Re: Arsenic;
I think this topic was discussed on this list a year or two ago, and this
hazard theory was dis-proven. Does anyone remember the discussion and the
outcome?
Ernie
At 11:50 PM 10/27/2002 -0500, you wrote:
I do not post much but I thought this most interesting story it was in
our
sunday news.
October 27, 2002
Arsenic is danger to restoration workers
See related story: <A
HREF="http://www.southbendtribune.com/stories/2002/10/27/local.20021...
nearly forgotten</A>
Arsenic is danger to restoration workers
Workers carrying out restoration at Witter Cemetery or any other 19th-century
burial grounds need to be aware of a potential hazard they probably never
thought of: arsenic poisoning.Arsenic was the main ingredient used in
embalming fluid in the second half of the 19th century, often in such high
concentrations that it could potentially harm archeologists or cemetery
workers, said John L. Konefes, an environmental scientist at the University
of Northern Iowa.Arsenic first began to be used for embalming corpses during
the Civil War, to allow the bodies of those killed in battle to be shipped
back home for burial. It was mixed with water, which was then injected into
the corpses.Funeral homes began using it after the war, and arsenic remained
the main embalming agent until the early 1900s.As much as 12 pounds of
arsenic would be used to embalm a single corpse, Konefes said.Because arsenic
does not break down naturally, it remains in a grave site and can leech into
the ground water or be released into the air should a grave collapse. That is
why he recommends people working around old graves for protracted periods of
time wear protective clothing.
Georgia
----
Proud To Be An American
<A
HREF="http://www.geocities.com/ggillelkins/tribute_america.html"...
tribute_america.html</A>
ST JOSEPH COUNTY GENEALOGY PAGE
<A
HREF="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/StJosephCo_Indiana/?yguid=831515...
==== INPCRP Mailing List ====
THIS IS A CEMETERY -----
"Lives are commemorated - deaths are recorded - families
are reunited - memories are made tangible - and love is
undisguised. This is a cemetery.
"Communities accord respect, families bestow reverence,
historians seek information and our heritage is thereby enriched.
"Testimonies of devotion, pride and remembrance are carved
in stone to pay warm tribute to accomplishments and to the life -
not the death - of a loved one. The cemetery is homeland for family
memorials that are a sustaining source of comfort to the living.
"A cemetery is a history of people - a perpetual record of
yesterday and sanctuary of peace and quiet today. A cemetery
exists because every life is worth loving and remembering - always."
--Author unknown -- Seen at a monument dealer in West Union, IA