to prevent vibration and the raising of dust from passage of trolleys
conveying the heavy plates. Gloves are frequently provided, more to
protect the hands from contact with the sulphuric acid used in making
the paste and jagged edges of the plates than as a preventive of lead
absorption.
In the 10 years 1900-1909 incidence, according to precise occupation,
has been--Casting, 33; pasting, 114; lead burning, 69; and assembling
the plates, etc., 69.
=Glass-Cutting[31].=--Red lead enters largely into the mixture of raw
materials for the manufacture of glass. Flint glass, for instance,
contains 43 per cent. of lead. The raw materials (white sand, red
lead, and generally saltpetre) require to be very carefully mixed, and
a few cases of poisoning have been reported from the dust raised in
sieving. One man works the sieve, resting on two runners across the
bin, while another shovels the mixture into the sieve. The operation is
not a continuous one, and respirators have principally been relied on
to protect the workers. It should be possible to carry out the mixing
operations in a dust-tight closed apparatus.
Poisoning from lead fumes generated in a glass furnace is unknown. Lead
poisoning used to be common in the process of polishing cut glass on a
brush by means of “putty powder” (oxide of tin, 29 per cent.; and oxide
of lead, 71 per cent.), mixed with water to the consistency of a paste.
The brush was made to revolve at high speed, with dissemination of
the putty powder as a fine spray into the atmosphere of the workroom.
Although rouge and oxide of iron have replaced putty powder to some
extent--especially for the polishing of the bevelled edges of plate
glass--no substitute can at present be found to give the final lustre
and brilliancy required in the case of cut glass and in certain kinds
of high-class work, such as polishing lenses.
Locally applied exhaust ventilation has robbed the process of its
dangers. Pyramidal-shaped hoods enclose the spindle and putty box and
brush before which the workman sits. The draught of the fan prevents
escape of spray. The lad who feeds the brush with putty powder stands
at the side, and in our experience his cap and clothes are now free
from signs of splashing. Formerly the polishing was done by each man
at his own berth, thus endangering the health of all working in the
vicinity, as the custom of the trade is that the same man carries
through the work both of cutting and polishing. Polishing occupies only
about a fifth of a man’s time, and it has now, owing to the position of
the fan, to be carried out in one particular part of the room.
Dr. D’Arcy Ellis[32], Certifying Surgeon for the Stourbridge
district, has described the processes as formerly carried out:
“The mixture of lead and tin is heated over a bright fire in a
shallow iron pan. As it melts, the top scum which forms is skimmed
off, dried, pounded to a powder in an iron mortar, and afterwards
sieved. The person who does this work always suffers more or less.
He usually protects himself by wearing a respirator--there is a good
draught at the flue, and the sieve is enclosed in a box--but there
is always a certain amount of dust. This putty-powder is used on the
wooden wheel, and is dabbed on the wheel as it revolves. All good
bold work can be polished in this way, and there is not much risk
to the workman, as the speed at which the wheel revolves causes the
mixture to cling and not fly about. This process does not answer
for any fine work, so it is contended; and to enable this kind of
work to be properly polished brushes made of bristles are used. They
are mounted on an iron spindle, and are usually about 6 inches to 7
inches in diameter, with a face of 1 inch to 1¹⁄₂ inches broad. They
are driven at a speed of about 2,000 revolutions a minute. The putty
powder is applied to these brushes (which are of various sizes) in
the same way as to the wooden wheel--that is, by dabbing it on. For
smaller work, such as tumblers and wine-glasses, the workman applies
the putty mixture himself, holding the glass against the brush with
his right hand, and using his left underneath to apply the mixture.
Where, however, larger work has to be done in which the workman
cannot manage with one hand, the service of a boy is called in, who
does what is called the ‘feeding up.’ This boy stands partly in front
and partly at the side of the brush, and applies the mixture with one
hand with the wisp of straw. In this position the boy gets splashed
with the putty mixture which flies off the brush, and it is generally
believed by the workmen to be the most dangerous occupation. At
one time--not very long ago--all the various processes of the work
were done indiscriminately in the workshop, and consequently the
men were frequently found working in a perfect haze of fine dust,
which had been thrown off from the brushes. There was no attempt
made to separate and detach the less injurious part of the work,
such as the roughing and cutting, from the general workshop, the
lead polishing only occupying about one-fifth of the workmen’s time.
After the glass has been polished by the putty it is taken away to
another department, where girls are employed as ‘wipers out.’ They
take the glass with the dried putty upon it, dip it into a basin of
water, and then wipe it dry. Some of these girls have been known
to suffer from lead poisoning.... Drop-wrist was frequently to be
seen--in fact, there was hardly a workshop in the district in which
cases of wrist-drop could not be found. They were all anæmic, and the
albuminuric and prematurely aged were frequently met with.”
In this small industry in the past the poisoning must have been
considerable. In 1898 nineteen cases were reported. Reference to the
table on p. 47 shows that the number now is greatly reduced. Those
reported are generally cases which have ended fatally from the sequelæ
of lead poisoning contracted many years previously.
Stained-glass painting--a form of vitreous enamelling--very rarely
gives rise to poisoning, as no dust is generated (see vitreous
enamelling for use of aerograph in glass-painting).
=Paints and Colours[33].=--Most of the cases have occurred in the
manufacture of white-lead paint, although manufacture of chromate of
lead and of Brunswick greens (barytes with which Prussian blue and
chrome yellows are mixed) account for several. The following table
shows the precise occupation of persons affected, the number of cases
distributed according to precise occupation, and the proportion of
these to the total in 225 cases which were closely examined:
+------------------------------------+------------+--------------+
| | Number of | |
| | Cases | Proportion of|
| Precise Occupation | in each |Cases to Total|
| of Person affected. |Subdivision.| (per Cent.). |
+------------------------------------+------------+--------------+
|Mixing and grinding (mainly of white| 144 | 64·0 |
|lead) | | |
|Packing (mainly of red lead) | 19 | 8·4 |
|Sieving | 2 | 0·9 |
|Manufacture of chrome yellow | 22 | 9·8 |
|Colour house and filters | 16 | 7·2 |
|Painting and stencilling | 6 | 2·7 |
|Other processes | 16 | 7·0 |
+------------------------------------+------------+--------------+
Knowing the conditions of work, we can confidently assert that the
poison must have entered the system in the form of dust in at least
90·0 per cent. of the cases, and in the remainder the possibility of
dust having been the cause is not excluded.
In a small factory the cask of white lead is broken and the material
scooped out into a pail. Scales are at hand, and when the amount of
lead removed weighs half a hundredweight the contents of the pail are
discharged either into a cylindrical pug-mill or into the pan of an
edge-runner to be mixed with oil. In large factories the dry white lead
is generally shovelled directly from the cask down openings or shoots
in the floor to the grinding mills below.
_Dangers and Prevention._--Dust arises in unheading the casks from the
displacement of air following the scooping or shovelling out of the
lead, in filling the pails, and in discharging the lead into the mill.
All points should, and can, be adequately protected by locally applied
exhaust ventilation at each one of the points enumerated. A telescopic
arrangement of the branch duct in connection with the barrel enables
dust generated in scooping out to be removed as the contents of the
barrel get lower and lower (see Fig. 15).
[Illustration: FIG. 15.[A]]
[A] FIG. 15 shows the arrangement for preventing dust at every point
where it is produced in a factory where dry colours are ground,
sifted, and packed on a large scale. On the upper floor, the chamber
is shown in which the contents of a cask are tipped down a shoot
leading in the one case to the burr stone mill on the left, and
in the other into the Blackstone sifters. Exhaust is arranged at
two levels to catch the dust arising from the displacement of air.
