Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume I Part 59

Hydrated or gelatinous sesquioxide or peroxide of iron (for an adult--a tablespoonful, in water, every 8 or 10 minutes until 12 or 16 oz., or more, have been taken). Hydrated sulphide of iron (as the last).

Gelatinous hydrate of magnesia (as the last). Calcined magnesia (taken as the first). Salad or olive oil, or almond oil, and oil or fats generally (ad libitum), are all highly effective in lessening, if not destroying the action of a.r.s.enious anhydride.[81] Alb.u.men (white of egg), or liquids containing it (in cold water, ad libitum). Milk, wheat-flour, oatmeal gruel (with water, ad libitum). Lime water, with milk (as the last).

Chalk, with milk and water (as the last). Infusion or decoction of bark, or better, of nut-galls (as the last). Sugar or syrup (ad libitum). See _Treatm._ (above); also the above substances under their respective heads.

[Footnote 81: Dr Blondlot, in a paper communicated to the Paris Academy of Sciences, has come to the conclusion that the slightest quant.i.ty of greasy matter in contact with a.r.s.enious anhydride reduces its solubility to about 1-20th of what it was before. This explains at once why, in certain judicial investigations, a.r.s.enic has been sought for in vain in the liquid contents of the stomach, when the food consisted partly of fatty substances, such as broth, milk, &c. It likewise explains how a.r.s.enious anhydride, taken in powder, may sometimes remain a long time in the stomach before it produces any deleterious effect; since, in such cases, its action is hindered by the presence of fatty matter. Jugglers often swallow a.r.s.enic with impunity, because, according to Dr Blondlot, they previously take the precaution to drink milk and eat fat bacon. Hence, in cases of poisoning by a.r.s.enic, oils and fatty substances may be administered as real antidotes, capable of suspending the action of the poison for a considerable time, until more radical means of effecting a cure can be applied. The people engaged in some of the a.r.s.enic-works regard salad oil as almost a certain antidote to this poison.]

_Uses, &c._ a.r.s.enious anhydride and its compounds are extensively employed in the arts and medicine. It is used by the dyer, it furnishes the artist with several of his most beautiful pigments, and the gla.s.s-maker and enameller with a flux or material to whiten and decolour their wares. In _agriculture_, it is used (in solution) as an anti-s.m.u.t for seed-wheat; and as an anti-vermin lotion or dipping for sheep and cattle. In small (therapeutical) doses it is a valuable remedy in intermittent fevers, chronic skin diseases (especially lepra and psoriasis), and in several nervous affections (as neuralgia, epilepsy, ch.o.r.ea, teta.n.u.s, &c.). It is the active ingredient of the tasteless ague-drop; of Fowler's and Pearson's solutions; and in the Tanjore pills, long celebrated in India for the cure of the bite of the cobra di capello and other venomous serpents, as well as of hydrophobia. It has been given in syphilis, chronic rheumatism, typhus, and several other diseases, with more or less advantage. Cautiously administered in phthisis, it frequently restores the appet.i.te and strength and greatly r.e.t.a.r.ds, and in some cases arrests, the progress of the disease. It has been recently used to relieve toothache arising from caries. Externally, it is employed in the form of powder, lotion, and ointment, for the cure of cancer. Plunkett's ointment, Pate a.r.s.enicale, Davidson's Remedy for Cancer, and several other like preparations, owe their activity to a.r.s.enious anhydride. Water in which white a.r.s.enic has been steeped has become a favorite cosmetic wash with many ladies, since its a.s.sumed property of softening the skin was announced in a certain popular periodical. It is also the prime ingredient in the papier moure, a popular fly paper. Its use, whether internal or external, is, however, attended with considerable danger in unskilful hands, and should, therefore, never be adopted but under proper advice.--_Dose_, 1/20 to 1/8 gr., made into pills with crum of bread and lump sugar; or in solution, 3 to 5 or 6 drops, twice or thrice daily, gradually and cautiously increased to 12, or even 15 drops. As a rule, a.r.s.enical preparations should be taken soon after a meal, and by no means on an empty stomach. (Dr A. T. Thomson.) The dose should be suspended, or greatly reduced, as soon as the conjunctiva is affected (Hunt); or if dryness of the mouth or throat, or irritation of the stomach or bowels, ensues. Mr Maculloch found the pills more efficacious than the solution; they act differently, and cannot be subst.i.tuted for one another.

a.r.s.enic is a favorite tonic and alterative with farriers, who often administer it very carelessly to horses, to the serious injury of these animals. It is also a favorite with grooms, who have imbibed the notion that small doses of it contribute to improve the condition of the skin.

