Lead poisoning : from the industrial, medical, and social points of view, lectures delivered at the Royal Institute of Public Health / by Sir Thomas Oliver.

  • Oliver, Thomas, Sir, 1853-1942.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lead poisoning : from the industrial, medical, and social points of view, lectures delivered at the Royal Institute of Public Health / by Sir Thomas Oliver. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University Libraries/Information Services, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the the Augustus C. Long Health Sciences Library at Columbia University and Columbia University.

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    On Tyneside, the home of its introduction, the Pattinson process is mostly in use. The method is based upon the fact that lead crystallizes at a higher temperature than a mixture of lead and silver, so that the crust which forms on the surface, and which contains lead and silver, is skimmed off from time to time for further separa- tion and purification. In Parkes' process zinc is added to the lead. This in the melting-pot forms an alloy of lead, zinc, and silver, which rises to the surface of the molten metal, and can be skimmed off. The further stage of the process consists in separating these. The zinc is drawn off in the form of vapour in a dezincking apparatus, such as the Faber du Four retorting furnace. During the process of dezincking, zinc as well as lead fumes escape, and if the furnace-men inhale these fumes they are liable to suffer from nausea. Men employed in desilvering lead have frequently come under my care on account of plumbism, but on the whole fewer men thus employed have sought my advice than men engaged in some of the other departments in lead works. Allusion has been made to workmen suffering from nausea as a consequence of inhaling zinc and lead fumes during dezincking of the lead alloy. The smelting of zinc is of itself a frequent source of plumbism, for zinc ores frequently contain lead,