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APPENDIX II.
Irritant Woods.
In connection with our (Gard. Chron.) article on Plants and Skin Irritants," printed on p. 110, the following contribution on "irritant" wood, which we extract from the Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, is interesting:—
In the course of the past year inquiry was made by the Factory and Workshop Department into the effect of irritant woods, and the extent to which they are used in this country. For example, in the case of satin-wood, there was inquiry into (1) the extent and class of work in which it was used; (2) the evidence there is as to its irritant action on the skin; (3) the precautions taken in its use. Much confusion was found as to the kind of wood referred to as satin-wood, the two covering East and West Indian satin-wood and satin walnut. The first two are practically confined to high-class furniture and furniture-making, and to decoration of cabins and overmantel work in ships. Occasionally thermometer stands, backs of toilet brushes, and similar articles are made of it. In those trades it is used as an inlay or veneer, involving little exposure to irritant dust. East Indian satin-wood possesses much more irritant properties than the West Indian variety. Satin walnut appears to be no more harmful than deal. The East Indian wood is only used in two shipyards. It causes an eruption on the skin of the worker exposed to the dust or shavings produced during manufacture; but some persons are much more susceptible to its effect than others. One man stated to the Inspector that if he only placed a shaving of the wood on the back of the hand, it caused a sore on the skin at that point. The injurious effects, however, appear to be only temporary. Exhaust ventilation is in use for carrying off dust, &c., from the machines in most of the works, including one of the shipyards in which the East Indian wood is used. Reference to occasional contact action on the skin is made as to teak by Mr. Inspector Wright (North London), who refers to reports of swollen arms and eyes by Mr. Shannin (Liverpool), and by Mr. Grant (Preston), as to teak and olive-wood. The Inspector in Sheffield states that " in the manufacture of knife scales and tool handles the following woods are considered to be irritant:—Some of the ebonies, magneta rose-woods, West Indian box-wood, cocos-wood, and partridge-wood. Irritation of the eyes and nose is caused also by woods of the mahogany type. East Indian wood had to be discarded in the shuttle trade owing to its irritating action on the eye." Mr. Lewis (Manchester) states that salica-wood, from Cuba, was stated to give off "a fluffy dust under the machines and hand planes, the effect of which upon the workers is to cause a running of the eyes and nose, and a general feeling of cold in the head. The symptoms pass off in an hour or so after discontinuance of work." Eczematous eruptions are said to be produced by the so-called Borneo rose-wood-a wood used owing to its brilliant colour and exquisite grain in fret-saw work; but the Director of the Imperial Institute, Sir Wyndham Dunstan, who has interested himself in this wood, has failed to discover injurious properties in it. — Gardeners' Chronicle, 29th August, 1908, p. 167.The above refers more or less to Chloroxylon Swietenia, already referred to.