After grinding in the closed-in burr stone mill, a hood and duct
is arranged over the point where the material is discharged into
the barrel. Similarly, the casing of the two Blackstone sifters is
connected with the exhaust fan, and also the cover of the barrel into
which the ground material falls. Inside the edge-runner (the door
of which is shown open) a negative pressure is maintained, and one
branch duct controls the dust in the scooping out of the material
from the barrel, while another is connected to the cover of the
receptacle into which the ground material is discharged.
Tapering of the ducts, tangential entry of branches, fan-box, and
collecting filters, are all shown. In the factory in question there
are four edge-runners, three burr stone mills, and two Blackstone
sifters. Altogether exhaust ventilation is applied at twenty-five
points. (Drawing kindly supplied by the Sturtevant Engineering
Company, Limited, London.)
The lighter shades of yellow chrome are made by a cold precipitation
process, or (as is usual for the deeper shades of chrome, orange,
and red) by boiling the ingredients--lead acetate, pulp white lead,
bichromate of potash and soda, and sulphate of soda--while barytes is
added as the colour is being made. Danger in the first method does not
arise (or only in minor degree when steam is injected to bring about
more speedy solution) until drying and grinding (in edge-runners),
sieving, and packing, are effected. The dust, when inhaled, is quickly
absorbed, and in all these dry processes danger, in the absence of
very carefully thought out exhaust ventilation, is great. In processes
involving ebullition, danger is present in the steam which carries
up with it chromate of lead in fine particulate state. Vats and
vessels, therefore, in which the boiling is effected require partial
hooding over and connection of the hood with an efficient exhaust. In
subsequent wet processes of pressing the cakes of chromate of lead, the
hands, arms, and overalls become thickly coated with pigment. Danger
from chrome greens is practically limited to the dust created in dry
grinding, usually effected in large edge-runners.
For references, see end of Chapter XVII.
CHAPTER XVII
DESCRIPTION OF PROCESSES--_Continued_
=Coach-Painting[34].=--Lead poisoning is peculiarly prevalent in this
industry, and no corresponding reduction in the number reported can be
observed from year to year (see the table on p. 47), or in the many
industries grouped under the heading, “Paint used in Other Industries,”
such as is noted for lead industries taken as a whole.
Of the 697 cases included in returns during the ten years 1900-1909,
352 were reported from railway carriage and waggon works, 299 from
ordinary carriage works and wheelwrights’ shops, and 46 (separate
tabulation was only commenced in 1905) in motor-car works. In the year
1903 inquiry was made in 603 factories and workshops, including all
classes of coach and carriage building, railway carriage and engine
works, and agricultural implement works. Information was asked (among
other things) as to--(1) The number of persons employed in painting
with lead paints; (2) description of the method adopted for smoothing
the coats of paint; and (3) the substitutes tried for white-lead
paint. Persons employed numbered 9,608. In 52 factories and workshops
smoothing of the coats of paint was not practised, while in the
remaining 551 it was affirmed that a wet method alone (pumicestone
and water) was used in 178, a dry method alone (sandpaper) in 39, and
both wet and dry methods at some stage or other of the work in 334.
Substitutes were mentioned as having been tried in 94 instances, but
this was almost exclusively for filling and jointing, and not for the
first or priming coat.
The figure 178 (wet method alone) is probably much too high, because,
while it is true that pumicestone and water alone are used for the
flat surfaces of the body--the bulk of the work--dry sandpapering of
the first two priming coats and of the final finishing coats (when
of white, cream, or yellow colour), of the under parts of carriages,
iron chassis of motor-cars, and of curved surfaces, such as the spokes
of wheels, is almost universal. The reason for thus treating the
priming coat dry is that a wet process would raise the grain of the
wood. The 52 factories in which it was stated that no smoothing was
done were nearly all premises for the repair or manufacture of railway
trucks, requiring no special finish, and the 39 factories in which
only sandpaper was said to be used in smoothing were premises in which
rough, cheap, or common vehicles, such as carts, were made. Use of
sandpaper is quicker and less expensive than use of pumicestone, and
water and wet methods cannot be used very well on iron surfaces.
In ordinary coach and carriage painting, after the sandpapering of
the first two priming coats, six or seven coats of “filling” (usually
ground slate mixed with gold size and turpentine) are applied, and
each coat is rubbed down wet. Joints and interstices of woodwork and
irregularities in iron surfaces are generally filled in with a stopping
or paste of white lead, in the smoothing of which sandpaper is used.
In the manufacture of motor-cars, the terne (lead) coated sheets which
form the body, after preliminary preparation, receive two coats of a
lead paint. These are either lightly sandpapered or “flatted” with
pumice and water. Three coats of non-poisonous filling follow, and are
flatted with pumice or German brick and water. The body then passes to
a skilled workman, who applies the final coats of colour. For facing
mouldings and for corners throughout all stages of the processes, dry
sandpaper takes the place of pumice and water. All stopping on the
chassis, the first lead coat on the bonnet, and all coats of paint on
the wheels, are sandpapered dry. Sometimes a third of a man’s time may
be taken up in sandpapering alone.
_Dangers and Prevention._--Grave risk of inhaling lead dust is present
(see the table on p. 47) when sandpaper is used, often at a point just
above the mouth and nostrils. Rubbing down the wheels is perhaps the
most dangerous work, and for this exhaust ventilation can be applied
locally. Inventive genius has yet to be directed to some modification
of the vacuum-cleaning apparatus, so that an exhaust can be attached to
the back of the worker’s hand or in connection with a frame in which
the sandpaper is held. In the process of wet rubbing, the abraded
coats drip on to the floor, and when dry may rise as dust into the
atmosphere.
Precisely similar operations, or only modified in detail, have
accounted for heavy incidence of lead poisoning in the painting of
perambulators, of safes, of bicycles, of bedsteads, of gas-meters,
the “metallic” enamelling of baths (in which also chipping off of
the old paint not infrequently occasions an attack), in engineering
and machine-making works, in cabinet and furniture making, in French
polishing, in the making of artists’ canvases, etc. Several cases are
reported among railway employees engaged in the painting of bridges,
girders, and signal-posts. A method for the removal of the dust given
off in these processes has not yet been arranged. Chipping off of old
paint can be effectually replaced by solvent solutions, in the use of
which, as they are very inflammable, precautions against naked lights
are necessary.
In the making of better-class measuring tapes, the tape, after passage
through the white-lead mixture and drying, is made to travel through
a machine to remove roughnesses, and subsequently through the fingers
of the worker, protected by leather. Dust arises in both the last
operations, and requires to be removed by exhaust ventilation. Similar
means of prevention are necessary wherever paint is applied, as in
photo-engraving, and colouring artificial flowers by means of an
aerograph instrument.
Owing to the limited extent to which exhaust ventilation is possible,
reliance must be placed on substitution of wet processes for dry
wherever possible. Cleanliness of floors requires special attention.
Although in all painting operations dust is the most potent cause of
poisoning, we would assign to contamination of the hands and the eating
of food with unwashed hands a more prominent place as a cause than in
any of the other processes involving use of lead or lead colours. In
a post-mortem on a sign-painter employed only a few days, made three
weeks after his cessation of employment on account of an attack of
encephalopathy, paint was found thickly adherent under the nails.
Substitution of colours containing no lead suggests itself as a
simple remedy, but the progress in this direction made so far in the
industries mentioned is limited. Several important firms manufacturing
motor-cars use no lead colours at all; more than one important railway
company (the outside of the carriages of which has no white colour)
and a few makers of perambulators do the same. It is difficult to
obtain knowledge how far leadless are replacing lead colours. In the
manufacture of cornice poles (in which small industry several severe
attacks were reported) the suggestion of a factory inspector to employ
lithopone was adopted, with entire success. A patent graphite has been
substituted for orange lead, with which wooden patterns to form the
moulds of articles to be subsequently cast in metal are frequently
painted.
