IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I *' illM 150 ■^ |40 US loe M 1.8 1.25 1.4 1.6 M 6" - ► V] «^ /i ^l 'a. >^ 'W Photographic Scieices Corporation 23 WEST MAirt STiiciT WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques ^^'' f- ^^' Tim nn J ^ 4 ^^j\ih^ Ml ^^ I ) PREFACE. 'U. ■^3 r iV f The want of a manual in wliich travellers for curiosity and pleasure, and invalids in quest of liearii, might learn where to go, how to go, and what to find, in relation to the IV^'neral and Thermal Springs of our country, has been generally felt. Physicians, too, have wished for a work to which they could refer for information respecting the physical and chemical properties and medicinal vir- tues of the several springs. There are, in- deed, some published accounts of particular springs, and even groups of springs, as, for example, of those of New York and of Vir- ginia, of which free use has been made in the following pages. But, with the exception of a work by the author, issued twenty-five years ago, no attempt has hitherto been made to i] -_ 3^:" ^1 'J I ^^ PREFACE. collect and arrange methodically tlie nume- rous separate and scattered histories and de- scriptions of the different mineral and thermal springs of the United States, as has been done for those of Great Britain and Ireland of France, of Germany, and, in a more restricted manner, of Italy. i j,.. j f„_ Duly elaborated and refined, and Stoed ior immediate use by an all-wise and beneficent Creator, these waters constitute a large and important addition to our Materia Medica. They come to us with the recommendation not only of their known curative powers, but also, of their supply being perennial and m- exhaustible, and exempt alike from change and adulteration. They are offered, more- over with the associated advantages of pure air new and often romantic scenery, and en- livening company ; for it is now understood that Pleasure and the Graces are also visitors to the fountains of Hygeia. Thus are the best means combined together for the reno- vation of the wasted and sickly frame, and for an infusion of hope and cheerfulness mto the mind ill at ease, if not weighed down witli care. 1 PREFACE. Vll :4 m Like every other gift, this one may be, and, unfortunately, often is greatly abused, owing to ignorance and false theory, and an impa- tience to obtain decided results within a period far short of that which Nature requires to ac- complish the intended purpose. Measuring efficacy by quantity, invalids often commit excesses which aggravate, instead of soothing and ameliorating their complaints. So, also, a want of adaptation, in the time of drink- ing the mineral water and of using the bath, to their actual condition, is productive of injury ; and bad effects are attributed to the remedy itself, which are owing to the indiscretion of those who made improper use of it. The au- thor, in the following pages, has endeavored to guard visitors to watering places against repetitions of these and other mistakes. With this view he offers suggestions and advice susceptible of general use and application; leaving to the regular medical adviser the exercise of his privilege in giving those mi- nute directions which may be required by the constitutional peculiarities of the invalid, and the stage and other circumstances of the dis- ease under which he labors, and for the cure 11 II iM« 1 w-if ^^^^^B ^^^fe 1 PREFACE. VlU of which he g-es to the Spring selected for the purrtose. r>- • ^ An invahd, once arrived at tHe Spring, although he may have been influenced in his Section by what he may have read in these pag s" not to suppose that the information thus acquired can enable him to dispense with suitable medical advice, if it can be procured on the spot. It would be a wise economy in all who propose to drink the water, to indicate to the resident physician their intentions, and to obtain from him an outline of the precau- tions to be taken and the course to be pursued during the period of his stay. ■ The strictly medical portion of the present volume is intended for the perusal of the pro- fessional reader. The general one, whether traveller or invalid, will, it is believed, find in other parts of it matter for instruction and interest, without his engaging in the recon- dite questions of pathology and therapeutics. Apart from its hygienic features, there are others relating to the natural history of mme- ral and thermal springs, well adapted to ex- cite, and, to a certain extent, gratify the curi- osity of an inquiring mind. A description ot PREFACE. IX I curi- tlie temperature, composition, modes of issue of these waters, and the nature o.' heir depo- sits, and the geological appearaiices around, can scarcely fail to awaken an interest in the most indifferent. It is barely necessary, in il« lustration of this point, to refer to the Geysers and the Stokkr, the Spouting Springs of Ice- land ; or to the alabaster deposits at the Baths of San Filippo, in Tuscany, furnishing mate- rials for medal and bust ; or to the wavy ter- races formed by the springs of Heliopolis, in Asia Minor^ and the miniature temples, as if for a dwelling of the Naiads, deep in their wa- ters. In the Boiling or Carbonated Springs of Kansas, the Beer Springs and the Steamboat Spring in Oregon, the Hot Springs of Pyra- mid Lake in Utah, and the Volcanic Springs of California, we have equally rare and striking pictures of nature under new and varied as- pects. At some of these spots, the people of the Atlantic and Pacific States will, ere long, meet in convention to adjust questions of State politics and Church discipline; or, on pleasure bent, will here keep high holi.^ay. The author has arranged the materials gathered from a variety of sources, in such a ^ PBEFACE. manner as to show the distances and bearings of the different springs of the great West from each other, and from some stnkmg ob- ject in natnre-a river, a lake, or a mountam range, so as to enable the reader to find them with comparative ease on a common map. It may be well to say, in explanation ot the moderate size and scope of the present volume, that, although entire in itself, the subjects of which it treats were intended to be included in a larger work on mineral and thermal springs in all parts of the wor d. That which is now introduced to pub lo notice with a hope that it will promote the public good, must, therefore, be regarded as an earnest of the intentions of the author, and an instalment of his accumulated stores The larger work will embrace the natural history of springs, common as well as mine- ral and thermal, and a description of the successive steps of mineralization, begun in the atmosphere, and continued in the suc- cessive stages of the percolation of atmo- spheric or meteoric water, in the form of ram melted snow, and precipitated vapors, through various and successive strata of earths and I PREFACE. XI rings West .gob- mtain them ap. on of resent If, the ded to •al and world, publio Dte the rded as author, L stores, natural IS mine- of the fegun in the suc- ►f atmo- L of rain, through rths and rocks, where it is impregnated with differ- ent saline and mineral substances, and then emerges from its subterranean channels as a fountain or spring, with all its newly ac- quired, but, at the same time, permanent characters. Next come up for consideration thermalism, and the connection between ther- mal springs, and volcanoes and subterranean and central heat. Artesian wells, the waters of which have so close a relation to those of common springs, by community of origin ; of mineral ones by their frequent mineral im- pregnation ; and of thermal by an increase of their temperature with that of their depth — have received a full share of attention. The author, in his investigation of these subjects, has followed the voyagers of circumnaviga- tion and discovery, and other travellers and zealous missionaries in their wanderings and adventures. He has put under contribution journals of science, and the transactions of learned societies, and, in this way, he has collected accounts of mineral and thermal springs in greater number, and over a wider range, than has yet appeared in any single work. In thus leaving the beaten track and seek- • .'J i u U m 11 1 1' i, f ' r 1 I ^[{ PilEFACE. in.^ out sources of information in quarters hitherto overlooked, the author has written a kind of Itinerary, in which he has not con- fined himself to a mere enumeration of the various springs, and their geographical situ- ation in general. He has introduced, in ad- dition, topographical sketches, descriptive of localities and scenery; and he has made .re- quent references to historical events and great names associated with different springs--as of Leonidas and his three hundred performing their last ablutions at the Hot Springs of Thermopyte; Aristotle revisiting those ot his own Lesbos ; Hannibal at the Warm Baths of Brusa, and Cicero and his "Academy and a long list of other illustrious Komans, ■ in connection with those of Baiae; Pliny the Elder, at Stabiie, taking his last look at the, to him, fatal eruption of Vesuvius; and Char- lemagne holding court in the great bath at Aix-Fa-Chapelle, &c. &c. Not only will the springs of Europe wiih their physical and chemical characters and medicinal effects be described, but groups in all other parts of the world will obtain adequate notice. Already he has passed m PREFACE. Xlll quarters written lot con- 1 of the 3al situ- l, in ad- iptive of lade fre- ,nd great ings — as rforming jrings of those of ,rm Baths Lcademy" Koinans, Pliny the ok at the, and Char- It bath at rope with acters and ut groups nil obtain passed in review, and made due record of the mineral and thermal springs of Asia Minor, of Cir- cassia and the Caucasus, of Hindostan and Thi- bet, on each side of the great Himalaya range, of Central and Northern Asia to Kamtschatka, and of North and South Africa. The islands from Iceland to New Zealand, and thence to those of Japan and the Aleutian group have been similarly visited, and their hydrography and thermography described. The line of the Andes, followed from the Straits of Magellan to the Isthmus of Pana- ma, and Mexico J with her mountains, exa- mined, the author will then have collected his materials, and be ready to impart all that he has gleaned with so much labor and time, to the reading public. Eeverting to the volume now comple- ted, it will be found to contain notices, more or less full, of one hundred and thirty springs and groups of si rings belong- ing to the United States. If account were taken of each separate spring of the seve- ral groups, which is marked by distinctive properties, the number would exceed two i! ^iy PEEFACE. hundred. Of those described, there arc as will be seen in the tabular view presented in the Appendix, about thirty of the ther- mal elass, a great majority of >vlnch must be quite new to most readers. . ill r m ire, as seated tlier- ust be CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. Chemical division of mineral waters — Tlieir efficacy as remedial agents inquired into— Hygienic precautions for visUcrs to mineral springs — Clothing, diet, sleep, amusements, exercise 13 CHAPTEE 11. Rules for drinking mineral waters — Time of the day — Best in the morning early — Repetition — Same rule for bathing — Quantity drank — Different temperatures of the water drank — Cold — Tepid — Hot — Condition of the invalid modifies the effects of the waters — Bathing while drinking mineral waters, and rules for the use of the bath at different temperatures — Division of baths 31 CHAPTEE III. First effects of drinking mineral waters — Secondary and remote effects — Diseases in which they are employed — Five classeti mentioned by a committee of the French Academy on the subject — Comparative results in dif- XVI CONTENTS. fercnt diseases— Two great classes of invalids— The plethoric in the first— Suiferers from fever, disorders of the digestive apparatus, direct and secondaiy, bron- chial disorders, rheumatism, nervous and skin and uterine diseases in the second class ... 32 ■ CHAPTEK lY. Mineral springs of New York— Their geological relations — Acidulo-saline waters— Those of Saratoga and Ball- ston — Their situation and extensive range — Chief springs at Saratoga— Physical properties and analyses of the waters . . • • ... 60 CHAPTEE Y. Medicinal employment of the Saratoga waters— In conges- tive states of the digestive system, and plethora— Sym- pathetic disturbances— Quantity of the water drank— Time of drinking it— First or purgative operation- Second or alterative '° CHAPTEE YI. Sulphureous Springs of New York— Are numerous— Sharon— Avon— Their medicinal effects— Various dis- eases in -which useful— Quantity to be drunk . 93 CHAPTEE YII. other Sulphur Springs of New York— Clifton— Chitte- nango— Manlius Springs and Lake— Messina— Auburn — Rochester — Verona — Saquoit — Newburgh — Al bany, &c. &c. 120 ■m it! r ■ 'I- 1 CONTENTS. xvii iids— The disorders wy, bron- skin and . 32 1 relations and Bail- ee — Chief d analyses . 60 -In conges- ora — Sym- er drank — iperation — . 78 mmerous — Various dis- k . 93 on — Chitte- la — Auburn 3urgh — Al- . 120 CHAPTEE YIII. Acid Springs, called also Alum Springs — Byron Acid or Sour Springs — Oak Orchard Acid Springs — Their com- position — Diseases in which used — Acid Springs in South America — Nitrogen and Thermal Spring of Lebanon — Brines, or Salt Springs — Gas Springs 131 CHAPTER IX. Springs of Maine: Saline ones of Lubec— Chalybeate ones of Dexter. Springs of Vermont: Highgate — Newburg — Alburgh — Bennington — Clarendon. — Springs of Massachusetts: Berkshire — Hopkinton. — Springs of New Jersey: Schooley's Mountain — Its situation — Composition and virtues of the waters 1 42 CHAPTER X. Pennsylvania Springs : Bedford— its situation— The use of the waters in disease— Origin of their reputation — Contraindications to their use— Anderson's Spring — Analysis— Medicinal effects of the water— Fletcher's Spring— Limestone Spring— Sulphur Spring — Sweet Spring — Chalybeate Spring — Baths — Walks and scenery — Manner of using the water — Recent analysis— Chalybeate Spring near Pittsburg— Frank- fort Mineral Springs — Springs of York — Perry County— Carlisle— Doubling Gap— Fayette— Blosburg — Bath— Petty's Island^— The Yellow, Ephraoa, and See II. in the Appendix. ;x.viii CONTENTS. Caledonia Springs-Caledonia con^pared to Malvern Springs-Brandywine Springs in Delaware . 18- CHAPTEE XI. Virdnia-Tts numerous mineral and thermal springs- Lh (Berkley County )-Jordan's White Sulphur-Ca- pon-Fauquier or Warrenton-" Virgmia Springs - The Bath Alum-Bockbridge Alum-Volcanism and Th. malism-The Warm Springs-The Hot Spnngs-- Group of Sulphur Springs-The White Sulphur 183 CHAPTER XII. Ked Sulphur-Salt Sulphar-Sweet Sulphur-Blue Sul- phur-Sweet Springs-Bed Sweet Springs-Healing -^ Spring. - Dibrell's - Bawley's - Holstein - Church- Hill Alum— Huguenot ...•• — « CHAPTER XIII. Kentucky Springs : Harrodsburg-Rochester-Olympian -Blue Lick -Lower Blue Lick -Ohio Springs: Yellow Spring-Westport-Hlinois Springs-Tennes- see Springs: White Creek — llobertson's -Lee's — Nashville— Winchester— :Montvale . 241 CHAPTER XIY. Springs of North Carolina: The Warm and Hot Sprin.-s of Buncombe County-Springs of South Carolina: Glenn's, West's, Click's, Cowpen's-Springs of Geor- gia: The Indian— Warm, of Meriwether County- Madison-How reached— Rowland's, Gordon's 282 m •^ CONTENTS. XIX D INIalvern . 182 springs — phur— Ca- Spnngs"— anism and . Springs — )hur 183 —Blue Sai- ls— Healing . — Church- . 224 — Olympian Springs : rrs — Tennes- 3 — Lee's — . 241 Hot Springs ih Carolina; gs of Geor- r County — ion's . 282 CHAPTEK XV. Springs of Alabama: Blidon— Bailey's— Mineral Arte- sian Wells— Springs of :Mississippi— Cooper's (Arte- sian) Well— Ocean Springs— Their situation— Springs of Arkansas : Hot of Ouachita or Washitaiv — Their situation— Between the Hot and Cold Mountains — Vapor bath— Cold affusion — Warm bath — Com- position of the water — Its resemblance to chicken broth — Diseases cured by the water — Chalybeate and Acidu- lous Springs— Number of the Hot Springs— Their geological relations — AVarm bath in the creek — Tem- perature of the Springs — Adaptation of the water to certain domestic purposes — These Hot Springs resem- ble those of Baden, Wisbadcn, Teplitz, and Carlsbad- Applicable to the same diseases — Cause of the animal fla- vor — Vapor bathing — Its effects and utility — Springs of Florida : Numerous but not described — Subterranean rivers — Sulphur Spring near Tampa, Magnolia, &c. 291 CHAPTER XYL Mineral and Thermal Springs between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean — Thermal Spring of Fort Laramie — Situation of the fort — Soda or Sal ^ratus Ponds — Beer Springs on Bear River — Their situation and tem- perature — Analysis — Hillocks formed by the waters — Steamboat Spring — Why so called — Properties of its water — Other similar springs adjoining — Extinct volcano near the Beer Springs — Boiling (Acidulous) Springs of Pike's Peak — Analysis of Saline accumulations at this spot — Temperature of the water . . . 320 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XYII. Springs in Utah and around the Great Salt Lake : Sul- phur Springs of Bitter Creek— City of the Great Salt Lake— Its situation— Copious supply of water— City Warm Sulphur Spring— Hot Spring— Warm Fountains —Hot Chalybeate Red Springs— Analysis of their depo- sit-Bear River Hot Spring— Salt and Sulphur Springs —Thermal and Saline Springs— Spring Valley and Thermal Saline Springs— Warm Springs of Lake Utah — Water of the Great Salt Lake . . • 334 CHAPTER XYIII. Fort Hall— American Falls of Snake River- Fishing Falls Hot Springs — Malheur River Hot Springs — Soda and Salt Plain— Hot and Warm Springs of Fall River— Hot Springs of Pyramid Lake— Springs of California : Hot Spring of Shasty Peak— Acidulo-Chalybeate Spring of Shasty Peak— Volcanic Springs— Earthquake-Spouting Springs — Hot Sulphur Springs— Springs of New Mexi- co : Ojo Caliente 344 CHAPTER XIX. Mineral Springs of Canada— Tuscarora Acid Spring — Charlotteville Sulphur Spring — Ancaster Spring- Caledonia Springs — Their varieties — Gas, Saline, Sul- phur, and Intermitting: Springs — Mineral Artesian Well, St. Catharine's — Varennes, &c. &c. . . 369 Eike : Sul- jrreat Salt iter— City Fountains heir depo- ir Springs alley and jake Utah . 334 ihing Falls -Soda and iver — Hot rnia : Hot Spring of j-Spouting New Mexi- . 344 Spring — Spring- aline, Sul- 1 Artesian . 369 MliXERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. CHAPTER I. Chemical division of mineral waters— Their efficacy as remedial agents inquired into— Hygienic precautions for visitors to mineral springs— Clothing, diet, sleep, amusements, exercise. Mineral Springs will be spoken of in these pages under the heads of— 1. Acidu- lous or Carbonated. 2. Saline. 8. Sulphu- reous. 4. Chahjheate. To these some add two other classes, the loduretted and Bromuret- ted, and the Acid. The name of the first of thpse two designates their predominant traits. The second or acid includes those waters, comparatively few in number, in which there is an excess of sulphuric acid, usually with alumina and iron, as sulphates. In Virginia, they are called Alum Springs. 1. Acidulous waters are sometimes called gaseous, on account of their containino* 2 » « '4> i IK 1*1 s 1 14 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. and evolving gas-wliicli is cliicfly carbonic acid. Owing to this ingredient tlicy are sparkling, stimulant, and agreeably pungent to the taste. They hold in solution various saline Substances, in which, for the most part the carbonates, first and mainly of lime, and then of magnesia and soda, predominate, with the addition often of the carbonate of iron and chloride of sodium, or common salt. These waters are occasionally spoken of as alkaline. 2 Saline waters, as their name implies, abound in salts, of which the sulphate of magnesia or Epsom salts, and the sulphate of sodi or Glauber';^ salts are, medicinally, the most active, whUe clikride of .odium, a com- mon constituent, adds to their virtues in this respect. Sulphate of lime, which is of little therapeutical value, is quite common in this, and still more in the acidulous and sulphu- reous classes. Carbonic acid abounds in some of the saline waters, entitling them to be called aciduh-saline, A remarkable example of this union is met with in the Saratoga springs. 3. SuIj)hureous waters are characterized by -M m GS. carl30nic tlicy are pungent 1 various aost part, lime, and lominate, bonate of imon salt, xcn of as i implies, ilpliate of ulpliate of inally, tlie .m, a com- iies in this is of little on in this, id sulpliu- ids in some lem to be Le example e Saratoga iterized by CHEMICAL DIVISION. 15 their odor, which is due to the escape of sul- phuretted hydrogen gas (hydrosulphi.ric or sulphohydric acid) or to the presence of a^i alkaline sulphuret. They strike a black color on the addition of acetate of lead, and impart a dark hue to silver and other white ^^etals. They have been divided into 1st. Ilydrosulphureous waters, which contain free sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 2d. Sulphuretted or hydrosulphuretted waters, in which tlie sulphur is combined with metals, most gene- rally with sodium, in the state of a sulphu- ret. 3. Acidulo-sulphureous, which hold, carbonic acid in addition to the gas just named. 4. Sulphuretted acidulous waters, which contain at the same time a sulphuret, carbonic acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 6. Chalybeate sulj^hureous, which hold iron in solution. 