The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-04-10
POISONED BY MONEY.

"Do not take an old dirty ba.Nl bill
if you can avoid it." That is the adj
vice of one of the most eminent physi-
clans and bacteriologists.
"Experiments," he continued, ''show
that such notes frequently contain mil
lions Of living bacteria of various kinds,
and in that way spread disease and
DEATH
New notes, according to this special
ist, are almost equally dangerous, but
the peril that turks in them arises from
another cause-namely, the arsenic and
other poisonous substances used in their
manufacture. A correspondent of
medical journal recently wrote s'that
many of the women employed in count
ing banknotes in the treasury at Wash
ington looked ill and had sores upon
their hands and heads" The superin-
tendent of the treasury gave the follow
every few who spend any consider
able time in counting money escape the
sores. They generally appear first on
their hands, but frequently they break
out on the head, and sometimes the
eyes are affected. We can do nothing
to prevent this All of the women take
the greatest care of themselves in their
work, but sooner or later they are az
tiicted with these Sores"
The direct cause of the sores is, as
has been said, the arsenic employed in
the manufacture of the note. If the
skin is in the least abraded and the ar
senic gets under the flesh, sore will
appear the next morning. The habit
of putting the hand to the face and
head becomes the medium of commu-
nicating the arsenic poisoning to these
portions of the body.
''See here" said the superintendent,
stopping by the side of a young woman
and picking up glass with sponge
in it, "this sponge is wet, and is used
to moisten the fingers while counting
money. You see how black it is. That
is a form of arsenic. Every morning
a new piece of sponge is placed OH the
desk of each employee, but before the
day is over it is as black as this one.
| have known half dozen eases where
women have been compelled to resign
their positions. There are three women
who were here six years before they
were afflicted with the sores. Finally
they had to quit work as the disease
In each case the attending
physician said that their blood was
poisoned with arsenic"
The dangers in old bills are not due
to the colOring matter used in printing.
But the old money is common agent
for the spread of disease such as diph-
liberia, scarlet fever measles and others
of an infectious character.
1t will not do to infer that hard
money is entirely safe. The danger
of contracting disease through coin is
quite as great as it is in the case of
notes. Many mothers frequently give
coins as playthings to their children
who are recovering from disease.
That money is very often loaded
with a choice collection of bacilli, and
when put in circulation becomes dis
ease dissemination. The habit of holding
money between the lips or the teeth is
very often in its results another peril.
Street-car gers-women partic-
ularly-are addicted to this practice
They give the coin to the conductor i'm
payment of their fare Down it goes in
to his pockets, where it distributes it's
germs among the coins to which it is
added. The: next step in many cases
is another visit to the mouth of some
one who contracts disease the source
of which is ne> er known.
1t has been demonstrated that the
washings from silver and copper coins
contain as many, in some instances,
more microbes of a dangerous charac-
ter than were found in washings of old
and filthy banknotes.