed to pretty heavy dosage of dust for that period of time You will notice again that while there is
a very distinct increase in linear markings it is a pretty
fair looking lung
:
Now we get up to twenty years This man has been
exposed to heavy dosage of the pure abrasive dust Very
heavy dosage And you will find that there is a tendency
to a clouding throughout the chest here There are some
little speckles around throughout but there are no areas of consolidation such as you will see when Dr. Russell will
show you some pictures of the fibrosis that goes with sili-
cosis This is a case of aluminum oxide exposure Our
next patient is 63 years old and here is a point I think
we should bear in mind When we get a man 63 years
old he shows a certain amount of fibrosis in his chest
55
whether he works in dust or whether he does not at least that has been my experience I have had pictures taken for conditions other than dust inhalation Most of the men around 63 show some fibrosis of the chest whether they have been working in dust or not I would like to
have Dr. Gardner discuss that if he will
Here is a picture of a man exposed for 24 years He is 38 years of age He began work very young probably
working with us from the time he began He has been
exposed to large dosages of artificial abrasive dust The dust was composed of aluminum oxide in large quantities with a small quantity of carbide of silicon dust
Here we have the picture of a man 56 years old whose work was the grinding of wheels down to the proper size This man has thirty years of service Here again we see very much the same picture little linear fibrosis through the lungs but no fibrotic areas This man looks the picture of health I saw him about two days before I left and he is a very happy strong man who is doing regular
work and so far as I know hasn't lost any time at all
except from an attack of rheumatism that he had That
is how I happened to see him Here is a man 55 years old working in the same depart-
ment with 37 years exposure Perhaps a trifle more pronounced lung markings but not very much more than those
1 have showed you I do not notice that there are any
fibrous areas
Last of an I show you the him of a man of longest
service 42 years exposure to abrasive dust and mixed
with that a little clay He is in the Shaving Department
which is extremely dusty He was 72 years of age when this picture was taken He has since died of cancer of the prostate gland not from any lung condition
I have tried to show you different stages of the effect
of artificial abrasive dust inhalation over a period of years
Now I am going to show you two cases of men of more
advanced pneumoconiosis with a shorter period of expoBure Here is a little Italian who weighs 128 pounds five feet high He was exposed only thirteen years His film
shows a little bit more fibrosis A little thickening suggestion in there and he has some thickening of the pleura
56
between the upper and middle lobes of the right lung showing silicosis
MR KUECHLE Do you mean silicosis
DR CLARK No.
term so frequently everything silicosis
I mean pneumoconiosis We use that
Drs Pancoast and Pendergrass call They do not use the word pneumo-
coniosis very much
MR TARRELL What was that statement
DR CLARK Dr. Pancoast and Dr. Pendergrass are very apt to use the word silicosis They very often do
Mr. TaRRELL You said they used it entirely
DR CLARK Here is another man forty years old who I think shows some suggestion of reaction in his lung That is we gave him perhaps second stage on that He is 40 years old perfectly healthy weighs 209 pounds In fact he has gained five pounds in the last three years
Those last two films are the worst that I was able to
find in my series of chest pictures They both of them are
rather short exposure to dust I am unable to determine
whether that short exposure means that they were working in dust before they came to work in the Norton Com-
pany or whether that was all due to aluminum oxide I
have no way of knowing It is almost impossible to fol-
low up the exact work record so I think we will have to
take the blame for it in our particular industry Now as to the physical condition of these men have
here their original records I don't want to take up your time unless you wish to ask some specific questions about them Every one of the men has had a physical examination each year That physical examination is a complete general physical examination and in addition to the complete examination he has a special lung examination which is made to determine what has happened during the past year We want to know whether he has had any cough expectoration of blood difficulty in breathing and that we consider important We ask him very carefully about whether he is short of breath and we hop the man on one foot fifty times to see if he has any shortness of breath
67
We take his weight make a complete physical examination of the chest including inspection to see whether he
seems to be breathing lightly or deeply precussion auscultation to note breath voice and any rales present as well
as examining the condition of the heart and blood vessels
We have found in all of these cases practically everything
is negative Occasionally a man will report a cold they
have no dyspnoea one man had apparent failing weight
They all seem to be in pretty good condition in this par-
ticular group To sum up I have published in the Journal of Industrial Hygiene three papers giving the result of
our work The conclusions of my first investigation are as follows In factories which provide proven methods of dust removal continuous inhalation of artificial abrasive
dust over many years does not produce the symptoms or
present in ray findings of pneumoconiosis I think I
should be inclined to change that now This was my first
paper I think they do show some signs possibly of beginning pneumoconiosis due to dust inhalation I don't
think they show any signs of disease of such an extent as to have any effect on the workman's ability to carry on
his work The number of cases of tuberculosis occurring
in the artificial abrasive industry do not greatly exceed the number of cases in the community Workers who habit- .
ually use grinding wheels will not develop pneumoconiosis
if they use artificial abrasives rather than sandstone wheels I considered sandstone wheels from the point of view of
~-
silica content and from the point of view of the very much larger amount of dust The second paper was simply a follow of the work done in the first paper and I arrived at these conclusions Continued inhalation of artificial abrasive dust composed of aluminum oxide and carbide of silicon will not produce disabling silicosis in the working period The ray failed to reveal any case of third
stage silicosis and I used Dr. Pancoast's description of third stage silicosis It is possible for men with arrested process
in the lung to work in artificial abrasive dust for a considerable period without relighting the process That is
based on the fact that we found quite a number of cases
in which the ray showed tuberculosis at the apex of the lung I followed those cases with the greatest care We
58
have examined them repeatedly We have followed them at their work we have not changed the work and yet none of those cases have at the present time broken down
with active tuberculosis Our cases of tuberculosis have all been cases we didn't expect would show tuberculosis
Many were cases that came from parts of the factory where
there was no dust hazard
In regard to this question of tuberculosis I made another study along this line in an effort to find out whether the inhalation of the artificial abrasive dust would or
would not increase the amount of tuberculosis that there
was among men who are exposed to it I took the factory as a whole and I took the dust departments and analyzed them and I found without question that there was more tuberculosis in the departments where there was artificial abrasive dust than there was proportionately in the factory as a whole I am not sure whether that is due
to the artificial abrasive dust or whether it is due to the
fact that the men who work in these dusty departments are very apt on the whole to have lower living conditions and are more exposed to tuberculosis outside than are the men
who work in other parts of the factory For instance in the departments where they make grinding machines they - require a very high type of mechanic These workers live under very much better conditions than the men working in the dusty departments It is a fact that there is a
little more tuberculosis occurring over long periods of years among the workers who work in the dusty departments than among the workers who work in the dusty departments That leads me to the conclusion that active pulmonary tuberculosis is a dangerous condition to introduce into any dusty place We ought to prohibit men from working in a department where there is dust of any kind
if they have active tuberculosis Whether it makes a dif-
ference when they have healed tuberculosis I am not sure We have enough cases here of healed tuberculosis to make me feel there is less danger than one would anticipate I can't put it any stronger than that They may all break down the day after tomorrow I don't know
Just for a practical point why do we keep these men with healed tuberculosis working in dusty atmospheres I
59
think that can be well explained by a case we had a number of years ago This man worked in one of our dusty departments and he broke down with active tuberculosis a very definite tuberculosis hemorrhage and so forth
We sent him to a sanatarium He came back and the
question was what to do with him He was extremely skillful in his work and he said Doctor I have got to work at that job It is the only job I can do well I have to work so that I can support my wife and children If I try to do something else I can't I am willing to take the chance I have been at the sanitarium and I know the first symptoms of a break down and I will stop then So
I gave him the chance and he worked for many many
years in that department without any difficulty or reacti-
vation of that tuberculosis Those are the situations we
run into It is a pretty serious thing to take a man's job away from him unless you are absolutely sure it is going to hurt him or others in his department For that reason I have preferred in these cases of apparently arrested tuberculosis to tell the man there was some danger but to let him continue at his original occupation follow him along examine him frequently and keep him on the job
for which he is best fitted I would like very much indeed to know more about the
effect of the inhalation of artificial abrasive dust on the
lungs of large numbers of people I have a comparatively
small group that I am working with It is a group under excellent control I am pretty sure of the facts here but I haven't got that broad point of view which one gets in studying such a problem as silicosis pure and simple where the literature is teeming with plenty of material We
need very much to know how much tuberculosis and how
much pneumoconiosis there is among the people using artificial grinding wheels throughout this country Probably that will gradually develop but it is a subject that should be studied watched and given a great deal of thought particularly at the present time
One further thing and then I will be through I have here the mortality record The morbidity record from tuberculosis which is most interesting is contained in this study of the dust hazard of the abrasive industry and if
60
anyone wishes a copy of that I will send it to them The
mortality record however has not been published This mortality record goes back to 1920 twelve years ago It
contains the cause of death of every man who has died in
the Norton Company during that period of time and the cause of death is that registered in the City Hall of Wor-
ceater so that we feel as far as we can tell it is correct
We didn't make the diagnosis The diagnosis was made by hospitals and by the family physicians in every case Now let's see how that looks when we come to the question of
different diseases If we take the heart and vascular sys-
tem which means heart disease hemorrhages in the brain and so forth I find that I have three and third pages I am not going to give actual numbers but I am trying to give you an impression If I take malignant disease I find
I have one and third pages if I take tuberculosis I find I have one page so that our death rate from tuberculosis is less than our death rate from cancer at the present time and way under our death rate from heart and vascular disease I also find in looking over these deaths that a very large number of them never worked in contact with dust at all but I will not go into those figures
because they are of no particular interest What I am trying to present to you is a clinical picture of the effect
of dust on the workers of a factory where artificial abrasives are made where there has been in the past very heavy exposure to dust and where even at the present time
the exposure to dust is probably higher than in well-
equipped grinding rooms I should be very glad to answer any questions
MR DOE Dr. Clark in the studies that you have made have you had any opportunity to make any classification as between those exposed to carborundum and those exposed to aluminum oxide
DR CLARK I have been unable to because the men are shifted from one department to another There are &
number of transfers depending upon the activity of the various departments The making of a carbide of silicon wheel is exactly the same as the making of an aluminum oxide wheel so that if they happen to be busy in one
61
from department and quiet in another men are shifted
one department to another The same applies in making
the abrasives so that the men are transferred from one
department to another and it is impossible to separate them
MR DOE Have you any opinion as to whether the tuberculosis incidence is higher where carborundum is used
than where aluminum oxide is used
DR CLARK I have no means of knowing that at all
MR DOE You have no opinion
DR CLARK No opinion except what I know from out-
side not from my own experience
MR DOE Have you information Dr. Clark about what the dust counts are that these men are working in
DR CLARK No I will probably have some the day after tomorrow We have been on the point of making
dust counts In 1929 we were all set to take dust counts
We had our plans made for the expert to come down to see what our dust count was Then the depression came and practically half the machines became idle The dust problem became a small proposition We wanted a count under larger dosage We have just taken counts around some machines to determine how dusty they were but feel quite sure in certain departments in the remote past there hus been a very high dust count I should say twenty years ago as high as fifty or sixty million I think now due to carefully planned dust control it is very low
MR DOE Can you give us any information about the
incidence of pneumonia
DR CLARK I can only give you the mortality of pneumonia I can't give you the incidence of it I should like very much indeed to keep a morbidity chart on all our
respiratory diseases but unfortunately the labor connected
with doing that is considerable and we are so cut down at the present time in endeavoring to keep our expense down that it has not yet been carried out That is one of the studies I have been personally interested in mak-
ing Our mortality record from pneumonia is about the
62
same in the number of names that I see here as it is for
malignant disease one and thirds pages of names
MR DOE Can you give us any information between
the death rate from pneumonia and the death rate of the
city of Worcester generally
DR CLARK No I can't for pneumonia I can give you the incidence of tuberculosis in Worcester and I can give you the incidence of tuberculosis in our industry The incidence of tuberculosis in the City of Worcester on a basis of 10,000 that is the basis we have gone on if we have that same population is an average of twelve for the city of Worcester and thirteen for the Norton Company On the other hand we rather balanced that by the fact that at the Norton Company we know every case of tuberculosis we have because it is pretty hard for a person with tuberculosis to escape if he is working for the company In the city of Worcester all cases are not reported and there are a number of children who developed
tuberculosis Our average age is 36 at the Norton Company so that we have older people than are included in the
city of Worcester So I think it probably balances pretty
close
MR DOE With reference to your data on deaths from
heart and vascular conditions have you any opinion Dr. Clark as to whether any of those deaths have been secondary to the pneumoconiosis factor
DR CLARK I think not That would be my impression I am just looking through before I answer that question to find out how many of these men have been exposed to dust There are ten out of seven
MR DOE Ten of the heart cases have been employed in the dusty departments
DR CLARK Yes out of 57
MR DOE What is the proportion of employes in the dusty departments as compared to the total number of employes
DR CLARK Roughly about four That is there are about four times as many dusty as there are dusty
63
MR DOE You say Doctor that in your annual examination of these men you make particular inquiry as to
shortness of breath
DR CLARK Yes
MR DOE In your studies have any of these men that
you have examined complained of shortness of breath
DR CLARK No.
MR DOE You say that you also make particular inquiry as to colds and coughs expectoration and so forth
what are the results as to that
DR CLARK There are very few There does not seem to be any abnormal amount
MR DOE What do you find with regard to any other disease such as pleurisy or asthma or any of the other
diseases of that tract
DR CLARK I do not find it
MR DOE So that you would say that the men you
have been studying are from physical examination apart from the ray entirely negative
DR CLARK Yes that is as far as the lungs go They
may have hernias
MR DOE Yes that is what I mean Does that apply to these men that have worked as high as forty years
Dr. Clark Yes
MR DOE To all of them
DR CLARK Yes
Mr. Tarrell Dr. Clark in these rays that you have exposed what type of pneumoconiosis do you see there
DR CLARK I don't know I don't pretend to be an expert on reading rays I am trying to learn all the time
about that
MR TARRELL How many laborers do you have at the
Norton Company plant
64
DR CLARK Usually 2,500 now about half the number At the present time there is no turnover
MR TARRELL You make physical examinations of every employe
DR CLARK Yes and as frequently as necessary after that Those exposed to dust are examined every year
MR TARRELL What percentage of those given physical examinations are discharged or refused employment
DR CLARK I should say none now
fraction of one per cent in the past
I think it was a
MR TARRELL
employment?
A fraction of one per cent were refused
DR CLARK Yes
MR TARRELL What percentage of your employes were discharged or transferred to other employments after phys-
ical examinations
DR CLARK Comparatively small number on first ex-
amination We do most of our transfers after a man has
been there for a certain period of time When he shows some defect he may develop a hernia or a murmur in the heart and that makes it advisable to transfer him My experience has been that most men apply for jobs to which they are physically fitted and the cases which we have been obliged to turn away have been a few cases of contagious disease either active tuberculosis or some venereal disease or more particularly men with only one eye In our industry we don't think it is fair to have any man work in a department where there are flying abrasives if he has
only one eye there is always a danger If he can do anything else we think it is very much better for him to do it We will occasionally hire such a man for work in a
dusty department
Mr. TarreLL Do you know what percentage of employes working in exposure to abrasive dust are found to have defective lungs
65
DR CLARK Well we won't allow any man to work in artificial abrasive dust exposure if he has got any disease in his lungs that is active
MR TARRELL You permit him to work if he has no noticeable disease of the respiratory tract
DR CLARK Yes
MR TARRELL If on examination you find a man is suf-
fering from dyspnoea what disposition do you make of
his case
DR CLARK That would have to be a case for study We would want to find out what caused the dyspnoea whether due to his heart or whether due to lungs and why
MR TARRELL With reference to Mr. Doe's question about the frequency of influenza an article that was written by you and published in the Journal of Industrial Hygiene December 1931 you made mention of some cases
in which you made the statement that of those who de-
veloped active pulmonary tuberculosis in the departments where abrasive dust was prevalent three developed symp-
toms in less than one year six in less than four years one in five years and one in fifteen and one in twenty and one
in twenty years Four of these developed the disease immediately following an attack of influenza and after very short exposure to dust That is a correct state-
ment of what you found
DR CLARK Yes that is right
MR TARRELL And those working in clay dust one developed the disease after twelve years of service
DR CLARK Yes The clay dust contains nine per cent free silica
MR TARRELL You made the further statement among
those working in the abrasive dusts in proportion to the number of workers involved there were approximately twice as many cases of pulmonary tuberculosis as among
those in departments where no abrasive dust occurred
DR CLARK Yes before I made the analysis which I think is a fair analysis which reduces it to one and one-
6
half if you cut those cases of influenza out I do believe
as I said before that the inhalation of dust I don't care
whether it is artificial abrasive dust or whether a dust of
high silica content or perhaps even tobacco dust or cotton dust I think any of those dusts are to a certain degree to a certain number of people provocative of lighting up a
quiescent tuberculosis
MR TARRELL an irritation
In other words you think they cause
DR CLARK They cause an irritation but I also feel that the cases that we have had should be considered We
have at the present time a certain number of men who are working in dusty departments with ray tuberculosis The ray shows that the man has tuberculosis which hasn't broken down and I don't feel that it is fair to discharge such cases on the chance that they may break down If they do it is up to us to take care of them
MR TARRELL Where you have an irritated respiratory
tract and an irritated lung it is pure speculation to say
how soon it may break down
DR CLARK = Yes
MR TARRELL In this same article in your conclusion you said that about the only conclusion which can be drawn from the present study is that it is inadvisable for persons who have had pulmonary tuberculosis to work in a
department in which large amounts of artificial abrasive or any other dust are present
DR CLARK That is my
MR TARRELL Do you find any reason to change your conclusion in that respect
DR CLARK No. I don't
MR WRIGHT Heavy work or light work
DR CLARK Pretty heavy work They have to lift heavy wheels sometimes one hundred and fifty pounds
It depends entirely upon what part of the factory they
are working in
67
DR BELLIS What protection is given your recommen-
dation against inhalation of dust
DR CLARK The use of hoods on all machines and very powerful suction which draws the dust away from the operator at the point at which dust is formed It is an interesting thing about very fine dust in artificial abrasive wheels When the wheel is traveling at great speed which
they do there is a tendency for the dust to cling to the wheel Large pieces of it throw off but the fine dust seems to cling to the wheel and this with the larger of the fine particles are very adequately taken care of by suction apparatus and the hood which protects thirds of the
wheel
MR DOE Do you feel within your work you have discovered any scientific evidence that aluminum oxide abrasives dispose to tuberculosis
DR CLARK No.
MR DOE Well on that hypothesis what scientific basis is there for saying that any dust predisposes to tuber-
culosis
DR CLARK I don't think any doctor would advise a
patient who had tuberculosis to work in a dusty atmosphere I think that is just the general medical feeling If we know a person has tuberculosis wa try to put him ^fina place where the air is clean In the case of determining the type of work for a person who has had tuberculosis it is then a question whether he is on the safe side or danger side I feel it would depend on the individual
case There are some cases in which I feel I would be per-
fectly willing to put a man back to work who had had tuberculosis and I have done so in dusty departments where I felt I could control the man enough so if he did break down I could get him up again
MR DOE I don't mean to assume a case doctor where a man either was in a state of having active tuberculosis or of having had tuberculosis I mean a person who at the time he starts to work is absolutely negative for tuberculosis at that time What scientific basis is there for saying that any dust predisposes that individual to tuberculosis
68
DR CLARK I don't think there is any except that there
is undoubtedly some irritation in the bronchus and there is a possibility that if he is exposed to a heavy dose of tubercle bacilli he will get tuberculosis but I would prefer to have that discussed by Dr. Gardner What I was trying to
discuss in this paper was whether tuberculosis was acti-
vated by dust My final conclusion was that the people who had tuberculosis had better not work in a dusty atmosphere That had nothing to do with a person who has no
tuberculosis
MR DOE Was your answer to Mr. Tarrell a few minutes ago to that same effect persons who had had
tuberculosis any dusty atmosphere was contraindicated
DR CLARK Yes
MR DOE You didn't mean to express an opinion in regard to those who did not have tuberculosis
DR CLARK No.
MR DOE In your cases where you have found that there were certain developments of tuberculosis in the
dusty departments were those persons who had not been previously detected as being healed cases
DR CLARK Yes We do not take an ray of all our employes That is one of the developments I hope to get to I hope to have an ray on every man working in a dusty department We are on the way but it hasn't been done We have to take on a great deal of work in the Norton Company medical department which has nothing whatever to do with the question of dust inhalation in the lungs We are confined to a certain staff and we have to cover a large amount of preventative work diagnose many cases and treat all minor diseases as well so that the amount of time we can spend on any particular problem is not the same as in a university where one has unlimited
time and funds
Mr. DoE In those cases that became active who were
employed in dust you are unable to say whether they were tuberculous before entering the employment
69
DR CLARK We can only say they did not show signs of active tuberculosis to the stethoscope
MR DOE You perhaps hadn't reached any conclusion on the question of whether a person who showed no past tuberculosis would be predisposed by inhalation of alumi-
num oxide and carborundum
DR CLARK No.
MR DOE You have no opinion on that
Dr. Clark I have no scientific opinion on that at all
MR NELSON Do your figures include men who have left the employ of the company and been gone for some
time
DR CLARK So far as we know it does for a certain number If a man leaves the company for some time and
develops any serious condition it almost always gets back to the company some way Through other men or the man himself or through the insurance company
MR NELSON Do you make a systematic check up DR CLARK No. Not on the men who have left the
employ of the company We don't know where they are
MR DOE I understand that in no single case where you discovered the tuberculosis by ray has there been
a breakdown afterwards
DR CLARK I have had none so far
DR KUHN Do your employes in your company have physical examinations pertaining to the chest Do they have ray examinations prior to employment
DR CLARK No. They only have rays of the cheat if they have been working in a dusty department for ten
years
DR KUHN How do you find it possible to diagnose fibroid tuberculosis after they have been in the employment
for say a period of three months or six months and you
ray the chest and find this condition if you have no prior check up as they come in from an ray exami-
nation
70
DR CLARK I don't quite get what you want
DR KUHN The point I am trying to make is if you haven't ray examination prior to employment and then you have later an ray examination after they are employed three months
DR CLARK But we don't examine them by ray until they have been employed for ten years
A VOICE If they have lung pathology you do ray
them
DR CLARK Yes If a man shows any lung pathology that we can find and they are coming in all the time any man who has a cough which lasts for more than a week we give him a very careful examination and sputum examination and if there is any question of definite disease we send him for ray
DR GARDNER I shall attempt to summarize and amplify my remarks of this morning in a series of lantern slides I shall demonstrate the characteristics of the reaction to different types of dust in the normal and in the tuberculous animal
There followed a series of slides in which various features were pointed out Since the stenographic report of this demonstration is pointless without illustrations I shall tabulate and summarize the features which were brought out by these slides
1. An early silicotic consisting of a zone of dustfilled phagocytes about a lymphoid nodule in the periphery of the lung
2. Longitudinal section of an artery in the lung with lymphatic trunks running through its wall Encroaching
upon the channel of the lymph vessel but outside its membrane of lining cells are masses of lymphoid tissue These
masses contain small collections of dust cells
3. Further development of the silicotic nodules in the
areas shown in slide 2. Note that the channel of the Imyph
vessel is greatly narrowed by the expanding nodule This
e
is one of the causes of lymph stasis
te
4. Extensive silicosis in a tracheobronchial lymph node
obliterating most of the lymph channels further cause
rm
71
of interference with the normal flow of lymph When the
reactions illustrated in slides 3 and 4 have occurred the dust can no longer be removed and it accumulates everywhere in the walls of the pulmonary air spaces
5. Diffuse and nodular fibrosis in pulmonary air space producing so much distortion that the external characteristics of the organ are obliterated No interchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide could take place through
walls thickened in this manner
6. Nodular silicosis in rabbit's lung produced by in-
halation of pure crystalline silica Nodular lesions are characteristic of the disease in both human beings and animals The reproduction of such reactions demonstrates the adequacy of the experimental method for studying reactions to any dust The nodules show degenerative changes at their centres due to the toxic action of the
silica and not to a lack of nutrition This is demonstrated
by the presence of a blood vessel traversing the degenerated portion The margins of the nodule formed by cellular fibrous tissue are sharply defined
7. Cross section of a pair of lungs from a guinea pig
exposed to crystalline silica for 14 months presents noduJar lesions throughout both lungs with particularly large numbers beneath the pleura The tracheobronchial lymph nodes are enlarged and replaced by reaction to the silica
8. An ray film of the animal whose lungs were shown in slide 7. Note the similarity to similar films of human beings with silicosis
9. Another ray film of a guinea pig exposed for 1 year and 10 months The density and number of the nodu-
lar shadows is greater
10. Lung of a rabbit exposed to inhalation of crystalline silica for 13 months Minute nodules resembling tubercles scattered throughout the lung
11. Higher magnification of the individual nodules
shown in slide 10. Demonstrates the formation of silicotic
nodules in lymphoid tissues associated with blood vessels
and bronchi Note that the nodules have sharply defined
borders and that very few dust cells are seen in the air
spaces of the lung outside the nodules
72
12. Lung of a rabbit exposed for 13 months as in the
case of the animal exhibited in slide 10 but then removed from the dust room and allowed to live in a normal at-
mosphere for another 8 months Its lung shows nodules larger than those seen in slide 10 in other words without further exposure to dust the tissue reaction has progressed
13. Higher magnification of two of the nodules illustrated in slide 12. Note that the margins of the nodules are no longer sharply defined but that they are surrounded by a large number of dust cells Some of them may represent additional cells which have migrated to the focus
after the dust exposure was discontinued But sections of the first animal showed that most of the inhaled dust
had already been collected within the nodules Therefore
it is assumed that most of the cells about the borders of
the nodules are attracted by silica particles which other migrating cells have carried out of the nodule and deposited on the periphery
Demonstration of such progression of the disease has also been possible by the use of serial roentgenograms not only in the experimental animal but in human beings The progressive nature of silicosis is one of its most discouraging aspects It is our hope that research will disclose some method either of eliminating or of fixing and rendering harmless the silica which has been inhaled
14. Three graded samples of very fine silica particles sizes 12 to 9 microns 8 to 6 microns and 3 to 1 microns in diameter respectively These separations were made by a method which Mr. Cummings has devised depending upon variation of the settling rate of various sized parti-
cles in alcohol
15. Reaction in lung to 1.3 grams of the largest particles 9 to 12 microns which were injected intravenously in divided doses over a period of one month Animal killed after completing last injection Note that the particles remain in the walls of the air spaces where they have been surrounded by giant phagocytes Section stained specifically to bring out the fibrous elements of connective tissue The giant phagocytes are surrounded by only a few thin fibres
73
16. Another animal treated similarly to that shown in slide 15 but not killed until one year after completing the injection of the large particles Note that there has been little change in the character of the reaction The nodule of phagocytes is only slightly larger and the number and thickness of the connective tissue fibres is only slightly increased over those seen in the previous slide
By comparing slides 15 and 16 we conclude that particles as large as 9 to 12 microns in diameter are relatively inert They do not produce the progressive type of reaction seen with smaller silica particles They do not excite the specific effect of silica but are combated with a cellular response similar to that excited by any insoluble foreign body
17. A silicotic nodule produced by inhalation of very fine magnification the same as that used in figures 15 and 16 show how much larger the area of re-
action and how much greater the amount of black stained
fibrous tissue The fine particles produce the typical silica
effect
18. Lymph node draining the liver from an animal injected intravenously with particles 6 to 8 microns in diameter These particles are so small that most of them are carried through the capillaries of the lung to the left heart and from thence to the liver From this organ its lymph vessels transport them to a lymph node near the
gall bladder Concentration in this location results in
reaction The node is some 20 times its normal size It contains a great number of cells filled with dust and resembles the reaction to the tubercle bacillus But there is no tuberculosis in this case the reaction is due to silica particles which can be demonstrated by a special form of
illumination known as polarized light
19. Another portion of the same lymph node shown in slide 18. Here one sees an early silicotic nodule which is composed of cellular connective tissue which is beginning to show the specific hyaline degeneration in its central portion Polarized light reveals that the very finest silica particles are in the nodular part of the lymph node in the area of diffuse reaction seen in de 18 the particles are
larger
7474
The body has separated the particles varying from 6
to 8 microns in diameter into fractions The smaller ones
being more active excite the nodular reaction characteristic of advanced silicosis the larger ones the diffuse response of the early stages of the picture
120 21 22 23. Sections of livers of animals injected by vein with 1.3 gram of the very finest silica particles 1
to 3 microns in diameter
These particles also passed through the lung and were carried to the liver and thence to the lymph node which drains this organ There because of their very small size they rapidly excited the formation of scar tissue which interferred with lymphatic drainage from the liver The later injections of the dust could not be removed from the liver but stayed in this location There they excited a reaction which is essentially the same as silicosis of the lung
It started as a nodule of dust cells in the connective tis-
sues illustrated This nodule was gradually transformed into typical hyaline fibrous tissue a typical silicotic nodule illustrated The silica gradually killed off the liver cella and most of them were replaced by scar tissue until there were only small islands of such cells illustrated or group of the liver bile ducts illustrated to be seen Any ex-
tensive formation of scar tissue in the liver is called a cir-
rhosis This experimental lesion would be called a silicotic cirrhosis The whole organ is involved so that in
gross it resembles a white nodular mass of sear with little resemblance to normal liver tissue
By killing rabbits at successive intervals after discontinuing the injections of dust it was shown that the reaction
progressed from month to month but in each case it was
made up of a series of silicotic nodules and a diffuse formation of silicotic fibrous tissue
The experiments illustrated in slides 15 to 23 offer sug-
gestive evidence to confirm the solubility hypothesis They show that the rate of reaction to silica dust varies directly with the size of the particle The smaller the particle the larger is its surface area and the greater its capacity to excite reaction Such relationships are characteristic of chemical rather than mechanical irritation
These observations suggest the importance of determin-
75
ing whether the extremely fine and therefore most potent particles are not only inhaled but are retained in the lungs Analyses of the ash of silicotic lungs show that the majority of particles vary from 1 to 3 microns in diameter Whether our methods are adequate to detect and measure
the smaller ones I do not know nor have we any evidence
to show whether the cilia may eliminate particles less than 1 micron in diameter more rapidly than those of the 1 to 3
micron size group If it should be proven that the ex-
tremely active particles under a micron in diameter are
retained within the lung our apparatus for dust counting must be modified Mr. Bloomfield and Mr. Cummings will have more to say on this subject
24. Lt. Lung of a normal guinea pig infected by inhala-
tion of our attenuated tubercle bacillus The reaction cor-
responds to the childhood type of tuberculous infection in human beings It consists of a localized tubercle or nodule beneath the pleura and more extensive tuberculosis in the tracheobronchial lymph node The latter is produced by drainage of bacilli from the lung tubercle through the lymphatic vessels In normal guinea pigs such tubercles
tend to heal of their own accord and ultimately disappear
24. Rt Lung of a guinea pig infected with the same attenuated tubercle bacillus after one year's exposure to silica dust The area of disease in the lung and in the tracheobronchial lymph node is now much more extensive It is a new type of disease un acute tuberculosis It does
not heal and disappear but progresses and ultimately kills
the animal In this case within two months after the infection
25. Inhalation of silica dust begun after an infection
with the attenuated tubercle bacillus has begun to heal The silica reactivated the healing tubercles and caused them to become progressive again The infection has spread ex-
