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Solution Manual for Precalculus, 5th Edition

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Solution Manual for Precalculus, 5th Edition, Robert F. Blitzer

Table of Contents

P. Prerequisite

1. Functions and Graphs

2. Polynomial and Rational Functions

3. Exponential and Logarithmic Functions

4. Trigonometric Functions

5. Analytic Trigonometry

6. Additional Topics in Trigonometry

7. Systems of Equations and Inequalities

8. Matrices and Determinants

9. Conic Sections and Analytic Geometry

10. Sequences, Induction, and Probability

11. Introduction to Calculus

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with Unrelated Content
 Estimations4 of the amount of lead in air samples collected in lead smelting works
have been made. Thus in a cubic metre of air immediately over the slag run from
0·0029 to 0·0056 g. of lead were found, so that a worker in a ten-hour day would
inhale from 0·013 to 0·025 g. of lead. In a cubic metre of air immediately above the
Parkes’ melting-pot from 0·0056 to 0·0090 g. were found, so that a worker would
inhale daily from 0·0252 to 0·0405 g. if he kept constantly close to the pot. On the
handles of a de-silveriser 0·112 g. were found. In Hungarian lead-smelting works the
water in which the hands had been washed was found to contain 1·27 g. of lead per
litre. The hands of litharge grinders and sifters showed the highest amounts.
Work carried on in lead-smelting works may be divided into five classes according
to risk. Those most exposed to risk are the smelters at lead hearths and
reverberatory furnaces, persons employed at the lead and slag runs, flue cleaners,
and in crushing and packing flake litharge. Next come those employed at the refining
furnaces, those breaking up the roasted ore, blast furnace workers, and those
employed at the cupellation process. Attended with danger also is the removal of
lead ashes and distillation of the zinc crust. Less dangerous are transport of material,
crushing and mixing the ore, refining the work-lead and zinc crust, and work at the
Pattinson and Parkes’ processes.
In zinc smelting risk of lead poisoning is great, no matter which process is in
question, because of the high proportion of lead in the ore and work-zinc. Swedish
blende contains as much as 9 per cent. of lead, and Upper Silesian 2½ per cent. or
less. There is risk in calcination, but it is much less than in the distillation process.5
There are no quite satisfactory statistics as to the number of cases of lead
poisoning in smelting works. Nevertheless, a number of recent publications give
valuable data for certain smelting works in Germany, Austria, and Hungary.
From details6 of lead poisoning at Tarnowitz it would appear that the conditions
have materially improved since 1884, the cases having declined from 32·7 per 100
employed in 1884 to 6·2 in 1894 and 1895. The following figures show the
proportion affected in the different processes in the years 1901 and 1902:

Process. Year. No. Employed. Cases. Per Cent.

{ 1901 131 11 8·3
Reverberatory Furnace
{ 1902 111 4 3·6
{ 1901 152 47 30·9
Blast Furnace
{ 1902 187 21 11·1
{ 1901 12 1 8·3
Cupelling Furnace
{ 1902 12 1 8·3
{ 1901 32 10 31·2
De-silverising
{ 1902 34 7 20·6
Other Employment { 1901 300 7 2·3
 { 1902 350 2 0·6

In one smelting works the percentage attack rate was 17·8 in 1901, and 27·1 in
1902. Here the number of workers had increased from 73 in 1901 to 129 in 1902,
and the absolute and relative increase probably has relation to the well-known fact
that newly employed untrained workers become affected. Similar incidence
according to process can be given for the Friedrich’s smelting works during the years
1903-1905:

Process. Year. No. Employed. Cases. Per Cent.

{ 1903 86 12 13·9
Reverberatory Furnace { 1904 87 8 9·2
{ 1905 83 11 13·3
{ 1903 267 59 22·1
Blast Furnace { 1904 232 24 10·3
{ 1905 247 27 10·9
{ 1903 56 12 21·4
De-silverising { 1904 73 4 5·5
{ 1905 75 4 5·3
{ 1903 16 4 25·0
Cupelling { 1904 15 1 6·7
{ 1905 14 1 7·1
{ 1903 330 5 1·5
Other Employment { 1904 309 4 1·3
{ 1905 347 7 2·0

Among 3028 cases of lead poisoning treated between 1853 and 1882 in smelting
works near Freiberg (Saxony) gastric symptoms were present in 1541, rheumatic
pains in 215, cerebral symptoms in 144, paralysis in 58, and lead colic in 426.
The recent reports of the German factory inspectors point still to rather high
incidence in many lead smelting works. Thus in the district of Aix la Chapelle in 1909
there were sixty cases involving 1047 sick days, as compared with 58 and 878 in
1908.
In a well-arranged smelting works near Wiesbaden fifty-two and forty-two cases
were reported in 1908 and 1909 respectively, among about 400 persons employed.
This relatively high number was believed to be closely connected with frequent
change in the personnel. Introduction of the Huntingdon-Heberlein method is
thought to have exercised an unfavourable influence.
Other smelting works in Germany appear to have a relatively small number of
reported cases. Thus in 1909 among 550 workers employed in four smelting works
in the Hildesheim district only four cases were reported, and in the district of
Potsdam among 600 smelters only five were found affected on medical examination.
There is no doubt that many of the cases described as gastric catarrh are
attributable to lead. Full information as to the conditions in Austria is contained in
the publication of the Imperial Labour Statistical Bureau. In this comprehensive work
the conditions in smelting works are described. In the lead smelting works at
Przibram the cases had dropped from an average of 38·2 among the 4000-5000
persons employed to twenty-two in 1894 and to six in 1903, but only the severer
cases are included. No single case has occurred among the 350-450 persons
engaged in mining the ore, as galena (lead sulphide) is practically non-poisonous. It
was found, for example, that 50 per cent. of the furnace men had (according to their
statement) suffered from lead colic. Of eight employed in the Pattinson process,
seven stated they had suffered from colic. The lead smelting works in Gailitz showed
marked frequency of lead poisoning—here the appointed surgeon attributed anæmia
and gastric and intestinal catarrh to lead:

Illness of Saturnine Origin. Per

Total Cent.
No. Lead Total
Year. Gastric Intestinal Lead due
Employed. Colic. Anæmia. Sickness.
Catarrh. Catarrh. Sickness. to
Lead.
1899 61 14 2 76 16 108 178 60·0
1900 57 6 2 16 5 29 80 36·2
1901 48 4 2 17 1 24 60 40·0
1902 47 — — 24 6 30 56 53·5
1903 49 — 3 11 4 18 57 31·6

