The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-09 00:00:00

EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF
POISONING.

(From the Morning Herald of Jan. 8.)
Under this head there appeared in ;he papers of
Saturday last a report of a coroner's inquest held oa
the body of a young man lately employed in a com-
posite candle-manufactory : the verdict of the jury
being, " That the deceased died from the mortel
effects of his exposure to the poison of arsenic, while
at work in a candle manufactory." Part of the evi-
dence was as follows :—" Nine ounces of arsenic were
generally mixed with the melted stuff in other rriauu-
factories ; but in this only two ounces, the manufac-
turer being desirous ofdoing a way with arsenic a, much
as possible. The arsenic made the candles have more
the appearance of wax." These words and some other
parts of the report would imply that arsenic is used
in all composite candles. We unde=r :tend that the
name of " composite" was first applied to candles in
the winter of 1839, when it was diseovered that the
hard substance obtained by a patent process from
cocoa-nut oil, formed (in combination with the ex-
' pensive material already well known in commerce by
the name of " stearine wax") candles possessing the
intense inflammability of the latter, and the beautiful
bluish-whiteness of light and absolute freedom frem
smoke of the former material—candles, in fact,
equal in all their light•giving properties to the
finest wax or spermaceti, and vet more
economical, allowing for the amount- of light,
than cominon tallow-moulds. These compound
candles were called by the inventors (the patentees
of the process referred to) " composite" rather un-
luckily ; for no sooner was their merit known
than some dozen of' imitations cae e out under the
same name of "composite," of ditrerent degrees of
merit, and of all varieties of price ; but all so far difs
fering from the real candles that not one of them con-
tained a particle of cocoa-nut oil, except in the crude,
soft state in which it is imported—the makers of the
real candles holding, as already said, the patent for
the hardening of this substance so as to make it fit for
use in candles, by the abstraction from it of all its
liquid oil, the presence of which oil is the cause of
its extreme softness in the natural state.
In consequence of the report above alluded to,
which would lead the public to believe that compo-
site candles cannot be made without arsenic, and that
as a matter of course the real patent or true composite
candles must contain a double portion of it, the pa-
tentees, Messrs. Price and Co., of Belmont, Vauxhall,
invited us yesterday to see the process at their factory,
and we spent some hours viewing the very ingenious,
complicated, and expensive machinery by which those
difficulties in the manufacture of composite candles,
for the overcoming 0f which the arsenic is said to be
necessary, ere surmounted. It is unnecessary to de-
tail the whole process of the manufacture which we wit.
nessesi, but from our own observation, and the answers
we received to questions addressed to the workmen
upon various points, we feel perfectly satisfied that not
' a particle of arsenic is used in the composition. In-
deed an inspection of the mechanical arrangements
would convince any person acquainted with the manu-
facture of composite candles that arsenic could not be
any possibility be used. The Messrs. Price have also
given us their solemn assurance, which we willingly
make public, that from the commencement of the
manufacture there has naver been a single composite
candle (now called simply " Price's patent candles")
made with the use of arsenic, and that during the
five years these candles have been made not one grain
of arsenic has been admitted into their factory for any
purpose whatever. They inform us that the state-
ment made at the inquest that "the arsenic makes
the candles have more the appearance of wax" is
perfectly true, and they have given us the following
explanation of this tendency :—lt appears that the
stearine wax has a great tendency to assume a crys-
talline texture in soddifying, and that the temperature
at which it solidifies is much higher than even the
congealing point of the hard cocoa-nut stearine, and
of course very much higher still than that of the soft
crude oil used in the imitations. The two substances
of which the composite candle is to be made are per-
fectly incorporated together in the liquid state, and
are run into the moulds. /f they can he kept in
this perfect incorporation until the whole mass
has become solid, the candle is clear, smooth, and
waxy, free from oiliness and from any mottled
appearance on the surface. If, on the contrary,
the stearine wax is allowed, in the cooling of the
mixture, to separate itself partly from the other
material by crystalising away from it when its solidi-
fying point is reached (the other being, as already
said, still liquid for many- degrees below this point),
then the candle has an unsightly appearance, and does
not at all possess the clear smooth surface of the other.
Now the use of the arsenic is this—the smallest quan-
tity of it mixed with the stearine wax entirely de-
stroys its tendency to crystalise, and the stearine
wax, thus prepared and incorporated with the other
material in the liquid state, remains perfectly incor-
porated, and the whole difficulty is overcome, at no
other trouble and expense to the manufacturers than
some slight wear and tear of the conscience of the
manager. The material must not be boiled with water
subsequently to the addition of the arsenic, or the water
removes it entirely, and along with it all the desired.
effect. In Mr. Price's factory this very practice of
violent boiling with water is the means used to in-
corporate the two materials without the use of any
chemical agent whatever, all the previous mechanical
processes in the preparations of the stearine wax
having, however, been regulated with the one view of
overcoming its tendency to crystalise, and further
mechanical processes are brought into operation with
the same view, atter the incorporation. The most
exact attention is paid also to the temperature, not
only of the material but also of the moulds into which
it is poured, all of these being heated to the required
degree in steam-closets built for the purpose. The
result is that the candles are extremely good and
pretty. That the surface and appearance of all the
candles of every filling of the moulds are per-
fect, as would invariably be the case were arsenic
used, Messrs. Price and Co. do not pretend. The
candles have to be examined, and the very small pro-
portion which show any considerable appearance of
mottledness or defective surface are remelted. It has
even occurred to them, but very rarely, to be obliged
to condemn a whole day's work, between six and
seven tons of candles. Even in some of the candles
passed as good specks and a slight degree of mottle
are observable on close inspection ; and occasionally a
sharp-eyed consumer detects these, and animadverts
upon them. The answer of the shopkeeper is very
ready :—" Those specks are merely a stamp of no
arsenic. The patentees would consider it iniquitous
in them to make arsenicated candles, and folly in you
to ask far them."

