The Earliest Appearance in the U.S. of an Experiment Showing Lead in the Atmosphere? (1835)

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 2792

For various obscure and unknown reasons I rarely share a post from the books-for-sale section of this blog here in the "readerly" part. Today is an exception, mainly because I can't quite hammer down what it is I'm writing about and perhaps someone out there might be able to share what they know about it.  The post is on a scientific paper from the Journal of the Franklin Institute, a quick 1-pager from 1835 that caught my eye, a middle-of-the-page bit about lead in the atmosphere. I thought it sounded "early", this business of determining whether or not killer lead was in the air, and relatable to a lot of modern stuff, like human impact on the environment, lead-added gasoline, and that sort. So I checked it out. I couldn't determine exactly what this little paper was in the history of such literature, but I think that I came close:

The Earliest Appearance in the U.S. of an Experiment Showing Lead in the Atmosphere? (1835)

Arthur Dunn, “Experiments to ascertain the Existence of Lead in the Atmosphere of a White Lead Manufactory”, pp 355-6. In: Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Vol 16 (third series), volume 20 (overall), July-December 1835, 438 pp, with text illustrations.  Half-calf, with raised bands. Ex-library, with some scuffing on the spine; also a few stamps on the title page. Nice copy. Good condition.  (There are dozens of other papers of interest in this volume--this seems to be the most compelling of the group.)

• This paper seems among the earliest printed in the U.S. to experimentally demonstrate the presence of lead in the atmosphere. It is also suggestive of what would become the concern of human impact on the environment.

The issue of lead poisoning was considerable—people became sick by touching, drinking, and breathing in lead under many different circumstances. For example, poisoning occurred when lead was used in paint by breathing or touching or eating paint chips, the most harmed of those would be the color mixers who prepared the paint. There was also a problem with lead caused by eating it in the form of food coloring for bread (to give it a yellowish tint using ‘chrome yellow”), candies, bon bons, and an emulsifier for snuff, among many other things. Lead was also ingested via the use of lead utensils, pipes, and drinking ware.

The deadly problem of lead sickness/poisoning (“colic”) was known to the Hippocrates, Nicander, Celsus, Dioscorides, Galen, Avicenna and other ancients of Greece, Rome, and Persia, and was a known concern through the Dark and Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and up to the present day. (It should be stated that some of these writers described the effects of lead poisoning without the association with lead.) It was Stockhausen, “the father of lead colic”, who would in the 18^th establish the connection between lead and the diseases caused by it, with Henkel showing lead as the exclusive vector agent to the diseases (in 1812).

It has been shown that the “(f)irst article about lead poisoning was published in 1848” by Samuel L. Dana¹. This was the first translation and expansion of the article “Traits des Maladies de Plomb, ou Saturines”, by Tanquerel des Planches, which was published nine years earlier, in 1839, which has been noted as one of the earliest papers in the medical literature on lead poisoning. ^2,3 The Dana translation, according to the American Journal of Science, was a great contribution to health in the U.S., as the Tanquerel des Planches work was “doubtless unknown to intelligent readers of this country”. American Journal of Science, volume 6, November 1848.

I have been unable to find anything by Dunn, whose work is reprinted in the Philosophical Magazine five months earlier in the year (series III, vol 7, issue 31). There are other earlier works that come close to what Dunn is doing⁴, but so far as I can determine this seems to be the first to prove that the lead could be supported in the atmosphere and be breathed into the body (or absorbed through the eyes), something that no doubt was suspected but not demonstrated. 

