Oxidized Balls.

[Flintlock]

It has been used as an industrial lubricant.

Probably still is in other nameless countries.

 

[RonRC]

Warning! This posting is going to be longggggg!

First, I’ll note that I have worked in association with the mining industry all over the world and have dealt with mining-related toxic materials for about 3 decades.

Some people seem to suggest that the toxicity of lead was an invention of modern, tree-hugging greenies. That notion has popped up on several firearms forums as it has here. However, lead toxicity has been known for a long, long time.

Lead (Pb) is one of the oldest metals known to humans. Lead has been useful to humans since at least 5000 BC.

In the late 1400s, Ulrich Ellenbog wrote a pamphlet on lead and mercury poisoning among gold miners (1473, published 1524).

Samuel Stockhausen published “Treatise on the Noxious Fumes of Litharge, 1656, Diseases caused by them and Miners’ Asthma” (1656). Litharge is lead monoxide, PbO.

In 1887 a U.S. medical report documented childhood lead poisoning that, in 1904, was linked to lead-based paint. European governments moved to ban lead-based paints in the early 1900s, culminating in a ban by the League of Nations in 1922.

In 1897, Australian researchers identified lead in paint as the cause of a "Toxicity of Habitation," and the first US. case was reported in 1914. By 1917, U.S. medical authorities had established that childhood lead poisoning from lead paint was a common problem. "A child," wrote a medical commentator in 1924, lives in a lead world."

In England, Sir Thomas Morrison Legge (1863– 1932) became the first medical inspector of factories. Among his accomplishments was a treatise on “Lead Poisoning and Lead Absorption.” Legge was one of the drafters of the Geneva white lead convention (1921) recommending the banning of indoor lead paint.

Alice Hamilton MD was appointed to chair a Commission on industrial diseases in Chicago in 1908, which led her to write a survey Chronologic History of Occupational Medicine of occupational disease in 1911, and she focused on lead workers particularly. Hamilton investigated lead industries, visiting many plants and studying several workforces. Hamilton proposed reducing lead poisoning through shorter hours, higher wages, and control of lead dust and fume.

(Much of the above comes from: Chronologic History of Occupational Medicine, Gochfeld, M.D., PhD. JOEM. Volume 47, Number 2, February 2005 American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine DOI: 10.1097/01.jom.0000152917.03649.0e)

Waldron (1980) indicates that metals related poisoning was recognized in the 1800s:

“Lead and mercury poisoning were so common during the 19th century that they were mentioned in the popular writings of the period” (the Mad Hatter). “Toward the end of the 19th century (England) appointed the 1st Medical Inspector of factories, with the prime function of dealing with occupational lead poisoning which had occurred on such a large scale that it had become a national scandal.”

What Does Lead Do in Humans?

Lead has no known physiologically relevant role in the body. Lead interferes with DNA transcription, enzymes that maintain the integrity of the cell membrane. Lead can damage red blood cells. Lead interferes with metabolism of bones and teeth and damages blood vessels. Lead exposure is a risk factor for asthma in children. Lead also interferes with the normal metabolism of calcium in cells and causes it to build up within them. Lead can also damage neurons and lead to measurable brain damage, particularly in children.

John C. Ruddock, M.D. Lead Poisoning In Children with Special Reference To Pica. JAMA. 1924;82(21):1682-1684. doi:10.1001/jama.1924.02650470022010

It doesn’t take much time or effort to be careful in handling lead. I wash my hands after handling lead pellets for my pellet guns. Same thing for lead balls and lead bullet reloading. I keep away from the lead melting pot and avoid inhaling the fumes. I use a cloth when I rub my balls to get rid of the white coating.

Fellow drinking lead-containing water from Montana mine:

 

[toot]

so that is what is wrong with him??

 

[Whitworth]

so that is what is wrong with him??

BLM, bullet lead matters.

 

[RonRC]

And then someone brings up "MERCURY"... ... ...
Using a "naked" ball / bullet without proper lubricationg grooves some barrels got badly leaded. I used to clean them with mercury -- and then re-distil the mercury in a fume cupboard -- - but as a Chemistry teacher I did have the facilities and the knowledge to do this. ... Thirty years later I am amazed that I even considered doing that !!! I am still waiting for deWitt Bailey to let me have back the little bottle that he wanted to clean his M1851 --- and grateful that he is unlikely to do so ;-)
We all take chances and some traditional gunsmithing practices were SO dangerous. When John Bell (V-P of the MLAGB and the HBSA in the UK) died much of his collection was inherited by his son Chris. 25 years later I have been asked to deal with it -- - and amongst the "chemicals" was a bottle of what used to be called "corrosive sublimate" - used for blacking barrels. It is a soluble mercury compound and LETHAL. I can't even find a pharmacist with a Poisons Register who will take it -- - and neither will the Old Bill (Police), so it sits in my gunroom in a clearly labeled container and someone else will have to deal with it when my toes turn up.