4th. Chalyheate or Ferruginous waters are readily recognizable by their taste, compared usually to that Oi mk, which, as most readers know, depends on the iron which enters into its composition in union with a vegetable astringent. Chalybeate waters are discolored by tincture of galls, and eventually give, by ■f^.tv^f^ r-'*^"' . j! 1 ^ j? i ^ 1 ^':-^ •:f 16 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. tills addition, a black precipitate; witli ferro- cyanate of potassa the precipitate is blue. By contact with the air, they deposit gradu- ally reddish flocculi of the oxide of iron. Most of them are cold, and the iron is in the state of a carbonate of protoxide dissolved in carbonic acid. This salt is precipitated to n certain extent by exposure of the chaly- beate water to the air, and still more readily when it is subjected to heat. In a few in- stances the iron is combined in the form of a sulphate, and in others, as Berzelius has shown, it imites with organic acid, in the state of a crenate or a procrenate. Another division of mineral springs is into cold and thermal, one which is apphca- ble to all of the four great classes, for we have cold and thermal acidulous, cold and thermal saline, &c. In imitation of Bischof, I shall use, in these pages, the term thermaJ, to designate any spring, the temperature of which through- out the year is steadily above that of the common springs, or above the mean tempe- rature of the soil, of the district in which it is found. ..1 N^GS. OPINIONS RESPECTING THE;m:. 17 nth ferro- 3 is blue, sit gradii- e of iron. 1 is in the dissolved ipitated to tlie clialy- )re readily a few in- ; form of a zelius has iid, in the springs is is applica- ses, for we ;, cold and ill iTbv:), in ) designate shihrougli- that of the ean tempe- in which it lie who desires to speak of Mineral AVatcrs as remedial agents, in an impartial manner, finds himself somewhat embarrassed between two extremes of opinion; one of which inclines to a belief in their surprisino- and almost miraculously healing powers* the other, bordering on skepticism, can see nothing in even the admitted beneficial re- sults of visits to watering places but the working of imagination, and the changes brought about by travelling, new and plea- sant scenes, regular hours, and relaxation from the toils of labor, and the cares of busi- ness. The first extreme can only be treated as a modified empiricism, which would con- vert good remedies, under properly defined circumstances, "nto panaceas of universal ap- plication, and never failing efiicacy. The skeptics, on the other hand, require to be reasoned with, although, in truth, their argu- ments are hardly more logical than those of the empirics. The question, after all, is one to bo deter- mined by observation and experience. Now it is an undoubted fact that many mineral waters hold in solution ingredients similar to 2* I ■i If! '1*^1 r ksli' 18 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. those of admitted activity/which we find in the apothecary's shop, and which are com- pounded and directed according to formulas, laid down in the pharmacopoeia and the dis- pensatory. And again, it is equally certain that these ingredients are often in such quan- tities, in the waters, as to produce marked sensible effects, as purgatives, diiiretics, dia- phoretics, and antacids; means universally admitted by observing physicians, in all ages, to be those by which a large circle of diseases is combated and overcome. But mineral waters, when drank in certain pre- scribed quantities, and when, under defined circumstances, used as a bath, not only pro- duce the therapeutical effects of medicines obtained from the shops, but they do it with more ease, and with less perturbation, and even in a painless manner. Shall we then deny to these natural compounds, with the admitted adjuvants of better air, exercise, new scenes, and pleasant company, a power and efficacy which is so readily conceded to them in a sick chamber at home, with its too often unavoidably depressing influences and associations? GS. e find in are corn- formulas, 1 the clis- y certain Lcli quan- marked etics, dia- liversally s, in all •jre circle lie. But rtain pre- )v defined only pro- medicines io it with ition, and 1 we then , with the , exercise, ^, a power )nceded to ith its too lenccs and THEIR EFFICACY REAL. 19 Nor do we find the cure of many diseases at watering places, by drinking the waters, confined to those who have left the crowded city and its unwholesome air. The inhabi- tants of the country are often equally bene- fitted by the same course of treatment, al- though they cannot be said to enjoy the additional advantages of change of air and of rural scenes obtained by the other class. In regard to the state of the mind, and par- ticularly an active imagination, by its influ- ence on the body, explaining the good efifucts of visits to mineral springs, we do not find, by any means, that the most imaginative arc they who report the most favorably, or who exhibit by cures in their own persons, the sanitary powers of the waters. On the other hand, the dull, unlettered clown, or the ex- acting logician and mathematician will often come away cured of their dyspepsia, torpid liver, rheumatism, or long-endured cutaneous disease, by drinking these waters, without any exercise of the imaginative facultv, either to have relieved or persuaded them that they had found relief; and to whom so- ciety would be more irksome than agreeable. 20 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. I ^^ l) Animals, moreover, such as horses and cattle, and do^s, and even the literal swine have been evidently cured of obstinate maladies by this means, without our being able to di- vide the credit of the cure with country air, change of food, and pleasant company. Wild animals, prompted by conservative instinct, resort in large numbers to salt-sulphur springs or "licks," and take freely the un- palatable sulphureous ingredients for the sake of th saline. In chronic maladies, the physician has re- course, with avowedly good effect, and on what is regarded a philosophic basis, to the administration of medicines in minute, but still appreciable quantities, constituting what is called the alterative practice. In these cases, beneficial results, by the great abate- ment or entire removal of disease, are brought about in a slow and scarcely sensi- ble manner, without ^ urging, increased diu- resis or sweating. So, in like manner, do mineral waters, if their ingredients be few and of no great activity, or, more especially, if small quantities of the stronger ones be efiven, act as alterative medicaments. Time .^^ NGS. and cattle, wine have ) maladies able to di- )untry air, anv. Wild e instinct, ilt-sulphur ly the im- ;s for the ian has re- ct, and on asis, to the linute, but ating what In these 'eat abate- isease, are 'cely sensi- reased diu- aanner, do its be few especially, jr ones be Qts. Time SENSIBLE EFFECTS OF. 21 is an important element for the amelioration or curCj whether the artificial remedies from the shop, or the natural remedies from the great subterranean laboratory be the means employed. Not unfrequently weeks, some- times months will elapse after the invalid has left the spring, before he realizes the salu- tary operation of its waters, in obviously amended health, and greater strength and spirits; and yet these results are often ob- tained, in despite of the counteracting influ- ences of return to the old habits of business, with its cares, confinement once more to the city, and want of exercise in a pure air. The sensible changes produced in the blood and the secreted fluids by the ingestion of certain mineral waters, and even by bathing in them, afford strong evidence of their phy- siological action ; and would, d priori, lead U3 to infer beneficial therapeutical efiects and renovation of the system, which had been suffering from disease, by the use of the same means. A single bath in the hot waters of Yichy, which abound in carbon- ate of soda and carbonic acid, renders the fluids even of gouty persons alkaline, which ?f' ll I 1 f 1 " \ ) t 22 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. had been previously acid. It certainly re- quires very little faitli to make us believe that the regular use of these waters, internal- ly and externally, for a month or two, must powerfully modify the morbid state of the assimilating functions, as in gout and renal diseases ; and if we falter in our anticipations of good in this way, experience comes in to rem.ove all doubts, and establish our favora- ble convictions. Skepticism has made large use of and con- verted into ridicule, the alleged m3dicinal powers, and the cures brought about by means of certain waters, in which chemistry has failed to detect active ingredients, or, if any, these were in such small quantities as to be, it is thought, necessarily without effect. To this it may be replied, that cnemistry is sometimes at fault, for a considerable period ; but, ultimately, with improved science and more delicate processes, therapeutical agents of great energy have been found in waters which previously had been believed to be pure or slightly impregnated with foreign substances. Among these agents may be mentioned iodine and bromine, and, of late !k. ;ngs. MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. 23 irtainly re- us believe 3, internal- two, must tate of the and renal ticipations )mes in to lur favora- )f and con- medicinal about by chemistry lents, or, if itities as to lout effect, aemistry is ble period ; cienee and :ical agents . in waters 3ved to be itli foreign ts may be md, of late years, arsenic. An announcement of the presence of this last in mineral waters, may startle many persons, until they learn that this metal is in such minute, but still appre- ciable proportions, as to place it safely on the prescribing list. Small as are the doses of arsenical preparations, in our existing matena medica^ they are still beyond those in mine- ral waters drank in the ordinary quantity. The reference is made at this time, however, to show that neither the sensible properties of certain waters, as measured by taste and smell, nor their chemical analysis, when furnishing negative results, are proofs of the absence of medicinal properties and curative powers in these waters. Accident at first, sometimes the experience of the aborigines on the spot, suggested by a resort of the wild animals of the forest to the springs ; sometimes the tra- ditional, but abiding reputation of their vir- tues among the country people around, who had used them in certain complaints with ob- vious benefit, preceded the more methodical trials of educated and scientific inquirers, and furnished a large body of experimental proof, which ought to have more weight in I 24 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. guiding US to a riglit decision, than all tlie reasonings and deductions from data of an- other kind. The most practical men, as many of our non-reading, and we fear we must add un- read physicians, love to be called, are in the habit of prescribing preparations of iron as a tonic, which of all the metals, and indeed of all the medicines of this class, is most congenial with the organism, and which exerts in many disorders of the anemic kind such benign and renovating effects. Now many mineral waters hold in solution this tonic, and in the state, too. of a carbonate, which is generally admitted to be its most active form, and one which is not easily retained in our customary m.edicinal preparations. HYGIENIC PRECAUTIONS IN VISITS TO WA- TERING PLACES. These come under the heads of clothing, diet, sleep, and amusements. In our climate, or we may say series of climates, within the limits of our vast confederacy, no person of common prudence ought to leave home, for even twenty-four hours, in the summer 1 NGS. xn fill the ata of an- Qy of our t add iin- are in the f iroa as a ideed of all congenial ;s in many ch benign ly mineral and in the ; generally n, and one customary :S TO AVA- f clothing, ar climate, within the person of 5 home, for 3 summer ATTENTION TO CLOTHING. 25 months, without having at hand a change of warm clothing, includmg inner garments, and those for external use and show. Owinof to the situation of most mineral s^^rings in valleys, or at the foot of a lofty range or mountain, the air of the place is cool and damp at nights, and in the early morn and evening, even although the heat may have been con- siderable during the day. It becomes neces- sary, therefore, for invalids and persons of delicate frames to guard against these changes, which are still more trying during a period of rain with keen easterly winds. No matter what may be the malady or the organ affected, the probability of cure will be lessened by checked perspiration, or interference with the functions of the skin, so that it is chilled or thrown into an atonic state through cold and moisture. If the happv medium of tempe- rature cannot be preserved, it will be safer for the invalid tr keep the skin moderately excited by flannel, merino, or silk worn next to ]t, than to allow it to be, at any time, cold, and wanting in activity of capillary circula- tion. I shall not enlarge on this point here, as in another work (Baths and the Watern 3 ^ 2G MINEKAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Regimen) I have spoken in detail of the sen- sibility of +>i<- skin, and of its sympathies with other organs, and the conditions for preserv- ing its functions, as offered in clothing, exer- cise, and bathing. The exposure encounter- ed by persons of the other sex in putting on light attire, and leaving the arms and, at least, the neck bare, dancing in crowded and hot rooms, with an occasional escape into the piazza and its cold air and drafts, brings with ii new ailments and the aggravation of old ones — a result foretold, in tones of warning and often of earnest entreaty, but which are too often disregarded or laughed at. Laugh and ridicule and disregard the laws of nature as we may, we cannot escape the penalty for their infraction. They are part of the ordi- nances of Nature's God, and can neither be evaded nor abrogated by his creatures. Althoug . it is not often necessary in chronic diseases, as met with in invalids at watering places, to enforce very rigid dietetic rules, it will always be desirable for them to avoid extremes and excesses in the quan- tity and quality of the food, and to take it at hours, as nearly as may be, the same as Hi. ^ NGS. >f tlie sen- ,tliies with >r prcserv- ling, exer- Dncoiinter- putting on id, at least, i and hot ) into the irin2;s with :ion of old )f warning which are it. Laugh s of nature penalty for if the ordi- neither be ures. icessary in invalids at ^id dietetic 3 for them 1 the quan- to take it ae same as PKOPER DRINKS. 27 those to which they had been accustomed at home. The selection of dishes must be made with due regard to their own personal expe- rience, not of what they like as palatable, but of what they know to be easy of diges- tion. As a general rule, the drink at meals and in the intervals between them ought to be water of such a temperature as best agrees with the stomach. They who wish to give mineral waters a fair trial, and to derive the fullest effects from their excursion to the Spas, will abstain from alcoholic drinks of all kinds, not excepting the sparkling c^im- pagne with its bubbling imposition and huse- hoods, persuading the credulous drinker that it came from the vine-clad hills of France, when, in fact, the greater part of it first sn,\v light in some obscure manufactory of focti- tious liquors at home. The ladies, on their part, will have to practise abstinence from anotlicr beverage, the decoction of the Ara- bian berry, as it is phrased by poets and fine writers, and, in the vernacular, coffee. In in- flammatory and irritable liabits, and in those who suffer from abdominal congestions and irregular action of the heart in either sex, t Mit iil 28 :\[INERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. cofTeo is very injurious. The nervous and hysterical, they who cannot sleep, and who are on springs, jerky and fidgety, now in the seventh heaven of sublimated sentiment, and again in the depths of despondency, com- plaining, and begging for sympathy, without offering any in return, will have to abandon the use of tea. Tf either it or coffee 1 De taken at all, they ought to receive so large an addition of good milk or cream as just to allow of their flavor being retained. In this way the drinker may escape the disturbing effects of these beverages on the nervous and digestive systems. Sleep, like other true friends, is most wel- come when it comes uninyited, without coax^ in or wooing, as it generally does in the evening, after due exercise and rational amusements during the preceding day. But sleep can hardly be expected to approach those who have shut it out at the customary hour of its visit, and who only seek it after midnight, with their hearts beating wild yet weaklv, their temples tlirobbing, their whole system^ heated, excited, and jaded by the close air of a crowded room, and pe haps the 3. IS and d who in the Qt, and , com- ithout ►andon SLEEP — EXERCISE. 29 ee large just to [n this irbing IS and t Avel- COaX" n the tional But roach )mary after d yet kvhole Y the )s the rapid whirl of the waltz and the, at least, not graceful movements of the exotic polka, which, we must hope, will soon die for want of cultivation by those who make any pre- tensions to refined taste. They who would visit, as they ought to do, the mineral spring before breakfast, must rise early, which implies that they have gone to bed in proper time, so as to allow themselves eight hours' sleep. Some will be content with six hours. This will be the minimum, as the first mentioned period will be the max- imum, compatible with health and Jue due exercise of both body and mind. Exercise, both as regards kind and amount, will be regulated by the constitution and practice of individuals themselves, provided they had been in the habit of taking daily exercise at home. After every allowance made for individual peculiarities and parti- cular infirmities, it may be laid down, as a general rule, that all the visitors at the springs ought to take daily exercise on foot or on horseback; the time and distance be- mg such as to prevent a feeling of much fatigue, or exhaustion. In fact, exercise and 3^ ! r m mf BQ MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. recreation ought to be combined ; and amuse- ments, to a certain extent, should come under the same head. Could the dance be enjoyed at proper hours, adequate space and ventila- tion being obtained at the same time, and the dancers attired in a suitable, easy-fitting dress, it might come under both the heads just designated. Various gymnastic exercises for the men, and calisthenic for the other sex, so arranged that they could be taken in the same enclosure, would increase the beneficial action of the waters, an- . contribute not a little, in many instances, to the restoration of invalids to health. No active exercise should be taken for, at least, an hour after the chief meal, nor should a bath of any description be taken until a much longer period has elapsed after eating heartily. The better time for both is in the early part of the day. GS. d amuse- ne under enjoyed [ ventila- ime, and 3y-fitting le Jieads exercises tlier sex, 3n in the )enciicial te not a sioration m for, at >r should until a )r eating is iu the DRINKING THE WATERS. 31 CHAPTEE II. Rules for drinking mineral -waters — Time of the day — Best in the morning early — Repetition — Same rule for bathing— Quantity drank— Different temperatures of the water drank— Cold— Tepid— Hot— Condition of the invalid modifies the effects of the waters— Bathing while drinking mineral waters, and rules for the use of the bath at different temperatures— Division of baths. RULES FOR DRINKING MINERAL WATERS. As travelling is always productive of more or less febrile excitement and fatigue, the visitor at the springs ought to rest a day or two after his arrival, before he begins to drink the water. A warm or tepid bath may be taken in the meanwhile. The proper time for drinking a mineral water is early in the morning, an hour at least before breakfast, when the stomach is empty, most impressible, and most readily transmits the effects which it experiences to the other organs. The water ought not to be drunk when the stomach is eno^aired in the i - Si Sir il !i ! !1 MINEEAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. i||i process of digestion, and, of course, not for several hours after a meal, especiallj dinner. A neglect of this precaution in drinking mineralized water, not only prevents its salu- tary operation, but disturbs digestion, and in- terferes wi^h those changes which the food ought to undergo in the stomach to prepare it for being assimilated to the fluids of the body, and especially to chyle, or first blood. If the water is to be taken a second lime in the day, this should be two hours be- fore dinner; and if its use be admissible at all in the evening, it can only be on condi- tion that the dinner had been eaten at an early hour, we will suppose one o'clock, and that no repast had been subsequently taken, except perhaps a sandwich or a biice or two of bread and butter. As remarked in my first work on the subject,* " An invalid may drink a moderate quantity of the water be- fore breakfast with comfort and advantage, but not be able to do the same before dinner with equally good effects. Ho may be able ^;0 take the water both before breakfast and before dinner, and yet if he drink in the ^ On Baths and Mineral Water 100-I -j,uol. day. 5. Qot for dinner, 'inking ts salu- and in- be food )repare of the blood, id lime irs be- ible at condi- at an ^k, and taken, )r two in my d may ;er be- mtage, dinner e able jakfast ink in THE PKOPER HOURS. 