The St. Johns herald., 1892-10-06
DEADLY OCCUPATIONS.
Trades Which Eventually Prove
 Fatal to Workmen.
Terrible Hardshfps Which Some Men Are Compelled Co Undergo in Order to Gain
 Livelihood.

There are many trades which mean, sooner or later, sure death tO the work man, says the Pall Hall Budget. In some eases death comes early; in others, where the man is working among cumu- lative poisons, it is lingering and painful in the extreme But of all others, the salt-caEe, bleaching powder and lime house men have death most surely star ing them in the face. The acid gas given off from the salt-cal1e furnaces is very trying, and flannel protection over the mouth is used to ward this off, but in spite of it teeth and gums fall a vic tim to the acid. Very Frequently bits get nibbled by the action of the acid out of mems hands and arms. Some of the hands have corrugated look in consequence.
 Lime is the princpal ingredient out of which bleaching powder is made. Before it goes to the chlorine chambers, where it is to absorb the gas, it is care fully treated and reduced to a fine powder. It is sifted, and beaten about, and slaked, and the men who have to do this work have job which DO 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 themselves the men resort to a muzzle or to a piece of rag or flannel held tightly between the teeth The ex- posed parts of the skin are carefully greased, and 0 sort of paper mask is frequently improvised in addition to the caps which the men wear. In spite of everything, however, the lime gets in somewhere and inficts it's bite. All the time the work is carried on breathing is a terrible effort. To breathe through the nose would have the direst consequences. A single in- halation and the lime particles would lodge there. So the air has to be in- haled through the muzzle and given out through the nose. Naturally nose bleeding is frequent complaint in tho works. Twenty minutes at a spell is as much as a man can stand; after that he goes out to recover himself and lay in a little air for his inside and some grease for his outside lining. These lime men, of course, arc 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 attack on tho lime over period as long as eight hours seems cruel. It is far, far too long. but it would be step in the right direction. As to the medical evidence, it does not require much skill to sec how work like this must tell on the respiratory organs.
 The duties of the limehouse men are. however, child's play compared with what the packer has to endure. When the limeman has finished his part of the job and the lime is sprinliled to depth of two inches over the floor of the chlorine and ral1ed lightly over so that gas shall have access to as large a surface area as possible, the doors are shut, the cracks stopped up with clay, and an opening is made to admit the chlorine 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 its fill and become bleaching powder of the requisite strength: but at length, after the neces- sary tests, and perhaps rearrange- ment of the surface and another dose of chlorine, things are ready for packing. The duties of the powdcr-pacllcr con sist of filing casks with the bleaching powder. To do this he has to enter the chamber, which, for several days past, has been charged with the chlorine gas. Though the worst of the gGs has been allowed to pass out of the chamber be- fore the packer enters it the atmos- phere is. still charged with the deadly fumes. The heat is something tre- nendous, especially as the poor wretch who has to endure it is svathed about the head in a way that would protect him from the arctic cold.