{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,11,3]],"date-time":"2025-11-03T04:00:33Z","timestamp":1762142433819},"reference-count":53,"publisher":"Cambridge University Press (CUP)","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,22]],"date-time":"2019-07-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1563753600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,22]],"date-time":"2019-07-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1563753600000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/terms"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.cambridge.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Br J Hist Sci"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,9]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:p>During the first half of the twentieth century, the mining industry in Britain was subject to recurrent disputes about the risk to miners\u2019 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.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1017\/s0007087419000232","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,22]],"date-time":"2019-07-22T08:38:22Z","timestamp":1563784702000},"page":"447-465","update-policy":"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1017\/policypage","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["\u2018X-rays don't tell lies\u2019: the Medical Research Council and the measurement of respiratory disability, 1936\u20131945"],"prefix":"10.1017","volume":"52","author":[{"given":"COREEN","family":"MCGUIRE","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"56","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref53","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4324\/9781315212043-28"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref52","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7765\/9781526125774"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref51","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0025727300002994"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref50","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/shm\/11.3.459"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref47","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0025727300008553"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref45","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/0023656X.2016.1086555"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref42","first-page":"84","volume-title":"The Story of Pain: From Prayer to Painkillers","author":"Bourke","year":"2014"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref40","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cortex.2017.07.019"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"161","DOI":"10.2307\/1519765","article-title":"Biomedicalization: technoscientific transformations of health, illness, and U.S. biomedicine","volume":"68","author":"Clarke","year":"2003","journal-title":"American Sociological Association"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/S0007087417000929"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref30","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7228\/manchester\/9780719089244.001.0001"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref27","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2190\/LMPT-4G1J-15VQ-KWEK"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/6352.001.0001","volume-title":"Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences","author":"Bowker","year":"1999"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5749\/minnesota\/9780816683574.001.0001"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref35","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.17104\/1611-8944_2009_2_174"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref18","first-page":"9","volume-title":"Asthma in the Workplace","author":"Pepys","year":"1999"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/maq.2003.17.1.5"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref15","volume-title":"The End of Normal: Identity in a Biocultural Era","author":"Davis","year":"2013"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref14","first-page":"279","article-title":"Biopower and the avalanche of printed numbers","volume":"5","author":"Hacking","year":"1982","journal-title":"Humanities in Society"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref13","first-page":"139","volume-title":"The History of Sexuality","volume":"1","author":"Foucault","year":"1976"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780198732587.001.0001"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref11","first-page":"10","volume-title":"Health, Illness and Disease: Philosophical Essays","author":"Carel","year":"2013"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref21","first-page":"241","article-title":"Focus article: measurement, objectivity, and trust","volume":"1","author":"Porter","year":"2003","journal-title":"Measurement: Interdisciplinary Research and Perspectives"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/bhm.2010.0006"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/030631200030001005"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511550690"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref6","first-page":"145","volume-title":"Existential Medicine: Essays on Health and Illness","author":"Williams","year":"2018"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"294","DOI":"10.1515\/9781474400053","volume-title":"The Edinburgh Companion to the Critical Medical Humanities","author":"Macnaughton","year":"2016"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41533-017-0024-z"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0269216315579836"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref38","first-page":"132","volume-title":"Lung Function in Coalworkers\u2019 Pneumoconiosis","author":"Gilson","year":"1955"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref39","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511550690"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref16","volume-title":"Enforcing Normalcy: Disability, Deafness, and the Body","author":"Davis","year":"1995"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref32","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/mdh.2017.56"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(01)22760-3"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1353\/bhm.2013.0074"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref44","first-page":"208","article-title":"History of lung diseases of coal miners in Great Britain: Part 3, 1930\u20131952","volume":"9","author":"Meiklejohn","year":"1952","journal-title":"British Journal of Industrial Medicine"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(01)48604-1"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref49","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/sochis\/hki007"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref23","first-page":"74","volume-title":"Weighty Issues: Fatness and Thinness as Social Problems","author":"Smith","year":"1999"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref28","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(00)97081-8"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref34","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1742395312467658"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref36","first-page":"1","article-title":"Introduction: does standardization make things standard?","volume":"28","author":"Sumner","year":"2008","journal-title":"History of Technology"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref48","first-page":"ix","volume-title":"Chronic Pulmonary Disease in South Wales Coalminers","author":"Council","year":"1942"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"502","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.1939.0005","article-title":"The lung volume and its subdivisions in normal males","volume":"126","author":"Aslett","year":"1939","journal-title":"Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Biological Sciences"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref24","first-page":"3","volume-title":"The Assessment of Physical Fitness: By Correlation of Vital Capacity and Certain Measurements of the Body","author":"Dreyer","year":"1920"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref43","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/occmed\/50.6.440"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref46","first-page":"523","article-title":"Miners, silica and disability: the bi-national interplay between South Africa and the United Kingdom, c.1900\u20131930s","volume":"5","author":"McIvor","year":"2015","journal-title":"American Journal of Industrial Medicine"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref31","volume-title":"The Gold Standard: The Challenge of Evidence-Based Medicine and Standardization in Health Care","author":"Timmermans","year":"2003"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref41","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1097\/SPC.0000000000000221"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref29","first-page":"42","volume-title":"War, Disability and Rehabilitation in Britain","author":"Anderson","year":"2011"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref4","first-page":"278","article-title":"Invisible suffering: breathlessness in and beyond the clinic","volume":"3","author":"Carel","year":"2015","journal-title":"The Lancet"},{"key":"S0007087419000232_ref1","first-page":"2","volume-title":"Contributions to Vital Statistics, Obtained by Means of a Pneumatic Apparatus for Valuing the Respiratory Power with Relation to Health","author":"Hutchinson","year":"1844"}],"container-title":["The British Journal for the History of Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/S0007087419000232","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,21]],"date-time":"2024-07-21T07:08:50Z","timestamp":1721545730000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/product\/identifier\/S0007087419000232\/type\/journal_article"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,22]]},"references-count":53,"journal-issue":{"issue":"3","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2019,9]]}},"alternative-id":["S0007087419000232"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/s0007087419000232","relation":{},"ISSN":["0007-0874","1474-001X"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0007-0874","type":"print"},{"value":"1474-001X","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2019,7,22]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Copyright \u00a9 British Society for the History of Science 2019\u00a0","name":"license","label":"License","group":{"name":"copyright_and_licensing","label":"Copyright and Licensing"}}]}}