DELETERIOUS EFFECTS OF KEEPING WATER FOR DOMESTIC ECONOMY IN LEADEN RESERVOIRS. The deleterious effect of lead, when taken into the stomach, is at present so universally known, that it is quite unnecessary to adduce any argument in proof of its dangerous tendency. The ancients were, upwards of 2000 years ago, as well aware of the pernicious quality of this metal as we are at the present day; and indeed they appeared to have been much more apprehensive of its effects, and scrupulous in the application of it to purposes of domestic economy. Their precautions may have been occasionally carried to an unnecessary length. This was the natural consequence of the imperfect state of experimental knowledge at that period. When men were unable to detect the poisonous matters--to be over scrupulous in the use of such water, was an error on the right side. The moderns, on the other hand, in part, perhaps, from an ill-founded confidence, and inattention to a careful and continued examination of its effects, have fallen into an opposite error. There can be no doubt that the mode of preserving water intended for food or drink in leaden reservoirs, is exceedingly improper; and although pure water exercises no sensible action upon metallic lead, provided air be excluded, the metal is certainly acted on by the water when air is admitted: this effect is so obvious, that it cannot escape the notice of the least attentive observer. The white line which may be seen at the surface of the water preserved in leaden cisterns, where the metal touches the water and where the air is admitted, is a carbonate of lead, formed at the expense of the metal. This substance, when taken into the stomach, is highly deleterious to health. This was the reason which induced the ancients to condemn leaden pipes for the conveyance of water; it having been remarked that persons who swallowed the sediment of such water, became affected with disorders of the bowels.[18] Leaden water reservoirs were condemned in ancient times by Hyppocrates, Galen, and Vitruvius, as dangerous: in addition to which, we may depend on the observations of Van Swieten, Tronchin, and others, who have quoted numerous unhappy examples of whole families poisoned by water which had remained in reservoirs of lead. Dr. Johnston, Dr. Percival, Sir George Baker, and Dr. Lamb, have likewise recorded numerous instances where dangerous diseases ensued from the use of water impregnated with lead. Different potable waters have unequal solvent powers on this metal. In some places the use of leaden pumps has been discontinued, from the expense entailed upon the proprietors by the constant want of repair. Dr. Lamb[19] states an instance where the proprietor of a well ordered his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it corroded the lead very soon.