EFFECT OF SULPHATE OF LEAD ON CATTLE. 605 



tiflf, upon this, and upon the smoke from the new and large furnaces 

 not being discontinued, commenced an action against the proprietors 

 of the mines, and obtained £450 damages against them. The pro- 

 prietors moved the Rolls Court, in December, 1858, for an injunction 

 to restrain the plaintiflF proceeding on this verdict, on the ground that 

 he had permitted the nuisftnce he complained of ; and the Court, in 

 January, 1859, dismissed such motion with costs. While the latter 

 part of these proceedings were going on, the defendants to the present 

 suit began to erect certain new copper works, called the " Briton-ferry 

 Works" in the vicinity of the " Red Jacket" works and the plaintiff's 

 farm ; so that, what with the copper fumes and smoke of both these 

 mines working together, the plaintiff alleged his condition to be all but 

 intolerable. His Honour, after hearing tlie evidence on both sides, 

 granted an injunction to restrain the proprietors of the Briton-ferry 

 Mines from permitting smoke to issue from their works so as to produce 

 any damage to the land and property of the plaintiff, and directed an 

 issue at law to try the fact whether the smoke from the defendants' 

 furnaces did injuriously affect the plaintiff's farm or not. 



Stevens v. BosweU was a similar case to Lathhury v. Earle. The 

 plaintiff had a dairy farm, on which he Jcejit thirty or forty cows near 

 certain lead ivories, which had a blastiny and three calciiiiny furnaces, 

 and in 1851-53 four cows, forty-eight lambs, and six colts died, poisoned 

 with sulphate of lead, which was found in their insides, as well as in 

 the hay, the hedges, and the weeds on the farm. It was also detected 

 in the milk after it had passed through the cow ; though it did not 

 affect vegetation, but only animal life. On examination, the carcases 

 had oxide of lead in the mucous membrane, as well as in the lungs and 

 liver in great black patches. There was also a black streak round the 

 gums ; and one pig's kidneys were bare of fat. It was urged by the 

 counsel for the defence that the land on the farm was of a poisonous 

 nature, and had been for centuries, and that the smelting works had 

 nothing to do with it. A juror was withdrawn, and the jilaintiff 

 was to receive £500 damages, and the defendants to purchase the farm 

 at full value. The nearest point of the farm which was thus injured 

 by the lead fumes was half a mile from the works, and the most distant 

 a mile ; and the white smoke from the blast furnace gave a small pro- 

 portion of oxide of lead, and the remainder of carbonate and sulphate 

 of lead. 



Professor Herapath described the effect as " a stunted growth, and 

 leanness, shortness of breathing, paralysis of the extremities (particu- 

 larly the hinder ones), the flexor muscles of the forelegs affected so that 

 the beasts stand on their toes, swelling of the knees, but no constipa- 



