10 INSECTICIDE STUDIES. 







yellow. Their spittle appeared yellow, and the powder had a hitter taste. Accord- 

 ing to Mrs. B. the powder had a sweeti>h-bitter taste. The male helper sickened 

 alter working upon the threads about eight days; he had a headache, with a ringing 

 in the ears, pains in his hreast and stomach, and lost his appetite. lie had a desire 

 to vomit and was constipated. This continued for six weeks, until he ceased working 

 and went to the doctor. Mr.-. P.. during' the meantime hecame ill : she complained 

 of loss of appetite and pains in the chest. P>. on the last day of the third week of the 

 work was attacked with pains in the stomach. Then appeared nausea, languor, and 

 sleeplessness KL'ht <>r ten days later he was ohliged to stop work and send for the 

 doctor (.n account of pains in the bowels and costiveness. The girl helper was also 

 ill. having diarrhea, loss of appetite, and pains in the breast. 



Dr. ,T. stated the symptoms of B. and the helpers in the following terms: Yellow- 

 coated tongue and yellow expectoration, entire loss of appetite, nausea, temporary 

 vomiting, and pains in the region of the navel, accompanied by obstinate constipation. 

 The excrement was also colored yellow, and all the patients were very weak. The 

 doctor stated that these symptoms were all caused by breathing yellow dust from 

 the yarn and indicated plainly lead-chromate poisoning. 



Although all of the above-mentioned persons finally recovered, B. lost a ^-weeks- 

 old baby, whose death could be ascribed only to the breathing or swallowing of the 

 yarn dust. When the l.'s noticed how much dust was (lying about they sought to 

 protect their baby by spreading a white woolen cloth of medium thickness over his 

 fact-. Thn doth was said to have been yellow with the dust all the time, as well as 

 the bed on which the child was lying. The child's crib stood midway between the 

 two B.'s stools and at night the mother took the child to bed with her. It was 

 healthy and lively, so that continued poor feeding could not have caused the bad 

 condition of the stomach (jelly-like softening and perforation) observed at the post- 

 mortem. Suddenly, six or eight days before its death, which occurred on February 

 L'4. the child was taken sick. Its face became pale and its body hot. It had a 

 couple of loose, yellow actions each day, which were accompanied by restlessness 

 and freijuent screaming. The skin upon the breast and stomach became red. In 

 the bfjmnini: the baby drank, but refused to eat; later it drank with trouble, and 

 on the day it died it swallowed with difficulty. The lips were dry, the breathing 

 short, and death followed slowly. It is to be remarked that the child, after remain- 

 ing healthy for -ix weeks in spite of the surrounding yarn dust, was suddenly taken 

 sick six or eight days before death and grew worse at a time when the yellow yarn 

 was not beini: worked upon. Since the child remained covered with the cloth up to 

 the time of its death, it appears likely that the dust gradually worked its way 

 throii-jh the cloth and sifted down so that the child always had to breathe this 

 impure air until its death. 



A chemical examination \va> made of the following organs of the child and the 

 articles that were used at the the time of his death: Contents of the nose, contents 

 of the -tomach. urine and gall taken from the urine and irall bladders, organs of the 

 stomach and breast, the hair of the head, shirt slip, the child's nipple, and a portion 

 of the yellow yarn. The brain would have been examined, but the vessel contain- 

 ing it was ln>t. The yarn .ntained ll.s:; percent lead chromate. Lead chrmnate 

 wa- found in the hair of the head, and the little slip contained >;."> mi: lightly strewn 

 t. The organs of the neck, chest, and gullet contained 36 mg of lead chromate. 

 The ..ther tluids of the body and organs, the shirt, and nipple did not show the 

 presence "f any lead chromate. 



It will thus l>e >een that mimt>rr> of authentic ra^vs of poisoning, 

 by either luvathino- or ^wallowmo- Ira<l rhromatr. arc on record. Fol- 

 lowing will 1>< 4 found sc-voral typical cax>s of poisoning by alkaline 



