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Death By Cider How the Devonshire Colic shaped the future of Lead Poisoning

Rick Elliott, HONR 204

Cider’s Place in the History of Devonshire’

The Epidemic

Baker’s Experiment: “Devastating Simplicity”

Opposition to Baker’s Theory

Historical Significance

References

OPTIONALLOGO HERE

George Baker and the Lead Hypothesis A New Theory Emerges: James Hardy

Glazed Earthenware and Lead

Devon County, a mostly rural area in Southwest England, served as home to one of the most intriguing public health cases in history. The area, unofficially referred to as Devonshire, at one point was very involved in the production of cider. Known as Devon’s traditional drink, the making of cider was well documented in Devon’s history dating back to the 13th century. According to one account, dated 1285 A.D., the region produced so much cider, it served as a regular source of revenue for the county. As England came out of the Middle Ages, orchards expanded and apple production increased, resulting in even greater cider production. Used commonly on naval expeditions, Devon’s cider was extremely

Perhaps the best description of the colic epidemic in Devon comes from John Huxham, a Fellow of the Royal Society, who wrote his tract on the disease, “Opusculum de morbo colico Damnoniorum,” in 1738. Huxham’s tract on the disease focused on its outbreak in 1724, which was especially widespread and deadly. The primary symptom was terrible stomach pain, the trademark symptom of colic. This, along with a weak pulse and cold sweats, was the first symptom often experienced. Next, the tongue would be covered with a thick layer of mucus and the diseased person would begin extended, violent vomiting. The vomit was heavily laden with phlegm and mucus. It’s consistency was thick and acidic, and sometimes even bloody, as a result of the esophagus and throat being damaged by the terrible vomiting. The disease culminated with severe muscular aches and bone pains. In some cases, paralysis set in, and in even rarer cases, death.

Luckily for doctors and scientists of the time, the Devonshire Colic showed certain discernible patterns. For example, it seemed to strike every autumn. Also, it seemed to affect certain families more than others. While these two qualities could provide insight into cause and communicability of the disease, one mysterious facet of the Devonshire Colic was that it seemed to affect the lower class more than the rich. Intrigued by these things, many doctors sought out to determine the cause of this epidemic.

Being a native of Devonshire, George Baker had obvious reasons to investigate this terrible influx of Colic that struck Devon each year. Born in 1722, Baker was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge, receiving his M.D. in 1756. A Fellow of the Royal Society, one of England’s most prestigious honors for a man of science, Baker was also elected a Fellow of the College of Physicians. In 1761, he moved to London to become physician to the Queen’s household. He first presented his paper on the Devonshire Colic to the College of Physicians in 1767. Baker claimed that the Devonshire Colic was

not in fact some disease caused by the intake of highly acidic fruits, but was actually caused by lead poisoning. He noted that the worst outbreaks of colic were located in close proximity to Devon County’s centers of cider production. He disproved Huxham’s theory, since there was no possible way the acidity of fruit could be linked to lead. He argued “does the experience of jockeys, whoin order to reduce themselves to a certain standard of weight by sweating, are said to drink largely of vinegar, strengthen such an observation? Do we find it true that children and valetudinary people, and particularly chlorotic girls, whose primae viae abound with acid, are on that account subject to this colic?”² Since he believed the colic was caused by lead, but there was no way the cider, itself, actually contained lead, the next question Baker had to answer was how is the cider contaminated? He began to consider the cider-making process in Devon. Through his research, he discovered something described by Caspar Newman in his 1749 work, The Chemical Works. “The large circular trough, in which the apples are ground, is generally composed of several pieces of moor-stones, cramped together with iron, some melted lead being poured into the interstices.” Equipped with this information on the cider-making process, Baker sought out to test his new hypothesis.

effective at fighting scurvy, one of the most daunting diseases facing sailors embarking on a long naval voyage. More easily made than beer and cheaper to produce than wine, cider was even believed to help improve overall health in the county of Devon. All former ideas concerning Devon’s cider, however, were drastically changed when the drink was linked to a colic epidemic, which broke out in the county in the early 18th century. The events that followed resulted in one of the earliest and most severe backlashes against lead and its poisonous grip on mankind.

John Huxham and the Cider HypothesisThe first correlation between the Devonshire Colic and cider drinking was made by the English doctor, William Musgrave, who in 1707 wrote that the colic "only infests those that make use of that liquor, and in the same proportion as they make use of it; so that in those times when cider abounds it increases and becomes very common on the other hand when Pomona withholds her bounty it is observed more rarely.”¹ John Huxham expanded upon this original argument in his tract on the Devonshire Colic in 1738. In 1724, when the epidemic was especially widespread across the county, Huxham noted that Devon’s apple production had far exceeded any prior year’s crop. This year, Devonians, he claimed, consumed more apples and cider than in years past, and the increased acidity intake caused such a bad outbreak of colic. He related the epidemic to the colic of Poitou, which was virtually the same disease and had broken out in the early 1600’s. A heavy wine producing and drinking area, Huxham claimed Poitou’s epidemic was likewise a result of the high acidity in grapes and their juices. Supported by Musgrave and Huxham, two very well-respected physicians, this theory would stand until George Baker’s work on the Devonshire Colic was published in 1767.

