Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1893-01-03

n q II n 1NS n EMU
Death rides on every passing breeze
And turks In every flower"
1t has been asserted that 1t may even
wall. And DIR. William B. Hills, of Har-
ward university, has been making investi-
cations which show that not only may
those flowers be poisonous, but that dress
goods. upholsteries. pigments and other
materials may also be. He examined q
large number of samples, and reached the
conclusion that from 60 to 20 per cent. of
the wall papers sold are free from arsenic;
that q per cent. contain more than one
twentieth of a grain per yard; that per
cent. contain more than one-tenth of q
grain; that the percentage of papers con-
tanning more than one-tenth of grain per
yard has not diminished during the last
three years; that arsenic is not essential to
the production of the colors, and that the
claim of the manufacturers that the arsenic
present in their products is an unsvolds-
BILE impurity is not borne out by the facts.
Much more arsenic was found in the
'glszed and plated" papers which may be
seen in some kindergarten schools, where
they are placed in the hands of small chill
dren who fashion them into ornamental
articles. These papers are also ussd for
covering pasteboard boxes, for wrapping
confectionery, and for decorative purposes.
Of sixty-one samples, eight were found to
contain more than half grain of the
poison per square yard. The most danger
GUS of the glazed papers are those that are
green. There has been an Improvement in
the reds.
DR.. Hills examined 800 samples of
cretonnes, mulls, plushes, corduroys,
chsllies, and the like, and found arsenic In
101 of them. In 80 of these samples the
quantity exceeded one tenth of a grain per
yard. OF 393 samples of prints and ging-
hams, 172 were arsenicsl. Here there were
&c samples carrying more than one-tenth
of grain per yard, and in some instances
the quantity exceeded three grains. The
most dangerous of all the textile fabrics
examined was srsenicsl green tarlatan.
The pigment is attached to this material
very loosely, and is readily detached by
friction or even by slight motion. Another
fabric containing large quantities of arsenic
is ared-striped ticking used for mattresses.
Five out of six samples, procured from as
many dealers, were heavily loaded with
the poison. 1t appears that about half of
the arsenic in textile fabric is removed
by the first thorough washing, but subse-
quent wsshings will not remove all of it.
Arsenic is rarely found in all-wooi goods
or in pure silk fabric, but considerable
quantities are frequently carried by goods
of mixed wool and cotton.
Colors used in decorating the interiors
of houses were examined because "it sp-
pears probable that these, next to papers
and textile fabrics, are the most important
sources of chronic arsenical poisoning"
Among those in which arsenic was found
were orange chrome yellow, dark ochre,
venetian red, raw umber, sienna, and
brown umber. DR.. Hills thinks that these
are not likely to be injurious when they
the conditions closely ressmble those OBJ
served in the case of wall papers. Parti-
cles are easily detached; they fall to the
floor, and may be diffused through the air
in the form of fine dust.
1t appears that the talk that has been
made about these matters has had some eff
feet on manufacturers, and that they
are more careful than they used to be.
More talk and some legal as well as moral
suasion would probably still further better
the condition of affairs.