tensively throughout the lung and numerous cavities have
formed where the original tubercles were located The
amount of disease in the tracheobronchial lymph nodes is excessive and has spread beyond their limits into the connective tissue about them the mediastinum
26. Chronie tuberculosis in a guinea pig produced by the inhalation of silica dust during the period of develop-
76
ment of tuberculous infection with the attenuated tubercle bacillus
The desease is widespread and slowly progressive I
use the compound term tuberculosis to indicate the
combined lesion but not in the sense the South Africans em-
ploy tuberculosis or tuberculo to emphasize
priority of one or the other irritant
27. Exposure to asbestos dust 8 hours daily for 840 days Instead of a nodular reaction this dust excites the formation of scar tissue in the form of elongated collars which surround the terminal bronchioles Migratory phagocytes and the lymphatic system play little part in the localization of this dust probably because of the fibrous character of its particles The fibres come to rest along the walls of the
smaller bronchioles and are carried directly into the substance of the nearby walls Practically none of the dust
reaches the tracheobronchial nodes and the section shows no significant reaction
28 and 29. A higher magnification of terminal bronchioles in early asbestosis Note the cellular character of the fibrous tissue with none of the hyaline material characteristic of silicosis Contraction of the collar like cylinder of fibrous tissue would collapse the bronchiole and prevent air from entering the air spaces which it supplies Such collapse is followed by a diffuse fibrosis of the area involved
I have recently acquired a specimen from the lung of the case of asbestosis reported by Dr. W. B. Soper in the Ameri-
ican Review of Tuberculosis 1930 This man was exposed
to asbestos dust for 13 years and died 4 years later The
lung exhibited a very extensive and more or less diffuse
fibrosis which in most places bore no relationship to the
bronchioles In fact the normal anatomical structures
were hardly recognizable Material from such far advanced cases is hardly suitable for analysis Judging from the evolution of the process observed in guinea pigs it has been
assumed that much of the diffuse fibrosis may be associated
with the collapse of air spaces following compression of the bronchioles by the primary reaction about their walls
30. A group of asbestosis bodies peculiar struc-
tures are golden yellow in color with swollen ends and irregular nodules along their sides They probably develop
77
Mr. Cummings believes as the result of solution of silica from the fibres and a redeposition of this substance on the same fibre They also contain iron which is responsible
for their color
31. Spleen of rabbit injected intravenously with 1.8
grams of aluminum oxide particles 1 to 3 microns in diameter and killed three months after the last injection The particles are collected in large phagocytes which have to rest in the normal tissue and provoked no reaction
32. Liver of a rabbit injected with aluminum oxide par-
ticles as in slide 31. This animal was not killed for two
years after the injection Again one sees the same large phagocytes packed with dust particles reposing in lymph
spaces of the normal connective tissue of the organ There
is no fibrosis even after 2 years Except for the miscroscopic collections of dust this liver is a normal organ
33 34 35. Livers of animals injected with the same amount of the same sized quartz particles Phagocytes
filled with this dust localize in the same locations but the cells are grouped together and there are more of them
They form a nodule it becomes fibrous and undergoes the characteristic hyaline change The liver cells are killed and the whole organ is replaced by fibrous tissue Compare
slides 20 to 23
Mr. Cummings performed this experiment to show that silica exerted a specific poisonous action on the tissue He
selected aluminum oxide as a control material because it is
an extremely hard substance which fractures into particles similar to those of quartz The outcome indicates the correctness of his supposition These negative findinga with aluminum oxide are of particular interest in view of the discussion of this subject during the earlier parts of this meeting
36. Cross section of the lungs and tracheobronchial lymph nodes of a guinea pig exposed to the inhalation of carborun-
dum dust for 4 years A great deal of dust has settled in
the air spaces of this lung particularly those beneath the pleura In the tracheobronchial lymph nodes the amount of dust is relatively small when compared to that seen in an animal inhaling quartz
78
fromi 87. A higher magnification of the subpleural air spaces from the same animal shown in slide 36. There are large
masses of phagocytes packed with dust particles which
nearly fill the interior of many of the air spaces The ad-
jacent walls of many of them are thickened but there is no
massive or nodular fibrosis Undoubtedly there may be
function loss of
in such places but it will be noted that many
other air spaces in the immediate vicinity have apparently
normal walls which would allow free interchange of oxy-
gen and carbon dioxide between their interior and the blood
capillaries Very little dust is carried to the tracheobron-
ch^>al lymph nodes and in consequence they show only the
slightest amount of reaction No appreciable abnormall-
ties in the lymphatic vessels are discoverable A relatively
small amount of dust is carried into the lymphatic vessels
and there is some evidence of reaction in the loose tissue
about them This may easily account for the thickening of
the blood vessels and bronchi seen in Dr. Clark's ray
films of silicon carbide workers The diffuse haze which
he mentioned is probably due to the obstruction with the
rays by the slightly thickened air space walls and possibly
by the great amount of dust within the air spaces
fection easy toexplain Carborundum dust in combination with tuberculous
in-
has offered difficulties which are not
in the light of our present theories This substance is the
carbide of silicon and is reported to contain no free silica
substance the
which theoretically activates a tuberculous
infection The manufacturers analyses have not been
checked in our laboratory because of the lack of proper ap-
paratus Mention has already been made of the possibility
that the weakly alkaline flu^>dsof the body may attack this
substance and ultimately break it down
In the experiments already referred to where
partial y
reactivated healed tuberculous infection was subsequently
by exposures to dust we found that next to quartz dust
carborundum was the most potent irritant yet
More emplotyheadn infections were made progressive with this dust
with granite Whether the carbide of silicon has the same
effect in human beings has not been determined for lack of
mortem material A large number of autopsy studies
79
on persons dying after long exposures to this dust are urg-
ently required
In reciting our experience with this dust mention was
accidentally omitted of several other experiments in each of which carborundum was found to be almost as potent as
quartz in its effect upon tuberculous infection 38. Section of the lung of a soft coal -note that
there are deposits of this dust along the pleura and along the bronchi and blood vessels These are the positions in
which the superficial and deep sets of lymphatics respectively lie Apparently the phagocytes ingesting coal make their way into the lymphatics but many of them fail to reach their destination in the lymphoid tissues of the lungs and the tracheobronchial lymph nodes Instead they appear to leave the lymph vessel and are deposited in the loose con-
nective tissue through which these fine vessels course
There they cause pigmentation and perhaps a little over-
growth of the connective tissues but pure coal dust excites no true fibrosis In an ray film the trunk shadows would be accentuated as in the case of carborundum dust
39. A cross section of a blood vessel from another coal
miner's lung surrounded by a ring of densely pigmented
true scar tissue This sear exhibits modified characteristics
of changes seen in silicosis Silica particles cannot be detected but if the carbon is removed by Incineration of the section in a muffle furnace great numbers of doubly refractile particles which I think are silica are visualized We are now having some petrographic determinations made to satisfy ourselves as to the nature of these particles
The hard coal miner is apt to work in rock containing high percentages of silica If this substance is in excess the individual develops a nodular silicosis accompanied by an intense pigmentation of the nodules by coal dust If the reverse is true and only a small amount of silica is mixed with a large amount of coal the reaction is characteristically linear along the course of the lymphatics but enough silica
may be present to produce some hyaline change in the connective tissue fibres It is only by chemical and microscopic analysis that we can determine how much silica is involved
in any case of anthracosis It would appear that pure coal
80
with no admixture of silica produces no fibrous changes in the lung
In giving the testimony no mention was made of miner's asthma This is a disabling condition seen in coal miners probably due to a pathological change known as emphysema a dilatation of the terminal air spaces Frequently the lungs
show collections of air spaces which are dilated to such a
size that they admit the head of a pin or even a pea These spaces have exceedingly thin smooth shiny walls Frequently a deposit of coal dust occurs on one side of such a
space Why coal and not other dusts produces this change
is unknown
The inhalation of soft coal dust is said to protect against the development of tuberculosis and statistical evidence
would seem to favor a lower incidence of this infection among certain groups of soft coal miners However this
is not universal Wainwright and Nichols reported some experiments in which they thought they had demonstrated a protective action of coal dust against tuberculosis but they have never been verified When guinea pigs are infected with the same attenuated tubercle bacillus already mentioned
and then exposed to coal dust there is no influence on the
tuberculosis It heals neither faster nor more slowly than
In the undusted control animals Moreover coal has no
influence in checking the progress of infection with fully
virulent infections We are not yet convinced that this
substance might not prevent progress of an infection which is not too severe It is hoped that we may do further work
with coal dust and an infection of moderate virulence
I think this covers as briefly as I know how the type of work in which we have been engaged It illustrates to you
that there are definite differences in the reaction to different types of dust It illustrates that silica dust is unique
in injuring the body tissues that it produces a progressive type of disease and that it renders the body more susceptible to the tubercle bacilli Someone asked this morning why tubercle bacilli would grow more readily in the silicotic lung than in the normal lung This is the subject which is of course tremendously interesting We do not know today
why it happens but I suspect that it does because the silica
poisons the body cells the soil in such a way as to favor
81
the growth of tubercle bacilli What we hope to do is to neutralize this poisoning effect of silica and thereby prevent the development of susceptibility to the tubercle bacillus If we could do this we would have accomplished a great deal because probably 76 of silicotics will die of tuberculous infection If they escape infection or if they are no more susceptible than normal individuals they would presumably carry on for a period of ten fifteen or more years They would not be perfect individuals but they might be
able to support themselves and their families for a much
longer time than they do at the present If we can neutralize this toxic effect of silica we will be accomplishing something and this is the goal to which Mr. Cummings and I
have set ourselves
If there are questions I shall be glad to try to answer
them
MR CUMMINGS Dr. Gardner has discussed the normal
pulmonary anatomy and the pathological reaction of the lung to the various inhaled dusts particularly silica I think it would probably be worth while to amplify the
chemical and physical properties which certain dusts pos-
sess in order to evaluate their ability to provoke pathological changes in the lungs of man
It was proposed in the protocol to discuss dusts of both organic and inorganic composition Organic dusts such as cotton undoubtedly do give rise to certain pathological conditions in the lung or bronchi But we have not investigated these dusts and I therefore beg your permission to
pass them over for the present The inorganic dusts par-
ticularly ore dusts are the ones with which we are vitally
concerned at the present time These dusts I should pre-
fer to classify first into readily soluble and insoluble dusta By readily soluble dusts I mean dusts which will dissolve fairly readily in the lung tissue or juices The degree of
harmfulness of these soluble dusta is in direct proportion
to the toxicity of the soluble products formed For example we know that lime stone or marble which is a soluble
dust does dissolve in the lung juices and soluble calcium
salts which are more or less similar to substances that are already present in the lung are produced by this solution and consequently there is no evidence of toxicity on the part
6
82
of this material On the other hand there are the toxic soluble dusts some of which will dissolve only slightly but
substances which will nevertheless produce definitely toxic
Freshly generated zinc oxide for instance is quite toxic
Lead dust is toxic and we can attribute its toxicity to its
solubility
Some years ago Collis and numerous other English investigators reported that silica dust could be regarded as
the dangerous because it was insoluble and that in general
degree of insolubility of any dust would also determine the ability of that dust to produce pathological changes Dr. Gardner and I do not adhere to this theory We be-
lieve that because a dust is insoluble or inert it does not follow that it is capable of producing a reaction in the lung
Dr. Gardner has mentioned a few dusts that we believe do
not produce marked reactions Aluminum oxide in the form of corundum which is certainly as insoluble as any of the dusts fails to produce a significant reaction Silica cannot therefore be regarded as harmful simply because it is insoluble I would like to emphasize that there are in addition to the dusts that Dr. Gardner has mentioned certain harmful and harmless inorganic and more or less insoluble dusts for instance carbon in the form of soot or smoke or in the form of graphite or diamond is insoluble and also relatively harmless in producing the typical fibrous reaction that we associate with silicosis Coal which is a combination of carbon and certain organic sub-
stances is also relatively particularly soft coal Dr. Gardner has emphasized that at the present time at least we associate the harmful influence that coal may exert on the lung with the silica which is probably inhaled along with it This is particularly true of hard coal miners who find it necessary to dig shafts through hard rock Carborundum dust is not particularly dangerous though it is in-
soluble Carborundum is an unusual dust from this stand-
practically silica point It is silicon carbide and contains
no
It is possible that it is slightly soluble in the alkaline fluids
of the body but it apparently fails to produce reaction per
se Even though the inhalation of carborundum dust fails
to promote a marked reaction itself there may still be
enough of this particular soluble substance formed to ex-
83
plain the experimental evidence that we have for its ability
to reactivate latent tuberculosis Cement dust is another
material which contains some soluble and some insoluble
elements and which nevertheless is not particularly harm-
ful On the other hand we have silica which so far as we
know is relatively insoluble and yet is the most harmful of all dusts We cannot therefore associate the degree of harmfulness of any dust with its solubility or insolubility but we must regard silica as a specifically dangerous com-
pound We must also consider the various silicates which
represent combinations of silica with other elements and also the mixtures of silica and silicates or mixtures of silicates and other substances
I propose to discuss silica and these silicates and mix-
tures with respect to their physical and chemical properties At the outset we must recognize the different forms which silica may assume in a given dust It may occur as free
silica combined silica or mixtures of both When an analysis is made of a certain dust which is regarded as dangerous
we estimate the total amount of silica present and in addition we seek to obtain a figure which represents the armount of silica which is not combined with other elements This
is the fraction spoken of as free silica and is universally
regarded as a direct measure of the producing
power of any dust There are various methods for deter-
mining this fraction One is the petrographic method which is an approximation arrived at by simply examining fine dusts under a special microscope and estimating the relative numbers of each type of crystal that is recognized
There is also a chemical method for determining free silica
of which I shall say more later
There are a great many physical modifications of silica
which differ from the typical quartz dusts which are gener-
ally used for experimental work or that are more often re-
ferred to in connection with silicosis It would be well to
mention these various physical modifications since it is
belief
that
their
reaction
in
the
lung
may
be
quite
my
different
Some are undoubtedly more harmful than others and it
may even be possible that certain varieties of silica are rela-
tively harmless It is my belief that a thorough study of
the reactions produced by each of these modifications will
84
provide the key to a scientific understanding of the true mechanism of the development of silicosis
There are in general three principal physical forms of silica occurring in nature This classification is based on
physical structure and indicates the differences in the molecular arrangement of crystals the differentiation of crystal-
and the line and crystalline or amorphous forms also
degree of hydration of the containing varieties This classification is as follows
Principal Phases
Quartz Tridymite Cristobalite
Vitreous Silica
Micro Forms Chalcedonic silica
or micro fibrous
Micro Amorphous
Hydrated
Varieties Silica Opaline Silica
Chalcedonic Silica
ordi- Quartz is the stable crystalline form of silica from
nary atmospheric temperature to 870 .; tridymite is
stable from 870 C. to 1470 C cristobalite is a stable crys-
talline form of silica from 1470 C. to 1710 C. However
all of these forms may exist at ordinary
All
temperatures are hard sharp definitely crystalline forms of silica
and constitute the greatest bulk of the silica found on the
earth's
earth's surface Chalcedonic s^>licais a micro fibrous form having
Carnelan measurable size in only one dimension
agates
flints cherts are the best known representatives of this
form of silica and are also widely distributed over
the earth's surface The micro amorphous
varieties of silica are particularly interesting since they occur
in
principally certain plants of deposits which represent the remains
sea
called diatoms This modification of silica is more
readily soluble than the crystalline varieties mentioned
above Simi- represent larly the forms known as opaline silica
silica in
combination with more or less water and this group of sub-
stances is best represented by opal itself
these modifica- It is apparent that silica may assume a very
each extensive variety of physical forms and that of
tions may produce a very characteristic reaction is quite
containingunderstand to conceivable It is therefore essential
exact physical nature of any
the dust in eval-
uating its ability to produce silicosis
The term silica then does not define the properties or
85
harmfulness of a dust for the reaction produced by it may depend upon the physical state of the silica quite as much
as upon the concentration for example The two methods for determining this quantity of free silica are as I have
mentioned the petrographic and chemical method The
chemical method is as yet totally inadequate for the deter-
mination of all forms of free silica since it was designed to determine only the free silica existing as quartz or one of the quartz materials If the free silica in a certain dust should be in the amorphous form that silica would not be determined as such in the analysis and a large error would be made The method therefore needs revision or
at least its inadequacies need better recognition
In addition to the free silica dust may contain silica combined with other elements as it is in asbestos slate or other
silicates and here again it presents still a different strue-
ture Where it is combined with other elements many of
these combinations may be more readily soluble than is
quartz but in spite of this fact the silicate has yet to be found which is as dangerous as quartz This either consti-
tutes strong evidence against the theory of a soluble poison originating from silica by solution or it is excellent proof of the contention that certain other substances when inti-
mately associated with silica tend to overcome its dangerous
properties The pathological changes resulting from the
inhalation of a few of the silicates are now known
Gardner and I have studied the
Dr.
reaction produced by asbestos in experimental animals and we
are convinced that
asbestos is slowly soluble since the inhaled fibers give rise
to a peculiar structure known as the asbestosis body A
pulmonary fibrosis does result in asbestos workers but here
again the reaction is quite different from a true silicosis and
emphasizes the necessity of knowing the properties of the
dust inhaled It is hoped that the study of several silicates
will enable us to distinguish whether the reaction is due to
the peculiar surface phenomena presented by these combina-
tions of silica or whether the reaction is always due to
ble products from the masked in the case of siliscoaltue-s
and mixtures by the presence of another element with which
these soluble products may combine and thereby be ren-
dered inert In any event silicates do constitute a class of
a
12
struction that we can visualize the relationship of these
spaces to one another By this method it becomes obvious
that the terminal bronchioles become narrower and that
their walls become thinner They lose their definite lining of ciliated epithelium and break up into elongated tubes with scalloped walls These tubes ultimately communicate with a series of extremely thin walled terminal air sacs or alveoli On examining these structures under high magnification it can be seen that they consist of a space surrounded by an extremely thin wall composed of elastic tissue which has the power of expanding and contracting The inner surface of this wall is covered by a thin layer of flat pavement cells In the substance of the wall there is a network of capillary blood vessels These structures are also lined by a layer of flat pavement cells Here and there in the wall there are larger cells which project inward between the flat pavement cells These larger elements are the dust cells of which we shall speak more later They are shed off from time to time and take on free migratory existence having the power of independent movement
The purpose of this more or less complicated mechanism is to permit air containing a relatively large amount of oxy-
gen to come into intimate association with the blood and to
permit an interchange of gases between the blood in the vessels and the air inside the spaces of the lung Blood brought into this organism through the pulmonary arteries contains considerable amounts of carbon dioxide which is dissolved in its fluid portion This carbon dioxide is generated in all parts of the body where any activity has taken place It is a waste product which must be eliminated
Leaving the pulmonary capillary the carbon dioxide dif-
fuses out through the walls of the terminal air spaces by passing through the cells lining the capillaries and the second layer of pavement cells lining the air spaces From this location it can be eliminated with the expired air There is
also a flow of gas in the opposite direction The inspired
air contains oxygen This passes inward from the air space
to the blood the interchange again taking place through the same two layers of cells The coloring matter in the red blood corpuscles possesses a marked affinity for oxygen A loose combination is formed and the red blood corpuscles
18
then carry this gas buck through the pulmonary vein to the left heart by which they are pumped out through the general circulation into the organs of the body Wherever
work is being done oxygen is necessary The red blood corpuscles give up their oxygen to various kinds of cells as they function This whole process is known as respiration
Obviously to be performed efficiently the membranes in the lung which separate air spaces and blood vessels must be extremely thin and readily permeable to interchange of gases Any disease process which thickens this membrane and prevents such interchange would reduce the efficiency of the mechanism As we shall see the development of fibrous tissue in response to irritation frequently thickens
these delicate membranes If enough of them are involved
life can no longer continue but fortunately only portions of the lung may be so affected until irritation has been continued for a very long time
Lymph Nodes At the root of the lung are located the tracheobronchial lymph nodes They are divided into three main groups One of them lies below the angle between the
two bronchi another group lies above the left bronchus in the angle which it forms with the trachea and a third lies in the corresponding angle made by the right bronchus and
trachea These lymph nodes constitute a drainage reservoir to receive foreign materials which may have penetrated into the lung Such material comes to the lymph nodes through a system of lymphatic vessels
Lymphatic System Mention has already been made of the tracheobronchial lymph nodes located at the root of the lung which receive the drainage from this organ We have still to consider the vessels which carry foreign matter out of the lung to the lymph nodes These vessels are exceedingly minute channels lined by a single layer of flat pavement cells They resemble blood capillaries in their general structure but they are even smaller in diameter and their walls are thinner Through them there flows a thin watery fluid known as lymph Apparently the flow of this fluid is more or less regulated by the motility of the parts through which the vessels pass There may also be negative pressure exerted on the proximal end of these vessels producing a certain degree of suction
14
In the lung we find that there are two main sets of lymph vessels One of them known as the superficial set runs around the outer surface of the organ through the pleura and empties into the tracheobronchial lymph nodes the
other or deep set courses through the substance of the lung
as a series of trunks situated in the walls of the pulmonary
artery the pulmonary vein and the bronchi This system
also discharges its lymph into the tracheobronchial lymph
nodes These two systems the superficial and deep sets are connected with one another in the periphery of the
lungs by a series of short thick lymphatic vessels which al-
low lymph to escape from the deep set into the superficial
one
Lymphoid Tissue Scattered along the course along the lymph vessels in the lung are masses of lymphoid tissue
These consist of aggregations of small round cells known
as lymphocytes Between these cells are minute spaces
communicating with a lymph vessel Foreign bodies car-
ried from the lung by phagocytes make their way through these masses of lymphoid tissue into the lymph vessel They may become enmeshed in this tissue and held there for
a variable period of time or they may pass on into the
lymphatic vessel The number and size of the lymphoid
nodules increases as one progresses from the periphery toward the root of the lung It is found that lymph nodules
occur at points where lymph trunks join one another These
points also correspond to places where large blood vessels
and bronchi branch
.
The tracheobronchial lymph nodes are more complex in
their structure than the simple lymph nodules inside of the lung They might be considered as an aggregation of simple lymph nodules They are surrounded by a capsule of
connective tissue inside of which is a wide channel sur-
rounding the whole node The entering lymphatic trunks
empty directly into this wide channel Leaving this chan-
nel there are other small vessels which penetrate into the
substance of the node and again empty into a large dilated
lymph space at the root of the node From this last men-
tioned channel other lymph trunks carry the lymph away
from this node to other nodes in the same system Be-
tween this network of minute lymph channels there are
15
large numbers of lymphocytes whose function we need not
consider in this connection
The lymph node has been called a filter It should really
be called a sedimentation basin because it does not hold up
foreign particles by virtue of the smallness of its spaces but rather by slowing down the rate of flow of the lymph and allowing foreign bodies to settle out The system might be compared to a stream with a series of ponds along its course Pulp wood thrown into the stream would be carried along fairly rapidly in the narrow channel but on reaching one of the ponds much of the wood would tend to drift onto the shore and remain there for an indefinite period some would pass directly through the pond to settle out in one of the other ponds further down the stream
TREATMENT OF INHALED FOREIGN BODIES
Inhaled dust or other foreign bodies like bacteria may be caught on the sticky mucous membrane of the nose or throat and swept backward by ciliary action to the pharynx from whence they may be expectorated If such particles penetrute into the trachea and bronchi the action of cilia in
these structures tends to carry them outward toward the
pharynx from which they may also be expectorated If the foreign material escapes the above mentioned protecting de-
vices and penetrates into the terminal air spaces the following series of mechanisms come into action
One of the dust cells which as we have seen develops in
the wall of the air space will become detached and make its
way toward this foreign body When accidental contact has been established the dust cell puts out processes from its substance to surround and engulf the offending particle The cell then makes its way by a slow creeping motion over the walls of the air spaces until it reaches the nearest mass
of lymphoid tissue Here it tends to pause and in most in-
stances it penetrates into the substance of the nodule Like the drift wood in the stream the cell with its foreign mate-
rial may be held up in the the pond or it may pass down
the stream to be held in some other pond further along the
course
Experimental study has shown that the character of the
16
2
foreign material has a well marked influence on the behavior of the dust cell or phagocyte With substances like carborundum or soft coal dust a single cell will ingest all the particles with which it establishes contact The result seems to be that the cell becomes over engorged and its power of locomotion is greatly impeded As a consequence we find that cells filled with such materials tend to remain
in the peripheral air spaces Only a few which have been
less greedy succeed in making their way very far into the
lymphatic system In the case of quartz on the other hand
it has been observed that individual cells tend to take up
relatively few particles and that once they have ingested the particles the cells seem to be stimulated so that they migrate more rapidly than usual Quartz dust is known to be an irritating substance and it seems reasonable that it
should stimulate the cells in the manner described When
irritation has been carried on sufficiently long many
phagocytes die and liberate their engulfed quartz particles New phagocytes must be attracted to the spot to take up
the material thus freed As a consequence of this stimu-
lating effect upon the motility of the phagocytes we find that quartz tends to be concentrated in the lymphatic system much more rapidly than other types of dust
As will be seen the same cell which handles the fine dust
particles also ingests bacteria like tubercle bacilli These organisms are also carried into the lymphatic system and concentrated at the same point where dust has been col-
lected The action of the two irritants in the same location
is more pronounced than that produced by either one alone
Observation of human lungs and those of experimental animals has shown that where the amount of foreign mate-
rial inhaled is excessive there is a marked tendency for such
substances to be carried into the peripheral portions of the lung The reason for this is not clear but possibly it may be due to the massaging action of respiratory movement If one compels a guinea pig to inhale a considerable cloud of a substance like carmine dust which can be readily recog-
nized one finds on killing the animal some fifteen minutes
later that much of the dust is in the subpleural air spaces In other animals allowed to live longer the major portion
of the dust has made its way to this location In soft coal
17
miners with long exposures to a readily recognizable black dust who have been away from their occupation many years before they die most of the dust will be discovered in the pleura and along lymph vessels radiating from it
MR D. E. CUMMINGS I wonder if it wouldn't be of in-
terest if Dr. Gardner would describe the efficiency of the pulmonary mechanism with regard to the size of the particles which might enter the air spaces in the lung and also
if it wouldn't be worth while to describe the mechanism in addition to the cilia that tends to remove the particles from the terminal bronchi of the lung
DR GARDNER I neglected to speak about what happens to the material that has been deposited in the lymph nodes
at the root of the lung A great deal of dust stays there in fact the larger part of it stays there but there is an overflow channel from these nodes into a large lymph vessel that finally empties into the veins The blood would then carry any overflow material from these nodes back to the right side of the heart from whence it would be distributed again to the lung In this location the larger particles would be filtered out of the blood vessels and carried into the air spaces where phagocytes would carry them by way of the lymphatics back to the tracheobronchial lymph nodes Thus if dust once gets out of the tracheobronchial nodes it is carried by the blood back to the lungs But the
very finest particles do not leave the blood stream through the capillaries of the lung Some of them pass on into the
pulmonary vein are carried to the left side of the heart and
then distributed to the other organs of the body like the liver and spleen As a matter of fact in advanced sili-
cosis we occasionally find that there are nodules forming in
the spleen and in the liver This is particularly true of the
guinea pig probably because of anatomical peculiarities
but it can also happen in some human beings
Mr. Cummings also called attention to another thing that I forgot limitations of the ciliary mechanism for
various sized particles We know that there are very few particles greater than ten microns or 10/25000 of an inch in diameter that succeed in passing the protective mechan-
ism in the upper respiratory tract and finally reach the
2
18
e
deeper parts of the lung In fact relatively few particles as large as this maximum are found in the lung The
majority are only three or four microns in diameter
While we know that the very small particles do penetrate
in large numbers we do not know whether all of them remain there Whether the cilia may be more effective in carrying particles one micron and less in diameter out
of the lung is still problematical It is an important ques-
tion however and one which we hope to investigate be-
cause we have shown experimentally that the smaller the
particle the greater its biological activity This is a point of not only academic but of practical significance which will probably be brought out in this discussion today or tomorrow because it has to do with the size of particles
which should be included in dust counts for estimating industrial hazards If the cilia effectively eliminate all of
the very small and hence most active particles we need not bother to include them If on the other hand the cilia and other protective mechanisms do not eliminate them then we must modify our methods in dust determination
so that they will be included in the counts We propose to do some experiments in which we will attempt to discover
the truth of this matter
There are those who claim that a great deal of dust which has reached the terminal air spaces in the lung is carried
out again along the pathway of ingress and expectorated
We know that a coal miner for example living in the rela-
tively clean atmosphere of a health resort for a period of years continues to expectorate black sputum for a long period of time The pigmentation must be due to the dust which he inhaled during his employment as a miner because in a place like Saranac Lake there is relatively little or almost no soft coal in the atmosphere I doubt whether
a normal person without any infection in his lung will continue to expectorate such dust for dust which was in-
haled ten fifteen or twenty years previously in the coal
mine tends to be anchored and held in the normal lung
On the other hand if the miner should develop a pneumonia or other acute inflammation of his lungs the once
anchored dust will be freed and liberated The pus that
forms as the result of pneumonia tuberculosis or other in-
19
flammation will be expectorated and will carry out the dust
that has been freed in the inflammatory process I am not prepared to agree that a normal bronchial tree will continue to eliminate dust over an indefinite period of time Possibly Dr. Willis would still disagree with me I will give him a chance to reply if he would like to
DR WILLIS I just pointed that out as a matter of observation and I just want to draw attention to the fact that anatomical conditions do exist in certain animals and that
it may well be the basis Of course the dust does tend to
anchor but if it does anchor in lymphoid tissue I think it passes a grade for a certain amount of elimination but until we know whether that is true why of course it is mere speculation to say that is the way it comes out
DR GARDNER I may state that I have exposed guinea
pigs and rabbits todust inhalation for periods of a year
and then allowed them to live as long as they would perhaps three years after the discontinuation of the dust exposure A guinea pig does not cough and does not expectorate as a human being does dust that might be eliminated through the trachea would be swallowed again If it were swallowed a good deal should be absorbed through the in-
testinal wall where it would tend to localize in masses of
lymphoid tissues in connection with the intestines There are such lymphoid tissues throughout the intestinal tract of all animals We have not found any proliferation or pigmentation in this lymphoid tissue Therefore if the
dust were eliminated through trachea and then swallowed it either passes directly through the intestine leaving no trace which would be hardly likely or else it is not
swallowed
DR WILLIS It seems to me to take that position of the
absorption through the intestinal tract we would have
to compare it with tubercular bacilli It takes several thou-
sand times as large a dose of tubercle bacilli the intestinal tract by infection than it does any other ordinary unit It may be you would have to have a larger portion of the intestine contain dust for dust to be absorbed by the intestinal tract and even in a guinea pig if it should awallow its dust it wouldn't be in sufficient quantities to make
20
a dent That is purely theoretical and has no big signifi-
.
cance
DR GARDNER The next thing on our protocol is a dis-
cussion of pathology
MR TARRELL A few minutes ago I understood that Dr.