The best-informed veterinarians, however, either wholly avoid it, or use it with very great caution.[82]--_Dose_ (for a HORSE), 2 to 5 or 6 gr., twice or thrice daily; in farcy or glanders, 10 to 12 gr. In solution it is often employed as a wash or dipping to destroy vermin in cattle and sheep; but its use is not free from danger, particularly to the shepherds or dippers.

[Footnote 82: "As a therapeutic agent for horses, a.r.s.enious acid can be well dispensed with. It is, however, employed by some as a tonic, in doses of from 10 to 20 gr. daily; and by others as a vermifuge. When injudiciously administered death has been the result. By those of the old school it is extolled as a caustic, and a very powerful one doubtlessly it is; but there is this disadvantage attending its use--we cannot control its action, and, oftentimes, a most extensive and painful wound is caused by it. Occasionally it is resorted to for the eradication of warts; although a better plan is to extirpate them at once with the knife. When, however, this is inadmissible, 1 part of a.r.s.enious acid, in very fine powder, may be mixed with 4 parts of lard, and a (small) portion of the compound applied, with friction, over and around the excrescence every other day, for three or four times. This will excite such a powerful sloughing action, that in about 10 days the warts will be thrown off."

(Prof. Morton.)]

_Gen. commentary._ The necessary length of the preceding article, owing to the great importance of the subject in its relations to toxicology and medical jurisprudence, has left us little s.p.a.ce for further remark here.

In addition to what has been said on a.r.s.enical testing, it may be useful to caution the reader of the absolute necessity of only employing tests and reagents which are themselves absolutely pure; and in which the operator has, by personal examination, failed to detect the slightest trace of a.r.s.enic. Commercial sulphuric, nitric, and hydrochloric acids, potash, soda, nitre, iron, and zinc, frequently contain a.r.s.enic; from which, however, they may be freed by chemical processes; or they may be purchased in the pure state from respectable dealers in chemicals. But no a.s.surance of the vender should be regarded as a proof of their purity. In all judicial investigations the absence of a.r.s.enic in the several tests and reagents, and the apparatus employed, must be demonstrated and sworn to. We may further add, that the results afforded by no single test can be depended on. In matters of such vast importance, the most ample confirmatory evidence must be sought.

Marsh's, Reinsch's, La.s.saigne's, the sulphur, and the Reduction Tests, and their modifications, are those now generally preferred by toxicological chemists; each of which, with its confirmatory tests, are amply sufficient for the indisputable identification of a.r.s.enic.

Modern toxicologists have abandoned most of the old processes for the detection of a.r.s.enic, and have adopted one of two, which have been found more expeditious as well as more certain. These are the tests of Marsh and Reinsch, preferably the latter.

HERAPATH'S METHOD is to obtain deposits by Reinsch's Test on 4 or 5 pieces of No. 13 copper wire; each piece being about 2-1/2 inches long, and previously flattened and planished with a polished hammer for about one half its length. The deposit, with some of the adhering copper, sc.r.a.ped from one of these coated pieces, is sealed up hermetically in a tube for future production. The sc.r.a.pings from three pieces of wire are separately submitted to the sublimation test in tubes bent in the form of an obtuse V capillary at one end, and about 3/10ths of an inch in diameter at the other; the capillary leg being about three times as long as the larger one. The sc.r.a.pings are placed in the bent part of the tube; and the flame of a small spirit lamp is so applied as to slowly drive the sublimate into the narrower portion of the tube, which is held rather higher than the other. If the deposit so obtained be mercury, it condenses in white s.h.i.+ning globules;--if lead or bis.m.u.th, it does not rise but melts into a yellowish gla.s.s, which adheres to the copper; if tellurium, it falls as a white amorphous powder; if antimony, it does not rise at that low temperature; but if it be a.r.s.enic, it sublimes as a.r.s.enious anhydride, which condenses as minute octahedral crystals, looking, with the microscope, like very transparent grains of sand. One of these tubes containing the sublimed a.r.s.enious anhydride is then sealed up, like the first one, for future production. The capillary part of another tube containing the sublimate is then cut off, and carefully boiled in a few drops (10 to 15) of distilled water; and, when cold, 3 or 4 drops of the resulting solution is poured on a plate of white porcelain, and to this, by means of a gla.s.s rod, one drop of solution of ammoniacal sulphate of copper is added. The mixture is then carefully conducted on to a piece of white filtering-paper set on the surface of a smooth, clean, and dry chalk-stone, by which the moisture is absorbed, and the smallest portion of Scheele's green produced by the test rendered more conspicuous. The ammonio-nitrate of silver test is then applied, in a similar manner, to 3 or 4 drops of the remaining solution; after which the pieces of paper with the spots are dried, and sealed up in separate tubes, as before, observing to exclude the light from that containing the yellow precipitate of a.r.s.enite of silver. A stream of sulphuretted hydrogen is then pa.s.sed through the remaining tube containing the a.r.s.enical sublimate, by which the latter is converted into the yellow tersulphide--this too is sealed up. Here are now five tests--the metal, the acid, a.r.s.enite of copper, a.r.s.enite of silver, and yellow tersulphide of a.r.s.enic.

