John Pemberton and the flax industry in Northern Ireland.

Ramazinni, in 1705,1 was probably the first to record a description of the condition, though the term 'byssinosis', from the Greek for flax or linen, was not applied to it until 1908.2 It was Richard Schilling, however, who, in two papers in 1956,1 established the importance ofbyssinosis as acommon disabling condition within the cotton industry,3 and his work led to the inclusion of the condition under the Industrial Injuries Acts.