=House-Painting[35].=--The work of house-painting and plumbing outside
a workshop does not come under the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901,
except to a limited extent under Section 105 in buildings in course
of erection; and even in that case the requirement of notification of
lead poisoning imposed by Section 73 does not apply. If, however, a
house-painter is employed for part of his time in mixing paints in a
workshop belonging to a builder, then the question may legitimately be
raised as to whether plumbism may not have been due in some measure to
such workshop conditions. Despite the limited extent to which the Act
applies to lead poisoning of house-painters and plumbers, seeing that
it is industrial in origin many practitioners notify cases, with the
result that the number every year exceeds considerably that from any
other lead industry in the country. Thus, the number notified in the
ten years 1900-1909 was 1,973, including 383 deaths. The proportion
of deaths to persons notified is much higher than for lead industries
generally (19·4 per cent., as compared with 4·0 per cent.). If the
proportion of cases to deaths were the same in house-painting as in
other industries (and it is a fair assumption to make), the number of
cases would be 9,418.
When investigation is made into the reported cases, the pre-dominance
of the severer symptoms--paralysis, brain symptoms, and chronic
plumbism--is brought out. Causation of poisoning, in order of
importance, appears to be: (1) Dust from sandpapering one surface of
paint before applying another; (2) dust from mixing dry white lead
with oil; (3) dust arising from paint that has dried on overalls; (4)
contamination of food with unwashed hands; and (5) fumes from burning
off old paint.
=Use of Leadless Paints.=--Opinion still differs as to the feasibility
of substituting zinc sulphide or zinc oxide (or a combination of the
two) for white lead in paints, in spite of elaborate investigation of
the point by commissions of inquiry appointed notably by the French,
Austrian, and Dutch Governments. There is, however, general consensus
of opinion that for the painting of internal surfaces of houses and
of all surfaces which are not exposed to the weather zinc paints have
the advantage (apart from their non-poisonous quality) over white-lead
paint of not changing colour. The technique for applying zinc oxide
paint differs much from that for applying white lead. Being much less
dense, it requires to be ground with a greater proportion of oil, and
the vehicles and driers necessary for the thinning of the stiff paste
are different from those ordinarily used for thinning and mixing white
lead. Coats of zinc oxide should be applied as thin as possible, and
hence there is the drawback that where three coats of white lead will
suffice, four coats of zinc oxide may be necessary unless the paint
is skilfully applied. The best method of applying zinc oxide paint
with the brush has to be learnt in order to get the best effect. The
ordinary house-painter, therefore, accustomed to the use of lead paint,
cannot expect to obtain the same result from zinc paint treated in the
same way. And zinc oxides differ in value as pigments according to the
methods of production. That obtained by direct roasting of the ore
(franklinite and zincite) is superior to that prepared by the indirect
method of oxidation of spelter.
Zinc sulphide enters into the composition of many white paints mixed
with zinc oxide, barytes, and often lead sulphate. Its defect in
colour is thus concealed, and it adds to the mixture the important
property known to the painter as “body.” Under a variety of names,
such as “Orr’s enamel white,” “patent zinc white,” and “lithopone,”
such mixtures have a large sale, and for many purposes can act as a
substitute for white-lead paint.
Extensive inquiries have been made in recent years in Continental
countries into the effect of use of white-lead paint in producing
plumbism, the processes employed, and the possibility of
substitutes--in Austria, from 1904 to 1907; in Germany, in 1905;
in Holland, from 1903 to 1909; in France, from 1901 to 1909; in
Switzerland, in 1904; and in Belgium, from 1904 to 1909. In 1902
the French Government, by a decree applying to house-painting,
prohibited (1) use of white lead except when ready mixed with oil; (2)
direct handling of white lead; (3) dry-rubbing or sand-papering of
painted surfaces; and required (4) provision of the usual means for
cleanliness, including overalls. This decree in 1904 was extended to
all kinds of painting with use of white lead. Finally, in 1909, a law,
to take effect from 1914, was passed prohibiting the use of white lead
in paint altogether.
In Belgium, following on regulations issued under royal decree in 1905,
in which, among other things, quarterly periodical medical examination
of house-painters was required, the law dated August 20, 1909, came
into force, prohibiting the sale, transport, and use, of white lead in
the form of powder, lumps, or small pieces, and requiring, if intended
for the purpose of painting, the white lead to be mixed ready ground in
oil. Dry-rubbing and sandpapering are also prohibited.
In the German Empire the work of house-painting is controlled by
regulations dated June 27, 1905, of which the following are the main
provisions: (1) Prohibition of actual contact with white lead in
grinding and mixing, and adequate protection from the dust so created;
(2) mechanical incorporation of the white lead with the oil or varnish,
and prevention of the escape of dust into the workroom; (3) preliminary
moistening prior to scraping, chipping off, or rubbing down, dry oil
colours; (4) and (5) provision of overalls and washing accommodation,
including soap, nailbrushes, and towels (in erection of new buildings
the workmen must be able to wash in a place free from frost); (7)
instruction of the workman by the employer as to the risk attaching
to the work by supplying him with a copy of the regulations and
cautionary notice. Further, where painting operations are carried on
in factories or workshops as subsidiary to other processes, there must
be (8) provision of washing accommodation in a special room capable of
being heated, and of a place in which to keep clothing; (9) periodical
medical examination at half-yearly periods; and (10) prohibition of
smoking and consumption of alcohol in the workrooms.
The Austrian Regulations, dated April 15, 1909, follow the German
Code closely, but differ in that they (1) prohibit the use of white
lead paint for the interior surfaces of houses or of any surfaces
not exposed to the weather; (2) affixing of a notice on the can or
cask that it contains lead; and (3) periodical medical examination at
quarterly instead of half-yearly periods.
At the present time committees appointed by the Home Office are
inquiring into the coach-painting and house-painting industries in this
country.
The results of careful and detailed experiments made by the White Lead
Commission appointed by the Dutch Government, which inquired into the
subject, are summarized as follows:
I. Zinc-white paints are much better able to withstand the action of
sulphuretted hydrogen gas than white-lead paints.
II. Zinc-white paints do not withstand the action of sulphurous acid
in the atmosphere as well as white-lead paints.
As this gas is present in coal-smoke of locomotives, steamers, tall
chimneys, etc., zinc-white paint much exposed to such smoke--for
instance, in railway-stations, etc.--will soon become corroded, and
cannot then replace white lead.
III. Zinc-white paints applied on zinc, Portland cement, or iron (the
latter having previously been provided with first coats of red oxide
of lead or iron), are able to withstand the action of the open air
for a space of five years quite as well as white-lead paints, and can
entirely replace the latter, provided they are not exposed to the
action of vapours containing sulphurous acid.
IV. In the interior of buildings zinc-white paints, applied on wood,
iron, zinc, Portland cement, and plaster, are as good as white-lead
paints; and can entirely replace the latter, provided they are not
exposed much to vapours containing sulphurous acid or to much damp.
V. Zinc-white paints applied on wood, if not exposed much to the
action of sulphurous acid gas, will in many cases last during
five years in the open air as well as white-lead paints, and can
replace the latter with good results. But in all places where water
accumulates, as on window-sills, the lower side of cornice-work,
etc., they will, even after three or four years, deteriorate to such
a degree that repainting will become necessary for the preservation
of the wood; in this respect, therefore, they are inferior to
white-lead paints.
VI. Zinc-white paints, such as the White Lead Commission have used
successfully, cover at least equally as well as the white-lead paints
customary in this country.
The zinc-white putty used by the White Lead Commission is quite as
serviceable as ordinary white-lead putty.
