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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1904)
I. 2 J. 3 .! MGHEJ COS'S Workman. in. an. V.eqaipped bWitUUodthp filar dust enical papers iniUi! -iU!i if A v Ml o vV "; fly V K ; o IRspEp ? Si 0 Of 8 . : jexTtra ota.. . O v - - ' An m.. -Waft MM f XX i TrvaWe A .RE) you being poisoned? Possibly something of the kind mar be hap pehlhg to you without any warning that you have bert able fc Interpret. If you Buffer from frequent headaches, neuralgia, or nausea. It la worth Whlla to Inquire If arsenic poisoning la accountable. Government scientists have been investigating the subject rectntly. and by means of careful analysis they have found that many kinds of dress goods Contain enough of the mineral to be dangerous to health. This Is especially true of stockings. But furs of all kinds. Including floor rugs, are commonly so heavily loaded with the stuff as to carry In their texture a threat of sickness and even of death, Out of forty two samples of fura examined by the bureau of chemistry eleven were heavily loaded with arsenic, con taining from twenty to l.Too times as much of the poison as Is allowed, as a limit of safety, by the laws of Massachu setts. The standard set by this state Is mentioned because It has gone farther than any other in the regulation of the matter which has an Important relation to the great textile Industries of the cultured commonwealth. In the case of furs the Stuff Is added during the process of curing, ekher as a preservative or to repel Insects. Inasmuch as such articles are worn around the neak and hands, coming Into close con tact With the skin, the danger Is proportionately great Of eleven samples of fur rugs and robes examined, every one exceeded the limit of safety, which Is put at one grain of arsenic per square yard. None contained less than Ave grains per square yard, and from this minimum they ran up to 170 grains. Such rugs, It Is declared, are extremely dangerous, because the mineral, being present In such large quantities, la liable to be mingled with the dust of living rooms and to be breathed Into the lungs. In fact, arsenic In rugs Is worse that! In wall paper, for the reason that there Is more chance of Its getting loose In the atmosphere. Arsenic Found tn Dry Goods. Several hundreds of samples of dry goods cf various kinds were subjected to analysis and It waa found that more or less arsenld was commonly present In calicoes, cashmeres, mohairs, flannels, flannelets, and various other fabrics In troduced, of course, as an Ingredient of the dyes. Black, red, and green fabrics seemed to be most heavily loaded with the poison. Only 11 per cent of the dress goods contained over !! f I 'Fill p hundredth of a grain per square ynrd, but this Is declared by the experts to be enough to Injure heallh. Of forty-one samples of stockings, twelve exceeded the limit of safety above mentioned, the black ones being the worst, though two bad pairs were blue. It Is averred that arsenic In stockings Is much more dan gerous than In dress materials. Inasmuch as they are worn next to the skin, so that the poison mny be readily absorbed. Borne of the stockings examined were for children, who are more susceptible to poisoning than persons of mature years. Doubtless, the chemists state, many cases of sore feet are due to arsenical stockings. But this Is not the worst, for when the feet are sore arsenic Is readily absorbed through the excoriated surfaces, and it Is not unlikely that death sometimes ensues. , Experiments with Wall Papers. An Interesting discovery In wall papers Is announced. Certain species of fungi, commonly known as molds, have Importantly to do with poisoning by arsenic contained In such papers. For many years the problem of wall paper poison ing has been regarded as extremely puzzling. One scientist. In Germany, lived for many months for the purpose of ex periment in a room the walls of which were painted with a green pigment rich In the poison; yet he suffered ho 111 effects. On the other, hand, there have been many unmis takable cases of poisoning by papers which contained only small quantities of arsenic, as an Impurity In their dyes. f O J o Ooorooo60 ni -1 'i. : WsT" i in t. 