83 the evening he will, perhaps, have a restless night, and be worse next morning than he had been twenty-four hours before." If modifications of the rule now laid down be admissible, it will be in the case of the milder mineral waters, such as the acidulous, in which carbonic acid often abounds, and which also hold in solution common salt. But the strongly saline, the sulphureous, and the chalybeate cannot be drunk with impu- nity, either on a full stomach, or during the time of stomachic digestion, and before the food has been converted into the somewhat homogeneous mass of chyme, and has, in great part, passed out of the stomach. The same rule, precisely, will govern in the use of the bath, except in the case of a cold one, which should not be taken at all in the evenmg. Imperfect sleep on the preceding night, or fatigue and languor from late sitting up and dancing, will impede not a little the'expected effect of the morning draughts of mineral water, and if it be of the purgative class, ought to prevent its use altogether for that day. ; 3 nfk 34 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRING h'. The quantity of water drunk at one time must depend on various circumstances — its natuT-e, strength of mineral impregnation, condition of the patient, and the immediately sensible effects expected. When taken with a view to its purgative operation, the quantity will be much more tlian when an alterative or even a diuretic, or diaphoretic effect is de- sired — supposing always that the same water is used lo meet these different indications. But where others of less activity can be drunk in quantity without oppressing the stomach, they will be more likely to act on the kidneys and skin, and promote free secretions from these organs. Modifications of effect may be expected from the different temperatures at which min- eral waters are used. Common water, when cold, is rapidly absorbed, saline or mine- ral but slowly, and if the dose be consider- able, both are elimmatcd through the kidneys. If the temperature be somewhat raised, so as to approach the degrees of tepidity, the sto- mach no longer receives either common or mineral water with the same complacency; and if they do not cause nausea, they excite mg. IH. nc time ces — its lunation, 3diately en with uantitj terative it is de- le water cations, can be ing the ) act on to free 5:pected ch min- r, when ' mine- )nsider- idneys. J, so as he sto- non or icency; ' excite EFFECTS VAEY WITn TEMPERATURE. 35 this organ to expel them, and acting in the same way on the intestinal tube, they give rise to a purgative operation. At a more decidedly elevated temperature, or that which brings simple water to the standard of hot, it is again better borne by the stomach, is absorbed freely, and excites both pulmo- nary transpiration, and copious sweating. When the water is saline or mineral and at a high temperature, it also will act in the same vray on these organs— lungs and skin- provided the impregnation be not yery strong. The temperate decree, approach- ing the tepid, is the most favorable condi- tion for mineral water, particularly of the sahne class, producing a purgative effect, as it is also that for creating nausea and vomit- ing. In both instances, it stimulates the muciparous glands to increased secretion. Certain modifications in the therapeutical action of mineral waters, and of other medi- cinal substances, will depend on the condi- tion of the invalid at the time, so that their powers shall be exerted on one organ in pre- ference to another. Thus certain saline and vegetable substances will either cause vomit= 36 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ing or sweating, will act as diuretics, diapho- retics, or expectorants, according to the state of the skin, its feverish heat, or its coldness, its warmth by clothing, or its exposure, at the time, to dampness and cold. If the water be too cold for the stomach, it may be kept in corked or otherwise well- closed vessels, in the room of the invalid, until it acquires the temperature of the air, or, if need be, immersed in warm water, so as to render it slightly tepid. BATHING IN CONNECTION WITH THE DRINK- . ING OF MINERAL WATERS. I alluded, in a preceding page, to the prominent part which bathing was made to perform in the medical treatment of in- valids at the watering places of France, and still more of Germany. In similar places in the United States, the bath is either entirely neglected or is regarded as a thing of second- ary or small moment; and hence the defective arrangements in this particular, at most of our mineral springs. The bath houses, when constructed, are too often small, damp, and gloomy, and placed out of the way, instead ^i BULES FOR BATHING. 87 of being near to, if not directly connected with the springs, or the main building in wliich the visitors take up their ab^'ode. There is seldom adequate provision made for that most important variety of the batli, the douche, which, at different temperatures, cold, warm, or hot, is so powerful an agent in the cure of many diseases. The temperature and duration of the bath will, of course, vary with the degree of vas- cular excitement and heat of the skin of the invalid, as well as with the indications which are proposed to be fulfilled by drinking the waters. When the saline aperient waters are employed with a view to diminish plethora and the remains of febrile excitement, the temperate or even the tepid bath will be found the best adjuvant; the stay in it short. So, also, when acidulous waters are criyen with reference to an alterative action, and especially where it is intended to promote the secretion from the kidneys, baths of this kind will be found serviceable. The action both of purgatives and diuretics is favored by cool skm, so, on tlie other hand, their operation would bo retarded and rendered iJttgJH 38 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Ui incomplete, by stimulating this organ, as in the case where baths of a high temperature are had recourse to. AVhcn it is desired to keep up a full capil- lary circulation in the skin, and to favor insen- sible perspiration, so as to allay irritation and prevent any vascular strain on internal tis- sues and organs, the warm bath will be found the most appropriate means for the purpose. It will be used auxiliary to alterative doses of sulphureous w^aters, and to the tonic treat- ment by chalybeates, in those cases in which the latter are used for the relief of languor, debility, a pale and dry skin, and a soft and rather feeble pulse. In other cases of feeble- ness of function, with a hot skin and febri- cula, the cool or temperate bath does good service. When, again, we wish to excite the skin to free secretion, by converting sensible into in- sensible perspiration, and to stimulate, also, a languid circulation and organism generally, as in chronic rheumatism and atonic gout, anemia and chloiosis, not complicated with inflammation of an organ, scaly diseases of the 'skin, of long standing, atonic dropsy. DIVISION OF BATHS. 89 simple paralysis without evident cerebral lesion, and indolent glandular and other swel- ^.ings, the hot bath, from 100° to 120° F.,and the hot douche will be found to aid power- fully the stimulating and alterative effects of sulphureous waters. ^ Differences in the temperature and dura- tion of the bath will grow out of the proper- ties of the mineral waters employed for the purpose. Sulphureous waters, for instance, excite the skin and system generally more than others. Division of Baths.— As there is still a too general ignorance of the actual temperatures of the received divisions of baths— cold, warm and hot, in which not a few medical men par- ticipate, it cannot be deemed amiss to intro- duce here the table which will be found, also, in my work already referred to.^^ 1. The cold bath 2. The cool bath 3. The temperate bath 4. The tepid bath 5. The warm bath 6. The hot bath from 33° to 60° F. 60° to 70° 75° to 85° 85° to 92° 92° to 98° 98° to 112° * Baths and the Watery Regimen. it I ■l}l ii 40 FUNERAL AXD TIIEKMAL SPKINGS. Tlio only upwiircl limit of the hot bath, is tliat of tolerance by the living body im- mersed in it. As regards the eflects, in a general way, of these several kinds of baths, we may speak of them under two divisions, tlierapeutically considered. In the first, from warm down to cold, we shall find a calming and soothing operation continued, witli the reduced temperature of the water, to the most depressing sedative — in fact a reduc- ing power; and in the second from the upper degree of warmth, a stimulating and strongly exciting operation. What a mis- chievous error, therefore, is the too common one of confounding a warm with a hot bath, and directing the one for the other, as if they were convertible terms expressing the same thing, instead of being in direct contrast with each other. It may serve to indicate the striking difference between the warm bath and the hot batli, when I say that the first is a grateful hygienic agent which al- most every body can make use of with bene- fit, in addition to its employment as a thera- peutical one in the treatment of disease; whereas the hot bath is, or ought to bo, a II 3 f ADDITIONAL SUBJECT. 41 remedial agent to be used solely in disease, and even then with considcraLle caution and discernment. I shall have something farther to say on this subject when speaking of the thermal springs of Yirginia.-' * There is yet one point connected with sanitary ar- rangements and the accommodutions of Tisitors which requires reform, viz : that rchiting to water-closets and anakigous cabinets, which are placed so often at most in- convenient distances from the main house, and which arc very defective on the score of ventilation and cleanliness. A hint might be taken from the arrangements in these matters at the celebrated Baden-Baden Springs. 4* 42 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. CHAPTER HI. First effects of drinking mineral waters— Secondary and remote effects— Diseases in which they are employeu— Five classes mentioned by a committee of the French Academy on the subject- Comparative results in dif- ferent diseases— Two great classes of invalids— The plethoric in the first— Sufferers from fever, disorders of the digestive apparatus, direct and secondary, bron- chial disorders, rheumatism, nervous and skin and uterine diseases in the second class. FIRST EFFECTS OF DRINKING MINERAL TVA- TERS. It is not at all uncommon for persons, after drinking a mineral water or using a warm, and still more, a hot bath for a few days, to complain of fulness of the head, or headache, lassitude, disordered digestion, with white tongue and some degree of fever, accom- panied by eruptions on the skin. This is a state which the German writers call " Bath Storm," or "Crisis," and others "Satura- tion." It will generally disappear by in- creased discharges from the bowels, or by a i4 FIRST EFFECTS OF THE WATERS. 43 copious sweat, sometimes by diuresis : it is regarded by these writers as salutary, and by not a few as aD .-evidence of the curative powers exerted by the mineral or balneatory medication. Looking at mineral waters as, with few exceptions, exciting in their first effects, we must be prepared for some disturb- ance of the kind just described, and either suspend for a wnile the use of the water, or greatly diminish its quantity, or even dilute it by the addition of common water; or, as is done in some parts of the continent of Europe, add to it v;hey or simple mucilaginous drinks. Precautions of this nature are most necessary in the case of sulphureous and chalybeate waters. The simpler plan will be, to abstain for two or three days from the use of the water, and not to be too eager to remove the arti- ficial, feverish, or other disturbance by very active or decidedly reducing treatment; but rather minister to these cases as we would to one which might occur at the conclusion of an ordinary fever. Eeauced diet, diluent and demulcent drinks, and a moderately warm bath of 92° F. will commonly suffice. In reference to the secondary and remote. u :mixeral and thermal springs. and avowedly salutary effects of mineral waters, wlien we reflect on the large mucous surface of the entire digestive canal, to every portion of which they are applied and by which they are freely absorbed, thus reach- ing all the tissues of the animal frame ; and bearing in mind, also, the number and variety, and often potency of the ingredients which enter into their composition, we are prepared to echo the language of a French writer^' on the subject, w' en he says : " In general, mine- ral waters revive the languishing circulation, give a new direction to the vital energies, re- establish the perspiratory action of the skin, bring back to their physiological type the vitiated or suppressed secretions, provoke salutary evacuations, either by urine or stool, or by transpiration: they bring about an in- timate transmutation, a profound change in the organism ; they saturate the sick body, to make use of the energetic expression of a modern author. How many persons, aban- doned by their physicians, have found health at mineral springs ! How many individuals, exhausted by violent diseases, have recover- •^ Pateissier, Sur Ics Eaux Mincra'es. DISEASES IX WHICH USED. 45 ed, by a journej^ to mineral springs, their tone, ready movements and energy, to restore wliich, attempts in other ways might have been made with less certainty of success !" DISEASES IX WHICH EECOUESE IS HAD TO MINERAL WATERS. These are almost as numerous as the entire nosological series of the chronic kind ; but the number for which reasonable hopes of cure can be entertained, is comparatively limited, or rather the classes of diseases are not many. They consist of those of tlie di- gestive system, in themselves, however, a host; of the cutaneous and fibrous systems ; and of the glands, secretory and lymphatic ' and finally of the nervous system. Under the first head comes dyspepsia, with its multifari- ous features and sympathies, including alfec- tions of the throat, and gastric, duodenal and colonic dyspepsia, then entcralgia and chro- nic diarrhoea and dysentery, constipation, and hemorrhoids. Under the second liead we meet with a great variety of chronic erup- tions, some of them associated with and repre- sentiug antecedent diseases, such as syphilis, 46 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. scrofula, scurvy, kc. The fibrous system ex- hibits riieumatism and gout, as their iirmedi- ate seat ; but its lesions are intimately associ- ated, in these diseases, with derangements and often violent disturbances of the digestive system, heart, and brain. The great glands auxiliary to digestion, the liver and pancreas, and that physiological puzzle, the spleen, particularly the first and third mentioned organs, are often the seats of congestion and inflammation, which, when they have run into a chronic form, are much benefited by certain mineral waters. Another great gland as it is sometimes viewed, the uterus, which makes the chief sexual distinction, is often disturbed and chronically diseased, and re- quires for its relief the combined operation of bathing and the drinking of mineral waters. The diseases of the lymphatic glands, so prominent in scrofula, are rather effects of a pre-existhig condition of other parts, as those of the mesentery arc of en- teric disease, than primary maladies. They belong, also, to the morbid development of the scrofulous diathesis. Diseases of the nervous system occupy a prominent place in .« m ANEMIA AXD CHLOROSIS. 47 ^y nosology, in which they are placed more with reference to certain symptoms, effects merely, than to their organic seat, or the or- ganic lesions which give rise to them. The two opposite conditions of morbid sensibility and mobility, with irregular spasmodic and convulsive movements, and of anaesthesia and paralysis, are both of them deemed fit- ting subjects for the use of mineral waters, and of bathing; for, to insure success on such occasions, both of these therapeutical agen- cies ought to be enlisted, but, of course, with differences in the composition of the waters and the temperature of the bath. In what is rather vaguely termed anemir^ or anemic condition of the system, depend- ing, as is believed, on a deficiency of red globules of the blood, although it may be preceded by local inflammation, and be asso- ciated with plethora, mineral waters particu^ larly of the chalybeate class, have acquired great reputation. The same may be said of chlorosis, which is characterized by similar derangements of function, in addition to the one which makes it more peculiarly a disease of women. "if m 48 MINERAL AXD TIIERIMAL SPEINGS. I fi In a report on the subject, made by a com- mittee of the French Academy, for the years 1833, 1834, and 1835, we are told that the diseases, for the benefit of which invalids re- sort to mineral springs in France, are few in number. They are, first, rheumatism in all its forms, the subjects of which make up nearly a third of the entire number of inva- lid visitors. At some springs they are in the proportion of half, in others two-thirds of this class. The next arc the nervous or nervous derangements, augmented sensibility, with, often, spasm of the digestive and other systems. On the third line are chronic inflammations of the mucous and serous sys- tems, a large class, comprehending those of the digestive and respiratory apparatus, and of the uterine and urinar3'- organs, and neu- ralgias. At some springs, paralyses and dis- eases of the skin, constituting, as it were, a specialty, present themselves; after which come old wonnds, false anchyloses, and lym- phatic engorgements. Beyond these live classes we only meet, the committee allecres, with a few other cases of disease at mineral springs. THE DISEASES CURfeD. 49 The "^ata on which these divisions and pro* portions are made are furnished by the an- nual returns of the medical inspectors— resi- dent physicians — at a great number of water- ing places in France. From the same quarters we learn the relative efficacy of the waters in tlie different diseases of those who made use of them. They are represented to be quite cer- tain in rheumatism, tolemlly sure for neural- gias and neuroses, nearhj null for parah sis, and not iinfrequenthj useful for affections of the skin and joints. But there must be some fallacy in this show of calculation, for we can- not suppose chronic rheumatism to be cured with the frequency that is alleged by some physicians at the springs ; and our doubts are strengthened by the fac. of the repeated visits, annually, of the same persons to the same springs with their old disease. In appealing to the experience of conti- nental Europe for the effects of mineral waters, we must, however, bear constantly in mind the flict, that the treatment at most of the springs consists both in drinking the waters and in bathing. Often, especially in Germany, the greatest and sometimes sole 5 t-jt^ 50 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. Stress is laid on the latter kind of medica- tion. In the United States, there are few attempts made at any methodical combina- tion of these two means of cure ; the bath being used only on occasions, irregularly, and most of the time according to the caprices of the patient. It is very desirable that physicians should take some pains to inform themselves of the value and syste- matic method of using the bath at various temperatures, and not allow the impression to go abroad that the community must look to hydropatiiists and steam doctors for the desired therapeutical aids obtainable from this source. ^ We may, it seems to me, divide into two crreat classes the invalids who resort to mineral springs in the United States for the relief or cure of their diseases. They are, first, those who labor under plethora or preternatural fulness of the bloodvessels, and particularly of the veins, with deter- mination and accumulation of blood in one or more organs, keeping them in a criti- ca'l state of distension, and liability, at any moment, either from the extreme eflects of TF^ DISEASES FROM PLETHOEA. 