Chemical poisoning

“ We cannot always tell, for instance, with the substances used or produced in the processes, which is responsible for the poisoning, because, not infrequently, the substances in question are not chemically pure, but may be either raw products, bye-products, &c., producing mixtures of different bodies or liberating different chemical compounds as impurities. ”

“ Only the first-named motive can claim any legitimate justification, and its gratification by the use of chemical preservatives is surrounded with hygienic difficulties and uncertainty, as already set forth. From the unbiased view of human physiology the dangers of slow poisoning from chemically treated foods must be regarded as no less real because they are insidious and not easily traced. ”

“ Although no one chemical by itself and in the quantities in which it is commonly present in food can perhaps be reasonably accused of producing serious and permanent injury, yet when to its effect is superadded the effect of still other poisonous ingredients in spiced, smoked, and preserved foods of all kinds the total burden laid upon the excretory and other organs may be distinctly too great. There can be no escape from the conclusion that the more extensive and widespread the use of preservatives in food the greater the likelihood of injurious consequences to the public health. ”

“ Effects on Health.—Industrial poisoning in the petroleum industry is attributable to the gases given off from crude petroleum or its products and to inhalation of naphtha dust. Poisoning occurs principally in the recovery of petroleum and naphtha from the wells, in storage and transport (in badly ventilated tanks on board ship, and in entering petroleum tanks) , in the refinery in cleaning out petroleum stills and mixing vessels, and in emptying out the residues. Further cases occur occasionally from use of benzine in chemical cleaning. ”

“ There are some trades where the dust given off acts not only as a mechanical irritant when breathed, but where the substance thus inhaled acts as a direct poison. For instance, manufacturers of white lead and other mineral paints frequently exhibit symptoms of poisoning in this way, and workmen who use arsenical compounds, as in the making of wall papers, artificial flowers, etc., are often the victims of poisoning by arsenic. ”

“ The most important general rules of treatment arise in reference to irritant poisons which produce ulceration of the skin, and further in regard to those poisons which cause unconsciousness, especially blood poisons.
When an irritant poison is acting on the skin, the first object to be aimed at is naturally the immediate removal of the cause of corrosion by water, or, better still, neutralisation by an alkaline solution (for example, soda solution) in the case of corrosive acids, and weak acids (organic acids, acetic acid, citric acid) in the case of caustic action by alkalis. ”

“ Effects on Health.—From what has been said of the manufacture of coal-tar dyes it is evident that poisoning can arise from the initial substances used (benzene, toluene, &c.) , from the elements or compounds employed in carrying out the reactions (such as chlorine, nitric acid, sulphuric acid, arsenious acid, sodium sulphide, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas) , from the intermediate bodies formed (nitro and amido compounds, such as nitrobenzene, dinitrobenzene, aniline, &c.) , and that, finally, the end products (the dyes themselves) can act as poisons. ”

“ Such insidious industrial poisoning arises through the continual absorption into the lungs or stomach of small quantities of poisonous dust, gases, and vapours, during [161] constant or frequent work in an atmosphere containing such gases; poisonous liquids also, by soiling hands and food, or by penetrating the skin, can produce slow industrial poisoning. ”

“ The strongest effect which a poison is able to produce is the destruction of the life functions of the organism, the fatal effect. This fatal dose, however, can only be determined relatively to the qualities of the organism in question. ”

“ Usually gradual and repeated absorption of small quantities produces slow onset of symptoms, while sudden absorption of larger quantities of poison brings about rapid onset of illness. In the former case the poisoning is called chronic, in the latter, acute. Acute industrial poisoning is sometimes so sudden that the affected person cannot withdraw himself in time from the influence of the poison, nor prevent its entrance in considerable quantities into his system ”

“ Since industrial poisoning, as defined above, is of course neither desired nor intended by the sufferer, who unsuspectingly takes into his system poison used or developed in the factory, solid substances in finely divided condition—in the form of dust—can be considered as industrial poisons. ”

