

CAUSES OF POISONING BY AESENICAL PAPERS. 9 



biiied with arsenical paper and hot air passed through the tube for a 

 number of days, but 110 arsenic could be detected in either of the silver 

 solutions. Here again was evidence that the arsenic of wall papers 

 is set free neither as dust nor as a volatile compound. . 



In 1869 Sonnenschein a tested the air from a room where the paper 

 was arsenical and the occupant was suffering with symptoms of 

 arsenical poisoning. He passed the air through a heated glass tube 

 and obtained a mirror which appeared to be arsenic. 



The above paper is especially important in that it seems to be the 

 first case in which a true indication was obtained of the presence of 

 a volatile arsenical compound in the air of rooms papered with arsen- 

 ical paper. 



In 1874 Hamberg 6 tested the air of a room which was papered with 

 an arsenical paper, for the presence of this compound. The appara- 

 tus was so arranged that both arsenical dust and gaseous compounds 

 of arsenic could be determined. It was found, after the air of the 

 room had run through this apparatus for a month, that both arseni- 

 cal dust and volatile arsenic compounds were present, as shown by 

 the Marsh test. 



In 1886 IIamberg c published another paper on the action of decay- 

 ing animal matter on arsenious oxid. A general outline of his scheme 

 is as follows: Mix 1 gram of arsenious oxid with a mixture of sand, 

 broken glass, and various parts of the body (lungs, liver, etc.), and 

 place the whole in a large flask. To this attach a system consisting 

 of a tube containing cotton, then a tube containing test paper, then 

 one containing silver-nitrate solution, and finally a guard tube. 

 Draw air through this apparatus from outside the laboratory. 



This experiment was continued for about nine years, the air of the 

 flask and the silver-nitrate solution being tested at intervals for the 

 presence of arsenic. Mold began to grow after about two weeks. 

 The total amount of arsenious oxid found in the silver solution dur- 

 ing the whole course of the experiment amounted to only about 1.5 

 milligrams actually determined and various smaller amounts deter- 

 mined qualitatively, but upon analyzing the residue in the flask it 

 was found that only 551 milligrams of arsenious oxid remained, so 

 that 449 milligrams must have passed off as a volatile arsenic com- 

 pound, only 1.5+ milligrams of which was caught by the silver- 

 nitrate solutions. During the experiment the air of the flask was 

 often tested. It was found to possess a very disagreeable odor, 

 which at times resembled the odor of arsin or kakodyle. 



In 1894 Sanger^ mentioned some work performed by Kinnicutt in 

 1888, which indicated that in a room with wall paper containing 0.1 



Handbuch d. gerichtlichen Chem. , p. 153. 



&Pharm. J. and Trans. (3), 5: 81, through Sanger, loc. cit. 



^Pharm. Ztschr. f. Russland, 25: 779. 



^ Loc. cit. 



