"During the past three weeks I have been unable to use my pen,"
	said a Superintendent of the City of Philadelphia's Electrical
	Department, "and I have been compelled to dictate my corres-
	pondence. I am suffering from telegraphers' paralysis. My right
	arm is useless, rendered so by working in and around batteries,
	testing their strength, and from the repeated shocks I have
	received. Any one handling the keys of an operator's board is
	subject to this ailment.

	"It is first observed in the muscles of the arm which become
	benumbed after a hard day's work. A few month's after the first
	shock the stoutest operator will succumb.

	"My physican has had me under treatment for a month, but as yet
	I have not benefitted from the rest much.  Any muscular work
	such as lifting heavy packages, I can readily accomplish, but it
	is only with difficulty that I can button my coat."

	      The Superintendent of the Western Union Telegraph Operating Rooms
	      said that many men after serving the company for years were compelled
	      to throw up their positions on account of this form of paralysis. Many
	      mistakes have been traced to the same source, as the slightest
	      pressure on the key will produce other than the letter an operator
	      wishes to indicate.  He will often charge the mistakes to a
	      defect in the machinery but in the end must admit of his
	      inability to work.  

	      When an operator is first attacked, he will simply attribute it to
	      overwork, but he soon finds that his keen sense of touch has
	      disappeared.  In nearly every case it is a first-class operator that
	      is afflicted. A good transmitter is paid a large salary, but must keep
	      continually working at this board, while a second or third-rate man has
	      many resting spells which allow him to stretch his arms.

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