Note 350 — MINERAL POISONS. (continued 3)

A case is recorded, wherein a legal controversy took place, in order to settle the disputes between the proprietors of an estate and a plumber, originating from a similar cause—the plumber being accused of having furnished a faulty reservoir; whereas the case was proved to be owing to the chemical action of the water on the lead. Dr. Lambe states an instance where the proprietor of a well, ordered his plumber to make the lead of a pump of double the thickness of the metal usually employed for pumps, to save the charge of repairs; because he had observed that the water was so hard, as he called it, that it corroded the lead very soon.