51 Tm common hygienic causes, or from morbific ones, to run into congestion and inflamma- tion, or rupture of bloodvessels, in the early and more acute stage of disease, and into congestion with effusion of serum, in the subacute and chronic stage. Often, with plethora, is associated activity of the assimi- lating and nutritive functions, and large de- posits of fat in particular regions. But this last is not so much an evidence of health as a means by which the bloodvessels relieve themselves, through the assistance of the se- cretions in the tissues, of superabundant mate- rial, the retention of which would be peril- ous, if not fatal, to the organism. This large deposition of oily matter or adeps is, in fact, a variety of dropsy, a disease of itself, but which serves to ward oif more disastrous re- sults. Apoplexy, some forms of asthma and oppression of breathing, irregular action of the heart, congested liver, and piles, are other more fatal or distressing manifestations of the state of plethora. Eheumatism and gout, in their early stages and more acute forms, are the results of an eilbrt of nature to relieve the excessive fulness and plethora of the in- 05 m 52 MINEEAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ternal, especially tlie digestive and assimi- lating organs, by determination to external parts. Certain inflammatory eruptions on the skin, such as boils and other pustular af- fections, are efforts of a similar kind. No better means of relief can be offered in plethora, with its various manifestations and thr eaten ings, as now sketched, than the employment of mineral waters of the saline aperient class, with the addition of carbonic acid, and a slight chalybeate impregnation, which excite copious secretions from the in- testinal canal, without irritation, and without weakening, while at the same time they dimin- ish the undue amount of blood, and carry off redundant humors. It would be taking quite too limited a view of the operation of these waters to suppose that they merely act as purgatives, by emptying the bowels of accu- mulations in them. They are also depura- tives and deobstruents, and produce critical evacuations from the entire mucous surface, thus relieving congestions of the mucous membrane, and of the liver and other abdo- minal organs, by an augmented activity of physiological action, rather than by irritating IM ttif! ABDOMINAL PLETHORA. m and disturbing, as common drastic purgatives do. The first are retained and absorbed, and increase the appetite and strength ; the second, as foreign and irritating substances, are ex- pelled with pain and effort, as would be deleterious substances. ^ We must suppose, however, that the be- nign operation of the waters is aided by an amended regimen, and a change in the habits of the plethoric and of those predisposed to or suffering from some one or more of the dis- orders above mentioned. These persons are found, in considerable proportion, among the luxurious and over-fed, who have slept^ too much and exercised too little. The most common variety of plethora is the abdomi- nal, on which the German physicians lay so much stress, and to which they refer a long list of derangements of the digestive and uterine systems, and, finally, nervous disor- ders. There may be seen among ourselves counterparts of the "fat abdominous and mid- dle aged Germans, who live sensual, sedentary lives, eating and drinking gluttonouslv, and smoking incessantly," who, like the Latter, must find relief by throwing off, with the aid -*-i 5^ ws h 54 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRIXGS. of mineral waters, -'tlie perilous stuff" wliicli oppresses tbcm. The second and largest class of invalids wbo visit mineral springs and oilier watering places, suffer from tlie remains of fever, dis- eases of the digestive canal and its append- ages, bronchial and laryngeal irritations, and couglis of long duration, rheumatism, irreg- ular gout, and nervous disorders ; sometimes paralysis, and often cutaneous eruptions. In this class are females affected with derange- ments of the uterine system, in addition to their share of the other maladies on the list. Were we to seek for the chief seat and centre of the diseases above mentioned, we should undoubtedly find it in the digestive apparatus, and especially the alimentary ca- nal, which is made to suffer so much and so long by a daily, and often thrice repeated in the day, load of heterogeneous articles of food and drink, and which, in conse- quence, spreads by sympathetic radiation, its uneasiness and disorders to nearly all parts of the living frame. What with much eating and fast eating of gross food, and drinking of spirituous and other liquors, and DISEASED DIGESTIVE ORGANS. 55 smoking and clievvir/r of tobacco, not to speak of drinking coffot in any quantity, the digestive organs of our people are sorely tried in a direct manner, while, indirectly or reilectedly, they are made to suffer by inat- tention to the functions of the skin, which has so close a sympathy with the stomach and bowels, and, most of all, by the continued excitement and strain to which the brain and senses are exposed in the eager, unceasing, and anxious struggle for wealth, and the ambitious longings for political distinction and office. The life of toil, and the feverish, almost insane, thirst for gold at "the dig- gings" and in the mines, meet with their counterparts, under other names and with different manifestations, nearer home. ^Ye cannot wonder, with a knowledge of these causes, in which we must include a most vaxiable climate, or rather contrasted climates in the same region, that congestion and irrita- tion of thedigestive mucous membranes should be so common, and be exhibited under such a variety of symptoms, which are grouped un- der the names of different diseases ; and that inflammation itself, in a chronic form, should o6 MINERAL AND TIIEIUIAL SPRINGS. be far from uncommon. The portal circula- tion is retarded, and secretions from the liver are scanty and imperfect. With imperfect digestion there must be also imperfect san- guification. The complexion is pale or sal- low, or of a brown or an ashy hue ; some- times the skin is suffused with bile. The kidneys perform their functions imperfectly, and according to the predominance of the diathesis, the urine shows either lithic acid, or phosphate of lime and magnesia, deposits. Sometimes constipation, sometimes diarrhoea is present; and gastric or intestinal neural- gia, and colic, with the passage of biliary calculi, torment the invalid. A foul and dry, or a loaded pasty tongue, nausea and vomit- ing even, indicate the disordered state of the stomach, which is oppressed, and often thrown into spasmodic contractions by food, which in a healthy state of the organ would have been easily digested. In females, the uterine functions are deranged ; menstruation is irregular or suspended, and leucorrhooa adds to the feeling of exhaustion, while chlorosis completes the sombre picture of languor, apathy, and discouragement. The cnmplex- •^. IRRITATED BRAIN". 57 i ion in tliis last disease is emblematic of the frame of mind, and the spirits of the invalid herself. The brain, which may at first ha "o sent by its nerve-conductors to the stomach, annoying and disturbing messages of its functional fretting, and cares, and vigils, and wild transports of joy or a iger, receives back, by similar means, with h.rge interest, from the fatigued, and worried, and irritated, and, it may be, inflamed stomach, a crowd of unexpected and abnormal impressions, whi^h become the sources of strange sensations and imaginings, as we see pictured in hypochon- driasis and hysteria, and of strange move- ments, as in chorea, epilepsy, and in other ways ; also in headache, vertigo, ringing in the ears, want of sleep, low spirits, languor, and dis'nclination, and still more, inability to take much exercise. This simplified pathology, which teaches us to regard so many seemingly different dis- eases as radiations from a common centre, allows us to recommend, without incurring the charge of empiricism, a class of reme° dies, such as we find in mineral waters, whose operation, first and m.ainly manifested at the »f.i i'- 58 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. cuntrc or the digestive system, is subsequent- ly diU'uscd tlirougli the entire organism. By causing copious secretions from the extended mucous surftices, they reheve the congestion of the mucous membranes, restore the proper activity of the portal circulation, and amend the biliary secretions ; and while renovating the digestive organs, enable them to form good blood, which gives color and animation to the previously adust complexion, and depressed countenance, and which, when transmitted to the brain, and the muscles, and the uterus, im- parts to these organs new life and activity in the discharge of their several fanctions. The brain, moreover, being no longer teazcd by irritations transmitted from the stomach, al- lows the mind to recover its calm, and even to manifest cheerfulness, if not hilarity, at the consciousness of the removal of a heavy load and of distressing pains. These successive stages of recovered health are not gone tlirougli with the aid of one kind of mineral water alone; for, although the beginning is most satisfactorily made by the saline aperient class of these waters, the continuation is often advantageously carried f SUCCESSIVE USE OF THE WATERS. 59 on by the chalybeate, or the sulphureous, with the judicious interposition, at times, of the acidulous. Thus we are enabled to car- ry out the evacuating, the tonic, the stimu- lating and the alterative parts of the cura- tive . -.urse. The selection and aliernation of waters to be drunk, and the quantity to be used at one time, will necessarily depend on the predominance of disorder in a particular organ, and the nature and extent of the sympathetic disturbance to which it gives rise in the general system, circumstances these which must, in a great degree, be ascer- tained by intelligent physicians "^esident at the place, or whose stay and fre ^uent prior visits have given them the requisite opportu- nities to form correct opinions of the effects of the v'aters. I "!»»•- ■*^g«r ' 'S¥«C»trP^ ,5'« CHAPTER V. Medicinal craploj'mcnt of the Saratoga Avators — In conges- tive states of the digestive system, and plethora — Sym- pathetic disturbances — Quantity of the water drank — Time of drinking it — First or purgative operation — Second or alterative. Medicinal Employment of the Saratoga Waters. — The diseases in which the aperient saline waters of Saratoga are serviceable may be included in the sketch already given of those which proceed from, or are associ- ated with, a congestive state of the digestive system, and with abdominal plethora. The feeling of load and oppression in the abdo- men, sometimes resulting from undue reten- tion of food in the stomach, sometimes from enlarged liver or spleen, sometimes from fecal accumulation in the large intestine, and again from flatus and distension in different parts of the canal, often from sluggish circu- lation of the portal system, all of which de- rangements of function may manifest them- SARATOGA WATERS IN DISEASE. 79 selves at the same time, will be relieved in the same way, viz: by free secretory action of the mucous membranes of the intestinal canal, procured by the purging springs of Saratoga, such as the Congress water. The disorders of the abdominal viscera here no- ticed, pass by the various names of dyspepsia, liver disease, bilious complaints, costiveness, piles, &c. They are associated with, or give rise to, very different degrees of excitement of the heart and circulation generally, and of • disturbance of the nervous system, accordino* to the susceptibility of the individual. Some invalids suffer from febrile excitement, ex- hibited by a frequent pulse, a dry and hot skin, and thirst; others from nervous disor- ders, pain, cramps and spasm; the pulse being little changed, and the skin cool or moist and clammy. The physician will not allow his attention to be diverted by the variety of these secondary or symptomatic disorders from the main, central, and primary one, nor fail to see the necessity of directing his treatment for the removal of the abdo"^ minal congestion. When it is ascertained that there is no ex- M. • »«,-'y,>»^-v ^•?ma 7 #y' C7/^ /^ FhotDgrapiiic Sciences Coiporation 4 '■^^ ^^ less. Dr. Beck thinks that it wo IC. not be at all surprising if carbonated wat-r wore found, by boring, at any spot on tLe rv.g^ from Albany to Saratoga. The temperature of the Albany water is 51° to 52° F. Its specific gravity at the tem- perature of 60° F. is 1.00900. An analy- sis of one pint of the water, made by Dr. Beck, gave the following results:— Chloride of sodium . . . • Carbonate of soda , . . • Carbonate of lime . . . . Carbonate of magnesia Carbonate of iron (with a little silica) Chloride of calcium Grains. 59.00 5.00 4.00 1.50 1.00 0.50 71.00 Gaseous contents, 28.00 cubic inches. Dr. Mead,^ in his analysis, makes the solid contents 75 grains, by his finding 4 grains more of the chloride of sodium, and 0.50 of ! * Am. Journ. of Science, xiii. 145. reed's axd iialleck's springs. 91 '1 I carbonate of magnesia, than Dr. Beck, -wliile Le failed to detect chloride of cal-cium. This water is nearly as rich in saline con- tents as the Congress at Saratoga. BeeiVs Mineral Spring^ in South Argyle, near the Moses Kill, in Washington County, is another acidulous spring, somewhat re- sembling the Saratoga water, but containing less gas. Its taste is distinctly acidulous, but it does not sparkle. Ilallech^s Spring^ near the village of Hamp- ton, in Oneida County, was opened by boring into a solid rock to the depth of a hundred and six feet. One pint, on analysis, by Professor Noyes, formerly of Hamilton College, showed the following constituents: — Grains. Chloride of sodium . . . . .78.00 Chloride of calcium 13.00 Chloride of magnesia ..... 4.00 Sulphate of lime 5.00 100.00 The spring evolves carburetted hydrogen m considerable quantities, together with a minute proportion of carbonic acid. The '''imposition of the water is quite similar to m CO 92 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. that of the weak brine springs, to which it, perhaps, more properly belongs." ^Ye have not heard, for some time past, of the spring in Clifton Street, in the city of New York, the water of which was said, when first procured, to resemble closely that of the Congress Spring. Its composition was found to be more complex than that of any other found in the State, but its solid contents in a pint are only 18.74 grains, and its gaseous proportions, carbonic acid and atmospheric air, 8.14 cubic inches. Chalybeate Springs.— A strong and co- pious chalybeate spring is found about a mile west of the village of Sandlake, in Eensselaer county. It issues from gravel. Near Catskill, in Greene County, there is another strong chalybeate spring. Several of the same kind are found in the counties of Dutchess, Columbia, and Delaware. II SULPHUREOUS SPRINGS OF NEW YOI^K. 98 CHAPTER YI. Sulphureous Springs of New York— Are numerous- Sharon— Avon— Their medicinal effects— Vario s dis- eases in which useful— Quaniity to be drunk. There is scarcely a single county in the State m which springs of this class, impreg- nated with sulphuretted hydrogen, are not found; and in the fourth district, we are told by Mr. Ilall, who made a geological survey of it, that in almost every rock these springs occur. Those which are abundant in water and highly charged with the ^as are, how- ever, few in number. They contain, besides sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid, car- bonate and sulphate of lime, which are depo- sited upon the twigs and stones over which the water flows. Springs of this nature, Mr. Hall remarks, which issue from different rocks, have an aspect and general c^^aracter which indicate their relative geological positions. In the ll^l 1 _^ 1 ■^ .1' H MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. it ffl strata of the Niagara group, the Avatcr b?s usually a dark appearance ia the spring, though lb IS limpid and dill'ers essentially from the waters of the salt group, while in higher rocks :t is not on^y less copious, but it is often marked by a black and red deposit, as well as sometimes a whitish stain upon the rock, or at the bottom of the spring. The flow of water is feebler, and it is less strongly impregnated with gas. A tempera- ture above that of the common springs was noticed in all the sulphureous ones in widely difierent positions, indicating a common cause. With the exception of the Sharon Springs, all the other sulphureous ones in Western New York, in the first district of geological survey, are situated in or near lines of fracture, or of great disturbance in the strata by some subterranean force. Among the sulphureous springs of New York, those of Sharon and of Avon take precedence. !9 ? 4 'i te -f ""' SHARON SPRINGS. T,^ 'hese springs are near the village of Lees- ville, in the town of Sharon, Schoharie - •" •^. SUAROX SPRINGS. 95 County. They rise nt tho junction of the watcr-lim and Onondaga salt, groups, and, as dcscrib.u by Dr. Beck, from the pyritous slates lying under the Ilelderberg limestone series. i'he two chief ones are called tl^e While Suljihur^ and the Magnes: i. The wa- ter of the first, on flowing over vegetable or other substances, leaves a deposit of sulphur on them. So tenacious is it of its distinctive characterc, that it preserves them while flow- ing with common water for a quarter of a mile, after which it falls perpendicularly over a ledge of rocks sixty feet, with a volume sufficient to turn a grist-mill. A large and well kept hotel has be-n erected on the hill above the Springs, from which an extensive and picturesque view of the surrounding country is obtained. Visitors can enjoy themselves, during a portion of every day, in strolling along p!ea sant and shaded walks through extensive woods contiguous to the Springs. Sharon is reached from the north and the east by way of Albany, where travellers take the cars on the Albany and Binghampton v; ^ :. 96 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. '^ 11 ' 'lit Eailroad to Palatine Bridge; and then stages over the mountain to the Springs. Travel- lers from Philadelphia and the South and the West can either go to New York and follow the route just designated, or take another, on the junction railroads from Philadelphia by way of Tamaqua, Danville, Williamsport, Elmira and Binghampton to the Palatine Bridge. The better plan, perhaps, will be to go to Sharon by way of Albany, and return on the junction railroad via Williamsport to Philadelphia, so as, in both going and com- ing, to pass over the mountain by daylight. One pint of the water of the Sulphur Spring, analyzed by Dr. J. E. Chilton, of New York, yielded the following ingredi- ents: — u Sulphate of maguesia Sulphate of lime Ch'DriJe of sodium . Chloride of magnesia Hydrosulphuret of sodium Hydrosulphuret of calcium } Grains. 2.65 6.98 0.1-4 0.15 0.14 10.06 Sulphuretted hydrogen gas, 1 cubic inch. ]\rAGNESIA SPRING. 97 " It is worthy of remark," adds Dr. Beck, "as perhaps throwing some light upon the origin of this water, that sulphate of lime, in small but perfect crystals, is found near the spring, in considerable abundance." The solid contents of a gallon of this water, as determined by the sama chemist, are 160.94: grains, and the amount of sul- phuretted hydrogen gas 16 inches. These re^ 3ults, as reported by Dr. North,-^" are at vari- ance with the preceding table of reduction to a pint, made by Dr. Beck, still from Dr. Chil- ton's analysis. The Magnesia /§:»r% contains, according to Professor Lawrence Eeed, of New York,'the following ingredients, in a gallon of 'the water : — t-^ ^e • on »r oU.O Bicarbonate of magnesia . Sulphate of magnesia Sulphate of lime • . . . irjdrosulp])ates of magnesia and lime Chloride of sodium and magnesium 3( 22.7 7G.0 0.5 3.0 132.7 Sulphuretted hydrogen, 3.3 cubic inches. The medicinal virtues of the Sharon waters * Op. cit. I MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. will be noticed after a description of those which follow. ! ■ If- m ' I 1 f AVON SPRINGS. Dr. S. Salisbury speaks of the town of Avon, near to which are the springs, as one of tlie most beautiful as well as productive in the State of JSTew York. It is on the east- ern branch of the Genesee Eiver, in Livings- ton County, eighteen miles from Eochester, and twenty-four miles from Canandaigua. '' The village of Avon is eligibly situated about one mile from the river, having an elevated position upon the table land, and commanding a prospect of the flats, for an extent of many miles. The mineral springs are between the village and the river, in the valley below."''^ Stages leave Eochester daily for the Springs ; and packet boats, which run on the Genesee Valley Canal, also land passengers within ten miles of the Springs; from which point they are carried in coaches to the desired spot. * A Descriptive, Historical, Chemical, and 'i herapcu- tical Analysis of the Avon Sulphur Springs, Livingston Co., New York. AVOX SPRINGS. 99 ^ These springs were loug known to the In- dians, who resorted to them for the cure of diseases of tlio skin, and even now a few of this unfortunate race are still seen to visit some of their old haunts. In the year 1792, one of the inhabitants of the district used the waters with perfect success in the cure of a disease of the skin, following intermittent fever; and in 1795, a cure of rheumatism of long standing, which had resisted the treat- ment of a number of intelligent physicians, was speedily and entirely cured by their use! The first approach to anything like accom- modations for visitors was in the erection, at the lower spring, of a small building, with a slioicerimj hox as it was then not inappropri- ately called. There are now three hotels in the immediate neighborhood of the springs and two in the village: a connection between them is kept up by omnibuses. ^ Three of the springs of Avon differ but little from each other in their chemical com- position. Until the year 1835 there were but two springs known, and they were distin- guished as the UjyiJer and Lower. In that • • ^' ' 100 MINERAL A:7D THERMAL SPRINGS. year a tliird, called the Neio Bath Spriufj^ was discovered. It is spoken of by Dr. J3eck as the first spring. Its depth is about thirty- six feet, and the formation through which the water rises is the calciferous slate, similar to that found at Kochester. The temperature is about 60° F., and its specific gravity 1.00356. One pint of the water of the Avon New Spring contains Carbonate of lime Sulphate of lime Sulphate of magnesia Sulphate of soda Chloride of sodium Sulphuretted hydrogen^ 3.91 cubic inches. Grains. 