John Reese

A Manual of Toxicology John Reese

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1874 Excerpt: ...depositing crystals of arsenious acid, and leaving a residue of oxide of copper. Paper or other material colored with this pigment will readily indicate the poison by being dipped in a weak solution of aqua ammoniae: the material will be bleached, while the solution becomes blue; if now a crystal of nitrate of silver "is dropped into it, it instantly turns yellow around its edges, from the formation of the arsenite of silver. Green wall-paper colored with this pigment may at once be tested by applying to it a drop of aqua ammoniae, which will produce a deep-blue spot. As already mentioned, poisoning frequently occurs from inhaling the fine dust or powder detached from walls covered with this sort of green or yellow paper. Persons employed in manufacturing artificial leaves, fruits, and flowers--chiefly young women--suffer frequently from this sort of chronic poisoning, which may sometimes proceed even to a fatal issue. Among the effects produced upon those who work in materials containing arsenite of copper, a peculiar papular eruption, running into pustulation, is one of the most common. It appears about the nostrils, back of the ears, on the bends of the elbows, the inside of the thighs, and then the scrotum. Occasionally the fingers are affected, when the nails are apt to drop off'. These symptoms disappear on abandoning the employment. Sulphides of arsenic.--There are two native sulphides,--the tersulphide, or orpiment, and the pentasulphide, or realgar. The artificial sulphides are named orpiment, or yellow arsenic, and realgar, or red arsenic. Both of the latter are employed in the arts, as colors. The pigment called king's yellow, as well as the orpiment, contains arsenious acid in considerable quantities: they are both highly poisonous. The yel...