Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-06-18
DANGEROUS TO HANDLE HIDES.
Warning to Thoae who Work In Leather
Store-- IiIuOd Poisoning.

Warning to Thoae Who Work In Leather
Store-- BiuOd POisoning. ...
The death of Thomas Young some time
| ago, u workman in Spruce street wholesale
leather house, from poison received in hand
ling hides has cs.used talk among leather
dealers William Paien said II see that
Young thought that he had been bitten by
some insect that b1rrowed in hide differ
from that 1 havo known of poisonous in
sects. such as the scorpion. TO be found in the
hides but never knew of any men lIelng bit
ten by them. Young probably raised bun
die Of hides to his shoulder and it scratched
his neck, causing an abrasion of the skin,
through which the poison in the hide entered
his system. In my fathers tannery, over
thirty five years ago, used TO see men with
their arms frightfully swollen through hav-
ing been poisoned in handling hides. One
man employed here in Spruce street lost an
eye In this way. Physicians, in.fnaking an
autopsy. may be poisoned similarly If any
abrasion of their skin is exposed to the virus
of any diseased organ OF IA subject they are
examining. Most of the hides likely to be dis
eased come from the East Indies the Argen-
tine Confederation and other foreign ports.
have never known men to be poisoned in
handling our own American hides, which are
pretty sure to come from stock that has been
killed.
q. B. Horton said: "There IL no more dan
gerous illness that man can suffer from
than that Of blood poisoning from coming in
contact with the hide of an animal that has
died OF viruent disease. IL | should be
poisoned in this way in the head or neck
should go home and make my will II IA
man In poisoned In the hand his chance of
recovery is good, but let him be poisoned in
the head or neck, and it is two to one that he
dies have known of half dozen deaths
in five years, two Of them being of men in
our own employ, from the same cause that
killed YounG. Hides include those of AM
mails that have been killed and whose skins
are healthy. those Of fallen cattle, or those
that have been frozen or died of starvation,
whose minute blood vessels in the ieshy
part of the hide coagulate and turn the skin
black. aud lastly. of those OF diseased cattle,
that also turn black and have patches of hair
gone In places. Of course, the ordinary
workman cannot make these distinctions, but
they can protect themselves from danger II
they would cover any abrasion of the skin at
once with court plaster or wear gloves whep
at work. There is no danger in handling
our native hides, because the men west don't
remove the skin from an animal that has
died of any disease.
THE most dangerous hides come from coun-
tries where the workmen are very poor and
labor for few cents day. Particularly
dangerous hides come from the East indies.
Central America and Mexico When one Of
our own men, Samuel McWilliams, died some
years ago from blood poisoning, resulting
from handling hides, it was said that he died |
from arsenical poisoning, This was wrong |
as the amount OF arsenic used in curing q |
hide so that insects can't eat it is nfinitesi- |
rOulI harm IA Hr.t