The following are examples of the effects produced.[18] A worker in an art establishment upset a bottle of hydrofluoric acid and wetted the inner side of a finger of the right hand. Although he immediately washed his hands, a painful inflammation with formation of blisters similar to a burn of the second degree came on within a few hours. The blister became infected and suppurated.
A man and his wife wished to obliterate the printing on the top of porcelain beer bottle stoppers with hydrofluoric acid. The man took a cloth, moistened a corner of it, and then rubbed the writing off. After a short time he noticed a slight burning sensation and stopped. His wife, who wore an old kid glove in doing the work, suffered from the same symptoms, the pain from which in the night became unbearable, and in spite of medical treatment gangrene of the finger-tips ensued. Healing took place with suppuration and loss of the finger-nails.
Injury of the respiratory passages by hydrofluoric acid has often been reported. In one factory for its manufacture the hydrofluoric acid vapour was so great that all the windows to a height of 8 metres were etched dull.
Several cases of poisoning by hydrofluoric acid were noted by me when examining the certificates of the Sick Insurance Society of Bohemia. In 1906 there were four due to inhalation of vapour of hydrofluoric acid in a hydrofluoric acid factory, with symptoms of corrosive action on the mucous membrane of the respiratory tract. In 1907 there was a severe case in the etching of glass.[19]
NITRIC ACID.
Manufacture and Uses.—Nitric acid (HNO₃) is obtained by distillation when Chili saltpetre (sodium nitrate) is decomposed by sulphuric acid in cast-iron retorts according to the equation:
- NaNO₃ + H₂SO₄ = NaHSO₄ + HNO₃.
Condensation takes place in fireclay Woulff bottles connected to a coke tower in the same way as has been described in the manufacture of hydrochloric acid.
