Report of the Committee appointed by the Westminster Medical Society, to investigate the subject of adulterating candles with arsenic; and to ascertain the probable effect of the use of such candles upon health and life ... / transcribed and reprinted by James Scott.

  • Westminster Medical Society (London, England)
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee appointed by the Westminster Medical Society, to investigate the subject of adulterating candles with arsenic; and to ascertain the probable effect of the use of such candles upon health and life ... / transcribed and reprinted by James Scott. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    mation he had subsequently obtained, there were reasons to apprehend that the practice of adding a large quantity of arsenic to a particular sort of candles, at present purchased in London, was by no means confined within narrow bounds. He therefore submitted to the meeting,, that the question, being one which deeply concerned the public health, was deserving of the serious con¬ sideration of the Westminster Medical Society. After a lengthened discussion—the Society, having heard on the one handy the opinion of a high legal authority ready declaratory of their competency to investigate every part of such an allegation; and, on the other hand, having re¬ ceived much valuable information from an eminent chemist present, (not a member of the Society,) which went to confirm the statement of the presence of arsenic in candles, came to the reso¬ lution, on Saturday, the 4th ult., of appointing a committee, consisting of I)r. Addison. Dr. Scott. Dr. C. J. B. Williams. Dr. A. Todd Thomson. Dr. James Johnson;. Mr. Costello. Dr. Granville. Mr* Golding Bird, Lecturer on Experimental Philosophy at Guy’s Hospital. (All members of the Society,) Mr. Everitt, Lecturer on Chemistry at the Middlesex Hospital; and Mr. Richard Phillips, Lecturer on Chemistry at St. Thomas’s Hospital. (Not members of the Society,) with instructions to make every necessary inquiry into the general question as to the presence of the poison in candles, and in what proportion: