[Prospero]

I can no longer remember the precise numbers, off the top of my head, but I do recall reviewing death and dismemberment statistics among passengers and, in particular, railroad crews of the period in the United States, and these were frightful by today's sensitivities.

It was unusual to find a yard or rail engineer who wasn't missing at least an eye or finger, and the loss of a leg or an arm was par for the course.

We stand and we ride on the shoulders of no small people.

[NRx]

Yeah, this was definitely pre-OSHA days. In the 1890’s it was estimated that one in every eleven steel workers would end up killed or maimed on the job. Don’t ask what they were paid. Even adjusting for inflation it makes me sick.

Happily though, the world had Dr. Andras Kilmer’s patent swamp root elixir to restore health and vigor to the sick and lame.