the Times on the melancholy death of Matilda Scheurer, a girl proved to have been poisoned by emerald green while engaged in the manufacture of artificial flowers, was brought under the notice of the Ladies' Sanitary Association; and Mr. Paul, the surgeon who had been called upon the inquest, was asked to give particular information to the Committee. The Honorary Secretaries-the Hon. Mrs. Wm. Cowper, and Mrs. Sutherland-then applied to Professor Hofmann for an analysis of the poison, and finally prefaced by a short letter, jointly signed, the following statement, addressed by Professor Hofmann to the Hon. Wm. Cowper. We trust that the subject will not be allowed to drop until the practice of using this poison is discontinued. We reprint Professor Hofmann's statement to enforce it upon our readers, and also as being easy of reference in our pages. "Royal College of Chemistry, Jan. 25, 1862. "Dear Sir,-In accordance with your wishes, I have examined carefully the green coloring matter of the artificial leaves from a lady's head-dress which have sent me. you "It is well known that such leaves generally contain arsenic, and often in considerable quantities. An experienced eye readily recognizes the presence of an arsenic color (Schweinfurt green) by its brilliancy, the intensity of which is as yet unrivalled by any other green. However, should there remain the slightest doubt, an experiment of the simplest kind would establish the fact. In most cases it would be sufficient to burn such a leaf in order at once to perceive the garlic odour which characterizes the presence of arsenic. "In a dozen of the leaves sent me analysis has pointed out on an average the presence of ten grains of white arsenic. I learn from some lady friends that a ball-wreath usually contains about fifty of these leaves. Thus, a lady wears in her hair more than forty grains of white arsenic,―a quantity which, if taken in appropriate doses, would be sufficient to poison twenty persons. This is no exaggeration, for the leaves which you sent me were, some of them at least, only partly-colored, others only variegated. In consequence of your inquiries, I have been led lately to pay more than usual attention to the head-dresses of ladies, and I observe that the green leaves are often much larger and more deeply colored than those which I received. "The question, how far arsenic-dyed wreaths may be prejudicial to health, is intimately connected with the discussion, so frequently raised of late years, as to the influence which arsenic-colored paperhangings exert upon the human system. This influence has been doubted on various grounds, both by the chemist and the physician. The alleged effect has been attributed to the development of arsenietted hydrogen, or some other volatile arsenic compound, to which the white arsenic, by the action of the damp of the wall, or of the organic constituents of the paper and the paste, might possibly have given rise. Accurate experiments, however, often repeated and often varied, have proved the inadmissibility of the assumption of gaseous arsenic exhalations, and, as it so often happens, the injury was denied simply because it could not be explained. Nevertheless, the deleterious effect of arsenic green paperhangings is at present pretty generally acknowledged; indeed, it does not require any high-flown hypothesis to explain the transfer of the arsenic from the wall to the system. The arsenic dust, bodily separated from the wall and dispersed over the room, is quite sufficient for this purpose. investigations of the last few year have clearly shown the presence of arsenic in the dust of rooms hung with arsenic-green paper, even when this dust had been collected at the greatest possible distance from the walls. Moreover The the chronic poisoning by arsenic of persons living in such rooms has been proved experimentally, inasmuch as the presence of arsenic may be demonstrated in their secretions, more especially if the elimination of the poison be accelerated by the administration of iodide of potassium. "The employment of arsenic-green in the manufacture of paperhangings, in staining paper, in painting children's toys, &c., has attracted the attention of the sanitary authorities on the Continent for many years past. In several of the German States, more particularly in Bavaria, the very country of arsenic colors, (which are manufactured on a very large scale in Schweinfurt, a town in Franconia,) the application of these colors to papering or painting rooms has been repeatedly proceeded against. I have before me an edict of the Bavarian Government of the 21st of July, 1845, expressly prohibiting the manufacture and sale of arsenic-green paperhangings. This general prohibition, it is true, was repealed by an Act of the 23rd of January, 1848, for industrial considerations,' and the use of Schweinfurt green permitted as before for house papering and painting, provided the color were permanently fixed by appropriate means. The relaxation of the measures against Schweinfurt green appears, however, to have given but little satisfaction. In several papers laid both by chemists and physicians before the Academy of Munich, in its sitting of the 9th of June, 1860, undoubted cases of chronic poisoning produced by arsenic papers, even when glazed, were brought forward; and the Academy was called upon to represent to the Government the necessity of strictly enforcing the former regulations against arsenic colors, and of removing all Schweinfurt green wall-coloring from public