The diminution in the number of cases, especially of colic, is attributable to the

efforts of the appointed surgeon.
At Selmeczbanya a diminution from 196 cases in 1899 (50·7 per cent.) to six (2·2
per cent.) in 1905 had taken place. These figures point clearly to the success of the
hygienic measures adopted in the last few years.
In the large spelter works of Upper Silesia during the years 1896-1901, among
3780 persons employed, there were eighty-three cases of lead colic and paralysis,
that is, about 2·2 per cent. each year. The following tables show the incidence
among spelter workers in the works in question from 1902 to 1905:
Illness among Zinc Smelters

Lead Colic
Kidney Gastric No.
Year. and Lead Anæmia. Rheumatism.
Disease. Catarrh. Employed.
Paralysis.
1902 29 18 137 18 448 4417
1903 28 21 151 24 470 4578
1904 44 23 181 35 596 4677
1905 50 18 223 40 612 4789
Average 0·8% 0·5% 3·7% 0·6% 11·5% 4615

Illness among Calciners

Lead Colic
Kidney Gastric No.
Year. and Lead Anæmia. Rheumatism.
Disease. Catarrh. Employed.
Paralysis.
1902 — — 5 1 78 1149
1903 — — 9 — 112 1087
1904 2 — 68 1 136 1140
1905 1 2 47 2 134 1159
Average 0·08% 0·05% 2·6% 0·1% 10·2% 1134

In thirty-two spelter works in the district of Oppeln in the year 1905, among 4789
spelter workers proper, there were 50 cases of colic, 18 of kidney disease, 223 of
gastric and intestinal catarrh, 40 of anæmia, and 612 of rheumatism, and among
1159 calciners 1 case of colic, 2 of kidney disease, 47 of gastric catarrh, 2 of
anæmia, and 134 of rheumatism. Cases are much more numerous in spelter works
where Swedish blende containing lead is worked. It is remarkable, however, that in
large spelter works in Upper Silesia, where for years no cases of lead poisoning were
reported, medical examination showed that 20·5 per cent. had signs of lead
absorption.

White Lead and Lead Colours

Manufacture.—The primitive Dutch process consisted in placing lead grids in

earthenware pots containing dilute acetic acid and covering them with tan bark.
Fermentation ensued with evolution of carbonic acid gas and increase in
temperature. The acetic acid vapour forms, with aid of atmospheric oxygen, first
basic lead acetate, which, by the action of the carbonic acid gas, becomes converted
into white lead and neutral lead acetate. The product is crushed, sieved, and dried.
In the German or Austrian process thin sheets of metallic lead are hung saddle-wise
in chambers. Acetic acid vapour and carbonic acid gas (produced by burning coke)
are led in from below. The chamber is then sealed and kept so for a considerable
time. When the chamber is ‘ripe’ the white lead that has formed is taken out, freed
from uncorroded lead by spraying, dried, finely ground, and packed. White lead
comes on the market either as a powder or incorporated with oil. Of the remaining
lead colours, red lead (Pb₃O₄) is much used. It is produced by heating lead oxide in
reverberatory furnaces with access of air and stirring.

Lead Poisoning in the Manufacture of White Lead and Lead Colours

 The manufacture by the German process may be divided into three categories
according to the degree of risk run:
1. The most dangerous processes are hanging the plates in the chambers, work at
the filter press, drying, pulverising, and packing by hand.
2. Less dangerous are transport to the washer, washing, and grinding.
3. Relatively the least dangerous are casting the plates, transport of them to the
chambers, drying, mechanical packing, and mixing with oil.
The number of cases of lead poisoning in white lead factories is often relatively
great despite regulations. Casual labourers especially run the greatest risk. This is
frequently brought out in the reports of the German factory inspectors, who connect
the high proportion of cases directly with the large number of unskilled workers.
Regulations are really only successful in factories with regular employment.
This has been found also in Great Britain, where the Medical Inspector of Factories
showed that the cases among regular workers numbered 6 per cent. and among
casual workers 39 per cent.
The following table gives particulars as to the occurrence of lead poisoning in the
white lead factories in the district of Cologne in 1904, some of which have admirable
hygienic arrangements:

No. of
Cases of Lead Cases
No. Employed.
Place. Manufacture. Poisoning. of
Gastric
Regular Casual Average Regular Casual Total Catarrh.
{ 46 59 32 9 16 25 16
Cologne I. White lead
{ 173 95 127 13 17 30 22
Litharge { 46 4 38 5 1 6 7
” I. and red
{ 76 62 49 3 4 7 15
lead
{ 14 2 11 — — — 5
Chromate
{ 43 72 33 — — — 7
White { 107 332 91 6 34 40 30
lead,
Cologne II. litharge,
{ 102 332 76 9 19 28 38
and red
lead

It is worth noting that cases of lead poisoning have been reported in the
manufacture of zinc white, as, for example, in Bohemia in 1907 and 1908.

USE OF LEAD COLOURS AND PAINTS (HOUSE PAINTERS, DECORATORS, ETC.)

 Use of lead colours, especially by painters and decorators, causes relatively much
lead poisoning. Apart from ignorance of danger on the part of the worker, and lack
of personal cleanliness, unsuitable methods of working add to the danger, especially
dry rubbing of painted surfaces, which gives rise to much dust containing lead.
Again, the crushing and mixing of lumps of white lead and rubbing lead colours with
the hand are very dangerous.
The following German and Austrian figures enable conclusions to be drawn as to
the frequency of lead poisoning among painters. In the sick insurance societies of
Frankfurt-a-M. in 1903 of every 100 painters 11·6 suffered from an attack of lead
poisoning. The similar sick insurance society of painters in Berlin has kept useful
statistics which are given in the following table for the ten years 1900-9:

No. of
Cases per
Year. No. of Members. Cases of
100 Members.
Lead Poisoning.
1900 3889 357 9·18
1901 3616 335 9·26
1902 3815 308 8·07
1903 4397 470 10·69
1904 5029 516 10·26
1905 5328 471 8·84
1906 5355 347 6·48
1907 5173 379 7·32
1908 4992 298 5·97
1909 4781 285 5·96
Average 4637 376·6 8·11

This shows that lead poisoning among the painters of Berlin is happily diminishing,
which may be attributed to recent regulations. The society, however, complains in its
reports that not all cases of lead appear as such in their statistics, and believes that
all diseases entered as rheumatism, gastric catarrh, nervous complaints, heart and
kidney disease, should be regarded as associated with lead. The kinds of work in
which painters suffer most are painting iron girders and machines, sheet metal and
iron furniture, railway waggons, agricultural implements, coach painting, cabinet-
making, shipbuilding, and the use of red and white lead. The use of lead colours,
lead acetate, and lead chromate often give rise to lead poisoning. Colours containing
lead are not infrequently used in the textile industry in dyeing, printing, and
finishing. White lead has been used for weighting the weft.
Teleky has described cases of lead poisoning in which silk thread was weighted
with acetate of lead. As a consequence a number of women engaged in sewing on
fringes with the thread suffered. The English factory inspectors’ reports describe
cases from manipulating yarn dyed with chromate of lead.7
 Chromate of lead and white lead are used in colouring oil-cloth, artificial flowers,
paper, rubber goods, pencils, penholders, socks, sealing-wax, candles, and stamps.

