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APPENDIX II. 
Irritant Woods. 
In connection with our ( Garcl. Chron.) article on “Plants and Skin 
Irritants,” printed on p. 110, the following contribution on “irritant” wood, which 
we extract from the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, is interesting :— 
In the course of the past year inquiry was made by the Factory and Workshop Department into 
the effect of irritant woods, and the extent to which they are used in this country. For example, in the 
case of satin-wood, there was inquiry into (1) the extent and class of work in which it was used ; (2) the 
evidence there is as to its irritant action on the skin; (3) the precautions taken in its use. Much 
confusion was found as to the kind of wood referred to as satin-wood, the two covering East and West 
Indian satin-wood and satin walnut. The first two are practically confined to high-class furniture and 
furniture-making, and to decoration of cabins and overmantel work in ships. Occasionally thermometer 
stands, backs of toilet brushes, and similar articles are made of it. In those trades it is used as an inlay or 
veneer, involving little exposure to irritant dust. East Indian satin-wood possesses much more irritant 
properties than the West Indian variety. Satin walnut appears to be no more harmful than deal. The 
East Indian wood is only used in two shipyards. It ciu^es an eruption on the skin of the worker exposed 
to the dust or shavings produced during manufacture ; but some persons are much more susceptible to its 
effect than others. One man stated to the Inspector that if he only placed a shaving of the wood on the back 
of the hand, it caused a sore on the skin at that point. The injurious effects, however, appear to be only 
temporary. Exhaust ventilation is in use for carrying off dust, ifcc., from the machines in most of the 
works, including one of the shipyards in which the East Indian wood is used. Reference to occasional 
contact action on the skin is made as to teak by Mr. Inspector Wright (North London), who refers to 
reports of “swollen arms and eyes,” by Mr. Shannin (Liverpool), and by Mr. Grant (Preston), as to teak 
and olive-wood. The Inspector in Sheffield states that “ in the manufacture of knife scales and tool 
handles the following woods are considered to be irritant :—Some of the ebonies, magneta rose-woods, 
West Indian box-wood, cocos-wood, and partridge-wood. Irritation of the eyes and nose is caused also by 
woods of the mahogany type. East Indian wood had to be discarded in the shuttle trade owing to its 
irritating action on the eyes.” Mr. Lewis (Manchester) states that salica-wood, from Cuba, was stated to 
give off “a fluffy dust under the machines and hand planes, the effect of which upon the workers is to 
cause a running of the eyes and nose, and a general feeling of cold in the head. The symptoms pass off in 
an hour or so after discontinuance of work.” Eczematous eruptions are said to be produced by the 
so-called Borneo rose-wood—a wmod used owing to its brilliant colour and exquisite grain in fret-saw work ; 
but the Director of the Imperial Institute, Sir Wyndham Dunstan, who has interested himself in this 
wood, has failed to discover injurious properties in it.— Gardeners' Chronicle, 29th August, 1908, p. 167. 
The above refers more or less to Chloroxylon Side tenia, already referred to. 
