14 ARSENIC IN PAPEKS AND FABRICS. 



have been poisoned by lining in such surroundings. Scores of cases of 

 arsenic poisoning caused by wall papers, playing cards, dress goods, 

 etc., have been published, but only those cases are quoted here which 

 appear to be very convincing in character. No cases previous to 1880 

 will be cited, since a very complete account of the ones previous to 

 that date can be found in a paper by Professor Wood. a In selecting 

 typical cases preference has been given to those in which a chemical 

 examination of the patient's urine appears. 



CASES OF POISONING BY ARSENICAL WALL PAPERS AND 



FABRICS. 



CASE I. 



A lady 47 years of age oegan to be affected with snpraorbital neuralgia on the 

 right side six weeks after occupying a room papered with a dull grayish artistic 

 green, with red pomegranates. The neuralgia steadily increased in severity, and 

 no benefit was derived from open air exercise and quinine. It was made worse 

 by Fowler's solution. Finally the wall paper was suspected and found upon 

 examination to contain arsenic in large quantity. This paper was removed and 

 a nonarsenical one put on, when the neuralgia speedily disappeared without 

 medicine. & 



CASE II. 



Dr. George Garlick reports several cases of poisoning in members of the same 

 family by a red wall paper. Two children were brought to the out-patient depart- 

 ment of the Children's Hospital, Great Ormond street. Their mother, who 

 brought them, gave the following account: The elder, a boy of 8 years, had been 

 suffering some time from pains in the eyes, nose, and different parts of the body; 

 he passed restless nights and during the day was depressed and inert. His diges- 

 tion was feeble, and he had flatulence after food; his tongue was furred, pale, 

 tremulous, and silvery; and the motions were described as offensive. There was, 

 besides, a small patch of ill-developed psoriasis on the face. The other child, a 

 little girl, also had pains in the eyes, nose, and shoulders, described as of a shoot- 

 ing character. Her tongue was also furred, and she had, like her brother, dys- 

 peptic symptoms. 



This remarkable combination of symptoms viz, the local pains in the eyes and 

 nose, with the presence of dyspepsia suggested to me the possibility of arsenical 

 poisoning, and, on further inquiry, this supposition was much strengthened by 

 the statement of the mother that she was much surprised at her children, as they 

 described exactly the same symptoms that she herself felt and that two of her 

 other children at home suffered the same way. In fact, with the exception of the 

 father and one child, all suffered the same way. She was accordingly directed to 

 bring some of the wall paper of the rooms they inhabited. 



A sitting-room paper which had been on the wall two years was found to be 

 arsenical. It was an inferior paper and consisted of red stars stamped on a ground 

 of pale yellow and gray brown. The arsenic was contained in the red pigment. 

 After the paper was removed the pain complained of in the eyes and nose at once 

 ceased. The dyspeptic symptoms were slower in mending. c 



Report of State Board of Health of Massachusetts for 1883, p. 213. 



&Wood, Case 16, Report Mass. State Board of Health, 1883; Practitioner 1880, 

 24: 110. 



Wood, Case 30, Report Mass. State Board of Health, 1883; The Lancet, Jan. 3, 

 1880, p. 12. 