USE OF LEAD IN THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY

Lead poisoning has been frequently observed in such branches of the chemical
industry as require large leaden or lead-lined vessels and pipes: the persons affected
are principally those engaged in lead burning.
Risk is considerable in manufacture of lead acetate. The most dangerous
processes are drying and packing the crystals.

MANUFACTURE OF ELECTRIC ACCUMULATORS

The manufacture of accumulators begins with the casting of lead plates, which are
then polished and dressed. Next follows ‘pasting,’ that is, smearing the negative
plate with a paste of litharge, the positive plate being ‘formed’ by having an electric
current passed through so that the lead is converted into spongy peroxide. The
wooden boxes in which the plates are assembled are lead-lined.
The most dangerous processes are casting, wire-brushing, and pasting—the latter
especially when done by hand.
In the years 1908 and 1909 among about 761 workers employed in the
accumulator factories of Cologne there were fifty-six cases of lead colic and seventy-
nine of gastric and intestinal catarrh. Further figures for German accumulator works
show that in the two largest accumulator factories in the district of Potsdam
employing 142 workers there were fifteen cases in 1904. In Great Britain, in the ten
years 1900-1909, 285 cases were reported—an average of about thirty a year.

THE CERAMIC INDUSTRY

Risk is present in several branches of the ceramic industry. It is greatest in glazing

earthenware, but not infrequent also in the porcelain and glass industries. It is
impossible to deal with the extensive literature on this subject exhaustively. A
comprehensive and detailed survey of lead poisoning in the ceramic industry on the
Continent is that by Kaup. Distinction is made between leadless glazes which melt at
high temperature and lead glazes which have the advantage of a low melting-point.
Galena and litharge are used in the preparation of glazes for common earthenware
and red and white lead for ware of better quality. Distinction has to be made
between a lead silicious glaze for pottery ware, a lead and boric acid glaze for
stoneware, and a lead and zinc oxide glaze for ordinary faience and stoneware.
Seegar, the celebrated expert, praises the advantage of lead glaze and the use of
lead in the ceramic industry—it is indeed practically indispensable—and speaks of
the poisonous nature of lead as its only fault. The components of the glaze must
have definite relation to the hardness or softness of the body. The higher the
proportion of silicic acid in the glaze the harder the firing it will stand; the more the
flux materials are in excess the lower will the melting point be.
The most important flux materials are, arranged in order of decreasing fusibility,
lead oxide, baryta, potash, soda, zinc oxide, chalk, magnesia, and clay.
The glaze is made by first mixing the ingredients dry, and then either fritting them
by fluxing in a reverberatory furnace and finally grinding them very finely in water or
using the raw material direct. In the fritting process in the case of the lead glazes
the soluble lead compounds become converted into less soluble lead silicates and
double silicates.
The glaze is applied in different ways—dipping, pouring, dusting, blowing, and
volatilising. Air-dried and biscuited objects are dipped; pouring the glaze on is
practised in coarse ware, roofing-tiles, &c.; dusting (with dry finely ground glaze,
litharge, or red lead) also in common ware; glaze-blowing (aerographing) and glaze
dusting on porcelain. In these processes machines can be used. Bricks are only
occasionally glazed with glazes of felspar, kaolin, and quartz, to which lead oxide is
often added in very large quantity. Lead poisoning in brick works in view of the
infrequent use of lead is not common, but when lead is used cases are frequent.
Kaup quotes several cases from the factory inspectors’ reports: thus in three roof-
tiling works examination by the district physician showed that almost all the workers
were affected.
Coarse ware pottery is made of pervious non-transparent clay with earthy fracture
—only a portion of this class of ware (stoneware) is made of raw materials which fire
white. Such ware generally receives a colourless glaze. The clay is shaped on the
potter’s wheel, and is then fired once or, in the better qualities, twice.
Grinding the ingredients of the glaze is still often done in primitive fashion in
mortars. The glaze is usually composed of lead oxide and sand, often with addition
of other lead compounds as, for example, in quite common ware, of equal parts of
litharge, clay, and coarse sand. Sometimes, instead of litharge, galena (lead
sulphide) or, with better qualities of ware, red lead or ‘lead ashes’ are used.
The grinding of the glazes in open mills or even in mortars constitutes a great
danger which can be prevented almost entirely by grinding in ball mills. The glaze
material is next mixed with water, and the articles are either dipped into the creamy
mass or this is poured over them. In doing this the hands, clothes, and floors are
splashed. The more dangerous dusting-on of glaze is rarely practised. Occasionally
mechanical appliances take the place of hand dipping. Placing the ware in the glost
oven is done without placing it first in saggars.
In the better qualities of pottery cooking utensils, which are fired twice, a less
fusible fritted lead glaze is generally used. Coloured glaze contains, besides the
colouring metallic oxides, 30-40 per cent. of litharge or red lead.
 As Kaup shows, Continental factory inspectors’ reports make only isolated
references to occurrence of lead poisoning in potteries. Insight into the conditions in
small potteries is obtained only from the Bavarian reports. In Upper Bavaria ninety-
three potteries employ 157 persons who come into contact with lead glaze. Eleven
cases were known to have occurred in the last four years. Teleky found thirty-six
cases of lead poisoning (mostly among glostplacers) in the records of the Potters’
Sick Insurance Society of Vienna.
Chyzer has described the striking conditions in Hungary. There there are about
4000 potters, of whom 500 come into contact with lead glaze. Chronic lead
poisoning is rife among those carrying on the occupation as a home industry.
Members of the family contract the disease from the dust in the living rooms. This
dust was found to contain from 0·5 to 8·7 per cent. of lead.
In the china and earthenware factories in Great Britain, in the ten years 1900-9,
1065 cases with fifty-seven deaths were reported.
Manufacture of stove tiles.—The application of glaze to stove tiles is done in
different ways. The two most important kinds are (1) fired tiles and (2) slipped tiles.
In the production of fired tiles a lead-tin alloy consisting of 100 parts lead and 30-36
parts tin—so-called ‘calcine’—are melted together in fireclay reverberatory or muffle
furnaces and raked about when at a dull red heat so as to effect complete oxidation.
The material when cool is mixed with the same quantity of sand and some salt,
melted in the frit kiln, subsequently crushed, ground, mixed with water, and applied
to the previously fired tiles. In this process risk is considerable. Presence of lead in
the air has been demonstrated even in well-appointed ‘calcine’ rooms. In unsuitably
arranged rooms it was estimated that in a twelve-hour day a worker would inhale
0·6 gramme of lead oxide and that 3-8 grammes would collect on the clothes.
Slipped tiles are made in Meissen, Silesia, Bavaria, and Austria by first applying to
them a mixture of clay and china clay. The glaze applied is very rich in lead,
containing 50-60 parts of red lead or litharge. Generally the glaze is applied direct to
the unfired tiles and fired once. Figures as to occurrence of poisoning in Germany
are quoted by Kaup from the towns of Velten and Meissen. Among from 1748 to
2500 persons employed thirty-four cases were reported in the five years 1901-5.
Thirteen cases were reported as occurring in the three largest factories in Meissen in
1906.
From other districts similar occurrence of poisoning is reported. In Bohemia in a
single factory in 1906 there were fourteen cases with one death, in another in 1907
there were fourteen, and in 1908 twelve cases; eight further cases occurred among
majolica painters in 1908.
Stoneware and porcelain.—Hard stoneware on a base of clay, limestone, and
felspar has usually a transparent lead glaze of double earth silicates of lead and
alkalis, with generally boric acid to lower the fusing-point; the lead is nearly always
added in the form of red lead or litharge. The portion of the glaze soluble in water is
fritted, and forms, when mixed with the insoluble portion, the glaze ready for use.
The frit according to Kaup contains from 16 to 18 per cent. of red lead, and the
added material (the mill mixing) 8-26 parts of white lead; the glaze contains from 13
to 28 parts of lead oxide. The ware is dipped or the glaze is sometimes aerographed
on. Ware-cleaning by hand (smoothing or levelling the surface with brushes, knives,
&c.) is very dangerous work unless carried out under an efficient exhaust. Colouring
the body itself is done with coloured metal oxides or by applying clay (slipping) or by
the direct application of colours either under or over the glaze. Some of the under-
glaze colours (by addition of chrome yellow or nitrate of lead or red lead) contain
lead and are applied with the brush or aerograph or in the form of transfers.
Plain earthenware is either not glazed or salt glazed; only when decorated does it
sometimes receive an acid lead glaze.
Porcelain receives a leadless glaze of difficultly fusible silicate (quartz sand, china
clay, felspar). Risk is here confined to painting with lead fluxes (enamel colours)
containing lead. These fluxes are readily fusible glasses made of silicic acid, boric
acid, lead oxide, and alkalis, and contain much lead (60-80 per cent. of red lead).
In the glass industry lead poisoning may occur from use of red lead as one of the
essential ingredients. In Great Britain, in the years 1900-9, forty-eight cases were
reported in glass polishing from use of putty powder.

