Lead poisoning, from the industrial, medical, and social points of view : lectures delivered at the Royal institute of Public Health / by Sir Thomas Oliver.

  • Oliver, Thomas, Sir, 1853-1942.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Lead poisoning, from the industrial, medical, and social points of view : lectures delivered at the Royal institute of Public Health / by Sir Thomas Oliver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    pounds have such a varied and extensive field of application that it will be difficult to find substi- tutes for them in some of the arts and manufac- tures. From its antiquity alone the trade is entitled to some consideration, even while we admit that lead and its compounds are dangerous. Something of the age of the industry may be learned from an address given by C. A. Klein * to the Paint and Varnish Society, London. Cerussa as a cosmetic is alluded to by Xenophon (430- 355 B.c.j. An earthenware box belonging to this period was recently unearthed, and found to con- tain a mixture of white lead and whiting. This powder, like that used by the ladies of Florence in the fourteenth century, had been resorted to for the purpose of heightening beauty—a practice apparently not without danger, since it drew from Cenmno Cennim a warning homily. The cerussa referred to by Xenophon was probably a powder obtained by grinding a native lead carbonate ore, such as is still known as cerussite. According to Vitruvius (100 b.c.), the Rhodians made white lead by pouring vinegar into vessels over vine twigs contained therein, and on the twigs they placed metallic lead. The vessels were covered over to prevent evaporation. On these being opened after * Oil and Colour Trades Journal, December 6 and 13, W3, P- 1973. etc.