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

  • Thomas Oliver
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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    the majority of master-painters seem to be in favour of lead paint. There is a hygienic aspect of house-painting to which attention ought to be drawn. I refer to the antiseptic properties of paints. Two years ago Professor H. J. Hutchens and I carried out a series of experiments with various paints to test their germicidal powers. The micro-organism used was the Bacillus coll. The experiments ex- tended over a period of three and a half months. We found that vapour from drying paint at y]° C. possessed definite bactericidal properties; it retarded and prevented the growth of micro-organ- isms. Paints which had been dried for forty-eight hours exercised a similar influence, but after five days they no longer possessed such power. Simi- lar results were obtained by H. A. Gardner. Like myself, he attaches considerable importance to the circumstance, for by painting chambers with an oil pigment we have an efficient means of destroy- ing bacteria in rooms which have been occupied by persons who were the subjects of contagious disease. During painting the rooms should be well ventilated, but when finished they should be closed for a day or two, to allow of the vapours exercising their antiseptic influence upon the walls and contents.