LETTERPRESS PRINTING, ETC.

Type metal consists of about 67 per cent. lead, 27 per cent. antimony, and 6 per
cent. tin, but sometimes of 75 per cent. lead, 23 per cent. antimony, and 2 per cent.
tin.
The actual printer comes least of all in contact with lead. Use of lead colours
(white lead, chromate of lead, &c.) may be a source of danger, especially in the
preparation of printing inks from them and in cleaning the printing rolls. A further, if
slight, danger arises from the use of bronze powder consisting of copper, zinc, and
tin. The two last-named metals contain from 0·1 to 0·5 per cent. of lead, and in the
application and brushing off of the bronze there is a slight risk.
The compositor is exposed to constant danger from handling the type and
disturbing the dust in the cases. This dust may contain from 15 to 38 per cent. of
lead. Blowing the dust out of the cases with bellows is especially dangerous, and
want of cleanliness (eating and smoking in the workroom) contributes to the risk.
Type founders and persons engaged in rubbing and preparing the type suffer.
Introduction of type-casting machines (linotype, monotype) has lessened the danger
considerably.
No lead fumes are developed, as a temperature sufficiently high to produce them
is never reached. In all the processes, therefore, it is lead dust which has to be
considered.
The following figures of the Imperial Statistical Office as to occurrence of lead
poisoning among printers in Vienna indicate the relative danger:

Average No. of Average No. of Percentage of

Occupation. Members, 1901- Cases, 1901- Cases, 1901-
1906. 1906. 1906.
Compositors 3182 90·3 2·8
Printers 809 20·3 2·4
Casters and Stereotypers 241 15·8 6·6
Females employed in casting 74 8·17 10·8

In Bohemia there is reference to thirty-eight cases in letterpress printing in 1907

and twenty-seven in 1908.
Among 5693 persons treated for lead poisoning between the years 1898 and 1901
in hospitals in Prussia, 222 were letterpress printers.
Between 1900 and 1909 in Great Britain 200 cases of lead poisoning were
reported.

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF INDUSTRY

The number of industries using lead is very large. Layet as long ago as 1876
enumerated 111. We, however, limit ourselves to those in which the risk is
considerable.
Use of lead beds in file-cutting has given rise to many cases. Further, to harden
the file it is dipped into a bath of molten lead. From 3 to 6 per cent. of lead has
been found in the dust in rooms where hardening is done.
Of 7000 persons employed in file-cutting in the German Empire in the years 1901-
5 on an average 30·5 or 0·43 per cent. were affected yearly. In Great Britain 211
cases were reported in the years 1900-9.
In polishing precious stones formerly many cases of lead poisoning occurred, the
reason being that the polishers come into contact with particles of lead and fix the
diamonds to be polished in a vice composed of an alloy of lead and tin. Danger is
increased when the stones are actually polished on revolving leaden discs. In
Bohemia granite polishing used to be done in this way, but is now replaced in many
factories by carborundum (silicon carbide).
Musical instrument making in Bohemia in the years 1906-8 was found regularly to
give rise to cases of lead poisoning from use of molten lead in filling them with a
view to shaping and bending. In lead pipe and organ pipe works, lead burning,
plumbing, &c., considerable risk is run.
 Often the causes of lead poisoning are difficult to discover, and, when found,
surprising. Thus shoemakers have suffered from holding leaden nails in the mouth.
Again, cases in women have been reported from cutting out artificial flowers or
paper articles with aid of lead patterns, or counting stamps printed in lead colours.8

