Some Sources of Arsenical Poisoning.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 2712, 23 January 1892, Page 4

Some Sources of Arsenical Poisoning.

A. case wh,ch occur ‘ed a few days ago in Sussex illustrates well the manifold sources from whicn arsen'ccl poisoning may be derived. A man named Wesley died with symptoms of gastro-eaie.'itis, wh'lst five other people in the family were taken seriously ill. It transpired that they bad all partakea of some home-made gooseberry wme, and that this had° been stored in a cask previously used for the reception of a certain weed-killer largely composed of arsenic, and their could be but little doubt that the poisoning was due to arse lie. A case very similar to this occurred some years ago, when a man lost his life by drinking beer out of a pot which bad been cleansed with a patent cleansing fluid coutainiDg arsenic, and there is also the well-known wholesale poisoning at an industrial school, when over 300 children were poisoned by some water being added to there morning rnfik vvhich had been drawn from a lank recently cleansed (?) of fur by a solution of arsenite of soda. Happily oo that occasion no fatal results occurred ; when out of 200 sufferers 17 died, there arsenic had been used to adulterate lozenges in mistake for sulphate of lime, Another cause of accidental poisoning wdl doubtless be fresh in the rec Election of our readcs, wheu the poison was absorbed through the skin ; we refer to the two infants who lost their lives through the use of violet powder into the composition of which arsenic had entered. The lesson to be learnt from the recent and other cases is that cleansing liquids are very dangerous things— British Medical Journal.