622 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXI. Xo. 538. 



copper, that it could not be the dangerous 

 poison popularly supposed. No amount of 

 theoretical evidence regarding the innocu- 

 ousness of a substance will convince the 

 man who has been made violently ill by 

 eating it, and so, on the other hand, the fact 

 that we have all been consuming copper for 

 years without any known deleterious effect 

 is to the average mind a point in favor of 

 the harmlessness of minute quantities used 

 for specific remedial purposes. The situa- 

 tion is well illustrated by the action of the 

 English judge who had listened to the con- 

 flicting evidence of experts in a case regard- 

 ing the use of copper for greening peas 

 until he could tell nothing whatever about 

 it. Finally he discovered that the brand 

 of peas under discussion had been upon the 

 market for thirty-six years, and there were 

 now sold some 20,000,000 cans per year. 

 He then asked the prosecution to produce 

 evidence of a single instance of sickness or 

 injury which in the remotest way could be 

 traced to these vegetables, and as this could 

 not be done, he considered the evidence of 

 experience so great as to warrant dismiss- 

 ing the case. 



Coming directly to the results of experi- 

 ments designed to show the effect of copper 

 upon man, I can refer in only the briefest 

 way to the large mass of evidence accumi;- 

 lated along this line. For fourteen months 

 Gallipe and his family used food contain- 

 ing amounts of copper easily determined, 

 without any noticeable effect. Kobart's 

 experiments show that an average man can 

 take 1 gram of copper per day with per- 

 fect safety. This is a thousand times more 

 than could be obtained from water treated 

 with copper sulphate. Lehmann, Burcq 

 and many other careful investigators have 

 demonstrated that the ingestion of copper 

 even in considerable amoiants has no effect 

 other than producing results similar to an 

 overdose of table salt. Bernatzik deter- 

 mined that after entering the stomach only 



small quantities of copper are absorbed by 

 the blood and a toxic action is only possible 

 when a considerable amount accumulates in 

 the circulation. Silver, copper and zinc 

 have almost the same medicinal properties, 

 the difference being that of degree rather 

 than kind. These metals differ markedly 

 from the other heavy metals, having no 

 harmful effect upon the tissues, and pro- 

 ducing no fatal functional injury, hence 

 they are not poisonous in the same sense as 

 are lead, mercury, arsenic, antimony and 

 phosphorias. 



Dr. Paull, editor of the Pharmaceutical 

 Journal of England, was able to trace 99 

 per cent, of the copper as passing away 

 from the body and many other investigators 

 have established the fact that there is no 

 cumulative action with this metal. 



Strange as it may seem, there does not 

 exist an authentic case of copper poisoning 

 either in this country or abroad. At the 

 congress at Brussels, Avhere this subject was 

 discussed for more than six months and 

 which was attended by the strongest oppo- 

 nents of copper there was not a single in- 

 stance of copper poisoning which coiild be 

 brought forward that would stand the 

 scn;tiny of the congress. 



In our own country, those toxicologists 

 and physiologists who have given the sub- 

 ject sufficient attention to be competent to 

 pass judgment are, without exception, 

 agreed that copper in the amount used for 

 the purification of water is without harm. I 

 can not quote these here, but both in pri- 

 vate letters and in published statements 

 their verdict is in favor of the harmlessness 

 of copper. I wish there were opportunity 

 to quote at length from these men, but it is 

 impossible at this time. It is, perhaps, suf- 

 ficient to state that one of the best known 

 of these authorities refers to the very point 

 that was brought out to-night by one of the 

 speakers. That is, that the finding of cop- 

 per in the human body is one argument 



