Extracted from "The Electroplaters Handbook", fifth edition 1908.
"To preserve the health of the workers in the workshop, should be one of the chief considerations of the master electro-plater...
If the workmen must handle very frequently or continuously, articles in contact with cyanide of pottassium, or solutions of this poison, the hands must be protected with gloves of india rubber, since cyanogen is readiy absorbed by the skin, and passes into the body, causing ill health. This absorbtion of cyanogen causes painful sores on the hands.
These are best treated by dipping the sore into dilute sulphuric acid (1 in
10 parts of water) freshly mixed, and enduring the consequent pain as long as possible. Then well wash the sore in warm soapy water, and bind it up in a wet rag with soap suds.Frequent rinsing of the hands in a solution of iron sulphate will neutralize the bad effects of cyanide, and the nervous exhaustion caused by breathing cyanide fumes, is best best met by taking Parrish's Chemical Food, or a similar preparation of iron"
So we seem to have moved from one extreme to other in a very short space of time.