VII. Painting with zinc-white paint, such as the Commission used on
new woodwork in the open air, does not cost more than painting with
the white-lead paints customary for that purpose.
VIII. Painting on existing paintwork, so-called “repainting,” in the
open air, with zinc-white paints such as the White Lead Commission
used, costs more than the white-lead paints hitherto in use, inasmuch
as the preparation of the wood painted with zinc-white paints
involves greater expense in rendering it fit for the repainting than
in the case of wood painted with white lead in rendering it fit for
further painting with white lead.
In the case of painted wood which is exposed to the open air, the
possibility is, moreover, not excluded that, where such wood is in
an unfavourable condition of humidity (see under § V.), it may have
to be repainted sooner than if it had been painted with white-lead
paints.
In these circumstances the cost of maintenance of wood painted with
zinc-white paint, and exposed to the open air, is further increased
as compared with wood painted with white-lead paint.
IX. Lithopone paints cannot replace white-lead paints in the open
air; they have proved to be quite unfit in this respect.
X. For paintwork above water, first coats of oxide of iron have,
during five years, proved to be quite as good and serviceable as
first coats of red oxide of lead.
For coats of paint under water, oxide of iron cannot be used.
Coats of oxide of iron paint are cheaper than coats of red oxide of
lead paint.
When oxide of iron is used for the first coat, much more technical
skill is required for the painting of the covering coats than is the
case when red oxide of lead is used for the first coat.
=Shipbuilding[36].=--Cases arising in shipbuilding are due not so
much to mixing the paints or red-lead paste as to the dust produced
in sandpapering the coats of white paint applied in cabins, etc., in
chipping and scraping off old red-lead paint, often in confined spaces
such as double bottoms, tanks, bilges, etc. Splashing from injecting
red lead between plates, fumes from burning off old paint, and fumes
from paint while using it in confined spaces, are mentioned in reports.
Several attacks have occurred to persons engaged in inserting red-hot
rivets into holes containing yarn soaked in red lead and oil. Lead
fumes, it is suggested, are given off. The number of cases included
under this heading each year has been--
1900 32
1901 28
1902 15
1903 24
1904 48
1905 32
1906 26
1907 22
1908 15
1909 27
1910 21
The figures illustrate the difficulty of obtaining a reduction in
the attacks when the cause is to be found in conditions not amenable
to control by exhaust ventilation. The possibility of effecting some
reduction by such precautions as can be adopted is suggested by the
diminution (from 110 to 60) in the number of cases in the Government
dockyards in the six years 1905-1910 and 1899-1904 respectively, as
compared with the increase (from 67 to 87) in all other shipbuilding
yards.
In the Government dockyards, among other precautions, men employed on
red-leading appear before the medical officer periodically, and no man
is allowed to do the work for more than two days a week. Further, oxide
of iron paint is to be used in the double bottoms, wing passages, and
other confined spaces on board ships. All men employed as painters are
allowed five minutes out of their working time for washing.
=Other Industries.=--The industries and processes which are gathered
together under this head will be seen from the following distribution:
Industries. Cases (Ten Years:
1900-1909).
(1) Iron drums and kegs 47
(2) Harness furniture 23
(3) Tempering springs 13
(4) Other contact with molten lead 103
(5) Metal sorting 13
(6) Handling lead and dust from metallic lead 122
(7) Shot-making 14
(8) Glass-making 13
(9) India-rubber 23
(10) Yarn-dyeing 28
(11) Copper letters and opal signs 28
(12) Other lead compounds 196
(13) Miscellaneous 36
---
Total 659
(1) and (2) have been described under tinning of metals, as the
processes are similar, and in the year 1909 they were included along
with tinning of hollow-ware under the same code of regulations.
Tempering of steel buffer springs (3)[37], carried on in Sheffield,
gives rise to poisoning from fumes of molten metal into which the
springs are immersed, and from dust of skimmings, unless there is
efficient hooding and exhaust. A sample of dust collected from a
lampshade over a melting-pot was found in the Government laboratory
to contain 48·1 of metallic lead, or 51·8 per cent. of lead monoxide.
In testing the springs under a hydraulic press, and subsequent
straightening by hammering on an anvil, the thin coating of lead on
the surface scales off, and may be inhaled.
Other contact with molten metal (4) includes operations which do not
differ from several already described, in which danger is incurred from
either fumes and dust in skimming the dross or subsequent handling,
such as manufacture of solder, coating cables, filling copper cylinders
with molten lead for the purpose of bending them, and subsequently
re-immersing them in the bath to melt out the lead, tinning of nails,
making lead patterns for fenders (in which there may be danger, also,
from use of a wire brush to get rid of adhering sand), etc.
Handling lead and dust from metallic lead (5) includes operations such
as die-stamping, stamping tickets and other articles on a leaden slab
(where the danger is akin to, though probably less in degree than in
file-cutting), examining bullets, manufacture of metallic capsules,
lining boxes with sheet lead, lead glazing (where the danger is
essentially that of plumbing work), etc.
It includes also a number of cases which were reported previous
to 1905 in the markers of testing ranges at a small-arms factory.
Duckering[38], who investigated these cases, found that the bullets
were stopped by dry sand in boxes 8 feet long. On entering the sand
the bullets became disintegrated, so that, after being in use for some
time, the sand contained a large amount of lead, and had to be removed.
In doing this the box was turned over, and the sand deposited on the
floor immediately behind the targets. The lead was then separated by
sifting by hand, and the sand used over again. In these operations much
floating dust was produced, which was inhaled by the markers, who stood
in an open trench immediately in front of and below the targets.
=Metallic Capsules.=--Some cases have occurred from the manufacture
of capsules for bottles. The capsule consists of a lead leaf rolled
between two leaves of tin. Cases arising in the early processes of
casting and rolling do not differ from those described as due to
contact with molten metal and handling of lead. The most difficult to
deal with are those which occur in the final process of cleaning and
colouring. Before colouring with varnish paint, the capsule is placed
on a rapidly revolving lathe, and the hand of the worker, carrying a
cloth containing whitening, is placed lightly on the capsule. A slight
amount of dust is inevitably raised, and this dust, collected from the
bench, was found to contain from 11·5 to 25·6 per cent. of lead; while
dust which had settled on a beam 9 feet from the floor contained 9·3
per cent. Of thirty-one workers employed in cleaning and colouring,
fifteen showed evidence of lead absorption in a blue line on the gums,
and in one there was considerable weakness of the left wrist. Similar
experience of lead poisoning in this industry has been noted in German
and Austrian factories.
Periodical medical examination at quarterly intervals has been
instituted in the principal factory, with good results, as it enables
those who show early signs of lead absorption to be transferred to
other processes. Exhaust ventilation has been tried, but, except at the
few lathes where cleaning alone is done, without complete success, in
view of the nature of the work.
=Shot-making.=--Cases in shot-making arise from the dust given off when
sifting the shot into different sizes--an operation which should be
carried on in sieves entirely closed in and under negative pressure.
Dust collected from the glass casing over a sifting machine contained
60·3 per cent. of metallic lead. The sample was free from arsenic.
=Heading of Yarn dyed with Chromate of Lead.=--Cotton yarn is dyed (10)
on a considerable scale with chromate of lead, chiefly for Oriental
markets; and it is the orange chrome--that most heavily weighted with
lead--which is most in demand there. The orange chrome colour is
obtained by dipping hanks of yarn into solution of lime, and then into
acetate of lead. The process is repeated a second time, after which
the chromate is formed by dipping in bichromate of soda, and finally
boiling in lime-water[39].
In production of yellow chrome colour, the yarn is treated only once
in a bath of lead acetate. Other colours made are lemon chrome and (by
addition of an indigo bath) chrome green.
