‘X-rays don't tell lies’: the Medical Research Council and the measurement of respiratory disability, 1936–1945

McGuire, Coreen

Abstract

During the first half of the twentieth century, the mining industry in Britain was subject to recurrent disputes about the risk to miners’ lungs from coal dust, moderated by governmental, industrial, medical and mining bodies. In this environment, precise measurements offered a way to present uncontested objective knowledge. By accessing primary source material from the National Archives, the South Wales Miners Library and the University of Bristol's Special Collections, I demonstrate the importance that the British Medical Research Council (MRC) attached to standardized instrumental measures as proof of objectivity, and explore the conflict between objective and subjective measures of health. Examination of the MRC's use of spirometry in their investigation of pneumoconiosis (miner's lung) from 1936 to 1945 will shed light on this conflict and illuminate the politics inherent in attempts to quantify disability and categorize standards of health.

Citation

McGuire, C. (2019). ‘X-rays don't tell lies’: the Medical Research Council and the measurement of respiratory disability, 1936–1945. British Journal for the History of Science, 52(3), 447-465. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007087419000232

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jul 22, 2019
• Publication Date: 2019-09
• Deposit Date: Sep 21, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 28, 2022
• Journal: The British Journal for the History of Science
• Print ISSN: 0007-0874
• Electronic ISSN: 1474-001X
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 447-465
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007087419000232
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1261849