buildings, schools, hospitals, &c. "The immense consumption of arsenic colors, and their reckless use under various conditions prejudicial to health, certainly claim the especial notice and the consideration of the public. Not satisfied with poisoning the wreaths which adorn the heads of our women, modern trade introduces arsenic without scruple even into their dresses. The green tarlatanes so much of late in vogue for ball dresses, according to an analysis made by Professor Erdmann, of Leipsic, contain as much as half their weight of Schweinfurt green. The color is loosely laid on with starch, and comes off by the slightest friction in clouds of dust. I am told that a ball dress requires about twenty yards of material, an estimate probably below the mark, considering the present fashion. According to the above analysis, these twenty yards would contain about 600 grains of white arsenic. A Berlin physician has satisfied himself that from a dress of this kind no less than sixty grains powdered off in the course of a single evening. "It will, I think, be admitted that the arsenic-crowned queen of the ball, whirling along in an arsenic cloud, presents under no circumstances a very attractive object of contemplation; but the spectacle, does it not become truly melancholy when our thoughts turn to the poor poisoned artiste who wove the gay wreath, in the endeavor to prolong a sickly and miserable existence already undermined by this destructive occupation? "Ladies cannot, I think, have the remotest idea of the presence of arsenic in their ornaments. If aware of their true nature, they would be satisfied with less brilliant colors, and reject, I have no doubt, these showy green articles, which have not even the merit of being, as far as coloring is concerned, a truthful imitation of nature. There being no longer a demand for them, the manufacture of poisonous wreaths and poisonous dresses would rapidly cease as a matter of course. "I remain, dear Sir, yours very sincerely, "To the Right Hon. William Cowper, &c." X.-OUR FRENCH CORRESPONDENT. LADIES, Paris, February 17th, 1862. Within the last three weeks, Paris has been enjoying an ablysustained controversy-an account of which will doubtless interest you and your subscribers-chiefly relating to the expediency of opening to female operatives a number of employments for which they are well qualified, but from which they have hitherto been excluded. In private circles, this important social and industrial question has been for many years discussed in the French capital, and deeply studied by several French authors of celebrity. From time to time, the journals have taken it up in the absence of political news; but within the last fortnight, to the exclusion of some of the speeches in the Chambers, and speculations as to the probable results of M. Fould's financial scheme, they opened their columns to the advocates of woman's right to work at whatever suits her, as well as to those who took up an opposite position. The Siècle and the Opinion Nationale were the foremost on this occasion among their Paris contemporaries, some of which adopted the paradox,—that the only just and reasonable way to treat women generally, is to treat them unjustly and unreasonably. The Siècle has been the able advocate of the claims of Frenchwomen to greater social and legal justice than they as yet are granted; and the Opinion Nationale, while willing to adopt a similar course, did not, on account of its very recent foundation, wish to do anything that might compromise it in public opinion, more especially because some of its principal rédacteurs have been followers of St. Simon. But the week before last its editors threw off the reserve they so long assumed, and gave permission to some gentlemen to express their disapproval of the practice of employing females in printing establishments: then, to others enjoying a high reputation in French society for their intelligence and great worth as social reformers, to say what they thought to the contrary and lastly, to those who best understand the practical bearings of this most important problem,—the female operatives here. M. Geroult, the rédacteur-en-chef, abstained from expressing his own peculiar opinions till the arguments on both sides were fairly exhausted; and then advocated, in a very able and a very well-received editorial, the right that women have to work at whatever individually suits them, and the justice of giving to each, for work as well done as by a man, the same amount of wages. As already stated, this controversy has in many quarters been actively carried on, and periodically found its way into the newspaper press. On this occasion, it was first brought before the public by a journalist who enjoys the reputation of much cleverness, is a constant reader of Michelet's works, belongs to an Israelitish family, and bears the name of Armand Lévy. : M. Armand Lévy, forgetting that but a very small fraction of the earth is properly cultivated, and that in comparison to its productive powers it is in a state of barrenness, so as to afford more employment than all the strong hands on its surface can execute for centuries to come, put the startling question to those generally wishing to make the position of working women more comfortable than it is, by not practically ignoring that they are working women, "What motives have you for employing females? Is it because men are not to be found?" He, then, evidently taking for granted that modern society is in its purest possible state, and incapable of