CORROSION OF METAL PIPES.
THE Gesundheits-Ingenieur, in a recent issue, discusses the action of water upon metal pipes and the injurious effect of lead pipes upon water. It points out that widely different opinions have been published on these subjects by experts, and that even the official regulations with reference to the employment of various kinds of water-pipes are greatly at variance. Thus, in Germany, Switzerland and other places, galvanized iron pipe is used without hesitation, while by government decree, the use of pipes of this kind is forbidden in Austria.
It refers to some recent investigations of Mr. Lory of Grenoble, which have shown that water containing organic matter in solution attacks iron pipes very speedily; and after many analyses of water conveyed to Grenoble from different sources in iron pipes, and also of water known to have attacked pipes and led to the formation of scabs or carbuncles of oxide of iron in other places, Mr. Lory had invariably found that the scabs, consisting mainly of hydrated oxide of iron, contained from five to ten per cent of organic matter. Mr. Lory had been led, therefore, to conclude that the destructive action upon such pipes is due in the first instance to substances of organic origin. This, The Gesundheits-Ingenieur thinks, may explain the reason why in some places cast-iron pipes remain quite free from corrosion, whereas, in other cases, even after six months, as happened at Grenoble, they become covered with rust and carbuncles.
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