XVI. On the Action of Water upon Lead

Abstract

In an experimental inquiry into the action of water on lead, published by me in 1829, in continuation of some previous researches by Guyton-Morveau, it was stated as the general result, that all very pure waters, such as distilled water, rain, and melted snow, act upon lead,—dissolving a trace of it, and causing the formation of an insoluble carbonate of lead in large quantity. It was like-wise shewn, that this action is prevented by the existence of neutral salts in solution; so that most terrestrial waters, as they contain saline matter, act feebly and only in circumstances favourable in other respects. Farther, it appeared to flow from comparative experiments, that this preventive power depends upon the acids of the salts, and not upon their bases;—and that their energy as preventives, that is, the minuteness of the proportion required to annihilate the action, is in the ratio of the insolubility of the compounds which the acids of the salts are capable of forming with oxide of lead.