~ 
- The metropolis of the kingdom is, I ap- 
Ske as much, if not more interested in 
“the object of this inquiry, than any’ other 
‘town in Europe. The Thames and New 
River are the principal sources from which 
“this great city is supplied with water. Nei- 
ther of these waters are conducted through 
lead, except from a short distance through 
the small collateral branches, which convey 
it from the main pipes to the separate houses. 
In these the fluid stagnates, and I have 
found that smal] quantities of metallic matter 
are dissolved. There are other water-works 
_ for the convenience of particular parts of the 
town, but of what materials the pipes are 
formed IJ have not as yet learned. 
» «These pipes cannot be entirely harmless, 
though they convey water through such short 
distances, Bui the cisterns with which, 1 
am told, almost every house is furnished, 
and also the apparatus for conveying it to se- 
arate apartments, which are very common 
in the better kind of houses, are what I sus- 
} pect to be productive of infinitely greater 
mischief. These, I suppose, have been gra- 
_ dually extending and increasing in number, 
and the use of common pumps diminishing 
_ in the same proportion. Besides the scanty 
supply from pumps in so populousa place, 
' and particularly in dry seasons, to keep them 
in repair, and renew them when decayed is 
attended with much expence, and with still 
greater trouble and inconvenience. On this 
_ account it may be expected that, where water 
can be procured by other means, common 
pumps will be gradually neglected, and fall 
into disuse. I ask then whether, through 
_ the whole of the last century, the use of the 
_ Thames, and particularly of ihe New River 
_ water, has not been increasing; and in con- 
_ sequence, whether there are not at present a 
' greater number of cisterns, and fewer com- 
mon pumps in the same proportion, than 
there were a hundred years ago? 
“« It appears that certain diseases have been 
increasing in London, through the last cen- 
tury, which, there is reason to think, would 
: 
k 
f 
' 
' 
have diminished, if no new exciting cause had 
been introduced. The number of deaths 
classed under consumption, which in the be- 
ginning of the last century amounted annu- 
aily to 3000, on an ayerage of ten years, in 
the middie of the century amounted to 4000, 
" and in the end to 5000. ‘To obtain this ave- 
_ fage, those years were selected, in which the 
_ whole number of deaths were nearly equal. 
_ Now it must be acknowledged, that the most 
_ powerful exciting cause of this class of dis- 
eases, (for the meafing of the term must not 
_ be confined to the phthisis pulmonalis) in po~ 
pulous and profligate towns, is syphilitic dis- 
erders and their consequences. If these dis- 
orders have not been less frequent, still the 
treatment of them has been made much less 
severe than formerly, and the constitutions 
of great numbers are now preserved, whic 
would have severely suffered oqer the harsh 
Ann. Rev. Vor. Il. 
LAMBE’S RESEARCHES INTO THE PROPERTIES OF SPRING WATER+ 
801 
method of eure that was formerly univer- 
sally practised.” 
Dr. Lambe goes on to make the same 
remark with regard to dropsy, palsy, and 
apoplexy ; and the inference which he 
deduces is, that since we have a better 
mode of curing syphilis than formerly, 
which is one great cause of consumption, 
and since drunkenness, the great cause 
of dropsy, is decreased among the higher 
classes, and yet the diseases of consump- 
tion and dropsy continue to increase on 
the bills of mortality, some other cause 
must be assigned for these disorders ; and 
this cause may possibly be the habitual 
introduction of minute quantities of lead 
into the system. 
This hypothetical reasoning is carried 
still further. 
«« There is a disease, endemial in northern 
countries, which the Scotch call vulgarly the 
water-lLrash : it is the pyrosis suecica of Sau- 
vages, or simple pyrosis of Cullen. Linnzus 
asserts, that one half of the inhabitants, male 
and female, of the Lapland mountains are af- 
flicted with it. English physicians meet with 
it so seldom, that we scarcely hear its name 
mentioned ; nor have I ever observed it, ex- 
cept it be in this and one other case, which I 
believe to be saturnine. The description 
given of it by Cullen so perfectly resembles 
the case I have just related, and the general 
course of the pains excited by lead, that I 
cannot but suspect that its origin must be 
sought for in the action of this poison. It 
is described by him as a pain at the pit of the 
stomach with a sense ofconstriction, as if the 
stomach were drawn towards the back, it 
brings on an eructation of a thin watery 
fluid. It is often very severe, and more 
usually comes on when the stomach is empty; 
when it has once taken place, it is ready to 
recur occasionally for a long time after; 
finally, no treatment has been found service- 
able, except relieving the pain by opium. In 
all these points, the analogy between this and 
saturnine disease is striking and obvious. 
«¢ That, in the pyrosts the action of the 
poison is peculiarly determined tothe stomach 
is perhaps owing to the qualities of the yehi- 
cle, in which it is applied. What then is 
this vehicle? I can conjecture no other than 
the spirits distilled from oats, which is called 
whisky, in the use of which the inhabitants 
of the northern countries are known great! 
to indulge. This ‘spirit, most probably, is 
frequently distilled through worms, of which 
lead is an ingredient. I apprehend, that if 
these impure spirits are used undiluted, the 
stomach will be affected with pain, which 
the intestines may escape. 
«The Laplanders are likewise subject to 
colic pains of extreme severity. These they 
ascribe > certain worms, wich are found 
3 
