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I advised that this water should not be used for drinking 
purposes on account of the lead which it contained, and I 
afterwards learned that one of the members of the family, 
being ill and under medical treatment, suspected that there 
might be something wrong with the water in question, 
because she was better in health when away from her home, 
and it was only after lead had been detected in the water 
that lead poisoning was even suspected by the medical 
attendant, and it then became evident that the patient was 
suffering severely from lead poisoning, all the symptoms 
being strongly marked. The gums were tinged of a bluish 
shade and the fingers of both hands had become stiff and 
partially paralysed. 
The interesting points connected with this case are, that 
whilst a number of persons were using this water only one 
suffered severely from lead poisoning, although others of the 
family were in indifferent health previous to, and enjoyedgood 
health after, the removal of the lead pipe which conveyed 
the water from the well to the house. As this lead pipe, 
which was in all probability the cause of all the unhealthi- 
ness of the family, had been in use for 21 years, it would 
have been interesting to have known the condition of health 
of the previous occupants of the same house, and if not 
satisfactory, to have learned whether or no any medical man 
diagnosed any of the cases as those of lead poisoning, as 
there seems little doubt that those who lived in this 
house must have suffered, more or less, from this cause. It 
seems, unfortunately, probable that many persons may be 
suffering from slow lead poisoning without the real nature 
of the malady being recognised by medical men, as it was 
in the case of the lady above mentioned, who by philo- 
sophical reasoning and experiment salved the problem which 
puzzled the doctor. 
The house referred to was supplied from a well about 
500 yards distant, the water passing by gravitation through 