3.37 0.44 1.01 4.84 0.71 10.37 The Middle Spring, as the Upper is now called, in reference to the relative situation of the three springs, is situated about thirty rods from the New. Its temperature is 51° F. Its composition, taking a pint as the measure of the quantity of the water, is, ac- cording to Professor Hadley, as follows: — THE LOWER AVON SPRING. ■,'tl irj 101 Grains. Carbonate of lime . 1.00 Sulphate of lime . 10.50 Sulphate of magnesia . . 1.25 Sulphate of soda . 2.00 Chloride of sodium . 2.30 17.05 Cubic Incbo.« Sulphuretted hydrogen . 12.00 Carbonic acid . 5.G0 Gaseous contents 17. GO The Third or Lower Spring^ in its original state, formed, as we learn from Dr. Salisbury, a large pool of perhaps Mtj feet in diameter, in which the earlier inhabitants were in the habit of bathing. It was the one first made use of, and, either from its less disagreeable taste or less nauseating qualities, it has always been more resorted to than the rest, and has been found to be generally more effective as a curative agent. The smaller proportion of hydrosulphuric acid, or sul- phuretted hydrogen gas, contained in this water than in that of the other springs, makes it less liable to produce nausea and vertigo, and some degree of oppression to which they occasionally give rise. 9* lii 102 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPEIXGS. The water issues from a fissure in a rock, thirtv-six fjet below the surface of the ground, about one hundred rods Irom the Genesee Eiver, and about thirty rods from the Conesus Creek. The volume of water discharged from the spring is great, being estimated at fifty -four gallons in a minute; and it is the same at all seasons of the year. The temperature is 45° to 47° F. Specific gravity 1.0018. It is limpid, transparent, and somewhat sparkling. Its taste is de- cidedly sulphureous, and at the same time bitter and saline. An analysis by Dr. J. E. Chilton gave, in a pint — Grains. 3.58 Carbonate of lime Clilovide of calcium Sulphate of lime Sulphate of magnesia Sulphate of soda 1.05 7.17 6.21 1.71 19.72 Cultic Inches. The gaseous contents were, of sulphuretted hydrogen 1.32 Carbonic acid . . 0.50 Nitrogen . . .0.67 And a minute fraction of atmospheric air. The water of the Lower Spring is, it will have been seen, somewhat richer in sab'ne IODINE OR SYLVAN SPRINGS. 103 contents, and has less sulphuretted hydrogen than that of the Middle, formerly the Upper Spring. Iodine or Sylvan S2-)rmgs. —Ahowi two miles south of the Lower Spring, we meet with this group, three in number, of one of which we have an analysis. The three are distin- guishable from the ones already described by their saltish taste, which is owing to the predominance of the chloride of °sodium. One has but a slight sulphureous impregna- tion, and in taste resembles the Saratoga water, after exposure of this latter to the air and the escape of its carbonic acid. The other contains iodide of sodium together with a large proportion of chloride of sodium. An analysis of a gallon of the water gave, ac- cording to Dr. J. E. Chilton— Chloride of magnesium Chloride of sodium Sulphate of lime Sulphate of magnesia Carbonate of lime Carbonate of magnesia Vegetable matter Iodide of sodium Grains. G2.400 97.440 80.426 12.960- 26.800 15.974 .240 296.240 m I lO-i MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. lill m III Sulphuretted hydrogen Carbonic acid Culnc Inches. , 20.C84 . 4.992 25.676 Medicinal Effects of the Sharon and Avon Waters. — Although the Avon is stronger in sulphureous impregnation than the Sharon Springs, we may with propriety look on them both as possessing nearly the same therapeu- tical value, and, in fact, as resembling in this respect other waters of their class, both in New York and in Virginia. "What has been said of the stimulatii g effects of mineral waters in general, is particularly applicable to the sulphureous. These latter excite the gastro-intestinal mucous membrane, and, ac- cording as they are more or less digested, they will produce either increase of appetite or the reverse state; either constipation or diarrhoea. When they do not immediately act as purgatives, they quicken the pulse, give rise to a feeling of internal heat, and to sleeplessness and restlessness, a state of ex- citement compared by Bordeu to that pro- duced by coffee, and which may be carried tc the extent of a slight intoxication. Their -5*1 EFFECTS OF SULPHUR WATERS. 105 operation is terminated by a copious sweat, and sometimes an exanthematons eruption or copious discliarges of u -iue, which serve as crises in most chronic diseases. It is not easy to lay down the period in which these effects of sulphureous waters are fully obtained. The picture just drawn is by a French hand, and in its composition we must make allowance for the circumstance of the writer having in his mind the action 01 thermal sulphureous waters, both taken as a drink and used as a bath. At the same time it must be said, that the same general features are attributed to the operation of the cold sulphureous springs of France, those of Enghien for example ; and we may, in comparing them with observations made at home, admit their general accuracy. Coincident with this view is the opinion, based on large experience, that sulphureous waters exhibit their best curative effects, not only in chronic diseases, to which their use ought always to be restricted, but also in de- pressed and exhausted states of the system, in which it is necessary to rouse and reanimate, as it were, the vital. energies, and to restore 106 :mineeal and thermal spkings. nr active sympathies between organs which had, to a certain extent, been sevcroAl. The per- sons who are most benefited by the use of these waters, are those of a lymphatic or phlegmatic temperament. In the professional as well as in the popu- lar creed, the use of sulphur in its various states — fixed and volatile, is associated with cutaneous affections of a chronic nature, and especially the varieties of psora and herpes. Sulphureous waters have been much lauded in what are vaguely called clironic diseases of the chesty and in which have been included, not only pulmonary catarrh and bronchitis, but also pneumonia, pleurisy, asthma and phthisis itself. We may simplify the sub- ject by fixing our attention on the chief path- ological element in these different diseases, to which our therapeutics, under the cir- cumstances, should be directed. This is the chronic irritation and inflammation of the bronchial mucous membrane, in which, main- ly if not solely, the medication by these waters will be found serviceable in pectoral diseases. By restoring or moderating when excessive, and otherwise modlrying its secre- REVULSIVE OPERATION. 107 tions, we may hope to remove simple bron- chitis itself, and to mitigate asthma and chronic pneumonia, congestion, and phthisis, in a certain stage of all of which diseases there is often symptomatic or secondary bronchitis. On the lungs proper, in the m.orbid changes to which they are subjected by chronic he- patization, or by tubercular deposit, sulphu- reous waters not only fail to exert any sana- tive or controlling influence, but they prove absolutely deleterious; and in confirmed phthisis, and even in the incipient stage, when accompar^'ed with febrile irritation, they accelerate the march of the disease. It has been contended that when these waters are serviceable in pectoral affections, their salutary efiects are obtained by revul- sive action— determination to the skin, and increase of its perspiratory function, as well as diverting the fluids from the centre to the periphery. Such results are most likely to follow the use of thermal sulphureous waters, and still more readily and completu^y if they be employed at the same time as a bath. But while admitting this view, which to a conside- rable extent is the correct one, it ought not to 108 MINERAL AXD TIIERMAii SPRIN-GS. f Ml be received to the exclusion of a belief in the directly expectorant operation of sulphu- reous waters. As eminently diffusible and reaching all membraneous tissues, so as to be compared to mercury itself, we cannot, witnessing the strong action of this remedy on the secretions of the skin, deny ii to those of the mucous membrane which lines the air passages. We may, I think, explain by these two functional actions of expectoration and per- spiration, under the use of moderate doses of the milder -ulphur waters, the diminished frequency of the pulse and the abatement of febrile excitement, which have caused some of them to b«^ regarded as sedatives, although, ill lact, these are but secondary or indirect results, sequences at least of previous excite- ment. This order of succession of morbid phenomena is not unusual after the use of admitted stimulants in the class of purga- tives and diuretics, as well as when other diaphoretics and expectorants besides the sulphureous are administered. With the return to a qualified belief in humoral pathology, based as it now is on ex- CRISIS OR BATH STORM. 109 perimental knowledge, we can treat with re- specttheopinicn^ of those European Avriters who explain many of the good effects from the use of sulphureous waters, both in pec toral and other diseases, to their brino-ino- back to their original type, and at time^ ehhiinating from the organism certain mor- bific principles or humors, such as the rheu- matic, the gouty, the herpetic, and the psoric One proof of these remedies having accom- phshed this end, is supposed to bo in a "Crisis" or "Bath Storm," a general stirrincr np and perturbation of all the functions" particularly the circulation and the secre- tions, and above all of those from the skm. A crisis will be manifested not only by copious sweating, but also by increased intestinal discharges, or by the supervention oi exanthemata, and furuncles on the skin or of abscesses under this tegument in the cellular tissue. These waters have been had recourse to beneficially in a weakened state of the di- gestive apparatus, unaccompanied by fever or irritation, or when there is no morbid heat of the skin, or dryness and redno... nf 10 110 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. the tongue. They are useful in dyspepsia, when the appetite is deficient, and the patient is troubled with heart-burn; also, in general debility, not maintained by inflammation or irritative fever; in indolent engorgements of the liver and other abdominal viscera, resulting from periodical fever; in chronic catarrh of the bladder, and gravel ; in chlo- rosis, leucorrhcea, inveterate gonorrhoea, and nocturnal pollutions; and in tremors, and paralyses caused by lead poisoning. Eheumatism will be benefited by the use of sulphureous waters in proportion to its chronicity and the absence of any degree of excitement, and probably, also, to its being associated with disordered digestion. It is under these circumstances that the nse of the warm sulphur bath, or even a bath of common therm d water, will accelerate great- ly the cure. Other disorders from suppressed perspiration, such as stifiiiess of the limbs and partial dropsy, will be relieved by the same treatment. In scrofula, rickets, and swellings of the lymphacic glands, the administration of sul- phureous waters has been with mpny a fa- i SULPnUKEOUS WATERS IX SCROFULA. Ill vorite, as it certainly is a salutary, mode of practice. There is not only an amendment of the general health by these means in scro- fulous children, as evinced by their improved digestion, a soft and supple, in place of a tumid and resisting abdomen, and renewed strength ; but, also, of the ulcers and fistu- lous cavities which assume the appearance and character of common and well-condi- tioned sores. Even here the milder sulphur waters, or the stronger in small quantities, are to be preferred. Iodine in the form of ointment may be rubbed, with advantage, on the enlarged lymphatic glands, and applied to the scrofulous ulcers, during the continuance of the sulphureous treatment. Iron is also a good adjuvant in many diseases in their less active forms, or in an atonic state of the system, in which the^sulphureous waters have been recommended. ■ By French writers, the triumph, as they call it, of sulphureous springs, is evinced in the treatment of wounds, and especially of those caused by fire-arms. Above all, the waters of the thermal springs of the Pyre- nees have, for the last century and a half, «;i i 112 :mineral and thermal springs. been eagerly resorted to by this class of pa- tients, and certainly the changes in the con- dition of large numbers of them by this agency have been most surprising and even marvellous. They who v/ent lame, and halt, and crippled, and distorted in limb and often in body, have come away erect, and able, not only to walk, but to dance and to indulge in gymnastic sports. Much, however, very much of those results are due more to the thermal than the sulphureous character of these famed springs, and to the combined use of their waters by drinking and by bathing. Our Yirginip friends, and the good people of J^orth Carolina and Arkansas, and the in- habitants of Deseret and the regions there- about, ought to study and ponder well on the diversified and cidmirablo results in the cure of disease obtained by the simple ther- mal waters of Europe, and bestir themselves accordingly to fit up suitable balneatory establishments, with all due appliances for douching and illutation, or, in plainer lan- guage, spout and mud baths. Doctor Salisbury, in his sensible little volume on the Avon Waters, lays down DYSPEPSIA— FEMALE DISORDERS. 113 witli considerable accuracy the indications for their medicinal uses : as, for example, when there is a call for increasing the action of the organs or of the tissues, in chronic diseases of the liver, and in chronic rheumatism, dis- eases of the skin, and of the urinary pass- ages. "In obstinate dyspepsia attending a de- bilitated or depressed state of the digestive functions, acidity, flatulence, and heart-burn, in that which succeeds to acute diseases, and is accompanied by jaundice, frequent vomit- ing of mucus, pam in the right side, or in the region of the stomach, this remedy may be so administered as often to afford prompt and effectual relief." The writer quotes Dr. Frances to the same purport. I regret not having access to this estimable and expe- rienced gentleman's papers on the Avon Springs. Scrofula and asthma are mentioned by Dr. Salisbury as diseases in which the curative powers of these waters have been exerted in a marked manner. They have, also, he tells us, been much and beneficially em- ployed in chlorosis, leucorrhoea, amenorrhoea, and difficult and painful menstruation. In the sulphureous treatment of these disorders, 10* 1 1 ?,■ 114 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRIXGS. we mnrjt continually bear ifl mind the condi- tions on which alone it can be had recourse to, not only with benefit but without doing harm. It is not enough for us to know that . females are suffering in the various ways just enumerated, but we must also take note of their temperament, freedom from an inflam- matory condition of any part, as well of the uterine as of the digestive system, and from chronic pulmonary disorder, such, more par- ticularly, as phthisis, before we venture to prescribe a course of these waters. In the early period of pregnancy, they ought either to be withheld e itirely, or administered with great caution. Ac regards the quantity of the Avon v/ater to be drunk in a given time, Dr. Salis- bury tells us that, generally speaking, four to six half-pint tumblerfuls, during the day, produce a mild cathartic effect. " In larger dose , they operate powerfully upon the bowels and kidneys." Their alterative effects are of course to be obtained bj the moderate use of them, and in much smaller quantities than those given with a view to their cathar- tic operation. WARMING THE SULPHUR WATER. 115 An aperient effect is more readily obtained by warming the sulphur water, although by this process it loses a portion of its sulphu- retted hydrogen, and if continued, the whole of this gas would be evolved. Certainly by this means it sits more easily on the stomach of a delicate invalid, and exerts a kindlier effect afterwards. In some cases of gastral- gia and weakened state of the stomach, with general debility and languid circulation, the cold water from the spring could not be borne. It is worthy of remark, in this place, that the most celebrated of the thermal sul- phureous springs of the Pyrenees do not contain any sulphuretted hydrogen, and the only gaseous constituent in some of them is azote. This is the case with the springs of Bareges, Saint Sauveur, Cauterets, Eaux Chaudec, and Bagneres de Luchon. Those of Bounes have a small proportion of sul- phuretted hydrogen, and of carbonic acid in nearly equal quantity. In all of thcin the sulphur is combined with sodium, in the state of a sulphuret, and on this salt depend their sulphureous properties. Does it exist in our sulphur waters? As yet it has not been ex- 1^5 116 MINERAL AND TIIERIvIAL SPRINGS. hibited in any of them by analysis. When spealving of the Virginia Springs, I shall allude to a division of sulphureous waters, based in part on some of them being impreg- nated with sulphuretted hydrogen, and others with the sulphuret of sodium. Keverting to the dose of the Avon and other Vvuters of the same nature, viewed as alteratives, if the general indications point to their use but they are found in the common quantity to be irritating or oppressive, we ought to reduce the dose to a minimum, and some might think inert proportion. Even the comparatively mild waters of Saint Sau- veur, which cor.tain not a fifth of a grain of sulphuret of sodium in the pint, and not a fourth of the saline contents of those of Avon, are prescribed by the experienced M. Fabas, at first in a dose of only three or four ounces, gradually increased. It will be remembered, however, that they are thermal, or from 86° to 95° F. With our notions of heroic or energetic practice, we may feel disposed to smile at this which some will call a timid and inefficient course; but in the treatment of chronic disease, we must often descend from GRADUATED DOSES OF THE WATER. 11 the heroics, and admit more largely into our calculations, as important elements, time and nature. While doing so, we shall be able to draw largely from the experience afforded by clinical practice at mineral springs, which as yet is barely begun in the United States. It has been observed by some of the phy- sicians at the Pyrenean Springs, and the re- mark is worthy of being remembered, that the exciting effects of sulphureous waters are most evident on persons in health, and especially on those of a sanguine and excita- ble temperament ; and that their use is much better borne in a state of disease. The tole- ration in this respect is diminished as conva- lescence approaches; and hence the propriety of gradually diminishing the quantity of the water to be drunk in the last period of the treatment, and for the reason already assign- ed, of increasing it in the first period. The external use of the Avon waters by hatUng ought to accompany their use as a drink in most of the diseases to which they are deemed appropriate. More especially does this advice hold in cases of chronic cutaneous diseases, and of chronic rheuma- 118 MIXEKAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. i^ »i tism, and in tlios3 in which a revulsive action is desired for the relief of internal organs. AVith few exceptions, the temperature of the water for the bath ought to be raised by arti- ficial means, so as to render it tepid or warm, and, on rarer occasions, hot, according as there are cutaneous excitement and general irritation, or the reverse state of atony of the skin and general debility. The latter will authorize a bath of a temperature ap- proaching to the hot, the former one of a lower temperature, bringing it down to the tepid. In the absence of more precise details and specifications, such as we find in the little volume by Dr. Salisbury on the Avon w\n,ters, the reader may apply what has been said of these latter, and of the action of the sulphure- ous class in general, to the use of the Sharon Waters^ the popularity of which, on what we must believe to be good grounds, is growing from year to year. Strong testimony is borne in favor of the efficacy of bathing in the wa- ter of the White Sulphur Spring at Sharon. Excursions in the course of the Genesee Eiver may be made by visitors to Avon, LAKE COXESUS. 119 which will afford them views of scencrv of great variety and grandeur; as, for instance, the Falls at Portage and the Upper Falls at Nevada. "There is a beautiful and clear lake, called the Conesus, about six miles from the springs. Three miles from its out- let is a cape of forest land, extending far out on the lake, which has been for some years past a favorite resort for parties of pleasure. The lovers of romantic scenery vrill pass a day here with delight." 