MERCURY

As metallic mercury gives off vapour even at ordinary temperatures, poisoning can
occur not only in the recovery of the metal from the ore, but also in all processes in
which it is used.
Chronic industrial poisoning occurs principally in the preparation and use of
mercury salts, in recovery of the metal itself and of other metals with use of an
amalgam, in water gilding, from use of nitrate of mercury in the preparation of
rabbit fur for felt hat making, from use of mercury pumps in producing the vacuum
in electric filament lamps, and in making barometers and thermometers.
Preparation.—Mercury is obtained by roasting cinnabar (sulphide of mercury).
When cinnabar is heated with access of air the sulphide burns to sulphur dioxide and
the mercury volatilises and is subsequently condensed. Formerly the process was
carried on in open hearths; now it is done usually in blast furnaces. The mercury is
condensed in Idria in large chambers cooled with water, while at Almaden in Spain it
is collected in a series of small earthenware receptacles (aludels), from small
openings in which the mercury flows in gutters and collects. The mercury so
recovered is usually redistilled.
On the walls of the condensers a deposit of sulphide and oxide of mercury
collects, removal of which is one of the operations most attended with risk.
Recovery of silver or gold by amalgamation with mercury is carried on only in
America. The metallic silver or gold is taken up by the mercury, from which it is
recovered by distillation.
The conditions in the quicksilver mines of Idria in Austria have improved of late
years. Thus in the five years prior to 1886 of 500 cases of illness more than 11 per
cent. were due to chronic mercurial poisoning. In 1906, 209 persons were employed,
of whom only one-third were permanent hands. Among these the sickness rate was
very high (95-104 per cent.). Of 741 cases of illness among the miners there were
six of mercury poisoning, and of 179 among persons employed in recovery of the
metal, twelve cases.1
The conditions of employment in the cinnabar mines of Monte Amiata in Italy have
recently been described in detail.2 Here, although the recovery of the metal is
carried out in modern furnaces, thus greatly reducing the danger, nevertheless
nearly all the furnace workers suffer from chronic poisoning.
 In silvering of mirrors the leaf of tinfoil was spread out on an inclined table;
mercury was poured over it and the sheet of glass laid on the top with weights. The
superfluous mercury was squeezed out and ran away owing to the sloping position
of the table. Now this process, even in Fürth, is almost entirely replaced by the
nitrate of silver and ammonia process. Years ago the number of cases of poisoning
was very serious in places where, as in Fürth, the work was carried on as a home
industry.
In the production of incandescent electric bulbs danger arises from breaking of the
glass pipes of the pumps and scattering of mercury on the floor of the workrooms.
Since there is a growing tendency to replace mercury pumps by air pumps such
cases ought to become rare.
In water gilding—a process little employed now—the metal objects (military
buttons, &c.) to be gilded, after treatment with a flux, are brushed over with the
mercury amalgam, and subsequently fired to drive off the mercury. Unless careful
provision is made to carry away the vapour chronic poisoning cannot fail to occur.
Even sweeps have been affected after cleaning the chimneys of water gilders’
workshops. In Great Britain, between 1899 and 1905, six cases were reported
among water gilders.
In the manufacture of barometers and thermometers mercury poisoning is not
infrequent. Between 1899 and 1905 sixteen such cases were reported in England;
during the same period there were seventeen cases among those putting together
electrical meters.
Risk of mercurial poisoning is constantly present in hatters’ furriers’ processes and
in subsequent processes in felt hat factories. The risk from use of nitrate of mercury
is considerable to those brushing the rabbit skins with the solution (carotting), and
subsequently drying, brushing, cutting, locking, and packing them. According to
Hencke in 100 kilos of the carotting liquid there are 20 kilos of mercury. In England,
in the years 1899-1905, thirteen cases of mercurial poisoning were reported in
hatters’ furriers’ processes. Among eighty-one persons so employed the medical
inspector found twenty-seven with very defective teeth as the result of the
employment, and seventeen with marked tremor.
In the manufacture of mercurial salts poisoning occurs chiefly when they are made
by sublimation, as in the manufacture of vermilion, of corrosive sublimate (when
mercurous sulphate is sublimed with salt), and in the preparation of calomel (when
sublimate ground with mercury or mercurous sulphate mixed with mercury and salt
is sublimed). Between 1899 and 1905 in England seven cases were reported from
chemical works. As to occurrence of mercury poisoning from fulminate of mercury,
see the chapter on Explosives.

ARSENIC
 Chronic industrial arsenical poisoning, both as to origin and course, is markedly
different from the acute form.
The chronic form arises mainly from inhalation of minute quantities of metallic
arsenic or its compounds in recovery from the ore, or from the use of arsenic
compounds in the manufacture of colours, in tanyards, and in glass making. Acute
industrial arseniuretted hydrogen poisoning is especially likely to occur where metals
and acids react on one another and either the metal or the acid contains arsenic in
appreciable amount. Further, arseniuretted hydrogen may be contained in gases
given off in smelting operations and in chemical processes.
Recovery of Arsenic and White Arsenic.—Pure arsenic is obtained from native cobalt
and arsenical pyrites by volatilisation on roasting the ore in the absence of air. After
the furnace has been charged sheet iron condensing tubes are affixed to the mouths
of the retorts, which project out of the furnace, and to these again iron or
earthenware prolongs. Arsenic condenses on the sides of the sheet metal tubes and
amorphous arsenic, oxides, and sulphides in the prolongs. After sublimation has
been completed the contents of the prolongs are removed and used for production
of other arsenic compounds; the (generally) argentiferous residues in the retorts are
removed and further treated in silver smelting works; finally, the crusts of crystalline
arsenic (artificial fly powder) are knocked out from the carefully unrolled sheet iron
tubes.
As can be readily understood from the description opportunity of poisoning from
volatilisation of arsenic and of arsenic compounds is considerable. Metallic arsenic is
used for making hard shot, and for increasing the brilliancy and hardness of metal
alloys (type metal, &c.).
White arsenic (arsenic trioxide) is obtained by roasting with access of air in
reverberatory furnaces arsenical ores and smelting residues. The vapours of white
arsenic sublime and are condensed as a powder in long walled channels or in
chambers, and are resublimed in iron cylinders. White arsenic is used in making
colours, in glass (for decolourising purposes), as an insecticide in the stuffing of
animals, &c.
Industrial Arsenic Poisoning.—In the extraction of arsenic and preparation of
arsenious acid danger is present. But reliable accounts in literature of poisoning
among those engaged in arsenic works are wanting.
Those engaged in roasting operations and packing suffer much from skin
affections. Similar poisoning is reported in the smelting of other arsenical ores—
nickel, cobalt, lead, copper, iron, and silver, from arsenic compounds present in the
fumes. This is especially the case in the smelting of tin, which generally contains
arsenical pyrites.
Danger is present also in unhairing (i.e. removing the wool from sheep skins),
since the skins imported from Buenos Aires and Monte Video are treated with a
preservative which, in addition to sodium nitrate, soda, and potash, contains
generally arsenious acid.
In tanneries a mixture of arsenic sulphide (realgar) and lime is used for unhairing.
Arsenic is used also for preserving and stuffing animal furs; but although affections
of the skin are described I cannot find reference to arsenical poisoning.
The inspector for East London in 1905 refers to severe eczematous eruptions on
face, neck, and hands, affecting workers in a sheep dip works—mainly in the
packing of the light powder in packets.
Formerly the use of arsenic in the manufacture of colours was great, especially of
emerald (Schweinfurter) green. This is made by dissolving arsenious acid in potash
with addition of acetate of copper. Drying and grinding the material constitute the
main danger. Scheele’s green is another arsenical colour.
Use of arsenic colours is becoming less and less. But in colour printing of paper
and colouring of chalk they are still employed. They are used, too, as mordants in
dyeing, but cases of poisoning from these sources in recent years are not to be
found.
The dust in many glass works contains, it is stated, as much as 1·5 per cent of
white arsenic.
Despite the numerous opportunities for arsenical poisoning in industries it is rare
or, at any rate, is only rarely reported.
Arseniuretted Hydrogen Poisoning.—Industrial poisoning from arseniuretted
hydrogen is caused mostly by inhalation of the gases developed by the action on
one another of acids and metals which contain arsenic. Hydrogen gas as usually
prepared for filling balloons gives occasion for poisoning.
In Breslau in 1902 five workmen became affected, of whom three died from
inhalation of arseniuretted hydrogen gas in filling toy balloons.1
Further, use of hydrogen in lead burning may expose to risk, and also preparation
of zinc chloride flux.
Of thirty-nine recorded cases of arseniuretted hydrogen poisoning twelve were
chemists, eleven workers filling toy balloons, seven aniline workers, five lead
smelters, three balloonists, and in one the origin could not be traced. Nineteen of
these proved fatal within from three to twenty-four days.2
Cases are recorded (1) in the reduction of nitroso-methylaniline with zinc and
hydrochloric acid; (2) in the preparation of zinc chloride from zinc ashes and
hydrochloric acid; (3) from manufacture of zinc sulphate from crude sulphuric acid
and zinc dust; (4) in spelter works in the refining of silver from the zinc crust with
impure hydrochloric acid; and (5) in the formation room of accumulator factories.
 The English factory inspectors’ report describes in 1906 occurrence of three cases
in an electrolytic process for the recovery of copper in which the copper dissolved in
sulphuric acid was deposited at the cathode, and hydrogen at the lead anode. In the
1907 report mention is made of two cases, one affecting a chemist separating
bismuth from a solution of bismuth chloride in hydrochloric acid, and the other
(which proved fatal) a man who had cleaned a vitriol tank.
The poisoning resulting from ferro-silicon is in part referable to development of
arseniuretted hydrogen gas.