It is now well known that certain soils contain a.r.s.enic, either as a.r.s.enite of lime or sulphide of a.r.s.enic; and which, under favorable circ.u.mstances, may permeate or be absorbed by a body, after interment. In judicial investigations following disinterment it is, therefore, necessary to examine portions of the cemetery-earth taken from the grave, as well as from parts more or less distant from it. For this purpose the earth should be thoroughly dried in a water-bath, drenched with pure and concentrated hydrochloric acid, and allowed to stand for twenty-four hours. The mixture is then distilled, and the distillate tested for a.r.s.enic by Reinsch's or Marsh's test. Should the product of one distillation yield no evidence of a.r.s.enic, it should be returned to the retort, if necessary, a second or even a third time, and the distillation repeated.

The practice of employing an alkaline solution of white a.r.s.enic as an anti-s.m.u.t steep for wheat, has lately arrested the attention of chemists.

M. Audouard states that he has detected traces of a.r.s.enic in the crops raised from seed-wheat thus treated. But that which appears to be likely to prove much more dangerous is the introduction of a.r.s.enic into crops by the employment of crude superphosphate of lime as manure--a substance often rich in this poison. Dr Edmund Davy positively states that a.r.s.enic, as it exists in artificial manures, is taken up by plants growing where those manures have been applied! He found cabbages and turnips taken from fields manured with superphosphate give unmistakeable evidence of being 'a.r.s.eniated.' These facts have some important bearings; for though the quant.i.ty of a.r.s.enic which occurs in such manures is not large when compared with their other const.i.tuents, and the proportion of that substance which is thus added to the soil must be necessarily small, still plants during their growth, as in the case of the alkaline and earthy salts, take up a considerable quant.i.ty of this substance. Further, as a.r.s.enic is well known to acc.u.mulate in soils, though not an acc.u.mulative poison in the animal system, the effects after some time will probably be, that vegetables raised on those continuously so manured will ultimately be found to contain such a proportion of a.r.s.enic as will exercise an injurious effect on the health of man and animals. The statement of M. Audouard has been disputed by M. Girardin, because he failed to detect a.r.s.enic in corn under the circ.u.mstances; and it is also denied by Dr A. S. Taylor, and others; but our own experiments, very carefully performed, confirm the a.s.sertions of both Audouard and Davy. The ultimate consequences of pouring into the Thames such enormous quant.i.ties of disinfectants contaminated with a.r.s.enic, as has been done during the last three or four years, is another matter deserving consideration, and one which has been ably pointed out by Dr Letheby, in his reports as Officer of Health to the City of London.

Dr Lois has found a.r.s.enic, often in large quant.i.ties, in ordinary bra.s.s, and bra.s.s utensils; and we have ourselves repeatedly found a.r.s.enic in the Britannia-metal, German-silver, and other cheap white alloys at present in such general use.

The preceding facts are recommended to the careful attention of medical jurists.