Mercury is very nasty! The mining workers in the late 1800s who volunteered to process the cinnabar mineral that contained mercury received much higher pay than regular miners. It wasn't long before their gums rotted, their teeth fell out, and they could only eat soup or soft mush. Then, they started to have convulsions, delusions, and mental deterioration.
I've been in villages of the small-time (artisanal) gold miners in Brazil, South Africa and India. They use mercury to bind or amalgamate the gold they collect from the stream. They heat the gold-mercury amalgam to vaporize the mercury, condense it and use it again, all the time breathing in the mercury fumes.
For 450 years, mercury-containing products claimed to heal a varied list of ailments. Depression, constipation, syphilis, influenza, parasites—whatever the disease and someone insisted that mercury could fix it. Side effects: depression, anxiety, pathological shyness, tremors of the limbs, lost teeth, rotting jawbones, ulcerated tongues and gums, damaged kidneys, impaired hearing, vision, and balance.
(From: Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. 2018.
Steckling et al. Environmental Health 2014, 13:111 The burden of chronic mercury intoxication in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Zimbabwe: data availability and preliminary estimates - Environmental Health)

 

[doubleset]

For 450 years, mercury-containing products claimed to heal a varied list of ailments. Depression, constipation, syphilis, influenza, parasites—whatever the disease and someone insisted that mercury could fix it.

Yes, there was a lot of quackery -- but a lot of the historical use of mercury doesn't really fall under that category, and it is medically effective. It did, and does, fix some medical problems.

It's difficult to see the details of this unless you actually dig into the documentation and clinical experimentation over those 450 years, but there was significant evidence that heavy metals were successful in treating various microorganism infections. Unfortunately, that's largely buried in hundreds of years of academic journals to which most people just don't have direct access. Plus, it's a LOT to read!

Mercury was the preferred treatment for syphilis for centuries, and despite its toxic effects, these were typically regarded as an unfortunate trade-off and also recognized as an imperfect solution. But it was the best available until well into the 20th century. It is still used in the capacity of treating various infections today.

I'll bet that all of us "of a certain age" recall the common use of Mercurochrome as an antiseptic preferred by all children over iodine (it doesn't sting!). It worked. It still works. Not as good as iodine or betadine, but it does work. And it's still sold and used throughout much of the world under various descriptions and brands. The FDA finally took it off the market in 1998, but not because it was particularly poisonous.

And Thimerosol is very widely used as a preservative (antibacterial and anti-fungal) in a broad variety of medical products including vaccines and eye drops. You may be using it and don't even know. I know -- because my wife is allergic to it and this severely irritates her insurance company because the eye drops she needs without this preservative are much more expensive.

None of this is to say that mercury isn't very dangerous in various forms, and should be avoided if this is possible. But don't suppose it isn't still around and being used. And don't assume that you're not already using it.

 

[RonRC]

You make some good points, doubleset. We still do have some exposure to mercury, such as its use in fluorescent lights and dental fillings. The toxic effects of mercury depend strongly on the chemical forms of the material. However, there was a fallacy associated with the use of mercury for syphilis. The goal of mercury treatment was to cause the patient to salivate, which was thought to expel the “bad humors” that caused syphilis. I didn’t include a particularly gruesome side effect of mercury treatment: gangrene of the cheek and holes through the face. Syphilis can now be cured with treatment but in 1730, patients would eventually succumb to the disease if they had not already been fatally poisoned by the mercuric treatment.

You mention Thimerosal. Thimerosal was in more than 30 vaccines licensed and marketed in the United States, including some of the vaccines administered to infants (DTP, HIB, hepatitis B). Theoretical concerns were raised that cumulative exposure to ethylmercury, a metabolite of thimerosal and known neurotoxin, could have developmental side effects. In 1999 thimerosal was removed from vaccines to trace amounts (<3 µg), very low levels. Thimerosal was taken out of childhood vaccines in the United States in 2001. Environmental mercury tends to be in the form of methyl mercury. The half-life (T1/2) of methyl mercury is ∼20 days compared with ethylmercury, which has a T1/2 of ∼7 days.

In other words, the ethyl mercury in vaccines is flushed out of the body quickly. Methyl mercury lasts 3-4 times longer in the body than ethyl mercury.

Some info about Thimerosal:

Measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines do not and never did contain thimerosal. Varicella (chickenpox), inactivated polio (IPV), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines have also never contained thimerosal.

Influenza (flu) vaccines are currently available in both thimerosal-containing (for multi-dose vaccine vials) and thimerosal-free versions.

The mercury chloride in mercurochrome is considered to be safe.

 

[Stantheman86]

I loaded 12 older, oxidized round balls into 2 Pietta .36 Navies yesterday, I guess I'm screwed

 

[RonRC]

I loaded 12 older, oxidized round balls into 2 Pietta .36 Navies yesterday, I guess I'm screwed

Not as long as you didn't lick your fingers afterward.

 

[doubleset]

Not as long as you didn't lick your fingers afterward.

Or rub your eyes, or ... well let's not go down that road.

 

[Redlemur60]

It has been used as an industrial lubricant.

And floride iz a tooth benefactor!