Mercury has been used quite liberally within the last hundred years or so.
Henry Louis in his Handbook Of Gold Milling (1897) describes things like
squeezing mercury through canvas which is then 'rubbed over the plate with a
piece of canvas or blanket' to amalgamate the plate. Amalgam is removed with
a scraper or wood chisel.
He also says- All soluble salts of mercury are violent poisons when taken
internally....The best antidote is the white of raw eggs. Slow poisoning is
produced by exposure to mercurial vapours, or by protracted handling of
mercury.
Pepper, in his book on metals(c.1865) mentions that 'The science of medicine
has long been indebted to mercury for some of its most powerful remedies,
which produce, when taken in excess, very frightful effects on the human
system.'
Could have the death rate at the time you are interested in have masked the
effects of the poisoning? Did they realise that it was the mercury at that
time? Or did people just not care about their workers enough to study the
poisoning?
I do not know if this is all much help to you, but it may be, combined with
other input.
Regards, Richard Amies.
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