The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1899-12-28
MAKING DEADLY DRUGS.
A Business That Has Been Rendered
Safer by the Aid of
Science.

all trades, entrance into which meant
certain death, and death in its most
| horrible forms, within a few years, is
no longer unhealthful. Phosphoric poi
soning, the great cause of mortality,
is now only possible through the care
| lessness of the operative. Necrosis, or
rotting of the bone tissues, which was
| the chief symptom of the progress of
| phosphoric poisoning, is no longer to
be seen in match factories. A proper re-
gard for sanitary laws and the use of
| special apparatus intended to carry off
the fumes have brought this about. So
it is in the manufacture of other dead
ly chemical preparations.
In Baltimore some of the deadliest
| drugs known to medical science are man
ufactured 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 man
ufactured here. This, the most POI It
of all the acid poisons, is so deadly that
=
but two per cent. of the acid in solution
/ in water, is not obtainable from the
! chemist except after the most rigid eX-
/ animation of the purchaser. A drop of
this fluid hypodermically injected
would result in instant death. The in
| halation of the pure acid, which is
gaseous in form, would have the same
! ~ 10 of @ T.,
ton would be practically as fatal. Yet
! this is the substance which, in minute
quantities, gives its odor to the peach
! kernel The man who discovered it
paid for his knowledge with his life,
dying from inhalation. 1t is now pro-
duced in air-tight retorts and receivers,
and there is no occasion for the work
man to come in contact with any of the
acids. To the trade it is known as prus-
sic acid.
/ Next to prussc acid, so far as Balti-
more manufactures go, come the va
rious compounds of copper, all of which
are deadly. Sulphuric acid, the most
important acid of commerce, as its po-
tency as reagent makes it indispensa-
BILE in manufacturing. is made here.
While of greater power, it is not near
, ly so dangerous as nitric acid, which is
/ almost equally important, but which
is volatile. and, therefore, more to be
feared. When a carboy of this stuff
bursts the men desert the building.
A story is told which illustrates the
danger from nitric acid. The incident
occurred more than year ago, but it is
still talked of in the trade, even though
1t happened elsewhere.
Through the carelessness of a work
man in the shipping department a car
boy was broken. All the men in the
department departed without cere-
mony, and for a little space no one APP
| preached the acid. 1t spread out upon
| the floor and over lot of sawdust, and
soon it was observed that the sawdust
was smoldering. 1t was then seen that
unless something was done the entire
works would be burned, not only caus-
i ing money loss, but throwing hundreds
of men out of employment. Four men
employed in the acid department volun-
tered to put out the fire and were al
lowed to make the attempt, in which
! they succeeded easily and speedily.
Moreover, they came out of the room
apparently unaffected by the noxious
| fumes, one or two returning to their
work, and the others, whose time it was
to rest, going to their homes, as if moth
ing out of the way had happened, and
feeling as we'll as usual.
In each case, almost exactly four
hours to minute after the men had
| subjected themselves to the acid fumes
| they became distressed. and in less than
an hour everyone was dead, having sui.
fered untold tortures meanwhile. An
autopsy was held on one of the bodies,
and it was found that there had been
complete cautery or soaring of the in
ner surface of the lining of the lungs
| making it impossible for the blood tc
absorb oxygen or to give off carbonit
acid and thus become purified. In 9th.
er words, these men were smothered ia
death, the gradual effect of the acid
being explainable from the fact that
the fumes as breathed were highly di-
luted by the bursting of the carboys OF
nitric acid, for which there is no anti.
dote. Remedies for acids that have
been swallowed are effective sometimes
if taken quickly, for such remedies may
be swallowed, but you can't force liquid
remedies into the lungs, and nothing
antidotal to acids that can be inhaled
has been discovered as yet.
The various compounds of atropia
are imported from Germany. Most OF
cyanides are manufactured in northern
.;:ies, but of the many poisons which in
small quantities are remedial agents.
enough are made here annually to kill
off the population of three cities as
| large as Baltimore. 1t speaks well for
modern science that there is now less
danger attending the production of
these deadly drugs than in many lines
of industrial enterprises which have
never seemed to require special invest-
cation or Legislative protection.-Bal-
| timore American.
An Observing YounEster.
T;t+Ia IohnnNr boI oopna ~, f,.ot,, he