6 Burton, Plumbisni in Pottery Workers. 



is readily converted into soluble and assimilable com- 

 pounds which can be absorbed by the living tissues of the 

 body, and so set up a dangerous disturbance of the system. 

 The one point to guard against, therefore, is the creation of 

 dust, or, if that be impossible, the breathing or swallowing 

 of this dust by the workers. It will be readily understood 

 that the various processes in use for applying glaze or 

 colour to pottery will differ greatly in their liability to 

 create dust. In some of them, as in the dusting of colour, 

 for instance, the use of dust is a necessary part of the 

 process ; in others, the only dust created is due to the 

 slovenly or careless habits of the workpeople themselves. 

 It is possible to deal with the dust, however created, by 

 careful arrangements, involving, in extreme cases, the use 

 of fans where dust is created in some quantity. Safe- 

 guards such as these, whicli may be called mechanical 

 safeguards, together with the provision of adequate and 

 convenient washing appliances, and the careful and 

 systematic washing of the floors, benches, and walls of 

 workshops, will undoubtedly do much for the prevention 

 of plumbism. 



An additional protection, which may be called " the 

 medical safeguard," is also of considerable value. It has 

 long been known to medical men that plumbism is 

 generally a somewhat slow form of poisoning, and that 

 persons of certain idiosyncrasy are more than normally 

 susceptible to its influence. Cleanliness, and care of the 

 person, of the general health, of food, &c., are also factors 

 of importance. It has therefore been considered advisable 

 that all persons whose occupation in pottery works brings 

 them in contact with lead, shall be examined once a 

 month by the certifying surgeon for the district, who has 

 power to suspend them from work, on the appearance of 

 signs of plumbism, until, after a further examination, he 



