Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1896-04-11

soiled Banknotes Disseminate Con-
tagious Diseases.
The Affliction That Visits All
Treasury Employees
sDo not take an old and dirty bank
bill Il Jon can avoid ii. TIat is the
Eadviqo of ona Of the most emins :
phI ans md ,pcteriolegiats in this
cit ssI p,sr11aelts. be ,eoasinued.
That aueh notes ra.sntly 500.
xa
rious kinds, and in that way spread
disease and death. y
New notes, according to this epe--
clalist, are almost equally dangerous,
but the peril that lurks'in them arises
from another cause-name]y, the ar
serlc and other poisonous substances
used i'll their manufacture A cor
respondent Of a medical journal re-
Gently wrote that many Of the women
employed IN counting banknotes IN
the treasury at Washington looked i'll
and had sores upon their hands and
! heads" The superintendent Of the
treasury gave the following account Of
| their trouble:
every few who spend any consider
able TIME III counting money escape
the sores. They generally appear first
on their hands, but frequently they
break out on the head, and some etimes
the eyes are affected. We can do
nothing to prevent this. All of the
women take the greatest care of them
selves in their work, but sooner or
later they are afflicted with these
sores.
The direct cause of the sores is, as
has been said, the arsenic employed in
the manufacture Of the note. II the
skin is in the least abraded and the
arsenic gets under the flesh, sore
will appear tue next morning. The
habit of putting the hand to the face
and head becomes the medium Of com
municating the arsenic poisoning to
these -se,r tipns Of the body.
.'5ee hefe," said the superintend-
ent, stopping by the side of young
woman and picking up a glass with q
sponge III it, "this sponge is wet, and
is used to moisten1 the fingers while
counting money. You see how black
1t is. That IS form Of arsenic.
Every morning new piece Of sponge
is placed on the desk Of each en-
ployee, but before the day is over
it is as black as this one. | have
, known half dozen cases where women
have been compelled to resign then
f positions. There are three womer
| who were here six years before they
were nffi cted with the sores. Finally
they had to quit work rs the disease
appeared In each case the attending
physician said that their blood was
poisoned with arsenic.
} The dangers in old bills are not due
to the coioring matter used IN print
/ ing / But the old money Is a common
agent for the spread Of disease, such
G as dphtberla, scarlet fever, measles
a and others Of an infectious character.
1t will not do to infer that hard
Y money IS entirely safe The danger
y Of contracting disease through coin i
$ quite as great rs 1t is III the case Q
notes. Mnny mothers frequently give
: coins as playthings to their cElidre!
: who are recovering from disease
0 That money is very often loaded wit
a choice collection of bacilli, and whe
It put in ejaculation becomes diseas
0 disse mnafor. Tue habit Of holdin
J, money between the lips or the teet
is very often III its Results anothe
e peril. Strees-car passengers-wome
b particularlv-are addicted 10 thl
u practice. They give the coin to tn
r conductor in payment OF their fare
Down it goes into his pockets. wher
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