The coolies, earth-coloured and mute, crouched reverently some twenty or thirty yards away, and the Babu, the slack of his thin gear snapping like a marking-flag in the chill breeze, stood by with an air of happy proprietorship.
Inhaling crystalline silica can lead to serious, sometimes fatal illnesses including silicosis, lung cancer, tuberculosis (in those with silicosis), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In addition, silica exposure has been linked to other illnesses including renal disease and other cancers.
1 The apparent toxic principle in white snakeroot has been given the trivial name tremetol. 2  It has been described as a fat-soluble, high molecular weight alcohol. 3  Crude tremetol, was later shown to be separable into a toxic ketone fraction (61%) (tested in goldfish) and a nontoxic sterol fraction (39%).