ARSENIC POISONING.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 51, 1 March 1901, Page 3

ARSENIC POISONING.

(To tho Editor.) .Sir,—When the cable first informed us of the unfortunate bi'i-r-polsoniiij*; wises, 1 foretold in your columns that the trouble would ha traced to the use of ncid. inu.de from pyrites containing arsenic.*, in tkf manufacture of gluccxe, and to the iianure sulphur employed in making gutta-percha for the tubes that are used in drawing off beer, iiy surmise is now proved beyond doubt in haw been correct. It is well known that boti; glucose :iud inverted sugar are .employed in brewing us malt substltutus. Tho ugerx of vitriol or sulphuric nfilcl must be well a ware of the tact thilt Spanish pyrites contain' a varying percentage of arsenic, :;ml tiiiit acid, made* from brimstone or from hucl) tuilphur ore as can be obtained nl Uoiormi und from White Island, shows not a trace of arsenic. It is quite .possible thai, from those main sources of pyrltlc ore supply, tho Kio Tinf.o and Tharsis mines oi' Spain, a vein oJ' ore especially rich in arsenical compounds mn.v hare lately been htruck without any particular notice living taken of the fact, and that the acid mudc from such mineral has been used in fixing up certain food products, with disastrous lv-.ulls.

There are certain firms In England who manufacture what is known as brimstone

ucid, ho culled to emphasise Its freedom from arsenic, and as this acid is solely used by the leading mineral water makers because it contains no poisonous substance it must place those who make articles fof liuriiuii consumption in a rather unpleasant position if it can be proved that for rhe ;mkc of .obtaining cheap acid they have not objected to use an exceedingly deleterious

article. Although no one appears cognisant of the fact, tiiis country lias in its non-arsenical sulphur deposits most valuubic national asset.—Yours, etc., H. JOHNSON.