'I A L i r " , All ; " III " i... 17 . !,. II SB 11 arsen-ic dusx out SS15 of laeaver sTiiirvs . - There have been such Instances even where such a wall paper was covered with another that contained no arsenic what ever. The secret of the matter Is that certain molds, living sometimes In the pnste on the back of the wak' paper, have power to decompose the nalts of arsenic used In vhe dye and to convert It Into a gas, which, mingling with the air of the dwelling room, Is taken Into the lungs of the occupants. One of these molds la called Penlcllllum brevelcaule, and recent experiments have shown that when placed In contact with arsenic It developes gas In such quantities as to be dangerous to approach. A rat exposed to It died In convulHlons In a short time. The gas, It appears, has a strong odor of garlic a fac which may afford a suggestion of the presence of a leril that otherwise would not be suspected. ' There are, how ever, at least four of these " arxeno-molds," which appear to constitute a class by themeelves. I s(se of Arsenic Decreasing. In old times wall papers were sometimes colored with green pigments consisting almost entirely of arsenical com pounds. Samples have been analysed that yielded from fifty grains to 2U grains of the poison to the sihiare yard. Now adays, however, owing to agitation of the subject, compara tively little of the mineral Is Utilized In the dyes employed. Out of 837 samples of wall papers bought by the government bureau of chemistry, only four held more than one-tenth of a grain of arsenic per square yard. The experts say that it Is not certain that this amount Is harmless. The papers manu factured by one concern contained not a trace of the min eral, showing that It Is possible to maka wall papers of all colors without the use of any arsenic whatever. 7 ' OV Off ' ; ' ' II dress eooti siBkL m m r m m I r 1 :h , i II -;'.: . Ill T JUK. .iMWIk. K lift lit I I J , sum V ' . : W-'f lhUi ' .,11 v . ill lis - "II s- v L i " l' ll ? ' " " 1;, :-, ,. ' i . 'S 1- if ' , . ! I U loaded fiirff SK. C jjf Arsenic -clyed Sloeklnqj are v particui dam AR to ths death threatens the pet cat and dog A TM Chloago. I From decayed or Infected animal or vege V V I table matter more than half of the Infectious diseases or Chicago are carried ana aisnemi nated by the familiar and often beloved ani mals of domestic life. The mouse and rat, scrvengers of civilisa tion, become the original hosts of various diseases. The house eat and lapdog, some of which are both mousers and ratters, assimilate Infection In the form of germs or para sites, and the Infeotlon Is finally carried to human beings. The flea and the louse, which have thriven on cats, dogs, chickens, pigeons, and even canary birds, are capable and active In communicating Infection to children or grown per sona who fondle and pet them. Epidemics Traceable to Pets. Health Commissioner Reynolds says: "I suppose that moat of Chicago's epidemics Of contagious disease could be traced, finally, to domestic animals. The best we can do under the circumstances Is to prohibit ths presence of such pets In the rooms and haunts of persons afflicted with Infec tious diseases. We oannot stop people from having and handling household pets. Ths favorite terrier with a record for rat killing In back alleys and from under garbage boxes may bring diphtheria, soarlet fever, and other contagious maladies Into the home. The well tended but adventurous house oat may do the same. The flea that hops from the in dustrious and profitable backyard ben may bite contagion Into Its human victim." Dr. James C. Klernan, one of the moat active and best known Chicago authorities on the bacteriological communi cation of disease, says the medical profession here has as yet taken no active or concentrated steps towards the ef fective obliteration or tms most common source ui !'" Doctors Sound Warning. rt Ths moat we havo done," he said. " was to warn our patlenti and consultants, prosecute the most assiduous In vestigations, and give to our colleagues In word and writing the results of our studies. The conservative professional man will hesitate a long timo before exploiting In a sensa- hlm both positive and extraordinary. The anti-cruelty or ganisations of different Cities have done both good and harm In aiding toientlno men in the work of restricting and effacing . the power Of domestle animals to disseminate disease. " In New Tork, for Instance, the chief society of this kind has agreed to never Interfere with the experiments or In veitlgatiiftis of recognised men and societies of science. Here, If surgeons, physicians, and bacteriologists sought to quarantine, experiment with, or destroy animals s impeded of harboring contagious germs there would be an Immediate outcry from the humane societies. Yet Chicago is dally ex posed to ht Introduction of contagious epidemics by worth less creatures, so-called pets, to which we have no aciesa and for the investigation and quarantining of which there la no legal provision. And so we prefer to work against the danger without lnvlttng either the hostility of sentimentalists or the theatrical publicity that so often attaches to such enterprise." All Pets Under Suspicion. Dogs, cats, parrots, pigeons, song birds, and all other pet stock are coming rapidly under the suspicion of the