Chronic Mercury Poisoning

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Abstract
Buckell and his associates examined 72 men in a workshop where thermometers were being made, and 11 men in chemical works making mercurial compounds. The results of the examinations suggest that the thermometer workers suffered from mild chronic Hg poisoning, whereas little abnormality was seen in the group of chemical workers. Atmosphere and urine estimations showed that the thermometer makers were excreting up to 10 times as much Hg in a day as could possibly be absorbed from the atmosphere. In order to investigate the possibility that Hg was being absorbed in other ways, bundles of finished thermometers were washed in 20% ammonia. Bundles of 50 thermometers taken at random were found to have on their surfaces 100 to 40,000 7 of Hg. The workers on the heat treatment and "boiling in" process were asked to wash their hands at the end of the day, and the washings showed 200 to 9,800 y of Hg. This suggests that Hg poisoning in ther-mometer workshops results from the absorption through the skin or from ingestion through the alimentary tract rather than through the respiratory tract.