The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1892-09-22
LIFE rs VERY CHEAP.
OCCUPATIONS THAT SHORTEN THE
LIVES OF TOlLERS.

sands and Mercury It's Hundrsds-Ef-
feet of Too Much Silver on a 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 infnitesimal fraction Of second for
that particular needle, but when they
they ground it and polished it they in
hailed 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 OH
earth. GLOW many lives will it cost?'
is question that never enters into the
calculation of architect, bridge builder,
manufacturer-of any one who supplies
the necessities Of the 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 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 up 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
ers, 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 to alcoholic
poisoning, is perhaps the commonest
toxic condition. "Lead collie" is almost
as prevalent as that other collie that
rouses the happy father and sets him to
pacing the floor with his squalling son
and heir.
When a man suffers with chronic
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
ofttimes paralysis. His paralysis usually
affects the extensor muscles of the hands
and fingers, and so produces what is
popularity called "drop wrist" Once in
a while lead poisoning affects the brain.
A case is recorded where painter suf
fering from it thought he saw "wind-
bags blown up to look like men," and
other apparitions which made remarks
to him and caused him great deal of
anxiety. With all due Difference to the
medical faculty, it 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.
Workmen employed at extracting gold
from its ores, those who silver mirrors,
makers of barometers and thermometers
have of course to live in an atmosphere
more or less impregnated 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 in the
form of its nitrate. Mercury is the de-
light of every dentist whose heart is
really in his work. Too much of it sal
ivates man and makes his teeth drop
out, so that mirror silverer is extremely
apt to go mumbling, toothless, through
life like clean and slippered panta-
LOOM"
Photographers, makers of hair dyes
and of marking ink handle great deal
of silver. That lot might seem to be
very enviable, but in those cases the sill
yer is the nitrate or one of its various
other compounds. 1t is extremely liable
to change the color of the man who han
dies it, particularly that much of him
as is exposed to 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 that is mighty
dangerous to handle habitually. 1t
breaks down the health of those who
work in it, Copper enters into the com
position of any number of alloys, into
the common bronzing processes, into the
lilac and purple fibers Of the pyrotech-
mist and into many pigments. A green
line appears on the gums of the unfortu-
nate poisoned by copper. So that if one
has desire to ornament his 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.
"Kermes mineral" contains antimonious
acid. 1t is used in vulcanizing rubber.
Typefounders are also exposed to the
deleterious effects of antimuny.
But however unhealthfully antlmony
acts on men there has long prevailed
an idea, the truth of which is doubtful,
that anthony given to animals i'm
proves their condition. Says an old au-
thor: ga horse that is lean and scrubby,
and not to be fatted by any means, will
become fat on taking dose of anthony
for two months together. A boar fed
for bacon, and having an ounce of anti
mony given him every morning, will be.