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\/        ESSAY
(m. CHARLES  T.  JACKSON,
OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

    LEAD PIPES
) USED AS CONDUITS FOR DRINKING WATER,
contrasted with

    PURE BLOCK TIN PIPES.

BRIEF  HISTORY OF LEAD DISEASES

       NEW-YORK, APRIL, 1852.


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          NEW-YORK:
OLIVER & BROTHER, PRINTERS, 89 NASSAU STREET.

             1852.  o
 
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  ACTION  OF  WATER  ON LEAD  PIPES.
              POISONING BY LEAD.
Superiority of pure Block Tin Pipes for Aqueducts.
  It has been known for centuries, that water corrodes metallic lead, and
forms a poison, which produces dangerous and even fatal diseases, when
taken into the stomach.
  Oxide and  Carbonate of Lead are what are called by physicians cumu-
lative poisons; that is, poisons which taken in minute doses, for a length
of time, ultimately produce their peculiar effect on the animal economy, by
their  accumulation in the system, or by combination with the blood and
organic tissues.
   It seems very strange that any one should  have ventured to deny these
well-known facts  in  chemical  and  medical  sciences; but it does  appear
that the question has been raised in this community, and doubts do exist in
the public mind with respect to the danger of using leaden water pipes for
conducting water for drink, into and through our dwellings.
   It is true that lake water has less  action on lead than either rain or well
water; but it is an error to suppose that no action results from the contact
of Cochituate Lake, or Croton River water with leaden pipes, or that an
impervious coating of slime from these waters will prevent the further cor-
rosion of  the lead.
   By actual trial I  find, that there  is no cessation in this corrosion, and
 that the water, from the day when  it first began to flow through lead to
 the present time, contains sensible portions of lead,  dissolved and suspend-
 ed in it.  If any one  doubts this fact, he  can easily satisfy himself by
 evaporating a gallon of the water from his lead aqueduct pipe to the bulk
 of half an ounce, by measure.  Having rendered it slightly sour by means
 of pure acetic acid, then running through it a current of sulphydric acid
 gas, to full saturation, and warming subsequently the  solution, he  will ob-
  tain a black precipitate of sulphuret of lead, and  by means of the  blow-
 pipe, he  can reduce this sulphuret to metallic lead.  When the water has
 stood over night  in the lead aqueduct pipe, the portion of lead dissolved in
 the water is considerable, and every discreet house-keeper, who is obliged
 to use lead aqueduct pipe, will do well always to draw off the contents of 
2
the pipe  in the  morning before saving any water to use in cooking or for
drinking. In this way the evil may be diminished, and much danger avoided.
  It is  better,  however, to make use of  water pipes which do not form
poisonous compounds  by  corrosion  and solution of the metal; and none
have been found so available as those made of  pure  Block Tin.   I have
had abundant opportunities of testing the action of waters upon  these pipes,
and have never found any oxide or other form of the metal in water con-
tained in them.   I have tried  Cochituate  Lake water, Boston well water,
and sea water, and have kept those waters for three weeks in coils of block
tin  pipe, from Le Roy's Works, and on analysis of the waters, after they
were drawn from the pipes, no traces of tin could be found in them.  The
pipe being then  slit  open and  examined, was not found to be  in the least
degree tarnished or corroded.   I  am therefore fully  convinced that pure
block tin pipes  may be safely used for the conducting of water into and
through  our  dwellings, and that  no  injury can arise from any action of
water upon that  metal.
  It is essential, however, that the tin should be quite free from all alloy
of lead,  and that as  little  lead as possible  should be used in soldering the
pipe, for an alloy of  lead and tin is acted upon by water, and lead with
traces of tin is then dissolved by the water.
  There is no reason to believe that tin pipe will be corroded by the action
of  lake  water, and  hence if  the exterior of  the pipe is properly pro-
tected  from the  action of nitrate of  lime, sulphuretted  hydrogen and
other  corrosive  agents, which exist in the foil, that  it  will  last for  a
great length of  time.  This protection is  best made by laying  the pipe in
a wooden trough, and casting melted pitch, made of tar and rosin, around
it;  or the pipe may be bandaged with strips of stout canvas, laid on with
hot pitch, and heavily coated with layers of hard boiled pitch.   It is essen-
tially desirable to protect  the  pipe from  the  lime salts  and nitre  which
form close to the cellar walls of houses; the method above described will
most fully serve  this purpose.
  It should be an object with plumbers to learn the best method of execu-
ting this work, rather than to find fault, and to  throw all sorts of obstacles
in the way of improvement, as many are disposed to  do, the moment any
innovation on old usage is attempted to be made.
  Besides the advantage of preventing the exterior of the pipe from cor-
rosion, the pitch will serve  also to prevent the freezing of the water  in the
pipe—for resinous matters  are  very poor conductors of heat.  This coat-
ing will also prevent any galvanic action from saline or metallic matters in
the soil, and thus aid in preventing the corrosion of the pipe.
  I do not know that tin is more likely to  corrode in the soil  than lead; 
3
but lead pipes being made of weaker metal, have necessarily to be made
thicker than those of block tin; and hence there is more metal to be acted
upon, before  the pipe can be perforated.   Still we know that lead pipes,
especially those made of crude lead, do corrode and  have numerous holes
perforated through them, both from the exterior and interior; and hence
they often require to be taken up  and renewed.  Whereas if tin pipe is
properly protected  on the outside, there is no reason to believe that it
would undergo any corrosion, or  require to be removed.   Thus, much
trouble and expense may be saved in our  cities, by having tin pipes pro-
perly protected, when they are put into the soil, so as not  to require  the
frequent breaking up of the streets for repairing the pipes.  I have long
since been convinced that it is unsafe to use lead for any culinary purposes,
or for conducting water by aqueducts; and have always, in medical prac-
tice,  avoided  the administration of any salts, or combinations of lead, in-
 ternally.
   That we have reason to fear the  poisonous effects of lead, when so used,
will appear from the following list of instances, in which I have found this
poison in water, and in food.  And in the brief history of a few cases which
 were under my observation, some  years since, in which the use of sugar,
 poisoned with lead, was the cause of  much sufferings, and  of the death of
 several individuals.
   Those who may wish to examine into the different forms of disease pro-
 duced by lead poison, are referred to a work on Lead Diseases, translated
 from the original French of M. L. Tanquerel des  Plauches, by Dr. S.
 L. Dana, with notes  and additions.   (Lowell, 1848.)
   In the present memoir I have  chosen to confine myself to my own obser-
 vations and researches.  I  am aware that the late Dr. Martin Gay, and
 Dr. A. A. Hayes, have made many researches on the action of water upon
 lead pipes, and that their results are confirmatory of the views entertained
 by me;  and  that  in  addition to  my  observations, they have proved that
 water from the Jamaica Pond Aqueduct, when drawn through lead pipes,
 is also charged with small portions of lead.
    Many observations have also been made  by Dr. Dana, of Lowell, and
 by Dr. Chilton, of New-York, all resulting in the discovery  of lead in
 water from lead pipes, and proving that the use of water so charged with
 lead, is injurious to the health of those who drink it.
    I am aware,  also,  that cases of lead paralysis, from the use of  water
 from lead suction pipes, have been treated at the Massachusetts G-eneral
 Hospital; and in one case, I made the analysis of  a sample of the water
 that produced the disease, and found it  highly charged with lead.   This
 case  was treated  successfully by one of the  House Physicians, by means 
4
indicated by me as appropriate for the cure of lead diseases,  notwithstand-
ing the dispute that existed at the time, as  to the fact of this case being
one of poisoning by lead.
      CASES  OF LEAD POISON  JN WATER.