further amelioration, asserted that it would be dissolved, and the dwellers of the lanes and alleys, the barmaids, and the innumerable females that gain some sous daily by their needle, and eventually fill prisons, hospitals, and penitentiaries, would lose their feminine delicacy were they encouraged, much less suffered to live comfortably by branches of trade and industry that are manifestly best suited to delicate as well as dexterous fingers, and quick, observant brains. But the principal point, in an article abounding with quotations from the writer's favorite work, "La Femme,” was that ouvriers could not suffer ouvrières to infringe on the prescriptive monopoly which the former possess of nearly every trade that is at all profitable, and requiring ingenuity rather than physical exertion. Were they to do so, he said, it would not be attended with any advantage to the intruders, as the masters and employers generally would only make it a means of cutting wages down to a very low figure in consequence of the great competition that would be thereby occasioned. The idea never occurred to M. Lévy, that were women admitted as working members of several trades, for which they are by nature admirably adapted, separate ateliers could be organized for them. He therefore concluded that introducing them into printing establishments would be the source of great immorality, even though we see at every party, ball, soirée, and promenade, both sexes equally represented without anybody objecting to it. But work and pleasure are two very different things, were we to believe M. Lévy. The first he doubtless thinks with many doctors is an accursed thing, and therefore demoralising; and the second, under the form of dissipation, and not recreation formed by variety of employments, the very reverse. But France would not be worthy of the high position which she occupies amongst the civilized nations of the world, were Frenchmen generally to hold such opinions. And that they do not was fully shown by M. Paul Dupont, a member of the corps legislatif, the State printer, and a man of rare intelligence even in Paris, as well as one who is convinced that so long as society entertains its blind and cruel prejudices that will not allow woman to work, and imprisons her for begging, woman, by the laws of retributive justice, will be the bane of a society that treats her so unjustly. The respected head of the imprimerie de l'administration is by early education a man of theory, and by the force of circumstances a man of practice. His opinions should therefore have greater weight than those of one who is too illogical to be called the former, without being anything of the latter; and these opinions are given in the following quotations from a letter written to the Opinion Nationale. "I read in an impression of your journal published yesterday, an article upon female printers, the principles contained in which seemed to me to be very questionable. Permit me, Monsieur, particularly since my name was mentioned in it, to tell you about some plans and ideas, resulting from a long experience, for the enlightenment of all who study this most important social question. M. Lévy, the author of the article alluded to, on the authority of M. Michelet, is of opinion that the only possible role a woman has to perform is to take care of a house and to bring up children. Could such be the case, I should certainly say so much the better; but these fine theories are unhappily contradicted by less fine realities. The time no longer exists when women could spin all the linen needed by the household. We live in an iron age, and can only, at the cost of hard toil, meet the necessities of life that are each day increasing. Besides, neither M. Michelet nor M. Armand Lévy point out the means of assuring to every woman the happy position about which they speak so much. We must, therefore, accept faits accomplis, and confine ourselves to ameliorate them by possible, that is to say, practicable means. "It is an incontestible fact, that family life does not exist among the working classes. The workman's salary being always insufficient for his household expenses, his wife and children are obliged to seek for work that will enable them to make up the deficit. The young girl herself is obliged to seek for out-door employment, which, if needlework, hardly suffices to feed her; and when her employer lives in a distant quarter, exposes her to a thousand dangers. To remedy as much as possible this evil, I conceived the idea of carrying out at the branch printing establishment, near Clichy, an improved organisation ouvrière, having for its basis the participation in its profits of the operatives to whom it directly affords employment. In order to prevent families being broken up, to give employment in the same atelier to father, mother, and children; to improve their diet by purchasing wholesale the provisions consumed by all belonging to the branch establishment of which I speak; and to provide for them comfortable abodes, were the problems that I am about solving. In doing so I even accomplished your desire, that the husband and wife should find themselves side by side when engaged in their daily avocations." Already M. Dupont has constructed two houses, which he lets in apartments to his employés at 30 per cent. below the ordinary rent at Paris. The holder of each apartment has a right to the exclusive enjoyment of a little garden, large enough to furnish their rooms with fresh bouquets, and frequently their tables with such |