By an Act of Parliament[83] it is provided--1. That every vender of a.r.s.enic shall, before the delivery of the same to the customer, enter in a book or books kept for the purpose, the date of sale, name, and residence of the purchaser, in full, his or her condition or occupation, the quant.i.ty so sold, and the purpose or purposes for which it is required, in a form set forth in the schedule to the Act; which form or schedule shall be signed by the vender, and by the said purchaser, unless he be unable to write, when such fact shall be recorded in the said schedule by the vender; and this schedule, when a witness is required to the sale, shall also bear his signature, together with his place of abode:--2. a.r.s.enic is not to be sold to a stranger, unless in the presence of a witness acquainted with both vender and purchaser:--3. No person to sell a.r.s.enic unless it be previously mixed with at least 1 _oz._ of soot or 1/2 _oz._ of indigo to the pound; unless such admixture would be injurious to the object for which it is intended, when not less than 10 _lbs._ is to be sold at any one time:--4. Penalty for evading the Act, either as vender, purchaser, or witness, 20:--5. Act not to extend to a.r.s.enic used in compounding prescriptions nor to the wholesale trade:--6. The word 'a.r.s.enic' to include 'a.r.s.enious anhydride,' and the a.r.s.enites, a.r.s.enic acid and the a.r.s.eniates, and all other colourless poisonous preparations of a.r.s.enic. See a.r.s.eNIC, a.r.s.eNIC ACID, LOTIONS, PILLS, SHEEP-DIPPING, SOAPS, SOLUTIONS, WHEAT-STEEPS, IRON, POTa.s.sA, SODA, and other Bases, &c.

&c. (also _below_).

[Footnote 83: 16{?} Vict., c. xiii, 1851.]

=Self-detect'ing a.r.s.enious Anhydride.= _Prep._ (Dr Cattell.)--1. Ordinary white a.r.s.enic to which is added a small quant.i.ty of a mixture of dry calomel and quick-lime; or of dried sulphate of iron and powdered gall-nuts. The product is white, but immediately turns black when mixed with liquids:--2. As the last, but adding a mixture of thoroughly dried sulphate of iron and ferrocyanide of pota.s.sium. Strikes a blue:--3. As last, but using dried phosphate of sodium and dried sulphate of iron.

Strikes a green. Proposed as a method of preventing a.r.s.enic being used as a poison.

=a.r.s.eNICAL PIGMENTS, EFFECTS OF.= The composition of those substances which are compounds of copper with a.r.s.enious, very frequently combined with acetic acid, will be found under GREEN PIGMENTS, under their respective commercial names of SCHEELE'S GREEN, MINERAL GREEN, EMERALD GREEN, and SCHWEINFURT GREEN. The purity of tint and durability of these a.r.s.enical salts have, not unnaturally, caused them to be employed in many branches of industry, the products of which are everywhere around us, and as the colouring material of these, they are placed in conditions very favorable to their being taken into the stomach or lungs. This will be apparent when we name a few of the materials in which they are employed:--wafers, candles, wall-papers, window curtains, confectionery.

A curious ill.u.s.tration of the risks attending their use may be cited from the 'Medical Times and Gazette' of April, 1854, which states that some loaves found to contain a.r.s.enic were discovered on inquiry to have got the dangerous intruder from having been allowed to stand on shelves freshly painted a bright green colour. a.r.s.enical-coloured wafers may be p.r.o.nounced free from danger, so long as they are kept out of the reach of children; and although the a.r.s.enical vapours given off by burning a green wax taper would not be sufficient to induce toxic results, the fact of the extreme sensibility of some people to the action of this poison, when taken in by the lungs, renders the use of these tapers a very objectionable one, particularly if they are generally employed in a household. The burning of wax candles, coloured with a.r.s.enical green, is, of course, still more strongly to be condemned, because from its superior ma.s.s, when compared with the taper, the candle gives off a greater amount of the poisonous fumes. An a.r.s.enical taper weighing 1769 grains was found upon a.n.a.lysis by Mr Bolas, late of Charing Cross Hospital, to contain 0276 grains of a.r.s.enious acid. "A Christmas tree," says Mr Blyth, "brilliantly illuminated with Christmas candles, may be taken as an extreme instance of the danger likely to arise from this source." That the employment of a.r.s.enical green in the manufacture of sweetmeats was not abandoned in 1873 may be evidenced from a circ.u.mstance quoted by Mr Blyth in his interesting work on 'Hygiene.' "During the Christmas of 1873 a large cake in which was imbedded a green card labelled "for the bairnies," was seized in a baker's shop at Greenock. The card was coated with sugar, and on being submitted to a.n.a.lysis, was found to contain 704 grains of a.r.s.enious acid.

A curious case, ill.u.s.trating the effect of a.r.s.enical wall-papers, is furnished by Dr Dalzell, of Malvern. He was attending a lady ill with scarlet fever, and during the attack her husband occupied a small bedroom.

