[Medical attention for the miners of Almaden in the 18th and 19th century].

From the 17th century until the 19th century, the world's most important mercury mine was the one at Almadén in the Spanish province of Ciudad Real. This state-owned mine rapidly achieved extraordinary importance, since mercury played a key role in the processing of silver from the Americas. However, efforts to reach target levels of production were hindered by the extreme toxicity of quicksilver. Nearly all the mining and metallurgical processes involved in the processes used to obtain mercury exposed workers to health risk. The extent and seriousness of the health problems suffered by workers at the mine (mainly hydragyrism) led to repeated labour shortages, a problem which reached its peak in the second half of the 18th century. The aim of this paper has been to study the strategies chosen by the managers of the establishment in their efforts to solve the problem and their evolution along the 18th and 19th centuries. Special attention is paid to health strategies engaged in the speedy return to health of the affected workers. Active intervention took various forms, from a patient-specific health centre, the Royal Miners' Hospital, to mechanisms of economic transference to the sick miners. The hospital, founded in 1752 and functioning from 1774, was intended for the free treatment of miners and their families. The most frequent users of the wards were the "temporeros" - peasants from outlying areas who were taken on at the mine for varying lengths of time in the winter and spring, returning to their places of origin for the summer harvest. Treatment was extended to homecare via home visits, the concession of alms-giving and the supply of medicines under advantageous conditions, which specially benefitted miners from the neighbouring town of Almadén. The analysis of the evolution of mine's healthcare system throughout the 18th and 19th centuries confirmed the utilitarian character that its managers intended. Thus, during the mid-19th century, economic and technical changes were implemented which drastically reduced the workforce required. With the shortage of labour no longer a problem, the healthcare system lost a good deal of its usefulness.