Gardner invited questions If I may be permitted there is one question that occurs to me at this time with reference to the elimination of different dust particles You mentioned the rapidly moving phagocytes and slow moving
phagocytes From a safety standpoint which is more ef-
ficacious the rapidly or slower moving phagocyte
DR GARDNER It has been our experience in studying various dusts as we shall attempt to show in the discussion of the reaction to different materials that the man who inhales quartz dust and as a consequence has rapidly moving
phagocytes tends to develop disease more abundantly and
becomes disabled much more quickly In case of carborundum or aluminum oxide on the other hand the phagocytes move slowly or not at all The existing evidence would indicate that these dusts do not produce disabling disease of the lung The rate of movement of phagocytes is not the whole story but it is the initial step in the development of dangerous pulmonary fibrosis Answering your question directly I would say that the stimulation of migration of phagocytes exerts an unfavorable effect by concentrating irritating dusts in positions where they excite dangerous
proliferation Are there other questions
MR NELSON Doctor can you say something about the efficiency of first line defenses in the nasal tract and
trachea
DR GARDNER Jarvis for example in Vermont made a study of the degree of silicosis in mouth breathers and in nose breathers and attempted to show that the mouth breather develops more silicosis than the nose breather
There have also been other references of this nature in the
literature in various parts of the world It is said that a man who inhales dust over a long period of time tends to develop a chronic inflammatory condition in his upper respiratory tract that when such chronic rhinitis and
21
tracheitis exist the action of the cilia is so impaired that more dust passes these barriers than would in an individual
with a normal protective mechanism In our guinea pigs
which have been subjected to the inhalation of dust over a period as long as four years we have failed to discover
anatomical evidences of disease in the cells of the upper respiratory tract They appear normal Whether they are
functioning as well is quite another matter which I am not prepared to discuss I would infer that a chronic inflammation would tend to impair function and efficiency of the mechanism and that if a man breathed through his mouth he would obviously tend to inhale more dust because he would not have the full benefit of this great surface in the nasal cavity that Dr. Willis mentioned Another question
DR CLARK Can you give an estimate of the amount of
surface which is represented by the lung itself We have it for the nasal surface Can you give an estimate on the
amount of space there is
DR GARDNER I don't remember Do you Mr. Cum-
mings
MR CUMMINGS I believe it is something like two hun-
dred square inches
DR BANYAI Do you agree that the length of the dust
particle may be as much as two or three hundred microns
as for instance in the case of asbestos particles
DR GARDNER Yes We have seen very long asbestos
fibres in the lung Possibly ciliary activity is not adequate
to move foreign bodies of this shape However we do not
find many fibres of asbestos as long as this The very long
asbestosis bodies which are found in the lung we believe
diameter have probably grown in length as well as in
about
a fibre which came to rest in the terminal air spaces
DR BANYAI Is there any primary predilection of the
space in the lungs besides the pleurae due to the particular mechanism of the respiratory function
DR GARDNER I will consider that in a few minutes as
it is on the protocol Other questions
22
MR NELSON What is the ultimate destination of the carborundum cell that you located at the terminal air
space
DR GARDNER The majority seem to stay where they
have drifted into the subpleural air spaces In an animal
exposed a year and allowed to rest with no further dust ex-
posure for three or four years we find practically all the
dust cells in the air spaces beneath the pleura I will show some pictures to illustrate this point in a few moments
The cells tend to remain inside the air spaces and certain
air spaces become almost completely filled with masses of phagocytes packed with carborundum particles With coal
dust the localization is a little different We will go into
these matters with lantern slides Any further questions
DR BELLIS Would the accumulation of large numbers
of cells of that type interfere mechanically with the func-
tion of the air spaces
DR GARDNER Probably it would because as we saw before there is an irritation of the wall of the air space that contains a number of these phagocytes The wall becomes thickened so that the gaseous interchange does not take place normally However it seems to be the case that only certain air spaces tend to accumulate these dust cells
and there are many others which remain apparently normal so that the function of the lung as a whole is not impaired The factor of safety in the lung is great for one can carry on perfectly well with only a quarter of his res-
:
piratory tissues
DR WILLIS I wonder if you would care to mention the probable proportion of dust that is held up by the defensive
mechanism
DR GARDNER I don't know what it is It probably
varies with the different types of dust We know that as you found and as I found it is a difficult thing to get very much coal dust into the lungs of guinea pigs When you make them breathe carborundum a great deal more gets in If they breathe quartz dust in the same concentration a tremendous amount gets in I think that the amount must
be concerned with physical characteristics of the dust itself
28
wet I have always reasoned in my own mind that if the dust
was dry it would tend to be inhaled
If it easily it
good deal would
would tend to stick to the wall so that a
be held up in the upper respiratory tract Frankly we
haven't the information which we need on this subject it
should be studied much more carefully than it has been
DR WILLIS It has been estimated that perhaps not over 20 of the dust on the average is in the lungs I wonder if
have come across any dependable evidence for the ac-
you
curacy of that statement
DR GARDNER Mr. Cummings can quote Dr. Drinker's work in that respect and he also has some other informa-
tion
MR CUMMINGS Dr. Drinker attempted to answer that question by creating experimental dust chambers in which
in he measured the concentration of the dust the air very
accurately He then had cuts breathe this dust concentration and measured the concentration in the exhaled air He used for the purpose of his study a dust the concentra-
tion of which he could determine by chemical means When
he used magnesium oxide he found that the degree of retention depends on the concentration of the dust in the air With the increase of concentration the degree of retention increased and his work showed that for moderate concentra-
in tions comparable to the amounts of dust present an ordi-
narily dust industrial air that approximately % of mag-
nesium oxide was retained in a cat's lung He then carried this work over to short exposures in man and found
that the results were roughly comparable to those for the cat As the concentration in the air increased the degree of retention increased Dr. Gardner has pointed out that mag-
nesium oxide and silica produce an entirely different
response and as yet Drinker has used only dusts that can be determined by simple chemical reactions
MR TARRELL Have you made any estimate as to how
much impairment of the vital capacity of the lung results
from the lodgment of carborundum particles
DR GARDNER No we have not carried on such a study
I have learned that it is now being investigated in Roches-
24
ter by Dr. McCann and his associates I think we may
look within the next year for some definite information
Dr. Meyers of Minnesota did make a study of the vital capacity of men suffering from various forms of pneumoconiosis but his figures were not particularly significant Vital capacity studies were also carried on in South Africa but they did not feel that their results were of sufficient value to deserve much emphasis Obviously if a man has a very advanced silicosis complicated by tuberculosis a great
deal of his functioning lung tissue is out of commission and his vital capacity would be greatly reduced but for the early
and intermediate stages of the disease the test is not of great practical value
DR RUSSELL I wanted to ask if the retention of magnesium oxide included retention in the upper respiratory
tract as well as the lungs
DR GARDNER Yes
DR RUSSELL The point is that much of this dust is retained in the upper respiratory tract We don't know the proportions in that in relation to the amount retained in the lung proper I was afraid the impression would be left
that all of that dust was retained in the lung tissue itself
Dr. Gardner has explained that the protective mechanism of the upper respiratory tract is quite efficient in most cases
PATHOLOGY
DR GARDNER If there are no further questions we will go on to the next part of our protocol which deals with pathology The first title here is action of dusts chemical mechanical etc.
When man first began to observe the development of fibrosis or reaction in the lung of individuals inhaling dust in considerable quantities it was natural to assume that hard sharp particles would be dangerous because they would cut the lung surfaces and other delicate structures Further study however showed that not all hard sharp particles were dangerous and when Collis and some of the German observers analyzed the statistics of men working in various dusts they found that those working in rock containing
26
large amounts of silica were the ones who developed the most extensive disease the most rapid formation of fibrous tissue Gye and Kettle demonstrated that the soluble form of silica was a tissue poison that in high concentration it would kill an animal that in weaker concentration it would
not kill but it would injure and that this injury was fol-
lowed by the formation of scar tissue On this basis has
arisen the called solubility hypothesis to explain action of dusts It has been assumed on the basis of Gye and Kettle's observation that crystalline silica dissolves in the
alkaline fluids of the body and liberates poisonous soluble
silica which is responsible for the development of scar tissue It has never been possible to demonstrate the solution
of silica in the tissues for its proof is beset with technical
difficulties about which Mr. Cummings will have more to
say later Therefore the solution hypothesis still remains
unproven In its support Belt has called attention to the
observation that the number and size of silica particles inside silicotic nodules apparently diminish with the age of the nodule that the older the lesion is the fewer particles it will contain I think his work may be criticized for many of the particles may become coated with body fluids so that
they are no longer recognizable However if the tissue elements in a section of a silicotic nodule are destroyed by in-
cineration and strong acids the silica particles are readily
visible with polarized light This is true both of early and of many old lesions The morphological evidence of solution
is of doubtful significance We still have to prove then that silica does dissolve in the body However there is indirect evidence which indicates that the action of silica may
be chemical or chemical in its nature We know
that not all hard and sharp particles are equally injurious
pure while typical silicotic nodules can be produced with
silica either in its crystalline form or in an amorphous
state We know that carborundum a substance whose par-
ticles are equally hard and sharp does not produce the same type of reaction We know that aluminum oxide about which we will have a good deal to say later will not produce
a progressive fibrosis of the tissues In fact aluminum
oxide seems to be an inert substance which can stay in the
tissue for long periods of time without producing any
32
in the same way as dust particles Lodged in the terminal air spaces they will be phagocytosed by wandering cells and transported to the nearest lymphoid tissue These foreign
particles differ from dust in that they are alive and capable of multiplication As a consequence they tend to excite
a more rapid and more extensive reaction In the lymph
nodules there is a new growth of cells similar to those seen
in silicosis The continued proliferation of these cells re-
sults in the formation of a nodule or in Latin a tubercle Poisons liberated from the bacilli kill many of the cells in the center of the nodule with the formation of a special type of degeneration known as caseation from its resemblance to cheese This degenerative process may extend to involve the whole nodule or at any time it may subside and be replaced by lime salts which are attracted to the area from the blood The deposition of calcium indicates that the tuberculous process is healing Not all of the tubercle bacilli remain within the lymphoid tissue within the lung Some of them escape through the lymphoid tissues to the tracheobronchial lymph nodes In this location they produce more tubercles The reaction here is usually more extensive than that in the lung because of the previous multiplication of the bacilli in the former location The formation of tubercles beneath the pleura of the lung and in the tracheobronchial lymph nodes constitute the essential reaction of childhood tuberculosis The lung tubercles may appear in any part of the organ but they are usually found in the middle zone They may be single or they may be
multiple
Their outcome depends upon the number and the virulence of the tubercle bacilli producing them If many fully virulent organisms are inhaled they set up a primary tubercle such as has been described but very quickly the infec-
tion spreads and becomes progressive Often under such
circumstances the outcome may be fatal within a few
months More usually however only small numbers of tubercle bacilli perhaps attenuated by partial drying and exposure to sunlight are inhaled In this ease the primary tubercles in the lungs and tracheobronchial lymph nodes tend to heal usually with the formation of a fibrous tissue and the deposition of lime salts Such healed primary foci
88
of infection often persist throughout the life of the indi-
vidual They may be detected by the ray
Even though they produce no apparent damage they exerc^>se a very definite effect upon the cells of the body as a whole The establishment of the primary focus renders the body partially immune to subsequent infections with the tubercle bacillus It can be shown experimentally that a much larger dose of tubercle bacilli is necessary to produce effective reaction in a previously infected guinea pig than is required in a normal animal Morever the immunity
tends to slow down and render chronic the course of the
subsequent tuberculous infection A second effect of this childhood tuberculous infection
is to produce a condition known as hyper sensitiveness This
is manifested by an inflammatory reaction when the animal
previously infected is again treated with tubercle bacilli or its products The familiar tuberculin test is on example
of such hypersensitiveness If a minute amount of tuberculin is injected into a normal subject no significant re-
action occurs But if the same amount of tuberculin is in-
jected into a person or an animal previously infected with tubercle bacilli a progressively increasing inflammation makes its appearance at the side of the injection Such tu-
berculin tests are used in surveys to demonstrate the amount
of infection in a community They merely indicate that somewhere in the body there is a focus of infection This may be inactive and of no clinical importance or it may be a progressive and dangerous type of tuberculosis As far as the test is concerned it simply indicates some previous
effective contact with the tubercle bacillus The frequency of childhood infection varies with the environment Among 3
Per the population of European cities practically one hundred
per cent of persons above twenty years of age react to tuberculin In the United States the percentage is vari-
ously estimated from forty to ninety per cent In rural
districts there are some groups which show very few re-
actions In others they may run as high as forty per cent
3
34
APICAL TUBERCULOSIS
The second recognizable form of tuberculosis of the lungs is found in the apex of the lung The relationship of this disease to that of the childhood type is still debatable The infection at the apex may arise as a result of spread from the primary childhood foci or it may be due to a new infection from without Whatever the Source of the bacilli they tend to localize in the apex of the lung The reasons for this localization are still unknown and the various
theories offered to explain them need not be discussed here Because of the influence of the primary childhood infection
immediate reaction to a new implantation of bacilli in the apex of the lung is inflammatory in character It consists of a localized patch of pneumonia due to the tubercle bacillus The extent of the reaction and the severity of the attendant symptoms will depend upon the number of bacilli localizing in the area and upon the degree of sensitiveness
to the disease The latter factor is determined by the interval elapsing after the establishment of the childhood
foci The outcome of an apical tuberculosis may be local-
ized progression with possibly the formation of a small
cavity Such a result might be expected where the dosage of bacilli is relatively small Under favorable conditions
a such lesion would tend to heal after a period of time The
healing would be attended by the formation of considerable amounts of scar tissue and the calcification of considerable areas of degeneration Contraction of the scar tissue produces some deformity of the lung and such changes are
readily visible by ray The healed focus may persist in
this condition throughout the life of the individual never giving him further trouble As evidence of this one finds that in doing routine autopsies on persons dying of various causes apical scars are extremely common It used to be said that the lungs of ninety per cent of urban residents would show such changes On the other hand an apical fo-
cus partially healed may become reactivated after a long pe-
riod of latency The factors responsible for reactivation
are not well understood When this occurs the disease
again spreads locally through the air spaces to involve larger portions of the upper lung and possibly to extend
86
throughout the lung If a small cavity should rupture into a bronchus tubercle bacilli are discharged into a position from which they may be carried to the lower portion of the lung This brings us to a consideration of the final stage
namely chronic pulmonary tuberculosis
CHRONIC PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS
The distribution of tubercle bacilli by the bronchial tree
may be confined to the immediate vicinity of the old apical tuberculosis or it may be disseminated throughout all por-
tions of the lung The character of a new reaction pro-
duced in these locations will again depend upon the number of tubercle bacilli involved and the degree of sensitiveness of the tissue If there are many bacteria and the soil is highly sensitive the reaction will take the form of
an acute pneumonia Clinically and pathologically this may simulate a pneumonia produced by other bacteria
The patient may be acutely ill and possibly die during this episode On the other hand he may survive and if con-
ditions are favorable much of the disease will resolve
Sometimes large cavities may be formed at others the
disease heals with the formation of a considerable amount of scar tissue and more chronic cavities If the number of
bacilli is fewer and the tissue are less sensitive the resultant
disease produced by aspiration tends to be nodular in type
accompanied by the formation of scar tissue and some-
times cavitation
Hemorrhage is a not infrequent accompaniment of any
4 of these forms of chronic pulmonary tuberculosis It may
result from the erosion of a large blood vessel which passes
through an area undergoing cavity formation or it may be
due to oozing from minute blood vessels in the walls of
cavities
MILIARY TUBERCULOSIS
This is so named because the tubercles seen are about the size of the millet seed Miliary tuberculosis is due to a distribution of tubercle bacilli by way of the blood stream
It may occur as an accidental complication of any of the
86
above forms of tuberculosis The organisms gain access to
the blood stream either through the activity of migratory
cells or as the result of an erosion of a large blood vessel
The bacilli will be distributed to portions of the body supplied by the blood vessel involved For example if rupture occurs into a branch of the pulmonary artery miliary tuberculosis will develop in the portion of the lungs sup-
plied If on the other hand there is a rupture into a pul-
monary vein the blood will carry the bacilli back to the
left heart and thence to the other organs of the body Fre-
quently they lodge in the brain and its lining membranes
As a consequence tuberculous meningitis is a frequent complication of miliary tuberculosis The outcome of this disease again depends upon the number of bacilli involved
Occasionally a very few organisms pass into the blood stream and set up only a few tub^'rclesin various organs These heal without demonstrable symptoms On the other hand where large numbers are poured into the circula-
tion an acutely fatal disease results which may terminate
within a few weeks
SILICOSIS AND TUBERCULOSIS
It is well known that the silicotic individual is peculiarly
susceptible to infection with the tubercle bacillus Clinical investigators are generally of the opinion that the infection is a new one from the outside acquired subsequent to the development of the silicosis but by animal experimenta-
tion we have been able to show that the inhalation of pure
silica dust will light up and reactivate a partially healed childhood type of tuberculosis in guinea pigs Furthermore
there are many cases studied by ray which suggest that a partially healed apical focus of tuberculosis has been caused to spread by the inhalation of dust In South Africa Dr. Ervine demonstrated several beautiful examples of such reactivation by serial ray examination of the same individuals For several years men with apical scars continued to work in the gold mines with little demonstrable change in their ray pictures In time these areas began to spread
and finally the typical snowstorm picture of silicosis with
tuberculosis was produced Dr. Russell gave me an oppor-
97
tunity to study some of the lungs from his Barre granite
cutters The number of cases was too small for statistical analysis but I found that in a few instances the tubercu-
losis was apparently extending downward from an old focus
in the top of the silicotic lung Most of the lungs however showed an atypical distribution of the infection The older
infectious lesions where large cavities had developed were
in the lower lungs and not in the apex The latter group
I interpreted as due to infections acquired subsequent to
the period of dust exposure
In the laboratory we have studied the effects of inhaled
dust upon tuberculous infection comparable to the childhood type of tuberculosis seen in man We have not yet been successful in producing changes analogous to apical
tuberculosis which behave with sufficient constancy for ex-
perimental observation for either the disease would heal so completely that it would no longer be affected by inhaled dust or it would remain so active that it spread in the con-
trol animals with no dust exposure I shall therefore con-
fine my remarks to primary tuberculous infection as modified by dust inhalation When such infection is produced in normal guinea pigs with an attenuated tubercle bacillus of low virulence it tends to heal spontaneously A year or
two after infection most of the subpleural tubercles have either disappeared or have been reduced to nodules of acar
tissue with more or less calcification In the tracheo-
bronchial lymph nodes there is usually more evidence of the infection There is ordinarily no spread to the other organs Animals infected in this manner usually react positively to
injections of tuberculin in the skin throughout the remainder
wory. of their lives indicating a persistence of some slight ac-
tivity of the infection If an exposure to quartz dust is commenced on the day
after infection with such an attenuated tubercle bacillus the disease follows its usual course for four or five months when
rather suddenly the subpleural tubercles take on renewed activity The disease spreads locally through the lung and small cavities develop at the site of the original lesions At the same time bacilli gain access to the blood stream and are transported to the liver and spleen where progressive tuberculosis develops The result is a generalized chronic
88
tuberculosis which may last for two or more years but
which ultimately terminates fatally If on the other hand animals with fully developed sili-
cosis are ^finfectedwith attenuated tubercle bacilli an acute form of tuberculosis is produced which kills them in from | one to three months The cause of this alteration of the
tuberculous infection by the coexistence of silicosis is most
interesting In fact it was the observation of this phenomenon in human beings which attracted us to the problem
Thus far it seems obvious that the dust itself does not influence the bacillus If quartz or other dusts are added to artificial culture media no significant changes in the rate
of growth of tubercle bacilli planted in that media are ob-
served We as well as other observers have noted that in
quartz containing media the lag period regularly ensuing before new growth starts is reduced but this we believe is due to a buffering action which silica is known to possess In other words the silica absorbs acids liberated by the
bacilli so that these substances do not impede growth
Furthermore it has been discovered that the tubercle ba-
cilli recovered from acute or chronic cases of tubercu-
losis do not differ materially from those originally injected For example a culture is made from an acute cavity in a guinea pig with silicosis subsequently infected with attenu-
ated tubercle bacilli These bacilli are injected into a normal
guinea pig They produce only progressive tuberculous infection The same result is produced if the ground up lung tissue of the animal with acute tuberculosis is injected directly into a normal animal Apparently neither the silica nor the silicotic tissue produces any permanent
change in the infecting tubercle bacillus We are forced to conclude that silica particles excite
some change in the tissues which temporarily favors the growth of the organism As a matter of observation it can be stated that the tuberculous process does not begin to spread until the degenerative changes begin to appear in the silicotic nodules We have interpreted these observations to signify that the degeneration of silicosis is the factor
responsible for the growth of the tubercle bacillus Whether this hypothesis will be substantiated by further experiments
remains to be seen
Finally the property of stimulating tuberculous infection
seems to be specifically associated with various forms of
silica Soft coal and marble dusts are without appreciable
effect upon primary tuberculous infections with attenuated tubercle bacilli Asbestos a silicate of magnesium causes the tuberculosis to progress for a short time but it soon heals by fibrosis and rarely results in death Granite dust composed largely of the silicates feldspar and mica with only about 25 per cent of free silica retards the normal
process of healing of such infection Prolonged inhalation
of this dust will reactivate a partially healed primary tuberculosis in a few members of a large group of animals Experience with human beings exposed to granite dust would indicate that longer exposures than it has been pos-
sible to employ with guinea pigs might produce more pronounced effects Carborundum dust the carbide of silicon behaves in an unusual way which cannot be explained by
the facts thus far in our possession Although the manu-
facturers analysis of this material shows that it contains less than one per cent of free silica yet it is almost as potent as quartz in its stimulation of a tuberculous infection The only explanations possible at the present time are either
that the material contains more than the stated amount of
free silica or that the body can act upon this substance to
liberate silica in an active form
The picture produced by the combination of tuberculosis and silicosis is not simply one in which the two conditions
coexist side by side but it is often that of a new disease The silica particles and the tubercle bacilli may be carried
by the phagocytes into the same lymphoid nodule Both exert their effect upon the same tissues and a large nodule~fl
having characteristics of both conditions is produced ~fl
'
Furthermore there is a greater tendency to diffuse reactions
in the walls of the air spaces so that wide areas of the lung
tissue may become uniformly fibrous The causation of such reactions is often difficult to recognize particularly in
cases seen late in the course of the disease This is true
both in the roentgenographic and in the postmortem method
of examination
There has recently been considerable discussion of acute
silicosis which has appeared after a few months or years
40
exposure in sandblasting and pulverizing plants and among
the manufacturers of abrasive soap powders I have had opportunity to examine sections of the lungs of several sandblasters and pulverizers all said to have a silicosis produced in less than two years Microscopically I have felt
that all of them have showed evidence of a complicating
tuberculous pneumonia but it is atypical in its manifesta-
tions Dr. Kettle has told me that in the sections of acute
silicosis from English scouring powder manufacturers there was also evidence of such infection Many of these
cases from both sides of the Atlantic were diagnosed as uncomplicated acute silicosis by ray I do not wish to in-
fer that excessive quantities of exceedingly fine s^>licamay not produce an unusually rapid form of silicosis but I do wish to emphasize the fact that the tuberculous factor may
accelerate the dust reaction and produce a form of disease
which is difficult to recognize
Another way in which the coexistence of tuberculosis
may influence the development of pneumoconiosis is through its effect upon the lymphatic drainage system Healed childhood infectious lesions often seriously damage the
tracheobronchial lymph nodes Obviously lymph cannot
flow in a normal manner into a node whose channels are
compressed and distorted by fibrous and calcified tubercles
If such an individual enters a dusty trade the accumulating particles cannot be removed from the air spaces of his lung as in the normal person Many of them must tend to be held either in the air spaces or in the other portions of the lymphatic system It is my belief that such a man will develop silicosis rapidly and that this may explain why some
persons may require forty years exposure to granite dust
before developing significant changes in the lungs while others seem to accomplish the same result in four or five
or perhaps ten years It has been claimed the individual
susceptibility to inhaled dust is the explanation for these differences in reaction time but surely these words explain
nothing Until we have more carefully studied evidence
from a large series of mortem examinations we can do no more than speculate upon this subject
In this connection it is often assumed that a group of
men exposed to a given concentration of dust will develop
41
pneumoconiosis in approximately the same time For example in the old days of dry drilling in South Africa when no protective measures were in force the average period required for the development of silicosis was four years
Today when the wet process is in use and every precaution
is employed to reduce the dust concentration the average period is fourteen or fifteen years But in both instances there are exceptions Some drillers become affected in less than the average time and others are apparently immune for many times the average period It is a mistake to assume that such an entity as a normal human being exists He
may appear normal and be able to carry on under the usual
conditions of environment When exposed to unusual surroundings apparently minor defects may render his body quite incapable of coping with the situation
Thus the evidence would indicate that inhaled silica dust
may either reactivate and cause to become progressive a existing focus of latent tuberculosis or it may favor
the growth of a new tuberculous infection from the outside It may produce a new type of disease which is neither silicosis nor Luberculosis In either case the inference is
clear that unusual care should be taken to prevent the same
person from inhaling both tubercle bacilli and silica dust
In South Africa the method of excluding from exposure to silica dust every person who shows detectable traces of tuberculosis in any form is rigidly adhered to Dr. Russell
and I were surprised to find applicants rejected whose ray films showed evidence of healed childhood tuberculosis
Others diagnosed as more fibrosis than usual or what we
il would call increased prominence of linear markings were
likewise refused employment Men with obvious healed
apical scars were summarily rejected Their experience
with compensation costs has led them to insist upon men who are free from every evidence of pulmonary tubercu-
losis active or inactive which can be detected by ray or
physical examination
This they are doing for their own protection for they
have learned that silica dust may transform an inactive
focus into an active one The particular individual may become incapacitated for work and claim compensation
Furthermore when his infection becomes active he may ex-
42
pectorate tubercle bacilli in the working places of the mine
and thus become a source of danger to his fellow workers
who are exquisitely susceptible to the tubercle bacillus But
even these measures are not proving successful for tuber-
culosis is increasing though the silicosis rate is decreasing among the mine population The reasons for these changes are not apparent But they are now recruiting their white
miners from the rural districts of South Africa rather than
from Europe as heretofore Such individuals have often escaped previous contact with the tubercle bacillus but if they have developed lesions of infection they are excluded by ray examination Possibly the Minera Phthisis Bureau has erred on the side of apparent safety and has introduced into its mines a generation with no immunity because of no childhood infection to tuberculosis But
truly it would require more knowledge than we possess to-
day to determine from an ray film what primary child-
hood focus would confer the requisite amount of immunity
and yet would not be activated by the inhalation of silica
dust
PNEUMONIA
Throughout the world the incidence of pneumonia is extremely high among groups exposed by occupation to dust
This is true not only of silica but of many other dusts Dr.
Russell can speak for the coal miners Among guinea pigs exposed to dust pneumonia has proved to be a terrible acourge Sometimes a group of 100 to 200 animals may be completely destroyed and the whole experiment must be
repeated It has been our experience that the pneumonia rate is highest in guinea pigs exposed to silica but it is also
high where other dusts are involved I believe this is a logical place to pause for a few mo-
ments If I can answer questions now or if anyone else wishes to discuss this phase of the subject I would be glad
to have him do so
MR KUECHLE I had an opportunity to go to Pitcher
Oklahoma this June and Dr. Merewether found that a man
with syphilis contracted disabling silicosis with the same exposure in just half the time a well man did
48
DR GARDNER Let Mr. Cummings discuss that Mr. Cummings has been in Pitcher
MR WHITE You spoke of infantile tuberculosis from
which recovery is taken and that those who are found to
have had that on application for entering a mine should be eliminated If we follow that practice of elimination of applicants who had had that infantile tuberculosis my in-
formation is that the infantile tuberculosis which has healed
is so prevalent that we would eliminate probably a very large portion of our applicants and the question arises whether we could follow that practice as a practical matter
and get the men for work
DR GARDNER I would like to discuss that a little further am glad you brought it out
MR WILCOX You said you wouldn't advise the taking
of those persons into industry which unduly exposed them not industry generally
DR GARDNER Mr. White's point that so many of these
people would be inclined to show evidence of childhood infection particularly among some labor groups that he wouldn't have anybody left to work his particular industry if he excluded them is a practical one In South Africa it was the practice to exclude all such cases where evidence of infantile infection could be demonstrated but there they are working with a population which had not been generally tuberculized Our experimental infections were more recent and were not particularly well healed The case is different when you deal with a population long in contact with white civilization Among the older European races for example the adults probably carry those lesions which are so completely healed that they would never be reacti Many of them are sterile and they no longer contain tubercle bacilli It would be a matter of judgment to determine in the individual case whether a particular spot was liable to
break down or whether it was not If it consisted of a
small deposit of lime salt not bigger than a buck shot at the edge of the lung one would certainly be inclined to disregard it If on the other hand it were as big as one's finger nail not completely calcified and sharply marked off one might consider that it was a potential source of danger
44
One would also have to take into consideration the type of
industrial population the duration of time with which the
suspect might have had contact with tubercle bacilli and the
likely consequent amount of immunity
particular individual might be
that this group or the to exhibit This is a
difficult point and one that one wouldn't care to answer
categorically I admit
MR WHITE In the northern section of the state where
our iron ore mines are located we depend very largely on
Finn labor and Northern European Scandinavian We are Informed that those races have a much greater tendency to tuberculosis than the ordinary American citizen How can we apply your rule with reference to that race
Dr. GARDNER It is a difficult problem I think you
would have to decide the individual case on its merits and on the evidence submitted from the tuberculin reaction and
from ray examinations I would not want to give you a blanket rule that could be applied to every case We know that Finns do die of tuberculosis when they contract it Their tendency is a bad one rather than a good one How to evaluate the factors of living conditions against
those of immunity created by previous childhood infections is the thing that would offer difficulties Perhaps Dr. Warfield could help us in the discussion of this practical point
MR WHITE We are dependent upon local population
for our men We cannot import them from other sections of the United States It is impractical Hence our industry has that burden We have no way of controlling the living conditions of those men once they go home We can't say that they must live in sanitary conditions We know that the Finns are very much inclined not to live in sanitary conditions and yet under state laws we have no control over it So that it presents a practical problem as to whether there are certain limits in industries of various
kinds and I refer now particularly to our own it may be in others beyond which we can't go We may do everything
that medical science and resultant rules of the Industrial Commission devolved and yet there is a hazard which we
cannot eliminate but which is incident to that work Now that being so the question is whether ultimately I won't
45
say today the thought must come that having done all we could we should not then be penalized for that which we cannot overcome especially that racial tendency
Dr. GardNER In the case of your Finns they are a race who have been long in contact with tuberculosis They have less resistance apparently than some other races for rea-
sons which are not obvious I think that you would be per-
fectly safe in accepting a man who has a healed childhood tuberculous infection demonstrable by ray who still reacted weakly to tuberculin who was in other respects phy-
sically fit If there were any suspicion about this individ-
ual's ray films if there were any hesitation in your mind
that his latent tuberculosis was on the verge of activity
he should be eliminated from the group Furthermore I feel that any contacts in the home should be removed from
your community if possible 1 realize that this might be very difficult but if you find that there are people in your community with open tuberculosis they might readily in-
fect a silicotic miner and the silicotic miner then becomes a carrier of disease in the mine and a distributor of it to
other silicotic individuals For your own protection it'be- it'be-
comes your obligation to hunt down every possible source
of tuberculous infection that you can find and eliminate it from contact with your workers
MR WILCOX We have no law on that subject
DR GARDNER You have no law but I am simply outlining a situation which might exist The solution of the
problem is difficult realize but it must be solved subject
to local conditions
MR DOE Dr. Gardner do you feel if a man reacted to
tuberculin and the ray showed he was in pretty good condition and he was rejected for that employment might that constitute listing in your judgment
DR GARDNER They do it in South Africa because they feel that it is money in their pockets to do so They have
the situation in much better control than we can possibly
expect to have it here They have one industry and the whole compensation scheme has been built up around that industry The whole thing is concentrated in one place
46
They have the Miner's Phthisis Bureau which has absolute authority to make examination previous to and during the period of occupation If the Bureau rejects an applicant for employment he is excluded if it diagnoses Bilicosis during his employment he is warned and may leave and accept compensation in a lump sum award He can go to a scheduled mine but he is not eligible to compen-
sation then
MR DOE Suppose you had a man with childhood in-
fection which we will say was a border line whether he
should or should not be employed and he was rejected for employment in a foundry would it be your view that that
would be listing or entirely justifiable on a medical
ground ;
DR GARDNER If there is sufficient evidence presented
from the ray pictures and from a tuberculin reaction that this was a potential source of danger to the man I
should think it would be perfectly justifiable to eliminate
him
;
DR WILLIS I think it is pretty near mandatory to do so It would perhaps introduce a menace to the men and to the industry I think I would have to have more evidence than the ray and tuberculin reaction would give I would want a careful physical survey of the patient and a care-
ful evidence of the history There are so many factors
that it impresses me that every industry and perhaps every
individual who comes up for review or for employment or for retirement because of illness every individual has to
be taken as an entity and that it seems to me is the biggest
problem here both for industry to prevent more and more infection and for the individual to be protected I think it
is the most careful evaluation of the individual who is im-
mediately concerned and it will go farther toward eliminating a lot of tuberculosis in that particular sort of industry
in the future than any other one way I know of
DR GARDNER I do also
MR DOE Which is of greater importance from the
standpoint of the man is it more important for him that
he should be excluded for his fellow workman as in con-
tradistinction from his employer
47
DR GARDNER I think it is more important for his fel-
low employe He takes a chance with his own life The chances are about ninety to one that his disease will get him
if he has tuberculosis and silicosis If you had several hun-
dred employes working in silica dust and you should allow a man with open tuberculosis or the one who develops open tuberculosis work with them you would imperil not only
the one man but all these others No I would say for the
protection of the many that the one man should be excluded
MR KUECHLE Wouldn't that mean in a community of
diversified industry the better course of procedure would be
not to accept the suspicious type
DR GARDNER That is what they have done in South Africa They have excluded people who Dr. Russell and I felt might perfectly well be allowed enter the mine and expose themselves They showed very slight changes in their ray more fibrosis than usual as we designated it or perhaps a latent or childhoond focus or a widening in the mediastinum connective tissue But they could afford to be strict for they had plenty of laborers and their source of supply was not limited Nevertheless it surprised us to find
out how very rigid they were in the enforcement of their
requirements
MR DOE If that was to be effective in a given commu-
nity what would you advise a central clearing house for
information of that kind
DR GARDNER I believe very firmly that such a program is only workable with a central clearing house in charge of qualified persons and with authority to make rulings from which there can be no appeal Without such an authoritative board the plan cannot work because even medical opinions have been known to differ The crux of the matter of course is to find the men properly trained and qualified to
act on such a board
Mr. TARRELL Dr. Gardner does your recommendation
to exclude a man from being employed who has evidence of
a childhood infection of tuberculosis apply to all dusty trades or are you limiting that to any particular type of
dust
48
Dr. Gardner No I certainly would not exclude the man that might work in pure alundum dust We have not
sufficient knowledge about all types of dust and their reac-
tion by any means the surface of this subject has only been
scratched
MR TARRELL What do you say about such a man work-
ing in an exposure of aluminum oxide
DR GARDNER As far as I know today I don't know anything about the effect of aluminum oxide upon tubercu-
losis I know that aluminum oxide will not produce signifi-
cant damage to the normal tissues but I do not know whether it will alter the reaction to tubercle bacilli I do not think It will but I have no proof I have not yet had an opportunity to study its effects in this connection There is a good deal of clinical information on the subject but there have been no autopsies reported
MR TARRELL Have you made any study of the effect
.
