Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-04
DRUGS THAT ARE DEADLY.

Baltimore American: Fiction in the
century just drawing to a close has been
employed as a vehicdle by some of the
greatest hinkers for purposes far remov-
ed from the primary oDject-that of fur
nishlng entertainment and recreation.
The lola creations, which nave been con-
demned by many who acknowledge the
genius of that writer, and which are on
the index eXpurgatorius of the united
Sunday school librarians of the United
States, lave undoubtedly been of service
by presenting a series of pictures of the
consequences of vice, not OverdraWn, but
sufficiently realistic to brighten many q
man and woman back into the straight
and narrow path from which they should
never have strayed. The Jules Verne nov
els have awakened an interest in science
among the young which thousands Of
textbooks have failed to inspire, and his
dream of the Nautilus has already been
partially realized; while the famous tour
of the world in so days by Mr.. Phineas
Fogg has been lowered a score of times.
Victor Hugo's great treatise on sewage
embodied in LES M~iserables" was not
wholly without effect, since the sewage of
Paris is now pumpe to a reservoir on top
of a hill in the environs of Paris, and
has been the means of converting an arid
waste into the most fertile trucking re-
SlOn IN all France, while the public have
benefited through the establishment of IL
handsome park. DickenS's stories exert
ed a strong influence in bringing about
the reformation of the poor laws Of his
native country, and of putting an end 10
the yorkshire schools
One Of the greatest benefits conferred
upon toiling humanity, however, was the
searchlight thrown upon the deadly
trades by Charles Reade. His MASTER
piece, Put Yourself in His Place" which
gave the general public an insight into
the dangers which beset every workman
who comes in contact with lead in any of
its forms, was of inestilnable value. In
these enlightened days, to point out an
evil is TO remedy it-where a remedy is
possible. The agitation in favor of on
ceTted action on the part of manufac-
tuners which should lessen the danger OF
poison from this source spread through
al the trades.
Matchmaking, n of the most fatal Of
all trades, entrance into which meant
certain death, and death in its most hor-
rible forms, within a few years, is no
longer unhealthful. ~Phosphoric poison
ing, the great cause of mortality, is now
only possible through the carelessness of
the operative. Necrosis, or rotting of the
bone tissues, which was the chief sSmp-
tom of the progress of ~phosphoric pois-
oning, is no longer to be seen in match
factories. A proper regard for sanitary
laws and the use of special apparatus in-
ended to C AIRY off the fumes have
brought this about. So it is in the manu-
%facture of other deadly chemical prepara-
ions.
In Baltimore some of the deadiiest
drugs known to medical science are
manufactured in great quantities., and
with entire safety to the work people and
the community at large.
Hydrocyanic acid, for example. which
is used in minute quantities by physi-
clans for many purposes is largely manu-
featured here. This, the most potent of
all the acid p%oisons, is so deadly that its
commercial form, which contains but ,
per cent Of the acid in solution in water,
is not obtainable from the chemist except
after the most rigid examination of he
purchaser. A drop of this fluid hypoder-
mica!lly injected would result in instant
death. The inhalation of the pure acid.
which is gaseous in form, would have
the same effect. The odor of an Is per
cent solution would be practically as IA
tai. Yet this is the substance which. in
minute quantities. gives it's odor TO the
peach kernel. The man who discovered
it paid for his knowledge with his life,
dying from inhalation. 1t is now produce
ed in air-tight retorts and receivers, and
there is no occasion for the workman to
come in contact with any of the acids. tt
the trade it is known as prussic acid.
Next to prussic acid, SO far as Baltf-
more manufactures go, come the various
compounds of copper, all of which are
deadly. Sulphuric cid, the most import
ant acid of commerce., as its potency as a
reagent makes it indispensable in manu-