The early processes of dyeing rarely give rise to poisoning, but the
strong solution of bichromate of soda readily causes characteristic
ulceration of the skin--“chrome holes.” Danger arises from dust in
the process of heading or “noddling,” as it is sometimes called, of
the dried yarn over posts. The hanks of yarn are tugged and shaken by
women as a rule, and in the case of orange chrome very considerable
quantities of dust are liberated. We have been told that a hank of this
kind of yarn does not commend itself to an Oriental buyer unless, when
shaken, dust is visible.
The industry was certified as dangerous in 1895, in view of serious
illness and death in Glasgow and Manchester, and special rules were
made to apply, not only to the heading operations, but also to the
winding, reeling, and weaving, of the dyed yarn--processes in which
cases of poisoning are very rare.
Detailed inquiry was made in 1906 in eleven factories where yarn was
dyed on a considerable scale by means of chromate of lead--in eight
mainly for export to India, and in three for the home market. Yarn dyed
for the home market gives off less dust when headed, as the material
undergoes additional washing in water and in dilute acid; and it is
also sometimes passed through a sizing of starch, which fixes the
chromate of lead to the yarn more securely.
Proof of the greater danger from orange chrome is found in the fact
that Dupré was able to wash 1 pound of dust (0·29 per cent.) from 345
pounds of heavy orange yarn, and only 1 pound (0·03 per cent.) could be
washed from 3,300 pounds of light yellow or green yarn.
In none of the factories were the workers engaged solely on the
dangerous yellow and orange chrome-dyed yarn. In some the work may
last an hour or two every day, in others for an hour or two every day
in alternate weeks, or for one week in every three or four weeks, and
perhaps in a dozen factories the work may not be done more frequently
than half a day a month, or even one in three months.
Particular attention was paid to the nature of the exhaust ventilation
at the “heading” posts, as this is the most important point in the
protection of the workers. It was provided in eight out of the nine
principal yarn-dyeing factories. The exception was one where the work
was said to be solely for the home market. In one a 2 foot 6 inch
Blackman fan was placed in the wall without connection of the “heading”
posts with it by means of ducts and hoods. In four, hoods and ducts
of wood, square in section, with right-angle bends, had been locally
applied to the posts. In other four, hoods and ducts were of metal,
circular in section. The velocities in feet per minute (obtained with
a Davis self-timing anemometer) were taken at the opening into the
branch duct behind or under the post. The value of anemometric tests in
detecting blockages or interference in the ducts is evident from the
table on p. 300.
+----+-----+---------+-----+--------------+----+---------+----+
| | | | | | | | |
| (1)| (2) | (3) | (5) | (6) | (7)| (8) |(10)|
| | | | | | | | |
+----+-----+---------+-----+--------------+----+---------+----+
|Fan.|Fan. |Fan. Fan.| Fan.|Fan. Fan. Fan.|Fan.|Fan. Fan.|Fan.|
| 240| 820 | 330 Nil|1,200| 420 450 210| 780| 570 700| 850|
| 450| | 450 20| | 420 510 210| | 570 700| |
| | | | | | | | |
| 480| 270 | 450 270| 780| 360 420 390| 660| 540 490| 850|
| 480|(750)| 420 270| | 360 420 430| 540| 570 570| |
| | | | | | | | |
| 480| 330 | Nil 250| | 270 120 420| 510| 540 530| |
| 450|(440)| Nil 300| | 300 120 490| | 540 540| |
| | | | | | | | |
| 324| 320 | 300 180| | 350 480 450| 300| 300 450| |
| 280|(420)| 250 150| | 290 480 420| | 300 450| |
| | | | | | | | |
| 25| | 130 350| | 430 390 510| | 420| |
| 25| | 220 180| | 420 360 460| | 400| |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | 360 300| | 240 420| | | |
| | | 240 280| | 450 480| | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | Nil 210| | 390 | | | |
| | | Nil 210| | 390 | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | Nil| | | | | |
| | | Nil| | | | | |
+----+-----+---------+-----+--------------+----+---------+----+
(1) The draught here was obtained from the main chimney-shaft. The
small velocities at the end post, it was subsequently found, arose from
the fact that the double heading post was connected by means of a very
small duct to the end of the large duct which served the other posts.
(2) Wooden duct connected up with fan. The area of the openings into
the duct could be enlarged or diminished by means of a shutter. The
figures in brackets were those obtained when the shutter was fully
opened.
(3) In this factory originally a 2 foot 6 inch fan was simply placed
in the wall. Subsequently they were boxed in and ducts of wood brought
within a foot of the noddling bar. Four of the branch ducts were found
to be blocked.
(5) Wooden ducts and hoods behind bar both close to the fan.
(6) Circular metal ducts with curved angles, and placed about 8 to 10
inches behind post; all connected up with a 4 foot 6 inch fan. The
small velocities (120 feet) at two posts was due to loose connection of
the branch ducts allowing air to be drawn in at the foot.
(7) Metal duct distant about 2¹⁄₂ feet from the post, and situated
immediately below and not behind the bar. Dust was prevented from
rising above the post by a glass screen, the projection of which also
prevented the worker from coming too near to, or getting his head over,
the post.
(8) Metal ducts, 9¹⁄₂ inches in diameter. Evidence of ill-health was
greatest here, notwithstanding good draught, because the branch ducts
were not brought close enough to the point where “heading” was done,
but were distant 15 inches from the centre of the post, and “noddling”
was done at a distance of 2 feet from the duct, one man standing
between the draught and the bar.
(10) Draught arranged as in (7), below the bar, without protection of
the worker by a glass screen.
Regulations now apply to the industry. So clear is it that
locally-applied exhaust ventilation is of paramount importance in
prevention of poisoning, that, however intermittent the operation
of “heading,” exemption from this requirement cannot be permitted.
Determination periodically by the occupier of the speed of the draught
at each exhaust opening should prevent blockage of ducts.
The regulations do not apply to the winding of, and weaving with,
yarn dyed with chromate of lead. Rarely in the spinning and weaving
factories of Blackburn does the amount of the particular yarn in
question constitute as much as 5 per cent. of the total quantity of
_coloured_ yarn used. Section 74, 1901, is sufficient to meet the
isolated cases where injury to health arises. The habit of biting
chrome-dyed thread has given rise to lead poisoning. Nor do the
regulations apply to treatment of calico or cloth into which lead may
enter. Such poisoning as may occur must be practically confined to
persons employed in the paint-mixing house.
=Manufacture of India-rubber.=[9]--Litharge, massicot, red lead, and
sulphide of lead, are generally mixed with rubber. Litharge is regarded
not only as a valuable filler for rubber, but has the faculty of
hastening vulcanization. All dry-heat goods depend upon it where a dark
or black effect is wanted.
Every year a few cases are reported in the process of mixing the
batches in the weighing room of the rubber factory, or more frequently
at the hot calender rolls, where the batch of dry powder containing
the lead compound is gradually distributed by hand on to the rubber
so as to effect an intimate mixture. The heated air over the rollers
causes dust to rise. According to the purpose for which the rubber is
wanted, the quantity of litharge in the batch varies. In one factory of
fourteen men employed at the calender rolls, ten showed a blue line,
five were markedly anæmic, one had weakness of the wrists, and two
weakness of grasp[40]. Only one case has been reported since exhaust
ventilation was applied locally over each calender roll. In a rubber
tyre factory five cases followed one another in quick succession,
all in persons employed on the rolls. There should be no hesitation
in requiring exhaust ventilation wherever employment in mixing the
batches or at the rolls is constant. In general, however, the work in
weighing out is intermittent, and reliance is placed on the wearing of
a respirator.