In order to prove his hypothesis, Baker procured a sample of cider made by using a lead-lined press. He needed to prove that the use of lead in the cider-making process actually resulted in the cider containing a dangerous level of lead.

Baker soaked several sheets of clean paper with his sample of cider from a lead-lined press. He soaked other sheets with various other liquids, including juice made not from a lead-lined press and wine. Next, Baker exposed these sheets, each soaked with a different liquid, to the fumes of a volatile tincture of sulphur. Knowing that a substantial amount of lead coming into contact with these fumes would result in the sheet turning a very dark color, when this actually happened in his experiment, he knew his hypothesis had been proven and that the Devonshire Colic was actually caused by lead poisoning.

George Baker’s experiments were met with criticism from many different areas. The same year Baker delivered his Devonshire Colic paper to the College of Physicians, a pamphlet was anonymously written and published claiming that only one cider pound in Devon actually contained lead, far less than Baker had claimed. Another argument against Baker’s work was made by fellow English physician, Francis Geach, whose pamphlet, Some observations on Dr. Baker’s essay on the endemial colic of Devonshire, supported John Huxham’s previous claim that the colic was a result of highly acidic fruits.

Baker’s experiments proved that if the cider were exposed to lead, it could become contaminated enough to cause the colic epidemic. However in light of the opposition, one question remained: where did the lead come from?

When James Hardy wrote on the Devonshire Colic in 1778, he was in support of George Baker’s original claim that the epidemic was caused by lead poisoning. His goal, however, was to prove that the lead came not from lead-lined presses used in cider-making, but lead glazed earthenware jugs and pitchers, used to store the drink. Experiments made by Thomas Percival, another English scientist,

The fact that glazed earthenware products were commonly used by residents of Devonshire, only helps prove Hardy’s theory more. It also helps solve some of the more unique aspects of the epidemic. Why were the rich less affected than the poor? Because they stored their cider in glass and stone vessels instead of earthenware. Why were only some families

inclined Hardy to believe that there was in fact lead used in the glazes of English earthenware. In order to test this new hypothesis, Hardy conducted experiments of his own. He filled 25 glazed earthenware vessels with cider and various other liquids. Some he boiled in the earthenware, and other he let stand for a duration of time. To test each individual liquid’s uptake of lead, Hardy used a test solution of orpiment and quick-lime in water. If lead were present in the liquid when the test solution was added, the lead would precipitate out of the solution in the form of lead sulphide. Sure enough, these tests concluded that Devon’s cider did become heavily contaminated with lead when stored in glazed earthenware containers.

Because their particular earthenware jugs may have been made using more lead than their neighbors’. Further tests concluded that as much as 1 oz. of lead ore was used in each quart of glaze. Waves of potters and glazemakers from continental Europe began moving to England from 1650-1689. The influx of German and Dutch glaze technology advanced further in England, resulting in the very popular style of glazed earthenware called “Queensware.” By bringing glaze technologies into England, however, these artisans also brought lead, as seen tragically with the epidemic of the Devonshire Colic.

The Devonshire Colic epidemic has great significance for many reasons. On a scientific level, it spurred its time period’s greatest minds to search for a cure. The work of men like John Huxham, George Baker, and James Hardy is significant because it represents one of the first times in epidemiology when the scientific method and an organized set of experiments were used to solve a case. Purely on a public health level, their work helped identify a major threat to humanity, lead’s presence in glazed earthenware, and then extinguish it. Lead use has continued for decades past the Devonshire Colic, however this singular event still represents one of the many important steps taken against lead and the dangers it presents to mankind.

¹ http://www.devon.gov.uk/localstudies/100676/1.html² McConaghey, R.M.S., Sir George Baker and the Devonshire Colic Medical History, 1967 OctoberMcConaghey, R.M.S., Epidemiology in Devon British Medical Journal, 1957 November 30Meiklejohn, Andrew, The Mill Reek and the Devonshire Colic British Journal of Industrial Medicine, 1954 JanuaryRosen, George, The Endemial Colic of Devonshire: An Essay Concerning its Cause American Journal of Public Health, 1959 JanuaryWaldron, H.A., James Hardy and the Devonshire Colic Medical History, 1969 January