PAINTS AND VARNISHES 383 



430. The Hygiene of the Painting Trade. A thorough 

 knowledge of the dangers attached to handling and working 

 paints is absolutely essential as a safeguard against poisoning. 

 It has been scientifically demonstrated that many of the 

 materials with which the painter works are poisonous, and 

 many of the processes are such that it is difficult, especially 

 under certain conditions, to avoid contact with these poisons. 

 There are, however, certain simple precautions by which 

 the danger can be avoided. 



Either or both the pigment and the vehicle of paint may 

 be poisonous and either or both may be perfectly harmless. 

 The higher priced paint usually contains white lead, 

 linseed oil, and turpentine. Both the white lead and the 

 turpentine are poisonous. The pigment in cheap paint 

 may be something perfectly harmless, as chalk or barium 

 sulphate, while the vehicle may contain so great a per- 

 centage of petroleum compounds that it is extremely poison- 

 ous, especially when used on inside work in poorly ventilated 

 enclosures. 



431. Dangerous Pigments. The pigments which cause 

 poisoning are the lead salts white lead, sublimed white lead, 

 chrome yellow, chrome green (a mixture of chrome yellow 

 with Prussian blue), red lead, and orange mineral. Lead 

 carbonate and lead sulphate are used in the higher priced 

 paints, usually separately, but sometimes together, and the 

 carbonate more commonly than the sulphate. Chrome 

 yellow is used for tinting in house painting and in coach 

 painting; chrome green for painting window shutters; red 

 lead in painting structural iron- work; and orange mineral 

 for painting wagons. Of these constituents, lead carbonate 

 is considered the most poisonous; but when sandpapering, 



