Medicine: Dusty Whiskers

• Share

Last week the Air Hygiene Foundation, a branch of the Mellon Institute at Pittsburgh, issued a press release on silicosis, a disease of the lungs which is acquired by continual inhalation of fresh stone dust.

"An English source," said the release, "reports that stonecutters erecting huge masonry structures in Great Britain were examined for silicosis. It was found: 1) that the clean shaven men suffered by far the most; 2) that men with strong mustaches fared much better; 3) that men with full bushy beards and mustaches were practically immune, the reason being obvious that the moisture of the breath, combined with the hair, formed a most efficient respirator [strainer] and one that the men could not take off."