Arsenical poisoning by wall-papers and other manufactured articles / by Jabez Hogg.

  • Hogg, Jabez, 1817-1899.
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Arsenical poisoning by wall-papers and other manufactured articles / by Jabez Hogg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    reckless use made of arsenical pigments in various manu- facftures, and the dangers arising therefrom.* On the other hand, it has been said that some exaggera- tion has taken place with regard to the numbers of the sufferers from arsenical poisoning, and that the subjeft has been hitherto treated too sensationally. We have been credibly informed, also, that the men em- ployed in the manufacfture of arsenic in no way suffer from arsenical symptoms, and that on the whole they enjoy good health. The Inspector of the Cornwall and Devon mineral mines, Mr. R. Hunt, says the miners are a healthy set of men, and those engaged in arsenic mining make no com- plaint of the unwholesomeness of the work. The miners of Upper and Middle Styria are aftually given to chew small pieces of crude arsenic, and believe in it, as men do who smoke and chew tobacco. It is said to relieve hunger, and give increase of strength. It is also supposed to be a protective against the fumes arising from the reducing-furnaces. On careful enquiry by competent persons the conclusion come to is that there is some exaggeration in these state- ments.t It is, however, quite probable that men do chew minute pieces of crude arsenic with impunity ; but then crude arsenic is insoluble, and may pass through the stomach without having been acfted upon by its secretions. Many cases have been published that prove the truth of this assertion. But the case is very different when we have to deal with a perfeftly soluble salt of arsenic, as the trioxide. Of the many arsenical preparations used in our manufacflures the most dangerous, because the most extensively employed, is the trioxide. This is the principal ingredient in Scheele's green, a pigment composed of i part of arsenic trioxide and 2 parts of cupric oxide. Schweinfurt, Brunswick, Vienna, or emerald green, aceto-arsenites of copper, are all rather extensively used, mixed and unmixed. Another pigment, composed of chromic and ferric arsenate, is much employed, while arsenic acid enters into very many manufacftures, aniline dyes in particular. Roseine, for instance, is produced by the arsenic acid process. In wall-paper printing, as in many other textile fabrics, the arsenical pigment is invariably mixed with zinc and some * For further details of numerous interesting cases of poisoning by arsenical pigments see a paper of mine in The Sanitary Record of April 25, 1879, and Medical Press, 1879 ; also Mr. Henry Carr's useful work, Our Do- mestic Poisons, published by Ridgway and Co., and in which appears a list of numerous other publications on arsenical poisoning. It is well known that miners do suffer very much both from the dust and the fumes of arsenic.