Littell's Living Age/Volume 131/Issue 1694/Miscellany

Poisonous Enamel. — The thanks of every good housewife; as well as every one who has the good fortune to be catered for by such, are due to Mr. Tatlock, the analytical chemist, for the pains he has taken (says the Glasgow News) to demonstrate the dangers that lurk in enamelled cooking utensils. It is a common and very natural belief that vessels lined with a substance not distinguishable by the ordinary eye from porcelain are perfectly safe for all kinds of cooking, Mr. Tatlock finds that while this is true of some, made by certain manufacturers, it is the very reverse of the truth as regards others. In the Sanitary Record for September the 23rd will be found his analysis of three samples of the so-called porcelain. Without going into chemical details, it is enough to say that two out of the three contain very large quantities of lead, one as much as twenty-five per cent, of its weight. This lead is in an uncombined, or feebly combined condition, and is liable to be dissolved by very feeble acid solutions. There is probably no fruit except strawberries that would not dissolve it freely, and there can be little doubt that even water boiled in the vessels would take up a quantity quite sufficient to injure health. In addition to this, one of the samples contained over one per cent, of arsenic, another nearly a half per cent., and the third a mere trace, or, to be accurate, 1.50th per cent. Mr. Tatlock would add to the favor he has conferred upon the public if he would tell us which manufacturer avoids these dangerous ingredients.