53 



is felt and violent itching and burning, causing many sleepless 

 nights. In two or three days the crisis is reached, and the 

 swelling immediately subsides. In severe cases, small festering 

 boils form also. This lacquer disease is not only caused by 

 handling of the lac, but by its evaporation chiefly, especially that 

 of the sharp Se-shime, to which I owe my own illness." 



"The poison, however, is a volatile substance, and has nothing 

 to do with the lac-acid and its higher oxidation, as Korschelt 

 believed. If the poisonous property disappears in the drying of 

 the plant, this amounts to nothing save that the volatile poison 

 fully escapes in this manner. A considerable part of it is driven 

 off in the preparation of the several kinds of lacquer, and by 

 stirring in open vessels. For this reason, the lacquers mixed 

 with colors are regarded far less dangerous than the raw lac 

 and its direct derivatives." 



ForneP compares the above symptoms with those of poison- 

 ing by poison ivy and anarcardium, as well as the cases of poison- 

 ing of the laborers in the vanilla depot of Bordeaux" where 

 nearly all, even from the first day, experienced strong itching 

 accompanied with a burning sensation, especially on the face and 

 hands. He finds a remarkable similarity in all of these cases and 

 believes that he is justified in assuming that all are produced by 

 cardol. He also states that anacardium is used in the preparation 

 of Japanese lac, but I have been unable to find confirmation of 

 this fact. 



Dr. Andreas 88 reports the case of a gardener in the botanical 

 garden at Vienna, who was poisoned while collecting and trans- 

 planting Rhus vernicifera. On the same day the face became 

 red, the skin inflamed, the eyelids, nose and cheeks swollen. The 

 reddening extended to the neck, breast, hands and forearms. 

 The genitals were also red and swollen. By dusting with starch 

 the inflammation disappeared in fourteen days. 



When opening the cans care must be exercised to prevent the 

 vapors accumulated in the top of the can from coming in contact 

 with the face or hands, as the poisonous part of the lac is volatile 

 and may be removed by heating or by distillation. Yoshida also 

 states that the lac contains a volatile poison which is dissolved 

 with the urushic acid by alcohol but is almost completely driven 



Archiv. fur Dermatologie und Syphilis, L,X, p. 249. 

 Revue d'Hygiene, Paris, 1883, p. 718. 

 Therap. Monotshifte, 1903, p. 165. 



