Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1915-12-16
INDUSTRIAL PolsoNs.

A man who worked in a rubber fac
tory spilled a can of aniline IN his
clothes. Two hours later he noticed
that his cheeks We're flushed and his
heart was palpitating. He became
dizzy, vomited serveral times. and had
a violent headache. His skin became
increasingly dusky and five hours after
spilling the aniline he became uncon-
scious. He lay unconscious for min
hours,
This was an extra bad case of acute
aniline poisoning. Around ruber
plants sufferers from chronic slow
aniline poisoning are known as blue
men or blue boys because their skin is
cyanotic-dusky. Aniline poisoning in
rubber works is on the decrease.
A man "a ears old has worked in a
rubber clothing factory for six years.
When he started to work at this trade
he had an attack of acute lead poiSon-
ing. He suffers now from pain in his
abdomen, back and legs. He has lost
his grip in his hands. There is a lead
line along his gums.
This man worked in a room where
both litharge and sublimated lead were
used. The air was full of lead dust. 1t
was impossible to keep lead dust from
his hands.
Careless men working in an i'm
properly run rubber plant are quite
likely to develop lead poisoning. Some
~ NeN 1AA>NA - VIVA 80 MIN
breathe an atmosphere reeking with
dust of golden sulphide of anthony.
The symptoms of anthony poison
are pain in the abdomen, d%ysentery at
tacks, sores in the mouth, salvation,
wasting, loss of appetite, weak heart,
and attacks Of dizziness. Very few
cases of anthony poisoning are On
record.
"A man has been at work for several
hours dipping wooden glove forms in
to rubber, dissolved in naphta. He be-
came so dizzy that he a to quit and
go home. He staggered so that two
men had to half carry him. He be-
came unconscious and remained so for
several hours. He was in bed several
hours. He was suffering from gassing
from naphtha.
Girls who get a naphtha jag grow
very talkative and foolish and laugh a
great deal.
Rubber is dissolved in naphtha,
benzine, gasoline. Workers in rubber
sometimes become gassed from the
fumes of these solvents.
"A Pole is years old applied rubber
cement to the seams of rubber coats.
He complained of being tired and
weak, sleepy all the time, suffered
from headache. could not work proper
~, especially in the morning, because
his muscles would twitch and shake.
This was about as definite a sign of
chronic benzine poisoning as is found
in the department of labor report on
industrial Poison in the Rubbe In
dustry," from which this material Is
drawn. The symptoms of chronic ben
zine poisoning are very vague.
A tire splicer worked for years at his
trade. Suddenly he became maniacal
n had to be sent to an asylum. He
recovered rather promptly.
h men who work in the fumes of
carbon b%isulphite used for dissolving
rubber in certain processes are apt to
"go crazy from the fumes" The at
tacks start in With excitement during
which they talk foolishly and want to
argle about irrelevant matters.
h danger is not very great. The
.langer to workers in rubber seems to
be in the main of two typas-lead poi
soning and aniline poisoning. The
danger from gassing is only moderately
great. The dangers of the industry
can be wholly removed by better clean
ing. especially with vacuum cleaners.
better hood systems with more pow
arful exhausts. and better facilities for
washing the hands.