The first night he slept in it his slumbers were most unrefres.h.i.+ng and disturbed by horrible dreams, and on rising in the morning he felt languid and weak, had lost his appet.i.te, and had a dull headache. Towards the evening these unpleasant symptoms had nearly vanished. On the second night (when he occupied the same dormitory) and on the day following the same disagreeable symptoms returned. He then changed his bedroom, and forthwith they troubled him no more. A servant, who next occupied the chamber, was affected as her master had been. Dr Dalzell suspecting the wall-paper as the cause, examined it, and found it to contain a large quant.i.ty of a.r.s.enic.

Some little time since Mr Bolas examined a sample of wall-paper containing 2753 grains of a.r.s.enious acid in the square foot, and in this case the pigment was so loosely fixed that the slightest friction was sufficient to detach a portion and diffuse it through the air. Nor is this surprising when we consider how slightly the a.r.s.enical colour is attached to the surface of the paper, as well as how easily it may become liberated from it by the desiccation of the air of the room when heated by a fire. This may be exemplified by drawing the sleeve of a black or dark-coloured coat over an a.r.s.enical wall-paper, and observing the green deposit that is left on the garment.

After this we shall be prepared for the following statement: "Hamberg drew, by means of aspirators, the air of a room, the walls of which were papered with a very old green paper, through various tubes containing cotton wool and silver nitrate. On examination scarcely any solid particles could be discovered. The cotton-wool was fused with sodium nitrate and carbonate, and gave a little ferric oxide and a trace of a.r.s.enic, but the solution of nitrate of silver gave decided evidence of a.r.s.enic, as well as of sulphide of silver." ('Phar. Jour.')

Not many years since Professor Fleck showed that the a.r.s.enious acid in the Schweinfurt green, when in contact with moist organic substances, and especially starch-sizing, forms a.r.s.eniuretted hydrogen, which diffuses in the room, and which is no doubt the cause of some of the cases of a.r.s.enical poisoning from green papers. So that a contrary condition to a dry atmosphere, viz. a moist or damp one, may also lead to results nearly, if not quite as objectionable, when rooms are papered with a.r.s.enical papers. We have Mr Blyth's word for the a.s.sertion, that the most dangerous of the a.r.s.enical papers, viz. those covered with a thick, unvarnished, loosely coherent layer of Seheele's green are most frequently to be met with in our nurseries, where the beds are placed next the wall, and where the attrition of the bedclothes frequently removes portions of the poisonous colouring matter. The fine cupro-a.r.s.enical dust which thus becomes diffused through the room, now and then produces in children symptoms resembling those of violent catarrh. Some of the wall-papers of these nurseries have been found to yield 18 grains of a.r.s.enious acid in a square foot. It would appear that the use of a.r.s.enical pigments is by no means restricted to green wall-papers. Very recently an a.n.a.lytical chemist examined a great number of samples of wall-papers of different colours, and was surprised to find a.r.s.enic in most of them. Within the last year the writer examined the pigment which he could disengage without much difficulty from a very small piece of green muslin window curtain, and found it yield a large quant.i.ty of a.r.s.enic. In Paris alone there are more than 15,000 people who earn their living by making artificial flowers, a quarter at least of these workers being engaged in that branch of the manufacture in which Schweinfurt green is used. From the instances already adduced of the ill effects caused, although in a mild degree, by occasional and accidental exposure to a.r.s.enical pigments, we shall be prepared to learn that the danger and the damage to health is very much more intensified when, as in the case of these poor artisans, the workman is constantly handling the deadly material, and incessantly inhaling an atmosphere laden with its particles. Dr Vernois has published a most interesting description, which we subjoin, of the artificial flower-maker at work. He says:--"These greens are formed either from a.r.s.enite of copper alone, or mixed in variable proportions with acetate of copper (English green). a.r.s.enical greens are employed to colour different herbs, to tint the fabric destined to prepare the leaves of artificial flowers, as they are painted directly on the leaves or petals of flowers worked on cloths of various textures. For these various purposes they buy the Schweinfurt or the English green (vert Anglaise), either in powder or in aqueous solution, and add to it, according to the effect desired, a certain quant.i.ty of Flanders glue, starch, gum, honey, or turpentine. Sometimes it is applied in the dry state, in order to sprinkle it over the things already coloured by the a.r.s.enical green. They frequently also, in order to modify the colour, mix with it a certain quant.i.ty of chromate of lead or picric acid.

