Final report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt. 1, Final report.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on Arsenical Poisoning.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Final report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into arsenical poisoning from the consumption of beer and other articles of food or drink. Pt. 1, Final report. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    are described in detail in our Minutes, including the form of. test recently recommended by the Board of Inland Revenue Departmental Committee, and that which was adopted by Dr. McGowan in analysing fuel samples for the Commission. Liny, 10,461. Appx. 21, pp. 210,, 21}. Appx. 23, p. 227. ‘ volatile” to “total” arsenic appears to vary considerably in different specimens tested under identical conditions. In general it has been found that the proportion of arsenic volatilised under experimental conditions of combustion is less in the case ef cokes than in the case of anthracite. The experimental evidence which we have received, however, is not sufficient to determine the extent to which perticular processes of estimating “volatile” arsenic in the laboratory can be relied upon to furnish an index of the proportion of arsenic which will become volatilised when the fuel is burnt, under varying conditions, on the fire of the malt kiln. Treatment of Fuel. 100. Processes have lately been devised for utilising the property possessed by lime, in common with other basic substances, of absorbing and “fixing” arsenic. We have received evidence as to a practice suggested by Mr. Newlands and applicable particularly to coke, in which the fuel, before being put into the kiln fire, is intimately mixed with the base by the addition of milk of lime. Mr. Beaven has also described an arrangement by which lumps of limestone are placed at the outlet of the kiln furnace. He claims that the fumes from the fire, in passing over the surfaces of heated lime thus provided, lose practically all the arsenic they contain. 3 Cleansing of Kilns. 101. Sweepings from the inner walls, girders, dispersing plates, and other parts of malt kilns have been found to contain surprisingly large quantities of arsenic. The liability of malt to become arsenical is greatly increased when such dust is allowed to accumulate on any of these surfaces, either below or above the malt floor. For safety it is imperative that the interior of kilns should be thoroughly cleansed, not only when they are first taken into use at the beginning of the malting season, but also at frequent intervals as the season progresses. Construction of Kilns. 102. Malt kilns differ greatly in their construction; for example, malting floors, in the construction of the furnace, and in many other ways. ‘There is no doubt that, other things being equal, the structure of some kilns tends to greater risk of arsenical contamination than that of others. We have evidence that maltsters in dealing with the question of arsenic in malt have in some cases found advantage in making various structural alterations in their kilns. Thus, in some instances dispersing plates and screens have been provided, which serve to condense some of the arsenious oxide which has been volatilised, and also to arrest some of the dust carried up by the current of hot air from sides of the kiln or from the furnace. In other instances alterations have been made in the openings of the kiln in order that a considerable proportion of the hot air passing through the malt may be raised to the necessary temperature without ‘contact with the fire. Screening and Brushing of Malt. 103. All brewers’ malt is screened to separate the rootlets or culms, and in this process a certain amount of the arsenic deposited on the grain may be mechanically removed. It is important that screening should be thoroughly carried out, as it has been shown that the culms -often contain relatively considerable quantities of arsenic. The brushing Ling, 10,536. Thorpe, 11,701 Appx. 30, pp. 290, 325. Ling, 10,555-69, 10,589-95, 10,660. Buckley, 9316. Beaven, Appx. 18, p. 199. Fairley, 9824, 9859, 9908, 9920. Salamon, 9988, 9996. Thompson, 8954, 9017. H. Smith, 8758. Worsick, 9478. Ling, 10,570, 10,688. Appx. 30, Part VI. Beaven, 10,709-910. Vol. I., Index, ‘‘ Malt.”