It’s the coffee!
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Burke
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2018 3:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Prop 65 and RoHS compliance
I believe the Romans used lead vessels for preparing must during wine making giving a high lead, they drank a lot, forgot what the global conquest masterplan was, drank some more - the rest is history
In De Agri Cultura, the earliest example of Latin prose (c.160 BC), Cato gives directions for reducing must in "a copper or lead vessel" over a slow fire, "stirring constantly to prevent scorching; continue the boiling, until you have boiled off a half" (CVII). Writing in the first century AD, Columella elaborates on the process.
"Some people put the must in leaden vessels and by boiling reduce it by a quarter, others by a third. There is no doubt that anyone who boiled it down to one-half would be likely to make a better thick form of must and therefore more profitable for use....But, before the must is poured into the boiling-vessels, it will be well that those which are made of lead should be coated inside with good oil and be well-rubbed, and that then the must should be put in....The vessels themselves in which the thickened and boiled-down must is boiled should be of lead rather than of brass; for, in the boiling, brazen vessels throw off copper rust, and spoil the flavour of the preservative" (XII.19.1, 19.6, 20.1).
Pliny, too, recommends that the must be prepared in lead vessels.
"Also boiled-down must and must of new wine should be boiled when there is no moon, which means at the conjunction of that planet, and not on any other day; and moreover leaden and not copper jars should be used, and some walnuts should be thrown into the liquor, for those are said to absorb the smoke" (XIV.136).
Sent from my iPad Pro
On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 12:27 PM -0700, "Bob Landman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hi Denny!
My personal experience is that lead plumbing is harmless. My home is an 1878 Victorian farm house in New Hampshire. The original plumbing from a shallow well was lead. I dug it up when working in the yard. I salvaged a piece of it and when I give lectures on the harmless nature of lead, I show and lick the pipe. To misquote John Wayne, I'll quit using lead solder (when I want to make a joint that really lasts) when they pry the last roll of it from my cold dead hands!
Picture is at link http://www.hlinstruments.com/Lead/ Note the discoloration inside the pipe. An insoluble layer coats the lead and from then on, unless the water is acidic and can dissolve the coating and the lead, the water remains lead-free.
We met several family members who were born and lived in the home when we purchased it in 1994. They were still alive (and quite old). I'm told all the family (back to 1927 when they bought the home) had lived very long lives. New Englanders are tough.
Perhaps lead the Romans ingested was due to the acidity of the wine leaching the lead from the pottery clay?
Lead plumbing as a source of their decline has apparently been debunked:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/08/plumbing-discovery-reveals-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire/
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet On Behalf Of Dennis Fritz
Sent: Thursday, September 27, 2018 2:30 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Prop 65 and RoHS compliance
Yes, Romans had bad lead poisoning, but not very much from the pipes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/02/17/lead-poisoning-and-the-fall-of-rome/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.a87236da1099
On 9/27/18, Nigel Burtt wrote:
> Kurt Vonnegut - "Timequake" (1997)
>
> "You think the ancient Romans were smart? Look at how dumb their
> numbers were. One theory of why they declined and fell is that their
> plumbing was lead. The root of our word plumbing is plumbum, the Latin word for lead.
> Lead poisoning makes people stupid and lazy.
>
> What's your excuse?"
>
--
Denny Fritz
Consultant
812 584 2687
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