_The preparation of herbs_ is carried on as follows:--The workman plunges into a shallow vessel, containing a sufficiently liquid solution of Schweinfurt green, one or several stalks of natural plants, perfectly dried, and agitates them quickly, seizing them by their roots with a pair of forceps. This operation, which is termed 'steeping,' stains the fingers, the arms, the person, and the clothes of the workman, and the surrounding objects are covered with traces of this kind of paint. The plants thus prepared are hung on a line, and there allowed to dry for thirty-four or forty-eight hours. At the end of that time all the stalks are gathered and formed into bundles, which are used finally for bouquets.

Often enough, to satisfy some freak of fas.h.i.+on, they are sprinkled with powdered a.r.s.enite of copper. This is the powdering. The bouquet-work const.i.tutes one of the princ.i.p.al dangers; for the colouring matter not having been fixed by any mordant, detaches itself in the form of a fine dust, which penetrates the skin of the hands, and which the workman breathes constantly. This danger is still more increased when he handles bouquets covered with a.r.s.enical powder. At other times, however, in the manufacture of the plants, the Schweinfurt green is diluted with a sufficient quant.i.ty of turpentine. In this way the colour takes a smooth appearance, not altered by contact with water, and does not escape immediately in the form of powder by gentle handling; but when it is thoroughly dry it falls to the ground in little flakes, and may again rise in the air with ordinary dust. Thus the danger is modified, a little r.e.t.a.r.ded, but always exists. There are then in this speciality of the florist the operations of steeping, drying, powdering, and arranging the flowers for bouquets, which in their details place the workman or the purchaser under the more or less direct, and more or less active influence of a.r.s.enical salt. This particular industry is exercised under conditions which render it still more injurious; for it is freely practised by a number of poor workpeople, by households living in one or two rooms, ill-ventilated, ill-lighted, and which they never sweep, and of which the floor like the furniture, and like the clothing of the workpeople, is continually impregnated by pigment and covered with a.r.s.enical dust. The preparers of the cloth destined for the manufacture of the artificial leaves by the aid of a.r.s.enical greens, comprehend the portion of the work most exposed to deleterious action. They use a.r.s.enite of copper alone, mixed princ.i.p.ally with starch, and in rare instances a.s.sociated with acetate of copper in variable proportions. Some use _eublee_, a mixture of picric acid and of greenish indigo, in which they steep their stuffs.

Other manufacturers use fabrics prepared with hot solutions by ordinary dyers. According to the hue which the Schweinfurt dyer wishes to obtain, the workman commences by giving the stuff a yellow shade, by plunging it into a solution of picric acid and pure alcohol. He squeezes it between his fingers, in order to completely impregnate it and dries it. It is this preliminary operation which stains the workman's fingers yellow.

Frequently the latter mixes picric acid by grinding it with the Schweinfurt green, and applies this paste immediately to the fabric. The paste is prepared by kneading the Schweinfurt green, already treated with water, with a solution of starch thick enough, yet sufficiently liquid, to be easily spread on the cloth. During this working up the paste the fingers, arms, and hands of the workman are covered with a.r.s.enical solution. This being ready, the workman lays out his stuff, distributes the paste over it, then beats it between his hands, in order to make the colouring matter thoroughly penetrate the cloth. The longer it is beaten the better is the quality of the article. During this operation the skin of the hands and arms is completely impregnated with the solution.

Sometimes the cloth, having been touched here and there with a.r.s.enical paste, is attached to a hook in the wall, and twisted different ways--wrung as it were. In this way a very uniform colouring is obtained.

This process is as bad to the workman as the former. Lastly, a process which is generally practised consists in placing the fabric, stained or not with picric acid, on a wooden table, and distributing on both sides the a.r.s.enical preparation with a brush, and then beating the stuff with a thick rubber. In this way the hands and arms of the workman are much less exposed to the paste than in the preceding processes. After the brus.h.i.+ng and beating of the fabric comes the drying, to which operation attention must next be directed. Once impregnated with the green colour by whatever process, the pieces in squares of about 1 metre 50 cent. are hung on wooden frames, furnished with teeth, on which the borders of the cloth are transfixed. During this simple operation the workmen stain themselves much. When the stuffs are detached from the squares they are folded, and from every crease falls a fine dust, which may then be carried into the mucous membranes. The workmen then are liable to all the accidents of the manufacturers of flowers, especially in the operations of kneading the paste, or during the beating, brus.h.i.+ng, drying, and folding of the cloths.