120 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. CIIAPTEE yil. other Sulphur Springs of New York— Clifton— Chitte- nango — Manlius Springs and Lake — Messina — Auburn — Rochester — Verona — Saquoit — Newburgh — Al- bany, &c. &c. Clifton Springs. — These will probably rank after tlie Avon and Sharon, as amonir the most active in the State. They are, we be- lieve, the same as those described by Mr. Hall in the eastern part of the town of Man- chester, Ontario County, and on the road from Vienna to Canandaigua. The odor of the gas which they give out is perceptible at the distance of a quarter of a mile. From one of the springs the quantity of water dis- charged is unusually large. Deposits of carbonate of lime and sulphur are found in the vicinity. All these springs, as we learn from Dr. Beck, as well as those which occur at Avon, have their origin in the hydraulic limestone, near its junction with the lime- stone above. Temperature 51° F. diseas CIIITTEXAXGO SPRINGS. 121 Ch lUenmgo ^Spnngs.—l^^hQy arc situated in tlie valley of the ChittenaDgo Creek, in the vicinity of the village of the same iiLne, in Madison County, and issue from the inil' of calciferous slate which here forms the eastern boundary of the valley. The two chief springs on the lands of .Air. Yates and Jud-e Warner-the first about a mile, the second two miles from the village-have a tempera- ture of 49° I^., and contain, together with carbonates and sulphates of lime, sulphate of magnesia and chloride of sodium, sulphuret- ted hydrogen gas and carbonic acid. The spring of Mr. Y.. 3 has also su. phate of soda in solution. The water of that of Judge Warner, when fresh from the spring, has an opaline or milky appearance, which disap- pears on boiling. A whitish precipitate is found at this time. Incrustations of sulphur, and of carbonate and sulphate of lime are seen on leaves, twigs, and pieces of Avood in the vicinity of both of these springs. "The waters just described,"" adds Dr. Beck, " are highly esteemed in many cases of disease, and their location is so eligible that 11 m 122 MINERAL AND THERMAL SrRIXG3. T do not doubt tliat, when they are l3etter known, they will be much resorted to." Mardius Springs and Lake. — Tlicse and other sulphureous springs of Ononciaga County are more numerous and better known than those of ^ladison County. About a mile from Manlius Square are three springs very near to each other, all of which are feebly charged with sulphuretted hydrogen. Iney have also a slightly saline taste, and have acquired some reputation in the vicinity. Two miljb east of Manlius Centre is a sulphureous lake or pool, known by the name of Lake Sodom or Green Pond. It is about a mile and a half in length, and half a mile in breadth at the widest part. The depth gradually increases^ as we proceed from the northern outlet, from twenty-five to a hun- dred and sixty-eight feet, at what is probably the centre of th. basin. Water drawn from this depth was found to be highly charged with sulphuretted hydrogen. It is of a deep green color, which Dr. Beck, to whom I am indebted for the entire description of this water, suggests is probably owing to the partial decomposition of the sulphuretted ¥ MESSINA SULPHUR SPRINGS. 123 liydrogcn. Its specific gravity is scarcely above that of common water. Sulpburetted bydrogen gas is evolved in great ciuantities ia tbe immediate vicinity of the Salt Springs at Salina and Syracuse. A spring on tbe grounds of Mr. E. 1^\ Wal- lace, of Syracuse furnisbes a sulpbureo-salino water, in one pint of wbicb tbere arc 132 grains of cbloride of sodium. Its gaseous contents are sulpburetted bydrogen and car- bonic acid. Anotber spring of a similar character, a mile distant, is found in tbe marsb near tbe Salina Well. Messina Sulphur Springs.^They arc situ- ated in a ravine near to tbat in wbicb are found tbe springs of Manlius and Cbittenango, three miles northeast of Syracuse, and a niile north of the Erie Canal. They rise through a limestone formation, on the surface of which are everywhere found masses of calcareous tufa. Tbe temperature is uniformly 50° F. Tbe water has a sirong sulphureous taste, but is not so highly charged with sulpburetted bydrogen as that of some other springs. It is used with good eftect in many drseases. Its composition in a pint is as follows :— V. m y 124 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Carbonate of lime Sulphate of lime Sulphate of magnesia Chloride of calcium Grains. 1.85 8.55 1.3G 1.33 13.09 It lias been remarked by Dr. Beck that the number o^' springs of this class increases as we go westwardly in the State. Auburn Springs. — One of these is in the town of Sennett, two miles north of the vil- lage of Auburn, in Cayuga County. Another, which has acquired some reputation, is situ- ated about ur miles west of Auburn, on the farm of Mr. Nelson Van Ness. It is called the West Auburn Spring. An analysis by Dr. Chilton exhibits the following substances in a pint of the water : — Sulphate of lime . Sulphate of magnesia , Chloride of magnesium Chloride of sodium Grains. . 15.00 . 3.20 . 0.25 . 0.75 19.20 Sulphuretted hydrogen gas 1.5 cubic inches. At Spring MiUs^ on the eastern shore of Cayuga Lake, a sulphureous water is said to 11 i ROCHESTEK SPRING. 125 isjue from the eartli in quantities salTicient to turn a grist-mill. It is perfectly limpid, and has a strong taste and smell of sulphu- retted hydrogen. Rochester Spring.— In the city of Eochcster, on the east bank of the Genesee, is Long- muir's sulphur spring, the waters of which are much employed by the inhabitants. It rises through a boring of two hundred feet in depth. Its temperature is usually 52° F., affording an instance of the Increase of tem- perature of the earth as we descend beneath the surface. When heated to 100° F., it de- posits sulphur and carbonate of lime. Its specific gravity is 1.00:t07. One pint of the water contains — Grains. Carbonate of lime and magnesia with a trace «f»'°n 1.48 Cliloride of sodium . . a \n Sulphate of soda g 99 Gaseous contents: sulphuretted hj'dro^-en 2.16 cubic inches, with a small quantity of carbonic acid. In proof of the copious evolution of sul 11^ II 12G MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ki i • 1 !,^ pliurotted hydrogen in this district, Dr. Beck mentions the fact, in reference to the Caledo- nia Springs in the town of Wheatland, that the whole of a large volume of water which crushes out of the earth, so as to form a stream nearly one-quarter of the size of the Genesee Eiver at Eochester, is slightly impregnated with this gas. In this county (Monroe) we meet also with the sulphureous springs of Mendon, Gates, and Pittsford, at all of which, as well as those of Rochester, there are bathing-houses and ample accommodations for visitors. More abundant in sulphuretted hydrogen than any other in the county, is a spring at the village of Or/den^ in the township of the same name, one and a half miles south of Spencer's Basin. Verona Sj^ring. — This spring is 1-i miles from Utica, in Oneida County. Its water, as analyzed by Professor ISToyes, gave the fol- lowing constituents in a pint: — Grains. Chloride of calcium, witli chloride of magne- sium 8.50 Sulphate of lime 7.50 Chloride of sodium 90.00 lOfi.OO SAQUOIT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 127 Tlie water is supposed to be nearly satu- rated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas. Saquoit Simngs. — The water of these springs, nine and a half miles south of Utica, is highly charged with sulphuretted and car- buretted hydrogen, and contains the chlorides of sodium and magnesium in considerable quantities, together with a little sulphate of lime and a trace of iron. The gas r^ses from the water in such abundance as to allow of its being conducted through tubes, and to be kept continually burning. Sulphur Springs of Niagara County.— Th.\s county is no less abundantly supplied with sulphur springs than those which have been already noticed. Among them may be men- tioned those in the town of Pendleton, near the canal, at Lockport, two miles from Tona- wanda ; in the vicinity of Lewistown, and of the Falls of Niagara. Seneca or Deer Lich Sp^rings are about four miles from Buffalo (Erie County), and issue from opposite sides of the stream on which they are situated. They give out sulphuretted hydrogen largely, and contain of saline sub- stances, carbonates of lime, magnesia, and III ill 128 MINEKAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. soda, together with sulphate of lime in nota- ble quantities. There is an acid spring on Grand Island. Sulphur springs are also found in Northern !N"ew York, in the counties of Clinton, St. Lawrence, and Lewis. In the Valley of the Hudson^ beginning at the southern part of the State, sulphureous springs are found at short intervals from near Sing Sing, in Westchester County, to Fort Miller, in Washington County, a dis- tance of nearly a hundred and fifty miles. They occur on both sides of the Hudson, and usually rise through the strata of glazed black slate which is found throughout nearly the whole of this extent. Of these springs, we may mention, after Dr. Beck, the Chaj-)- pequa Spring^ four miles northeast of Sing- Sing, which issues from a cleft in the rock near the base of a hill, about two hundred feet in height. The salts held in solution are said to be the sulphate of lime, chloride of calcium, a.id the muriate of iron and man- ganese. Hanowgate S^rnngs^ near the village of pll SPRINGS IN THE HUDSON VALLEY. 129 Grecnbusli, and a spring near the north end of the city of Troy, are in KensseLaer County. The sulphureous springs of Saratoga County have been already mentioned. Newhurjh Sj)nng is in Orange County. In Albany County, also, there are several springs of this class; one of them in AYen- dell's Hollow, near the city of Albany. In Dutchess County is a sulphur spring near Ameniaville; and there are several in Co- lumlia, one of which is on McNaughton's farm, between Lebanon Springs and the Shaker Village ; and another near Kinder- hook. CatsJdll Sjoring. — This sulphureous Avater rises within two mdes of the village of Cats- kill, Greene County. There are several others in the same county. In the southivestern counties we have to re- cord the existence of numerous sulphureous springs. The Nanticolce Sjmny, in Broome County, was formerly in considerable repute. Dryden jS^orinys, in the town of the same name, and ten miles east of Ithaca, in Tomp- kin's County, have acquired some celebrity. J 1. ^ "* :| ' 1 H' 1 i ^Ik' ■ «' ! 1 1 V |- 1 1 ' i - las i^ 1 : f 1 i i i . i 1 130 :\IINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. The counties of Chenango, Tioga, Stephen, and Cattaraugus have their sulphur springs. In Chautauque County^ sulphur springs are of frequent occurrence, and, as stated by Dr. Beck, they have apparently some connection with the issues of carburetted hydrogen gas, for which this county has become so cele- brated. Sulphureous springs are found at Fredonia, and on the shore of Lake Erie about a mile east of Yan Buren Harbor. ACID SPRINGS. 131 CHAPTEE YIII. Acid Springs, called also Alum Springs— Byron Acid or Sour Springs— Oak Orchard Acid Springs— Tiieir coni- positiou— Diseases ia ■whicli used— Acid Springs in South America— Nitrogen and Thermal Spring of Lebanon— Brines, or Salt Springs— Gas Springs. ACID SPRINGS. These springs are thus designated on ac- count of tlie exccLS of sulphuric acid in their waters, which is perceptible both to the taste and by reagents. They also contain, in con- siderable proportions, sulphates of alumina and of iron, and hence we shall find them de- signated as alum springs; and they might, also, \vith propriety, be ranked under the head of chahjheate. They are found chiefly in New York and in Virginia. I shall no- tice, now, those of the first mentioned State; and, as in the case of the sulphureous springs, draw largely from Dr. Beck's oft quoted volume, ''Mineralogy of Nei'j YorhJ' Byron Acid or Sour jSprings.— There are li 132 IMINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. two acid springs in the town of Byron, Gene- see County. The first is in the southwest corner of the town, and rises from a hilloclc about two hundred and thirty feet long and one hundred feet broad, elevated four or five feet above the surrounding plain. Ac- cording to Professor Eaton, the strength of the acid increases in a drought. Wherever holes were sunk in the hill, the acid accumu- lated, and also in the depressions of the con- tiguous meadow-grounds. There is another acid spring, a hundred rods west of Byron Hotel and two miles east of the former, which is remarkable in consequence of the great quantity of acid contained in its water. This spring issues from the earth in sufficient quantity to turn a grist-mill. There is said to be several other acid or sour springs in this vicinity. The acid liquid is described by Dr. Beck to be transparent and colorless, and to have a specific gravity of llVdO-i at 60° F. It reddens litmus powerfully, and has an in- tensely sour taste. The lime and oxide of iron indicated by tests, are in very small pro- portion, as is evident from the fact that, when OAK ORCHARD SPRINGS. 133 the liqu''I is evaporated, only a trifling resi- duum is left. " It is a nearly pure, though dilute sulphuric acid, and not a solution of acid salts, as has been supposed ; for the bases are in too minute a proportion to warrant the latter opinion. "The brownish matter, or acid earth, is principally vegetable matter, charred by the action of the acid ; but it also contains some silica and alumina, with a minute quantity of lime and oxide of iron. When this matter is boiled in water, a solution is obtained which possesses all the properties of the liquor just described." Acid springs or wells are also found in the town of Bergen, in this county. Oah Orchard Acid Springs. — Within a few years past, attention has been directed to these springs, eight in number, which are eight miles southeast from Lockport, in Genesee County, and six and a half miles from the vil- lage of Medina, on the Erie Canal. Analyses by Dr. Chilton and Professor Emmons, show them to be not only acid, but, also, saline waters of great therapeutic value. The following ingredients were found in a 12 :M 104 [MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. «■ i iH m mil Wk'ii Mil ^Hl ffli 1 Hi ii Hi gallon of the water, by Dr. Cliiuon'i analy- sis: — Free sulplniric acid Sulphate of lime . Protosulpjiate of iron Sulphate of alumina Sulphate of magnesia Silica . Organic extractive matter Grains. 82.06 39.GO 14.32 9.G8 8.28 1.04 3.28 159.10 Equal to about 20 grains in a pint The analysis of Spring No. 1, by Professor Emmons, gave a much larger proportion of the above constituents. In one pint of the water he found of — Free sulphuric acid 'i Sulphate of protoxide of iron Sulphate of lime . Sulphate of magnesia . Silica Organic matter . Grains. 31.50 19.50 4.50 2.00 0.33 1.33 59.10 Equal to 473.28 grs. in a gallon . Spring No. 2 had but 24.25 grains of free acid and of saline contents in the pint, and No. 3 only 19.33 grains. Differences in the strength of the several springs will depend on the volume of water which passes through EFFECTS OF THE ACID WATERS. 135 the bed or rock in ^vhicli the acid and salts are found ; and difTerences observable in the strength of the same water at different times are explained by tlie different amounts of meteoric ^yater which percolates through the bed or rock at different times, accordbg as there has been light or heavy rains. Medicinally considered, these acid waters, as might be inferred from their composition,' have a powerful astringent and tonic effect in debilitated states of the general system and in enfeebled function of different or- gans, especially of the digestive and uterine accompanied with perverted secretions and exhausting discharges, as in pyrosis, gastro- dyuia, chronic diarrhoea, and chronic dysen- terj- and leucorrhoea: also, in chronic affec- tions of the kidneys and bladder. To this list. Dr. S. P. White, in a papei -ead before the New York Academy of Medicine (December 6, 1848), on tbese springs, adds diabetes, pas- sive hemorrhage, such ^^ purpura hremorrha- gica, some of the cutaneous diseases, and the colliqi^ative sweats of hectic fever. He thinks it is entitled to consideration, also, in the phosphatic diathesis, accompanied by deposits . tl- §■ 136 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. of the pliospliatcs, and ia colica pictonum and asthma, as well as in chronic pharyngitis and laryngitis, and chronic conjunctivitis. Dr. Spring found it to give entire relief in a case of diarrhccn of three years' duration. The dose recommenJled by Dr. White, is about a third of a wineglassful, diluted with simple water, three times a day. Locally, it is applied with advantage to chronic ulcers of the skin and throat, and in indolent cuta- neous eruptions, as also in chronic conjunc- tivitis, and discharges from the car. There is an acid spring at Clifton Springs, twelve miles northwest of Geneva. The traveller in New Grenada sees not only a spring, but a stream of some magnitude, largely impregnated Vv'ith sulphuric acid. It is called, on account of its sourness. Bio Vinaigro, and also Passambio. Its mineral impregnation is slight, for of all the sub- stances held in solution by the water, equal only to 2.87 parts in 1,000, the sulphuric acid amounted to 1.11, and the hydrochloric or muriatic 0.91 = 2.02, leaving only 0.85 of solid contents. In the smallness of these latter, this water seems to resemble that of SPRING OF PARAMO DE RUIZ. 137 II BjTon. Not so, however, in reference to its acid, the quantity of which, delivered in tv/enty-four hours, is 38.611 kilogrammes, or 84,750 pounds avoirdupois in 3J:,78-1,G40 cuoic metres of water. Even more remarkable than the one just described is the mineral acid spring of Pa- m)io de Ruiz, in Xew Grenada, which issues with an abundant supply of water at an ele- vation of 3,800 metres, or about 12,450 feet abpve the ocean, where the Guali, a tributary of the Eio Grande de la Magdalena, takes its origin. Boussingault thinks it probable that this spring comes from trachyte. Its water is thermal, having a temperature of 157° F. Euiz is an active volcano. The water ana- lyzed by M. Levy gave, in 1,000 parts — Grains. Sulphuric acid . .... 5.181 ^^^p.^ Hydrochiori 1 acid Alumen Lime Soda Silica Magnesia Oxide of iron 0.881 i 0.500 0.140 0.3G0 0.183 0.320 0.365 7.930 12 ^ 138 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. We see the sa le basic substances here as those ill the Oa'c Orchard Springs, with the difference of soda, which is wanting in the latter. The spring of Eio Yinaigro originates from the volcano of Paraco. The coldness of its water is owing, Boussingault thinks, to the melted snow mixing in its downward course with the acid springs of volcanic origin. Acid springs are not confined to the volcanoes of Ruiz and Purace. Five cascades of strongly acidulated water ^iere seen by the traveller just named, near the Indian village of Genoi, when he was as- cending the crater of Pasto. Acid springs issue at nearly the same ele- vation as that in which the best kinds of cinchona grow, and in the same neighbor- hood. Here, then, at a comparatively mode- rate expense, the manufacture of suljDhate of quinine might be carried on. LEBANON SPRING. This is ranked, on the score of tempera- ture, among the thermal springs, and of gaseous impregnation, among the nitrogen LEBAXON SPRING. 139 ones. The water is consi-antly at 73° F., while that of the other springs in the count}' (Columbia) is 52° F. Its saline imp]-cgnatioii is very slight, being only a grain \nd a quarter in the pint. The temperature is such as to render the Lebanon water a de- hghtful bath. So copious is the supply that nof only is there an abundance for all the baths; but there is also enough to turn two or three mills, erected within a short distance. These are kept running during even the severity of the winter. The water of Lebanon taken as a drink, will be found serviceable in irritable dyspep- sia and in gouty habits, and in the thirst accompanying slow and hectic fever. As a bath it may be used under similar circum- stances, and also in chronic rheumatism. The delicate and the feeble whose powers of reaction are slight, would, by bathing in the Lebanon waters for a time, be prepared for the greater depression and shock from sea- bathing. I must not close this notice of the mineral springs of New York, without adverting to the numerous, and, in a measure, celebrated 1 140 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. brine or salt springs of that State. The chief ones are those of Onondaga County, and of Montezuma, in Cayuga County. Great uniformity prevails in the chemical composition of the waters of these different springs. All those, continues Dr. Beck, " which have been subjected to an analysis contain, although in somewhat various pro- portions, the chlorides of calcium and mag- nesium, in combination with the common salt. All of them, moreover, when freshly drawn, give the characteristic tests of iron, which exists in minute proportions in the form of carbonate ; or, perhaps, in some cases, the oxide of iron may perform the part of an acid, which, by combining with lime, may thus exist in the form of ferrate of lime. Bromine is also known to be one of the con- stituents of the Salina brine, and it will pro- bably be found in most of the others ; but iodine has not yet been detected in any of them." An important part of the revenue of the State is derived from the springs of Onondaga County, viz: the Salina and the Syracuse ^Yells^ and the Liverpool Well. CARBURETTED HYDROGEN SPRINGS. 