“ Orfila found that two drachms of phosphorus given to dogs in fragments caused death in twenty-one hours, that the whole stomach and intestines were more or less inflamed, and that the phosphorus had lost much of its weight, though vomiting had been prevented by a ligature on the gullet; in fact the poison was partly oxidated. In a state of minute division, as when dissolved in oil, twenty-four grains caused death in less than five hours with all the symptoms of the most acute irritant poisoning; and after death the stomach was found extensively corroded, and perforated by two holes. ”

“ Of all other methods employed by poisoners, the administration of the lethal dose through the medium of food or drink seems ever to have been the favourite. The poisoned wine or cake recurs with a somewhat monotonous frequency in the history of the poisoner, from the earliest times down to the present day. Women especially seem to have been attracted by this mode of poisoning, a fact probably due to their control and direction of domestic matters, which rendered the introduction of a poisonous substance into food or drink an easy matter. ”

“ Effects of Poisons.—Putrefaction rapidly supervenes in those who have died suffocated by smoke, by carbonic oxide, and by sulphuretted hydrogen. Narcotic poisoning is stated to accelerate this condition; but in poisoning by phosphorus or alcohol, and in cases of death from sulphuric acid, the putrefactive changes are greatly retarded. Arsenic, chloride of zinc, and antimony are reputed to possess antiseptic properties. The manner in which death takes place from the action of the poison greatly hastens or retards putrefaction. ”

“ The most important facts have now been stated as to the occurrence of poisoning in industry, and there remain only a few gaps to fill in and to survey briefly the risks in certain important groups of industry. ”

“ Workers should only take food and drink or leave the works after thoroughly washing the hands with soap—if possible with pumice stone; if drinking during work cannot be wholly given up the edges of the drinking vessels ought not to be touched by the hands.
If a file-cutter falls ill in spite of precautions with symptoms pointing to lead poisoning he should, in his own and his family’s interest, at once consult a doctor, telling him that he has been working with a lead bed. ”

“ For symptoms are often witnessed, which bear no direct relation to the local injury: death is generally too rapid to have arisen from the function of the part having been annihilated: and the rapidity of the poisoning is not proportional in different cases to the local injury produced. Even the mineral acids and alkalis seldom kill by impeding or annihilating digestion, because they often prove fatal in a few hours; and among other poisons there are few which ever cause death simply by disturbing the function of the part primarily acted on. ”

“ Slow Poisoning.—Slow poisoning has been caused accidentally by arsenical wall-paper, in the manufacture of arsenical pigments, by the admixture of small quantities of arsenic with salt or other condiments, and repeated small doses have been used for criminally producing a fatal illness intended to simulate disease from natural causes. ”

“ Under certain conditions it is possible that degenerative changes are initiated or accelerated in the kidneys or blood vessels by the acute poisoning which is manifested for a short time in even the milder cases. In yet greater degree these changes may follow those insidious forms of food poisoning due to the frequent ingestion of small quantities of mineral or organic poisons, which in each dose may cause little or no measurable physiological change, but whose cumulative effect may be vicious. ”

“ Industrial poisoning which in respect of its duration stands midway between acute and chronic is called sub-acute poisoning. This usually means that more frequent absorption of greater quantities of poison has taken place, though not in doses large enough to produce an immediately acute effect. This is important legally because industrial poisonings caused through the sudden absorption of poison in sufficient quantity to act immediately or to bring about subsequent symptoms of poisoning, are reckoned as accidents. Thus acute and many sub-acute industrial poisonings are accounted accidents. ”

“ Individual disposition plays in industrial poisoning a part which must not be under-estimated; it determines the possibility of acclimatisation to a poison; some individuals capable of resistance habituate themselves—often comparatively easily—to a poison, and become, up to a certain limit, immune against it, that is, they can tolerate a quantity which would be injurious to others not so accustomed. With other individuals, however, the opposite effect is apparent. Repeated exposure to the action of the poison leads to an increased susceptibility, so that acclimatisation is not possible. ”

