Abstract
THE discovery in the United States in 1922 by T. Midgley that lead tetra ethyl has a remarkable action in delaying detonation or 'knocking' in the internal combustion engine when added to petrol in minute amounts, has brought this organo-metallic derivative from the obscurity in which it had remained since it was first prepared and described in Great Britain by Buckton nearly seventy years ago (Phil. Trans., 149, 431) to be an important article of commerce. It is an oily colourless liquid, density 1·66; of boiling point above 200° C, with decomposition. It possesses toxic properties which are specific in character and differ from ordinary lead poisoning in that the first symptoms are insomnia and fall in blood pressure. The oil is slightly volatile and can be absorbed through the skin. Attention has been directed recently by eminent chemists to these poison dangers which might occur with the indiscriminate use of petrol containing small amounts of lead tetra ethyl, and on Feb. 29 in the House of Lords it was announced that an Interdepartmental Committee is to be appointed forthwith consisting of representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Home Office, and the Medical Research Council, to investigate the poison hazard associated with the sale of ethyl petrol in Great Britain.
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