Notes

1.  Lead Diseases: A Treatise from the French of L. Tanquerel Des Planches: With Notes and Additions on the Use of Lead Pipe and Its Substitutes, printed in Lowell, (Ma.), by Daniel Bixby & Co., 1848)--Parissa Karrari  et al., “A systematic review on status of lead pollution and toxicity in Iran; Guidance for preventive measures” (--Daru Jnl Pharmaceutical  Sciences, 2012; 20(1): 2:.
2. “The medical literature on lead poisoning in children can be traced back to the work of Louis Tanquerel des Planches he remarked on children placing leadpainted toys in their mouths and developing lead colic. As early as 1887, medical authorities in the United States noted cases of lead poisoning. David Stewart reported in Medical News that nine members of a single family developed lead poisoning from lead chromate used to dye bread yellow. [Stewart, “Notes on some obscure cases on poisoning by lead chromate manifested chiefly by encephalopathy.” Med News 1887; 1:676-81. 11.] In the 19th century, lead chromate was often added to lead sulfate to form what was called “chrome yellow,” a substance used by bakers and candy makers as a coloring agent. In 1889, an article in Science reported on the deaths of two children from the ingestion of baked confectioners’ products that contained chrome yellow. [Glenn W. Chrome yellow considered as a poison. Science 1889; 13:347-9. 12.]”— David Rosner, et al, "Lockhart Gibson and the Discovery of the Impact of Lead Pigments on Children's Health: A Review of a Century of Knowledge”, Public Health Reports (1974-) Vol. 120, No. 3 (May - June., 2005), pp. 296-300
3. On Louis Tanquerel des Planches (1795-1868): “He is known for his research of lead poisoning, about which, he is credited with conducting one of the first comprehensive studies of occupational illness. By way of analysis of 1200 cases of lead poisoning at the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris, he reported that the disease was more frequently found in workers who were exposed to lead fumes than those who worked with the solid metal. In his studies he used the term encéphalopathie saturnine to point out neuropsychiatric indications of lead poisoning.”—Wiki
4. But then there’s this earlier paper (1830), which certainly describes the consequences of lead in a closed environment but does not discus at any point any experiment to show that this is so: “…favorables à la production du mal Qui ne sait que parmi les professions qui exposent à la colique on compte celle d imprimeur c est à dire celle de compositeur ou de metteur en page en un mot celle des ouvriers qui manient les caractères Car je ne sache pas qu on voie fréquemment cette maladie attaquer les corrcctcurs ou autres employés qui vivent dans la même atmosphère si l on se rappelle en outre que le plomb n entre que pour une très faible proportion dans l alliage dont on se sert Pour les caractères Qn comprendra qu il est fort difficile qu il s en échappe en grande quantité des émanations saturines et que ce n est que par un contact Inumédiat que l infection doit avoir lieu…” -discussing the problems to employees handling lead type in a print shop.  Fouquier, “Colique de Plombe, Nature et Traitement” (Revue Clinque de la Medicale), in Gazette Medical, vol 1, 1830, pp 430-1

 

Arthur Dunn, “Experiments to ascertain the Existence of Lead in the Atmosphere of a White Lead Manufactory”, pp 355-6. In: Journal of the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Vol 16 (third series), volume 20 (overall), July-December 1835, 438 pp, with text illustrations.  Half-calf, with raised bands. Ex-library, with some scuffing on the spine; also a few stamps on the title page. Nice copy. Good condition.  (There are dozens of other papers of interest in this volume--this seems to be the most compelling of the group.)

• This paper seems among the earliest printed in the U.S. to experimentally demonstrate the presence of lead in the atmosphere. It is also suggestive of what would become the concern of human impact on the environment.

The issue of lead poisoning was considerable—people became sick by touching, drinking, and breathing in lead under many different circumstances. For example, poisoning occurred when lead was used in paint by breathing or touching or eating paint chips, the most harmed of those would be the color mixers who prepared the paint. There was also a problem with lead caused by eating it in the form of food coloring for bread (to give it a yellowish tint using ‘chrome yellow”), candies, bon bons, and an emulsifier for snuff, among many other things. Lead was also ingested via the use of lead utensils, pipes, and drinking ware.

The deadly problem of lead sickness/poisoning (“colic”) was known to the Hippocrates, Nicander, Celsus, Dioscorides, Galen, Avicenna and other ancients of Greece, Rome, and Persia, and was a known concern through the Dark and Middle Ages, through the Renaissance and up to the present day. (It should be stated that some of these writers described the effects of lead poisoning without the association with lead.) It was Stockhausen, “the father of lead colic”, who would in the 18^th establish the connection between lead and the diseases caused by it, with Henkel showing lead as the exclusive vector agent to the diseases (in 1812).

