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43
the interior fitting up of houses is managed. It is
in the private houses of the wealthy and luxurious
that the most startling instances are found of the
neglect of the most obvious means of securing
health.
A contamination which ought never to occur
where the most ordinary precautions are taken for
the cleaning of cisterns, is that of impregnation with
lead. Within the last eighteen months I have met
with several instances of water charged with lead,
from the action of organic matter on the lead of the
cistern in which it was stored. As an instance of
how water may be contaminated with lead, I may
mention that all the water supplied to the Vestry
Hall was for many months charged with lead, when
fresh drawn from the pipes. This arose from the
fact that the new leaden pipes were easily acted on
by the water, and thus the water became impregnated
with lead. The first water drawn, when it
has been standing in leaden pipes, should be
rejected for all cooking and kitchen purposes, and
no water should be drunk that has been standing
for any length of time in leaden pipes.
I am reminded here that all these evils arise from
two sources:—
1. An intermittent supply of water.