Carefulness while at work, and cleanliness, offer the best means of escaping attacks of lead poisoning.
Those who work in lead should keep in mind every hour of every working day the importance of not breathing lead dust and not carrying lead to the mouth in any way.
Medical advice should at once be obtained if signs of lead poisoning present themselves.
REFERENCES.
[1] George Reid: Memorandum on Mess-room Accommodation: Appendix XXV. of the Potteries Committee’s Report, vol. ii., 1910. Cd. 5278.
[2] Th. Sommerfeld: Die Bekämpfung der Bleigefahr, edited by Leymann, p. 76.
CHAPTER XV
DESCRIPTION OF PROCESSES
Lead smelting—Red and orange lead and litharge—Letterpress printing—File-cutting—File-hardening—Tinning of metals—Plumbing and soldering—Brass.
Lead Smelting and Silver Refining.
—Lead poisoning very rarely occurs in lead mining in Europe, as galena (sulphide of lead), the principal ore in which the metal is found, is insoluble. Galena always, and other lead ores very often, contain a small proportion of silver, ranging from 0·001 to 1 per cent., and at times traces of gold. Owing to the great affinity of lead for silver, lead smelting is necessarily a process preliminary to the extraction of silver and gold from it[1].