In the Report of the Committee on the Use of Lead in the Potteries, some inquiry was made with regard to the possible association of lead absorption on the male side as a predisposing cause of infant mortality and premature birth. The tables given are not very conclusive, and from our own observations there seems to be very little evidence for supposing that a male lead worker is less likely to beget children, or that his children are more likely to be unhealthy than those of men working in any other industrial process. We are here speaking of the effect of lead under the conditions of its general use in this country now. In the absence of any precautions whatever as to daily absorption of dangerous dust, the effect on the offspring, even in the case of male lead workers, may well be evident, as has been shown by Chyzer[12] in the manufacture of pottery as a home industry in Hungary. One greatly disturbing factor in estimating the greater susceptibility of the female than the male in many lead industries is that the more dangerous work is performed by the women, such, for instance, in the Potteries, as the process of colour-blowing and ware-cleaning. =Predisposing Causes of Lead Poisoning.=--In lead poisoning, as in many other diseases, a number of predisposing and contributory causes may be cited which tend to lower the susceptibility of the individual to the poisonous effect of the metal and its compounds, or to so modify the functions of the body that a smaller dose of poison may produce more profound changes than would otherwise be the case. Certain diseases may be regarded as predisposing causes by lowering the general resistance of the body tissues to the influence of lead, and a consideration of the chapter on Pathology will at once demonstrate how seriously certain diseases may contribute in this way.