Arthur Hill Hassall, physician & sanitary reformer : a short history of his work in public hygiene, and of movement against the adulteration of food and drugs / [Edwy Godwin Clayton].
- Clayton, Edwy Godwin.
- Date:
- 1908
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Arthur Hill Hassall, physician & sanitary reformer : a short history of his work in public hygiene, and of movement against the adulteration of food and drugs / [Edwy Godwin Clayton]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![DANGEROUS ILLUMINATING OILS Impurities and Adulterations,’ which made a great im- pression, and served as a much-needed spur to various public authorities : After referring to—‘The numerous . . . accidents which have recently resulted from the use of oils sold under the much-abused name of “ Paraffin,” as well as the late large importations of petroleum, or rock oil,’ the writer of the article (Dr. Hassall) proceeds: ‘. A full and searching inquiry into the condition of the so-called paraffin oils now so largely sold . . . [is] imperatively demanded in the interests of the public safety. . . . The expression, “ Standard of Safety ”... denotes the point at which the ignition of any oil may under all ordinary combinations of circumstances safely take place. This point we have fixed at 130° Fahr. for various reasons. . . . In summer the atmosphere sometimes reaches a tempera- ture of over 100° F. . . . We are satisfied . . . from these and other considerations, that it would not be advisable to reduce the standard of safety; but we believe that it will be found sufficient, and it has the further advantages of being practical and simple. . . . The dealers in this article should in all cases require from the wholesale houses by whom they are supplied a guarantee that the oil they vend will not permanently ignite under a tem- perature of 130° F. . . . Much of what is now sold as paraffin oil is the mineral or rock oil recently imported, most of which reaches this country, as we have shown, in a dangerous condition, owing to its not having been properly refined.’ Again, in a letter to the Standard, dated February 15, 1864, he wrote: ‘ I purchased ten samples of oil. . . . One only . . . reached the standard of safety, 130 degrees Fahrenheit, now so generally adopted; while five, or one-half, were below the very unsafe parliamentary standard of 100 deg. Fahrenheit. But these samples gave off inflammable](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28989995_0073.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
