PERAMBULATORS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1383, 1 June 1878, Page 17

PERAMBULATORS.

The German Government haß taken up the subject of perambulators, and is dealing actively with the question. It has approached it, however, from a hygienic point of view. Perambulators are popular in Berlin, but a remarkable mortality has occurred, or at least a delicacy, among the children who use them. Medical men took up the subject, and tho Board of Public Health ordered an inquiry. The age and the colour turned out to be & matter of some importance. Perambulators with us are generally dark green, or brown or

maroon. In Germany the fashionable colour is light grey, and the stuff is almost invariably American cloth. When this grey cloth was subjected to analysis ie was found to be heavily impregnated with lead. More than 42 per cent, of ita whole weight waa lead, and on burning a little bit of the stuff the poisonous metal rolled off in drops. The cause of death or delicacy was no longer a matter of doubt. The commissioners, however, continued their investigation, and ascertained when the cloth is new the danger is least. It is only when wear or weather detaches the outer surface or skin of the oloth tba(; the poison begins to act. Then it becomes very active ; for it both enters the lungs with the air that is inhaled, and it fills the pores of the skin by settling on the face and hands in an impalpable dust.