ARSENIC IN COTTAGE

Hokitika Guardian, 2 April 1932, Page 6

ARSENIC IN COTTAGE

TWO CHILDREN DEAD

HOUSE NOT FIT TO LIVE IN

Eviolence that a wall plaster had produced deadly arsenious oxide, capable of being inhaled by a human being, was given by the Gloucestershire county analyst, when the mysterious deaths of two Forest and Dean children were investigated at the resumed inquest at Cinderford. The children were Roderick, aged 4, and Miriam, aged 11, of Hillside, Ulakeney. Their parents, Mr and Mrs William lurley, and two other children "ere also affected by the illness. The jury, in returning one of their verdicts, added a rider, that the house should be inspected bv the medical officer of health before the family were allowed to re-enter, and live in it, because it was not fit for human habitation in its present state. Two lepicsentatives of a wallpaper compaij were present at the inquiry. Giving evidence at the inquest on Roderick Turley, Dr J. W.Dowser said tiro general condition of the house was very damp, with fungus on the "alls.

DYSENTERY INFECTIOX. Dr E. Norman Davev, pathologist of Gloucester Royal Infirmary, sad that tests of blood taken from the brother Arthur , and. from the father and mother showed that at some'time within the last few years all three had suffei'edTrom.an infection.in the form of dysentery. • ■ Mr R.. H. Ellis, County / Analyst, said he found very , minute traces of arsenic in the liver and kidneys of Roderick. The total amount was .149 of a milligramme. r llie quantity "as not sufficient to cause death in itself, but it might have been one of the causes of diarrhoea and sickness. Professor Harold A. Solberg, honorary pathologist of Cardiff University, said death was due to a streptococcus infection. This infection was present in the heart, blood and spleen. He considered that the house in which the family lived was not fit for human habation in its present condition. The jury, without retiring, returned a verdict of death from natural causes.

ATMOSPHERE CHARGED. .At the inquest on Miriam Turley, Mr Ellis said the total amount of arsenic in certain organs of the body was --65 milligrammes- There were definite evidences of arsenic present in the cottage, some having been given off gaseous form from the surface of the sitting room, the walls of which were covered with mould.. One of the specimens of wall-paper contained 3 parts per 1,000,000 of arsenic oxide. A roll of paper of the same pattern had been sent to- him, and this contained 4.4 parts per 1,000,000 of arsenic.

He removed a portion of the plaster at a place where lie had removed the paper on which the mould had been growing vigorously. He w.-.s surprised to find that the plaster was so black in colour. It contained 91 parts pet 1,000,000 of arsenious oxide. The spores of the mould attached themselves to the damp paper and grew vigorously, and these moulds had the power of generating a gaseous form of arsenic from the arsenical base on which they were growing.

“It is significant,” said Mr Ellis “that the arsenic , content of the mouldy paper, taken' from the wall of the sitting room, was only half the arsenic content' of a new roll of the same paper, and about a quarter of tiie arsenic content of a portion o! the same paper taken from the dry portion of the wall.” DAMP TO BLAME.

Mr Ellis said it used to be customary for arsenic to be used in the production of cheap wallpaper, but not to-day. He suggested that it was the plaster, and not the wallpaper, that produced arsenious oxide which "as capable of being inhaled by a human being. The form of arsenic given off from this mould was organic, which was one of the. most deadly forms ol arsenic. The Foreman of the Jury: The atmosphere would be charged with arsenic ?. Witness: Yes. and 1 feel the plaster was the real cause of the trouble. Damp was at the root of the luattei. Had the mould not beeu there the arsenic would not have been released in gaseous form. Professor Scliolberg agreed with ...r Ellis. The jury returned a verdict that death was due to dysentery and exposure to organic arsenic, which was generated in the house in a gaseous form. They added the rider given above.