AERATED WATERS.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 271, 24 April 1875, Page 3

AERATED WATERS.

[Pall Mall Gazette.] Some interesting but uncomfortable information respecting tbe presence of lead in aerated waters was given by Dr Stevenson Macadam at the meeting of the North British branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain in Edinburgh. After stating that so far back as 1871, his attention had been directed to this subject, and that he had at that time discovered that hard waters had a greater power of action upon lead than soft wafers, and after describing the apparatus used in the manufacture of aerated waters, Dr Macadam gave it as his opinion regarding the generator of the carbonic acid that this part of the machinery might be of lead without causing the slightest harm to the manufactured waters; while on the other hand, the greatest care should be taken that the gasholder should not be constructed of materials containing lead. As to the receiver, he was sorry to say that in some instances he had found that this vessel, though made of copper, contained a large quantity of bad tin, which in turn was impregnated with lead—a state of matters which, of course, caused contamination to

the waters. So far as the piping was concerned, he held that there was no difficulty in manufacturers obtaining pure tin in pipes, while he submitted that the solder used should also be free from lead ingredients. Dr Macadam explained a number of experiments he had made relating to the question, and stated that after the fluids had been poured from bottles into lead pipes, and instantly poured out of the pipes again, the result of analyses proved that there was in aerated waters the tenth of a grain, in lemonade the half of a grain, and in soda and potash waters the twentieth part of a grain of lead to the gallon. If the liquids were allowed to remain an hour in the lead pipes, the amount of lead found would be in lemonade ten grains, in aerated waters five grains, and in soda and potash waters two grains to the gallon. Dr Macadam has discovered the presence of lead to the extent of one grain to the gallon in lemonade, one-half of a grain to the gallon in aerated waters, and one-fifth of a grain to the gallon in soda and potash waters —it having been at the same time ascertained that the oil of lemons used largely in the manufacture of lemonade generally contained quantities of lead, owing to the fact of the vessels in which the oil was stored not being free from that metal. Lemonade drinkers, therefore, who escape “hot coppers,” run the risk of lead poisoning.