141 Nitrogen springs are found at ITosick, Eensselaer County ; at Canoga, in Seneca, and at Chateauguay, in Franklin. Among the curiosities of springs in New York, we may mention those in which car- huretted hydrogen gas is given out. In some places, as at the village of Fredonia, in Chau- tauque County, it is turned to economic ac- count by being used for lighting the streets and houses. A sufScient supply of gas was collected at this place, in a gasometer, to feed seventy to eighty lights. Similar emana- tions occur in Albany, Oneida, Yates, Mon- roe, and Niagara counties. 142 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. CIIAPTEE IX. Springs of Maine: Saline ones of Lubec — Chalybeate ones oi Dexter. Springs of Vermont: Iligligate — Newberry — Alburgli — Bennington — Clarendon. — Springs of Massachusetts: Berkshire — Ilopkinton. — Springs of New Jersey: Schooley's Mountain — Its situation — Composition and virtues of the waters. In the State of Maine, tlie chief mineral springs are: — The Saline Spring of Luhec. It bursts out from the soil near the junction of the red sandstone and blue limestone rocks, on the bank of a creek near the head of Lubec Bay. The water is clear and colorless. Specific gravity 1.025. An imperial gallon evapo- rated to dryness gave, as a residuum, 322.5 grains of saline matter. 100 grains of this dry salt gave, on analysis, in a pint of water : — SPKINGS OF VERMONT. 143 Grains. Grains. Cliloride of sodium . . 64.0 199.000 Sulphate of lime . 3.6 11.210 ' Chloride of magnesium . . 20.2 62.845 Sulphate of soda . 9.0 27.985 Carbonate of iron . , 0.8 2.490 Carbonate of lime . 2.0 0.250 Chloride of calcium . a trace 12.720 loss. Carbonic acid gas 99.6 322.500 4 loss . 100.0 Dr. Charles T. Jackson, who gave these particulars respecting the Lubec Saline Spring, in his First Beport on the Geology of Maine, does not add anything on the subject of its curative powers. ^ Dexter C Jyheate ^V/jrwi^;,— This spring is situated on the eastern head branch of the Sebasticook stream. It deposits largely "an ochreous yellow oxide of iron." Dr. Jackson describes the water as a good tonic in vari- ous disorders of the digestive system. SULPHUREOUS SPRINGS OF VERMONT. Among these we may enumerate the Hifjhrjate Simnrjs, within twelve miles of the steamboat landing at St. Alban's Bay ; also il' 144 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRI^-GS. tlie Keidmrrj Sidj^hureous Spring^ which is twenty-seven miles east of Montpelier, and forty-seven northeast of Windsor. It is by the side of Ilarriman's Brook, about fifty rods north of the meeting-house, and it is a place of considerable resort for invalids. The water is slrongly impregnated with sulphu- retted hydrogen gas. It is extolled in scro- fulous and cutaneous diseases. A good shower -house and baths are constructed near the spring, and every accommodation is pro- vided at the hotel, which can be desired by the visitor. Springs of the same kind are found in several other places in the township. The springs of Alhurgh are of the same nature as those just described. Bennington Thermal Spring. — It is thus designated by Professor Hitchcock, who does not, however, give its temperature. It emits both nitrogen and oxygen gases. The water is abundant enough to turn the machinery of a powder mill. Clarendon Gaseous Sjmngs. — This water will rank with others of the milder acidulous class. In the small proportion of saline ingredients, but one in ten thousand parts of the water, it CLARENDON SPRINGS. 145 is among the purest known. Its gaseous contents are more copious, and impart to it whatever peculiarity it possesses. In a no- tice of this spring, written by Dr. Gallup, we learn, from an analysis by Dr. Hayes, that a United States gallon of 235 cubic inches con- tained — Nitrogen or azote Carbonic acid Besides atmospheric- air. Cubic Inches. . 9.63 . 4G.1G Of the saline matter, 5.76 grains, carbo- nate of lime figures for 8.02, and muriate of lime, sulphate of lime, and sulphate of mag- nesia, 2.74 grains. The gas evolved from the water at the re- servoir was, in 100 cubic inches, as fol- lows : — Carbonic acid gas Oxygen gas Nitrogen gas 0.59 1.05 98.45 100.00 Temperature of the higher spring 48° F. of the two lower springs 54° F. The Clarendon waters enjoy a reputation in cutaneous diseases, chronic bronchitis. i ?' ■a. ■$ * 1 i i 146 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. anasarca, and especially in irritable bladder. The quantity drank in the twenty-four hours varies from five to twenty half pint tumblers- ful. They at first excite a warmth and ach- in"- on the surface, sometimes attended with slight nausea. These sensations disappear when their diuretic action begins. This occurs in about six hours after drinking them. • Of the mineral springs of Massachusetts, I have no details excepting on the Ilopkin- son Springs, and the so called Berkshire Soda Spring. — This, as far as a qualitative analysis goes, may be classed among the acidulous waters. For a mention of the substances thus detected, and some other particulars respecting this spring, the reader is referred to the following extract of a letter from Dr. Clarkson T. Collins to Dr. Valentine Mott, dated May 17th, 1852 :— " I must not close this letter without men- tioning a very remarkable mineral spring situated among the mountains, a short dis- tance from this village; and which has, for many years past, had a high local reputation for the cure of scrofula and eruptive dis- BERKSHIRE SODA SPRIXG. 1^7 eases of the skin. The people in this part of the country consider it a specific for the cure of all that class of eruptive diseases which are popularly called by the vague and indefinite term of salt rheum, " During the past year, by way of experi- ment, I have placed several obstinate cases of Eczema, Ecthyma, Acne, Porrigo, etc., under the exclusive treatment of this water, and the results have been very satisfactory ; indeed, I may say that, in some cases, its effect was most extraordinary. So pleased was I with the use of this mineral water, that I sent a jug of it to New York City, and had it analyzed by Professor Doremus and Dr. Blake, the former assistant of Professor Silli- man. It was found to contain soda, chlorine, carbonic acid, and a trace of alumina. Yet there is but little taste in it other than that of pure water. When bathed in, it imparts to the skin the most delightful softness of any that I have ever used, causing even a rough skin to feel smooth." " The spring is located among the moun- tains, within three miles of the beautiful vil- lage of Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Mass., through which four daily trains of cars 148 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. pass. Great Barrington is twenty-eiglit miles east of tbc Hudson Eiver, and cit^^ of Hud- son ; ten miles from Ilillsdale, on tlie Ilar- laem Eailroad; twenty miles from Pittsfield; twenty miles from Lebanon; eighty miles from Bridgeport, and forty-eight miles from Al- bany, N. y., on the line of the Housatonic Eailroad, between the two last named places ; rendering it very accessible. During the warm season, a carriage will be run regularly four times a day between the village and the spring. Warm, cold, and shower baths are obtained by the visitors." It will be seen by the following extract of a letter from Dr. Collins to the writer, that the atmosphere of the vicinity of the springs is not only healing to the lungs, but exhila- rating to the brain : — " Wm. C. Bryant once practised law in this village. Dr. Ilolmes (professor), of Boston, resides in this county during the summer. G. P. E. James, the English novelist, owns a farm, and is building a house in this town, four miles from the village. Miss Catharine Sedgwick resides eight miles from here, and Melville twenty." Ho;pkinion JSjmngs. — These waters have SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN SPRING. 149 obtained some reputation in their section of country (as I learned, many years ago, from Dr. Bucklin) for tlie cure of scrofula and various affections of the skin. An analysis of the water of the chief spring, by Dr. Gor- ham, showed its constituents to be carbon- ates of lime, magnesia, and iron. Another one is highly impregnated with sulphur. Bathing in the waters is also recommended and practised. The chief watering place in New Jersey, ii! :>jj IS- v' THE SCHOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN SPRING. This spring, or rather rill, issues from a perpendicular rock, having an eastern expo- sure, between forty and fifty feet above the level of a brook which flows down into the channel beneath. A small wooden trough is or was adapted to the fissure, so as to convey the water to a platform where the visitors assemble and to the baths. The tempera- ture of the water is 50° F., being 6° higher than the spring water nearer the summit. The quantity given out in an hour is thirty 13 * 1 MINERAL AND TnER:\[AL SPRINGS. gallons, and it docs noi vary -with season or weather. The water deposits oxide of iron on the troughs, baths, and even the d.Inkino- vessels. Its taste is strongly chalybeate. Iron ore abounds in the vicinity, and is worked to advantage in furnaces on both the eastern and western sides of the chain. Gray limestone is found at the base of the hills and along the valleys. The predominant ingredients are muriate and sulphate of lime and carbonated oxide of iron, as we learn from an analysis by Dr. McNeven. On exposure to the air the iron is precipitated, and the water has then such slight sensibh^ properties that it maybe used for making tea. It will not bear transporta- tion, even in corked bottles, without this pre- cipitation taking place. As a pure carbonated chalybeate, the water of Schooley's Mountain Spring is well adapted to a variety of chronic maladies marked chiefly by anemia, debility, and mucous dis- charges, in which there is no inflammation of an organ present. Its tendency to induce constipation must be watched, and this effect corrected by the use of mild aperients. Schooley's Mountain, near the summit of SCIIOOLEY'S MOUNTAIN SPRING. 151 wLich is the spring, is supposed to be about 1,100 feet above the Icv I of the sea. It forms part of the central granitic chain which extends in a northeast and southwest direc- tion across the Stnte of New Jersey, from the Delaware to the Hudson Eiver. ]7roni the top of the mountain a turnpike road runs northward to Sussex, another westward to Easton, a third eastward to 'Now York, and a fourth southward towards Trenton. It is situated in Washai-ton Township, Morris County, nineteen miles northwest of Morristown, fifty from New York, seventy northeast from Philadelphia, and fifty-six from Trenton. From New York, the visitor to the springs will go to Morristown by rail- road and thence by stage, or to the Whi:;e House by railroad and thence by stage. The springs are reached from Philadelphia by way of New Brunswick, and thence by stage six miles to Bound Brook, on the New Jersey Central Eailroad. By this last he rea^aes the White House, and, again by stage, the springs. In addition to the houses for the accom- modation of visitors there are others differ- i :% if 152 :mineral and thermal springs. ently occupied, and a churcli and scliool- house, together with a post-office. Among the amusements are fishing and boating on Budd's Pond, a beautiful sheet of water two miles in length by one in breadth, seven miles distant from the spring. The student and lover of geology may also find abundant materials to engage his attention and help him to wile away many an hour. — {Gordon's Gazetteer of New Jersey) ili,^;. CHAPTER X.-- Pennsylvania Springs. — In noticing the mineral springs of this State, I begin with The Bedford Springs, — These rank fore- most in Pennsylvania on account of their mineral properties and medicinal effects, and their mountain elevation and scenery. They are two miles from the town from which they derive their name, and less than two hundred miles from Philadelphia, and not one hundred from Pittsburg, on the great turnpike between * The contents of this chapter may be found in the first part of the volume. BEDFORD SrRINGS. 153 these two cities; they are one hundred miles from Ilarrisburg, one hundred and thirt}^ from Baltimore, and the same distance from Washington. The water ot the chief spring (Anderson's) is a saline chalybeate. Others have received the designations of Fletcher's, or the U2^2^er Sjmng, Limestone, Sweet, Sul- phur, and Cliahjheate. The most active in- gredients in the first or main spring are sulphate of magnesia and carbonate of iron. The temperature of the water is 55° F., which must be somewhat higher than the com.mon springs of this region. The Bedford aters have acquired de- served celebrity a\ indigestion and chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, and in renal dis- eases, in which the inflammation or inflam- matory excitement has subsided, and there reraams an atonic and enfeebled condition of the organs. In r lerine and in cutaneous diseases which have reached this stage and assumed a chronic character, they are, also, of decided benefit. The gouty and rheuma- tic, in whom there is no plethora or cerebral determination, have also reason to speak well of these waters. ** I i 154 MINEEAL AND THERilAL SPRINGS. These prominent features of the Bedford Springs being premised, it may not be amiss to add a few particulars of their history and locality, and of their therapeutical value in some diseases not mentioned in the preced- ing paragraph. The discovery of the remedial virtues of the Bedford waters only dates about half a century back. "In the year 1804 a mecha- nic of Bedford, when fishing for trout in the stream near the principal fountain, was at- tracted by the beauty and singularity of the waters flowing from the bank, and drank freely of them. They proved purgative and sudorific. He had suffered many years from rheumatic pains and formi^"^ ible ulcers on the legs. On the ensuing night he was more free from pain, and slept more tranquilly than usual; and this unexpected relief induced him to drink daily of the waters, and to bathe his limbs in the fountain. In a few weeks he was entirely cured. The happy effect which they had on this patient led others, laboring under various chronic dis- eases, to the springs. In the summer of 1805, many valetudinarians came in carriages, SITUATION OF THE SPEIXGS. loo and encamped in the valley, to seek from the munificent hand of nature their lost health." — Gordon^ Gazetteer of the State of Penn- sylvania. The springs, with the exception of the chalybeate, are situated in Shover's Yalley, which lies between Constitution Hill, on the east, and Federal Hill on the west. The val- ley is watered by Shover's Creek, which passes through it, and discharges itself into the Eaystown branch of the Juniata River about a mile east of the town. On the chief points which may be supposed to engage the attention of invalids visiting the Bedford Springs, Dr. Church* writes so pleasantly and so well that I shall use his language on the occasion rather than attempt a condensed description, which would not probably be so clear or satisfactory. The eulogy of the curative powers of the waters is strong, but judging from my own expe- rience of their efficacy, in a variety of cases in which I have prescribed them in Philadel- phia, it can hardly be deemed overwrought. * An Analysis of the Waters of the Bedford Mineral Springs. :jal IH i . \ ; 1 s1m.i1 1 156 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. The use of these waters is contraindicated in plethoric habits, with determination of blood to the head, or with abdominal con- gestion and a predisposition to active he- morrhages, or during a paroxysmal state of gout, even though it be the wandering kind, and, also, in subacute rheumatism. In early life, when a student of medicine, I used to listen to the personal experience of the effects of the Bedford water on a highly intelligent and observing gentleman, brother of the late Professor Benjamin Smith Barton. He said that on one occasion he visited the springs, and began to use the water when he was still excited and some- what feverish by his journey, a condition of which he complained before he left home. The consequence was a sharp " bilious attack," of some days' duration. On another occasion, for he was a regular visitor to the springs, while laboring under a predisposition to the disease, he had an attack of gout, owing, as he believed, to his beginning to drink the waters before he was prepared by rest, regi- "men, and some cooling remedies. For the most part he returned home in greatly Anderson's spring. 157 amended health, and enjoyed longer exemp- tion from an attack of gout — a disease to which he was subject. Dr. Church will now tell us about these famed waters. - ^^ Anderson' Sj or the Principal Spring^ issues in a very copious stream, from a fissure in a limestone rock, on the west side of Constitu- tion ilill, about thirty feet above the level of Shover's Creek, and is situated within twenty yards of the verge of the bank of the creek. The water is clear, lively, and sparkling. At ten A. M., on the 28th of May, 1825, the temperature of the water in the spring was 58° F., while that of the surrounding atmo- sphere was 70° of the same scale. Its spe- cific gravity is 1.029. It has a peculiar saline taste, resembling a weak solution of Epsom salts in water, impregnated with carbonic acid, and exhales no perceptible odor. On exposure in an open vessel to the air, it be- comes vapid, but does not become turbid, or deposit a sediment. The water deposits car- bonate of iron on those substance over which it constantly flows. Limestone, iron ore, 14 158 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. calcareous and silicious substances, abound about the spring." Analysis hy Dr. Church. — "A quart of water, evaporated to dryness, gave thirty-one grains of a residuum. The same quantity of water, treated agreeably to the rule laid down by Westrumb, contained eighteen and a half cubic inches of carbonic acid gas. The re- siduum, treated according to the rules given by Dr. Henry, in his system of chemistry, gave the following result: — Sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts Sulphate of lime Muriate of soda Muriate of lime Carbonate of iron Carbonate of lime Loss Grains. 20 ^ 5. 4 2 To -which must be added 18^ cubic inches of carbouic acid gas. " Fletcher^ s^ or the Upper Spriyig^ issues from a fissure in a limestone rock, on the west side of Constitution Hill, about one hundred and iirty yards south of Anderson's Spring. It is also a copious spring. At ten A. M., on ANALYSIS OF THE WATERS. 159 the 2Stli of May, 1825, the temperature of the water in the spring was 55° F., while that of the surrounding atmosphere was 70° of the same scale. The foregoing ex- periments, made on this water, gave rather more iron and common salt, less magnesia, and about the same proportion of the other substances. And the general observations made regarding Anderson's Spring, are equal- ly applicable to this one. " It gives me great pleasure to state that the foregoing analysis of these waters, con- firms that made a few years ago by one of the first chemists of the nation."^ They fur- nished, by this analysis, " 1st. Carbonate of lime, with excess of acid. 2d. Sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom salts. 8d. Sulphate of lime, small quantity. 4:th. Muriate of mag- nesia. 5th. Carbonated oxide of iron." The Board of Managers of the Springs, in their circular letter, very justly observe that, from the results given, it is plain these waters must be laxative and tonic ; and ex- perience has amply proved that they pos- sess these effects in a high degree. They i >r. M. recommends the invalid to rise early, and, before dressing, to drink half a pint of the water in his room. Eepairing to the spring, he will there drink another tumbler- ful of water, and repeat this process until five are taken at intervals of at least ten minutes. A brisk walk should be taken during each interval. « Two hours should be occupied in the drinking and walking before breakfast, * Medical Examiner, June, 1852. 168 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. during which time the skin and kidneys will pour forth an amount of fluid proportior>ed to the quantity which has been swallowed, and these secretions should be promoted by exercise adapted to the strength of the in- valid. The quantity mentioned will gene- rally occasion some three or four watery evacuations from the bowels, of a bright yel- low color, without pain or exhaustion. Should this not occur during the two hours following breakfast, another glass should be swallowed before dinner ; and in case the bowels should still resist the influence of the water, a dose of blue pill should be taken at bedtime, fol- lowed, in the morning, either by calcined magnesia, or the addition of Epsom salts to the water. I have never known the water to prove violently or painfully active, but in one person. In such an event the U3c - f it should be suspended." Dr. Morris's experience is coii> ^dent with my own in favor of the utility of ihe Bedford water in sick headache. I have found it, also, of the greatest service in other cases of distressing nausea with gastralgic pains and constipation. grs •) C0MPAK,4TIVE ANALYSES. 