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196
(b) Tetanus.
In September, 1904, we first learned of a case of Tetanus,
which apparently had been contracted in a factory in Finsbury, by a
man residing in Shored itch. On May 30th, 1903, Mr. W.,
aged 63, horse-hair dealer, residing in Essex Street, Shoreditch,
and employed at Messrs. W. & Co., Feather and Bedding
Manufacturers, in Finsbury, met with an accident to his hands
whilst at work, in which his hands were crushed. He
went to St. Bartholomew's Hospital the same day, and again on
June 2nd, for the wounds to be dressed. Tetanus set in on
June 4th, with convulsions, and the patient died at home, on
June 5th This is the first recorded case of Tetanus since the
formation of the Borough.
The infective bacillus was in all probability present in the trade
dust.
(c) A Dust Nuisance at a Factory.
In June we received several complaints respecting the emission
of dust from a factory in Lamb's Passage, Bunhill Row, E.C., used
for the manufacture of tar-felt for commercial purposes. Thirteen
men and twelve women are employed. Briefly the process is
this :—
Flax and jute waste is received in bales on the top floor
and first passed by a woman into a cylindrical machine—the
"wilier." From this it is raked through a hole in the floor to
machines below, called "breakers." Then it is passed down a
shoot to the floor below, where women feed it into machines,
which send it in an even layer through melted pitch, and the final
product is rolled up by men.
The grosser dust and "sheaves" removed by the "wilier" fall,
in part, inside the screen of the machine, but a considerable
quantity escapes into the room. There is no means provided to
carry off or minimise the amount of this dust. As the flax waste
is raked through the floor, it was apparent that unnecessary dust
was made through the material falling loose to the floor below.