on the respiratory tract of aluminum oxide
DR GARDNER We have not done inhalation experiments We have made some intravenous injections of aluminum oxide sections of which I will show you in a few
minutes
DR G. L. Bellis Is there any limitation to the amount of aluminum oxide or to other called inocuous dusts that can be cared for by lung tissue does the amount of dust and the length of time in which the worker has been ex-
posed have any effect on lung tissue in relation to causation of disease either mechanical or chemical
DR GARDNER Within certain limits it has been held a
small concentration of silica dust inhaled over a long period of time would produce the same effect that a higher concentration over a shorter period of time But this statement has to be qualified because with smaller concentra-
tions of dust the eliminating mechanism is more effective
It is not thrown out of order so rapidly and a person can handle very appreciable amounts of dust for a long period
of time
DR BELLIS My question had to do principally with dusts claimed by some to be inocuous dusts for instance
49
aluminum oxide dust Is there any limit to the amount of dust that the lung will take care of without damage to
itself
DR GARDNER I think one probably could create such a
heavy concentration of dust that an individual would suffocate in it but of course such a condition would be unusual
Mr. Tarrell Is the process of elimination the same with silicotic dusts as with the silica
DR GARDNER No probably not within wide limits If one inhaled something less than a suffocating concentration of dust it would tend to pile up more rapidly in the lung
and would throw more and more air spaces out com-
mission not by fibrosis but simply mechanical plugging The subject would be apt to develop a chronic bronchitis or
possibly a pneumonia But I do not think that with very high concentrations of aluminum oxide pulmonary fibrosis .
would develop
DR WILLIS You have a more or less analogous situa-
tion with the cement industry where it is quite well known that huge clouds of cement dust running into hundred millions of particles appear not to do any harm at all to the individual inhaling them I would like to give a case or two that have come under my observation just recently of men
who have been running emery wheels Of course that is
the source probably a source of aluminum oxide emery
dust It is quite important whether those wheels are artificial or natural stone and of considerable importance to
know the attendant substances In Detroit there have been
two young negro men I happen to know about who have died one after eight years of dusty work in running an emery wheel and one after six years exposure to emery dust One of them had symptoms for a little over a year and one of them three or four months There is no proof at all that emery dust aluminum oxide was what had
caused his silicosis He obviously had pneumoconiosis but
there wasn't any proof that dust had done it because there was no way of finding out the environment that had surrounded his occupation and that had been in attendance in his early occupational life It seems to me over and over
4
120
MR TARRELL Now assume that with the aluminum
oxide dust you have a certain percentage of metal dust
iron dust how would that effect your answer as to the
susceptibility?
MR CUMMINGS We have very little evidence of re-
action produced by iron dust itself More significant would be the small percentage of silica over a long time I feel
that the best criterion for the action of any such dust would
be the evidence of pulmonary fibrosis on a good roent-
genogram
MR TARRELL What do you mean by saying there is no
evidence as to the effect of iron upon the development of
;
tubercle bacilli
.
MR CUMMINGS I mean by that metallic iron
MR TARRELL Isn't it a fact developed by experiments in Europe that iron favors the growth of tubercle bacilli
MR CUMMINGS Yes there have been some recent re-
ports on that
MR TARRELL They all indicate that iron favors the
development of the tubercle does it not MR CUMMINGS Yes with an experimental infection in
experimental animals any foreign body with its resultant
irritation may tend to make the infection more active
However the conditions of experimental infection are quite
different than those in man I would rather have Dr.
Gardner answer that question
MR TARRELL You are familiar with the experiments conducted by Dr. Calmette
MR CUMMINGS Yes MR TARRELL Director of Pasteur Institute
MR CUMMINGS Yes
MR TARRELL What did his experiment disclose MR CUMMINGS His experimental work has been quite extensive MR TARRELL I mean his experiment work as to iron favoring growth of the tubercle bacilli
121
MR CUMMINGS I think you refer to the fact that iron salts in small concentration were added to the medium on which tubercle bacilli were grown Long in this coun-
try has also made the same observation Small percentages of iron salts seem to favor growth of tubercle bacilli in test tubes However conditions of growth in test tubes and those present in the body are not to be compared For ^finstancethe experiments to which you refer show that a
small amount of an iron salt will increase the rate of
growth of tubercle bacilli in the test tube whereas double or treble that quantity of iron salt will definitely inhibit growth There is then a very definite concentration which
seems to be beneficial for the growth of organisms
MR TARRELL I think that is all
MR DOE Mr. Cummings may I ask you one more question In your previous answers with regard to the number of million particles you said in answer to one question that that was under ten microns in size and over what size In the Barre Vermont survey what did they
use in that regard
1 MR CUMMINGS The Barre survey was made with the technique used by the Public Health Service and as I
pointed out yesterday it is our impression that for all intents and purposes particles above two microns and below
ten were included From a physical and mathematical
standpoint 2 micron particles are about the smallest size visible with that technique Consequently the measure of dust concentration used included particles within that
range from two to ten microns
MR DOE Everybody knows that there could be more
particles per cubic foot of air Where there are particles you can see there must be particles you can't see
MR CUMMINGS That is right
MR DOE So that in giving your estimate as to what is a safe atmosphere over a long period of time you mean five
million particles more than two microns in size and less
than ten
MR CUMMINGS Yes on determinations made by a technique similar to that used in the Barre survey
122
MR DOE And if another technique were made by which the smaller particles were also counted as I understood
your graphs yesterday that would approximately double
the number of particles
MR CUMMINGS It might increase it by more than
double the number given However that would be taken
into consideration by the use of a conversion factor It
would not increase the actual hazard
MR DOE The hazard would be the same if you counted
by the other method MR CUMMINGS We would simply be using a different
ruler with finer divisions
MR DOE That is all
MR KUECHLE Is there a different correlation between
particles discovered by the light field method and the dark
field method
MR CUMMINGS At the last conference of the people
involved
involved
in
dust
counting
it
was
agreed
that
we
would
ob-
tain conversion factors for changing over from the present
technique to the new one if it were justified
MR KUECHLE Have there been any definite figures de-
termined
MR CUMMINGS There have been
MR KUECHLE What is the correlation as near as you
know today
CUMMINGS I would rather have Bloomfield answer
tthhaat t
MR KUECHLE I understood from Dr. Gardner's state-
ments yesterday morning that particles above ten microna
do not get into the peripheral air fields of the
plruonbgasbly
.
DR GARDNER With the exception of the long fibres of
asbestos which may go down endways
MR KUECHLE Would you also say that particles be-
low three microns were infrequently discernible in those
air cells
128
experi- DR GARDNER My discussion on that subject was one
with reference to the advisability of revising our counting
methods It has been granted that while these small particles might easily penetrate into the terminal air spaces
of the lung some observers believe that ciliary action would
tend to carry them out again very quickly so that they
would not remain and I said we hoped to carry on
whether this were true or not If it were
ments to prove
been shown
true that these very small particles which have
to be so extremely active were retained in the lung then it
would be necessary to revise our technique to measure the
hazard so that we may determine how many of these very
small ones were present in the industrial atmosphere
definitely MR KUECHLE Would that then mean Doctor that at
time when you talk about dust concentration at
the present
the method that was
any point that you always designate
employed in the dust counting so that we may limit the size of the particles between maximum and
minimum
DR GARDNER Of course in most dust investigations
at the present time the bright illumination is being employed and it is to be assumed that up to the present
time at least all dust counts have been made on this basis
In our experimental work we would certainly report that
we have used the dark
MR TARRELL In the article published in the American
Review of Tuberculosis in 1922 and 1923 you reported an experiment with granite and marble dust being injected in guinea pigs and then after exposure to the granite and marble dust for a year you infected these guinea pigs with tubercles and reported what that disclosed Do you re-
member what that was
DR GARDNER That paper to which you refer was one
* entitled Reactivation
MR TARRELL Yes
DR GARDNER In that case you have the cart before
the horse This reactivation experiment was one in which
infection was given first and not allowed to heal and sub-
sequently at intervals after the infection dust exposure
124
was commenced In that experiment we discovered that marble had practically no effect in reactivating a latent
tuberculous infection but that granite was much more po-
tent and I don't recall the percentage of animals but a good
number of them did reactivate their tuberculosis and caused
it to spread
MR TARRELL Well as I remember your article a cer-
tain percentage of animals were not given the dust and you quoted your figures in dusted animals as fifteen
different intervals It remained the same and after
over
giving the tubercles to these dusted animals it increased The first chart in granite was 51 the second chart 94 and
the third chart 102
DR GARDNER You refer to another paper I have for-
gotten the year of its publication In this experiment the
infection was given today let us say and dust exposure
was commenced immediately so as to allow the dust to act
during the period of development of tuberculosis Under
these circumstances we found that the number of tubercles
developing was proportionate to the irritating properties
of the dust itself There was a slight increase above the normal controls in the series inhaling marble dust There was a greater increase in the series inhaling granite dust
MR TARRELL There was an increase from 15 to 62 over the normal control to the marble administered
DR GARDNER Yes
MR TARRELL And 15 to 102 in the granite
DR GARDNER Yes
MR TARRELL That is all
DR H. S. WILLIS Detroit Health Dept. Northville Mich There are quite a number of items on the agenda on which some of us will talk at length and others which other members of the group will discuss at some length
Dr. Gardner has already given you a very clear exposi-
tion of the anatomical relationships underlying the development of pneumoconiosis and I would be inclined to pass over that entirely because he has covered it thoroughly
It is well to bear in mind the fact that a normal healthy
12F
tract is very efficient in withholding dust
upper respiratory
have which
from the lung and the best evidence that we
is not as yet absolute would have you believe that per-
haps not over 25 of the dust in the air reaches the alveoli
of the lungs That is so when the defensive mechanism in
the
tract is intact This may be seriously damaged
upper
mouth breath-
of course with anatomical defects or with
it
be overburdened with huge amounts of
idunsgt orAs tomathye pathology itself Dr. Gardner has so thor-
oughly covered the question that there isn't much to add
except to emphasize one or two points further
He has told you the parts of the lung that are ordinarily
involved namely that pneumoconiosis is primarily a dis-
ease of the lymphatic apparatus of the lung that it concerns itself with reaction in the lymphatics and in the
lymphoid tissue masses of which are distributed along the
arteries veins and bronchi particularly at the points where
those structures divide He has told you also that dust
tends to accumulate in the lymph nodes at the root of the lung the tracheobronchial lymph nodes and that in
general after the lymphatic apparatus is more or less in-
volved the disease manifests itself in the more central
portions of both lungs usually a little more on the right
according to many observers particularly roentgenol- roentgenol-
ogists The disease manifests itself bilaterally in all por-
tions of the lung except the extreme apices and the very
bases and there are many instances in which the entire
lung is involved He also mentioned the fact that early in the process of exposure the pleura and peripheral parts of
the lung are involved and that there is some evidence to point to an anatomical basis for the localization of the dust
in the pleura
When one takes a containing lung out of the body
and looks at it one from either an experimental animal or a human being he will notice that the dust is arranged in
a rather definite manner a rather definite pattern over the pleural surface There may be elongated lines and dots or a series of dots and lines There are polygonal areas
of dust under the pleura that correspond to the position of
the lymphatics as they course through the pleura and it corresponds also to the outline of the finest division of the
120
anatomical consin
unit of the lung according to Miller of Wis-
unit or lobule is a structure with a border of
This lymphatics as its limit Lobules are thus set off from one
another which have bronchioli near their center that pass
peripheralward from the deeper portions of the lung The tendency for dust to be deposited in these limiting areas is based possibly on two anatomical facts The first is the
fact that the bronchiolus sends its divisions in all direc-
tions and that those which pass toward the edge of the
lobule meet similar ones from neighboring bronchioli in
neighboring lobules Any dust in the air in these passages is likely to become trapped in these terminals A second factor which may contribute to this deposition of dust lies in the existence of masses of lymphoid tissue which nor-
mally lie in these regions and which act as it filters
I would like to have you bear this in mind too that the physiological and anatomical mechanism which localizes dust in these various areas of the lung is the mechanism
which transports and localizes tubercle bacilli as well so
that tubercle bacilli are inclined to be carried and deposited
in the same anatomical areas in the lung as is dust
Two points about the pathological reaction First as
Dr. Gardner has amply emphasized the reaction is essen-
tially a fibrosis and there has recently been a number of contributions in the literature which point out the fact
that if there is an alkali in association with silica dust
the results are likely to be very devastating that an alkali
inhaled with silica will stimulate the formation of fibrosis
to a very remarkable degree
The second point about the pathology which we ought to remember is that it is a progressive affair A good
many of you are familiar with the report of Watkins-
Pitchford from the South African mines in which he gives an account of miners who left the mines for service during
the war When they left the mines they had no signs of
silicosis They were in the war for four years and came
back to the mines when a number of them had very defi-
nite roentgenological evidence of silicosis In other words
silica was there and in the intervening four year period it
had stimulated the formation of recognizable reaction in
the lung Another evidence of its progressiveness has been
127
definitely brought out by Dr. Russell and workers in their study
workers in which he analyzed the records of
of granite
Of that
who had left the granite industry
quarrymen
at death was something like 51
group the average age
in the mines
years The average duration of occupation
or quarries had been about twenty years and the aver-
duration of time between discontinuance of occupation
age
but the whole
and death was something over eight years
had silicosis and nearly all of them tuberculosis as
wgerolulp so although the worker is removed from his dusty
occupation the tendency of the disease is to very
be progressive
On the contrary there is a curious fact in connection
with this observation Jarvis observed that during a pro-
longed strike among granite workers there was appar-
ently a recession of pneumoconiosis Also in South Africa
physicians assume that the reason the colored workers
natives do not develop as much pneumoconiosis or sili-
cosis and do not develop it as readily as the white workers do is because they work intermittently I do not know how one can reconcile those two facts on the one hand
progressive disease in a large number of instances goes
on down to death although exposure has ceased on the
other intermittency of employment appears to stay the disease It is a puzzle bul I think it should be mentioned
The next item on the agenda is a question of terminology
When Zenker used the term pneumoconiosis he derived it
from the Greek and aimed it to be a term to include any effect of dust on the lungs Since then it has been an inclusive term and the terms silicosis anthracosis siderosis
and so on have been used properly to designate a certain
sort of pneumoconiosis
When one comes to talk about tuberculosis and pneumo-
coniosis one is simply floored because one hardly knows
where to begin It is a large subject and one which may be discussed from a great number of angles Think of tu-
berculosis first as a very protean disease which may at-
tack all classes or ages and all tissues of the body It
nature may be acute or chronic It is difficult to catalogue any
disease which is as protean in its
It is a disease
so full of clinical and pathological irregularities that exact
placing of it may be an exceedingly difficult matter
128
However there are three factors that we might think
of in respect to relation between pneumoconiosis and tu-
berculosis and with respect to the effect which pneumoconiosis has on this infectious disease In the first place
the well recognized incidence of tuberculosis in silicotica it is high the number of people with silicosia who die and at autopsy not just on the death certificate but at autopsy show tuberculosis is sufficient evidence to link the diseases causally and very definitely Yet much of the data that we present from time to time on the death rate of tuberculosis and pneumoconiosis is open to serious criticism because it is based on death reports A very good example of that is seen in some work that was done ten
years ago in Connecticut relative to the death rate of axe
grinders It was reported that 1900 per hundred thousand employed died early of tuberculosis Drury who made that report made a perfectly plain statement that his diagnosis of tuberculosis was taken from death reports only and that it included quite a hodge anybody dying of
phthisis anybody dying of what was known as consumption anybody who died of what was known as miner's phthisis
or grinder's consumption anybody who died of tuber-
culosis he took the whole group and called them tubercu-
losis and in that group there was not one single reported death as being due to pneumoconiosis alone I think that gives you a very good reason for being suspicious of such data when we know that pneumoconiosis must alone pro-
duce many deaths and many of which are attributed to
tuberculosis alone Such work emphasizes very clearly the
high incidence of mortality from pulmonary disease among groups who work in dusty trades or in axe grinding but it does not prove that those people all have died of tuber-
culosis
However the high incidence of tuberculosis proved to be associated with pneumoconiosis is sufficient to indicate that the infection comes very frequently as a complica-
:
tion
Experimental data proves the same thing The data
which the sections and lantern slides Dr. Gardner and Mr.
Cummings showed yesterday pointed out how common or
easy it is for tuberculosis to undergo exacerbation or to
129
be increased in amount in the lungs that have been made
silicotic
In Toronto there is some work going on which has not yet been reported to the effect that the addition of silica
to media in which tubercle bacilli are grown produces a definite increase in the growth of these bacilli The same
media without silica grows tubercle bacilli at a given rate and when silica has been added the growth is enhanced
That of course is again a test tube experiment and is not
to be carried over bodily to clinical observation but it is
a fact worth mentioning
A VOICE You mentioned silica being added to the test .
tube
DR WILLIS Silica I understand that it is crystalline silica although I have no specific knowledge of this
A VOICE Silica increases the growth
DR WILLIS Yes Many other substances do the same thing iron does it in certain concentration for instance
Do the dusts which fail to produce demonstrable pneumoconiosis produce an effect on tuberculosis That is a
question of great importance It is a question to which there is no absolute answer In general one would say no
to this question At least there is no proof that dusts which
fail to produce pneumoconiosis or fail to produce fibrosis of the lung produce any susceptibility to tuberculosis The
only two types of dusts so far as we know that do produce pneumoconiosis are crystalline silica and asbestos which lutter is a silicate Aside from those two dusts there is no proof that any one predisposes to the development of tuberculosis Certainly in many dusty industries the death
rate from tuberculosis is not appreciably increased over that
for occupied persons of comparable ages I should like to mention one or two experiments that were undertaken in this connection with inhalation of dusts which do not pro-
duce pneumoconiosis
Guinea pigs were exposed for something over a year to
soft coal dust in great concentration and then were injected
with human tubercle bacilli which had a known virulence they were infected along with a group of animals which had
9
130
had no dust There was no material difference in the
amount of tuberculosis which developed in those two groups
Then for something over three years we exposed a large group of guinea pigs to what was essentially silicon carbide one of the dusts from the Norton Company We exposed them to extraordinary heavy clouds often containing over one hundred million particles per cubic foot often in clouds so thick that you could hardly see the animals as they sat at the bottom of the apparatus We exposed them for three years for four or five days a week and six to eight
hours a day and then infected them with tubercle bacilli of known virulence along with normal dusted animals
and in the dusted animals there was no increase in tuber-
culosis The degree of tuberculosis in the groups was quite the same It should also be said that in both these
experiments we were unable to demonstrate any evidence that fibrosis any evidence that pneumoconiosis had been
produced by those two dusts I mention them because I
think you would like to lay them in your thinking alongside these experiments of Dr. Gardner with dusts which do
produce a pneumoconiosis and have a deleterious effect on
tuberculosis
Now in thinking of the effect of dust on the lungs of the formation of silicosis we have at least three factors to consider One of course is the percentage of silica in the dust and another is the amount of the dust It is obvious that if silica is only one or two or three per cent but the dust is of sufficient concentration workers may possibly acquire enough silica to do damage In practical experience however it hasn't worked out that way in the cement industry
where free silica exists from one to five or six cent and
where the dust is in very great concentration One needa to get no nearer than a half mile to a cement plant to real-
ize how intensely concentrated the dust is Those people do not develop any serious grade of pneumoconiosis and they certainly do not appear to be predisposed to tuberculosis On the other hand pure silica may be present in dust to the extent of 50 or more without leading to serious effect on the lungs provided the concentration the dust count is low So both those factors must obviously go together
A third factor namely adulterant dusts has been men-
131
tioned not in this conference but quite a number of times elsewhere Haldane brought it up fifteen years ago and Mavrogordato has played it up as has Heffernan of England That is the question of the effect of inhalation of silica to which some other dust has been added Clay or in
some instances coul dust is said to either cause the silica
to remain in place in the alveoli and not be transported to
the lymphatic system very readily or to facilitate its rapid elimination Theoretically that is a very important con-
sideration Of how much practical value this procedure might be remains undetermined as yet Certain facts in-
dicate its inutility The only industry in which it has really
been put to test over a long period has been that of the potters There is a great deal of clay of many sorts in potter's
dust and there is also a varying amount of silica dust but
potters develop pneumoconiosis slowly and progressively ir-
respective of the presence of clay dust The question of these adulterant dusts is one that should be thought of and
worked on a great deal more than has been done up to the
present time
The next point in the outline is the effect of dusts on
tuberculous diseases It is well known and admitted
by everyone that the morbidity rates and mortality rates from respiratory diseases in people working in the dusty trades is higher than it is amongst occupied males of the same age groups in other industries I hope Dr. Russell will develop that point more His group has emphasized
the fact that amongst pneumoconotic people who subse-
quently develop tuberculosis there is for a while before the
tuberculosis appears an increase in the amount of ap-
parently tuberculous pulmonary diseases What the factors are in this increase in the morbidity and mortality
rates among dust workers one doesn't know Some of them
are unanalyzable There are certain known factors such as low economic scale of living particularly in sand blasting and trades in which pay is relatively low The people live in unhygienic surroundings On the contrary the skilled workmen in the granite fields have unusually good wages
and good sanitary surroundings and living conditions
Among coal miners excessive drunkenness exists That may
or may not play a part It certainly might easily contrib-
132
ute to the incidence of pneumonia which is high These
are still questions on which we cannot give any very definite information but people in dusty trades have a
high incidence of pulmonary disease that is granted
What are the effects of dusts which do not produce pneumoconiosis effect on tuberculosis and other diseases Well those are uncertain factors uncertain quantities It has been claimed for instance that in group of tobacco workers in the Mannheim District in Germany the incldence of tuberculosis is very high this has been attributed to tobacco dust but investigation reveals essentially these
facts people entering that particular industry are physically weak people largely because the work is light
and the pay small and the vigorous healthy people seek employment which gives them a better income than this particular occupation would So the group that elects this
particular industry are physically below par and this
coupled with the fact that the income is low has been given as an explanation of the high tuberculosis death rate Those
are the facts that have been evaluated as a cause of the
higher death rates from tuberculosis There is a good deal of asthma amongst the workers coal miners at times and
especially among workers in the vegetable dust as well as a high incidence of tumor in certain German mining districts
This brings up another question which is of some importance because on at least three occasions it has been reported that acute disease in large numbers of workers
has followed exposure to vegetable dust It has been shown in each instance that fungi or other infectious material has
been carried with the dust and that the inhalation of quantities of living infectious material has been responsible for
the disease in question
There has recently been a very interesting and significant development of a new disease amongst workers in the woods
of Northern Michigan It represents a new industrial
hazard which is a product of the depression Many loga at the logging camps have been allowed to lie about for two or three years and as the men have worked the old logs they have found a very fine almost impalpable powder of brown color lying in huge amounts between the bark
and the body of the tree This arises in great clouds when
188
the bark is removed from the log or when the log is sawed Quite a number of those people have developed evidence of
pulmonary disease with physical and roentgenological signs
that suggested tuberculosis of an acute sort Their symp-
toms however were predominantly those of asthma and
bronchitis Those men nearly fifty of them have been put into sanatoria and all of them have got well Now the upshot of the whole thing has been that examination of the sputum has failed to reveal tubercle bacilli but has revealed
a fungus Examination of this fine powder has found it to consist solely of pure culture of spores of this parasite
In the ordinary process of the industry the logs would not lie around long enough for this fungus to grow but as they
have not been used the bug has an opportunity to grow and this product this fungus this spore produces in the
lung a very definite pulmonary disease which fortunately
clears up promptly after removal of the cause It has been reported by Dr. John Towey and it has been suggested that it be named Towey's disease It points out this fact that in
association with vegetable dusts there may well be infectious materials which may be responsible for disease
The next point on the agenda is roentgenological evidence of silicosis I do not pose as an expert in roentgenology
and with a few brief remarks I am going to pass that over to Dr. Russell The classification of silicosis into groups or
stages one two and three has been protested against vigorously by a number of roentgenologists particularly by
Pancoast and Pendergrass They have felt that inasmuch as the different industries are associated with different
types of pneumoconiosis those stages do not apply The
ordinary grouping that has been described has been that in association with rock dust quartz The first evidence
is simply a haze especially in asbestos is throughout a
fairly large area of the pulmonary field usually bilateral
and this in a film which may show 1 widening of the mediastinum 2 accentuation of the linear markings 3
fine fibrous lines and 4 fine shadows in the periphery of the lung As time goes on a degree of nodular predominance appears so that these little nodules lymphatic nodules become enlarged and appear on the film as opaque
shadows which have been described as snowstorm appear-
134
A ances little later there is fusion of many of the snow-
storm like nodules and an increase in the amount of diffuse
fibrosis both of which may lead to consolidated areas that
are sometimes quite large These definite opacities appear
in the film Then finally when tuberculosis supervenes
masses of consolidation become more conspicuous It is
quite difficult to separate a patchy consolidation of simple * pneumoconiosis from that in which tuberculosis has super-
vened It should be borne in mind that silica dust in its
various forms leads to differing roentgenological appear-
ances In granite cutters for instance thickening of the trunks widening of mediastinal shadows increasing density of shadows in the parenchyma all appear without the
nodular snowstorm shadows
I am not going to say more about roentgenological features because Dr. Russell will speak to you shortly and will
undoubtedly discuss this question One might raise a question in connection with roentgenological features of sili-
cosis Can one make a diagnosis of pneumoconiosis in the
absence of roentgenological signs This question comes up to physicians quite often and it is a question that a phy-
sician is really in difficulty to answer I should say no to that question because unless there is roentgenological evi-
dence of pneumoconiosis there is absence of the charac-
teristic symptoms of the disease This question has been
up in South Africa and committees have made certain re-
quirements for the diagnosis of silicosis at autopsy In South Africa there must be a macroscopic nodule at least one nodule in every four square ems of lung tissue This may vary depending upon whether the lung is distended or contracted fibrotic but it indicates at least that there is an effort being made to require definite evidence for the diagnosis If they do that in South Africa and make such a requirement for the autopsy diagnosis it seems logical to assume that one cannot make the diagnosis in life unless
some definite criteria avail As to the differential diagnosis
between pneumoconiosis and tuberculosis there are also cer-
tain difficulties Physical examination is important His-
tory is important I am not going to discuss it because Dr.
Russell will consider it am sure Physical examination is of the greatest importance in evaluating the status of the
135
patient Occasionally miliary tuberculosis of the lungs is
diagnosed as pneumoconiosis because throughout the pul-
monary field miliary tubercles are scattered and these ap-
pear as innumerable little dots and points or opacities
Miliary tuberculosis or pulmonary carcinomatosis a very rare disease must be carefully differentiated from pneumoconiosis I have a case in mind just now that may illus-
trate that fact A young man of 21 had worked two years
in emery dust polishing headlights in one of the Ford plants He reported that the dust was so thick that he could not see his neighbor who stood two or three feet away He worked in that dust daily for two years before
he had a hemorrhage which is not common in pneu-
moconiosis He came for examination which was equivocal
ray showed a storm appearance that looked like very extensive pneumoconiosis His sputum continued to
be bloody which is not like pneumoconiosis and finally
tubercle bacilli were discovered in the sputum He de-
veloped a cavity in the lung was treated by pneumothorax
and in the course of a year and a half his called sili-
cosis disappeared from both lungs
We all know the symptoms and we know that when tuber-
culosis supervenes in the course of pneumoconiosis the
patient begins to feel ill Heretofore he had not felt very
badly A little shortness of breath and a little cough were
present but he had had very few symptoms But now tuberculosis begins and he is very likely to lose his appetite he is very likely to cough and expectorate and to lose weight and he feels quite weak and lethargic Such symptoms appear eventually in the late stages of uncomplicated
pneumoconiosis particularly when the circulation and the
heart begin to lag but only in full blown cases The physical signs help a good deal When tuberculosis occurs there are rales in the chest whereas the chest is almost always
dry in simple pneumoconiosis A very important factor in the differential diagnosis is examination of the sputum
Sputum should be looked at over and over and over again if there is any suspicion that tuberculosis may be present It is only in that way that the diagnosis may be made in
many instances
There are a good many more points in this outline Noth-
136
ing has been said about prevention but Dr. Russell and Mr. Bloomfield are in a much better position to discuss those
features than I am
MR WILCOX Have you any view on the matter of con-
centration of dust I speak of it because we are developing
a dust and fumes code in Wisconsin and we have a number of our members here
DR WILLIS In general it has been shown that a concentration of 200 to 250 particles per cc or five to eight million particles per cubic foot are within limits of safety That means particles below ten microns in diameter
MR DOE What percentage of silica
DR WILLIS In a question like that the important thing is the type of dust We know perfectly well that one hundred million particles or possibly two hundred million par-
ticles of cement dust does little or no harm but we know that tenth or twentieth of that amount of silica may do considerable harm So in any discussion of the limita-
tion of numbers of particles we must obviously consider the type of dust as well I think it is safe to say that five million particles of silica under ten microns fall within the realm of safety in any practical circumstances even if the silica be present in 35 or even 50 strength
MR DOE If it is agreeable to you and to Dr. Willis I
would prefer not to ask any more questions until Dr. Rus-
sell has talked because many of the things I might ask him would be quite fully covered
MR WILCOX Would that be agreeable to you Mr.
