White lead is the chemical compound (2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2). It is a complex chemical compound, containing both a carbonate and a hydroxide portion. White lead occurs naturally as a mineral, in which context it is known as hydrocerussite, a hydrate of cerussite. It was formerly used as an ingredient for lead paint and a cosmetic called Venetian Ceruse, because its opaque quality and the satiny smooth mixture it made with driable oils it made a good pigment. However, it tended to cause lead poisoning, and its use has been banned in most countries.
White lead compounds were also used as lubricants for bearings and in machine shops, especially between work being turned in a lathe and a dead center.
Read more about White Lead: History, Paints, Other Synonyms (as An Art Pigment), See Also
Famous quotes containing the words white and/or lead:
“I have more in common with a Mexican man than with a white woman.... This opinion ... chagrins women who sincerely believe our female physiology unequivocally binds all women throughout the world, despite the compounded social prejudices that daily affect us all in different ways. Although women everywhere experience life differently from men everywhere, white women are members of a race that has proclaimed itself globally superior for hundreds of years.”
—Ana Castillo (b. 1953)
“Normally, people believe that, if they hear just words, that these words must lead to some thought.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)