  The first case of lead  corrosion that  I  was called to investigate, was
brought to my notice in 1824.  It was that of a leaden  tank used as a re-
servoir for water collected from the roof of a house in Stamford-Street, in
Boston.  The water in this case was found  by chemical analysis to be
charged with  oxide or carbonate of lead,  and the tank was lined with crys-
talline layers  of white carbonate of lead, and was deeply corroded in nume-
rous places, so as to have become leaky.  Several heavy coats of yellow
ochre paint were found to serve as a protection from further action of the
water upon the lead.
  In 1834, two years  after my return  from  Europe, I resumed my re-
searches on lead poisoning; and the first case brought to my investigation
was one that  occurred in Bowdoin-Street,  in Boston, where a leaden pipe
was employed as a conduit for water from a well.  In this water a danger-
ous proportion of lead was discovered, and means were taken forthwith to
prevent the further  use of leaden pipe in that well.
  In 1835 I was called upon, as a physician and chemist, to examine  into
one of the most remarkable cases of accidental poisonings from lead, that
has come to my knowledge.   It was the famous case of the poisoned sugar
sold at Calais, in the State of Maine.  A gentleman well acquainted with
the appearance of men suffering from the  effects of lead in White Lead
Works, near  Boston, was the first to declare his belief to me of the suffer-
ers that they  had some how got poisoned by taking lead into their system,
and he also sent three of these patients to consult me. By careful enquiry
I ascertained that  only those persons who used sugar in  their  tea and
coffee, at a certain boarding house in Calais, had suffered from this disease;
and  that there were several boarders in  the house who did not use sugar,
and  that they were quite well.   This at once fixed a suspicion upon the
sugar, and  I  forthwith sent to Calais and procured samples of it.   The
grocer who sold the sugar did not believe it was poisonous, and therefore
sent me the sample marked No. 1 from  another lot, and Nos. 2, 3 and 4
were of the kind that the sufferers had  used.   This was done to test the
skill of the chemist, I suppose.  I found no lead in No. 1, but in Nos. 2,
3 and 4,1 found thirty-eight grains of oxide of lead in each pound of the
sugar; and established the fact that the  disease in each of  the persons
poisoned was  the  effect of lead.  One of the patients was a young lady,
who suffered first from lead colic, and then paralysis, of  which she died on
board the packet on her way to Boston, whither she was coming for medi-
cal advice.   Her brother was one of my patients,  and was cured by the
use of sulphuric acid, lemonade and  sulphate of morphia, with occasional
purges administered at proper  times; but it was more than a year before
he was entirely well.   Another of the patients,  a stout man, was also re-
lieved by  the same treatment; but the third gentleman went to an older 
5
physician, and was not cured, but gradually became very much emaciated
and  died in the course of the  year, of lead poison.  I published at the
time an account of these cases in the Boston Medical Magazine.
  The lead in this sugar was believed to have originated from the use of
lead-lined vats used to contain the acid syrup of sugar cane in Barbadoes,
The sugar was smuggled  from the adjoining British Province of New
Brunswick, and I subsequently learned that upwards of one hundred indi-
viduals had suffered injurious effects upon their health by the use of sugar
from the lot which had been brought to Calais.
   The perfectly  even diffusion of the lead, in all  the  samples of sugar,
proved that it must have  been  introduced in the process of manufacture
in the state of solution,  and that it was not an accidental mechanical mix-
ture.  The  small portion taken daily of this sugar  in tea and coffee, pro-
bably not more than four or five teaspoons-ful per day, shows how powerful
is this poison, even when  taken in small quantities at a time.
   In 1836 I had occasion to analyze some water that was brought to me
from New Bedford, and which had been drawn by a lead suction pipe from
a well.  From the  small quantity, five thousand  grains weight, of this
water, I extracted a distinct globule of metallic lead.   This lead was  in
the water in the condition of some soluble salt, or of oxide.
   In 1838 I had occasion to analyze some well water from a leaden pipe,
for an eminent physician of Boston, and found 0.6 grain of oxide of lead
in a gallon of the water.
   In 1843 this water was again analyzed by me, and I found 0.18 grain
of oxide of lead in a gallon of  the water, and discovered, by enquiry, that
two of the physicians of that institution were suffering obviously from lead
colic and partial  paralysis.   I  directed the use of sulphuric and lemonade,
and sulphate of morphia,  with occasional doses of Epsom salts, and learned
afterwards that the disorder had been removed.  The lead pipe was taken
up, by my advice, and  one of cast iron substituted, and there has been no
trouble from the water  since.
   The same year I discovered  lead in another speciman of water from a
 lead suction pipe in Boston.
   I analyzed a portion of the blackened lungs of a patient who died of lead
colic and paralysis, at  the Massachusetts General Hospital, and found  in
 eight hundred grains of the dried lung, globules of  lead, by the usual pro-
 cess of reduction.  I suppose the man had been a house painter, but I do
not know the history of his case.
   In  1844  I  detected lead in water from a lead suction pipe in Brooklyn;
and soon after in water drawn  through a lead pipe in the town of Dedham.
   In 1846 I discovered lead in water from a suction pipe of lead in Kox-
bury ; and in water from a lead suction pipe in Lynde-Street.   I obtained
 0.72 grain of oxide of lead from the gallon.
   In  1847 I found in  water pumped  through a leaden tube, in Beacon-
 Street, 0.56 grain of lead per gallon of the water.
   The same year I detected 0.56 grain of oxide of lead in a gallon of water,
from a lead pipe in Dedham.
    A gentleman from Woburn, Mass., called upon me that year, and stated
 that his family, particularly the children, had suffered much from pain in
 their bowels, resembling, from his description, lead  colic; and  that the 
6
water seemed  to  be the cause of the disorder, which was aggravated by
drinking it.   A man who lived in his family, and who called with him, had
