_September_ 27th. Mr. S----, AEt. 45. Had been long in an ill state of
health, from what had been supposed an irregular gout, was greatly
emaciated, had a sallow complexion, no appetite, costive bowels, quick
and feeble pulse. The cause of his complaints was involved in
obscurity; but I suspected the poison of lead, and was strengthened in
this suspicion, upon finding his wife had likewise ill health, and, at
times, severe attacks of colic; but the answers to my enquiries seemed
to prove my suspicions fruitless, and, amongst other things, I was
told the pump was of wood. He had lately suffered extremely from
difficult breathing, which I thought owing to anasarcous lungs; there
was also a slight degree of pale swelling in his legs. Pulv. fol.
Digital. made into pills, with gum ammoniac and aromatic species, soon
relieved his breathing. Attempts were then made to assist him in other
respects, but with little good effect, and some months afterwards he
died, with every appearance of a worn out constitution.
About two years after this gentleman's death, I was talking to a
pump-maker, who, in the course of conversation, mentioned the
corrosion of leaden pumps, by some of the water in this town, and
instanced that at the house of Mr. S----, which he had replaced with a
wooden one about three years before. The lead, he said, was eaten
away, so as to be very thin in some places, and full of holes in
others;--this accidental information explained the mystery.
The deleterious effects of lead seem to be considerably modified by
the constitution of the patient; for in some families only one or two
individuals shall suffer from it, whilst the rest receive it with
impunity. In the spring of the year 1776, I was desired to visit Mrs.
H----, of S---- Park, who had repeatedly been attacked with painful
colics, and had suffered much from insuperable costiveness; I
suspected lead to be the cause of her complaints, but was unable to
trace by what means it was taken. She was relieved by the usual
methods; but, a few months afterwards, I was desired to see her again:
her sufferings were the same as before, and notwithstanding every
precaution to guard against costiveness, she was never in perfect
health, and seldom escaped severe attacks twice or thrice in a year;
she had also frequent pains in her joints. I could not find any traces
of similar complaints either in Mr. H----, the children, or the
servants. Mrs. H----was a water drinker, and seldom tasted any
fermented liquor. The pump was of wood, as I had been informed upon my
first visit. Her health continued nearly in the same state for two or
three years more, but she always found herself better if she left her
own house for any length of time. At length it occurred to me, that
though the pump was a wooden one, the piston might work in lead. I
therefore ordered the pump rods to be drawn up, and upon examination
with a magnifying glass, found the leather of the piston covered with
an infinite number of very minute shining particles of lead. Perhaps
in this instance the metal was so minutely divided by abrasion, as to
be mechanically suspended in the water. The lady was directed to drink
the water of a spring, and never to swallow that from the pump. The
event confirmed my suspicions, for she gradually recovered a good
state of health, lost the obstinate costiveness, and has never to this
day had any attack of the colic.