Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1875-09-08
Danger OF Arsenical Poisoning.

Arsenic is getting to be throughout the
world almost as common rs dirt. We
doubt whether it would not be impossible,
at the present day, in any country, to con-
vict on chemical evidence, before any jury
the most bungling arsenical posoner. if he
or she had legal defender who would
make use, rs he might, of the argument
furnished by the almost universal distri-
button of the venomous element through
out our most intimate walks of life. We
have received medicines ourselves from
drug stores, wrapped in arsenical papers.
put up in Paris green paper boxes,
with arsenical paper caps tied over the
corks. etc. We have often seen confec-
tionery exposed for sale to young children
wrapped in the deadly green paper. We
have often found young children sucking
toys painted with this horrible stuff with
their mouth stained throughout with the
venom. The Paris green paper is one of
the commOnest in use for binding school
books and we have more than once taken
such books away from our Young children,
which have been given then by their teach
ers. Numerous deaths of children are
we'll known to have been thus occasioned.
No country can be called civilized in which
such suicidal Ignorance, such stupid slaugh-
ter of the innocents is common. Ore
more illustration only. 1t is very common
to see Il lawyer or his clerk put into his
mouth. to moisten the gum side of it, a
beautiful green paper disk with scalloped
edges, to attach to some document. These
things are found in every lawyers office
in the land and used constantly. They are
seldom made of any other than Paris
green papcr. Can this be ignorance, or
are all of our lawyers fatalists. and be-
lieve they can only d" die when their time
comes?' In commencing to write we had
in our mind to refer to some of the Won
derful facts developed of late, in great
Britain especially, of open carts loaded
with white arsenic passing in open day
through the country in some districts. with
heap: such cart being often exposed
all night open to the rain; of strong
" arsencal water flowing from mines and
metalurgical works into streams of water
afterwards drunk by large populations, and
so on. These are facts. Everybody will
remember the cargo of salt and arsenic to-
gether shipped to us from Europe, Il few
months ago, which got 4 little mixed dur
ing a rough passage. This particular
mixture was discovered. The water We
ourselves drink comes from 4 stream or
one Of whose tributaries is works. which
so contaminates the said tributary with
arsenic that cattle drinking it have been
poisoned to death. These things We say
are facts on both sides of the Atlantic bu
really, while we wrote the first part of thi,
: article, especially when we thought of the
recklessness of the public press, which has
actually recommended their readers, il
many cases, to pile on the Paris green or
: their potato patches with a perfect loose
: ness, these other things seem trifles, n.
fiat and stale as they certainly are unprof
r liable, and our enthusiasm and zeal fol
the cause of humanity seems to wilt dowI
! into sort of scntimentalty, which is Ger
tanlv ludicously lame and impotent, i
: not downright sickly.-GaS LigM jour
, udl