the strongly marked blue line, characteristic of lead disease, in his gums,
and said he had suffered much trouble with  his bowels, and  was very dys-
peptic, and had numbness of  his arms  and legs.   The  gentleman's wife
had disease of the lungs, and was very feeble, but we do not know that she
had true lead disease, as  I  did not  see her.  The water drank by this
family ran through a leaden suction pipe of  one-and-a-half inch bore, and
extending fourteen feet down into the well, and twelve feet horizontally to
the sink.  His family  had drank water, drawn through this tube for four
years.   On analyzing a gallon of this water, I obtained lead, which reduced
to its metallic state, weighed 0.64 grain.
   In 1848 my assistant chemist, Richard  Crossley, analyzed a  sample
of water from a lead pipe which  yielded 0.037  grain of oxide of lead to the
gallon of water ; and in  1849  he analyzed  water from a lead pipe in
Woburn, which gave 0.06 grain of oxide of lead per gallon ;  and the same
year he found in water from a lead pipe  in Waltham 1.077 grains of oxide
of lead in a gallon of  the water.  He  also found 0.18 grain of  oxide of
lead in a gallon of water, from leaden pipe in a well in Roxbury ;  and also
found lead in water from lead pipe in South  Brookfield, Mass.
   In  1850 Mr. Crossley found 0.64 grain of oxide of lead  in a gallon of
water, in a lead pipe in Woburn.
   In 1851 I had an opportunity of  investigating a case of severe lead dis-
ease which occurred in Winchester, Mass., and of analyzing the water that
had been drank in the family  affected.   The gentleman who called upon
me is a piano  forte maker, and employs a number of men in his business.
He said that the water which  supplies  his house, is conducted  from a
spring, by means of a lead pipe five  hundred and sixty feet in  length,
through  which the water is constantly  running.   He brought one of his
workmen  to  see  me, who  had very marked signs of lead disease.  The
gums were of a dark ashy-blue color, and there was a black  deposit at the
junction of the gums with the  teeth.  He has suffered much from lead colic
and partial paralysis of his  legs, and  walks with great difficulty and awk-
wardness, as if his legs were " asleep."   He  says he has eeased to drink
the water from the lead pipe,  and has been slowly getting better.   I anal-
yzed  this water, and was surprised to find water that had been allowed to
run freely through this pipe, to be so highly  charged with lead.   I  did not
weigh the sulphuret of  lead obtained, but know that  it was in dangerous
proportions in the water.
   1852.  I  have examined a case of poisoned water for a  lady in West-
boro, Mass., who had suffered from lead pipe.  In this water I found the
 extraordinary amount of two grains of oxide  of lead per gallon of the water.
I do not know the length or dimensions  of the lead  tube in this case, but  I
 supposed it must be of considerable extent.  The lady has ceased to drink
the water from the  lead tube, and is getting over the diseases she has been
 subject to, as above-described.
   We have found traces of tin in water  which was drawn through leaden
 pipes alloyed or soldered with that metal, in but two instances, and regard
 this as  the result of the action of water on the alloy, never having found  it
 in water from pure block tin  pipes. 
7
  The above list of cases I draw from my laboratory notes, and omit the
names of the parties, since it might not be agreeable to them to be drawn
unnecessarily before the public.  I have investigated a much larger num-
ber of instances of poisoning of water by lead, of which I took no notes in
my laboratory books  at the time, for want of the  details of symptoms in
the cases, or because I did not see the patients myself.
  A sufficient number, I believe, is here given to prove absolutely the ac-
tion of water  upon lead, and  that water  charged with salts of  lead does
seriously affect the health of those who drink it for any considerable length
of time.
                         CHARLES  T.  JACKSON,
Assayer to the State of Massachusetts, and to the City of Boston, tyc. fyc.
    April, 1852.
                     State Assayer's Office,  31 Summit-Street,)
                                      Boston, April 12, 1851.     )
   Messrs. Dalton  &  Ingersoll—Gentlemen:—I have made careful
 chemical analysis of the Block Tin pipe  you brought to my laboratory,
 and find that  the  \\ inch pipe is pure tin, with only a trace, not weigh-
 able, of foreign matter—100 grains of the pipe give 99,999 grains  of
 absolutely pure metallic  tin.
   The £ inch pipe, made of a mixture of  Banca and English Block Tin,
 yields in 100 grains, 99,362  grains of pure tin, and 628-1000 grains  of
 copper.
   The copper  in the pipe was  derived  without doubt from the English
 tin.   It operates favorably in rendering the tin tough, so that it draws
 better in smooth pipe.  It does not in any way injure the pipe for the uses
 for which it is  prepared, but on the  contrary is advantageous to it, giving
 greater strength and more perfect  smoothness.  On testing this pipe with
 water no action took place, and the water which had remained in it 48
 hours contained no traces of the metal.  In regard to the use of this kind
 of pipe in houses for the conveyance of water, I would say that it is highly
 desirable that it should be universally substituted for lead pipe, which is,
 as is well known to all scientific chemists, corroded and dissolved in water,
 rendering it poisonous.
   Lead is a cumulative poison, and  the introduction of even minute por-
 tions of  it into the system will ultimately produce disease in the  human
 body.   This is one of the best established facts of medical science.  It is
 well known that Boston, and most if  not all well water, acts rapidly on
 lead pipe, and the water  becomes poisonous by passing through  it.   Even
 Cochituate water acts seriously on  lead, and  I know from my own re-
 searches that the  water  by passing  through 60 feet of leaden pipe, was
 always found to contain lead, and that during two years I have  proved
 that the  corrosion continued, and that the water contained sensible portions
 of oxide  or carbonate of lead.  I am glad  to learn  that  tin pipes can be
furnished at nearly  the same cost as  lead, as  the  cost  was the only valid
objection  ever  brought  against its  general use,  for  the conduction of 
                                  8