Tarrell
MR TARRELL Yes surely
MR WILCOX It is Dr. Russell's wish that Mr. Bloom-
field take his part on the program before Dr. Russell discusses this matter If that is agreeable we will have Mr.
Bloomfield at this time
MR J. J. BLOOMFIELD Sanitary Engineer United States Public Health Service MR CHAIRMAN I should like to discuss those properties of a given dust which determine its
187
capacity to produce pulmonary pathology that is the nature of the dust or its chemical and mineralogical composition the particle size and finally the quantity of the dust dispersed in the atmosphere
Dr. Gardner pointed out yesterday in discussing his work in experimental pathology that apparently there are
no two dusts which exert the same influence on the lungs Mr. Cummings gave you an excellent discussion of the nature of different types of dust and I also should like
to comment briefly on this same point
NATURE OF DUST
Research on the problem of industrial dust inhalation
has indicated that so far as their producing quali-
ties are concerned dusts may be divided into three groups 1 those composed completely of combined silica that is silicates such as pure asbestos 2 those containing free
silica in the crystalline form known as quartz granite
contains approximately 35 per cent of quartz; and lastly
3 dusts containing free silica in a crystalline form
such as diatomaceous earth It has also been observed
that the harmfulness of a containing dust is in direct proportion to its quartz content
However even today we find the terms quartz silica and free silica used interchangeably Perhaps it may not be amiss to define these terms briefly at this time Silica is the name given to the oxide of silicon SIO A dis-
tinction is made between free silica and combined silica Free silica is the term used when the silica occurs in the
form of a definite compound having the formula SiO Generally free silica when thus used means quartz but as
a matter of fact there are seven minerals that are com-
posed of free silica For example in addition to quartz there are other free silicas now finding industrial use such as tripoli used as a facing powder for molds in foundries opal an amorphous hydrated variety of silica occurring abundantly in diatomaceous earth and other forms not quite as abundant in nature as quartz
Combined silica is the term given to silica that occurs in minerals in chemically combined form being united
188
with certain bases such as soda Na lime CaO and a number of others in short it is the silica in silicates According to established convention the chemist re-
ports the silicon present in rocks and minerals as silica he makes no distinction between free silica and combined
silica even though both be present
Let me illustrate these principles to you by means of granite The average granite is an aggregate made up chiefly of three minerals in the following proportions feldspar 60 per cent quartz 30 per cent and mica 15 per
cent Chemical analysis shows that this average granite
contains 70 per cent of silica Of this 70 per cent 30 per
cent is present as quartz free silica and the other 40 per cent is present as combined silica being locked up in
chemical combination in the other minerals that make up
the granite
From this illustration it is apparent that we should be
more explicit in our terminology when referring to the
nature of a dust If a dust contains quartz and we are re-
ferring to this mineral then we should call it quartz and not just silica or free silica As I have just pointed out
to you there are other free silicas in existence that are
today of industrial use and these other free silicas differ
in their physical properties from quartz and may possibly
differ from quartz in their action on the lungs of workers
exposed to the inhalation of these dusts
Perhaps
I
can
emphasize
the
importance
of
the
necessity
for an exact knowledge of any dust under consideration
by pointing out a few of the pitfalls one occasionally en-
counters in field work Yesterday Mr. Cummings in deal-
ing with the subject of the nature of dust mentioned that
tripoli was an amorphous variety of free silica whereas
quartz was the crystalline type of free silica That is true of the tripoli mined in Illinois which is composed of clusters
of crystalline silica often know as amorphous silica whereas the Missouri deposit is composed of spongy globu-
lar clusters of distinctly refracting quarts * * So
that when one is dealing with a tripoli facing powder used
in foundry practice one should make sure by a careful
* Numbers refer to Bibliography at end of this paper
189
analysis of the dust just which form of tripoli is under
consideration
Again in the study of the health of workers in a cement plant * the Public Health Service found it necessary to conduct mineralogical analyses of the dusts in the various de-
partments of the plant because of the physical and chem-
ical changes undergone by the various raw materials used
in cement manufacture Clay one of these raw materials
was found to contain about 7 per cent quartz and the dust in all the departments preceding the calcining of the materials contained about this amount of quartz However in the kilns the quartz combined with the other elements
in the materials that go into cement manufacture to form complex silicates and our dust samples obtained in the
departments following the kilns showed less than one per cent of quartz So that we had to bear in mind this dissimilarity of quartz dust exposure in analyzing our clin-
ical and other data on the health of the cement worker
I should like to present briefly one more example of the errors ane may make in not resorting to a careful mineralog-
ical analysis of dusts encountered in the various processes
of manufacture of a single article In 1926 Heffernan
reported a study in the Journal of Industrial Hygiene on The Exposure to Silica Dust Without the Occurrence of Silicosis 3 This occurred among brick makers in Derbyshire England The raw materials used in brick making
contained according to Heffernan 85 to 89 per cent silica
mostly in the form of gannister sand The finished brick was found on rational analysis to contain about 83 per cent silica Now in the departments preceding the kilns there is apparently very little dust generated due to the wet methods of working the materiala On the other hand
considerable quantities of dust are given off in the trimming and polishing of the bricks following the firing of
the molded bricks in the kilns Now it is a known fact
that when quartz or other free silica is subjected to high temperatures such as obtain in a brick kiln in the presence of other compounds the quartz will combine to form
silicates or at least will become inverted and change its
properties Heffernan's paper does not state whether the silica in the finished brick was free or combined but merely
140
states that it contained 83 per cent silica It may be in-
ferred that the reason no silicosis occurred among the gan-
nister sand brickmakers in Derbyshire was probably due
to the fact that in the departments where quartz was present the dust exposure was negligible as stated by Heffernan and in those departments where considerable dust was generated the workers were no longer exposed to a dust containing quartz A careful mineralogical analysis of the dust in each department similar to the analyses conducted in our cement study would have thrown considerable light on this puzzling situation presented by Dr.
Heffernan
Yesterday Mr. Cummings pointed out some of the pitfalls which may be encountered in dealing with the nature of dusts and at the same time made a plea for a method of
analysis which would be more accurate than either a chem-
ical or petrographic examination I should like to call to your
attention that for the past nine years the Public Health Service has been making use of an accurate method of analysis of dusts in connection with its various dust investigations This is a combined chemical and petrographic analysis or a called mineralogical analysis best carried out by a competent geologist Since no two dusts offer the same problem it is difficult to lay down general rules for such an analysis Suffice it to say that each sample must
first undergo a careful examination under the petrographic microscope and in addition is further subjected to a complete chemical analysis with frequent petrographic examinations throughout the entire process For example only by such analysis have we found it possible to determine accurately the percentage of quartz present in contain-
ing dusts With your permission I should like to show a few lantern
slides to illustrate some of the factors I have discussed deal-
ing with the study of the nature of dusts During the
course of our numerous dust studies we have had many sam-
ples of dust analyzed to determine their composition As is well known our present knowledge concerning the harm-
-
fulness of inhaled dusts is more complete with reference to containing dusts For this reason and also because space does not allow the presentation of the other
141
minerals present in each kind of dust the table depicted
shows only the quartz content of the dusta obtained in the
various industries which we have studied
TABLE 1
PERCENTAGE OF QUARTZ PRESENT IN VARIOUS
INDUSTRIAL DUSTS
Percentage
of
Rock drilling dust bituminous coal mine ...----~-+-------
Granite cutting dust
Ruck drilling dust anthracite coal mine ..
-
Bruss foundry dust ..--.---------- ----~-Dust from raw mills in cement plant
Slate mill dust Vermont red state .
Silverware polishing dust..
Anthracite con dust
Bituminous coal dust
Quartz
54.0 36.2
19.0
Cement dust .-.--------- ---------
Slate mill dust Vermont green slate
~.-....---------++-
Tale milt dust .----..--.-. ----------- oe - eee n eee ern Marble cutting dust ~~. ene eno tee ----..---------------
trace
none
It is evident from this table that rock drilling occupa-
tions in the coal mining industry and certain occupations in the granite cutting industry and in brass foundries would be in the hazardous class if judged solely by the proportions of quartz in the atmospheric dust I should also like to point out that there are some slates which have been found to contain as much as 30 to 40 per cent quartz although in the slate industry which we investigated the dust was found to contain from a trace green slate to 3 per cent red slate quartz It is also of interest to learn that the coal dust both in bituminous and anthracite mines was found to contain small amounts of quartz due to the fact
that the coal exists in hard rock deposits
To illustrate more clearly the importance of an exact
knowledge of the nature of a dust in the study of the health of workers exposed to industrial dusts I should like to discuss the next lantern slide Realizing the importance of this problem the United States Public Health Service inaugurated in 1923 a series of dust studies under the general direction of Assistant Surgeon General L. R. Thomp-
son These studies were all conducted in the same manner
in order to permit as detailed a comparison as possible between the different investigations Briefly these meth-
142
ods of study may be divided into six parts as follows 1
examination to determine the general physical condition of the workers under observation 2 special physical ex-
amination to determine the prevalence of specific diseases of the respiratory system and the lung pathology resulting from exposure to the particular dust hazard 3 record of the nature and severity of the disabling illnesses 4 analysis and detailed study of the occupational environment 5 occupational mortality statistics relating to the specific dust and lastly 6 autopsies In brief the
chief value of each of these studies lies in the fact that it
represents careful and detailed observations on a fairly large group of persons whose working environment was accurately determined especially with reference to the nature and quantity of the dust exposure
TABLE 2
SICKNESS FROM RESPIRATORY CONDITIONS IN SIX DUSTY TRADES
Annual Rato per 100 Years of Observation
Number of Cases
Diagnosin
.
Polishing
Polishng Coal
Polishing
Coal Coal CottoSnilver
Slivar Granite
Slivar Hard Seft Coton Silver
Pleurisy respiratory Other respiratory diseases
0.2 _..) 0.4 -) ONO 6.4) | * ya
-| 0,8 5.0 9 ONO 2. a) 88 100 71 8S
0.8 0.4 0.2
8.7 0.1 0.7
0.1 0.8
ae
4.9 8.7 8.4
0.2 0.1
we
=o 0.1
26.0 1.4
7 3 * B 5
60 |
ed
11 of
66 66 28322 208 63
4.820.6
18.6 6.6 68 167 202 BE 149 47
0.7 7.8 6.7
2.9 0.7 9 57
29 28 ON
1.1 0.8 0.9
0.2 0.4 15 2 28322 yea ON
0.1 1.7 .-.}--..
0.4| en | Pe 28322 T 31
respiratory diseases 46.1 51.2 228 525 509 118 410 128
ObseofrOvbseravatiton Oibseorvatnion. || pewns] eee fee]. 1346 1116 494 801 715
Lastintwgo conswoerkingcotuhertstuidievs e
In Table 2 is presented a comparison of sickness for two
working days or longer from respiratory conditions in six dusty trades the annual rates being based on 100 years of observation An examination of this table shows that in
143
the anthracite industry and in the cement plant there is a high rate of illness from grip and certain other minor respiratory affections In the bituminous coal industry bronchial diseases and pneumonia are excessive in the cotton
industry grip and diseases of the nasal fossae are predomi-
nant whereas in the granite industry tuberculosis and pleurisy are excessive The dusty occupations in silver polishing show no excess from any cause I should like to com-
ment on the fact that in the case of the bituminous coal
miners the excessive pneumonia rates may be due to other factors than dust as recently pointed out by Brundage and myself in the study of the frequency of pneumonia among
steel and iron workers in which bituminous coal miners comprised a considerable portion of the workers studied *
So much for the importance of a knowledge of the exact composition of dusts encountered in industry I shall be quite satisfied if I have been able to impress upon you the necessity for a very careful consideration of this phase of the dust problem I shall next discuss the factor or particle-
size of industrial dusts
SIZE OF DUST PARTICLES
It was pointed out yesterday by some of the speakers that particles of a size greater than 10 to 12 microns in longest
dimension are very seldom found in the lungs This absence
of larger particles is partly due to the fact that the numbers of such particles greater than 10 microns in size present in industrial air is as compared with the lower sizes comparatively small and due to gravity and the protective action of the mucous surfaces of the upper respira-
tory tract these larger particles do not penetrate to the terminal portions of the respiratory tract Hence in study-
ing the size of dusts we need only concern ourselves as a rule with those dust particles that are less than 10
microns in longest dimension Yesterday Mr. Cummings in discussing this phase of
the dust problem showed you a particle distribution
curve on a sample of quartz dust taken not directly from
the air of an industrial establishment but from the gross
material used by him in dusting animals at their labora-
144
tory Mr. Cummings also discussed fully his technique of
size separation by the elutriation method and suggested
that such a method be used in the future for particle
studies He also intimated that to date no studies of
particle of dusts in industry have been made I should like to point out one or two things in connection with his remarks To begin with the use of his suggested method
of particle measurements is impractical for field studies
due to the fact that the method is very laborious and tedi-
ous In his case it was necessary to resort to such technique
since he was interested in obtaining fractions of known sizes for experimental purposes We are not interested in actually separating dusts into sizes but merely in determining the percentage distribution of the various sizes of dust particles existing in industrial atmospheres For that reason we make use of a simpler technique than the one pointed out by Mr. Cummings I shall describe this technique in a few minutes Mr. Cummings also suggested that
particle studies of dusts in industry should be con-
ducted I should like to point out that such studies have been made by the Public Health Service and that during the past year I have reported on two occasions the results of our studies of the sizes of dust particles present in industrial atmospheres 4 I shall present these results to you in my discussion of the quantity of dust in air since these results fit in very well with that phase of the problem For the present I shall confine myself to a brief description of our technique in obtaining and measuring aerial
dust
Samples of dust in air may be obtained by the use of the
Owens Jet Dust Counter The advantage of this instra-
ment over other devices is that the Owens apparatus pro-
jects the atmospheric dust in unaltered condition directly on a microscope cover This cover may then be properly mounted and examined microscopically using a magnification of 1,000 diameters oil immersion objective the horizontal diameter of a representative number of par-
ticles is measured by means of a calibrated filar ocular mi-
crometer 5 With this magnification it is possible to
measure particles as small as 0.5 microns in diameter while
146
particles smaller than 0.5 microns are easily distinguished at this magnification and their presence recorded
Yesterday Mr. Cummings told you about using the micro-
photographic method of making particle studies Such
a method may be used in dealing with fairly uniform sizes of dusts such as he obtained by the fractionation method But it must be kept in mind that industrial dusts vary in
size from less than 0.5 microns to more than 10 microns in
diameter According to Green and Chamot in order to ob-
tain good microphotographs the particles should be in one plane free from Brownian movement and dispersed
Since industrial dusts are not uniform it is difficult to have
them all in one plane We have attempted to make particle-
size studies of industrial dusts and enlisted the aid of the re-
search workers of the Eastman Kodak Company who
after much difficulty obtained some good microphotographs of dust for us The particles shown in their prints were at a magnification of 5,000 diameters A study of the sizefrequency distribution of the dust obtained by the photographic method revealed practically the same results as obtained by the direct microscopic measurement previously described So that for all practical purposes the simpler and less expensive filar measurement is one of practical application and fulfills the requirements of our problem
DUST CONCENTRATION
The last factor which I desire to discuss in connection
with the study of the industrial dust problem is indeed a very important one the one dealing with the concentration of dust in the air It is apparent that when the dust concentration is high the exposed person will inhale a greater quantity in a given period of time than he will when the dust concentration of the atmosphere is relatively low and
since the rate of production of the fibrosis is partially dependent upon the rate at which the dust is inhaled this latter item plays an important part in predicting the rela-
tive danger of different environments Hence the need
for the evaluation of the quantity of dust in the industrial
atmosphere is obvious From the practical hygienic viewpoint we feel that the
10
146
particle count is at present the best quantitative index of the degree of atmospheric pollution The decision as to the size
range of the particles which should be included in the dust count will be somewhat dependent on the size of the dust
particles actually found present in the industrial atmos-
phere It is obvious that the size of the smallest visible particle will depend on the magnification and type of illumi-
nation used in the microscope the refractive properties of
the dust and to some extent on the visual acuity of the observer We must bear in mind that our chief interest in
this problem is in the industrial hygienic aspect Primarily
we are interested in differentiating between the dust content in ordinary normal atmospheres not known to be harmful and certain industrial dusts which are known to
be associated with lung damage As I will show you pres-
ently this differnce is sharply marked so far as the dust
particles between approximately and 10 microns in diam-
eter are concerned but the difference between such normal and abnormal air is masked and lost when we include in
our determination the particles of ultramicroscopic size
which are present in vast numbers in all air
As I have already pointed out to you earlier we need
not concern ourselves with those particles greater than 10 microns in longest dimension since the number of such particles present in most industrial air is as compared with the lower sizes comparatively small Let me cite you what available data we have on the lower limit of particle sizes of industrial dusts In South Africa Moir 1 examined microscopically 120 dust particles obtained from two specimens of silicotic lung and found that only 13 per cent of the particles were less than 0.5 microns and about 36 per cent of the particles to be less than 1 micron in diameter The majority of the particles 60 per cent were between 1 and 3 microns in size The median size of the dust was found to be 1.2 microns in diameter Practically the same results were obtained by Pitchford **
who examined and measured the silica particles in sections of silicotic lungs illuminated by polarized light Drinker in comparing the frequency of the particles found by Moir with the particles found by him in the sputum of men employed in ore mills found a close
147
correspondence The findings of Moir and Watkins
ford have also been corroborated by Mavrogordato ** who examined dust both with light and ground illumina-
tion in sections of human and animal silicotic lungs as well
as the dust recovered from these lungs
In connection with the lower limit of particle of dust of pathologic significance the following pertinent ques-
tion arises Aside from the evidence direct or indirect of
the retention of minute particles of dust by the lungs what evidence is there that appreciable percentages of or-
dinary industrial dusts ever fragment into those minute
sizes less than 0.5 microns in diameter It is a well known
fact that in most of the fine grinding operations in use today such as in the preparation of paint pigments considerable energy must be expended to obtain a product the particle of which is less than 0.5 microns in average diameter and this not in an industry where dust is an evil product but where finely divided dust is the
chief aim of the whole industrial process
The best answer to the question just raised namely what is the particle distribution of industrial dust
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION
OF TALC DUST
50
q
40
PERCENTAGE PERCENTAGE 3
PERCENTAGE PERCENTAGE
PERCNTAGE 20 : PERCENTAGE PERCENTAGE 1.5
10+ NELDIAN
100 SIZE
SIZE
SIZE 80
STATED
STATED STATED 60
THAN THAN
THAN 40
LESS
LESS
LESS
20
CUMULATIVE CURVE
+2
ami
4 6
SIZE IN MICRONS
Figure 1
o 2 a S6
SIZE IN MICRONG
148
would be data of actual measurements of such dust Let
us see what the available data on this question shows In 1929 Fehnel ** reported some particle dust measure-
ments in connection with a dust study of hard rock drillers in New York City As a result of his study Fehnel re-
ported the findings on three samples which showed the dust
which was less than one micron in size to vary from 1 to 15
per cent Most of the dust in these hard rock drilling operations was according to Fehnel between 2 and 5 mi-
crons in size
aw ~~ wy
.
-
Ct . ao: s@ . ww ~
Is
oe
a aa
~~
os
~
a
ad ad y
i ir
nS
. e
=
e
2 J
.
2
f sae al .
. 43
x
43
Pa 2 43
yr
7 ? F
N
a
ga
.
;
=
fi
,
7. bed
.
iv
->
.
a
.
* . ~~
A. _=
ee a)
~
xe .
ac
.
..
.
Ape
a
%,
.
ae y
o*
.
ad on
eo >
. oS
+m
a i)
Figure 2
:
Microphotograph of Tale Dust Obtained with the Owens Jet
Dust Counter Magnification G60X
Badham **** in studying the dust hazard among sandstone workers in Sydney measured some 16,000 particles of
dust in the air of work places and found that 67 per cent of these particles were about one micron in size From his study Badham states It would appear that below 10
microns there is no selective action by the dust cells of
the lung and that the particles found in the lung have the
same frequency as those in the air breathed . "
149
During the past few years in the course of the num-
erous dust studies we have conducted we have collected
samples of dust suspended in industrial atmospheres Recently we completed a study of 26 samples of 11 different
kinds of industrial dust obtained with the Owens appara-
tus These dusts ranged from that present in sandblast-
ing operations to the dust present in slate and talc milling plants where the material is ground to a very fine state of subdivision by recirculating the dust in a closed system for many hours An analyses of the measurements obtained on these 26 samples showed that only 2 per cent of the particles were less than 0.5 microns 21 per cent less than 1 micron and the majority of the dust 71 per
cent was found to be between one and three microns in
average diameter In figure 1 you may see the particlesize distribution of tale dust and this curve is representa-
tive of the results obtained from the measurement of the dusts so far studied It is seen that the results of the measurements on the tale dust show that only 16 per
cent of the particles were less than 1 micron the majority of the particles 65 per cent being between 1
and 2.5 microns in size while the median size of this dust
was found to be 1.5 microns Figure 2 is a microphoto-
graph of the same specimen of dust From the evidence I have just presented on the particle-
size distribution of industrial dusts in air as well as from
the previously mentioned studies of dust recovered from lung tissue it is apparent that we need only be concerned with those dust particles between and 5 microns in size
and from a practical viewpoint the lower limit of particle-
size to be counted may well be taken at about one micron The method of dust counting which we have been using
for the past 14 years is capable of revealing particles as small as one micron quite readily and in the hands of an experienced observer this method as I will soon show you reveals quartz particles as small as 0.7 microns in size
Many methods have been devised and used for the pur-
pose of determining the quantity of dust in air Suffice it to say that for the purpose of dust sampling in either high or low dust concentrations the Greenburg Impinger apparatus now finds universal favor ** This
150
instrument has been used by the United States Public
Health Service in all of its dust studies during the past
nine years and is also being used by other workers in
this field in this country and abroad
In this instrument the air to be sampled is drawn through a glass tube and impinged at a high velocity on a glass plate which is kept beneath the surface of the water
or other suitable fluid in the collecting flask The dust
is momentarily arrested wetted by the collecting fluid and in this manner trapped
EXHAUST TUGE
7
PYREX BLASE PYREX BLASE TUGE dap
HOLE AUSSER STOPPER
L.
aiA-dy
ot BAFFLE
MM
325 baie
ater
APROX
reper
OPTINAL
ep,
-LENGTH
ome}rs!
pose ereoy%. : )
IMPINGER TUBE AND FLASK ASSEMBLED
PYREK GLASS PLATE THICKNESS MM
Figure 3
The Impinger apparatus consists essentially of two portions First a source of sufficient suction to draw the air to be sampled through the sampling device and second the sampling device or impinger itself which consists of
151
a container and the impinger tube and plate As a source of suction one may use either an electrically pump or a compressed air ejector device In figure 3 you may see the essential portions of the apparatus which consists of a straight piece of Pyrex glass tubing 13 mm in out-
side diameter and approximately 325 mm in length The
tube is drawn down in stream line form at its lower end
to a tip with a 2.3 mm orifice A circular glass impinging plate approximately 3 mm in thickness and 25 mm in diameter is attached to the lower end of the impinger tube
at a distance of 5 mm from the orifice by means of three
glass rods The collecting medium distilled water in
the sampling flask is of sufficient volume to keep the im-
pinger plate immersed at a depth of approximately 3 centi-
meters In sampling the outlet or suction elbow of the sampling flask is connected with the source of suction by means of a suitable length 25 feet of collapsible rubber tubing The duration of the sampling period should be such as to yield a satisfactory suspension of dust for analysis and is thus dependent on the concentration of dust in the atmosphere Under the usual industrial conditions samples of from 10 to 30 cubic feet of air yield sufficient suspended dust for analysis Since a sampling rate of 1 cubic foot per minute is maintained this will require a
sampling period of from 10 to 30 minutes
The collecting efliciency of the apparatus is dependent upon adherence to the previously cited impinger tube di-
mensions and the sampling rate of one cubic foot of air
per minute Experimental tests of this instrument against
finely divided silica dust suspensions in air have consistently yielded efficiencies of 98 per cent at the specified sampling
rate
Since practically all dusts are to some extent soluble in water it is good practice to analyze the samples as soon as possible Such practice tends to prevent any undue flocculation as well as any solvent action on the dust particles In the laboratory the dust suspension in the sampling fluid is filtered through a mesh screen and then diluted so that the number of dust particles in the microscope field is equal to approximately 50 to 75. Two or more cc portions are placed in Sedgwich cells for counting One of these
162
cells is shown in Figure 4. The microscope is of the ordi-
nary type provided with a suitable eyepiece and objective and fitted with an Abbe condenser A Whipple disc eyepiece micrometer of the kind shown in Figure 4 is placed
in the microscope eyepiece and the microscope tube length is adjusted so that the side of the ruling in the eyepiece is
1 mm in length We employ a 7.5 X eyepiece 16 milli-
Sedgwick Cell
Figure 4
Whipple Disc
meters objective and a tube length of 178 millimeters As
source of illumination we use an ordinary type of microscope
lamp with the Abbe condenser system dropped below the usual focusing point and the iris diaphragm adjusted so as
to provide a high degree of visibility for refractile objects
In making counts the microscope should be focused
throughout the depth of the cell since some of the dust particles may remain in suspension Since the counting cell is 1 mm deep and the area in the microscopic field is 1 square
millimeter each count represents the amount of dust in a cubic millimeter of the sampling fluid Knowing the original dilution of the sample and the number of cubic feet of air sampled it is an easy matter to compute the number of dust particles in the sample per cubic foot of air It is
of course necessary to make control dust counts on the
,
sampling fluid In taking dust samples the location of the sampling place
the time during which sampling is conducted and the duration of sampling are all selected with the idea in mind of
yielding the definite data required by the study in progress It is impossible to specify any set rules for this portion of
the procedure Obviously the requirements of the study in
progress govern the procedure to be employed this procedure can best be judged by the investigator on the job
Yesterday Mr. Cummings discussed quite freely some of
the alleged weaknesses in the technique of dust counting
168
which I have just described to you This technique is the so-
called light ground illumination method as contrasted to the dark ground method advocated by Mr. Cummings In
our standard method the object is examined by the aid of
transmitted light and appears on a lighted or white ground field whereas in the dark technique the field is dark
and the objects appear as if they themselves emitted the light by which they are seen Now Mr. Cummings made
statements yesterday upon which I should like to
many
comment To begin with he said that our method of count-
ing is not easily duplicated by various observers I wish to point out that my dust counts have been repeatedly
checked by workers at Yale University and the Division of
Occupational Diseases of the Connecticut State Department
of Health In fact in the latter Division counts are made
as a routine procedure independently by two different ob-
servers and these have always checked very closely So that we are convinced that persons with normal vision and training in dust counting will find no difficulty on this score As Mr. Cummings said it may be true that I have good
visual acuity but apparently so do many other individuals
trained to conduct this type of microscopic work
Now I'd like to compare some of the facts known today
concerning the light and dark methods of counting dust To begin with in our standard light technique illumination is not as important a factor as in the
dark method Mr. Theodore Hatch of Harvard University who has had considerable experience in conducting
dust studies has recently informed us that in the dark
method of counting advocated by Mr. Cummings if the
time of counting a dust sample is prolonged and if the illumination isn't properly standardized one may obtain re-
sults 300 or more per cent in error Our method is known
to reveal only those particles of hygienic significance As I have already indicated to you earlier all evidence points
to the fact that we need only concern ourselves with those
particles ranging in size from about micron to 5 microns and for practical purposes the 1 micron particle may be accepted as the lower limit of particle to be counted
Mr. Cummings said that with our technique we can not see particles smaller than 2 microns in size and cites as proof
154
that he and Mr. Fehnel of the Metropolitan Life Insur-
ance Company who assisted him in developing his method
received confirmation of this belief from makers of micro-
scopic instruments I suppose what they are all basing this statement on is the knowledge that with a magnification of about 100 diameters and light illumination the resolving power the ability to see fine details of the microscopic system is about 1.5 microns Now anyone with any experience at all in the use of a microscope should know that the limit of visibility the possibility of seeing if an object is present which is what we are interested in is much lower than the limit of resolution To satisfy myself on this point I have taken quartz dust a highly refractive dust and hence offering a severe test of visibility and obtained a fraction ranging in size from 0.4 to 1.6 microns and averaging 0.9 microns This fraction was obtained by Mr. Cummings elutriation method I have placed a sample of this dust on a ruled cell and measured 100 of the particles at a magnification of 1,000 diameters sketching each particle in its exact location in the ruled area on a piece of paper Next I examined these same 100 particles by our standard technique and was able to see those particles of a size of 0.7 microns and larger In other words if we recall the particle distribution data on industrial dusts I spoke of earlier we can actually count by our method 85 per cent or more of the dust present in industrial air You will certainly agree with me that the small percentage of dust we fail to count by our method is neglible when one takes into consideration the fact that with Mr. Cummings dark dissecting condenser method one can be several hundred per cent in error if the illumination is not carefully adjusted On the other hand we know nothing of the lower limit of particle revealed by the dark method It is a known fact that such methods of dust counting are apt to reveal ultramicroscopic dust particles which are present in all
air thus tending to mask the significance of the results
In your General Orders on Dusts Fumes Vapors and Gases I notice in the section dealing with dust that you
define countable particles determined by United States
Public Health Service technique as those ranging in size
166
from 2 to 10 microns in longest dimension I don't know
how you happened to decide on this lower limit of 2 mi-
confer- crons but from all that had taken place at this
ence yesterday I am now able to confirm my suspicions
microns Certainly you didn't obtain this #gure of 2
from
the Public Health Service when it assisted you in fram-
ing the dust code at your Milwaukee meeting in 1930. I
know since I happened to be one of those testifying at that
hearing I should like to suggest that if you decide to
word- leave the section dealing with dust in its present
ing that you omit any reference to our standard technique since as I have already pointed out to you we are able to
count particles of a size less than 2 microns with our
technique
Mr. Cummings has also informed you that the Public
Health Service has tentatively adopted his dark tech-
nique for dust counting So far as I know and I should
Health be pretty well informed on this point the Public
standard Service has only one technique and that is the
technique it has been using for the past 14 years in all its dust work and a description of which was recently re-
10
published in the Public Health Reports
I have been
using this technique for nearly ten years and have ex-
amined some 1500 samples of dust with this method We
have been able to establish certain standards of dustiness
by the use of this dust counting method and have found
it to be of practical application It may be possible that some day we may wish to alter our present technique but
if we do it will first be necessary to standardize any pro-
posed method of substitution and obtain comparative results between the present method and the new one In
this connection I should like to call to your attention th">t
any results obtained by the proposed method of dark
counting or by any other dark technique cannot be
interpreted in the light of our own findings that is our
present standards of permissible dustiness can not be applied to results obtained with the dark methods and hence for all practical purposes these latter results are of
questionable value
The best criterion of the value of any method of measure-
ment is the demonstration of its successful use in a practi-
168
cal application Such a test of our dust counting method has been offered us in our various dust investigations and especially in our granite study Let us briefly examine the results of this study The whole group of workers was di-
70+
689
88
persons 88 45.2 nes
persons
persons sob
persons
1,00 30
1,000
Tuberculosis A Be Annual frequency of absences from Eight days and mere
P
per 205
per
1GF
Rate
Rate
Rate 9
e
%
ero
B C Hard Iron General
Cement Granite workers minine Stral benefit
Annual persons 20 19.5 B
7
persons
of
death per 1,000 persons from Tuberculosis
personsif 5 a a a
1,000
10
1,0 0
per 5
per Rural Q Se
oe
a
0
Rote
A
B Cc
D
Rural
Vermont
Rote
36
Deaths Deaths
Deaths Deaths Deaths
Age 20-59
0 & From beginning of study to working up of report about
three years among 912 workarri A,6148,104 C 146 0 108
Figure 5 A Annual frequency of absences from tuberculosis eight days more B Annual death rate per 1,000 persons from tuberculosis
vided into four groups depending on their average dust exposure In figure 5 one may note the annual frequency of absences due to tuberculosis and the annual death rate per 1000 persons from tuberculosis among the workers in
167
these four groups This figure also compares this data with similar information for other industrial groups
In group A which included pneumatic tool oper-
ators and in which the exposure average about 59 million
particles per cubic foot of air it was found that practically
100 per cent developed an established silicosis within 10 years from the time of beginning employment Also in this group the highest rate was found for cases diagnosed on physical examination as having active tuberculosis
Furthermore a definite relation was established between
length of service in the industry and the prevalence of
tuberculosis In group B were included those workers other than hand-
pneumatic tool operators who were also exposed to more than the average plant dustiness Taking the group as a whole the average dust concentration was nearly 45 million particles per cubic foot of air This group showed
the same reflection of a dust hazard as Group A. In Group C consisting of those occupational groups ex-
posed to the average plant dustiness about 20 million particles per cubic foot of air silicosia developed much more slowly than in the groups just discussed and there ap-
peared to be very little excess in the rate for tuberculosis
with no tendency for an increase according to length of service Analysis of occupational mortality over a period of 25 years however indicated that some of the occupations in this group may have been exposed to a real dust
hazard
Group D was made up of those occupations in which the dust exposure was less than that of the average plant dusti-
ness The average exposure for the group was less than
10 million particles per cubic foot of air Although a cer-
tain amount of silicosis was found even in this group there
was no indication of serious results even when the workers
had been employed for many years
It is clear from these data that there exists a high cor-
relation between the dust counts and the effects of this
dust exposure on the health of the granite workers It is
obvious therefore that the technique of dust analysis
which I have described to you constitutes a valuable index
of the hazardousness of dust inhalation and one from
158
which the degree of hazard may be judged with practical
certainty Before concluding the discussion on dust concentration
in industry I should like to present to you some of the
results I have obtained in numerous industrial establish-
ments during the past nine years In Table 3 a summary
TABLE 3
AVERAGE DUST COUNTS IN CERTAIN DUSTY TRADES
Dust Exposure
Industry and Occupation
in millions
of particles
per cubic ft
Tale Mining and Milling jack hammer drillers packers ._.-..-..-
muckers _.2....---------
2,180
60 45
crushermen and cylindermen State Finishing Mills
floormen ------.--
loaders ~~~ - 2
ne
ee ee ene
disc crusher operators -----
1,278
312
Quartz Grinding Plant -------------------
mill operatora -_......-.-------------~ laborers _...-..-------.---~----- _
packers ~..---~~----~------+-+--+++
179 83 55
Quarrying Granite
and Finishing ----
Leyner drillers ..---..-.---------
144
hammer drillers -.. -.-.-
112
hand pneumatic tool finishers
69
machine pneumatic tool finishers
36
plug drillers ....-------- -
37
attendant labor indoors
17
Anthracite Coal Mining -----
miners and helpers --. ---attendant labor ..-.-.-------
- 31
Bituminous Coal Mining --~----coal cutters and loaders -.-.
