The Portland daily press., 1900-07-28
4. W. MOore's Rheumatic Cure
CAREFULLY GUARDED.
Mem Who Work la Poison Shops Ex-
posed to Many Dangers.

A factory for the manufacture of some
of the deadliest poisons known is located
not far from the heart Of New York CITY,
and sufficient poison is being made there
now to. annihiIate the whole population
of the greater city. It is guarded care
fully from all intruders, and no one pass
es beyond its portals without special
permit, and even employees have to be
skilled in their work and the nature of
the risk they take before admittance is
granted them, says the Post of that city
In this factory is manufactured pure
anhydrous acid, a drug that is never
placed on the market in it's pure state,
and even in the chemists laboratory it is
handled with all the care OF a poisonous
reptile. II the fumes Of this acid should
escape the chemist would never live to
tell the tale. The man who discovered it
was killed by inhaling it's fumes, and
many another has met a similar death.
From three to five per cent of this acid
diluted with 81 parts of water forms
prussic acid. Even this poison is so
deadly that inhaling its fumes would
mean instant DEATH and it is never hand
led except in the factory of a few large
respon nsi bic laboratories,
Probably next in Importance to this
acid is the cyanide Of potassium which is
manufactured in the same factory, only
in another part of the building, where a
freprOOf and air-tight wall shuts it off
from the first The fumes of this are not
poisonous and one can work in the room
where it is manufactured without fear,
1rof4 hot h.or ~ oh,
slightest quantity of the poison in its
pure state would kill If swallowed. The
fumes of cyanide of potassium have
rather pleasant OdOr, and it is said at the
tac5ory that it has Witching effect on
workmen. For all the world the finished
poison looks like crystallized sugar, and
as you gaze on it and smell the fascinat-
Ing odOr, there is strong temptation to
taste it. This fascination is probably
muoh like that which draws man over
steep precipic9 At any rate, the attrac
ton to taste of the poison is SO we'll recog-
nized that workman is never allowed
in the room alone. In the mixing room,
where the men toll before a huge caldrOn
OF molten cyanide, the scene is like that
OF some old witch cave, especially II
one knows the nature of the terrible
poison that the men are brewing
Nitric acid is another poison equally
fearful in its results when once liberated.
This poison eats away and through al
most anything, and it can be kept in
glass carboys alone. Break one of these,
and the factory is doomed. The acid
spreads around and begins to eat into
everything it touches, and incidentally
se5s everything indammable on fire No
man can collect the acid, and it is almost
impossible to pour anything over it to
counterfeit it's effect AS it burns and
spreads around, it's fumes become deadly
in their effect, and firemen attempting
~ IT. H.. II
from. The fumes do not kill at once but
II breathed steadily for time, they en-
feeble and poison the system, so that
within "a hours death comes.
A carboy of nitric acid was accident
ally broken several years ago in this fac
tory and the acid began to have it's way
without opposition. 1t soon started thu
interior OF the factory on fire, and it was
eating its way into the adjoining rooms
where pruss1c acid was stored. Several
of the workmen volunteered to put the
flames out and to check the acid in it's
deadly work. They worked for several
hours before they succeeded, and then thew
seemed all right, and returned home. But
the next day they were all dead the
fumes of the acid having been inhaled
and enough of the poison absorbed to
make death absolute.
The fumes of corrosive sublimate are as
deadly as almost any poison, and in fac
tories where it is made the greatest care
must be taken to prevent their escaping.
Where it is necessary for the men to 90
into the room where the fumes are likely
to escape, they are masked with glass
headdress, which enables them to see but
not breathe the atmosphere. Pure air is
pumped to them through tube, and
they are much like the diver who explores
the sea bottom, There are many other
pO1SOnS made for commercial use that are
only little less powerful than these
but nearly all of them are diluted when
sold on the market. The danger of using
them is thus m1nimized, so that one can
handle them with ease, if ordinary care
Is bestowed upon their proper handling.