36 DUST AND CONSUMPTION. 



enumerated in the Act, is prohibited in the manufacture of 

 playthings. Fourthly, the use of arsenical colours for the manu- 

 facture of paper-hangings, or for materials of dress, is prohibited. 

 Fifthly, the sale of food stuffs, or food products, preserved or 

 packed contrary to these regulations, is prohibited. Sixthly, 

 the enactment shall come into operation on the 1st of April 1883. 

 Now, you will perhaps characterise this proceeding on the part 

 of the German government, as a bold, if not a sweeping and 

 summary measure. Let us see what came of it. Germany is, as 

 you are aware, the great manufacturing workshop of these pig- 

 ments, and of the arts to which they are applied. Here, then, is 

 an act that threatened the extinction of these industries, with 

 its consequent widespread commercial ruin. 



In view of this disaster, we may believe there were no 

 lack of appeals, remonstrances, and even threatenings. The 

 government, however, remained firm in its determination to 

 waive every consideration except those which had regard to the 

 best welfare of the people. Now notice what comes of doing 

 what is right regardless of consequences. The dreaded 1st 

 of April the day on which the Act would come into force 

 at length arrived, but with it, not the expected ruin. How 

 was this 1 How often as in this case has necessity proved 

 the "mother of invention," especially when it touches that 

 sacred depository of the public conscience the pocket 1 ? In 

 short, before the fated day, by the joint aid of money and 

 science, new and poisonless pigments were devised, tried, and 

 found to fully meet all the requirements of the case. Thus, 

 Germany at this moment, has the proud satisfaction of having 

 initiated a great sanitary reform. 



You have not, I am sure, failed to be struck with the fact that 

 these effects of unhealthy occupations culminate, in an extra- 

 ordinary degree, in the production of one particular disease. It 

 is unfortunately the most prevalent and fatal of our maladies ; 

 and it is on that account that I have chosen pulmonary con- 

 sumption as the crucial disease by which to test the ill effects of 

 these occupations. 



A high death-rate, amongst any class, from consumption, im- 