Cochituate water into, and through our  dwellings.  The lightness of tin,
and its great strength, are the facts on which this  opinion rests;  and I
have no doubt that the enterprising manufacturers of these valuable pipes
will receive that encouragement which they so justly merit.  It is an  im-
provement analagous to that made by the French Philosopher, M. LeCluire,
whose humane exertions in substituting oxide of zinc in the place of white
lead in painting, was thought worthy of being rewarded by the high dis-
tinction of the Cross of the Legion of Honor, the reward of merit  given
for brilliant  achievements, and for  great services rendered to humanity.
  I have the honor to be respectfully your obedient servant,
                         CHARLES T. JACKSON, M.  D.
                               Assayer to the State of Massachusetts.

  We also subjoin some extracts from the  May number of the Scalpel, a
New York Medical Journal, edited by Dr. Edward H. Dixon, in regard to
the danger of using lead pipe:
  li When the Croton was introduced into this city, a great time was made
about the poisonous effect of lead, but it all subsided, as almost every other
important question does with us, before the mass of the people abtained a
glimpse of the truth.   An immense number of  instances are  on record,
and others are  daily occurring, wherein persons  have  been poisoned by
drinking water from leaden cisterns', pipes and newly painted roofs;  the
books and newspapers are  full of them.  According to an immutable  law
of nature, the lead is oxydized and  carbonated by the oxygen and carbonic
acid of  the air, and then dissolved in the water by its  frequent excess of
carbonic acid.   The rationale of this inevitable process, it is impossible to
communicate to the ignorant;  who, from that very ignorance, as well as their
slovenly and filthy habits of cookery, are most exposed to danger.
  Some very idle and absurd ideas have been held forth by interested per-
sons, that the Croton water-pipes could not be acted on, because their con-
tents were not exposed to the air.  Where, then, in heaven's  name, does
this wonderful and anomalous water come  from ?  Does not the water of
springs and rivers contain  air and carbonic acid, and can its action be pre-
vented ?  They say that  the lime the water contains, coats the pipes  and
prevents the action of the acid!   And how, before  this  coating  occurs?
What is it that causes the  constant corrosion and bursting of pipes all
over the  city?   What has  introduced an  entire class  of new  diseases
amongst us ?  Is  there a physician of any observation or experience in this
city who does not find frequent cases of slow intestinal pains, jaundice, in-
digestion, &c, to which in his earlier practice he was unaccustomed,  and
which  he cannot trace to any  hitherto acknowledged local  cause,  and
which, moreover, do not admit of  removal by his usual remedies ?   De-
pend upon it, reader, cases of lead poisoning are constantly occurring in this
city; the Croton pipes have been found by  chemical tests, repeatedly made,
to give  off lead to the  water in quantities sufficient to produce the most dire-
ful evils.  These pipes are  constantly corroding, and bursting in conse-
quence, all over the city.  Lead should never have been used for service
pipe.