It has been shown that the “(f)irst article about lead poisoning was published in 1848” by Samuel L. Dana¹. This was the first translation and expansion of the article “Traits des Maladies de Plomb, ou Saturines”, by Tanquerel des Planches, which was published nine years earlier, in 1839, which has been noted as one of the earliest papers in the medical literature on lead poisoning. ^2,3 The Dana translation, according to the American Journal of Science, was a great contribution to health in the U.S., as the Tanquerel des Planches work was “doubtless unknown to intelligent readers of this country”. American Journal of Science, volume 6, November 1848.

I have been unable to find anything by Dunn, whose work is reprinted in the Philosophical Magazine five months earlier in the year (series III, vol 7, issue 31). There are other earlier works that come close to what Dunn is doing⁴, but so far as I can determine this seems to be the first to prove that the lead could be supported in the atmosphere and be breathed into the body (or absorbed through the eyes), something that no doubt was suspected but not demonstrated. 

Notes

1.  Lead Diseases: A Treatise from the French of L. Tanquerel Des Planches: With Notes and Additions on the Use of Lead Pipe and Its Substitutes, printed in Lowell, (Ma.), by Daniel Bixby & Co., 1848)--Parissa Karrari  et al., “A systematic review on status of lead pollution and toxicity in Iran; Guidance for preventive measures” (--Daru Jnl Pharmaceutical  Sciences, 2012; 20(1): 2:.
2. “The medical literature on lead poisoning in children can be traced back to the work of Louis Tanquerel des Planches he remarked on children placing leadpainted toys in their mouths and developing lead colic. As early as 1887, medical authorities in the United States noted cases of lead poisoning. David Stewart reported in Medical News that nine members of a single family developed lead poisoning from lead chromate used to dye bread yellow. [Stewart, “Notes on some obscure cases on poisoning by lead chromate manifested chiefly by encephalopathy.” Med News 1887; 1:676-81. 11.] In the 19th century, lead chromate was often added to lead sulfate to form what was called “chrome yellow,” a substance used by bakers and candy makers as a coloring agent. In 1889, an article in Science reported on the deaths of two children from the ingestion of baked confectioners’ products that contained chrome yellow. [Glenn W. Chrome yellow considered as a poison. Science 1889; 13:347-9. 12.]”— David Rosner, et al, "Lockhart Gibson and the Discovery of the Impact of Lead Pigments on Children's Health: A Review of a Century of Knowledge”, Public Health Reports (1974-) Vol. 120, No. 3 (May - June., 2005), pp. 296-300
3. On Louis Tanquerel des Planches (1795-1868): “He is known for his research of lead poisoning, about which, he is credited with conducting one of the first comprehensive studies of occupational illness. By way of analysis of 1200 cases of lead poisoning at the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris, he reported that the disease was more frequently found in workers who were exposed to lead fumes than those who worked with the solid metal. In his studies he used the term encéphalopathie saturnine to point out neuropsychiatric indications of lead poisoning.”—Wiki
4. But then there’s this earlier paper (1830), which certainly describes the consequences of lead in a closed environment but does not discus at any point any experiment to show that this is so: “…favorables à la production du mal Qui ne sait que parmi les professions qui exposent à la colique on compte celle d imprimeur c est à dire celle de compositeur ou de metteur en page en un mot celle des ouvriers qui manient les caractères Car je ne sache pas qu on voie fréquemment cette maladie attaquer les corrcctcurs ou autres employés qui vivent dans la même atmosphère si l on se rappelle en outre que le plomb n entre que pour une très faible proportion dans l alliage dont on se sert Pour les caractères Qn comprendra qu il est fort difficile qu il s en échappe en grande quantité des émanations saturines et que ce n est que par un contact Inumédiat que l infection doit avoir lieu…” -discussing the problems to employees handling lead type in a print shop.  Fouquier, “Colique de Plombe, Nature et Traitement” (Revue Clinque de la Medicale), in Gazette Medical, vol 1, 1830, pp 430-1