Industrial Poisons

Abstract

THE delivery by Dr. Donald Hunter of the Croonian Lecture of the Royal College of Physicians for 1942 was prevented by the War: but it is now printed (Quart. J. Med., 12, 185; Oct. 1943). Remarking that the medical man of to-day must know something of the dangers of working in chemical, metallurgical, aircraft, munitions, ceramics, textile, cellulose lacquer and moulded plastics industries, Dr. Hunter points out that new materials for industry are frequently being discovered and used, and that their dangerous properties may not be realized until some workman loses his life or becomes severely ill. The medical man practising in an industrial area may have to deal with symptoms produced by substances which even the chemists may not fully understand. Such substances may attack the workman through his skin or lungs; some of them attack the liver, kidneys, blood or bone marrow. The toxicologist has to add to his medical equipment a considerable knowledge of chemistry and of the processes of various trades as well.