ANTIMONY

It seems doubtful if industrial poisoning can really be traced to antimony or its

compounds; generally the arsenic present with the antimony is at fault. Erben1
considers that industrial antimony poisoning occurs among workmen employed in
smelting antimony alloys in making tartar emetic through inhalation of fumes of
oxide of antimony.
A case is cited of a workman in Hamburg engaged in pulverising pure antimony
who was attacked with vomiting which lasted for several days, and the inspector of
factories noted epistaxis (nose bleeding) and vomiting as following on the crushing
of antimony ore.
Compositors in addition to chronic lead poisoning may suffer, it is alleged, from
chronic antimony poisoning, showing itself in diminution in the number of white
blood corpuscles and marked eosinophilia. These changes in the blood could be
brought about experimentally in rabbits. Antimony was found by the Marsh test in
the stools of those affected.

IRON

Pig iron is obtained by smelting iron ores in blast furnaces (fig. 29), through the
upper opening of which charges of ore, limestone or similar material to act as a flux,
and coke are fed in succession. The furnaces are worked continuously, using a blast
of heated air; carbon monoxide is produced and effects the reduction of the ore to
molten iron. The latter accumulates in the hearth and is covered with molten slag;
this flows constantly away through an opening and is collected in slag bogies for
removal, or is sometimes cooled in water.
The crude iron is tapped from time to time, and is led in a fluid condition into
moulds called ‘pigs,’ in which it solidifies. Cast iron is occasionally used direct from
the blast furnace for the purpose of making rough castings, but generally it is further
refined before being used in a foundry by remelting with cast iron scrap in a cupola
furnace.
 Fig. 29.

a Hearth; b Bosh; c Shaft; d Gas

uptake; e Down-comer; f Tuyères
with water cooling arrangement;
g Blast pipes; h Tapping hole; k
Supporting columns; l Furnace
bottom; m Charging hopper; n
Bell with raising and lowering
arrangement.

Wrought iron is made by treating pig iron in refinery and puddling furnaces; in
these much of the carbon is removed as carbon monoxide, and from the puddling
furnace the iron is obtained as a pasty mass which can be worked into bars, rods, or
plates.
Steel is made in various ways. The Acid Bessemer process consists in forcing
compressed air in numerous small streams through molten cast iron, in iron vessels
(converters) which are lined with ganister, a silicious sandstone. These can be
rotated on trunnions. Basic Bessemer steel is made in similar converters by the
Thomas-Gilchrist or basic process, which can be applied to pig irons containing
phosphorus. The latter is removed by giving the converter a basic lining of calcined
magnesium limestone mixed with tar.
In the Martin process steel is obtained by melting together pig iron with steel
scrap, wrought iron scrap, &c., on the hearth of a Siemens regenerative furnace with
a silicious lining.
In iron smelting the most important danger is from blast furnace gas rich in
carbonic oxide. Sulphur dioxide, hydrocyanic acid, and arseniuretted hydrogen gas
may possibly be present.
When work was carried out in blast furnaces with open tops the workers engaged
in charging ran considerable risk. But as the blast furnace gas is rich in carbonic
oxide and has high heating capacity these gases are now always led off and utilised;
the charging point is closed by a cup (Parry’s cup and cone charger) and only
opened from time to time mechanically, when the workers retire so far from the
opening as to be unaffected by the escaping gas. The gas is led away (fig. 29)
through a side opening into special gas mains, is subjected to a purifying process in
order to rid it of flue dust, and then used to heat the blast, fire the boilers, or drive
gas engines.
Severe blast furnace gas poisoning, however, does occur in entering the mains for
cleaning purposes. Numerous cases of the kind are quoted in the section on
Carbonic oxide poisoning.
The gases evolved on tapping and slag running can also act injuriously, and
unpleasant emanations be given off in granulating the slag (by receiving the fluid
slag in water).
In the puddling process much carbonic oxide is present. Other processes,
however, can scarcely give rise to poisoning.
The basic slag produced in the Thomas-Gilchrist process is a valuable manure on
account of the phosphorus it contains; it is ground in edge runners, and then
reduced to a very fine dust in mills and disintegrators. This dust has a corrosive
action already referred to in the chapter on Phosphorus and Artificial Manures.
The poisoning caused by ferro-silicon is of interest. Iron with high proportion of
silicon has been made in recent years on a large scale for production of steel. Some
4000 tons of ferro-silicon are annually exported to Great Britain from France and
Germany. It is made by melting together iron ore, quartz, coke, and lime (as flux) at
very high temperature in electrical furnaces. The coke reduces the quartz and ore to
silicon and metal with the production of ferro-silicon. Certain grades, namely those
with about 50 per cent. silicon, have the property of decomposing or disintegrating
into powder on exposure for any length of time to the air, with production of very
poisonous gases containing phosphoretted and arseniuretted hydrogen. The iron and
quartz often contain phosphates, which in presence of carbon and at the high
temperature of the electrical furnace would no doubt be converted into phosphides
combining with the lime to form calcium phosphide; similarly any arsenic present
would yield calcium arsenide. These would be decomposed in presence of water and
evolve phosphoretted and arseniuretted hydrogen gas. In addition to its poisonous
properties it has also given rise to explosions.
 [In January 1905 fifty steerage passengers were made seriously ill and eleven of
them died. In 1907 five passengers died on a Swedish steamer as the result of
poisonous gases given off from ferro-silicon, and more recently five lives were lost
on the steamer Aston carrying the material from Antwerp to Grimsby.[C] This
accident led to full investigation of the subject by Dr. Copeman, F.R.S., one of the
Medical Inspectors of the Local Government Board, Mr. S. R. Bennett, one of H.M.
Inspectors of Factories, and Dr. Wilson Hake, Ph.D., F.I.C., in which the conclusions
arrived at are summarised as follows:

