What antique item is shown in the picture, and which potent organochlorine and hepatotoxin might it have once contained (or still contain)?
Fire grenades are glass containers that were filled with various salts and solvents and thrown at fires, where they would shatter, and then facilitate extinguishing a fire. Carbon tetrachloride, a very potent hepatotoxin, was used in fire grenades (and firefighting in general) for many decades until safer and more effective agents replaced it.
Contributed by: Joe Kennedy, MD