“The mixture of lead and tin is heated over a bright fire in a shallow iron pan. As it melts, the top scum which forms is skimmed off, dried, pounded to a powder in an iron mortar, and afterwards sieved. The person who does this work always suffers more or less. He usually protects himself by wearing a respirator--there is a good draught at the flue, and the sieve is enclosed in a box--but there is always a certain amount of dust. This putty-powder is used on the wooden wheel, and is dabbed on the wheel as it revolves. All good bold work can be polished in this way, and there is not much risk to the workman, as the speed at which the wheel revolves causes the mixture to cling and not fly about. This process does not answer for any fine work, so it is contended; and to enable this kind of work to be properly polished brushes made of bristles are used. They are mounted on an iron spindle, and are usually about 6 inches to 7 inches in diameter, with a face of 1 inch to 1¹⁄₂ inches broad. They are driven at a speed of about 2,000 revolutions a minute. The putty powder is applied to these brushes (which are of various sizes) in the same way as to the wooden wheel--that is, by dabbing it on. For smaller work, such as tumblers and wine-glasses, the workman applies the putty mixture himself, holding the glass against the brush with his right hand, and using his left underneath to apply the mixture. Where, however, larger work has to be done in which the workman cannot manage with one hand, the service of a boy is called in, who does what is called the ‘feeding up.’ This boy stands partly in front and partly at the side of the brush, and applies the mixture with one hand with the wisp of straw. In this position the boy gets splashed with the putty mixture which flies off the brush, and it is generally believed by the workmen to be the most dangerous occupation. At one time--not very long ago--all the various processes of the work were done indiscriminately in the workshop, and consequently the men were frequently found working in a perfect haze of fine dust, which had been thrown off from the brushes. There was no attempt made to separate and detach the less injurious part of the work, such as the roughing and cutting, from the general workshop, the lead polishing only occupying about one-fifth of the workmen’s time. After the glass has been polished by the putty it is taken away to another department, where girls are employed as ‘wipers out.’ They take the glass with the dried putty upon it, dip it into a basin of water, and then wipe it dry. Some of these girls have been known to suffer from lead poisoning.... Drop-wrist was frequently to be seen--in fact, there was hardly a workshop in the district in which cases of wrist-drop could not be found. They were all anæmic, and the albuminuric and prematurely aged were frequently met with.”