“ Onset of symptoms is very sudden if a large quantity of pure carbonic oxide is inhaled. The affected person immediately falls down unconscious and succumbs after drawing a few breaths with difficulty.
In less acute cases the illness begins with premonitory symptoms, generally headache, sickness, giddiness, sleepiness, though in cases of fairly rapid absorption these are absent, and are naturally absent also when the poisoning creeps upon the affected persons while asleep, as occasionally happens in cabins, &c., in factories. ”

“ One is the case of an elderly gentleman, who swallowed a sallad of the flower to purge himself. Soon afterwards he was seized with giddiness, violent purging, convulsions, and stupor; and he died in three days. Here the poison must have proved fatal by inducing true apoplexy in a predisposed habit; at least poisoning with hydrocyanic acid never lasts nearly so long. The other, a child eighteen months old, after taking a decoction of the flowers to destroy worms, perished with frightful convulsions, efforts to vomit, and 609bloody diarrhœa. ”

“ The common sources of arsenical poisoning are the taking of white arsenic, which causes acute poisoning, and the inhalation of dust from arsenical wall-papers and textile fabrics, whereby a chronic form of poisoning is induced. ”

“ The post-mortem appearances after death by phosphorus are very peculiar. If the case has proved rapidly fatal there will be the ordinary signs of irritant poisoning, with, in addition, softening of the stomach, bloody or gangrenous patches, blood in the intestines and bladder, and bloody serum in the peritoneal cavity. ”

“ Of the remaining halogen substitution products of methane, methyl bromide (CH3Br) and methyl iodide (CH3I) have given rise to industrial poisoning.
These poisons also act in the same way as the alkyl chlorides, but the excitement accompanying the narcosis is more marked—so far as the scanty observations allow conclusions to be drawn. The symptoms first show themselves in sickness, giddiness, hebetude, slowing of respiratory movements and of the heart’s action; convulsions or delirium ensue. ”

“ Treatment.—Use the stomach-tube to give a solution of permanganate of potash, emetics, followed by a hypodermic injection of 1/50 grain of atropine. Transfusion of saline fluid. A dose of castor-oil would be useful.
Foods.—The kinds of food which most frequently produce symptoms of poisoning are pork, veal, beef, meat-pies, potted and tinned meats, sausages, and brawn. Sausage-poisoning is common in Germany. It is not necessary that the food should be 'high' to give rise to poisoning. ”

“ Nitro-glycerin (triple nitric acid ester of glycerin, C3H5. [NO3] 3) , the well-known oily explosive liquid, has also an irritant local effect. When absorbed into the body, in addition to methæmoglobin formation, it causes dilatation of the bloodvessels, slowing of the respiration and heart’s action, and attacks of suffocation. The general remarks upon this group apply here, but symptoms referable to central paralysis occur as the methæmoglobin formation is slow. Industrial poisoning arises through inhalation of gases containing nitro-glycerin and also by absorption through the skin. ”

“ Of the minerals, arsenic, antimony, mercury, gold, silver, copper, and lead were used by the Greeks; the antidote recommended15 in case of poisoning being hot oil, and other methods to induce vomiting and prevent the poison being absorbed into the system. ”

“ In general, poison can be absorbed at very different points of the body; so far as industrial poisons are concerned, these are the mucous membrane of the respiratory passages, the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, and the skin, intact or broken. The rapidity of absorption depends on the nature of the poison, of the individual, and the channel of absorption. Of industrial poisons gases are relatively the most quickly absorbed ”

“ The resin is presumed to be the active poisonous constituent of the plant, but the subject awaits further investigation. There are a few cases of poisoning on record, and they have been mostly from the berries. Thus, Linné has recorded an instance in which a little girl died after eating twelve berries. The symptoms observed in the recorded cases have been burning in the mouth, gastroenteritis, vomiting, giddiness, narcosis, and convulsions, ending in death. The lethal dose for a horse is about 30 grms. of powdered bark; for a dog, the œsophagus being tied, 12 grms. ”