Devonshire Colic

Devonshire Colic, 1700s, Devonshire, England High incidence of lead colic among those who drank contaminated cider. The apple press was constructed partly of lead. Discovered and described in the 1760s by Dr George Baker. Ramazzini, 1700 documented the possible preventive measures to control industrial hazards among workers. 

In England, Devonshire colic was described by John Huxham (1739), but its true cause was not ascertained. This was left to Sir George Baker (1767) who demonstrated that the cider of Devon contained lead, while that of other areas did not. This was due to the common practice of lining cider presses with lead which subsequently dissolved into the mixture. He was responsible for the abandonment of this practice, and thus for the disappearance of the colic. In France, Tronchin (1757) also discovered many wines were able to dissolve the glaze of storage jars, which were compounded with litharge. He demonstrated that a type of colic known as bellon , which was associated with such wines, was caused by lead. 

Huxham, J. De morbo colico Damnoniensi. London S. Austen (1739). Also Observations on the Air and Epidemic Diseases with a Short Dissertation on the Devonshire Colic. London Henton (1759). See Major, R. H. (1965)... 

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. ... 

Outbreaks of lead poisoning reaching epidemic proportions have been described occurring in medieval times. One such outbreak in seventeenth-century France became known as the Poitiers colic. In England the Devonshire colic was attributed by Sir George Baker in 1767 to contamination through the use of lead presses to crush cider apples. Baker was able to confirm the presence of lead in cider, but was roundly condemned by Devonshire folk for bringing their much-prized local product into disrepute. 

Baker, G. (1767). An Essay Concerning the Cause of the Endemical Colic of Devonshire, (London Hughs) Reprinted by the Delta Omega Society, London (1958)... 

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