366  WHOLESALE  LEAD  POISONING. 
tile  and  other  growths.  But  for  large  operations  it  is  obviously 
less  convenient  than  general  anaesthesia,  and  will  never  super- 
sede it.  Applied  to  the  skin,  a  first  degree  of  congelation  is 
evanescenj; ;  if  protracted  longer,  it  is  followed  by  redness  and 
desquamation,  which  may  be  possibly  averted  by  the  local  bleed- 
ing of  an  incision;  but  if  continued  or  used  on  a  large  scale,  the 
dangers  of  frost-bite  and  mortification  must  be  imminent.* 
It  may  be  superfluous  to  add  that  both  the  liquid  and  the 
vapor  of  rhigolene  are  highly  inflammable. — Boston  Med.  Surg. 
Journ.,  April  19,  1866. 
WHOLESALE  LEAD  POISONING. 
A  Frightful  Tragedy  in  the  Walkill  Valley. 
It  is  now  nearly  two  months  since  the  people  residing  along 
that  portion  of  the  Walkill  Valley  which  lies  in  the  western  part 
of  Orange  County,  New  York,  were  attacked  by  a  disease  which 
for  some  time  baffled  the  skill  of  the  physicians,  they  being  at  a 
loss  to  divine  the  cause.  The  malady,  it  is  true,  exhibited  the 
most  positive  symptoms  of  lead  poisoning,  yet  all  the  sufferers 
stoutly  denied  having  used  anything  that  could,  in  their  estima- 
tion, have  been  contaminated  with  lead,  even  in  its  mineral  con- 
dition. In  some  cases,  whole  families  were  stricken  down, 
while  in  others,  only  one  or  two  members  of  a  family  were 
attacked.  Sometimes  the  disease  assumed  a  violent  form,  and 
caused  death  ;  and  again  it  was  of  a  milder  type,  and  the 
patients  were  relieved.  To-day,  hundreds  are  suffering  from  its 
effects,  many  of  whom  will  never  be  able  to  do  anything,  and 
will  in  time  waste  away  and  die,  the  victims  of  this  terrible 
disease. 
The  symptoms  most  prominent  in  these  cases  have  been  ob- 
stionate  constipation,  severe  pain  in  the  abdomen,  nausea  and 
persistent  vomiting,  colic,  difficulty  in  voiding  urine,  and,  in 
many  instances,  the  evacuations  being  mingled  with  blood,  pain 
and  heat  in  the  region  of  the  kidneys,  cramps  and  partial  paraly- 
sis of  the  upper  extremities,  and  an  anxious,  gloomy  expression 
*The  Rhigolene,  from  the  Downer  Kerosene  Oil  Co.,  may  be  obtained 
of  Metcalf  &  Co.,  39  Tremont  St.,  Boston. 
