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Page 10 THE ADVANCE, BURFORD, ONTARIO, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1980 The Poison Shelf by Mel Robertson Part One Ever since the 1%0's adults have decried the use of drugs by young people. Young people, in their turn, have deplored the way adults have polluted the environment with poison sprays, acid rain, etc. Both groups have taken the stand that their particular concern was something that has never happened before and consequently they have expressed a perverse joy in claiming to have discovered or invented, the problem. However, when we examine history we find that there is very little new under the sun (or moon) and while there is no doubt that the problems mentioned above have increased in magnitude over the past few years, there is strong evidence to show that our forebears demonstrated little care, or concern, in the way they handled poisons, drugs and dangerous substances. Without going deeply into the history of this area, it is easy to find that as recently as eightly years ago, most area families had a "poison self" wherein they kept considerable amounts of drugs and poison and that they handled them with horrifying carelessness. For example, in the pre-bathroom era, every backhouse had an open can of "Gillette's Lye" perched on a shaky beam ready to fall into the eyes of a careless customer or standing on a low shelf where any child could get into it. Most barns and sheds held cans of "Paris Green" in readily accessible places. There are many local stories of how children were burned with lye and at least one report of a child trying to commit suicide with "Paris Green". This latter event took place in the 1920's when an unhappy eight year old Burford boy attempted to kill himself by drinking a glass of "Paris Green" and water in the presence of a number of ignorant and admiring friends. To their morbid regret, he made the dose too strong and threw it up immediately. With equal alacrity, he demanded the return of the gifts he had bequeathed to his admirers. Strange to say his attempt at suicide did not seem to affect his health for the boy concerned lived into his sixties. It is easy to be alarmed at the variety and potency of the drugs and poisons our ancestors handled so frequently and so carelessly but before we do we should note that they were governed by different attitudes from those which motivate most of us. For instance, men in the early days liked to have a reputation for daring, practicality and non-chalance. The man who tied down the safety-valve of his steam-engine in order to get more power or speed was praised as a very daring fellow instead of being condemned as a bloody fool. Indeed, if his actions resulted in the sudden demise of himself and his colleagues his departure was spoken of with awe and reverence. Likewise, the farmer who took foolish risks with dangerous bulls or who thrust his hand into an operating machine in order to clear a stoppage was thought to be a real "swinger" even if he lost his arm or his life in the process. The memory of stupid acts lives long and the young fools who raced with horse and buggy in the complete darkness of the Harley Road eighty years ago are still remembered with admiration in some quarters. The immediate challenge to the foregoing statement is to say "So what is so different to-day when there is so much careless driving?" The answer to such a question is that, of course, carelessness is evident to-day but when we compare newspaper comment of then and now, I do not think that it elicits the admiration given the careless coachman, the foolish steam-engine operator or the negligent handler of drugs and poisons of eighty years ago. Further evidence of the thoughtless handling of poisons in this area can be found in the "Army Worm" scare of Pre-World War 1 days. When these worms appeared some people predicted that they foretold war and that nothing could be done to stop them. However, local authorities were not affected by such superstitious talk and dug trenches at the western approaches of the village. These were filled with a variety of poisons such as "Paris Green", arsenic, quick-lime, etc., and it was predicted that the worms, advancing in military formation, would fall into the trenches and be eradicated. Great interest was generated in the village and an evening stroll to "the front" became a family outing. So little concern was shown to the poisons in the trenches, that, according to reports, children were allowed to get down in the trenches to view the death of the worms at close quarters. How many health problems were created by this foolhardiness were never reported. Further indications of the thoughtlessness concerning poisons and dangerous substances was the fact that it was thought to be knee-slapping funny to use the powerful laxative jalap, the dangerous blistering agent "Spanish Flies" and the fire-producing phosphorus in the brutal and stupid practical jokes that were so much in vogue. Most "poison shelves" of eighty years ago held the following poisons, drugs and dangerous substances laudanum, carbolic-acid, chloroform, strychnine, opium, arsenic, vitriol, corrosive sublimate, belladonna and various forms of mercury. If the family was interested in photography, cyanide, in a number of forms, would be present. Laudanum was employed as a pain-killer and a baby-soother. In its latter use, laudanum was put on a bit of sugar that was tied in a little bag, or "sugar tit" for the baby to suck. This had the effect of putting the child to sleep (sometimes permanently). Among some adults, laudanum was taken to enduce a "high" and one family who lived at the west end of Burford eighty years ago used to boast that they took daily doses because they like the ringing sensation in their ears that the drug gave them. Carbolic acid was used as a corn-cure, a rat poison and when combined with chloroform was used to commit two of Burford's unsolved murders. In each of these turn-of-the-century crimes the victim was rendered unconscious with chloroform and then carbolic acid was forced down his throat, presumably with a long-necked bottle. It has been argued, of course, that it would he impossible to force carbolic acid, or anything else, down the throat of a senseless person but as in the famous British case of "The Liquid Chloroform Murder", where this defence was offered, the suspected murderer did not volunteer to demonstrate how he, or she, had performed the act. All that was known in the Burford cases, was that there was an open bottle of chloroform in the victim's bed and that his stomach was burned with carbolic acid. 'A less deadly use of laudanum and chloroform in the home was to cure "hysterics", a word applied to any condition to which the terms "fits", "skittish" or "flighty" did not seem to apply. In such cases the recommended pacifier was thirty drops of laudanum and thirty drops of chloroform which cured the "hysterics" by rendering the recipient unconscious. This may sound like rather drastic treatment to-day but we must remember that so little was known about psychiatry 80 years ago that "hysterics" were thought to be caused by such things as "too-tight lacing of corsets", "excessive sympathy", "poor ventilation", etc. Such was the state of knowledge on the subject that the hysterical retention of urine by young children was ascribed to exposure to "too-brightly-lighted churches and theatres." Opium had many used about the home as a cure of everything from headaches to haemorroids. In the stable, it was combined with such dangerous substances as laudanum, corrosive sublimate and "Spanish Flies" to hide defects in horses that were being sold or traded. In the day when the horse was king, one of the gauges whereby a man was judged was his ability to get the better of another man in a horse deal. Many tricks were employed in this business. Laudanum and opium were used to hide lameness and arthritis in old horses while the irritants "Spanish Flies" and corrosive sublimate were applied to broken-down horses so that they would appear frisky at the time of the sale. If the poor old nag dropped dead before it got to its new home this was considered to be the ultimate in horse-dealing 'cuteness'. Strychnine was employed as a rat poison and as a nasty was to get rid of an enemy's pet dog or cat. One Burford man was adept at dropping strychnine-laden bits of meat through a hole in his trouser pocket in the hope that they would kill some beloved pet. History does not indicate that any legal action was ever taken against this scoundrel but it does reveal that people retaliated by shooting his livestock and damaging his property. Arsenic had a dual purpose for not only was it employed as a rat poison, but also, beauty-conscious women took it in small quantities for the sake of the white skin it gave them. Belladonna was another beauty aid as it enlarged the eyes and made them sparkle. Vitriol had a number of dangerous uses as a corrosive for the removal of skin blemishes. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO A STRONG, REPRESENTATIVE VOICE IN YOUR MUNICIPALITY VOTE AS YOU LIKE BUT VOTE SYRETT, Edward Burford Village Trustee KEEP EXPERIENCE WORKING FOR YOU Vote to re-elect CLEMENT, Jack Councillor, Burford Township CONCRETE LTD. All types of concrete work i FOUNDATIONS • WALLS • FLOORS • KILN YARDS & SLABS R.R.2, SCOTLAND, ONTARIO, NOE IRQ (519) 446-2575