1. Numerous accidents, fatal and otherwise, have been caused

within the last few years by the escape of poisonous and explosive
gases from consignments of ferro-silicon, which, in every instance,
have been found to consist of so-called high-grade ferro-silicon,
produced in the electric furnace.
2. These accidents, for the most part, have occurred during
transport of the ferro-silicon by water, whether in sea-going vessels
or in barges and canal-boats plying on inland waters.
3. These accidents have occurred in various countries and on
vessels of different nationalities, while the ferro-silicon carried has,
in almost every instance, been the product of a different
manufactory.
4. Ferro-silicon, especially of grades containing from 40 per cent.
to 60 per cent. of silicon, is invariably found to evolve considerable
quantities of phosphoretted hydrogen gas, and, in less amount, of
arseniuretted hydrogen, both of which are of a highly poisonous
nature. A certain amount of the gas evolved is present, as such, in
the alloy, being ‘occluded’ in minute spaces with which its
substance is often permeated.
5. As the result of careful investigation, it has been shown that
certain grades of ferro-silicon—notably such as contain about 33
per cent., 50 per cent., and 60 per cent. of silicon—even when
manufactured from fairly pure constituents, are both brittle and
liable to disintegrate spontaneously, this latter characteristic being
apt to be specially marked in the case of the 50 per cent. grade.
All these grades are commonly employed at the present time.
6. In the event of disintegration occurring, the amount of surface
exposed will, obviously, be greater than if the mass were solid.
7. Evolution of poisonous gases is greatly increased by the action
of moisture, or of moist air, under the influence of which
phosphoretted hydrogen is generated from calcium phosphide,
which, in turn, is formed, in large part, at any rate, from the
calcium phosphate present in anthracite and quartz, at the high
temperature of the electric furnace. If spontaneous disintegration of
the alloy also occurs, much larger quantities of gas would be given
off from such friable and unstable material, other conditions being
equal. The greater or less tendency of a given sample to evolve
poisonous gases, and even a rough estimate of their probable
amount may be arrived at by the use of test-papers prepared with
silver nitrate.
8. There is no evidence that low-grade ferro-silicon (10 to 15 per
cent.), produced in the blast-furnace, has ever given rise to
accidents of similar character to those known to have been caused
by the high-grade electrically produced alloy. Blast-furnace ferro-
silicon does not evolve poisonous gases even in presence of
moisture.
9. As regards ferro-silicon produced in the electric furnace, the
evidence available goes to show that certain percentage grades are
practically quite innocuous. This statement applies to grades of
alloy of a silicon content up to and including 30 per cent., and
probably also, though in considerably less degree, to those of 70
per cent. and over.
10. In view of the fact that the use of ferro-silicon of grades
ranging between 30 per cent. and 70 per cent. apparently is not
essential in metallurgical operations, with the possible exception of
basic steel manufacture, it will be advisable that the production of
this alloy of grades ranging between these percentages should be
discontinued in the future.
11. The proprietors of iron and steel works making use of ferro-
silicon will assist in the protection of their workpeople, and at the
same time act for the public benefit by restricting their orders to
grades of this material, either not exceeding 30 per cent., or of 70
per cent. and upwards, according to the special nature of their
requirements.
12. But as, pending international agreement on the question,
intermediate percentages of ferro-silicon will doubtless continue to
be manufactured and sold, the issue, by the Board of Trade, of
special regulations will be necessary in order to obviate, so far as
may be possible, chance of further accidents during the transport of
this substance.
Inter alia, these regulations should require a declaration of the
nature, percentage, date of manufacture, and place of origin of any
 such consignment.

The suggested regulations are printed on p. 291.]

ZINC

Industrial poisoning from zinc is unknown. The chronic zinc poisoning among
spelter workers described by Schlockow with nervous symptoms is undoubtedly to
be attributed to lead.

COPPER: BRASS

Occurrence of brass-founder’s ague.—Opinion is divided as to whether pure

copper is poisonous or not. Lehmann has at any rate shown experimentally that as
an industrial poison it is without importance.
Occurrence, however, of brass-founder’s ague is undoubtedly frequent. Although
neither pure zinc nor pure copper give rise to poisoning, yet the pouring of brass (an
alloy of zinc and copper) sets up a peculiar train of symptoms. As the symptoms are
transient, and medical attendance is only very rarely sought after, knowledge of its
frequency is difficult to obtain.
Sigel,1 who has experimented on himself, believes that the symptoms result from
inhalation of superheated zinc fumes. In large well-appointed brass casting shops
(as in those of Zeiss in Jena) incidence is rare.
Lehmann2 very recently has expressed his decided opinion that brass-founder’s
ague is a zinc poisoning due to inhalation of zinc oxide and not zinc fumes. This
conclusion he came to as the result of experiments on a workman predisposed to
attacks of brass-founder’s ague. Lehmann’s surmise is that the symptoms are due to
an auto-intoxication from absorption of dead epithelial cells lining the respiratory
tract, the cells having been destroyed by inhalation of the zinc oxide. He found that
he could produce typical symptoms in a worker by inhalation of the fumes given off
in burning pure zinc.
Metal pickling.—The object of metal dipping is to give metal objects, especially of
brass (buckles, lamps, electric fittings, candlesticks, &c.), a clean or mat surface and
is effected by dipping in baths of nitric, hydrochloric, or sulphuric acid. Generally
after dipping in the dilute bath the articles go for one or two minutes into strong
acid, from which injurious fumes, especially nitrous fumes, develop with occasionally
fatal effect (see the chapter on Nitric Acid). Unfortunately, there are no references in
the literature of the subject as to the frequency of such attacks.
Recovery of gold and silver has been already referred to in the chapters on
Mercury, Lead, and Cyanogen.
 Mention must be made of argyria. This is not poisoning in the proper sense of the
word, as injury to health is hardly caused. Argyria results from absorption of small
doses of silver salts which, excreted in the form of reduced metallic silver, give the
skin a shiny black colour. Cases are most frequently seen in silverers of glass pearls
who do the work by suction. Local argyria has been described by Lewin in silvering
of mirrors and in photographers.