   Pure block tin pipe, which it has hitherto been supposed impossible to 
9
make, is now manufactured of the most  admirable  quality, and yet very
nearly as cheap as lead.  We have  examined this pipe, the result of the
indefatigable industry and genius of our countrymen, T. 0. LeRoy & Co.,
of Water street, and believe it to merit a place among the most useful im-
provements of the age.  The firm of LeRoy & Co., are the only manufac-
turers of this article in this country.  They assure us they will submit
their pipe to be tested  by any chemist, in any manner whatever, and  will
confidently rest its character for perfect  purity, and fitness to insure the
absolute safety of all who use the water thus conveyed to their dwellings.
Sections of this pipe may be taken from  any coil on  their premises, and
after being reduced to  powder by the file, its purity throughout its entire
thickness will then be  equally apparent.  Dr. Chilton, the eminent analy-
tical chemist of this city, who proved the poisonous property of the Croton
water after resting for  a few days in lead pipe, has introduced the article of
T.  0. LeRoy & Co. into his chemical works, and pronounces it absolutely
pure.
   As the cupidity of landlords will not of course allow the vast majority
of  our  citizens  to enjoy the blessing, we caution all who wish to avoid
poison,  to  take  measures to  ensure  as much  safety as they can, by
drawing off a full pail  of water every morning, before any is used for culi-
nary purposes.   Coffee particularly, as this is now made nine times out.
of ten with the water that has rested all night in the pipe, is often charged
with a fair trace of lead."
              C0CH1TUATE  WATER AND LEAD.

