Silicone lung of a miner

The preserved stone dust lung of a miner is a human inventory of industrialisation and its damage to health. During coal mining work, tiny particles of stone made their way into miners’ lungs and settled there forever. This led to lifelong respiratory distress and extremely shortened a miner's life compared to the population average. It was not until 1929 that silicosis disease, or pneumoconiosis, was entered in the list of occupational diseases.