No attempt has been made to enumerate all the industries and processes
in which lead poisoning may arise. The task would become wearisome, as
they are so numerous. Nor is it necessary to give details of all that
are known, as it is doubtful whether there can be any different in
nature or requiring different treatment from the many which have been
described.
REFERENCES.
[1] Special Report on Dangerous or Injurious Processes in the
Smelting of Materials containing Lead, and in the Manufacture of Red
and Orange Litharge and Flaked Litharge, by E. L. Collis, M.B. Cd.
5152. 1910. Wyman and Sons, Ltd. Price 6d.
[2] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1901, p.
213.
[3] _Ibid._, p. 242.
[4] _Ibid._ for 1906, p. 272.
[5] H. O. HOFMAN: Metallurgy of Lead. 1906.
[6] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1900, p.
438.
[7] _Ibid._ for 1910, p. 154.
[8] Special Report above, p. 15.
[9] LAYET: Quoted by Oliver in Dangerous Trades, p. 288.
[10] DIXON MANN: Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, p. 477.
[11] SOMMERFELD: Bekämpfung der Bleigefahr, p. 220.
[12] SOMMERFELD: Quoted by Silberstein below, p. 257.
[13] SILBERSTEIN: Die Krankheiten der Buchdrucker, in Weyl’s Handbuch
der Arbeiterkrankheiten, p. 257. Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1908.
[14] TATHAM: Decennial Supplement to Sixty-fifth Annual Report of the
Registrar-General. Cd. 2619.
[15] Third Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on Certain
Miscellaneous Dangerous Trades. C. 9073. 1898.
Report on the Draft Regulations for File-Cutting by Hand, by Chester
Jones. Cd. 1658. 1903.
[16] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1904, p.
125.
[17] _Ibid._ for 1906, p. 273.
[18] Special Report on Dangerous or Injurious Processes in the
Coating of Metal with Lead or a Mixture of Lead and Tin, by Miss A.
M. Anderson, H.M. Principal Lady Inspector of Factories, and T. M.
Legge, M.D., H.M. Medical Inspector of Factories; together with a
Report on an Experimental Investigation into the Conditions of Work
in Tinning Workshops, and Appendices, by G. Elmhirst Duckering, one
of H.M. Inspectors of Factories. Cd. 3793. London: Wyman and Sons,
1907.
Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1902, pp.
296-318.
Report on Draft Regulations on the Tinning of Metal Articles, by E.
T. H. Lawes.
The Cause of Lead Poisoning in the Tinning of Metals, by G. E.
Duckering.
[19] The Health of Brass Workers, by T. M. Legge. Annual Report of
the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1905, pp. 388-397.
[20] _Ibid._ for 1898, pp. 119-123; and many references in later
Annual Reports.
[21] The Bischof Process for the Manufacture of White Lead, by
Professor Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., D.Sc. 1906.
[22] Report of the Departmental Committee on the Use of Lead, and
the Danger or Injury to Health arising from Dust and Other Causes in
the Manufacture of Earthenware and China: vol. i., Report; vol. ii.,
Appendices. Cd. 5277-8. 1910.
Lead Compounds in Pottery: Report to H.M. Principal Secretary of
State for the Home Department on the Employment of Compounds of
Lead in the Manufacture of Pottery; their Influence upon the Health
of the Workpeople; with Suggestions as to the Means which might be
adopted to Counteract their Evil Effects, by Professor T. E. Thorpe,
LL.D., F.R.S., Principal of the Government Laboratory; and Professor
Thomas Oliver, M.D., F.R.C.P., Physician to the Royal Infirmary,
Newcastle-on-Tyne. London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, February, 1899.
Price 5¹⁄₂d.
[23] Work of the Government Laboratory on the Question of the
Employment of Lead Compounds in Pottery, by Professor T. E. Thorpe.
Cd. 679. 1901.
[24] H. R. Rogers: Report of a Series of Experiments for Determining
the Amount of Lead in the Glaze of Finished Ware, based on the Method
described by Sir Henry Cunynghame, K.C.B., in his evidence before the
Departmental Committee on the Use of Lead (see 22, above).
[25] See 22, above, pp. 93, 94.
[26] C. R. PENDOCK: Unpublished Report.
[27] Special Report on Dangerous and Injurious Processes in the
Enamelling and Tinning of Metals, by Miss A. M. Anderson and T. M.
Legge, in Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1902,
pp. 296-318.
[28] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1910, p.
154.
[29] Zeitschrift für Gewerbehygiene, Unfall Verhütung und
Arbeiter-Wohlfahrtseinrichtungen, January, 1902.
[30] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1901, pp.
221-229.
Die in electrischen Akkumulatoren Fabriken beobachteten
Gesundheitsschädigungen. Arbeiten aus dem Kaiserlichen
Gesundheitsamte, by Dr. Wutzdorff. 1898.
[31] Third Interim Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to
inquire into and report upon Certain Miscellaneous Dangerous Trades,
pp. 16-19. C. 9073. 1898.
[32] D’ARCY ELLIS: Brit. Med. Journ., vol. ii., pp. 406-408, 1901.
[33] Report on the Manufacture of Paints and Colours containing Lead,
as affecting the Health of the Operatives employed, by T. M. Legge,
M.D. Cd. 2466. 1905.
Painters’ Colours, Oils, and Varnishes, by G. H. Hunt, Griffin, p.
357. 1901.
[34] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1905, pp.
366-368, and references in other Annual Reports.
[35] Report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into
the Dangers attendant on Building Operations, Appendix IX., pp.
184-187. Cd. 3848. 1907.
Painters’ Colours, Oils, and Varnishes, by G. H. Hunt, Griffin. 1901.
[36] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1910, pp.
175-176.
[37] _Ibid._ for 1906, pp. 272, 273.
[38] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1905, pp.
368, 369.
[39] Dangerous Trades Committee’s Final Report, C. 9509, pp. 26-30.
ALEX. SCOTT: Minutes of Evidence of Various Lead Industries
Committee, 1894, C. 7239-1, pp. 105-108.
J. S. CLAYTON: Industrial Lead Poisoning among Yarn Workers. Brit.
Med. Journ., vol. i., p. 310, 1906.
[40] Annual Report of the Chief Inspector of Factories for 1901, p.
231.
