A House for Erasmus

Devonshire colic in England (which was caused by apple cider made with lead apple presses) and the dry-bellyache of the West Indies (which was traced back to lead-contaminated spirits). Third, Fenner presented case-studies of colic-stricken individuals who improved once they stopped drinking city water or lead-contaminated soda water. One particularly unfortunate incident involved a large family on Magazine Street. First reported by another physician in New Orleans, four children in the home died from convulsions, and a fifth developed convulsions and paralysis of the leg. This family used a lead cistern to collect rainwater and a large amovmt of lead was fovmd in the water from the cistern.  

For Fenner s critics, the most troubling aspect of his research was his chemical analysis of New Orleans water, and his related claim that the water was lead solvent. As stated previously, Fenner was unable to derive a precise quantitative estimate of the amount of lead contained in 

The foregoing discussion suggests that Fenner s colleagues did not reject his arguments because they were corrupt or because they had some bizarre devotion to lead, as will be observed in historical episodes presented later in the book. On the contrary, the available evidence su ests that Fenner s critics rejected his arguments because he could not adequately address their evidentiary concerns. The question at hand is why Dr. Fenner could not address these concerns. Was it just a shortage of evidence and statistics, or was there a more fundamental problem  

10-19 gg Pb/dl Developmental delays Vitamin D metabolism EP Hypertension EP (women) 

40-49 gg Pb/dl Hemoglobin synthesis Peripheral neuropathies infertility (men) nephropathy  

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In Birmingham and its environs Hutton met other members of the Lunar Society, including Matthew Boulton and Erasmus Darwin. On a visit to the latter in Lichfield, Hutton used Darwin s house as a base for expeditions into Derbyshire and also participated in an experiment with an airgun and thermometer to demonstrate how the expansion of air cools it.31 Darwin was later to make use of this fact in explaining processes of devaporation in clouds and in steam engines, as we will see in a moment. 

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