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The men were examined before they came in to see if there were any symptoms of rales or anything in the lungs that would indicate a defect in the lungs at the time. Then they were put to work and examined again every three months. As soon as they showed any slight rales, before it became serious, they were laid off the job, put out to grass, so to speak, sent back to the village. Somebody else was taken on and the original worker was told, “You can come back again next year. Let your brother work now.” By so doing they had kept down to a certain extent the inefficiency caused by that turnover, but they hadn't of course cured silicosis or prevented silicosis. The Kafirs still had it. It was a very destructive disease. However, there had been honest efforts in South Africa to learn something about it, but no one had thought about preventing it.

Nevertheless, we got from them the literature on the symptoms, the type of exposure, the length of time between the first exposure and the beginning of breakdown, and all that kind of thing, which was very useful in diagnosing those cases. Also, it proved to be useful in giving us some hint about the kind of hazards that could be controlled. The diamond mines are small enclosures. They go right inside. They have a heavier rate of silicosis than had some of those who were working in some of the other mines. I think the