From the hands of the fabricator the fabrics are very often immediately consigned to the manufacturers of artificial flowers, who press them, figure them (that is to say, make the nerves), arm them with a wire, and mount them with flowers. It may be at once understood how much all the manipulations I have just mentioned are liable to develop the a.r.s.enical dust. The paste has not been fixed on the stuffs by any mordant; the starch with which it is mixed has given it a very brittle consistence, and has predisposed it to be easily detached from the cloth.

The stamping is effected by putting a certain number of folded pieces one above the other, and submitting them to the pressure of a stamping instrument. Repeated blows of this instrument detach the paste in scales, and cover with dust the fingers and person of the workman. A series of small packets are taken from the stamping press, which contain, strongly pressed together, from twelve to twenty-four leaves. They are pa.s.sed on to another workman, who is charged with the folding. This operation is performed by holding the little bundle of leaves between the thumb and index finger of the left hand.

The thumb of the right hand presses the edges quickly and sharply so as to separate the leaves one from another, as you separate the leaves of a book recently bound. During this process still more dust escapes. Then comes the figuring, which by reason of successive blows applied to each leaf covers the body of the operator with the same pulverulent material. Fixing a wire to the leaves at their lowest part by the aid of gum follows that operation.

Then the leaves are arranged together in dozens, and pa.s.sed to the bouquet manufacturers, who mount them. From thence they go to the milliners, who adapt them to different articles of dress, and sell them to the public.

Through all this series of transformations there are the same manipulations, the same production of dust, the same action on the skin and mucous membrane, only in a decreasing degree, from the first preparer to the milliner. There is, however, a process of preparing the cloth which diminishes notably the severity and frequency of the evils of the Schweinfurt green. It is that which immediately after the drying of the stuffs submits them at once to the "calendrage." This operation causes the a.r.s.enical paste to penetrate mechanically into the fibres of the stuff, and gives it a smooth and glazed aspect, which only permits imperfectly the production of the a.r.s.enical dust. This process renders the successive workings of the cloth less injurious, but it would be an error to consider it as inoffensive. During the action of the press, and especially during the separating and the fixing of the flowers, a notable quant.i.ty of the toxic dust is still produced. However well prepared the fabrics may be, you have only to tear it, to detach the coating under the form of a palpable powder.

It is only necessary to add that the waxing of the leaves, after they have been separated and figured, and before putting them into bouquets, const.i.tutes a protecting envelope against the effects of the powdered coating for workmen who then handle them, as well as for women who wear them; but this film of wax is only applied, comparatively speaking, to a small number of leaves, for it alters the green and vivacity of its colour.

In the preparing of the stuffs in the process of drying, Dr Vernois says:--A new condition and serious results appear. The multiplicity of sharp points fixed in the wooden squares inevitably p.r.i.c.ks and scratches the skin of the workmen. An inoculation of the a.r.s.enical salt immediately takes place, as if it had been practised experimentally. The skin irritates and inflames, a vesicle first, then a large pustule covers the orifice of the p.r.i.c.k, and undergoes all the stages of inflammation, which produces suppuration and often gangrene, below which a deep and painful ulceration is developed--all the more tedious to heal as the inoculation is renewed from day to day.

The action of picric acid mixed with the paste can only augment and aggravate the irritation of the wounds. If the ulcerations are numerous the workmen may absorb the a.r.s.enious acid and be liable to serious results. I have seen a certain number of workmen with glandular enlargements under the armpits, and the hands in such a state that they were obliged to come to the hospital, where they were only cured after one or several months of treatment. The aspect of the hand was then characteristic to the greenish-yellow tint of all the skin, and especially of the palmar aspect of the hands. To the greenish crust under the nails was nearly always added a yellow colour of the nails, produced by the repeated contact with picric acid.

When we add a generally diffused erythema, then a series of black points, or of inflamed pustules, and sometimes a whitlow, we shall have a faithful representation of the evils which most frequently present themselves in the preparers of stuffs, for artificial flowers tinted with Schweinfurt green.

Amongst the endeavours to counteract the evils entailed upon the workers in this branch of industry may be mentioned the attempt to subst.i.tute chrome for Schweinfurt green, as the less poisonous of the two substances, and the ingenious process of M. Berard-Zenzilin, which consists in directly incorporating the a.r.s.enical colouring matter with a specially prepared collodion.