INDEX
Abortion caused by lead, 35
Absorption of lead: cutaneous, 25; from lung, 23; gastric, 19;
intestinal, 21, 22; in liver, 24; mechanism of, 20; prevention of,
from stomach, 23
Accumulators. See Electric accumulators
Acetate of lead, poisoning by, 94
Acetic acid, solvent action of, on lead oxide, 15
Acid lemonade, 185
Acidity, gastric contents, 15
Action of lead: on gold and silver, 3; on water, 3
Acute encephalopathy, 54, 95
Acute lead poisoning, 110, 111
Acute nephritis, 60, 131
Aerographing, 272, 280
Ætiology of lead poisoning, 7
Age as affecting lead poisoning, 35, 239
Akremnin soap, 238
Albuminate of lead, preparation of, 17
Albuminuria, 128
Albuminuric retinitis, 160
Alcohol: as predisposing cause, 37, 64; gastritis and plumbism, 64;
in experimental poisoning, 85; similar effect to lead on kidney, 131
Alteration in blood-corpuscles in lead anæmia, 133
Alternation of employment, 34, 251
Amaurosis, 70, 160
Amblyopia, 76
Amenorrhœa, 36
Anæmia, 39, 112, 132, 136, 227; treatment of, 190
Anemometers, 219
Antibrachial paralysis, 144, 148
Antimony, effect of, on lead fume, 199
Appointed surgeon, 112, 221
Aran-Duchenne paralysis, 149
Armit, nickel poisoning, 11
Arsenic: Cloetta’s experiments, 24; excretion of, in fæces, 24
Arterio-sclerosis, 116
Arthralgia, 50, 161
Arthritis, 40
Artificial gastric juice, action of, 17
Atrophic nerve changes, 69
Attack rate from lead poisoning (table), 55
Autopsy, points to be noted in, 162
Bacup epidemic, 4
Basophile granules, 77, 133, 135, 179
Baths, 238
Blood: action of lead salts on, 2; in lead poisoning, 70, 78, 134,
179; pressure, 116, 180; vessels, 68, 70, 75
Blue line, 122, 123, 128, 226; experimental production of, 41, 124;
from diachylon, 13
Brachial paralysis, 148
Brain, analysis of, 96
Brass, presence of lead in, 263
Brassworkers and plumbism, 51, 263
Breathing experiments, 81
Bright’s disease and lead poisoning, 60
Burtonian line. See Blue line
Carbon in lung, 11
Card system, use of, 186
Central nervous system, 69, 157; treatment, 196
Cerebral symptoms, 51, 157
Certifying surgeons, reports of, 45, 221
Chandelier fitters, poisoning among, 264
Channels of lead absorption, 8
Chemical analysis of brain, 95
Chemical characters of lead salts, 4
Chemical diagnosis, 166
Chemical examination of organs, 163
Chemistry of lead, 2
Choroidal atrophy, 161
Chromate of lead in yarn-dyeing, 298
Chrome colours, 287
Chronic colic, 119
Circulatory system, 75, 137
Cirrhosis of kidney, 74
Coach-painting, 288; dust in atmosphere breathed, 205; leadless
paints, 290; reported cases from, 289; sandpapering in, 289
Colic, 116, 117, 118, 119, 188, 190; differential diagnosis, 188;
treatment of, 187
Colloidal lead, 5
Colon, palpation of, 126
Colours, 285
Comparative mortality, 59
Conjunctiva in lead anæmia, 132
Constipation, 115
Copper extraction, plumbism in, 246
Cutaneous absorption, 25
Death certificates in plumbism, 57
Degeneration of blood vessels, 68
Determination of lead in urine, 169
Diachylon, 13
Diagnosis: from chemical analysis, 166; of lead colic, 120, 188
Diarrhœa, 115
Differential count in lead anæmia, 134, 137, 180
Digestion experiments, 16, 17
Drink for lead-workers, 186
Drugs in lead colic, 189
Duration of employment and plumbism, 52
Dust, lead: amount of, in air breathed, 199, 207; chief cause of
plumbism, 10; “laying,” difficulties of, 11; rate of settling, 7;
respirators for, 207
Dysmenorrhœa, 36
Earthenware: and china, 270; attack rate, 56; decorative processes,
272; dust in atmosphere, 204, 206; glaze processes, 272; leadless
glaze, 274; low solubility glaze, 274; Potteries Committee on,
recommendations of, 275; reported cases in (table), 271
Electric accumulators, 281; reported plumbism in, 283; ventilation
in, 216
Electrical reactions, 151, 153, 154
Electrical treatment, 194
Electro-chemical tests, 168
Electrolytic estimation of lead, 174; reactions, 5
Enamelling (vitreous), 278; aerographing in, 280; use of leadless
colours in, 278
Encephalitis, case of chronic, 71
Encephalopathy, 54, 68, 71, 157
Estimation of lead: in digestion, difficulties of, 18; in urine, 169,
170, 175
Excretion: of arsenic, 24; of lead salts, 32, 127, 128
Excretory system, 72
Exhaust ventilation. See Ventilation
Experimental lead poisoning: pathology of, 81; post-mortem findings,
91; symptoms, 69, 89, 103
Experimental arsenic poisoning, 24
Experimental results, summary, 104
Eye changes, 76, 150, 158
Facial nerve, paralysis of, 195
Fæces: examination for lead in, 182; lead in, 32, 64
Family susceptibility, 30
Fans. See Ventilation
Faradism for paralysis, 195
File-cutting, 256; atrophy of muscles in, 52, 257; reported cases in,
258
File-hardening, 258; lead fume from, 200, 201; use of fused metallic
salts for, 258
Forms of paralysis, 54, 142
Fritted lead: action of water on, 89; poisoning, 34, 97; solubility
test, 14
Fume (lead) in atmosphere breathed, 198, 207
Gastric absorption, 19, 21, 22
Gastric digestion, artificial, 17
Gastric juice, action on lead salts, 15, 16
Gastritis in plumbism, 65
Gastro-intestinal absorption, 12, 13, 64
Generalized paralysis, 151
Glass-cutting, 283
Glaze, 272; leadless, 274; low solubility, 274
Gout, 38
Hæmatoporphyrin, 180, 182
Hæmoglobin, 113, 132
Hæmorrhages in plumbism, 76
Hæmostatic action of lead salts, 2
Hair lotions, poisoning from, 13
Harness furniture, tinning of, 259
Headache, 120
Health Register, 228
Heart, 139, 193
Heart symptoms, 193
Heat, exhaust by, 208
Histological examination of lead tissues, 163, 176
Histology: of experimental poisoning, 92; of nervous system, 67
House-painting, 291; regulations for, 293; reported plumbism in, 291
Hunter, John, “dry bellyache” from rum, 1
Hyperæsthesia, 161
Immunity, 27, 29, 113
Incipient symptoms, 112, 222
India-rubber, manufacture of, 301
Inhalation experiments (table), 101
Inoculation experiments, 83, 88, 99
Instruction of worker, 240
Interstitial nephritis, 130
Intestinal absorption, 22, 94
Intestinal staining, 21, 94, 125
Iodine in plumbism, 192
Ionization in paralysis, 195
Iron drums, tinning of, 260
Italians and lead poisoning, 30
Kidney: changes, 73, 74, 129; excretion of lead by, 128; interstitial
hæmorrhages, 130
Lactic acid, solvent action of, 15
Large intestine and lead absorption, 21
Lavatories, 235, 238
Lead: compounds, 7; fume and dust in atmosphere, 198-207; in urine,
129, 167; melting-point, 2, 199
Lead bed in file-cutting, 257
Lead burning, 262; in electric accumulators, 283
Lead chloride in tinning, 200
Lead dust: minimal toxic dose, 31, 207; rate of settling, 7; size of
particles, 12
Lead fume in tinning, 202
Lead oxide, danger from skimming, 200
Lead piping, 251
Lead poisoning: acute, 110; mortality, 57; entry of poison, 8
Lead silicate, 34
Lead smelting: and silver refining, 242; analysis of fumes in, 246;
cupellation process, 246; Huntingdon-Heberlein process, 243; in blast
furnace, 243; Parkes’s process, 244; Pattinson process, 245; reported
plumbism, 248
Leadless glaze, 274
Leadless paints, 291
Lead salts: action on blood, 2; action of gastric juice on, 16, 17
Lemonade, sulphuric acid, 185
Letterpress printing. See Printing
Litharge, manufacture of, 250
Lithopone, 291, 292
Litho-transfers, 277
Liver, absorption by, 24
Loss of fat in plumbism, 112
Lumbago, 115, 192
Lung: absorption by, 98; phagocytic absorption of lead, 23
Meal-rooms, requirements of, 234
Mechanism of lead absorption, 20
Medical examination, periodical, 115, 221-229
Medical Health Register, 228
Medical practitioners and notification, 44
