Following a trail of sickness
I am preparing to walk one of England's long distance paths.
Having just bought a pedometer I set off the other day on the Five Weirs Trail in Sheffield. This is an eight-kilometre round walk which you can start at Victoria Quays or at Meadowhall. It takes you along the banks of the River Don and along the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal towpath, visiting the historic five weirs. Amazingly, for a large part of the way you feel that you are away from it all and for some stretches you will barely meet anyone. It is an interesting walk through history.
The weirs reflect Sheffield's industrial past. Brightside Weir was built in 1328 and Sanderson Weir was constructed in 1580 by the Earl of Shrewsbury, better known as the husband of Bess of Hardwick, who was reputed to be as wealthy as Queen Elizabeth I herself. Amazingly, nowadays the waterways have become repopulated with a profusion of wildlife.
You may see herons on the Don, and near Hadfield Weir near Meadowhall you will find fig trees growing on the riverbank. These are thought to have been seeded from sewage and germinated on the banks, thanks to the warm waters from the various steelworks.
I am fascinated by industrial history. As a doctor I am also fascinated by the type of ailments that people have been subject to as a result of where they live and work. When I was a medical student in Dundee, the city of jute, jam and journalism, we saw many ailments associated with the mill industry. Then as a house physician in Hull I saw many trawlermen and had to do medical checks on deep sea divers.
Moving to Yorkshire I was aware of the effects of coal dust from the mining industry. So many of these industries have gone now, which is a great shame, but as they have gone, so is the pattern of illness changing.
Chronic obstructive airways disease often reflects heavy industry. At one time the medical textbooks differentiated sufferers into two types, known as pink puffers and blue bloaters. Nothing prejudicial was intended by these terms, they were merely clinical observations, models that indicated different types of treatment.
Pink puffers were thought to be those people suffering from emphysema, where you lose lung tissue and large empty bubbles form in the lungs. They would tend to get breathless with a rapid respiratory rate and a reddish or pinkish complexion. They would tend to blow off their carbon dioxide.
Blue bloaters, by contrast, tended to have chronic bronchitis, with persistent production of sputum. They would tend to retain carbon dioxide and suffer from low concentrations of oxygen, so that they became slightly cyanosed, which means that their skin could go slightly bluish, as would their lips.
For the student of industrial history Five Weirs Trail is well worth the effort.
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Weather for Wakefield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
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