The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-04-11
A LONDON POISON FACTORY.
where Drugs Enough to Kill the
Population of the World Are Made.
From London Answers.

Population of the World Are MADE.
From London Answers.
Packed away behind a wilderness of gi-
gantic warehouses and tumble-down tene-
ments in a remote suburb of South Lon
don is one of the strangest establishments
in the world. 1t is a factory-but what a
factory! From morning till night its
great chimneys are continuously belching
forth clouds of fetid-smelling smoke. Oc-
casionally a great column of steam will
shoot high into the air; not honest, white
steam, but purple and green and yellow,
reminding one of some blOated and gigan-
tic serpent During the hours of darkness
its location is betrayed to the most casual
observer by the red glare in the sky from
it's innumerable furnaces.
The massive gates leading to this
strange establishment are locked and jeal-
ously guarded. for inside them Turk dan
ger and death to the unwary trespasser.
Poisons of such terrific strength as would
suffice to send an army Of men to eternity
in the fractional part of second lie
around loose, and are handled with as lit
tie apparent care as if they were the most
harmless substances in the world.
As has already been tntfmated, this fac
tory Is a dangerous place TO visit. 1t is
not enough for the casual conner to be
careful where he steps and to refrain from
touching. He must, in addition. refrain
from using his olfactory powers without
special permission, for there are poisons
there which it is death even to smell.
One of these is the pure or anhydrous
prussc acid--a terrible preparation, which
is seldom or never seen outside chemt-
cal laboratory. The original discoverer of
this, the deadliest of all known polsonS,
was stricken dead through accidentally
inhaling its fumes, and scores OF other
deaths have happened from the same
cause. 1t is this anhydrous acid from
which the ordinary and infinitely weaker,
prussic acid of commerce is made, by d.
luting 1t with from 95 TO 81 per cent OF wa
ter. Even in this form, however, 1t is
sufficiently strong to cause almost instant
death, even when taken in exceedingly
minute doses.
'sNext to anhydrous acid" remarked the
proprietor of the works in question, while
plotting the writer round the factory one
day recently "the most deadly stuff we
make is cyanide of potassium. Last year
we turned out over 1000 tons of it, and five
grains being a fatal dose, it follows that
our output of this chemical alone would
have been sufficient to kill 100000 people.
Altogether we manufacture, in the course
of each twelvemonth, enough dealy poison
to depopulate the United Kingdom. This
may seem a somewhat startling assertion,
but it is, nevertheless, well within the
truth"
While we were conversing we had en-
tered one of the workrooms, where num-
Der Of men were engaged round sort OF
gigantic witch's caldron, containing over a
hundredweight of molten cyanide. 1t was
a picture such as would have delighted the
heart of a Rubens or a Titan. The glare
reflected from the seething mass of white
hot liquid poison! The lambert play of the
furnace fires. And ever and anon a pnan-
tom face enveloped in an uncanny-look-
ing glass mask, peering through the thick,
unctuous fumes, right into the heart OF
the horrible mixtures!
In another room were tons upon tons of
the finished product. looking for all the
world like white crystalized sugar.
1T looks good enough to eat" l remark
ed, jocularly.
"Ah," replied my guide, gravely, that
is Just one of the dangers we have TO
guard against For some inexplicable rea-
son. cyanide Of potassium exercises a re-
markable fascination over the men en-
gagged in its manufacture. They are
haunted by a constant and ever recur-
ring desire to eat il. They are perfectly
alive to the fact. however, that TO give
way to the craving would mean instant
death, and are consequently usually able
to resist IT, But not always. During the
time 1 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 same strange lust when
have been long exposed TO the cyanide
fumes and have had to leave the works
for a time inconsequence. So well is this
curious fact recognized that there are al
ways two men at work together in this
branch of our business, ana jar OF am
monia, which. as you may know. is the
anudote TO the poison, is kept constantly
near at hand"
Apart from this remarkable infatuaton'
which may be likened 70 the desire eNpe-
renced by many people when standing on
the brink OF a precipice to throw them
selves down, the manufacture OF POTASH
UNI cyanide Is not particularly dangerous.
Neither Is il unhealthy. In fact, IL is as
serted that men have gone into the cya-
hide house M and debilitated, and in
short time have been restored TO robust
health.
The same cannot. however, be said Of
corrosive subllmnte This frightful pois-
on. in common with almost all the mercu-
rial preparations. is exceedingly treach-
erous. and prolonged exposure 20 the
fumes Is often attended by very danger
Gus consequences. To persons unaccus-
Toned TO its proximity, even compare