attendant labor ~.- --------
Marble cutters Manufacturing Cotton Cloth Manufacturing -----
carders .----- ~-----------
weavers and spinners -Silverware Manufacturing
dusty trades ....-dusty trades .-.~--
- 112 4 -
33
1350 1350
5
2
Average
per cent
of quartz
in dust
---- ----
4
1
3 R] 3 3 99 99 99 99 95 95 96 35 35 36 36 1.6 1.6 1.6
1.21.2 1.2
1.2
none none ---- ---- none
1.7 1.7 1.7
is presented of the average dust content of the air in a
few of these dusty industries This table clearly shows
that the highest dust exposure was in the talc mines slate finishing mills quartz grinding plant coal mining and
granite cutting industries Owing to the high percentage
of quartz present in the dust of quartz grinding and granite
159
cutting plants as compared with the dust in the other industries listed in Table 3 quartz grinding and granite cut-
ting are revealed to be the most hazardous of the occupations we have studied
DUST SUPPRESSION
Yesterday there was a discussion on the floor concerning the advisability of allowing a worker with a healed or
latent tuberculosis to continue in a dusty occupation I am in no position to add anything to this discussion since it is not in my province but it seems to me that if we could
remove the dust evil at its source we would not need to be concerned about workers with healed tuberculosis or other lung conditions conducting work in industry where
dust is generated Unfortunately we haven't very much constructive engineering data on the subject of dust re-
moval Nor have we an abundance of information on the
permissible amounts of various dusts which may be tolerated with impunity We have such data for granite cutting dust cement coal certain kinds of slates and tales
but we still know very little concerning the effects on the health of workers exposed to other industrial dusts such as feldspar tripoli opal pure tale and innumerable other dusts There was a study recently reported on the effects
on workers exposed to diatomaceous silica dust in a Cali-
fornia deposit now utilized commercially However no dust counts were reported so that wo do not know the severity of the exposure nor is there any information given on the total length of exposure I'd like to suggest that in any future industrial dust studies all phases of the problem be investigated somewhat along the technique used in our dust studies so that we may be able to measure the relative importance of all the involved factors In the California study just cited we do not know the degree of
dust exposure that apparently brought about the physical
changes in the workers that was reported by the investi-
gators To me this omission is a very serious one since we have no definite basic data to use in designing dust re-
moval equipment for this particular industry for it is very
160
expensive and at times impossible to remove all the dust
generated in a process
With your indulgence I should like to discuss very briefly some of the methods used in combatting the dust hazard
The application of any one particular method of course
will depend largely on the industrial process creating dust The protection of workers against certain dusta known to be toxic may at times be accomplished by the substitution of a toxic material for the toxic one As an example
of such a procedure we have the possible use of a metallic or other type of artificial abrasive for sand in the sandblasting process in those operations in which it is not essential to use sand a substance high in quartz content Again the mechanical enclosure of the creating proc-
ess also serves at times to protect the worker An excel-
lent illustration of this type of protection is afforded by
the modern sandblast barrel used in the cleaning of small
objects Sometimes it is possible to protect workers by the substitution of wet for dry processes In one instance in our granite study an operator using a diamond point pneumatic tool worked the stone wet the resulting dust amounted to 22 million particles per cubic foot The same operator was then requested to work the stone dry as a result the amount of dust reached the high figure of 45 million particles per cubic foot In the weaving of asbestos cloth it has been possible to reduce the amount of dust in the air by wet weaving to fourth of the amount present when the process is conducted by dry methods How-
ever wet methods are not always to be relied upon for
the complete suppression of dust For example in a study of the dust hazard in the wet and dry grinding shops of an ax factory Winslow and Greenburg ( have shown that protection afforded by wet grinding as compared with dry grinding using an exhaust system is in most instances illusory The same result was found in our granite study in determining the exposure of tool grinders in that industry Another example of this procedure in allaying dust is the use of a spray of water in Leyner and hammer drilling in hard rock although the new type of Kelley Dust Trap is now finding much favor for this kind of work ***
In certain cases such as in the sandblasting of large
181
castings in sandblast rooms the only practical safeguard to the worker is to provide him with a mask or helmet of the positive pressure type In the sandblasting investi-
gation recently conducted by the United States Public
Health Service in cooperation with the National Safety Council we found that with a designed and wellmaintained mask or helmet of the positive pressure type a supply of 6 cubic feet per minute of dust air will give ideal protection to the worker However one must always bear in mind that the ultimate criterion of protection
should be the dust determination of the air within the hel-
met during blasting and not the quantity of the air supply
itselfIn certain cases where the exposure is brief and the
work is of such a nature that it is impossible to use positive pressure air devices one can give the employee protection by furnishing him with an efficient respirator of
the filter type
In most dusty processes however the most effective
means of dust elimination are by the use of properly designed local exhaust ventilation systems Since in many instances it is a difficult costly and at times unnecessary
procedure to remove all the dust in the vicinity of a worker
we first need to determine the minimum amount of a certain
dust which the worker can apparently tolerate with impunity Such information can be made available by the type of studies carried out by the Public Health Service which I have already mentioned frequently For example in the granite study already referred to you will recall that apparently 10 million particles of granite dust containing 35 per cent quartz per cubic foot of air could apparently be inhaled with impunity for 30 or more years At the time our study was made there were already a few plants utilizing local exhaust ventilation in connection with pneumatic tool operations those operations falling in our Groups A and B. 20 Studies of the efficiency of these
dust removal devices disclosed that with proper mainte-
nance these local exhaust devices were capable of keeping
the dust concentration at the worker's breathing level at
a safe minimum as may be noted in Table 4
11
182
TABLE 4
COMPARISON OF ATMOSPHERIC DUST CONDITIONS BE-
TWEEN TWO CUTTING PLANTS EQUIPPED
WITH LOCAL EXHAUST VENTILATION AND
PLANTS NOT SO EQUIPPED
Average dust count in millions
of particles per cubic foot of air winter observations
Plants
Occupation
without
efficient
local
exhaust
system
All pneumatic hand operations
Surface cutting --..---..----.-------
Tool grinding Sand blasting General plant
--.--.---
...
.------.--.--
weee
atmosphere -----------
55.2 45.0 30,0
8.9 22.6
Plants with efficient local exhaust
system
Plant X 23.5 16.3 6.9 3.5 5.6
Plant Y 9.5 10.6 12.1 5.5 .8.9
A further study of the efficiency of the local exhaust devices used in the more modern plants labelled as X
and Y in the table yielded the results depicted in Figure
6. This figure shows the relation between the dust concentration in the air at the worker's breathing level when using
various pneumatic tools and the air velocity at the local exhaust ducts From this figure it is apparent that u
velocity of 1,500 linear feet per minute is necessary to keep the dust concentration at the worker's breathing level below 10 million particles per cubic foot of air the amount found in our study as not associated with any disabling
illness
Later on workers at the Harvard School of Public
Health reported the results of their laboratory studies of the design of dust control systems for use with pneumatic cutting tools These workers corroborated our findings as to the degree of air velocity at the exhaust ducts necessary to keep the dust concentration at the breathing level to an amount less than 10 million particles per cubic foot of air and in addition were able to specify the type of hood to be used which would give such a velocity with a minimum
volume of air
Before concluding my remarks I should like to leave one
word of caution with you You will recall in our granite cutting bulletin we stated as a result of our investigation that apparently 9 to 20 million particles of granite dust in
168
a cubic foot of air containing about 35 per cent quartz can be inhaled with impunity even for 30 or more years We do not state anywhere in our bulletin on this study
that an exposure to any other dust of the same concentra-
tion and quartz content could also be tolerated without harm Yet there has been a tendency on the part of many
Min
- * Paint kammer
Ken Auch Amer
or
---- - - Diamond paint hand taa
For
arves Hand prometir
CUBIC
PER
PARTICLES
OF
MILONS
IN
ConcetRATION
Doar . o
See 70'50 r See
,
70'50
D
yaea
ssac
eas
anes
AIR VELOCITY AT EXHAUST DUCTE IN FELT PERMINute PERMINute
Figure 6 Graph showing the relation between the degree of air velocity at
exhaust ducts and the amount of dust inhaled by granite cutters using
various pneumatic tools
individuals to interpret our findings in that light and to set
up standards for other dusts in other industries based on
our granite culting data This may be sound practice but
it also may lead one into error if taken too far For ex-
ample to reason that since 15 million particles per cubic foot of air of a 35 per cent containing dust has been found to be safe that therefore about 4 million particles per cubic foot of a 95 per cent containing dust such
164
as sandstone is also a harmless dosage may be good arith-
metical reasoning but may lead one into a serious error
My suggestion is that we should determine the permissible
limit of dustiness for each individual dust In the interim for those dusts that we do not have any
basic data of threshold dosage we can demand from in-
dustry that it maintain conditions in the workrooms equal to those already found in the best plants of a similar in-
dustry in actual operation I shall now be happy to answer any questions that may
have suggested themselves to you during the course of
my remarks DR SCHLOMOVITZ
Did you make any study of the dust
,
in the air passing through respirators
MR BLOOMFIELD We have conducted studies on posi-
tive pressure masks and helmets as used by sandblasters during actual work in a sandblast room but we have not conducted studies in the field nor in the laboratory on the
efficiency of respirators Excellent work on respirators has been done by the United States Bureau of Mines and at Professor Philip Drinker's laboratory at the Harvard
School of Public Health
DR SCHLOMOVITZ You don't happen to know the size
of particles that pass through the mask
MR BLOOMFIELD Last month Professor Drinker pre-
sented a paper at the National Safety Congress in Washing-
ton in which he stated that a careful measurement of the
size of dust particles entering and leaving respirators shows a slight but important reduction in average size of the dust particles In fact there are now respirators on the
market which on testing by Professor Drinker were found to have efficiencies in excess of 90 per cent against silica
dust of a size less than 2 microns So that apparently
some respirators do filter out the small particles
MR WILCOX Is there any recognized activity among
these manufacturers of protective devices respirators and
so forth to try to develop something that will give relief
MR BLOOMFIELD Very much so The manufacturers
of equipment and protective devices are quite active In
185
our sandblasting investigation we found equipment being
sold today which is capable of keeping the dust count to a concentration of less than 2 million particles per cubic
foot of air at the breathing level
MR WILCOX That is where the air is fed by tubes
MR BLOOMFIELD Positive pressure masks and helmeta
are now being sold which if properly maintained and supplied with a sufficient volume of dust air will protect a worker fully inside a sandblast room and in addition there are now on the market sandblast cabinets tables barrels and other equipment which if maintained in a proper state of upkeep will also give ideal protection to a worker without the use of masks or positive pressure devices We have found such conditions during the course
of our sandblast investigation
MR KNUTSON Have you any suggestion to offer with regard to safety devices that might be used in connection with the sandblasting of castings weighing several tons
MR BLOOMFIELD One can sandblast such castings in
large rooms exhaust the rooms properly and furnish the
worker a good positive pressure respiratory device There are installations of the automatic type which do not necessitate working inside the blasting zone but such equipment
is not practical for huge castings
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bayley 1.
W. .: Metallic Mineral Products Henry Holt
& Co. Co.
2. Thompson L. R. Brundage D. K. Russell A. E. and Bloomfield J. J The Health of Workers in Dusty Trades I. Health of
Workers in a Portland Cement Plant Public Health Bulletin
No. 176. 1928 3. Heffernan Patrick Exposure to Silica Dust Without the Oc-
currence of Silicosis Journal of Industrial Hygiene Vol 8 No.
11 Nov. 1926 4. Russell A. E. Britten R. H. Thompson L. R. and Bloomfield
J. The Health of Workers in Dusty Trades II Exposure
to Siliceous Dust Granite Industry Public Health Bulletin
No. 187. 1929 6. Brundage Dean K. and Bloomfield J. J.:The Pneumonia Problem
in the Steel Industry Journal of Industrial Hyglene Vol 14
No. 10 Dec. 1932 6. Bloomfield J. .: The Dust Content of the Atmosphere in Va-
rious Dusty Industries Published Nov. 18 1932 in the United States Daily Washington D. C.
'
Owens J. .: Jet Dust Counting Apparatus Journal of In-
dustrial Hygiene p 522 April 1923
Description
Hatch Theodore and Choate Sarah .: Statistical Description
Particulate of the
Size Properties of uniform
Particle Substances Journal of the Franklin Institute March 1929
9. Green Henry A Photomicrographic method for the Determina-
Journal tion of Particle Size of Paint and Rubber Pigments
of the Franklin Institute Vol 192 No. 5 p 637 Nov. 1921 10. Moir .: Report on a Specimen of Dust from Silicotic Lung
General Report of the Miners Phthisis Prevention Committee
Pretoria 1916 Appendix 9 pp 138 140 11. Pitchford W The Situation Outline and Dimensiona
of Mineral Particles Visible by Polarized Light in Sections of Silicotic Lungs mounted in Canada Balsam General Report of the Miners Phthisis Prevention Committee Pretoria 1916
'
Appendix 8 pp 136 136
and Identification of Cer-
12. Drinker Philip The Frequency
tain Phagocytosed Dusts Journal of Industrial Hygiene Vol
7 No. 7 July 1925 Value of the Konimeter Publication 13. Mavrogordato .: The
of the South African Institute of Medical Research No. 174
Fehnel William .: A Study of Silica Dust in Hard Rock Drill-
14.
ing in New York City Journal of Industrial Hygiene Vol 11
No. 2 Feb. 1929 Badham Charles Rayner H. E. G. and Broose H. .: Dust 15. Sampling in Sydney Sandstone Industries Report of the
Director of Public Health New South Wales Decem-
ber 1927 p 74
United 16. Greenburg Leonard and Bloomfield J. .: The Impinger Dust
Sampling Apparatus as Used by the United States Public
Health
Public Health Reporta Vol 47 No. 12 March
:
Service 18 1932
17. Legge Robert T. and Rosencrantz Esther Studies on Silicosis by Diatomaceous Silica
Observations and
American Journal
,
of Public Health Vol 22 No. 10 October 1932 18. Winslow C.-E. A. and Greenburg Leonard A Study of the
Dust Hazard in the Wet and Dry Grinding Shops of an Ax Factory Reprint No. 016 Public Health Reports October
Williams 8 1920
19. Hatch Theodore Kelly George S. and Fehnel J.
Control of the Silicosis Hazard in the Hard Rock Industries
II An Investigation of the Kelly Dust Trap for Use with Pneumatic Rock Drills of the Jackhammer type Journal of Industrial Hygiene Vol 14 No. 2 Jan. 1932 Bloomfield J. .: A Study of the Efficiency of Removal
20.
Systems in cutting Plants Reprint :No. 1324 Public
Control Health Reports Oct. 18 1929
21. 21. Hatch Theodore Drinker Philip and Choate Sarah .:
of the Silicosis Hazard in the Hard Rock Industries I. A
Laboratory Study of the Design of Dust Control Systems for Use with Pneumatic Granite Tools Journal of Industrial Hygiene Vol 12 No. 3 March 1930
187
November 17 1932. Afternoon Session
DR ALBERT E. RUSSELL Surgeon United States Public Health Service Surgeon U. S. Bureau of Mines
It is a great pleasure to be here with you and to take part in the discussion of this very interesting and intricate subject What has gone before has been very interesting and seems to have brought us up now to a consideration of the physical condition of the worker and the clinical pictures produced by the effect of inhalation of dust
It has been my pleasure to work in the public health service in a study of the dusty trades Beginning in 1924 we made observations in the cement industry the granite industry coal mining both bituminous and anthracite and other dusty trades We have found a number of very
interesting things and two of these studies have been pub-
lished in bulletins No. 176 and No. 187. In the report of cement study we made the statement that although in most
of these dusty trades fibrosis of the lunga was produced
we were of the opinion that this fibrosis even though it was similar to that produced by other dusts did not represent the same degree of disability I think our subsequent studies and observations of workers in other dusty trades have borne that out I will show you today a number of slides of rays from different industries showing reaction to dust shown in rays and we will discuss it more at
length at that time In doing our studies we started out with a program
which would include dust counting and dust analysis
records of absentees from work and finding out the reasons
for absence We were greatly interested in the sickness and longevity and the amount of time lost from work due to sickness A complete physical examination with special attention given to the chest conditions was made on all employees where it was possible First I will take up some of our findings in the morbidity records produced by
exposure to dust Second you will recall that Mr. Bloom-
field discussed that we had groups of people exposed to different concentrations of dust Our most extensive study was made in the granite industry in Barre Vermont and it was my pleasure to be there and to have charge of this
168
study throughout its course Our sickness records and later our ray and other findings seem to divide the workers into certain groups according to results we were getting and later when Mr. Bloomfield made his dust counts
we found a very close correlation of dustiness and the
amount of sickness and disability and deaths in direct proportion to the concentration of dust With the first slide we will start considering the morbidity
This slide see Plate 3 p 10 Bul No. 187 U. S. P. H. S.
is a photograph of a man at work cutting stone You
have heard a lot about different methods of dust counting
but this will reveal the fact that the worker is exposed to quite a bit of dust which can be seen with the naked eye This tool is the hand pneumatic tool which vibrates very fast and in working on the hard granite rock he bends
over looking at his work and brings his nose closer to the
dust he is creating The general atmosphere in that plant was rather high and is not shown in the photograph nor do you get it in visibility unless there are direct rays of light shining in the plant You may walk through it and
it does not seem to be very dusty That is where the dust
counts tell more accurately as to the extent of the dustiness
This slide see Fig 2 p 20 Bul No. 187 U. S. P. H. S.
shows the different occupations that we had in Vermont
These bars indicate the intensity of exposure Our groups divide themselves into the first and second group ten to twenty million then from twenty to sixty were the two second groups You can see the general plant atmosphere was about twenty million particles per cubic foot of air
There were a number of occupations with comparatively low exposure Keep that in mind in considering the morbidity records which we will discuss later
The South African standard of permissible dustiness is
indicated in the black bar at the bottom The groups I told you about we called A B C and D This next slide
See Fig 17 p 88 Bul No. 187 U. P. H. S. is a graph
which shows the number of persons with and without silicosis in the four dust groups indicated in the other
graphs by length of service The bottom line indicates
length of service and each line indicates a certain group of workers Almost invariably by the end of fourteen
169
years practically all of the workers in the higher dust
counts had evidence of silicosis Some of it was rather
slight in the ray and very little in the physical and other
characteristics but with the ray there was almost in-
variably evidence of silicosis at the end of that period
You have seen this slide See Fig 22 p 118 Bul No. 187 U. S. P. H. S. before today when Mr. Bloomfield discussed it It carries out the line of thought the incidence
of sickness or absences was lower in these groups of work-
ers beginning with group C and D in the low exposure line and higher in groups A and B. The tuberculosis death rate for males in rural Vermont is indicated here Group D was less than that and is perhaps due to the small number of people Group C is about the same but groups A
and B are quite a bit in excess
This graph See Southern Med Journ Sept. 1932 pp 919-927 shows the frequency of disability lasting longer than one week on account of sickness exclusive of accidents or from respiratory diseases in industry The industries are specified The industrial groups the first
group is gold mining in the Black Hills of South Dakota
Their rate was 208. General manufacturing is shown and is more or less an average That includes industries in a number of northern states This would seem to indicate
that that group of workers had that much sickness in ex-
cess of what we might call the normal The respiratory
disease the incidence of sickness in the lower part with granite cutting in Vermont heading the list Gold mining
in the Black Hills second Portland cement third anthracite
fourth with general manufacturing which we might say is about an average at this point you can see in those four industries the incidence of sickness is this much in
excess of average I might say in relation to the gold mining in the Black Hills in South Dakota that we do
not know the extent of the exposure to dust because no
dust counts were made We might compare it to dustiness in other mining but we don't actually know what it is there It is evident that there was an excessive amount
of dust which was practically pure quartz The reason why we haven't as much tuberculosis among the gold mining
I think is because of the fact that the labor turnover is
170
rather high and these workers develop silicosis and become partially disabled and go to their homes before developing
tuberculosis The workers in Vermont remain at their
homes inasmuch as granite cutting is a skilled trade The labor turnover in granite cutting is very little whereas in gold mining it was very high That will explain many differences that may follow The gold miners head the list in the incidence of influenza cement workers second anthracite coal mining third and granite cutting four and general manufacturing at this point In bronchitis acute and chronic anthracite coal miners head the list Portland cement second general manufacturing third which would indicate that the cement workers had a slight amount in excess of granite and anthracite coal miners had
.
still more This is a continuation of the same group of workers
Respiratory tuberculosis only is considered in the industries we have been talking about Granite cutting in Vermont heads the list gold miners in the Black Hills second I have explained that the reason why I think this isn't greater is because of the labor turnover anthracite coal mining third and general manufacturing at this point It would seem there is this pointing much in
excess of tuberculosis in the three industries above In
the iron and steel and Portland cement plant it seems to be about the same as general manufacturing In the incidence of pneumonia workers in iron and steel head the list granite cutters in Vermont second and general manufacturing third We would think that the excess was not as great as in some of the preceding diseases I might
say a word about the economic conditions The iron and
steel workers are not paid as well as granite cutters Their living conditions are not as high and that may be a factor in considering tuberculosis and other diseases particularly those of the respiratory tract The granite
workers in Vermont made 1.00 an hour They worked
eight hours a day forty hours a week this was the minimum wage at that time The highly skilled workers
made more The ones able to carve and cut statues made
up to 20.00 a day They lived well The best group of
industrial workers I have ever seen The incidence of tuberculosis among them was not an economic factor
171
This brings us down to the petrographic analysis of the dust In silver polishing the total silica percentage varied
according to different occupations and different materials used and the quartz content varied likewise Mr. Bloomfield showed a graph this morning in which the dust count in these particular occupations was quite low I think about
five million particles at the greatest In cement industry the total silica is expressed as 21 in the raw cement but
the quartz content of finished cement is less than one per
cent It is stated to contain % before passing through
the kilns but the burning process reduces the amount In
coal mining the rock dust is quite high in quartz because the overlying stratum was sandstone Quartz content of coal is 1.2 In hard coal we have the same explanation here with 1.5 silica in the coal with 81 quartz in the rock dust The granite we have explained has a total of 70 silica with about half of it as quartz There is a point I
wish to mention here In the United States most of the hard coal as anthracite is found in an area in a few
counties in Pennsylvania Bituminous coal is scattered pretty well throughout the country In the state of West Virginia there are areas where overlying stratum is sand
stone and others where different rocks make up the overhead rocks The silica content of these rocks varies tre-
mendously in different localities which makes it impractiable to compare the results from the study of one group
of coal miners to another The amount of silica in the
rock dust to which he might have been exposed should be stated It is very difficult to say that one industry is comparable to another or that one part of the same in-
dustry represents the same conditions throughout We don't know until we have made careful analysis of the
dustiness in the various occupations This slide gives us an average dust count under ten microns in certain dusty trades of which we will speak later Cement dust aver-
ages about twenty million In granite cutting there
are fifty million particles per cu ft for the upper two
groups and sixteen million for the lower two groups and
in anthracite coal mining one hundred twenty four million
for the miners and 11,000,000 for attendant labor Bitumi-
nous coal mining has one hundred and two million and 3.3
172
million for the attendant labor In the silver manufacturing 4.1 million and 800,000 I think these dust counts are very interesting and we believe that they correlate well with our findings which we will bring out as we go along
This is a graph See fig 8 p 53 Bull No. 187 U. P. H. S. expressing the incidence of sickness from all causes in these four dust count groups in the granite cutting industry in Vermont It is by length of service and the absences are eight days or more and the rate is per thou-
sand Here we have a group with less than ten years ex-
posure with the four groups starting at about the same point Group C and D with lower exposure average about sixteen million As they grow older the total incidence
of sickness seems to diminish The upper groups whose
exposure to dust averaged about 50 million their rate of
sickness increased in proportion to the length of exposure
to dust
This slide shows the prevalence of tuberculosis and we considered only active pulmonary tuberculosis by length
of the service and dust count groups This is based on
physical examinations and ray to determine the presence of the disease Here we have group C starting with a
higher rate than groups A and B. We think perhaps there
may be an economic factor here The attendant labor did
not have as good living conditions as did groups A and B. Up to ten years exposure there isn't much significance
but after ten years you see these two groups of workers having increased incidence of tuberculosis in direct pro-
portion to the length of service After thirty to forty years exposure it seems to reach its peak taking for granted that a man is about twenty years old when he starts to work we would expect that the group of workers
having tuberculosis would be around fifty years of age I
believe that our average for the age at that particular
a study was little over forty years
This slide I am showing is about an average chest
Sometimes we get a very good presentation of this slide
and it shows more than at other times due to illumination
This is what is usually found in a more or less average person that is a person who has not had tuberculosis sili-
cosia or any of the other chronic pulmonary diseases Those
173
of you who are not physicians and not familiaralwointghaannd
average chest should bear this in mind as we go will be able to follow changes indicated by ray No-
ytiocue that the diaphragm curves with a regularity on each
side This is the hilus of the lung of which Dr. Gardner
has spoken and the light areas are the functioning portions
ray No. 4 case No. 397 near p 92 Bull 187 U. S.
P. H. S. I called your attention to the regularity of the
in the preceding one I want you to see the
diaphragm
notice that through
irregularity in this case You will
the lung fields there are linear markings spreading out
toward the periphery and we think that it was due to the
inhalation of dust This man was a granite cutter who had
cut stone about fifteen years In writing up our report of granite study in Vermont you will recall we didn't attempt to classify our cases of silicosis by the then existing one classification which was the South African one Our
tuberculosis cases did not seem to fit into that classification This man
since this picture was made in 1924 has developed tuberculosis and died of clinical pulmonary
This is another granite worker who had been working about twenty years in cutting stone it shows an in-
crease in the shadows with further evidence of disease You will note in this slide as in the ones which follow that
there is more pathology indicated in the right lung That has been attributed to the fact that the right bronchus is a little larger than the left and it curves at an angle of about twenty degrees whereas the left bronchus bends at a little sharper angle and is slightly smaller You will notice in this case the diaphragm is fairly regular In the
one there were evidently pleural adhesions caua-
pirnegceidrirenggularity in the contour of the diaphragm It is possibly due to a latent tuberculous condition in addition to
the effect of dust
The next slide The two cases preceding have been cases of silicosis uncomplicated by tuberculosis You noted
in those cases that the apex and upper portion of the lungs were fairly clear Most of the pathology was in the middle
and lower portion This case ray No. 43 case No. 195 Bull 187 U. S.
P. H. S. is one of pulmonary tuberculosis in a granite
174
worker You will notice the apices are fairly clear There
is quite a lot of pathology indicated by the markings in the lower portion of the lungs The man had a cavity at the base of the right lung We checked most of these cases
for sputum analysis and almost invariably we found they were positive These granite workers all expected to have tuberculosis they were rather averse to having sputum
analyses
This ray No. 45 case No. 32 Bull 187 U. P. H.
is another worker showing similar condition with an ac-
tive tuberculous process determined by physical examination in the lower portion of the right lung The usual mark-
ings are present and he had the usual symptoms of tuber-
culosis
The next slide This is still another granite worker
This slide shows the thickened pleura in this area together
with the usual reaction to dust and to tuberculous infec-
tion You will notice in the earlier cases the shadows were
linear and that they spread out to the periphery from the hilum in each case The markings here are more conglom-
erate and less distinct in character
This ray No. 40 Case No. 174 Bull 187 U. S. P.
