The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-04-08
ARsENICAL WALL. PAPER.

Wnat with microbes, bacteria, Odcllll
and the contradictory opinions of OK
poets, life will soon not be worth living,
The latest scare is an arsenic one, and the
culture of Boston is reused to a pitch
The legislature has been p%etitioned to
pass a stringent law against the en-
ployment of arsenic in the manufacture
Of many articles in everyday use. Wall
paper is the chief offender, and addi-
tional weight is lent to the accusation
by the signatures of 1900 Massachusetts
physicians attached to the petition.
The committee on public health has
taken the matter up, and is receiving
testimony on the question.
As usual, the experts disagree. A
manufacturer admits the use of arsenic
in the mills of his company for coloring
purposes, but he does not believe the
limited amount can be dangerous. And
he INDUCES in a little by play at the ex-
pense of the foreigner, and declares that
the %latter's employment of arsenic is
outrageous in its extent and hurtful de-
cidedly. Arsenic in wall paper, accord
ing to several physicians, is responsible
for serious maladies and, in some in
stances, death. One medico related his
observations on the manufacture of
Paris green, in which arsenic is a princi-
pal ingredient. His observations proved
that in spring time the leaves fell from
fhn frnnc 1ritbtn m npnn of fhrnn III
dred feet from the factory. The escape
of the arseniureted hydrogen was pre-
vented, and the trees tiourished like
green bays. Children and nurses in a
a certain hospital were suffering from
sore fingers, and afterwards two of the
children died of diseases of the respira-
tory organs. The wall paper was ex-
amined. No arsenic. Then it was the
turn of the blue dresses worn by the
nurses, and the secret was out. No
sooner were the deadly dresses discarded
than nurses and children recovered.
The experiment was completed when
the dresses, washed and reworn, at once
produced a recurrence of the symptoms.
Butthe other side is not unrepresented.
A dealer in wall paper for t%hirty-eight
years made affidavit that of 1000 speci-
mems examined only three contained
any arsenic whatever, and two of these
came from Japan. He has no use for
chemists and their analyses. The analy-
sis, he believes, varies with the object
of the man who wants it. When he
himself had a certain specimen of wall
paper examined by a chemist, he was
assured that the arsenic was insigniti-
cant in quantity. But when Il timid
customer took the same wall paper to
the same chemist, it had become heavily
charged with arsenic and utterly too
dangerous to use. Prof. Chanler, of
New York, who had no doubts of his
own ability as an expert, secuted the
idea that arseniureted hydrogen could
be generated from paper. The whole
thing Was simply a Boston fad, and
should be dismissed without further
consideration or waste of time.
OF course, the idea that arsenic in
wall paper, clothing and ornaments is a
dangerous ingredient, is not a new one.
The matter has been discussed for a
good many years by experts and others,
and the result of the Boston inquiry
seems to prove only how little is abso-
lutely known on the subject. The pro
fessor may be in the right VIXEN he
characterizes the agitation as u "Boston
fad" and the whole thing may be the
work of a few nervous people influenced
by some incident that goes beyond their
usual experience. But where there is
smoke, there is fire, and the inquiry in
question will have served some good
purpose, if it induces men who are really
experts to investigate the subject, and
give to the public a satisfactory decision
one way or the other.