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Materia medica
Published in Michael Stolberg, Gabrielle Falloppia, 1522/23–1562, 2023
This raised the question of the material cause of this fire, of the substrate or fuel that maintained it. Democritus’ explanation that the heat came from lime and ashes might seem plausible, at first glance, Falloppia argued. Both substances were often found in the vicinity of thermal springs and experience showed that intense heat developed when lime was mixed with cold water. This heat was only momentary, however. There had to be another explanation. According to the (Pseudo-)Aristotelian Problemata, the fire in the earth’s interior was maintained by burning sulfur, while Georg Agricola identified bitumen as its fuel.59 Falloppia combined both positions: many large and small fires burned beneath the earth, some fueled by sulfur, others by bitumen, and others again by both. Of course, the sulfur and the bitumen were consumed with time but experience showed that the earth constantly generated new sulfur and bitumen: when a sulfur mine was not used for a couple of years, the miners would find it full of sulfur again when they returned. The same was true for bitumen, as could be seen in the area around Modena.60
Skin cancer
Published in Peter Hoskin, Peter Ostler, Clinical Oncology, 2020
Chemical carcinogens: Tar and soot are rich in aromatic hydrocarbons. SCC of the scrotum was described in nineteenth-century chimney sweeps where soot had become trapped in the rugose skin of the scrotum. Similarly, occupational exposure to tar and bitumen can lead to tumours on the exposed skin, and mineral oils were the cause of SCC described in yarn workers which they used to lubricate the spinning mules.
Burns
Published in Tor Wo Chiu, Stone’s Plastic Surgery Facts, 2018
Bitumen is a mixture of petroleum-derived hydrocarbons, mineral tars and asphalt. It is primarily used in road construction and waterproofing. It needs to be heated to 100–200°C before use; thus, it can cause thermal and chemical injury.
Assessing cancer hazards of bitumen emissions – a case study for complex petroleum substances
Published in Critical Reviews in Toxicology, 2018
Anthony J. Kriech, Ceinwen A. Schreiner, Linda V. Osborn, Anthony J. Riley
Bitumen is a complex substance, derived from crude oil, that contains tens of thousands of different individual constituents, many of which are likely to present different physicochemical and biological properties (Asphalt Institute, Eurobitume 2015). When bitumen is heated to liquefy the product, it can release low parts per million (<10 ppm) levels of volatile and semivolatile compounds into the atmosphere in the form of aerosols, gases and particulates, to which workers can be exposed. These compounds are initially trapped in the bitumen because of the incomplete distillation of crude oils. Where bitumen is cut-back or fluxed with lower boiling hydrocarbons, additional volatile and semivolatile compounds may be released upon heating.
Facts and ideas from anywhere
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2020
Although clearly responsible for a great many evils, oil has also been key to the growth of human civilization. Bitumen, a naturally forming liquid found in oil sands and pitch lakes, was used in ancient times for waterproofing boats and baskets. As early as the 4th century, the Chinese were drilling for oil with bamboo pipes and burning it as heating fuel. It was used for treatment of mange in camels. By the 9th century, Persian alchemists had discovered how to distill oil into kerosene to make light.