E. R. A. Merewether, A Memorandum on Asbestosis, Part 1, in Tubercle (1933)

The complete November 1933 issue of Tubercle, a British monthly journal on tuberculosis edited by Dr. S. Roodhouse Gloyne, kept in Raybestos-Manhattan's files. It carries the first part of "A Memorandum on Asbestosis" by Dr. E. R. A. Merewether, one of H.M. Medical Inspectors of Factories in Great Britain. This part reviews the growth of the asbestos industry, the kinds of asbestos, the history of the disease from a death at Charing Cross Hospital in 1900 to the British inquiry of 1928, why the disease was recognized so late, and its signs, diagnosis and the asbestosis bodies found in workers' lungs.

What it shows

Merewether, the author of the 1930 British report on asbestos workers, called asbestosis "a new disease" and wrote that it is "insidious in its onset, irregular in its course, and variable in its mode of termination," the scar tissue "gradually, and literally," strangling the lungs. He also explained that asbestosis bodies can remain in the lungs at least fourteen years after the last exposure. The article continues in the December issue and the January 1934 issue.

In Johns-Manville's index

Johns-Manville's attorneys indexed the Sumner Simpson Papers. Their index describes this document as follows:

Tubercle. Relevant article "A Memorandum on Asbestosis" by E.R.A. Merewether. Details existence and significance of asbestosis bodies found in humans. The article gives a brief description of the growth of the asbestos industry and the nature of asbestos. Merewether discusses the history, symptoms and diagnosis of asbestosis.

Related documents

• E. R. A. Merewether, A Memorandum on Asbestosis, Part 2, in Tubercle (1933)
• E. R. A. Merewether, A Memorandum on Asbestosis, Part 3, in Tubercle (1934)

About this copy

This is document 01770-01826 of the Sumner Simpson Papers, as numbered in the collection's index.