The mill reek and the Devonshire colic.

According to the Statistical Account of Scotland (Maconochie, 1792) the village of Leadhills in Lanarkshire contains the most famous and ancient lead mines in Scotland. They were included in a grant of lands to the monks of Newbattle Abbey in 1239 and, from a lawsuit soon afterwards, it is clear that the mines were in production about that date. Depending on demand and the price of lead they have been worked periodically ever since. They are at present closed but re-opening is again in progress. Tennant recorded (Porteous, 1876) in 1772 that: " the veins vary in their depth. Some have been found filled with ore two fathoms of the surface; others sink to the depth of ninety fathoms. The varieties are the common plated ore (galena) called potter's [this may refer to the use of lead in the glazing of earthenware vessels], the small or steel grained ore, and the curious white ores, lamellated and fibrous. The working of this species is much more pernicious to the health of workmen than the common." The veins of lead, sometimes bounded by a girdle of quartz, popularly called " riders ", occur generally in greywacke or greywacke slate, very hard, highly siliceous rocks. It may be of interest to record here in passing that gold is also found in the neighbourhood. These facts, associated with frequent references to the prevalence locally of chest disease including fibroid phthisis, suggest that the miners suffered from silicosis though the disease was usually attributed to the wet, inclement climate. Here is an early picture of the smelting works. " At the furnace were men enduring the blaze of the red heat. They w.ere piling up the glowing coals upon the bruised and washed ore in the receptacle in the furnace: and from under the front of the fire we saw the molten lead running down its little channel into its own reservoir, leaving behind the less heavy dross, which was afterwards to be cast out in a heap in the yard."