H. S. is a very interesting case in that there seems to be
pneumonic process a
here man had clinical and phys-
ical signs of active tuberculous disease and he died a short
time after this picture was made You will note a little
irregularity in the diaphragm at this point and the contour of the diaphragm on the other side is not clear There
seems to be an adherent mass at that point
This ray No. 46 case No. 194 Bull 187 U. P. H. S. is a very interesting case He was working and de-
veloped a condition which is quite like pneumonia physi-
cally Quite a bit of pulmonary tissue became consolidated
which on physical examination gave all the signs of pneu-
monia He was intensely dyspneic but had no temperature
nor toxemia and as this cleared up bacilli appeared in the
sputum about three weeks after I believe somebody said that we didn't have any case of
mottling of the lungs similar to the South African cases
among the Barre workers This is an exception It is the
only case we had which presented this type of picture The
175
linear shadows are not present as in your other cases of
silicosis There is a great similarity in this picture to what
we see in Africa in gold miners Just why this case has
weighed this same marking I am unable to explain He
about two hundred pounds and was one of the finest look-
ing chaps I ever saw He had no symptoms except a little
exercise I saw Dr. Pancoast after I had been
dyspnea on
the only other slide
doing that study and he showed me
like this of a granite cutter with this particular character-
typical istic and he said it was given to him as being a
cutter in Vermont This is the only one I have
granite these particular markings
This man was exposed
with
percentage of
to the same intensity of exposure and same
silica as the preceding case
DR GARDNER For how long
This man was a
DR RUSSELL Twenty years
Scotchman In Barre they have a nice variety of national-
ities Italians principally the Northern Italians French-
Canadians Scotchmen American and New England Yankees few Spaniards and quite a few Scandinavians and a few other nationalities
A VOICE What was the subsequent history of that
man
DR RUSSELI I don't know Two years later he was
still well I hope to go back and check up on some of these
people this coming year
This ray No. 63 case No. 18 p 182 near Bull No.
187 U. S. P. H. is a case of an Italian who cut granite
Eleven years prior to the time this X-
twenty years
made he had been living on a farm in Vermont and
ray was
he was getting to be
the reason he came to me was that
quite dyspneic and he was worrying about his condition
We took rays and this is the picture He had been in
dust atmosphere eleven years on the farm His dyspnea
increased and two years after this time he had a fulminat-
ing tuberculosis he was past fifty years of age
This is another case ray No. case No. 299 Bull
187 U. S. P. H. with a similar history This man waB Irish cut granite 26 years thirteen years immediately prior
176
to the time this picture was made he had been a night
watchman in an insane asylum a dust occupation
You will note that he had deep markings in the bases of his lungs It has lost that linear character and is more the
cottony or confluent type He was very dyspenic and was 64 years of age He found it quite difficult to do any chores around his home and his occupation was quite seden-
tary no strenuous work to do and yet he was bothered
with dyspnea The superintendent of the hospital was quite
interested in him and very much interested in our work and about three years after this picture was made he wrote me that the man's dyspnea had increased and that he had
toxic symptoms and tubercle bacilli in his sputum
This ray No. 68 Case No. 839 Bull 187 U. S. P. H. S. is a case with a similar history a New England Yankee He cut granite 17 years then went to Oregon and cultivated apples and he had been out of dust about fifteen years He came back to Vermont and cut granite
for one year and he began to have some difficulties and
this is what the ray revealed He later developed a fulminating type of tuberculosis and like most of those granite cutters with tuberculosis he did not last so long
This slide is of an ray of a potter The man had spent more than twenty years in the pottery industry I think potter's clay contains about 35 silica about the same
amount we have in granite With a picture like this I
think we can safely say that the man was exposed to too
much dust The flocculent shadows are possible due to a
imposed tuberculosis
The next one is a case of a potter with earlier stage of the silicosis You will note that the markings are more of a linear type and spread out at the hilus toward the periphery and to this portion with the enlarged hilus glands
There are a few calcified tubercles in the area He had
been a potter twenty years when this picture was
made
I don't know much about acute silicosis but I am presenting this slide as a case of early silicosis with rather short exposure This man's occupation was that of a foreman of tunneling work and he was exposed to dust for
about a year This tunnel went through pure quartz rock
177
and he was in it quite often during the working hours You will note that he has quite an increase in the linear markings He had perhaps an old tuberculosis condition in this hilus with a few calcifications He had no disability
This is another tunnel worker with rather extensive pulmonary fibrosis together with a little interlobar pleurisy at that point The exposure of this case was something of about a year I have seen autopsies from cases from that same tunnel with exposure of a year or less which produced a fatal silicosis This is perhaps an acute silicosis
This is a slide showing a man who had been a lens grinder grinding pure quartz lenses for a period of eight
months and he was disabled with silicosis at the time the
picture was made He was in a tuberculosis sanatorium and the staff physicians were unable to demonstrate the presence of tuberculosis The patient's complaint like most silicotics was that of shortening of breath The hiluses seem to be greatly choked up The shadows are rather dense and no doubt he has silica deposited in the lung He has not had time in the course of eight months to develop the fibrosis indicated in the preceding ray
This brings us up to the consideration of pneumoconiosia
of a different cause You remember what I said in the be-
ginning that you couldn't look at fibrosis in one case and say that was comparable to that of another You will see this worker has quite a bit of lung markings and yet he has no disability or apparently not much to worry about in the
future He was a soft coal miner This is another soft coal miner who had been getting a
little rock dust We believe this irregularity and the markings are more of a linear character and more discrete than in the previous one I must admit there is very little path-
ology there I am showing it to contrast with the preced-
ing one
This is an ray of an anthracite coal miner Appar ently the anthracite coal miners have more rock dust ex-
posure than the group of bituminous workers at large This
case is interesting because of the interlobar pleurisy shown at this point between upper and lower lobes It is the
only one I have ever seen like that You will note that he has quite a bit of pathology Indicated in both lungs yet the
12
178
character of the markings is different from that of silicosis which I have shown you before
DR WILLIS Would you mind commenting on the drop
heart
DR RUSSELL We don't know so much about drop
hearts we but have an idea that cases having
drop heart experience
some remote old tuberculosis
It has beenhearts developed developed
in
South Africa that workers with drop
and tuberculosis much more rapidly than
silicoris workers who did not have it You will note in the preceding
than the heart had a greater curve to the left
this perpen- perpen- that the border of the heart in this case is almost
preceding
notice
perpen- perpen-
dicular
the preceding different This is another anthracite coal miner showing
markings
You
will
will
notice
notice
the
contrast
in
in
this
heart
and
preceding
one This case and the preceding case had
miner's asthma
picture lit le
This is another miner with still a little
markings
in
different picture You will note that the markings in these cases don't
parallel You will note the charactercharctercharacter ofof these mark-
of the presence of silica because of
inga are suggestive rather uniform distribution
is an ray of a cement worker a man
This who had been working in a cement plant about
diferent
ten years thelight it
notice
notice
that it has different
characteristics Notice
this
that characteristics to be coming through in this area
seems portiownithThere are less clouding at the areas to the outer
your fine linear markings underneath I wish to callcall
your tention to the fact that these workers were exposed I one per cent quartz in their dust The dust counts
atabout
think ,
averaged averaged 25 million particles slides
Following calcium marble work-work-
this there will be some
of
calcium contains
Cement dust contains a lot of calcium
calcium or
.
.
marble workers contained analysia were exposed to dust which
88 I calcium calcium
carbonate
and and
I
think
the
company's
contained
cent
of
the
dust
stated
that
it
it
contained contained
less
than
one
per
from one Our analysis was taken quitequite a different place
.
quartz marble dust and
twenty This
found practically no quartz in the
is an ray of a man who had been cutting marblemarble You will note the increased shadows
years
179
around the hilus and around the larger bronchi But you will note the light areas which indicate there is quite a lot
of good functioning tissue He had absolutely no disabil-
ity and no evidence of tuberculosis or any other chronic pul-
monary condition You will note in these slides of marble
workers there are quite a lot of calcifications This one
basn't as much as the other These workers were the same
age as the granite workers occupations very much alike and
the dust concentration little less in the marble than gran-
ite plants We found no case of active tuberculosis among the marble workers Dr. Rogers of the Vermont Sani-
tarium for tuberculosis stated he never had a marble
worker as a patient unless they had also worked in granite These marble workers had quite a lot of calcification of the costal cartileges
This is another marble worker You will note the calcification of the hilus of the lung and some increase in
fibrosis This case like the others had no disability You
will note the calcification here
Those pictures weren't as good as we would like to have had them but the best we could do out in field work Field work is quite different than in institutions We work under handicaps in so many places In this picture the calcifications are present with quite a degree of fibrosis The constant exposure to dust over a long period of time carrying bacteria in the lungs would produce fibrosis no doubt but not necessarily a disabling fibrosis Marble does not
seem to predispose to any chronic disease
MR TARRELL Did you follow that patient up to see how
soon it was he became disabled
DR RUSSELL Did I say he was disabled
MR TARRELL
took the ray
You said he was not disabled when you
DR RUSSELL That has been a year ago and he was all
right when we took it We haven't heard anything
This is a marble worker and the calcifications of these
costul cartileges are indicated in this picture I am showing this next slide because of the calcification
of the cartileges with apparent calcification of the pleura
180
that lived This man was a slate worker His history is
he
in the area of this slate and that for most of his life aside
from farming that had been his sole occupation The Blate
workers in one plant which we observed
not exposed
wemriell had about to any quartz The plant adjacent to this
% quartz in the slate it used You will note in considering slate that the silica content of slate varies in different areas
so we can't say that slate has a definite amount of silica
without determining it first The same holds true for granite There are certain granites which have much less than
85 I think most of the Vermont granite contains about 35 quartz You can see the futility of trying to compare
rays of the lungs from workers in one industry to those
of another
'
notice
This is an ray of a slate miller You will
he
noticefine has a few pulmonary markings with quite a bit of
linear fibrosis We found in the group of slate miller
workers one case who had an active tuberculosis He had
the been in this slate mill about six years and apparently
tuberculosis was just incidental and not a result of his
occupation
ocupation oc upation with slate workers showed hilus thickenings a few
calcifications Still other slate workers showed a different
showing picture but not extensive pathology
This is an ray of another slate worker
showing
quite
a bit of shadows in the lower portion of the right lung
with a few calcifications
asbestosis
asbestosis This is the ray of a man who had or has
His occupation was that of cleaning and restoring the as-
hospitals bestos on pipes in one of our government
He
had been working at the trade about six years I think and
you will see he has fibrosis of both lungs The character of the fibrosis is quite a bit different from that of the gran-
ite workers He had disability and the government com-
pensated him for it
clasifcation
silicosis
This is a graph showing classification of silicosis The first classification was made in South Africa They started
out classifying their cases as primary and secondary stages
and as they learned more about the disease they had to
add to this classification They learned that they had a stage earlier than primary and it was called primary
181
and as it developed there was still another condition before they could be considered as primary so they called that more fibrosis than usual They took an average chest of the average individual as more or less a standard and there were a number of cases having more fibrosis than the average person and yet not enough fibrosis to be placed in the classes mentioned When they diagnosed a case as having primary primary or secondary silicosis their arrangement is that the man is entitled to compensation and he is removed from his dusty occupation This is the original classification of silicosis
In Australia they used a slightly different classification They called their chests normal instead of average In
Dr. Moore's paper he gives the reason for cases having
more fibrosis than usual tuberculosis that is latent tuberculosis or healed tuberculosis cardiac conditions and dust The stages are called early and advanced Their
advanced cases seem to be considered more or less in two
phases At the International Silicosia Conference this classification into first second and third stages was recom-
mended The South Africans have their classifications
written into their laws and they have to stick to it although
they said a more workable or reasonable classification should be adopted and adhered to The classification of stages designated as negative or average chest more fibrosis than usual first second and third stages was recommended Tuberculosis complicating any one of these stages would automatically place it in third stage The
first stage of silicosis with tuberculosis would therefore be considered as the third stage
This slide represents a case which would more or less
come under the stage of more fibrosis than usual How-
ever the density in here is getting a little beyond that stage but you will note that the slide illuminates well indicating that there is apparently quite good aeration of the lung He was a sand blaster working for the United States Government and he had been in this occupation for eight years He was a colored man and he had several masks He not only wore one but two masks neither of which were good I took this ray because a man working in the same place he was had died of tuberculosis They
182
had filed a claim with the employees compensation com-
mission for silicosis for this deceased sand blaster
There was an ray of him at the hospital where he had died and apparently he was entitled to receive compensation
and it was so recommended This particular case had been
working along with him This picture was taken in 1926 he later developed tuberculosis and died and in 1929 the
widow filed claim for tuberculosis and silicosis This stage
I consider more fibrosis than usual and if he had had tu-
berculosis and more fibrosis at that time it would have
been considered a third stage case
This is a slide of a granite worker I'm showing to bring
out the point that when a tuberculous infection exists the
rate of progress of silicosis seems to be augmented I find
that I have left out the slide that should follow but I be-
lieve that I can describe the stage In the right lung
the there is quite a lot of fibrosis more than in left lung
last This picture was taken in 1925
year in 1931 I
rayed this man again This condition was about the
same but he has apparently developed tuberculous infec-
more tion in this lung and there was undoubtedly much
fi-
brosis in this lung than in the right lung Ordinarily and
in the preceding cases the disease has seemed to develop a
little more in the right lung than in the left
Station
You have perhaps seen our beautiful Union Station in
Washington This is the ray of the man who carved two
of the five beautiful statues which surmount the entrances
the lung on the outside to the Union Station
He
one of the
was
most skilled granite workers This is right
He
has quite a snow storm appearance in this portion lower right At the time this picture was taken he had rales
after cough afternoon temperature and loss of weight
positive sputum and the usual signs or symptoms of tuberculosis See Southern Medical Journal Sept. 1932 pp
919-927 next Vermont 919-927 for ray
slide is from another case from
The
man had apparently in this spot an old smoldering tuber-
other cases culosis This case is not typical of our
some
of which I have shown you in preceding slides in that they
have bilateral fibrosis He had this conglomerate affair
with little pathalogy indicated in the other lung Because
188
it was different I observed him very closely for a period
of two and half years while there I visited in the
place a year later and found that he had not been sick nor lost one day from work I was back in Vermont in 1931 and as I was interested in him we took an ray and this is the result This area has spread pretty well all the way to the periphery together with a tremendous increase of the amount of pathology in the other lung He was feeling pretty well except that he was very dyspneic because so much of the normal functioning lung had been displaced with fibrous tissue ray No. 14 Case No. 189 Bull 187 U. P. H. S.
This is the man's photograph He doesn't look particularly bad As long as these cases do not have active clinical tuberculosis they look quite well
This is an actual photograph Plate 17 Case 87 p 150 Bull 187 U. S. P. H. S. of the lungs of one of our cases in Vermont This is the apex of the lung at this point You will notice dark areas through there The lighter areas
at the bottom are tuberculosis I want to call your atten-
tion to the density of the pleura The pleura as you know is a very small mucous membrane many times likened to the mucous membrane of your lip In these cases there was great thickening of the pleura I believe it is due to the fact that we have an exposure lasting over a long number of years and the possibility that the majority of the cases have a smoldering tuberculosis along with it That is I believe that the tubercle bacilli is perhaps a factor in this tremendously thickened pleura I have seen a number of lungs of silicotic patients who had a shorter
exposure to a much higher silica dust than were the granite workers and the pleura was not thickened to the extent of the Vermont cases Pleurisy pain is one of the
symptoms of silicosis which we will consider in the discussion of the diagnosis of silicosis One of the few complaints which the workers have is pain in the chest It
is more or less trivial and not usually disabling They seldom complain of it and don't often stop work
It bothers them more in damp weather Pains in the chest with shortness of breath is about all that these Vermont workers complained of in the course of silicoala until they
184
begin to develop signs of active tuberculosis that is temperature loss of weight increase in the amount of cough
with productive sputum etc.
This slide is one showing the death rate in rural Ver-
mont from pulmonary tuberculosis beginning about 1900
In the granite industry in about 1894 they introduced the
hand pneumatic tool which is activated by compressed air
as an instrument for cutting granite You will note that about that time the death rate of granite cutters from tuberculosis began to increase We think that is caused by the excessive amount of dust which is generated in cutting
of stone with this hand pneumatic tool Fig 26 p 180
Bull 187 U. S. P. H. S. I might say a few words about the diagnosis of silicosis
I am frequently asked to speak of the diagnostic points of silicosis It seems to be the practice of so many people
to draw their own conclusions from the rays alone We
believe that in the scientific practice of medicine all points
should be considered in making a diagnosis and certainly
this should be done when there is the matter of extent of
disability to be decided on In Vermont we had complete physical examination history of the case which included the entire occupational life and that with any symptoms he may have had As I said before very few of them have many complaints They even forget that they have a
little hacking cough which is perhaps due to mechanical
irritation of the upper respiratory tract Ordinarily unless they have a cold or infection they do not produce
sputum They may complain of an occasional pain in the chest and usually of a slight shortness of breath One of
them expressed it to me in this way- am beginning to
get so I can't get my second wind When the reserve - is called upon they seem to be unable to get their second
wind
silicosis
Another phase in the diagnosis of silicosis is the consid-
eration of respiratory diseases they may have had I
of showed you in the slides that this particular group
indi- workers had more respiratory disease than the usual
vidual The physical examination of these workers is
frequently disappointing You may listen to the chest and
hear very little and when you see the ray you are sur-
185
prised at the extent of pathology present but even so that is no reason for omitting the physical examination The chest expansion is almost invariably limited in these workers and we find it almost in direct proportion to their length
of exposure and which would be of course according to the progress of the disease The granite workers were a husky
robust type of people and you would reasonably expect them to be capable of at least 2 to 3 inches expansion whereas most of them had one inch or less They seem
to have an abdominal type of breathing rather than thor-
acic I found that examination by palpation was quite
disappointing the fremitus was not usually increased in the same proportion that it is in fibrosis of tuberculosis Tuberculosis produces a more or less localized fibrosis whereas in silicosis it is more or less generalized and that may
explain the difference in the fremitus in the two conditions The breath sounds in these cases in Vermont were not
changed to any particular variety There seemed to be more softening of all the sounds The fibrosis of tuberculosis produces more definite changes in breath sounds than does silicosis I saw some cases of silicosis recently which
had developed the disease after very short exposure and they had breath sounds which were quite different from
the Vermont cases
.
In the acute cases which I saw recently the principal portion of fibrosis and infiltration were in the upper lobes of the lungs The lower part of the lungs were emphysematous The upper portion seemed to be functioning very
little In the silicosis cases in our Vermont study rales
were not heard unless infection was present When tuberculosis complicates silicosis almost invariably rales can be heard after the patient coughs as in tuberculosis in silicotic people A great amount of fibrosis may con-
ceal the presence of rales to a certain extent in silicotic
patients Our cases in Vermont had very few signs symptoms or complaints until they began to develop an active tuberculosis That was a very definite point with them They then complain of increased shortness of breath pains in the chest loss of weight afternoon temperature productive cough and the usual other signs of active tuberculosis These patients seemed to have pulmonary hemor-
186
rhages more than most cases of tuberculosis We had several deaths from hemorrhage of the lung and the doctors
there told me about other cases that had died there of it
prior to our study One of them had died on the lawn
of a doctor's office trying to get help Hemorrhage is the
result of ulceration of these tuberculous areas
One of the cases of acute silicosia was giving me his his-
tory recently and he was quite perturbed because after he had a coughing spell his chew of tobacco was gritty This
is a new angle on the elmination of dust He didn't mind the cough but he didn't like to have his chew of tobacco spoiled I think that it is the result of ulcerations and
erosions of these silicotic and tuberculous lesions and dust
was eliminated along with other debris The tuberculous complication of all the cases in Vermont
other than the pulmonary type of tuberculosis were comparatively rare Most of these cases developed a fulminating type of tuberculosis and did not live so long as the uncomplicated case thereby lessening the chances of complications We had one man die ninety days after he quit
work and most of the other cases died within a year We
had only one man who lived two years after he stopped work I think that the comparatively short period of time
they lived after developing tuberculosis would perhaps preclude the development of other tuberculous complications
There were however a few cases of glandular tuberculosis one case of infection of the inguinal glands and a tuberculous elbow with adenitis of the axillary glands A few children in these families of granite cutters developed
tuberculous meningitis
I think you people are particularly interested in information relative to the point where a silicotic becomes disabled or where he should be compensated In our cases in Vermont we had no disability from silicosis unless they
developed tuberculosis I don't recall and I don't believe
we have recorded a single instance of a case with disability
without the disease Our cases had from 15 to 30 and 35 years of exposure I don't believe that you can estimate
the disability from the ray alone and that is why I urge that cases be studied not only by ray but by physical
observations as well
187
This slide is a case of a man who was the lens grinder who had been exposed to silica only eight months and was
disabled yet from the ray it didn't appear he had any disability but he was bedfast I believe I spoke of the fact
that I have seen a number of disabled cases of silicosis re-
cently The greatest amount of pathology was in the upper portion of the lung in these cases which is directly oppo-
site to what we saw in Vermont Most of these recent
cases were exposed to silica dust less than two years and have disability whereas in Vermont the workers were exposed over a period of many years
There is one other thing I might speak of and I think Mr. Bloomfield touched on it this morning and that is about the called silicotic dusts There is one thing that Mr. Bloomfield didn't bring out that I wish to mention at this time The original report which started the discussion of silicotic properties of dust did not include dust counts to show that a hazard really existed There have been no scientific studies made on the subject but rather a lot of surmising If there is an antidote for silica dust we should make every effort to learn about it It would alleviate much suffering and save many lives as well as much expense to industry The author of this article did not show that enough dust was present to produce silicosis and because the workers didn't get silicosis he concluded the clay kept them from getting it He gives the analysis of this dust and the total percentage of silica in the material was 88 or 84 the total percentage in silica in Vermont is 69 with much less quartz than his dusts
seem to have had
The following table shows that granite dust contains less silica and more of the called silicotic elements
than what is found in the materials used in brickmaking
188
Analysis of Dark Barre Granite
Silica ...--.-...--------- 69.89
Alumina 16.08
Iron oxide
1.40
Iron Sesquioxide ~---..--- 1.04
Magnesia MgO ..-----~
SLiomdea
we
ee
eee
..-----..--..---...
Potash K.O ----.---...
0.66 4.79 2.07 4.29
Wateruncombined H.O at woe ne (
0.31 0.31
Water combined Hig-
nition ....--.-.----.=- 0.29
Phosphorous pentoxide
P.O. ~~ anne Trace
Materials Used in Brickmaking
Brick Brick
Contents Factory
Sample A
Silica ----..... 88,90
Alumina
7.42
Ferric oxide 0.16
Factory
B
84.90 9.88 0.19
Manganese mag-
nesium and tin
oxide - 0.44
0.85
Soda -~..------ 1.49
0.84
Lime ...------ 0.00
0.34
Water and Losa_ 2.49 3.30
Report of Granite Area of Barre 1902. George I. Finlay State Geologist of Vermont
Heffernan Journal of Industrial Hygiene November 1920
No study has been reported in which accurate dust
counts were made and where it was shown that a silica
hazard existed and has been a very definite curative or
preventative dust mixed along with it thereby preventing the development of silicosis I hope that somebody will
give us such a study I wish Dr. Gardner and Mr. Cummings much success in their endeavors along this line and I am
sure if anything can be brought out as an antidote for silica they will do it
There are perhaps a number of other things that will come up in the discussion I believe that is all for the
;
present
MR DOE Dr. Russell in your discussion of the surveys that you have made where there was a high silica content and where there was a low silica content you referred to the presence of fibrosis in both cases Yesterday I got the impression from Dr. Gardner that in the silicotic dusts there was no formation of fibrosis in the same sense that there was in the case of silicotic dusts Is it your view
that in the silicotic dusts the pathology is the same or
different
DR RUSSELL I think it is different In silicosis you have formation of silicotic nodules as shown by Dr. Gard-
189
ner In silicotic dusts the silicotic nodules are not
present It is more of a generalized type of fibrosis
MR DOE What I wanted to know was whether it
was fibrosis or whether it was merely the presence of dust that was retained in the lung tissue
DR RUSSELL I think the ray penetrates most dusts
I don't believe many shadows are recorded on the film due
to dust particles
MR DOE You don't think that most dusts are radio
opaque
DR RUSSELL I don't think that most dusts are
MR DOE Are they radio opaque
DR RUSSELL I think they are not
MR DOE So that in the cases of marble workers that
you showed the markings are not the dust in your opinion
DR RUSSELL I think they are calcifications That is
combination of fibrosis and lime
MR DOE Then they are partially dust and partially a
reaction of the tissues themselves
DR RUSSELL Yes calcifications are present in tubercu-
losis
Mr. DOE When you have a silicotic dust such as marble dust for instance do you think Dr. Russell that the mere presence of those dust particles in the tissue in
the manner that you have described have any predisposing
effect in relation to tuberculosis
DR RUSSELL Marble dust
MR DOE Perhaps I don't mean to limit it to marble
dust but to any silicotic dust
DR RUSSELL I think that they might predispose to tuberculosis in this way not directly but indirectly In most dusty trades there is an increase in the amount of respiratory diseases and I think it is reasonable to presume that a repetition of respiratory infections certainly would
tend to aggravate a smoldering tuberculous condition
190
Certainly the tuberculous condition would be better off
without having these concurrent infections
MR DOE If a man had a history of two or three
pneumonias and a couple of pleurisies it might be algnifi-
cant
DR RUSSELL Yes And influenza
MR DOE Would there be any difference in that respect with regard to whether the man had an old tuberculous condition or never had had any tuberculosis
DR RUSSELL I thought you said with an existing or
latent tuberculosis
MR DOE I am asking you the question both waya Whether it is in the one case or isn't in the other or
whether both would be the same
DR RUSSELL I think the incidence of respiratory diseases of any kind a repetition of them a number of them more or less predispose to tuberculosis We have many patients giving a history of their break down from influenza
etc. Of course we don't know in those cases whether
they had latent tuberculosis or whether it is a new thing Most of us I think believe it is latent
MR DOE Is there any way of telling in a particular
case
DR RUSSELL Well the ray might reveal the presence of it but it doesn't always show up on the ray
It depends of course on the extent of the original infec-
tion
MR DOE Well when you have an individual who has been exposed to silicotic dust who becomes tuberculous are there any means of telling whether the fact that he is tuberculous is associated with the dust
DR RUSSELL I think different cases would vary a lot
individually There might be some characteristics think
it would be difficult to tell whether or not the case was
associated with pneumoconiosis so to speak MR DOE In your studies have you made any compari-
son between the incidence of the disease of tuberculosis
191
among the population of the locality and in the dusty
trades I notice you had in the Barre survey the incidence of disease in rural Vermont In other studies have there
been similar comparisons
DR RUSSELL Not entirely similar We have in the anthracite coal the death rate for the county in which we made our study and the death rate from the coal miners
in that area
MR DOE And you had a high percentage of silica at least in the rock drilling didn't you
DR RUSSELL Yes
MR DOE Have you made any such comparison Doctor
in the silicotic dust studies
DR RUSSELL I don't believe we have
there has been anything published
I don't think
MR DOE In the marble study there was no comparison of incidence of tuberculosis with the civil population
DR RUSSELL Not in the report There were no cases
of tuberculosis among the workers at the time we were
there There is a low death rate from tuberculosis for
rural Vermont
MR DOE Are you satisfied that in the case of the marble study you made the incidence of tuberculosis was
no higher than it was among the rest of the population
DR RUSSELL I think it is quite conclusive that it was
not higher among marble workers
MR DOE Would it be your opinion that that would also
be true of other silicotic dusts
DR RUSSELL I made the statement in the beginning
that you couldn't compare fibrosis of one case of pneumoconiosis with that of another I think each one of these groups of workers is unique in itself I think with the
marble workers whatever happens to them we couldn't say the same thing would happen to slate workers or any other group We might hazard a guess but one guess is
about as good as another
192
MR DOE Do you believe that there is any marked dif-
ference between the silicotic cases and the silicotic cases in that regard
DR RUSSELL Of tuberculosis
MR DOE Yes
DR RUSSELL Yes
MR DOE Well you have made certain studies of non-
silicotic dusts One is marble and one is slate where silica content was nominal Is it your conclusion from those
studies that the incidence of tuberculosis is as low as
that of the rest of the population in the community
DR RUSSELL I said it was for marble MR DOE What is the fact as to slate DR RUSSELL About the same The same as the popu-
lation
MR DOE How does the frequency of respiratory infec-
tion compare with that DR RUSSELL We didn't make morbidity studies of the
marble workers nor slate workers According to our his-
tories I think the state workers have more respiratory dis-
seases than marble workers I haven't the figures MR DOE But you wouldn't conclude from that that
the tuberculosis rate would be higher Dr. RUSSELL The amount of tuberculosis we found
among workers was not higher than that of the general
population
something MR DOE Doctor will you us a little
about what you have found with regard to secondary heart conditions in silicosis
DR RUSSELL I don't believe we have any cases of sec-
ondary heart conditions due to silicosis in Barre Certainly it was not indicated in the ray that there was
undue cardiac enlargement particularly the right side of
the heart
whether MR DOE Did you form any conclusion as to
that it is common or uncommon that there could be a
193
secondary heart condition due we will say to third stage
silicosis
DR RUSSELL I think it is possible Quite possible You have to take into consideration the person's previous
condition his heart condition before the onset of silicosis
A lot of people have a heart disease and it occurs in and out of dusty trades certain amount just like tuberculosis in the general population
MR DOE You didn't feel in the Barre survey then
that there was any evidence of a secondary heart condition
that was attributed to the disease of silicosis
DR RUSSELL No.
MR DOE study
Have you found any such factor in any other
DR RUSSELL That was the most extensive silicosis
study I have done I would rather you would consult the
literature of others who have reported on that to give you
their opinion
MR DOE From the studies you have made Dr. Russell
what would be your opinion as to the advisability or in-
advisability of continuing a man in a dusty atmosphere
after the presence of silicosis is detected Suppose you
had a more fibrosis than usual finding Would it be your
judgment that that man should be excluded from a dusty occupation as soon as that was detected
DR RUSSELL If that were done it would take them
out very rapidly You would have tremendous labor turn-
over
DOE Would it make any difference as to the num-
MRof years that he had been employed before the more berfibrosis than usual finding was discovered
DR RUSSELL I think it would
MR DOE Would it be your view that all such cases
should be excluded from dusty employment if possible
I don't mean to state an impractical situation
DR RUSSELL I think it would be better to clear up
the dust than to have to be constantly thinning employes
13
194
out Dust can be prevented and you would have to take
men in many dusty trades who are skilled operators At least they know their trades If you keep taking them out how would you retrain them for other occupations It is much cheaper and a better policy to eliminate the dust
than to be constantly turning over employes because they
develop fibrosis
.
