An inaugural dissertation on mercury : embracing its medical history, curative action, and abuse in certain diseases / by John W. Francis, A.B. Vice-President of the Medical and Surgical Society of the University of New-York.

  • John W. Francis
Date:
1811
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An inaugural dissertation on mercury : embracing its medical history, curative action, and abuse in certain diseases / by John W. Francis, A.B. Vice-President of the Medical and Surgical Society of the University of New-York. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    gentibus ex igne mercurii vaporibus sese exponunt, potissimum aurifabri, qui in deaurandis ignis auxilio aliis metallis versantur, turn asthmati, turn paralysi artuum, et apoplexise praesertim valde sint obnoxii, neque rara adeo sint exempla hominum, ab inspira- tis exitiosis his halitibus mortem repentinam obeun- tium.* The preceding opinion relative to the destructive effects resulting from the fumes of mercury, though grounded upon such weighty testimony, has been re- jected by a late and eminent writer, the Baron de Humboldt; who attributes the pernicious conse- quences which ensue from the working of mines of that metal, to the excessive labour the individuals en- gaged in this employment undergo. From live to six thousand persons, says he, are employed in the amalgamation of the minerals, or the preparatory labour. A great number of these individuals pass their lives in walking barefooted over heaps of brayed metal, moistened and mixed with muriate of soda, sulphate of iron, and oxide of mercury, by the con- tact of atmosphere and the solar rays. It is a remark- able phenomenon to see these men enjoy the most perfect health f He also declares, that a part of the inhabitants, at Guanaxuato, drink the very water in * Apparal. Medicam. (regnum minerale complectens.) vol. 2. p. 22. f Political Fssay on the Kingdom of New-Spain, vol. l.p. 127. Lond. 1S10
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