The potter and lead poisoning / by W. Dowling Prendergast.

  • Prendergast, W. Dowling.
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The potter and lead poisoning / by W. Dowling Prendergast. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    42/72 page 28
    Sufficient it is to mention such names as Charcot, Schift, Vulpian, Ranvier, Ferrier, Phillipeaux, Duchenne, Erb, Remak and Oliver, who have studied the question both in its physiological and pathological state. The question is one replete with antagonistic ideas. Into this vortex of opinion I will not go. Researches innumerable have been made, and volumes written on this question, but still it remains unsolved. Regarding the muscular theory, the contention is that lead has a special affinity for this tissue ; that its specific effect is shown by the paralysis resulting, and the colic which involves the involuntary muscular fibres of the intestines. Regarding its action on the voluntary muscles, the paradox of the dropped hand has not been solved, and the question remains an open one. Amongst male adult potters, such as dippers and glost placers, chronic lead poisoning is invariably the rule, in contra-distinction to the acute symptoms which are shown amongst the women workers. The dropped hand is caused by the paralysis of the extensor muscles of the forearm, the supinator longus remaining' intact. The muscles implicated are supplied by that portion of the brachial plexus of nerves called the musculo-spiral. The nerves of the flexor muscles are derived from the same roots, and are termed the median and ulnar nerves. The supinator longus muscle escapes, its nervous supply being derived from a branch of the musculo spiral nerve before it divides into the posterior interosseous and the radial nerve. Why the exten- sor muscles should be attacked and the flexors and supinator longus are left unimpaired is a paradox for those advocating the muscular theory. The workman afflicted with it is most helpless, as he cannot lift up anything. It is the commonest form of paraylsis met with in the .Potteries.
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image
    No text description is available for this image