LEAD-POISONING.
Constantin Paul was the first to point out the influence of lead-poison ing on gestation. He has shown, in short, that plumbism manifests it self not only by its classical effects, but also by the death of the fcetus, or the premature death of the child, uo matter whether the father or mother was exposed t,o the poison. Three accidents may occur in women thus affected: 1st. Metrorrhagia, more or less profuse, is observed in women who have hod amenorrhcea for several months, with every evi dence of possible pregnancy; 2d. Abortion from the third to the sixth month; 3d. Premature delivery, in which the child is born dead or moribund.
Moreover, during the first three years of infant life the mortality is abo.ve the average. Constantin Paul describes four classes, viz.: 1st. Women who have had more or less severe manifestations of plumbism, and whose pregnancies have varied greatly from normal. Out of fifteen pregnancies occurring in four women, there were ten abortions, only one child being born alive; 2d. Women who have had normal deliveries be fore being exposed to the influence of lead, and who afterwards observed its effects upon the product of conception. Thirty-six cases of pregnancy were noted under this head; twenty-nine children were dead born, and only two were living at the end of a year; 3d. Women who cease to work in lead. One case was observed. A lead-worker who had aborted five times, gave up her occupation, and at her next confinement was de livered of a healthy child. 4th. Women who work in lead, and who give up
their occupation, but resume it later. Two women, after working in lead, stopped for three or four years, during which time they had three living children; on returning to their old work-shop they had repeated miscar riages.
_Influence of the Father.—The fatal influence of lead is felt equally as niuch when the father has handled lead. Of seven women who married men working in lead: 1. 7 labors at term, 1 miscarriage; 2. 2 pregnancies, 1 miscarriage, 1 premature labor; 3. 2 miscarriages, 3 labors at term; 4. 4 pregnancies-3 miscarriages, 1 at term; 5. 3 pregnancies-1 miscarriage, 2 at term; 6. 12 pregnancies--1 miscarriage, 10 children died in 3 years; 7. 5 pregnancies-2 miscarriages, all the children died shortly.
lf, then, lead-poisoning does not prevent fecundation and influence menstruation, its action upon the fcetus is incontestable, as the following observations prove: Seventy-three children wore born deadin one hundred and twenty-three pregnancies. Miscarriages, 4; premature labors-1 at 7, 3 at 8 months 4; dead children, 5; children dying in first year, 20; second year, 8; third year, 7; later, 1; living children, 14; living children beyond 3 years, 10; metrorrhagia dependent on miscarriages, 15.