[B] Poisoning by lead, phosphorus, and arsenic contracted in a factory or Workshop has been notifiable in Great Britain and Ireland since 1895.
[C] ‘On the Nature, Uses, and Manufacture of Ferro-silicon,’ 1909, Cd. 4958.
[D] In Great Britain section 73 of the Factory and Workshop Act, 1901, requires every medical practitioner attending on or called in to visit a patient whom he believes to be suffering from lead, phosphorus, arsenical or mercurial poisoning, or anthrax, contracted in any factory or workshop, to notify the Chief Inspector of Factories, and a similar obligation is placed on the occupier to send written notice of every case to the inspector and certifying surgeon of the district.
The table on p. [222] shows the number of reports included in returns for the years 1900-12.
Cases of acute poisoning in factories and workshops are reportable to the Inspector and certifying surgeon, under the Notice of Accidents Act, 1906, when (a) causing loss of life or (b) due to molten metal, hot liquid, explosion, escape of gas or steam, and so disabling any person as to cause absence throughout at least one whole day from his ordinary work.
The following table gives indication of the relative frequency of cases of poisoning from gases and fumes, although some were reported as accidents the result of the unconsciousness induced:
| Nature of Gas or Fumes. (1) | 1912. (2) | 1911. (3) | 1910. (4) | 1909. (5) | 1908. (6) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carbon monoxide | 91 | 14 | 64 | 6 | 53 | 9 | 53 | 6 | 55 | 5 |
| (a) Blast furnace | 33 | 5 | 16 | 2 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 26 | 3 | |
| (b) Power (suction, producer, Mond, Dowson). | 19 | 4 | 31 | 1 | 25 | 25 | 4 | 19 | 2 | |
| (c) Coal | 29 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 1 | 9 | ||
| (d) Other | 10 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| Sulphuretted hydrogen | 6 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 1 | ||
| Carbon dioxide | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Ammonia | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Chlorine and hydrochloric acid fumes | 3 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Nitrous fumes | 12 | 1 | 18 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |
| Nitro and amido derivatives of benzene | 9 | 1 | 21 | 18 | 4 | 2 | ||||
| Naphtha and benzene | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 11 | 2 | |||
| Other (Sulphur dioxide, &c.) | 7 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | ||||
The principal figures are those of all cases, fatal and non-fatal; the small figures relate to fatal cases.
[E] The principal numbers relate to cases, the small figures to deaths. Fatal cases not reported in previous years are included as both cases and deaths.
[F] Fischer adopts a chemical basis in his classification. His two main subdivisions are (1) inorganic and (2) organic poisons. The sub-divisions of the inorganic poisons are (a) non-metallic—chlorine, calcium chloride, hydrochloric acid, potassium chlorate, hydrofluoric acid, carbonic oxide, phosgene, carbon dioxide, cyanogen compounds, ammonia, nitrous fumes, phosphorus, phosphoretted hydrogen, arsenic compounds, antimony compounds, sulphur dioxide, sulphuric acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbon bisulphide, chloride of sulphur; and (b) metallic—chromic acid and chromates, manganese dioxide, sulphate of nickel, mercury and lead. The sub-divisions of (2) the organic substances are into (a) the unsaturated carbon compounds—benzene, petroleum, methyl-, ethyl-, amyl-, and allyl-alcohol, oxalic acid, formal- and acetaldehyde, acrolein, acetone, methyl-bromide and iodide, nitro-glycerin, dimethyl-sulphate and amyl acetate, and (b) the aromatic series benzene, nitro-, chloro-nitro-, dinitro-, chloro-dinitro-benzene, phenol, picric acid, phenyl-hydrazine, aniline, and certain aniline colours, para-nitraniline, pyridine, naphthalene, nitro-naphthalene, naphthlyamine, naphthol, benzidine, acridine, turpentine, and nicotine.