Mercury Poisoning and Deafness 

 The Price of a Derby Hat 



By A. M. Jungmann 



WHEN you pay five dollars for 

 your fine derby hat do not imag- 

 ine you have paid the price of 

 the hat. The real price is paid by the 

 unfortunate victims of "hatters' shakes" 

 who contract mercurial poisoning while 

 engaged in preparing the fur and mak- 

 ing it into your hat. 



There are many trades which are dirty 

 and hazardous but it would be difficult 

 to find one as objectionable as the hat- 

 ters' fur trade. From the moment the 

 fur receives a scrubbing with a solution 

 of nitrate of mercury until the hat is 

 finally completed, mercurialism is a con- 

 stant menace to the workers. 



Conditions found in various factor- 

 ies dift'er greatly. In some, every eft'ort 



the animals by the trappers. They 

 are stiff and full of natural animal 

 grease and dirt. The skins are first cut 

 open by unskilled laborers. They are 

 then combed and brushed by hand. The 

 brushes used for this purpose have fine 

 wire bristles. With this brush the work- 

 man frees the fur from particles of dirt. 

 Anything which is not readily removed 

 by the combing and brushing process is 

 removed with the aid of a very sharp 

 knife. In some cases the skins are 

 brushed by machines supplied with suc- 

 tion devices. Where the work is .done 

 by hand the air is full of fine dust and 

 particles of fur. It is the usual prac- 

 tice to have a man employed all day in 

 sweeping up the accumulated dust and 



is made to protect the workers and in dirt from the floor with results that can 

 others the welfare of the operatives is be imagined. 



neo-lected. The Department of Health After the skins are combed, they are 



of New York city recognized that thou- dampened and the long hairs are clipped 

 sands of workers in our industries are or plucked. In the case of hare skins 

 subjected to conditions which endanger the plucking is done by machinery; with 

 their health. As a means of protecting coney skins it is done by hand. The 

 the workers and raising the standard of hand plucking creates an immense 

 the public health, 

 the Department 

 opened an Occu- 

 pational Clinic and 

 concentrated its en- 

 ergies first of all 

 on the fur and hat- 

 ters' fur trades. 



In the prepara- 

 tion of the hatters' 

 fur used for the 

 manufacture of felt 

 hats, rabbit, coney, 

 nutria, muskrat and 

 hare skins are put 

 through a number 

 of processes.- The 

 skins are received 



in the factories The occupational clinic where the workers 



just as thev ha\e ^^ trades which give rise to occupational 



. , • ', r diseases are examined by the New York 



been stripped from ^ity Department of Health 



68 



amount of dust, 

 hair and fluff in 

 the air. 



Frequently the 

 workers stand in a 

 mass of h a i r, 

 which covers the 

 floor to a depth of 

 several inches. The 

 skin is fastened 

 over a leg stump 

 by means of a 

 loop of clothesline 

 which is held taut 

 by another loop 

 through which the 

 plucker places his 

 foot, as in a stir- 

 rup. This causes 

 the worker to as- 

 sume what would 



