It was at a
Country-Seat, which, being situated too high to have the Advantage of
a Well, was supply'd with Water from a Tank, which received the Water
from the leaded Roofs. This had been drunk several Years without
Mischief; but some young Trees planted near the House growing up
above the Roof, and shedding their Leaves upon it, it was suppos'd
that an Acid in those Leaves had corroded the Lead they cover'd, and
furnish'd the Water of that Year with its baneful Particles and
Qualities.
When I was in Paris with Sir John Pringle in 1767, he visited
_La Charite_, a Hospital particularly famous for the Cure of that
Malady, and brought from thence a Pamphlet containing a List of the
Names of Persons, specifying their Professions or Trades, who had
been cured there. I had the Curiosity to examine that List, and
found that all the Patients were of Trades, that, some way or other,
use or work in Lead; such as Plumbers, Glaziers, Painters, &c.,
excepting only two kinds, Stonecutters and Soldiers. These I could
not reconcile to my Notion, that Lead was the cause of that Disorder.
But on my mentioning this Difficulty to a Physician of that Hospital,
he inform'd me that the Stonecutters are continually using melted
Lead to fix the Ends of Iron Balustrades in Stone; and that the
Soldiers had been employ'd by Painters, as Labourers, in Grinding of
Colours.
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