New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1891-10-21
DEATH IN THE WORKSHOP.

Men Who Perform Work Which
They Know Must Result In Ger
tain Death.
There are many trades which mean,
soonr or later, sure death to the
workman. In some cases death comes
early in others, where the man is
working among cumulative poisons,
it is lingering and painful in the ex-5
treme. But of all others the salt-cake,
bleaching powder and lime-house men
have death most surely staring them
in the face. The Pail Mall Budget
prints a picture in the current num-
Der that shows just what these typi-
cal workers must endure.
The acid gas given off from the salt
cake furnaces is very trying. and the
flannel protection over the mouth is
used to ward this off: but in spite OF
it teeth and gums fall victim to the
acid. Very frequently bits get nibbled
by the action of the acid out of the
mems hands and arms. Some of the
hands have a corrugated look in con-
sequence.
Lime is the principal ingredient out
Of which bleaching powder is made.
Before it goes to the chlorine cham
bers, where it is to absorb the gas, it
is carefully treated and reduced to
fine powder. 1t is sifted and beaten
about and slaked, and the men who
have to do this work have a lob
which no one need envy. Imagine
working all day, or all night, as the
case may be, in a fine mist of lime
lime particles flying about like a
cloud Of mosquitoes, with a far
sharper bite, too. To protect them
selves the men resort to muzzle or
to a piece of rag or flannel held tightly
between the teeth. Theexposed parts
OF the skin are carefully creased,
and asort of paper mask is frequently
improvised in addition to the caps
which the men wear. Inspite ofevery-
thing, however, the lime gets in some
where and inflcts it's bite. All the
time the work is carried on breathing
is g. terrible effort. To breathe
through the nose would have the
direst consequences. A single inhala-
ton and the lime particles would
lodge there. So the air has to be in
hailed through the muzzle and given
out through the nose. Naturally,
nose bleeding is frequent complaint
in the works. Twenty minutes at a
spell is as much as a man can stand;
after that he goes out to recover him
self and lay in a little air for his inside
and some grease for outside lining
These lime men Of course, are not
able to wash; they shun water as
other people shun fire. The only
wash they get sometimes for months
together is in grease. To insist upon
these poor chaps repeating their at
tack on the lime over period as long
as eight hours seems cruel. It is far,
far to long; but it would be step in
the right. direction. As to the medi-
cal evidence, it does not require much
skill to see how work like this must
tell on the respiratory organs.
The duties OF the limehousc man are,
however, child's play compared with
what the packer has to endure. When
the lime man has finished his part of
the Job, and the lime is sprinkled to g.
depth OF some two inches oyer the
floor Of the chlorinechamber, and aked
lightly over so that the gas shall have
access to as large q surface area as
possible, the doors are shut, the
cracks stopped up with clay and an
opening is made to admit the chlor-
Inc. It streams in, and through the
glass which is let into the door you can
see the invasion of the green gas. A
long period has to elapse before the
lime has drunk it's fill and become
bleaching powder of the requisite
strength; but at length, after the nee
essary tests, and perhaps a rear
rangement of the surface and another
dose of chlorine, things are ready for
packing. The duties of the powder
packer consist of filling casks with the
bleaching powder. To do this he has
to enter the chamber which for sever
al days past has been charged with
the chlorine gas. Though the worst
OF the gas has been allowed to pass
out of the chamber before the packer
enters it the atmosphere is still charg-
ed with the deadly fumes The heat
is something tremendous, especially
as the poor wretch who has to endure
it is swathed about the head in a way
that would protect him from arctic
cold.
The Sense OF Smell and Its ASCOT
E ~ ationS.
No one thinks of cultivating the
nose, although no trouble and expense
is spared in training the ear and edu-
eating the eye; as an avenue of under
standing and enjoyment, the faculty
OF smell is utterly ignored in our
scheme Of education When Jacob
the supplanter stood by the sickbed
OF his blind sire, we read how Israel
thought he recognized the odour of
his frst-born, and it pleased him.
0See," he said, s'the smell of a field
which the Lord hath blessed" Mo-
dern prudency recoils from such a
mode of recognition, simply because
modern noses have been allowed to
grow lnsensible to all except pungent