66 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAiV ACADEMY 



" Should the experiments result in showing that the several waters 

 were alike in their action upon lead, then would the citizens of Boston, 

 in drinking Cochituate water served from leaden pipes and iron mains, 

 be as little liable to lead-disease as are the citizens of Philadelphia and 

 New York who drink Schuylkill and Croton water similarly served, 

 and that portion of the citizens of Boston who have for nearly a quarter 

 of a century employed Jamaica water served through lead. Should 

 Cochituate water be found to act less on lead than Jamaica water, all 

 external circumstances being the same, then would the question be 

 affirmatively and more satisfactorily decided ; since these two waters 

 occur in the same geological associations, are about equally pure, and 

 the latter has been drunk under less favorable circumstances than 

 Cochituate will be, so far as the relations to lead are concerned. 

 On the other hand, should the inequality in action of the waters be great, 

 and that of the Cochituate uniformly most energetic, then would the 

 question, so far as this mode of investigation could influence it, be 

 decided in the negative. 



" The experimental result being favorable, the question of probable 

 future illness to arise from drinking Cochituate water would be decided 

 by an appeal to those physicians of New York, Philadelphia, and Bos- 

 ton, whose extensive practice and standing in the profession demand 

 confidence in their opinions; and by an appeal to public sentiment, 

 where every day's experience among all classes, the less and the 

 more careful, contributes to its formation. 



" Such experiments have been made with all the waters above 

 mentioned, and at the same time, in many cases, parallel suites with 

 Albany and Troy reservoir waters, Cambridge well-water, and distilled 

 water, contemplating all the conditions that could be expected to occur. 

 They were conducted in an apartment where, with rare exceptions, 

 no other laboratory labor was carried forward than that connected with 

 this investigation, and in which the tests with hydrosulphuric acid were 

 not made. Whatever influences from temperature or other causes op- 

 erated upon any one of the waters operated equally upon each of the 

 others. With the exception of Cochituate water, which possessed a 

 yellowish-brown tint, the samples were colorless. A determination of 

 their general relations to each other was made.* 



* Professor Silliman, Jr. has made a similar determination of the relations of 

 the Croton, Cochituate, and Fairmount waters. Water-Corn. Report, 1S45. 