   Editors of the Evening Traveller:—I noticed in your Saturday
Evening paper, under the caption " The Health of Boston," some remarks
in relation to the  influence of Cochituate water, and among them the fol-
lowing: " The iron and lead that was held in solution in the water, must
have been exceedingly limited, for the most delicate re-agents did not de-
tect them."   It is not my purpose to criticise the remarks, which certainly
excite  surprise,  coming as they do, from so respectable a source as the
Boston Medical and Surgical Journal; but it is my duty, to express the
fact, that the above statement is erroneous.  The iron corroded from the
pipes,  is deposited as an ochre, palpable to the eye, at all times, and has
never  appeared in the water of the service pipes, as a solution.  Not so
the lead;  the testings  have been continued at intervals by experienced
chemists, since the  introduction of the water, and by myself during the
past eighteen months almost weekly, and  in no case  has lead  ceased
to be discovered in the water.   The interior surfaces of the lead pipes,
show the effect of corrosion, which takes place with such water, in accor-
dance  with a natural law, as certain in  its operation, as those _ we recog-
nise in planetary motions.  For years before this water  was introduced,
its corroding power was observed and registered, and the influence on the
water, of the materials used in constructing the larger conduits, has been
the subject  of study since that time.   For more  than eighteen hundred
years,  the belief of the intelligent, that guch water corrodes lead, has been
    2 
10
entertained, and it is a striking confirmation of its accuracy, that no record
or observation of modern times, conflicts with this conclusion.   It is only in
its connection  with  chemical science, that I  make  this correction;  the
Hygienic influence of impregnated water, belongs to another department
of science.       Respectfully,
                       A. A. HAYES, Assayer to the State of Mass.