MR DOE That might be the ideal situation if one
could do that but assuming that after the best has been done that we are capable of in the present state of know-
ledge you take a man with more fibrosis than usual your
idea would be that he should be gotten out of employment
DR RUSSELL If there is an excessive incidence of
tuberculosis in that particular occupation It depends a
lot on the extent of silica in the dust I don't think 1
could or anybody else lay down a definite policy that would be applicable to all instances where you have silica rang-
ing from one to one hundred per cent Some coal miners show more fibrosis than usual and yet history of bituminous coal is that they don't have excessive amounts of tuberculosis It would be folly to take those people out
It would depend entirely on the industry involved and its
past record
MR DOE Well would the quantity of silica in the dust
be the determining factor for instance if you had a marble worker with more fibrosis than usual would your recommendation be different than if he were a granite worker
DR RUSSELL Yes it would be of course
MR DOE Now then what do you say would be a reasonably safe maximum and when I say safe I mean
safe from the danger of tuberculosis complication first
as to silica content
_
DR RUSSELL I can only give you our experience in Barre I think it is the only dusty trade where that was
well worked out Groups C and D were exposed to less than twenty million particles of dust the death rate from those people from tuberculosis was about the same as
rural Vermont and the death rate in the groups exposed to more than twenty million particles was greatly in excess
196
of rural Vermont I can give only my practical experience
as
less than twenty million particles per
approximately foot of dust containing 35 silica If a man has
cubic evidence of tuberculosis with more fibrosis than usual I
don't think it would be advisable to continue even in that dust
MR DOE Would that have a limitation as to the num-
ber of hours instance if you had an occupation that showed less than twenty million particles and say
no greater silica content than you had at Barre would that
employment be safe for that individual for an indefinite
period of hours
DR RUSSELL It seemed to be true there they continue in that occupation for many years
MR DOE Nothing in the studies you have mamdaede since
.
has effected that conclusion
DR RUSSELL We haven't done any studies since that
time of silica dust Most were other types of dust What
is applicable the granite industry I can't say definitely
to would
be ever
applicable to other industries We believe how-
particles
in
that men can tolerate twentytwenty million particles in that
much silica 35
MR DOE Suppose you found a case in your marble
of survey an individual who had been exposed to a dust
containing a very nominal percentage of silica compared to the granite and that he had been exposed to that dust for a relatively short period of years say ten years and
development he developed tuberculosis would you say the
of tuberculosis in such a case was secseoconnddarayrysecondary to tthhee employ- employ- employ-
DR RUSSELL In the marble
MR DOE Yes in the marble
DR RUSSELL No I don't think so
MR DOE Would there be any means of in the present
statoef our knowledge connecting a case where the ex-
posure to silica was less than 35 and the number of
particles less than twenty million any means in connecting
196
up a tuberculosis with such a case with the industry that you know of
DR RUSSELL think it would be difficult You have
to take into consideration a certain percentage of people have tuberculosis regardless of occupation
MR DOE incidence
That is in every community there is a certain
DR RUSSELL Yes certain incidence of tuberculosis
MR DOE Is there any criterion upon which those individuals in that community can be classified as to whether their disease is industrial or not if the silica content is
lower than granite and less than twenty million
DR RUSSELL I don't know of anything If we haven't the characteristic silicosis proceeding with tuberculosis I
don't see how you can say positively that it is
MR DOE What is the proper method of taking an ray to show the characteristic findings of silicosis is there a proper technique as to under and over exposure being avoided can you tell us your views on that
DR RUSSELL Personally I like ray of one character and other people of another character It is more or less a personal standard You realize that there is a big variety of ray equipment at the present time I am using a portable ray machine but I would much prefer to have a larger and better one a hospital unit The technique I use for this portable machine could not be used for a hospital I don't believe there is a standard technique for it although it has been urged that a certain technique be
promulgated and used throughout the country but with the
big variety of ray equipment I don't see how it can be
easily carried out
MR DOE In a hypothetical situation where you had say not a portable machine but a variety that might be available in the large centers you give us any criterion by which we can tell whether an ray is properly exposed
not too little and not too much
DR RUSSELL I think the ray picture itself would
tell you that
197
MR DOE What are the signs by which we would know
DR RUSSELL If it is over exposed it is difficult to describe It is easier to demonstrate if you will the softer or less intense exposure brings out the finer shadows You can give more exposure and these fine lines are obliterated
DOE MR
Dr. Russell what is your view on the path-
ology of the higher incidence of tuberculosis in silicotics
DR RUSSELL I think you had better refer to Dr.
Gardner
Gardner on pathology he has been discussing that yester-
day and today
MR DOE Suppose we accept Dr Gardner's hypothesis
at the moment that the phagocyte is killed and that ne-
crosis sets in and that is something in the nature of poison
which results in the tuberculosis do you give any compar-
able situation to that when the dust is silicotic in
character
DR RUSSELL I don'tdon't think it has been shown
MR DOE Dr. Russell has the Public Health Service
done any work in iron mines or has the Bureau of Mines
done anything in iron mines with which you are familiar
DR RUSSELL The Public Health Service hasn't and the
Bureau of Mines hasn't reported anything
MR DOE That is all
MR TARRELL Dr. Russell in answering the question
of Mr. Doe as to the standard or the given quantity of
silica under which a man might work with safety you have reference to a group of men have you
DR RUSSELL Yes
MR TARRELL And in one section do you refer to any
particular individual person
DR RUSSELL No they were groups we studied
MR TARRELL If a man has a breakdown of the upper respiratory tract a breakdown in the line of defense against the inhalation of dust particles should he work under conditions with twenty million particles in less than 35 silica
198
DR RUSSELL breakdown
How are you going to determine the
MR TARRELL Well it is a fact isn't it that the inhalation of dust particles tend to destroy the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract
DR RUSSELL Yes
MR TARRELL That has all been covered But if a man
does have a breakdown and the mucous membrane is de-
stroyed can that man safely work in an atmosphere of
twenty million particles
:
DR RUSSELL I don't think we said the mucous membrane was destroyed the ciliary action was limited The
only way you can determine whether or not the cilia are
gone is to get a section of the mucous membrane of the
trachea to determine that
MR TARRELL The resistive powers of some individuals
differ from others
DR RUSSELL Yes
MR TARRELL Then there isn't any definite standard
you can set up for separate individuals under which they
may work
DR RUSSELL No. The presence of tuberculosis pre-
disposes to silicosis I told you about this case developing more fibrosis in the right lung and later having a tuberculous infection in the other lung and the rapidity with
which the combined disease developed on that Most of such cases in Vermont were the case of father and son the father had tuberculosis the son lived with him and presumably became infected These younger chaps in cases
of that kind seem to develop silicosis more rapidly than
the others
MR TARRELL The amount of dust necessary to produce
a nasal disease in one individual is not the same in all
individuals
DR RUSSELL I think the upper respiratory tracts in different individuals vary a lot Deflected septum sinus disease chronic tonsilitis would alter the efficiency
198
MR TARRELL Does that statement apply equally as
well to silicotic dust
DR RUSSELL I think a person in a silicotic dust with a deflected septum would be more apt to have a reapiratory condition than if he didn't have it
MR TARRELL What influence would that have on the
development of tuberculosis
DR RUSSELL Well I think it would be indirectly as I spoke of before that that would perhaps have an undue
amount of respiratory disease of different varieties and that in this way it might predispose to tuberculosis
MR TARRELL And by respiratory disease you mean
bronchitis pneumonia-
DR RUSSELL Influenza
MR TARRELL Asthma and influenza
DR RUSSELL Yes
MR TARRELL That is all
DR OGDEN of the Illinois Steel Company Dr. Russell in all of your slides which showed a true pneumoconiosis other than asbestosis do you think that there was a possibility of ruling out silica as a determining factor
DR RUSSELL You mean in all of them
DR OGDEN Yes could it be ruled out as the determining factor causing fibrosis other than asbestosis
DR RUSSELL I don't think so
DR OGDEN There was always free silica present in each one of those in varying degrees
DR RUSSELL silica present
In practically all of them there was some
DR OGDEN It couldn't be ruled out as being the determining cause
DR RUSSELL No doubt the presence of silica with other
dusts help to produce fibrosis The reaction to silica is
much more violent than it is to other dusts
200
DR OGDEN You didn't show any slides of true pneumo-
coniosis in which there was no silica with the exception of
asbestos is that correct
DR RUSSELL No I don't think so I think there was
maybe one per cent in most of them That brings us up
to the point of mixed dusts Practically all dusts are
-
mixed
These tunnel workers were exposed to almost one
hundred per cent silica there were less of the other ele-
ments with it
DR OGDEN That cement slide
DR RUSSELL That was the finished product about
one per cent quartz
DR BELKNAP Milwaukee Wisconsin I would like to ask if there is any known clinical functional test that you
can give a man with a certain amount of pure silicosis by which you might determine his disability say he complained of a certain amount of dyspnea
DR RUSSELL You mean like a tuberculin test
DR BELKNAP No to get an estimate of disability from
pure silica
DR RUSSELL I don't know of any no I think in es-
timating disability you have to take into consideration the whole picture the man's history and his background his
present condition and the ray
DR BELKNAP I meant definitely on dyspnea
DR RUSSELL In our Vermont study we recorded by use of the spirometer the vital capacity Our statistician said that we couldn't do much with it statistically but it seemed to me that these men when they had silicosis had a marked decrease in vital capacity and most dyspneic patients had a marked loss of vital capacity One of the
slides I showed you I think the second one chest in-
dicated quite a bit of pathology and he had one of the best vital capacities of the whole group because he was the best golfer in that area he had built up a reserve You can practice with a spirometer and increase your vital
capacity
201
MR WRIGHT In the cases that come for litigation the spirometer is of very little value because we need full and perfect cooperation of the patient in order to get true vital capacity You spoke of response to exercise didn't you or did you You spoke of chest expansion Do you put any stress on the movements of the diaphragm
DR RUSSELL Well chest expansion and respiration is along the same line as result from the spirometer It is more or less voluntary
MR WRIGHT But I find that very often in examining patients they may know about vital capacity they may not know what you are looking at when looking for the movement of the diaphragm in the dark room They may not know what you are getting at One thing is response to exercise and another thing is holding of the breath I find when you don't get cooperation in any of the other tests a man may hold his breath for a normal length of time which is a very valuable thing In other words
wouldn't you use the same tests to determine the man's dis-
ability in this lung condition that you would in any other tests of his ordinary physical capacity
DR RUSSELLI I would Exercise is quite valuable in determining vital capacity I think it is really more accurate than the spirometer I used to meet patients at a certain place and walk up the stairs with them to an office for Xray and I counted their respirations at the bottom of the
stairs and the top It gave a rough index as to what we might find with the ray The stairway had a landing half way up and the more advanced cases of silicosis would stop there for a few extra puffs and that is something they can't control You can determine your own respirations before and after and compare them to his I think it gave a fairly good index and of course other exercise is similar
MR DOE Dr. Willis asked for an opportunity to correct a portion of what he said this morning I would like to have him given that opportunity
DR WILLIS This morning the question came up right
at the last concerning the concentration of dust and dust
counts which were the limits of safety I think I said
202
that I would recommend five million What I wanted to follow that up with was this That is pretty nearly a com-
promise between Dr. Russell's data which he held at ten million as I remember it in his publication from the granite industry and the earlier investigations in South Africa which made it anywhere from five to eight million
MR DOE Dr. Willis when you refer to a safe limit are you assuming a certain silica content in the dust
DR WILLIS That was a 35 level because there is
really no other basis to go on except those two well established figures
MR DOE Is there any method of getting a combination classification for instance we will say that five to ten million of 35 silica is safe from the standpoint of any hazard of contracting tuberculosis Can we make any similar classification doctor with reference to other quantities of silica
DR WILLIS You mean 50 or 10
MR DOE Exactly
DR WILLIS Well it certainly sounds like you could logically but there is no established fact that you can It is perfectly logical to assume that it ought to require a higher concentration of 10 silica to produce pneumoconiosis than it would a 50 but aside from the range which Dr. Russell has shown I don't know of any well worked out authenticated data
MR DOE It is the general conception is it not Doctor that the higher the silica content the more rapidly the
disease will occur
DR WILLIS His work would certainly indicate that
MR DOE But there is no definite graduated scale which one can apply
DR WILLIS No there is no definite graduated scale which one can apply
MR DOE Was it your view that in the classes C and D where the incidence of tuberculosis was not above that
203
of rural Vermont would you say that if one of those men exposed to the degree of concentration that was involved in those cases which as I recall was sixteen million had contracted tuberculosis would there have been any means
of attributing that to the industry in your opinion
DR WILLIS That is a hard question I believe that
unless you can illustrate that the concentration was suffi-
cient to produce silicosis that it is only an assumption that
_
that had a deleterious effect on tuberculosis Again there is no absolute proof
MR DOE Doctor in your statement this morning and now do you use in making a statement you just made the terms silicosis and pneumoconiosis as interchangeable
DR WILLIS silicosis Yes
Pneumoconiosis would in that case mean
MR DOE Assume a dust which contains less than % silica From what you have just said I assume that the concentration might be very much higher with safety than
it could be if the dust contained 35 silica Can one classify dusts into silicotic and silicotic dusts by saying that a dust that contains as little as less than % dust falls into the silicotic groups of dust Can you give us any guide as to the margin of safety in that group of dust containing less than %
DR WILLIS We can only cite the data available for
coal miners and cement workers In other words in coal miners the silica content is perhaps one and half per cent and in cement it varies from one to about five In cement work the count is terrifically high I think it was fifty million or so When the silica percentage is low the dust count must be extraordinarily high to accord a hazard
that a low count with high percentage would accord
MR DOE Has any work been done with which you
are familiar that gives any comparable result to the Barre study of silicotic dust with relation to silicotic dusts
DR WILLIS No except these several pieces of work
that Dr. Russell has mentioned
MR DOE There are here a series of rays
204
MR TARRELL I want to ask Dr. Willis his qualifica-
tions as a roentgenologist
MR DOE I will ask you Dr. Willis how many chest films do you see annually
DR WILLIS I suppose about 3500
MR DOE You are the director of a tuberculosis sana-
torium at present
DR WILLIS I am on the staff
MR DOE How long have you been engaged in tuber culosis work as a specialty
DR WILLIS Well I should say since 1920
MR DOE What did you do at Hopkins relating
to this subject
DR WILLIS Well I did a fair amount of experimental
work on the question of anthracosis and silicosis in animals
and I also from time to time saw clinical cases of pneumoconiosis and I wrote a review on the subject of pneumoco-
niosis particularly as it relates to tuberculosis As I said I don't mean to qualify as an expert witness in ray work I thought this was just a question of opinion
MR DOE Yes Now Dr. Willis what were the conclusions that you reached on the experimental work you
did on coal miners
DR WILLIS That inhalation of coal doesn't have any
appreciable effect within the limits of experiments it does not produce any fibrosis of the lung and in animals so exposed are not more susceptible to tuberculosis than other animals not so exposed
MR DOE Your other study
DR WILLIS The other study was a study of silicon car-
bide produced by the factory which Dr. Clark represented
yesterday That was an experiment in which animals were
exposed to inhalation of dust over three years and the results were essentially the same as those with the inhalation of coal dust I didn't know that this was going to be taken as actual evidence in the case
205
Mr. Tarrell Before I consent to have your statement
I want to ask some more questions
MR DOE I thought this might be of great interest to
have him tell us
MR TARRELL I thought I heard Dr. Willis say this morning or two of the other doctors that from ray alone you could not reach a conclusion Now I understand you propose to submit an ray and have him reach a con-
clusion on that
MR DOE No I haven't asked him anything about any films yet Now with reference to this man Bruno Rhode
his age was 42 his exposure was six years the silica content of the abrasive wheels which he used as a grinder was 1.5 and the concentration was 1.1 millions this man
undoubtedly has an active pulmonary tuberculosis Now
have you anything to say whether there is any evidence on that picture of dust inhalation That is one of the
series which cover an interval of roughly one year you
care to you may look at the entire series
DR WILLIS In the first place there is quite a good deal of diffuse fibrosis throughout the lung There is evidence of spotty infiltration in several places with questionable cavitation which would certainly indicate a tuberculosis
These diffuse fibroses and shadows are not the common
finding in an ordinary tuberculosis How old is the man
MR DOE Forty
Dr. Willis He has been occupied at the job six years
MR DOE As a grinder
DR WILLIS Before one could pass on that one would
certainly want to know a good deal more about the man's previous occupation and previous history that would all come in The fact is as Dr. Russell brought out from the film alone you cannot arrive at an ultimate conclusion because it is one of several bits of evidence but it looks like there is tuberculosis there There is this interesting fact too that these shadows here in the course of a year
haven't changed as much as you might have anticipated if that were tuberculosis superimposed on a silicosis The
206
two films are not quite comparable that brings up also
the question of absolute reliability of films
MR DOE I show you another film Dr. Willis this was taken on March 10 1932
MR TARRELL Which case is that Mr. Doe
MR DOE This is the Prahl case
DR WILLIS In this first film there is very definite evidence of tuberculous infiltration with cavity in the left
upper and with quite a bit of diffuse areas of presumably tuberculosis In a film like this here there might have
been at an earlier time some other markings but the tu-
berculosis has supervened It is awfully difficult to pass
on the other markings and I wouldn't want to make an absolute statement as to whether all this below and on
the other side is tuberculosis or is an occupational infil-
tration
MR DOE That is all
MR TARRELL No questions
MR DOE I would like to ask Dr. Gardner some more
questions I would like to ask you Dr. Gardner whether in the case of inhalation of dust containing less than two per cent silica do you believe you can assist us any on the question of whether there is any necrosis such as described
in the silicotic nodules
DR GARDNER In none of our studies has there been any necrosis except in the case of free silica
MR DOE Does that have any bearing on the conclusion of the relationship between silicotic dusts and tu-
berculosis in your opinion
DR GARDNER It has always been my belief that the
necrosis produced by silica was responsible for the sus-
ceptibility to tuberculosis That is at the present time a .
hypothesis however and one on which we are working
to attempt to prove this association
MR DOE That is all
207
FRED M. WILCOX Chairman Industrial Commission of Wisconsin To have had an opportunity to give intensive and sustained consideration to a subject of this kind as we have done is just another demonstration of how much
better it is than to have to submit these issues in court
to a jury made up of the butcher the baker and the candle-
stick maker I need not say more I urge upon you who
represent industry you who represent insurance carriers
and all those who are interested in the administration of
workmen's compensation to keep in touch with the men who have been here and to remember the counsel of Mr. Cummings and Mr. Bloomfield and the doctors as to the many things we ought to have in mind when we make our studies When we do undertake a study let's tabulate everything that is available
And there is another thing that I wish to impress upon you because of the delicacy of the situation Families of
deceased workmen do not want post mortem examinations After all when death has overtaken an employe who has
been exposed to a condition which may or may not produce silicosis or perhaps a superimposed tuberculosis we should do our best to dissuade the family from the feeling that
they have and prevail upon them in the interests of a better understanding of this whole subject to consent to a limited post mortem examination least of the lungs Too often when these matters are in issue we play on the feelings of the families to induce a settlement of a case by compromise Rather than go through the post they settle It should be approached from an entirely different point of -the interest of all in a better understanding of the effects of our employment We have just got to take a firm yet sympathetic stand
Thanks again for your attendance and your contri-
butions
208
Appendix A
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
Dr. Leroy U. Gardner was graduated from Yale College and from the Yale School of Medicine receiving de-
grees of B. A. and M. D. in the years 1912 and 1914 re-
spectively He spent three years in graduate study of pathology under Dr. F. B. Mallory at the Boston City Hospital and during the last two years of this period he was also ranking instructor in pathology at the Harvard Medical School He then accepted a position as assistant professor of pathology at the Yale School of Medicine when it was being reorganized by Dr. M. C. Winternitz After a brief period of teaching there it was necessary for him
to come to Saranac Lake As soon as his health would
permit he became associated with the Saranac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis In 1919 they started ex-
perimental investigation of the study of the inhalation of dust as a predisposing factor in the production of tu-
berculosis These studies have been in progress since that time In 1928 he was made Director of the Saranac Labora-
tory and since that time they have expanded their work in
the field of pneumoconiosis associating themselves with
others in various parts of the country who have been similarly interested Today the whole Laboratory is organized for the investigation of this problem and they are devoting the major portion of their time to it
Mr. Donald E. Cummings was graduated from the U. S. Military Academy in 1920 and entered a School for the Instruction of Officers as a first lieutenant immediately following his graduation He remained in this school for one year at the end of which time he resigned and entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology He was graduated from this institution in 1923 with the degree of B.S. in chemical engineering He then accepted a position as instructor in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
under Dr. Warren K. Lewis It was then necessary for him to come to Saranac Lake and after recovering his
health he became an instructor in physics and chemistry
209
in the high school at Saranac Lake for two years in order to assure his complete recovery Early in the year 1928 he became associated with Dr. Gardner in research work dealing with pneumoconiosis in the Saranac Laboratory
He has been made Assistant Director of the Saranac Lab-
oratory and has continued research work in pneumoconiosis
until the present time He has been a Consultant in the U. S. Public Health
Service under Dr. Leake and at present an instructor in
the Trudeau School of Tuberculosis He is a member of
the National Tuberculosis Association American Chemical Society and a special committee of the American Society for Testing Materials He has had an opportunity to make several field investigations in industries having a
known dust hazard
.
Dr. H. S. Willis graduated from the University of North
Carolina ^fin1914 obtained his M.D. at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity in 1919 and his M.A. at the same University in
1920. From 1919 to 1922 he was Assistant and Instructor in Medicine from 1922 to 1928 was Associate in Medi-
eine from 1928 to 1929 was Associate in Clinical Medicine
from 1929 to 1930 was a lecturer in Clinical Medicine al
Johns Hopkins University In 1929 Dr. Willis was placed in charge of Dows Tuberculosis Laboratory of the Johns Hopkins Hospital and during the period of his connection with the University was Assistant Visiting Physician and Dispensary Physician at the Johns Hopkins Hospital From 1928 to 1930 he also conducted a general practice in the City of Baltimore In 1930 he came with the Wm H. Maybury Sanatorium which is the Detroit Municipal Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Northville Michigan as a pathologist He has done a volume of clinical work in internal medicine and tuberculosis and several years of experimental work on tuberculosis and pneumoconiosis He has made numerons publications on these subjects in the American Review of Tuberculosis and in the magazine Medicine At the present time he retains his connection with the Maybury Sunatorium where he is still pursuing clinical work in pneumoconiosis in conjunction with his
other duties
14
210
Dr. W. Irving Clark received his medical education at
Columbia University New York City where he received
the degrees A.B. and M.D.
Following this he served as interne at the Roosevelt Hospital New York City from 1904 to 1906
Moving to Worcester he became connected with the Worcester City Hospital where he worked on tuberculosis in the patient department and later became the Secretary of the Worcester Tuberculosis Relief Association
which carried on active field work among the tubercular pa-
tients in Worcester
He was later appointed assistant surgeon at the Memorial Hospital Worcester and in his private practice he
did considerable chest work dividing his time between this
and general surgery
During the war he served overseas with the American
Red Cross and later as Captain of the Medical Corps of
the United States Army
;
In 1911 he was appointed in charge of medical service
of the Norton Company Worcester a large manufactory
of artificial abrasives grinding wheels and grinding ma-
chines He has been connected steadily with this institu-
tion until the present time and has made a special study of the effects of the inhalation of abrasive dusts on the lungs
of the workmen These studies have been published in
four papers on the Dust Hazard in the Abrasive Industry Dr. Clark has also written an article on the effect of
inhaling artificial abrasive dusts for Occupation and Health Encyclopedia of Hygiene published with the Inter-
national Labor Office Geneva Switzerland He has also
published an article on Industrial Medicine in the Oxford
Medicine and a similar article for the Nelson Loose Leafe
Medicine
;
Since 1919 he has been connected with the Harvard
School of Public Health first as an instructor in Industrial
Medicine and for the last two years as assistant professor
in the same subject
Mr. Bloomfield was graduated from the University of
New Hampshire in 1920 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in Engineering and immediately after graduation
211
became affiliated with the United States Bureau of Mines
at the Pittsburgh Experiment Station During the threeyear period at the Bureau of Mines Mr. Bloomfield conducted extensive studies on problems related to toxic gases fumes and dusts A considerable portion of this time was devoted to the development of protective devices for use in contaminated atmospheres
From April 1923 to the present date Mr. Bloomfield has been attached as Sanitary Engineer to the Office of Industrial Hygiene and Sanitation of the United States Public Health Service devoting his entire time to problems dealing with the industrial environment as related
to its effect on the health of the worker The health haz-
ards associated with radium dial painting lead storage battery manufacture the use of tetraethyl lead gasoline chromium plating and the pneumonia problem in the steel industry are a few of the problems which Mr. Bloomfield has been engaged on during the past ten years The largest portion of his time however has been devoted to
studies of the dust hazard in various industries Mr. Bloomfield has conducted detailed studies of the dust exposure of workers in connection with every one of the
many dust studies carried out by the United States Public Health Service and is author of the Bulletins issued to date on the studies of the health of workers in the cement and granite cutting industries He was also affiliated on the study of the dust hazard in the sandblasting industry which was conducted jointly by the United States Public Health Service and the National Safety Council
In addition to the studies concerned with the nature and
concentration of dusts in industry Mr. Bloomfield has also made many studies on the efficiency of dust removal devices and other equipment used for the protection of the
worker
Mr. Bloomfield is author or author of more than 30
papers on various subjects pertaining to health hazards in industry
Following the graduation of Dr. Albert E. Russell from Medical School he became Resident Physician of the Wav-
erly Hills Sanatorium at Louisville Kentucky in 1918
212
which position he held until 1919. He then entered the employment of the United States Public Health Service as a member of the Staff of Service Hospital No. 26 at Greenville South Carolina where he remained in service specializing in the treatment of tuberculosis during 1920 and 1921. From 1922-23 inclusive Dr. Russell acted as Assistant Chief of the Tuberculosis Hospital Section of
the U. S. Veterans Bureau From 1924-30 he was in
charge of field studies as to the health of workers in dusty trades for the United States Public Health Service In
1930 he was appointed as official representative of the
United States at the International Silicosis Conference at the League of Nations at Johannesburg South Africa of which he acted as Chairman In 1930 he became Chief Surgeon of the U. S. Bureau of Mines
Dr. Russell has made numerous contributions to medical
magazines and has written many reports for the U. S.
Public Health Service covering particularly the field of pulmonary diseases and more specifically those diseases
resulting from the inhalation of dust
213
Appendix B
LIST OF PERSONS WHO ATTENDED conference CONCERNING EFFECTS OF DUSTS UPON THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM HELD BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL COMMIS-
SION OF WISCONSIN AT CHICAGO ILLINOIS ON NOVEM-
BER 16-17 16-17 1932
Nume Andrews Asa A.
Atkinson F.
Address
Chicago UI
Profession
wae
Business
Connection
Lumbermens Mu-
tuCao.l Casualty
Milwaukee Wis ........----. ..Liberty Mutual Casualty
Augst ...
Banyai Dr. L.
Montreal Wis MontrCoe. al Mining
Milwaukee Wis Physician . Clinic Director
Muirdale Sun.
Belknap E. L. D.231 W. Wis Ave Medical Director Globe Union Mfg
Milwaukee Wis
Co.
Hellia Dr. L.
Wauwatosa Wis
-_. 2. Supt Muirdate
San
Berlin Dr. D. Biever ... --
Chicago Il 2. l Augustine Hosp
Kohler Wis Mech Engineer..Kohler Engineer..Kohler Company
Bloomfield ..
Washington D. .. U. Public Health Service
Britton Dr. A.
Chicago III
Medical Director International Harvester Co.
Brown Wm E. Milwaukee Wis Lawyer 0 Chalmera
Clark Dr. W. Irvine Worcester Mass Physlelan Norton Company
Harvard School
Cuttingham D. Kobler .... Medical Director Kohler Company
Cummings D. E.
Saranac Lake .... . .. Asa't Director ... Saranac Lab
DeBlois Lewis
New York N.
2
2.
cece e
cece eee
eee eee
Dickson E. -. Chicago III.
aeeeeees .Standard Equlp-
ment Co.
Dobbins Dr. Thos Kenosha Leena nent cee Nash Motors
Doe Arthur B.
825 N. Broadway Lawyer Employers Group Milwaukee Wis
Earlywine French G. E
Chicago III 2. cane
eee ete eee
cee
Chicago Ill
ee .. Liberty Mut Cua
Ford Dr. W.
Milwaukee Wis Physician Ass't ChieTf. B.
Div Health
Dept.
214
.
Business
Name
Address
Profession
Connection
Gandrey Alfred R. Milwaukee Wis Lawyer Ass't City Atty
Nowak C. A. .. . Chicago . . we ee eee oe Ill Indus Com
Surgeon O'Malley Dr. T.S. 238 W. Wis Ave.
e
Milwaukee Wis
Ogden Dr. Chicago ... .
Otjen C.
Milwaukee Wis Attorney .
111. Steel Co.
. Liberty Mutual
Ins Co.
Parrish L. J. . . Milwaukee Wis Pierport Dr. D. C. _ Ironwood Mich
A. O. Smith Corp.
. Pickands Mather Co.
ReiM.dA. ..-.- Hurley Wis ..
0 -.. - wens nee Montreal Mining
Co. & Odanah
Iron Co.
Reynolds Paul F. Cleveland . Ohio
. Montreal Mining
Co.
Ringo Dr. H. F. Montreal Wis
Russell Dr. A. ... Wushington D.C. Surgeon
Montreal Mining
Co.
.U S. Public Health Service
Sander O. A 800 Empire Bldg Wis Milwaukee
Employers Mut
Sapington Sappington
Sappington
Chicago III Consultant
-.
Ind Med
Schlomovist W. Benj ..
.
Internist
210
Empire
Bldg Win
Milwaukee
Internist
Sexton James ... Milwaukee Wis .. StoryStory W ..- MilwMilwaukae ukee Wis ..
Employers Mut
Chalmers
Mfg Co.
Tarrell ..Milwaukee Wis - Attorney __.
Tharinger L. . Milwaukee Wis . Pathologist .
Dr.
WaLrofuiiesld..
Internist
Milwaukee Wis Internist .
White Wm Cleveland Ohio -.
one
wees
- MontCor.eal Mining
Wilcox F. M. .. Madison .... Chairman .. Wia Indus Com
000 '. WilWlililsis HS . . DetroitDeDtreotirtoit Mich
wee. Detroit Public
Health Dept.
Goldschmidt W.J. W.J. Milwaukee Wis Attorne-y ----
Graves Dr.S. ... Chicago Ilt Medical Director II Indus Com
Gray ...
324 E. Wis Ave. Medical Milwaukee Wia
Private Practice
Name
Guillert .. Guire Peter Jr. Habbe Dr. J. .. Hensel G. .
Address
Chicago Ill
Profession
~
Business Connection
Eye Shield Co.
Chicago Ill . .Commissione.r Ill Indus Com
Milwaukee Wis Roentgenologist .
Chicago Ill
Safety Director _ Youngstown Sht
Tube Co.
Huth Gordon C. . Chicago IL
Universal Atlus Cement Co.
Ireland Walter __. Kohler Wis
Employment Mgr.Kohler Co.
JanzeWr. W. Milwaukee Win
Seaman Body Corp.
Knutson R. __, Madison Wis Member_ ... - Wis Indus Com
Kuechle B. E. Box 32 Wausau -
Wis.. . - Insurance .Employers Mut
Kuhn Dr. Leroy P. Chicago
. Lumbermena Mut Cus Co.
Lavich J. L
Chicago Ill
Lumbermens Mut Cas Co.
Lolz Oscur
324 E. Wis Ave. Medical ... . Private Practice Milwaukee Wis
Melntyre M. Cleveland Ohio McLaren Dr. B. Appleton Wis Physician
Mellumi H. J.
Kenosha Wis
Pickands Mathor
Chief Surgeon
Kimberly Corp.
Nash Motors Co.
Miloslavich Dr.
Edw (a. 4
Milwauker Wis .. Pathologial .
Nelson Harry A.
Wrabetz Voy la
Madison Wis . Director Work-
men's Compa Wis Indus Com
Madison Wis Member ... . Wis Indus Com
Wright ... Zinn R.
Minneapolis Minn
Internist 2...
Ironwood Mich 2. Pickands Mather