=AR'SENIDE.= _Syn._ a.r.s.eN'IURET; a.r.s.eNIURE'TUM (-i-u-), L.; a.r.s.eNIURE, Fr.

A combination of a.r.s.enic.u.m with a metal (including hydrogen), in definite proportion.

=AR'SENITE= (-nite). _Syn._ AR'SENIS, L.; a.r.s.eNITE, Fr.; a.r.s.eNIGSaURE SALZ, Ger. A salt of a.r.s.enious acid.

=ART.= [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ ARS (gen., ar'tis; pl., ar'tes), L.; te???, (tech'ne), Gr.; KUNST, Ger. Primarily, strength, power, and hence also mental strength, skill; the application of knowledge or power to effect a desired purpose; the power or ability of doing something not taught by nature or instinct; practical skill guided by rules. SCIENCE is knowledge--ART, practical skill in applying this knowledge. ART is applied science; whilst SCIENCE is knowledge obtained by observation, experience, and ratiocination. This distinction is nowhere more fully seen than within the domain of chemistry, where knowledge, deduction, great power of generalisation, and great expertness are necessary elements of success.

Art has filled the world with luxuries, conveniences, and comforts; and art--the ARTS--useful or fine--are the safest and surest civilisers of our race. See SCIENCE.

=ARTESIAN WELL.= A cylindrical perforation bored vertically down through one or more strata of the earth till it reaches a porous bed of gravel containing water, this fluid being placed under such inc.u.mbent pressure that it rises up the perforation either to the surface, or to a convenient height for the operation of a pump. When they rise to the surface these wells are called spouting or flowing. The name of these wells is taken from Artois, a province in the Departement du pays de Calais, where their use was revived. They have been in use for a long time in Italy and in the East. The accompanying drawing represents the manner in which rain may be supposed to distribute itself when it falls upon a portion of the surface of our globe. The figure represents a geological section, showing the succession of the different strata.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

The figure is supposed to represent two beds, A, B, more porous, and consequently more absorbent than the rocks by which they are interstratified. The condensed dews and rains falling upon the distant hills pa.s.s rapidly by the outcrops of the strata to the lower levels, until the entire ma.s.s becomes thoroughly saturated with water. Supposing two such beds as are represented in the section to exist, fully charged with water, it is evident that if we bored down into them through the rocks as represented at C, D, the water would rise through those wells or borings, and spring out in the form of a jet to such a height above the surface as is due to the height of the hills from which the water has been obtained. The fountain derived from B would necessarily flow as much higher as that derived from the bed A, as is the height of B above A.

For particulars as to the modes of constructing artesian wells, the reader is referred to 'Traite sur les puits Artesiens,' by M Gamier, and to 'Considerations Geologiques et physiques sur la theorie des puits forces, ou fontaines Artesiennes,' by M. le Vicomte Hericart de Thury, and to 'Rudimentary Treatise on Well-digging, Boring, &c.,' by J. G. Swindell, and also to Ure's 'Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines,' edited by Mr Robert Hunt.

=ARTHANI'TINE= (-tin). [Eng., Fr.] _Syn._ ARTANITI'NE; ARTHANITI'NA, L. A peculiar substance first obtained by M. Saladin, by the action of alcohol on the tuberous stems of the herb _arthrani'ta_, or sow-bread. It is acrid, colourless, and crystalline, and imparts its acridity to the plant.

=AR'TICHOKE.= _Syn._ CIN'ARA, CYN'ARA; SCOL'YMUS, L.; ARTICHAUT, Fr.; ARTISCHOCKE, Ger. The _cynara scoly??mus_ (Linn.), a thistle-like perennial plant of the _nat. ord._ Compositae (DC.). _Hab._ Southern Europe; but now extensively cultivated in our gardens, for its 'bottom,'

or the sweet fleshy receptacle of its flowers, which is eaten as a pot herb. These are soaked in brisk boiling in water, stalk-ends uppermost, until tender; and take 1/2 to 1 hour according to their age. Sometimes they are preserved in brine (PICKLED ARTICHOKES); and also after depriving them of the 'choke' and spiny hairs and blanching them by immersion in boiling water, by drying in the sun (DRIED ARTICHOKES; CULS D'ARTICHAUT, Fr.), by which they retain their flavour for some time. Infusion of the flowers, used with rennet.

As an esculent the artichoke resembles asparagus in its general properties; but it is said to be more nutritious, and even more diuretic.