We understand, however, from Messrs. Price and
Co. that, by a new patent process which they are
busily engaged in working out, they have every hope
of accomplishing, by mechanical agency, all the desired
effects, with the same ease and certainty as those af-
forded by the arsenic. We heartily wish them suc-
cess in the attempt, and would suggest to them that
they should, in that case, rise superior to the mere
considerations of trade, and either grant licenses for
the process at a very moderate rate, or else sell at a
small profit the stearine wax prepared by it. We re-
publish, at the request of Messrs. Price and Co., an
advertisement inserted by them some years ago in all
the London papers, and of which they beg us to say
that they consider the engagements still in force.
The interest which the public naturally feel in a
matter in which their health and comfort are so deeply
involved (these candles being very extensively used
throughout the kingdom) must be our apology for
this lengthened notice.
COPY OF AN ADVERTISEMENT INSERTED IN

ALL THE LONDON PAPERS.
Edward Price and Co. solemnly declare, " That they
do not, in any part of their manufacturing process, make
use of arsenic, or of any other deleterious ingredient.
Any of their customers doubting this fact will par-
ticularly oblige E. P. and Co. by having a packet of
their candles analysed by any chemist of known skill,
the expense of which will be cheerfully borne by them,
on condition of their being at liberty to publish the
result."

MR. TOTHILL'S REPORT FOR 1844.
TO THE PUBLIC.

The only thing I have to add to my report of last.
year is, tbat I feel still more convinced, from prac-
tical experience, of the truth of Mr. Morison's 1-{y..
geian System of Medicine, and of the fallacy faf the
Organic The-my taught in the schools of medic:me. I
have, during the last ten years, treated gnituiteusly
upwards of 5,000 poor persons labouring under all
sorts of diseases, at the Exeter Hygeian Dispensary,
solely with Morison's Pills, of the British College of
Health, London, most of whom had bef,n iziven up as
incurable by the most eminent medical mend Exeter.
To any person de. irons of investigating such cases,
shall be most happy to give them the names And ad-
dresses of the parties cured, together with the names
and addresses of the medical men they were undt-r.
I beg to thank Lady Sophia Grey, and the other
subscribers, for their annual subscriptions.
(Signed) RICHARD TOTHILL,
M.R.C.S., London, but now prac—
tising on the Hygeian System.
Exeter llygeian Dispensary, 91, Fore-
street Hill, Exeter, Jan. 6, 1845.

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, JAN. 7.--ExAmrwAtioN
OF THE QUESTIONISTS NOT CANDIDATES FOR HONOURS.
—This examination begins 0,-). Wednesday (this day),
and continues seven days. There are in the first divi-
sion 107 candidates, and in the second 105. Term com-
mences on Monday next, the 13th Instant.

Earl Fitzhardinge, and the Hon. Craven Berkeley
hues respectively made handsome donations to the fund
for the relief of the unemployed poor at Cheltenham. The
um alre.tdy subscribed tunouuto to upwards of 600/.