352 On the Water of Tunbridge Wells. 
would be converted into a carbonate of lead, of which a small 
quantity is soluble in this water, and which, a direct poison, 
would be carried into the house, to the injury of the health of its 
inhabitants, who would of course be always taking it in their food. 
I therefore directed that cast-iron pipes should be substituted, 
which were accordingly put down in place of the lead, and what- 
ever chalybeate impregnation might be given to the water from 
the cast-iron, would do no more harm than what was there al- 
ready, and would moreover be easily got rid of by the means 
before suggested, which I fear would not be the case with the 
lead, a minute portion of which might possibly pass the strainer 
dissolved in the water ; and in these opinions I am confirmed by 
you. I would therefore strongly recommend to all who put down 
pumps where carbonic gas abounds, and who value the health 
and lives of their families, to substitute cast-iron pipes for lead. 
On the subject of the danger arising from lead, I may mention 
the very severe complaint which was produced by this noxious 
mineral some years ago at Tunbridge Wells. In the summer 
of the year 1815, several persons were severely afflicted with 
the lead colic; the late Dr. Mayo told me he had cases of the 
kind, and I have not the smallest doubt, from having witnessed 
the severity of this disease elsewhere, that those cases of colic 
which I saw came from the same deleterious source. In one 
lady, from Yorkshire, then resident at the Wells, the disease 
proceeded to such an extent, as to produce a paralytic affec- 
tion of the lower extremities, a well-known effect of lead, of 
which, however, she afterwards happily recovered. In the sum- 
mer of 1814, a man of the name of Taylor, a plumber at Tun- 
bridge Wells, knowing the great inconvenience which people 
suffered from the want of a supply of good water, conceived and 
executed the laudable scheme of conveying it to the different 
houses, from a spring situated on an eminence, about a quarter 
of a mile from Tunbridge Wells. For this purpose he laid 
down 4000 feet of leaden pipes, which were soldered together 
every twelve feet. In the following year the lead colic occurred 
in those houses to which this water was distributed, and there 
appeared no doubt the poison came from the water, for it was 
