On Fri, 20 Oct 2006 01:08:32 GMT, "Arfa Daily"
wrote:


aspasia wrote in message
m...
On Thu, 19 Oct 2006 13:47:46 GMT, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:

aspasia wrote:

Tell that to the Romans, whose much-lauded plumbing systems-- a marvel
of the ancient world -- were made with lead pipes, which many
historians have indicted as one of the reasons for the Decline and
Fall (crazy emperors, etc.)

Aspasia


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_acetate

Thanks also for this link.

That's a fine story, but it refers to a lead compound, deliberately
introduced to a foodstuff that the Romans were consuming, not to lead pipes
dissolving as a result of drinking water passing through them ...

Arfa

Got to wondering whether -- with all this encyclopediac (pun intended)
talk about whether the pipes were earthen or lead -- hasn't there been
any serious archeology, digging up said pipes for analysis?