The Ottawa free trader., 1885-09-26
CHLORIDE OF ZINC.
4 Deadly Poison Emp'oyed IN tie Canned
Goods 7rads TIE ProjaJle Por,m Of

Goods Trads Tie P,VjoJls Pqrum Q
h'idney DeSedse.
The canning business arose 10 It's enOr
nous proportions by honest management
and has received its present set back no
from sensational journalism, but because
the Gamers in their mad greed for gair
left the wellknown and safe method OF
sealing their cans with rOsln for the use OF
the most deadly poisons known to science
Choloride of zinc is a poison almost a,
deadly as arsenic. When you consider
how heavy zinc is you can consider how
little is necessary to destroy human being
Why the Gamer should abandon the safe
process of sealing with rOsin and adopt a
dangerous one Of mingling poison with
! food it is interesting to inquire, and briet
/ history Of the business will show how this
has taken place.
! II requires some skill to solder with ros.
| in fiuX. 1t requires none to solder with
! zinc; the solder will stick to the tin in any
body's hands.
skilled workmen could be done away with
and boys employed, and when wages enter
so largely into the question Of cost as it
does in canned goods, this was an import.
ant item not to be overlooked. Again,
cheaper tin could be used. Still further it
was found that cans could be made by ma
chinery, as the solder was sure TO stick, and
the hand made can and safety became al
most thing of the past. 1t is not TO be
supposed that those in the business would
knowingly use dangerous poison around
the food We will give them the credit Of
ignorantly introducing, from the roofing
trade process that they thought would
cheaper their cost of packing and Of being
in ignorance of the danger of chloride of
zinc Having become an article of univer-
sal use with the Gamers, they all dread to
abandon it, for fear someone will stick to
it and undeIsell them, this idea Of having
the goods cheap being the mania of the
trade.
The first fatal case of poisoning by chic
ride of zinc occurred under the care Of II
Lethehy, NJ d., lecturer on chemistry of the
medical school of the London hospital
1t was Il child OF l5mOnths old. The child
got hold Of bottle of Burnetts disinfect.
ant fluid, which bad been brought into Il
room 10 disenfeCt for fever The child
died in collapse in ten hours On post
mortem examination the lining mem brane
of the lips, mouth, and throat were opaque
and corroded as if by caustic, as also the
stomach and the kidneys were found con
gested.
Woolman & Sidy give reference to some
thirty cases of poisoning by chloride of zinc,
and in the post mortem of those that died
the kidneys were found congeSted. In the
K0lyer case. which is now in the courts,
there was albumen in the urine for two
and other members of the family,
also poisoned by canned goods at the same
time, had the same symptoms Stile, in
his materia melica, says that chloride of
zinc in the smallest of doses acts on the kid
news.
An interesting experiment was tried at
a well known canning establishment.
The veteran foreman, who has had thirty
years experience as Gamer, took an empty
can, and with a small marking brush care
fully wiped the brush on the edges of the
pot till the brush was only moist, and light
" touched the edge of the tin, holding the
cap down firmly with his hand all the
while then he took a heavy heated sol
iering iron and placed ii on the top of the
can and then went round with the solder.
Taking three minutes by the watch to sol
der on the cap at this rate he could only
solder on two hundred caps a day, instead
Of six thousand which workman has to
do day to make his wages; and yet when
the can was opened after all this care sew
eral drops Of chloride of zinc were found
On the inside of the can. This experiment
has been repeated over and over by others,
and it is an utter imp 'ssibility for anyone to
seal can without an apreciable amount |
Of zinc getting into the can.
The veteran foreman was asked to taste |
Of one of the drops inside of the can, He
lid so his face became like bciled lobSt-
er in color. He tried to hold it but could
not and finally, after fumbling for his hand- |
Ierchief and not finding ii, he had to turn |
round and spit il out and this was the result |
with everyone that tasted of it, Now, when
this poison gets into the can when all this |
care is used, what is the probability when
the cans are sealed as they are in the rush /,
Df business: A capper receives 10 cents per
hundred cans for putting on the caps. lie
has to furnish his own tools, tiuX, and sol
der. Instead Of carefully painting round
the can with u marking brush, the cappers
brush is a. large as that of house-panter.
His cans are ia trays of dozen each, he
LAYS his caps on and with On. dab of his !
brush across the top of his can, the tops OF
the whole twelve cans are rendered acid !
then the soldering iron runs around. The
central hole is not closed. The cans are
then put in An iron crate AN! lowered into
A hot bath where they stay from five to
twenty minutes, according ~ the stuff that
is being processed. The acid left on top
nt the can is washed IF with this bath, and
the bath often becomes so acid that the
can solder from the water of the
bath rs tiux The longer the bath is used
the dirtier il becomes. Just think Of boys |
working such deadly poison as chlorid of
zinc over what the public is asked 10 eat N
the rate OF ten cans for each man, women,
and child in the United states, and each
1an has an appreciable amount of this dead !
" poison no wonder that the consumption
lf canned goods anG Bright's disease have
gone hand in hand in this country! Cor.
Brook,yh Eogle.