III. OCCURRENCE OF INDUSTRIAL POISONING IN

VARIOUS INDUSTRIES
The most important facts have now been stated as to the occurrence of poisoning
in industry, and there remain only a few gaps to fill in and to survey briefly the risks
in certain important groups of industry.

TREATMENT OF STONE AND EARTHS

Lime Burning: Glass Industry

Lead poisoning in the ceramic industry (earthenware, porcelain, glass, polishing of

precious stones, &c.) has been dealt with in detail in the chapter on Lead. There is
further the possibility of chrome-ulceration, of arsenic poisoning, and conceivably
also of manganese. Further, poisoning by carbonic oxide and carbon dioxide may
occur from the escape of furnace gases where hygienic conditions are bad. In
charging lime kilns poisoning by carbonic oxide has occurred. The report of the
Union of Chemical Industry in 1906 describes the case of a workman who was
assisting in filling the kiln with limestone. As the furnace door was opened for the
purpose gas escaped in such amount as to render him unconscious. He was picked
up thirty minutes later, but efforts at resuscitation failed.
Carbonic oxide poisoning, again, may arise from the use of Siemens regenerative
furnaces, especially glass furnaces: details are given in the chapter on Illuminating
Gas.
Hydrofluoric acid is present as an industrial poison in glass etching (see Fluorine
Compounds). Persons employed in this process suffer from inflammation of the
respiratory tract and ulceration of the skin of the hands. I could not find any precise
statement as to the frequency of the occurrence of such injuries. Use of sand-
blasting to roughen the surface of glass has to some extent taken the place of
etching by hydrofluoric acid.

TREATMENT OF ANIMAL PRODUCTS

In tanning use of arsenic compounds for detaching the wool from skins and of gas
lime for getting rid of hair may cause injury to health. With the latter there is
possibility of the action of cyanogen compounds (see the chapters on Arsenic and
Cyanogen).

PREPARATION OF VEGETABLE FOOD STUFFS AND THE LIKE

In fermentation processes as in breweries and the sugar industry accumulations of

carbonic acid gas occur, and suffocation from this source has been repeatedly
described. Mention in this connection should be made of the use of salufer
containing some 2 per cent. of silicofluoric acid as a preservative and antiseptic in
beer brewing. In the sulphuring of hops, wine, &c., the workers may run risk from
the injurious action of sulphur dioxide. Arsenic in the sulphuric acid used for the
production of dextrine may set up industrial poisoning. Poisoning from ammonia gas
can occur in cold storage premises. Industrial poisoning from tobacco is not proved,
but the injurious effect of the aroma and dust of tobacco—especially in women—in
badly arranged tobacco factories is probable.

WOOD WORKING

Injurious woods.—In recent literature there are several interesting references to

injury to health from certain poisonous kinds of wood—skin affections in workers
manipulating satinwood, and affections of the heart and general health in workers
making shuttles of African boxwood. Details of these forms of poisoning are reported
from England and Bavaria. The wood used for making the shuttles was West African
boxwood (Gonioma Kamassi). It appears that the wood contains an alkaloidal poison
which affects the heart’s action. The workers suffered from headache, feeling of
sleepiness, lachrymation, coryza, difficulty of breathing, nausea, and weakness. Four
workers had to give up the work because of the difficulty in breathing. Inquiry was
made by Dr. John Hay of Liverpool in 1908 and by the medical inspector of factories
in 1905. The following table shows the symptoms found:

Persons Examined.
Symptoms. 1905. 1907-1908.
(1) Number. Per cent. Number. Per Cent.
(2) (3) (4) (5)
Headache 27 24·1 18 22·8
Feeling of somnolence 10 9·0 17 21·5
Running of eyes 13 11·6 9 11·3
Running of nose 28 25·0 20 28·0
Breathing affected 34 30·4 13 16·4
Nausea or sickness 13 11·6 3 3·8
Faintness or weakness 11 9·6 1 1·2
 The later inquiry shows considerable diminution in the amount of complaint as to
respiratory trouble. This may have been due to the improved conditions of working,
freely acknowledged by the men. Men were examined who had complained of the
effects of the wood in 1905, and had continued uninterruptedly at the same kind of
work during the interval without any obvious further injury to their health, although
they preferred working on other woods.
East Indian boxwood had to be discarded in the shuttle trade owing to its irritant
action on the eyes. Sabicu wood from Cuba was stated to give off ‘a snuffy dust
under the machine and hand planes, the effect of which upon the worker is to cause
a running at the eyes and nose, and a general feeling of cold in the head. The
symptoms pass off in an hour or so after discontinuance of work.’ Reference was
made in the report for 1906 to eczematous eruptions produced by so-called Borneo
rosewood, a wood used owing to its brilliant colour and exquisite grain in fret-saw
work. The Director of the Imperial Institute experimented with this wood, but failed
to discover injurious properties in it. At the same time experiments with the wood
and sawdust of East and West Indian satinwood were undertaken, but also without
result.
From inquiries subsequently made it appeared that much confusion existed as to
the designation ‘satinwood,’ as under this name were classed both East and West
Indian satinwood and also satin walnut. The evidence was clear that East Indian
satinwood was more irritating than West Indian. Satin walnut wood is apparently
harmless. In the shipbuilding yards of East London, Glasgow, and Bristol affections
of the skin were recognised, but susceptibility to the wood varied. One man asserted
that merely laying a shaving on the back of his hand would produce a sore place.
The injurious effects here seem to disappear quickly. Exhaust ventilation is applied,
but there is a tendency to give up the use of the wood.
Isolated cases of illness have been ascribed to working teak and olive wood. In
Sheffield the following are held to be irritating: ebony, magenta rosewood, West
Indian boxwood, cocos wood. Some kinds of mahogany are said to affect the eyes
and nose.
Use of methylated spirit in polishing furniture is said to lead to injury to health
although not to set up actual poisoning. Lead poisoning can occur from the sand-
papering of coats of paint applied to wood.
In impregnating wood with creosote and tar the effects on the skin noted in the
chapter on Tar are observed.

TEXTILE INDUSTRY

In getting rid of the grease from animal wool carbon bisulphide or benzine may be
used.