NA TURE 



499 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 191, 



LEAD POISONING. 

 Lead Poisoning: from the Industrial, Medical, 

 and Social points of vieis). Lectures delivered 

 at the Royal Institute of Public Health by Sir 

 T. Oliver. Pp. x + 294. (London: H. K. 

 Lewis, 1914.) Price 55. net. 



IEAD and its compounds are among the most 

 _> serviceable of metallic products, but unfor- 

 tunately their use is attended by a great amount 

 of human suffering, and lead-poisonmg, or, as it 

 is variously called, plumbism, saturnism, Colica 

 pictorium, or Colica pictorum, is one of the 

 commonest forms of industrial intoxication. 

 Nearly every class of worker handling lead 

 or its compounds is liable to be injuriouslv 

 affected, from the miner engaged in getting cerus- 

 ite, the smelter, desilveriser, or flue cleaner who 

 are employed in the extraction of the metal; the 

 worker who oxidises it to litharge and red-lead; 

 the type-founder, stereotyper, and diamond- 

 cutter, who use its alloys; the file-cutter, who 

 employs it as a " bed " or " stock " to, of course, 

 the plumber, who, as his very designation im- 

 plies, is essentially concerned with the applica- 

 tions of the metal in its finished state. And the 

 compounds of lead are as a class even more 

 directly and immediately toxic than the metal. 

 Many of them enter largely into the composition 

 of pigments, and accordingly colour-mixers, 

 house and coach painters, lithographers, as well 

 as those who make the pigments, are prone to 

 suffer from lead poisoning. Lead compounds are 

 used in metal-polishing, in electro accumulator 

 making, in dyeing, glass-making, pottery manu- 

 facture, and in the glazing of hollow ware, and 

 cases of plumbism are particularly rife in those 

 industries. Communities are occasionally subject 

 to an epidemic of lead-poisoning, owing to the 

 action of some kinds of drinking-water upon the 

 leaden pipes and cisterns used to convey and store 

 the water. 



It is, therefore, scarcely to be wondered at that 

 the subject of lead-poisoning should have received 

 the earnest attention of pathologists and sani- 

 tarians, and of the public departments in various 

 countries concerned with the supervision of the 

 hygienic condition of factories and workshops. 

 In the work before us, Sir Thomas Oliver, 

 who has made the subject a special study, and 

 is an acknowledged authority upon it, gives 

 us an admirable digest from the industrial, 

 medical, and social points of view of what is 

 known concerning it. 



He deals with the various industries concerned 

 with the use of lead and lead compounds, and the 

 NO. 23s 8, VOL. Q4I 



relative frequency among them of lead-poisoning ; 

 explains how it is actually caused, the channels 

 of entrance of the poison, and its symptomatology ; 

 its action on the blood and nervous system ; its 

 influence on female life and motherhood ; and 

 lastly, its treatment, preventive and curative. 

 Incidentally he shows the good that has been 

 effected by legislation, and points out the bene- 

 ficial results that have followed from Home Office 

 inspection and regulations. 



The book is primarily intended for the medical 

 profession, but we commend it to the attention of 

 all who are interested in the manufacture and use 

 of lead and its compounds. Lead, of course, is 

 too valuable a metal to be wholly dispensed with, 

 and its good properties are such that it must con- 

 tinue to be used. But there is no question that 

 certain of its more harmful compounds could be 

 dispensed with, as innocuous substitutes are 

 known; e.g., white lead may in many cases be 

 replaced by zinc white, leadless glaze might more 

 often displace lead glaze. But even where used, 

 less harmful compounds than those actually em- 

 ployed are available, as, for example, fritted glazes 

 in substitution for " raw lead glazes " in the 

 manufacture of pottery. Although a certain 

 amount of progress has been made, lead-poisoning 

 in the Potteries is still far too prevalent ; the actual 

 number of cases reported may be fewer than was 

 the fact when the Thorpe-Oliver Report to the 

 Home Office was published, but recent statistics 

 indicate that the number of severe cases, ending 

 in death, has shown no sensible diminution. If, 

 then, lead compounds must continue to be used 

 in this industry, it is only by the intelligent 

 appreciation and study of the facts set forth in 

 Sir Thomas Oliver's little book that progress in 

 remedial measures can be secured. T. 



VEGETABLE TANNINS. 

 Die Gerhstoffe : Botanisch-chemische Monographie 

 \ der Tannide. By Dr. J. Dekker. Pp. xiii -r 

 636. (Berlin : Gebruder Borntraeger, 1913.) 

 ! Price 20 marks. 



THIS book is the German translation of the 

 earlier Dutch edition (1905^), and is 

 supplemented and revised up to date. The author 

 is specially fitted to write on the subject of vege- 

 table tannins, as he is both botanist and chemist, 

 and has for many years been engaged in research 

 on these bodies. 



In the botanical section of the book a classifica- 

 tion of the tannins is given, which is far more 

 complete and useful than any previous work of 

 this kind. The excellence of this part of the book 

 is very largely due to the original work of the 

 author and his collaborators. The value of such 