  No. 1 Pine street, Boston, 9th Dec, 1850.
        REPORT OF MASS. CHARITABLE MECHANIC
                          ASSOCIATION.

  The Committee of the Mass. Charitable Mechanic Association in their
report of September, 1850, says, that " on the introduction of' Cochituate '
into the city, the most agitating and important question was, through what
kind of pipes ought it to be conveyed for domestic use ?   It was  evident
that the material of which they are composed should be strong and dura-
ble, admit of ready repair and replacement, be sufficiently cheap to permit
of general use, and above all, should impart no deleterious property to the
water. Lead possessed all these requisites but the last, and on this account
many of our citizens, apprehensive of the consequences, have introduced
the water into their premises through pipes made of block tin, iron, tinned
lead, glass, and gutta-percha.  Of all  these Block  Tin was preferable
from  its purity, strength, durability and other essential  properties, with
the single drawback that it was too expensive.  It  is with no  ordinary
pleasure, therefore, that we find that Messrs. LeRoy & Co. have completely
obviated this difficulty.   The specimens of  Block Tin Pipe on exhibition,
was of various sizes, from J to l£ inches in diameter, and different thick-
nesses or strength; all having a surface like a mirror on the inside ; and
which can be sold  by their  agents at the same price per running foot, as
that of lead pipe of the same strength.  From the great advantages which
we believe the public will derive, both  in health  and economy from this
enterprise of the manufacturers, and as our appreciation of its value to the
community, we would award to them a SILVER MEDAL."
  The Mechanics' Association of Lowell, in their  report for September,
1851, says of
  " Four Coils Pure Block Tin Pipe.—The Committee have exami-
ned the above specimens with great interest and care, and have been highly
gratified  in finding that the manufacture of an article hitherto deemed so
difficult and expensive, has been brought at once to a very high state of
perfection in this country ; and that the community  can now be furnished,
at reasonable expense, with that great desideratum—a  safe, convenient
and durable medium for the conveyance of water." 
11
                    LONDON  ART  JOURNAL.

   T. O. LeRoy & Co. of  New-York, exhibit pipes of pure  Block Tin,
made in continuous lengths  by hydraulic pressure, being the fir3t success-
ful attempt to produce this article by that method.  The advantages of
tin pipes over lead are many and  decided ;  they are stronger,  lighter, less
likely to get bruised or injured, will bend and work better, and are safe,
sweet and incorruptible conduits for water or other liquors.   Messrs. LeR.
& Co. manufacture them at a cost nearly as low as that of lead pipes, thus
obviating the chief objection to their employment.
   The pipes made by Messrs.  LeR. & Co. are from one-eighth of an inch
to five inches in diameter, of uniform thickness, and free  from all flaws,
scales or splits.   When we consider that lead pipes impart  to the water
which they transmit, a cumulative poison, ruinous  to  human health, we
must regard  the cheap production of pipes from pure tin as an important
discovery.



   The  only objections to this  new article of Tin Pipe arises from the pre-
judice,  ignorance, or self-interest of parties who imagine that their pock-
ets will be effected by  the superiority of this new article.   Some Plumbers
object to it because but few of the trade are  competent to make what is
called a " wiped joint" upon tin pipe, though all know  that the "socket,"
or " cup joint," made with a copper bit, is the  least  expensive and  the
strongest joint made.  It is only necessary in  working Tin Pipes  to  use
fine solder, and exercise  ordinary care.  The most beautiful  Plumbing
work that  can be shown in this whole city are those in which  Tin Pipes
were used, and the whole work looks as lustrous and perfect as burnished
silver.
** 
 
PURE BLOCK  TIN  PIPES
         MANUFACTURED BY
   T. O. LE  ROY &  CO.
  Nos. 261 and 263 Water - Street,
           NEW-YORK.
ALSO SOLD, AT MANUFACTURERS' PRICES, BY

       DALTON & 1NGERS0LL,

 No. 4 Union-Street, Boston, Massachusetts. 
..'   &