Service-pipes for water : an investigation made at the suggestion of the Board of Consulting Physicians of Boston / by E.N. Horsford.

  • Horsford, Eben Norton, 1818-1893.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Service-pipes for water : an investigation made at the suggestion of the Board of Consulting Physicians of Boston / by E.N. Horsford. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    asserted by Tanquerel.* This is believed to be true of all the larger European towns whose inhabitants are supplied with water from public reservoirs. On the other hand, the inhabitants of Amsterdam were poisoned by drinking rain-water that had fallen on leaden roofs. Up- on replacing the lead with tiles, the maladies ascribed to the former dis- appeared. We find ourselves at the conclusion of the literature of the Old World upon this subject with these impressions : — 1st. That some natural waters may be served from leaden pipes without detriment to health. 2d. That others may not; and 3d. That we have no method of determining beforehand whether a given water may or may not be transmitted safely through lead. Professor Silliman, Jr., in his able report on the various waters sub- mitted to him by the Water Commissioners, in 1845, has given the re- sults of some experiments upon the action of several waters on lead, which conducted him to the general conclusions above expressed.! Among those who have taken strong ground against leaden service- pipes for the transmission Of water may be mentioned Drs. Chilton and Lee of New York, and Drs. Dana and Hayes of Lowell. The occasion of the following research was the request by the Board of Consulting Physicians of the city of Boston, in January of 1848, that a comparison of the action of Cochituate Lake, Jamaica Pond, and Croton and Schuylkill River waters upon lead should be in- stituted. Cochituate water was about to be introduced into Boston for the supply of the city. Jamaica water has been employed in certain sec- tions of the city of Boston since the year 1795, and for the last twenty years served through leaden pipes. Croton River water, since 1842, has been supplied through iron mains and leaden service-pipes to the citizens of New York, a city of 400,000 inhabitants. Schuylkill River water, since the year 1815, has been supplied through iron mains and leaden distribution-pipes to the inhabitants of Philadelphia, a city of 300,000 inhabitants. The inquiry that early presented itself to the Board of Consulting * Tanquerel on Lead Diseases, edited by Dana, App., p. 396. f Boston Water-Com. Report, App., 1845.