The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1897-04-01
A POISON FACTORY.
'ONE or sTRANGEsr EsTAB-
LlSHMENTS IN T.IE WORLD.
IL Is Dangerous Even to Use the
Power of Smelling-Workmen's
Horrible Misunderstanding
Effects OF Ether Swallowing.
hacked away behind q wilder
> ness of gigantic warehouses

LONDON IL n oil the estuo-
lishments in the world. 1t is q factory
but what q factoryl From morning
till night its great chimneys are con.
tinuously belching forth clouds Of
fetid-smelling smoke. Occasionally a
great column of steam will shoot high
into the air not honest, white steam,
but purple and green and yellow. re.
minding one of some bloated and
gigantic serpent. During the hours
OF darkness its location is betrayed to
the most casual observer by the red
glare in the sky from its innumerable
furnaces.
The massive gates leading to this
strange establishment are locked and
jealousy guarded, for inside them Turk
danger and death to the unwary tres.
passer. Poisons Of such terrific
strength as woald suffice to send IN
army OF men TO eternity in the frac.
tional part Of a second lie around
loose. and are handled with as little
apparent care as if they were the most
harmless substances in the world.
AS has already been intimated, this
factory is a dangerous place to visit.
1t is not enough for the casual conner
to be careful where he steps and to re-
frain from touching. He must, in ad.
dition, refrain from using his olfactorv
powers without special permission, for
there are poisons there which it is
death ever to smell. One of these is
the pure or anhyjrous prussic acid
a terrible preparation, which is seldom
or never seen outside a chemical
laboratory. The original %discoverer
Of this, the deadliest of all known
poisons, was stricken dead through
accidentally inhaling it's fumes, and
| scores of other deaths have happened
| from the same cause. 1t is this anhy-
drous acid from which the ordinary,
and infinitely weaker, prussic acid of
commerce is made, by diluting it with
from linety-tive to ninety per
cent. of water. Even in this form,
however, it is sufficiently strong to
cause almost instant death. even when
taken in exceedingly minute doses.
next to anhydrousacid, remarked
the proprietor of the works in ques.
ton, while plotting the writer around
the factory one day recently, ''the
most deadly stuff we make is cyanideo OF
potassium. Last year we turned ont
over one thousand tons of it, and, five
grains being n fatal dose, it follows
that our output of this chemical alone
would have been sufficient to kill 3.
500, 900 people. Altogether, we man
u%facture, in the course OF each twelve.
month, enough poison to depopulate
the United Kingdom"
- While We we're conversing we had
/ entered one OF the workrooms, where
a number Of men were engaged round
a sort Of gigantic witch's c~auldron,
containing over II hundredweight Of
molten cyanide. And ever and anon
a phantom face, enveloped in an I'M.
canny-looking glass mask, peering
through the thick unctuous fumes,
right into the heart of the horrible
mixture.
In another room were tons upon
tons OF the finished product, looking
for all the world like white crystal.
lized sugar.
at looks good enough TO cat" l re-
marked locnlarly.
"Ah," replied my guide, graveiy,
'sthat is Just M of the dangers we
have to guard against. For some in.
explicable reason, cyanide of potassium
exercises n remarkable fascination
over the men engaged in its marufac
ture. They are haunted by II constant
and ever recurring desire to eGt it.
They are perfectly alive to the fact,
however, that to give way to the cray
ing would mean instant death, and are
consequently usually able to resist it..
But not always. During the time /
have been here three OF our best and
\ steadiest workmen have committed
suicide in this strange manner, impelled
thereto apparently by no cause save
this mysterious, horrible longing. ]
myself have felt the SINE strange luet
when ] have been long exposed to the
cyanide fumes, and have had to leave
the works for u time in consequence.
So well is this curious fact recognized
that there are always two men at work
together in this branch of our bust.
ness, and a jar of ammonia, which, MS
you may know, is the antidote to the
poison, is KEEP. constantly near at
hand"
Apart from this remarkable infatua.
ton, which may be lIkeued to tne de.
sire experienced by many people when
standing on the brink Of a precipice
to throw themselves down, the manu-.
f~acture of potassium cyanide is not
particularly dangerous. Neither is it
unhealthy. In fact. it is asserted that
men have gone into the cyanide house
i'll and debIlitated, and in Il short time
have been restored to robust health.
The same cannot, however, be said
of corrosive sublimate. This frightful
poison, in common with almost all the
mercurial preparations, is exceedingly
treacherous, and prolonged exposure
to toe fumes is often attended by very
dangerous consequences. To persons
L.