ARSENIC IN PAPER-HANGINGS. 
321 
same water poisoned by lead from the same cistern, only 
thirteen out of thirty-eight persons actually suffered from 
lead-poisoning, and these in very different degrees. Out of 
a hundred persons connected with the plumbing trade, the 
number attacked with symptoms of lead-poisoning is very 
small. It has been remarked, that among workmen engaged 
in the white-lead manufacturers well as in the arsenical 
paper manufacture, there are many that escape for one who 
is . attacked. Mr. Fletchers ^workmen, we are informed, 
prepare weekly two tons of this poisonous colour, containing 
about fifty-eight per cent, of its weight of arsenic : they have 
been so employed for years, “ under the necessity of con- 
stantly handling the pigments, and are ip the enjoyment of 
perfect health/’ Mr. Fletcher called upon me at Guy’s 
Hospital and substantially confirmed Mr. Paul’s statement. 
However surprising it may be that persons should suffer 
symptoms resembling those produced by arsenic from living 
in rooms plastered with emerald green, it is to my mind far 
more surprising that men should handle and deal with some- 
thing like sixty tons of arsenic yearly, and yet be in the 
enjoyment of perfect health ! Mr. Fletcher's experience is 
not in accordance with that of others. M. CheVallier, some 
years since, pointed out the injuries to health produced among 
workmen by this manufacture, and suggested precautions for 
their prevention. (See Annates d’Hygiene et de Medecine 
Legale , tome 38, 1847, page 56.)* The use of arsenic in the 
candle-manufacture was formerly justified on a similar prin- 
ciple, but as it turned out, erroneously, for not only did some 
of the workmen suffer from arsenical poisoning, but the 
combustion of the candles w T as reasonably believed to be 
injurious to health. I am not aware that arsenic was ever 
found in the atmosphere of a room in which these candles 
were burnt, although it was no doubt evolved during 
combustion. In my opinion, the health of the public in 
* In Bouchardat’s Annuaire de Therapeutique for 1846, p. 209, 1 find 
the following statement The workmen in paperffactories, who handle the 
Schweinfurth green (aceto-arsenite of copper), are subject to serious dis- 
orders of health. They sometimes suffer from a cutaneous eruption,' with 
oedema of the face, and boils frequently form in the scrotum. After a time 
the mucous membrane of the nose shows signs of irritation : there is coryaa 
(discharge of fluid from the nose), with abundant salivation. This is the 
first stage of the disease. In the second stage, arsenic is absorbed and is 
diffused through the body — a fact indicated by colicky pains, headache, and 
prostration of strength. The first effects described in this paragraph by 
M. Blandet, are evidently of a local kind ; the secondary effects only-—?, e., 
those arising from the absorption of the poison— have been observed in 
persons who have inhabited rooms lined with the arsenical paper. 
xxxi. 43 
