EFFECTS OF ARSENICAL DUST. 33 



the physician, is much prized in many of the arts for the great 

 brilliancy and cheapness of the colours made from its salts. 



The chief of these is that pigment popularly known under the 

 names of Emerald-green, Brunswick, or Vienna-green. This 

 pigment is of two kinds, known to the chemist, the one as 

 Scheele's, and the other as Schweinfurt's green. 



The former contains fifty-five, and the latter fifty-eight per 

 cent, of white arsenic that is to say, more than a half of the 

 pigment is pure arsenic. 



It is from this material that wall-papers in every shade of 

 green, artificial flowers, fruits, feathers, dresses, &c., derive their 

 colour. It is estimated that in England alone, seven hundred 

 tons of this green are every year thrown into the market for use 

 in these arts.* 



It is remarkable, that workmen employed in roasting the 

 arsenical ores, and who are much exposed to arsenical dust, 

 are less affected by it than others whose business it is to apply it 

 to its industrial uses. It is believed by Dr Guy, and other 

 eminent authorities, that these workmen suffer comparatively 

 little, if at all. You will however see, from the tables, that this 

 conclusion is not warranted by the facts of the case. In every one 

 hundred sick among the arsenic makers, eleven are consumptive, 

 and their average life is forty-seven years being the same as that 

 of the quicksilver miners. If you will now compare these facts 

 with the case of those who are engaged in the conversion of the 

 arsenic into arsenical pigments, it will be seen that every fourth 

 man among the latter is consumptive (25 -0) ; and his average life, 

 is in a proportional degree, lessened. Once more, let me call 

 your attention to the fact, that the artificial flower maker has a 

 still greater mortality his death rate being one in three (36 -0) 

 or thirty-six in every hundred sick. 



Let us here pause and for a moment contemplate some of the 

 possible results which may attend the introduction of such sub- 

 stances into our social and domestic usages. Here is a piece of 

 a favourite and much-used arsenical wall-paper. An ordinary 

 sized room, with one thousand square feet of wall surface covered 

 with it, would contain twenty thousand grains of arsenic. 

 * "Manual of Hygiene," Cameron. 