Melting-point of lead, 2, 199
Menorrhagia, 36
Mental symptoms, 114, 121, 158
Metallic capsules, 297
Metallic taste, 127
Micro-chemical tests, 167
Molten lead, contact with, 297
Mortality figures, 59
Motor-cars. See Coach-painting
Muscles paralyzed in experimental poisoning, 144
Muscular system, affections of, 114-161
Nephritis, 192
Nervous symptoms, 66, 67, 140; treatment, 193
Neuritis, peripheral, 66, 67
Nickel carbonyl poisoning via lung, 11
Normal lead, 33
Notification of plumbism, 44
Œdema of brain, 159
Olive oil in colic, 189
Ophthalmoscopic examination, 160
Oral sepsis, 38
Orange chrome, 299
Organic mixtures, lead in, 173
Organic compounds of lead, 5
Organs of generation, effect on, 36
Overalls and head coverings, 230
Oxides of lead, 3, 249
Painters and lead poisoning, 107. See also House-painting
Paints: and colours, manufacture of, 285; leadless, 29, 291
Pancreatic digestion, action of, 17
Paralysis: in animals, 14; electrical reactions in, 181; forms of,
64, 66, 142; general, 151; in file-cutters, 152; insidious onset of,
114; of special sense organs, 150; prognosis of, 197; statistics of,
53
Parotitis, 127
Pathology of lead poisoning, 62
“Pentarcomb” exhaust, 217, 254
Peptonate of lead, 18
Peptone, solvent action of, 19
Perambulators, painting of, 290
Perihepatitis, 264
Peripheral neuritis, 266
Peritonitis, saturnine, 65
Peroneal paralysis, 149
Phagocytosis of lead particles, 20
Phthisis: in printing, 256; not a sequela, 60
Physiology of digestion, 16
Plumbing, 261
Plumbism, reported cases (1900-1909), 46, 47
Plumbo-solvency of water, 4
Porcelain enamelling, 278
Post-mortem signs, 91, 161
Potassium iodide, action of, 32, 191
Pottery. See Earthenware
Predisposing causes, 36, 42
Presaturnine state, 184
Preventive measures: age of employment, 239; baths, 238; cloakroom,
231; exhaust ventilation, 207; floors, 240; food, 86; head coverings,
231; instruction of worker, 240; meal-room, 234; overalls, 230;
periodical examination, 221; separation of processes, 239; washing
accommodation, 235
Printing: compositors’ work, 255; linotype machine, 200, 211, 217,
253; reported cases from, 252; stereo-casting, 254; type-casting, 252
Prodromal symptoms: of colic, 118; of paralysis, 141
Prognosis in lead poisoning, 197
Progressive spinal muscular atrophy, 68
Pulse-rate, alteration of, 76, 115, 118
Purgatives in lead colic, 188
Putty powder, 283
Pyorrhœa alveolaris as predisposing cause, 40, 124
Qualitative tests, 166
Quantitative estimation of lead, 170
Reactions of degeneration, 152
Red lead: manufacture of, 249; reported attacks in, 249
Relative toxic dose of lead compounds, 105
Repairs in factory as cause of plumbism, 10
Respirators, inefficiency of, 217
Respiratory absorption, 9
Rheumatic pains, 121, 161, 192
Safes, painting of, 290
Salivary glands and excretion of lead, 125
“Selective” action of lead on nerves, 147
Sequelæ of lead poisoning, 57, 60
Sex as affecting susceptibility, 35
Sheet lead, 241
Shipbuilding, 295; reported plumbism, 295
Shot-making, 298
Silicates of lead, 34
Silver refining. See Lead smelting
Size of particles of lead compounds, 12, 34
Skin, colour of, 132
Smelting of lead. See Lead smelting
Solar plexus, 65
Soldering, 261
Solubility: of lead salts, 5, 15, 16, 17; test for fritted lead, 14
Solvent action of peptone, 19
Spastic paraplegia, 68
Spiegeleisen, poisoning in manufacture of, 246
Spring tempering, fume from, 201, 296
Stained-glass painting, 285
Statistics of plumbism, 44, 45
Susceptibility, 27
Tape measures, painting of, 290
Tea lead, 251
Temperature in lead poisoning, 118
Tempering files, 200
Terne plates, 260
Tests for lead, 167
Tetramethyl diphenyl test, 169
Thorpe test, 275
Tiles. See Earthenware
Tinning: of hollow-ware, 259; of harness furniture, 259; of
irondrums, 260; dust in, 203; lead chloride fume in, 202-203;
repeated attacks in, 261
Tolerance of lead, 28, 113
Toxic dose: of lead acetate, 110; of lead carbonate, 110; of lead
dust, 31, 207; of fritted lead dust, 88, 97; of white-lead dust, 85
Treatment of acute lead poisoning, 111, 184
Tremor, 142, 156
Turpentine poisoning, experimental, 108
Type metal, 202
Urine: acidity, 181; chemical examination of, 180; determination of
lead in, 167; lead in, 32, 73, 169; phosphates, 181
Vaso-motor changes, 65, 76, 140
Ventilation (exhaust), 207-220; by fans, 210; by heat, 208; composing
boxes, 255; essential points, 208; in earthenware, 273; in electric
accumulators, 216, 282; in enamelling, 278; in glass-cutting, 284;
in india-rubber, 302; in lead smelting, 245; in litharge, 251; in
paints, 215, 286; in printing foundry, 254; in red lead, 250; in
spelter, 249; in tinning, 259; in vacuum cleaning, 218; in white
lead, 214, 268; in yarn-heading, 300; smoke-test, 218
Volatility of lead, 2
Washing accommodation, 235
Wasting in lead poisoning, 113, 115, 145
Water, action on lead, 3, 4
White lead: Brimsdown process, 269; casual labour in, 269; cause of
dangers in, 266; chamber process, 268; diminution in reported cases,
270; Dutch process, 265; precipitation process, 269; ventilation in,
214
Works’ medicines, 185
Wrist-drop. See Paralysis
Yarn-dyeing with chromate of lead, 298
Zinc: action on kidney, 130; paints, 292, 294
BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD
Transcriber’s Notes
The text used in this document is the one used in the source
document, except as mentioned below. In particular, non-English words
and phrases and titles and author names of references, and summations
and other calculations in tables have not been corrected, unless
mentioned below. Table numbering (or the lack thereof) has not been
standardised.
Depending on the hard- and software used to read this text and their
settings, not all elements may display as intended.
Page 1, 6: Stockhusen is probably an error for Stockhausen.
Page 38, the reference to Goadby[13] points to a publication by
Garrod.
Page 52: hyperthenar eminence may be an error for hypothenar eminence.
Page 64, ... se recontrant d’une manière diffuse ...: possibly an
error for ... se rencontrant d’une manière diffuse ....
Page 70, bottom row of Table IX: possibly the first column should
read Average age at death.
Page 220, Literature reference [5]: there is no footnote marker in
the text.
Changes made
Tables and illustrations have been moved out of text paragraphs. Some
of the tables have been re-arranged or split for legibility; ditto
marks and the word Ditto have in several places been replaced with
the dittoed text.
Some obvious minor typographical and punctuation errors have been
corrected silently.
Page 3: ... mascicot and litharge ... changed to ... massicot and
litharge ....
Page 47, Table III bottom part: value for 1911 in the row Other
industries changed from 8 to 88⁴ (based on the totals given).
Page 61, Footnote [2]: Dr. John Tathan changed to Dr. John Tatham.
Page 75: Pfleuger changed to Pflueger.
Page 76: Seiffert changed to Seifert.
Page 79, references [16] and [27]: Bleilähnung changed to
Bleilähmung; reference [49]: les Maladies du Pois et Reins changed to
les Maladies du Foie et des Reins.
Page 88: eutetic entangling changed to eutectic entangling.
Page 137: The footnote under second table
(Furniture-Makers--Sand-Paperers) has been copied to under the first
table (on Lead Sulphate Workers) for clarity.
Page 151: _Electrical Reactions._ changed to =Electrical
Reactions.=
Page 169: magnese changed to manganese.
Page 220: Leclere de Pulligny changed to Leclerc de Pulligny.