Arizona silver belt., 1892-10-15
OCCUPATIONS THAT SHORTEN THE
 LIVES OF TolLERS.

Are Exposed-Iead Has slain It's Thou
 sands and Mercury It's Hundreds--Ef-
 feet of Too Much Silver on n Man.
 My lady delicately tracing embroid- cry upon fine linen knows nothing and cares less about the men who fashioned the needle she holds in her tapering fin gers. But those men shortened their lives in the making of it. Perhaps by the infinitesimal fraction of second for that particular needle, but when they they ground it and polished it they in- haled into their lungs the invisible par ticles of steel that flew from the whir- ring stone Consumption is very com mon disease among needle makers.
 Human life is the cheapest thing on earth Flow many lives will it costy is question that never enters into the calculation of architect, bridge builder, manufacturer-of any one who supplies the necessities of tue world, forwards its progress or adds to its comforts. Human life is the one raw material of which the crop never fails, in producing which there are no strikes. And while there are a vast number of trades and manufactures in their very nature dan gerous to life, you cannot induce the men who work at them to take mp other occupations Not even the offer of higher wages will tempt them, which goes to show that a man has as little re- gard for his own life as any one else has for it,
 No need to mold lead into bullets to make it deadly. Workers of lead, house painters, artists, gilders, calico printers, typefounders and typesetters shot found CTS, potters and braziers will tell you that. So will the workmen who handle vulcanized rubber, those who wrap goods in tinfoil. even the fishmongers who handle lead counters covered with brine. Lead poisoning, next ;o alcoholic poisoning, is perhaps the commonest toxic condition. Lead collie" is almost as prevalent as that other colic that rouses the happy father and sets him to pacing the floor with his squaling son end heir.
 
 lead poisoning his digestion is disturbed. He has no appetite. and his skin usually takes on a peculiar yellow hue. His gums show characteristic blue line, which is sulphide of lead deposited there. He has pains in his joints and ofrtimes paralysis. His paralysis usually affects the extensor muscles of the hands and fingers, and So produces what is popUlarly called ''drop wrist Once in while lead poisoning affects the brain 4 case is recorded where a painter saf- feriug from it thought he saw wind bags blown up to look like men, and other separations which made remarks to him and caused him a great deal Of anxiety With Ill due defererce to the medical faculty, 1t would seem doubtful whether talk about wind bags blown up to look like men" should be taken as an evidence of insanity. There surely are such things in real life.
 WOrkmeu employed at extracting gold from it's ores, those who silver nirrUrs, makers of barometers and thermometers have of course to live in an atmosphere more OF less iulpragnated with mercury. So do those who etch, who color the finer sorts Of wool and who take part in the manufacture of felt hats. In these latter occupations the mercury is iu the form oi it's nitrate. Mercury is the de- light of every dentist whose heart is really in his work Too much of it sal jyutes a man and makes his teeth drop out so that tamirror silyerer is extremely apt to go mumbling, toothlcss, through life like 8 lean and sliqpsred pauta loon.
 Photographers, makers Of hair dye, and of marking ink handle eroat deal Of silver That lot might seem to be very euyiable. but in those cases the sil- yer is the nitrate or one of is various other compounds It i5 extremely liable 10 change the color of the nan who haul dies 1t, particularly thai much of mm as Is exposed Co the light First his nails and fingers. then his hands and face turn from white to grayish blue and then to black
 Copper is another metal thatis mighty dangerous to handle habitually. It breaks down the health of those who work in it. Copper enters into the com position of any number of alloys, into the common brUnzmg processes, into the lilac and purple fbers of the pyrotech- u!st aud into may ssacnts. A green line appears on tlic gu3nscr the unfortu- nate poisoned by copper So that if one has desire to ornament Lis gums he has at least the choice of his colors- blue with lead, green with copper An timony is another health destroyer, at least so far as men are concerned. 'KeTnes mineral contains antimonious acid It is used in yulcanizing rubber Typefounders are also exposed to tho deleterious effects of antimony.
 But however unhealthfully antlmony acts on men there has long prevailed an idea, the truth of which is doubtful that antilnony given to animals i'm proves their condition. Says an old au- thor3 "A horse that is lean and scrubby, and not to be fatted by any means, will become fat on taking dose of antimony for two months together. A boar fed for bacon, and having an ounce of anti mouy given him every morning, will be- come fat a fortnight sooner than others put into the sty at the same time and fed in the same manner, but without the antimony."
 It is an undoubted fact that in Bruns. wick the breeders of fat geese add a small quantity of antimony to the geese's food as traditional cua m. New York World,