bacteri ologists and doctors of Chicago. The hostility with which some physicians now regard Fldo and Tabby amounts to a threat of extermination against those beloved members of so many households. A few years ago, when It was flrst tuggested that the stray cat of the tenement districts spread the germs of scarlet fever there was much derision and but little corroboration of the discovery. . Since then eminent bacteriologists In London, Paris, New Tork, and Chicago have been subjecting all sorts of pets to rigid examinations. The Society for the Prevention of a v : mlj w of r -7" fc i) T im mi- urn i-- '-'iir f j T&ny mustnt pet her little. Tab. Invitirtq Corvbgiort Cruelty to Animals In many cities has helped along the crusade against Infected animals by annually ' destroying hundreds of thousands of helpless, homeless,- and diseased cats.' In the last ten-years 518.240 cats and 290,444 'dogs were humanely executed by the society In New Tork City, 'and yet the effect upon ths dog and cat population there has been scarcely perceptible. . v J ' Don't Allow Pets In Sick Room. Commissioner of Health Reynolds of Chicago has waged a continual warfare upon the practice of permitting pet dogs, cats, and even birds In the rooms occupied by patients suf fering from Infectious diseases. Ills deputies and assistants are all Instructed to do everything In their power to prevent eats and dogs from approaching patients ill, or recovering, from contagious maladies. The department has no authority to enforce these safeguards nor any means by which the number of unclean, homeless, or worthless ruts and dogs could be destroyed, and It seems quite Impossible to carry the war successfully forward against the petted darlings of the household. But the department Is thoroughly convinced that the germ carrying animals are one of the greatest menaces to the health of the community, particularly with regard to children. Dr. Heman Spalding of the Chicago health department said: . " We believe here that cats and dogs spread more scarlet fever than any other agency. In the pamphlet of Instructions to families in ths case of contagious diseases It Is expressly stated that dogs, cats, and birds must be excluded from the room and presence of the patient, and we try to enforce that rule most stringently during the period of convalescence when, as every one should know, the danger of Infection Is greatest. But there are a great many people of seeming In telligence who think this rule Is only a fad or the result of an uncertain theory and 'neglect to cooperate with us. Dogs and Cats Spread Tuberculosis. "Theie is nothing more certain In bacteriological science than that unlmaja both carry the germs of diieasrs pocullar to human being, and often are themselves victims of in a la dies that can be communicated to man. Dogs and cats, for instance, may not acquire scarlet fever or whooping cough, but they are quite subject to tuberculosis and readily impart that bacillus to their human friends and companions as well as to each other, That grt-gnriuus tendency of dons and that roving disposition of all cuts, also contribute to the spread of Infection. The best bred most carefully attended dog Is no aristocrat the moment he meets another dog. The dirtiest cur of the alleys looks all right for a playmate, and there Is no doubt that many a case of diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, and whooping cough has entered the most cautiously guarded homes through the unexpected agency of the pedi greed dog or the prize winning cat. The scarlet fever germ thrives on the alley cat because the most depraved, vulgar, and adventurous feline of the garbage boxes and the dumps Joins with his aristocratic fellow creatures In the midnight soiree and revelries of the neighborhood." The ringworm, that most common and generally Inex plicable skin affection of children, is unusually prevalent In Chicago tills summer, It Is attributed almost wholly to dogo, which are popularly, but mistakenly, supposed to be suffering from mange. The ringworm, the technical name of which Is tinea, Is usually a temporary and almost harmless humor produced by a tiny creature which causes an Inflamed, itchy. Irritating spot upon the flesh of the young, but which is also -capable of producing " bald spots " and scalp diseases upon grown persons. It Is now admitted by the best bacteriologists of three continents thitt rats flrst cultivated and spread the germ of the bubonlo plague. The rat killing dog or cat or the household pet which associates with such performers la capable and active in disseminating a score of oontaglons, which may be collected in night adventure, in play with fellow creatures, or In uxsncluilon with human brings who are suffering from some Infectious malady. .30: l