169 An analysis of the water undertaken by Dr. Cheston J., son of Dr. Caspar Morris, in the laboratory of Professor Booth, gave dif- ferent proportions of the salts from those de- tected by Dr. Church. Dr. C. J. Morris found in a pint of the water 11.274 grs. of the sid- phate of lime, and 3.974 giains of the sul- phate of magnesia ; whereas Dr. Church ex- hibits 20 grs. of this last salt, and but 8.705 of the sulphate of lime in a quart of the water. The chloride of sodium (muriate of soda), in Dr. Church's analysis, is 2.500 grs., and in that of Dr. Morris linle more than a third of a grain. Iron was believed by the former to exist in the state of a carbonate, by the latter in that of a sulphate, together with sulphate of aluminr ignored by Dr. C. Sulphate of soda, in the ^ roportion of ,^092 grs., mentioned by ^ Morris, does not ap- pear in the analysis of Dr. Church. The entire amount of soli-I contents found by the latter gentlemp.n was 31 grs., and by the former, preserving the same proportion of water, they would be 44.402 grs. The ab- sence of carbonic acid in Dr. Morris's analysis is explained by the llict of his havinn- exa- 15 ,,> li '':Ci8(tl f 170 MINEKAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. mined the water in Philadelpliia, at a dis- tance from the spring, and hence an escape of the gas. Within a day's ride of Bedford are the little town of Bath, in Virginia, and its ther- mal spring, of which further mention will soon be made. Chalybeate Spring^ near Pittsburg. — "Within four miles of Pittsburg is this spring, which lias been described and analyzed by Dr. Meade. " When the water remains undisturbed for a few hours, it is covered with a white pelli- cle ; its taste is lively and rather pungent, with a peculiar ferruginous flavor, and it ex- hales an odor of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. Its temperature is vjry generally uniform, and is of 54° F. The specific gravity of the water differs little from the purest water, and is as 1,002 to 1,000. " According to Dr. Meade's analysis, it con- tains muriate of soda, 2 grains ; muriate of magnesia, J grain ; oxide of iron, 1 grain ; sulphate of lime, J grain ; carbonic acid gas in one quart of water, 18 cubic inches. " Dr. M. thinks this water even superior, in a medicinal point of view, to the water of gas FRANKFORT MINERAL SPRING. 171 the Schoohy's Mountain Spring, which has long sustained a high character for its chaly- beate properties." Franlcfort Mineral jS/mngs.—J)r. Church, many j^ears ago, directed public attention to these springs. ' " Cave spring, which is the most consider- able, and to which there is the greatest resort, is very romantically situated within a large cave, on the farm of Mr. John Stevens, in Hanover Township, Beaver County, Penn- sylvania, about twenty-six miles southwest .of Pittsburg, and about one mile and a half northeast of the village of Frankfort. The cave is a great natural curiosity. It is exca- vated by nature out of a large hill, and is about sixty feet below the surface of the earth. It is overhung, and in some places arched over with large flat rocks, which are covered with calcareous incrustations, strongly impregnated with the sulphate of iron and alum.* " The water of Cave Spring would seem, from the analysis of Dr. Church, to contain the following substances: Carbonic acid, car- bonate of iron, carbonate of magnesia, sul- * rbiladelphia Medical and Physical Journal. \: i.i t if It 172 MINERAL AND TIIEintAL SPRINGS. pliuretted hydrogen gas, muriate of soda, and a minute portion of bitumen. "Leiper Spring, within a quarter of a mile of Frankfort, holds in solution rather more carbonate of iron and muriate of soda, less carbonate of magnesia, the same proportion of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, carbonic acid, and bitumen, than Cave Spring." Dr. Church, in reference to the medicinal employment of the Frankfort water, tells us, that when first drunk it sometimes excites nausea and vomiting. For the most part, however, the water sits well on the stomach. Some individuals, not very wisely, have drunk two or three quarts in the course of an hour, without its causing any sensation of weight or coldness at the stomach. It generally operates two or three times on the bowels, and very copiously by the kidneys. In some persons it produces vertigo and slight intoxi- cation. This water, to use the language of Dr. Church, "regulates the bowels, strengthens the stomach, improves the appetite astonish- ingly, clears the skin, promotes diaphoresis and great freedom of urination." " Drinking the water, with the use of the 'T'-r— YORK SPRINGS. i i O cold shower-bath, has been of great service to persons laboring under chronic rheuma- tism, grave], dyspepsia, asthma caused by gastric irritation, general debility of the sys- tem, and to convalescents from bilious fever and liver complaints. The nse of the water alone has cured several cases of cutaneous affections, such as herpes, psora, &c." Dr. C. mentions his own personal experience of entire cure of bad hemorrhoids, with which he had been affected for years, after drinkin^r the water during five or six days. Other persons had reported to him similar cases of entire relief. York jSjmngs.—TliGj were formerly much visited, especially by citizens of Baltimore. One of them is saline; and consists of 1.20 grains of sulphate of magnesia, 6 grains of sulphate of lime, and 4 of muriate of soda in a pint of water. The other is a strong chaly- beate. The water of the first is said to be diuretic and mildly cathartic. The chaly- beate will, of course, produce the same effects as others of its class. This place is readily reached by railroad from Philadelpliia and Baltimore. It is in Adams County, " two to I 'it. ITi MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. II I' i [ 'i^i j four hours ride of Gettysburg, Carlisle, Ilar- risburg, and Hanover." Ferry County Sjmngs.— These, erroneously called "warm," are so far thermal as to be, probably, 70° or 72° F., or fifteen to eighteen degrees higher than the common springs of the country ; and hence the water would fur- nish a pleasantly cool, approaching to a tem- perate bath. When drank, they are said to have a gentle aperient and a decidedly diuretic effect. Cutaneous diseases have been cured by the baths. They are situated on the banks of Sherman's Creek, eleven miles from Car- lisle, fourteen from Harrisburg, and the same distance from Duncannon on the Central Eail- road, and at the foot of Pisgah Mountain, in a district which allows of fine drives and rides. Carlisle Sprinys. — The water of these springs is a mild sulphureous one. They are within a short distance of the town of Carlisle, which is traversed by the railroad from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. The house for the reception of visitors is said to be well kept. Some springs of common water, such as DOUBLIXG GAP SPRINGS. 175 as the "ITogshead Spring," remarkable for the extreme purity and coolness of its water, and Setart's Spring for its great volume, so that it turns two mills at its origin, merit the notice of a visitor to the Carlisle Springs. The same may be said of the Cave, on the banks of the Conedoguinit Creek. Doubling Gap Saljjhureous and Chalyheate Springs— They are situated in a gap formed by the doubling of the Kittanny or North Mountain, about thirty miles southwest of Ilarrisburg, in Cumberland County. The Cumberland Valley Eailroad passes through Newville, distant eight miles from the springs, to which visitors are taken by stages. Professor Booth, of Philadelphia, writes respecting his analysis of the sulphur spring water as follows : — " The odor of sulphuretted hydrogen, per- ceived at some distance from the springs, imparts to this water the peculiar properties of sulphur springs. Besides this ingredient, I find that the water contains carbonate of soda and of magnesia, Glauber's salts, Epsom salts, and common salt, ingredients which give it an increased value. After removing' liii ill I )1 176 MINERAL AND TIIEKMAL SPRINGS. the excess of carbonic acid wliicli it contains, it gives an alkaline reaction." Of the other spring, he says: "The chaly- beate water readily yields a precipitate after ebullition or continued exposure to the excess of carbonic acid. Besides the bicarbonate of iron, which is the chief characteristic, it also contains Epsom salts, common salt, and car- bonate of magnesia." With a knowledge of the constituents of these waters, and of the curative powers of the respective classes, sulphureous and chalybeate, to which they belong, it will be easy to indicate the diseases and the condi- tions generally in which they can be used with benefit. The precise dose, either with a view to their aperient or other modes of action on the economy, must be a matter of experimental trial at the springs. Fayette Sjmng.—^^ In a deep glen on the eastern slope of Laurel Hill, and half a mile south of the iN'ational Koad, is the Fayette Spring." So wrote a correspondent of the North American and United States Gazette^ July, 1854. He adds : " The water is a chaly- beate, very cold, and of copious supply. The BLOSSBUKG SPRINGS. 177 attractions of tlie place arc the wild scenery, and refreshing coolness and elasticity of the pure mountain air. Pittsburg, Wheeling, and the smaller towns nearer the place, fur- nish the six score visitors who, with none of tliG flishionable but deleterious luxuries of the great watering places, enjoy themselves more rationally. It often rains, too; so I marvel not that men leave the valleys to en- joy here the blessings of showers and dew, of lightning and clouds, of mountains and hills, and all green things of the earth." Blosslurg Mineral .S>n/2r/5.— The town is in the region of the bituminous coal and iron mines of Tioga County, which borders on the State of :^rew York. It is connected by rail- road with Corning, in New York, and by this latter place with the New York and*^ Erie Railroad. It lies, also, about twenty miles west of the junction railroads between Phila- delphia and Elmira. The cross-road is rough and mountainous. The water of the Blossburg Springs, as far as I can learn from Dr. Edward flarts- horne, ranks them among the acid class. It probably contains, besides the excess of sul- IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 LI m M 2.2 2.0 1.8 125 1.4 1.6 M ^- 6" — ► Photographic Sciences Corporation S V \^^ *> 4 % V 6^ ^ "^^ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-45C3 ^ 178 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. pburic acid, sulphates of iron and of alumina, with sulphate of magnesia, and possesses the same therapeutic value as other waters of this kind. Dose, a tablespoon ful. There is a new and spacious hotel at Blossburg. Bath Chalyleate Springs.— At one time these springs used to be visited by many of the citizens of Philadelphia, on account, in good part, of ready access to them. They are a short distance, half a mile, from Bristol, on the Delaware. Dr. Benj. Kush wrote a notice of them in 1773. Besides these mineral springs of Pennsyl- vania now enumerated, there are cold springs of pure water, which, owing to their situation in a healthy and romantic district of country, and the facilities furnished for cold bathing, have acquired deserved vogue. Of these I shall notice — The Yellow Sjmngs.— Thej are in Chester County, thirty miles from Philadelphia, and are reached from this city twice daily by the Eeading railroad and stages. The view of the surrounding country is fine, and facili- ties are given for excursions in different di- rections. In addition to the natural baths EPHRATA SPRI^'GS. 179 by immersion, shower and douching, of the temperature of the chief spring, which is 53° F., warm ones are also supplied. The house is well kept, and the table really good. The Ephrata Mountain Springs. — These springs, situated in Lancaster County, are resorted to by large numbers of people every year. The scenery, the grounds around, the accommodations and means for baths of various temperatures, present strong induce- ments for visiting this spot. Caledonia Springs. — To the inhabitants of the city who have suffered from the wear and tear of business, to the invalid slowly re- covering from disease, to those who have be- come weakened and exhausted in the giddy round of pleasure, and to all who would like to see Nature in her nobler aspects, this spot is eminently inviting. A new scene and new associations of a genial and abiding character are opened to us, and, for a while, at least, we feel ourselves relieved from leaden cares, and enjoy a sense of unwonted freedom. While nature has been so bountiful in her mountain and woodland views, her pure and copious springs and streams, and a vivifying 180 MIXER AL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. and exhilarating air, art lias also contributed its share to the comforts of the visitors to this spot, who are received in a new, spa- cious, and well-ordered hotel, are comfort- ably lodged, and sit down to a table every way well supplied — the viands good, abund- ant, and prepared with due culinary skill. The Caledonia, long known as Sweeny's Cold Springs, have enjoyed, during many years past, quite a reputation, when used as a bath, for the cure of chronic rheumatism and various other diseases in which there is blendiug of still remaining febrile heat and irritation, with debility. Warm baths also are always to be had. The springs are situated at the foot of the South Mountain, which rises in the rear of the hotel, and in front they command an extensive view of alternate woods and fields, terminated by a semicircular sweep of the North Mount- ain. Temperature 52° F. Without meaning to undervalue the efficacy of mineral waters, the writer can recommend invalids or the weak, who wish to become stronger, to make the regular drinking of the singularly pure water of one of the springs, before breakl^^st and I CALEDONIA SPRINGS. 181 and before dinner, a part of the pleasant re- gimen of good eating, sound sleeping, and varied exercise, which he will enjoy at this favored spot. The reputation acquired during so loacr a period by the Malvern Springs in England, for the cnre of a large number of diseases' may well be participated in by the Cale- donia waters. Both of them are remarkable for their extreme purity, and both are appli- cable to the same curative ends when used as a bath and for drinking. The waters of Malvern sometimes purge, but more gene- rally produce constipation-— effects very ana- logous to those caused by a methodical drinking of the Caledonia waters. All of them have been found serviceable in chronic cutaneous disease, when used both extern- ally and internally. I would refer the reader to what was said of the Clarendon Springs in Vermont for additional suggestions. The Caledonia Springs are fifteen miles from Chambersburg ; the greater part of the road being the turnpike which unites this town with Gettysburg. Visitors, on their arrival by railroad from Philadelphia or Bal- 16 1' i LtJl 182 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. timore, are taken out immediately in omni- buses or other vehicles from Chambersburg to the springs, which they reach in the even- ing of the same day of their leaving either of the cities just named. The Brandy wine Springs in Delaiuare, once much resorted to, are no longer visited for the purposes of health or pleasure; and yet few spots in the Union present greater attrac- tions than these springs, in their elevated yet not too exposed situation, pure air, fine scenery and charming rides. They are with- in a few miles 5ight, I believe), of Wilming- ton. The water of the chief spring is a mild chalybeate. r BATH SPRING. 183 CHAPTER XL Virginia— Tts numerous mineral and thermal springs I3ath (Berkley County)— Jordan's White Sulphur Ca- pon— Fauquier or Warrenton— " Virginia Springs"— The Bath Alum— Rockbridge Alum— Volcanism and Thermalism- The Warm Springs— The Hot Springs- Group of Sulphur Springs— The White Sulphur. YiRGiNiA is peculiarly rich in mineral springs, and, until the acquisition of Califor- nia and New Mexico, had more thermal ones than any other portion of the United States. Beginning with those in the north and ad- vancing to the south, we first meet with— The Bath (Berkley County) Sprixg.— This is a mild carbonated thermal water of the temperature of 73° F., the same as that which in England, by a strange blunder, is called Bristol Hot Well. It has been very serviceable in a variety of chronic diseases, when used as a bath. Persons who went there crippled with chronic rheumatism have come away quite restored to the free use of their limbs, and as agile in all their move- MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ments as the country people around. The internal use of the water, which holds in solution some of the salts of lime and mag- nesia, merits more attention than it has generally received, especially in atonic and irritable' dyspepsia and chronic bowel dis- eases. In irritable bladder and the tendency to lithic acid deposits it will also be found useful. The dose of the Bristol, or, as it is now called, Clifton water, is two half pints, with some interval between them, before breakfast, and the same cpantity between breakfast and dinner. Bath is within a short distance of the Bal- timore and Ohio Eailroad, if we are not mis- taken; and, as already stated, it is not far from Bedford, Pennsylvania. The hotels are well kept. Shannondale Saline Springs. — These springs are within a few miles of Charlestown, Jefferson County, through which the railroad from Harper's Ferry to Winchester passes. There visitors take stages, and, after a ride of five miles, are at the Springs. The water acts as a mild aperient and diuretic, and is adapted, in consequence, to a large circle of gone nnd g the \ ^T JORDAN'S WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 185 diseases in which a gradual reducing process of chronic inflammation and irritation is gone i^hroagh without pain or annoyance, pr'Q with an improvement of the appetite nnd general suenglh. The springs are near the brnks of the Shenandoah Eiver, the 3-v-ui of wh.ose A'vacers is heard with an agreeaole eiiect n the hotel on the hill where the visitors arc quartered. There are few spots in the Union which present so man}^ natural advantages and capabilities for ex- tended waLvS, gardens, and groves as Shan- nondale. Jordan's White Sulphur Springs.— They are about five or six miles from Win- chester, and two miles from the railroad be- tween this town and Harper's Ferry. Pas- sengers leaving Baltimore in the morning will reach the springs about three in the afternoon. The waters are serviceable in chronic dyspepsia with a torpid sta^.e of the liver, chronic rheumatism, cutaneous affec- tions, and the debility left by fevers. Many of the visitors to the upper or moun- tain springs in the southwestern part of the State, spend a few days here on their return 16* im h\ MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. to the north; and those from the Eastern Shore and Northern Neck linger late in the season, until it is safe for them to go home, with a prospect of escaping an attack of their endemic fevers. Capon Springs. — These have come greatly into vogue of late years, and, as it would seem, not without good reason. The water is beneiicial in certain forms of dyspepsia and in renal affections, especially, as we are told, in the lithic acid diathesis. The arrange- ments for cold bathing are on a large scale, and the baths of a superior kind. Warm bathing can also be enjoyed by those who claim it, either as a hygienic agent or a remedy in disease. Mountain air largely inhaled gives a keener relish for the moun- tain mutton, of which the lovers of good cheer speak so highly at this place. A hotel of the first class has been erected, and furnishes good quarters to a large number of visitors. Not a few have their own houses and cabins. The Capon Springs are about thirty miles from Winchester. Whether for fear of di- minishing the reputation of the water as a I WAERENTON WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 187 medicinal agent, bj showing how very slight is its mineral impregnation, or owing to the indolence of the parties more directly in- terested in the question, we cannot say ; but, as yet, there has been no analysis made, or, at any rate, reported, which has come under my notice. Fauquier or Waerenton White Sul- PHURSpRmGS.— They derive their first name from the county, the second from the town near to which (six and a half miles) they are situated. They are thus within a few miles of the railroad from Alexandria to Wan en- ton, and at the same distance to the one from Staunton via Gordonsville, which traverses the valley ; and they are reached by stages from Winchester. The waters are of a mild sulphureous na- ture, but of the proportion of their gaseous and solid contents we are ignorant. Numer- ous cases are recorded of their efficacy in dyspepsia, chronic diarrhoea and chronic rheum,atism, also in renal affections and dis- orders of females, but without very minute specification of the organic lesions in these latter. m ii ii^ -HI ilk 188 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Superior attractions to those of the waters are oflbred to the crowd of visitors in a noble mansion as a hotel, extensile and tastefully arranged grounds, ornamented with shrub- beries and parterres. In addition to the maiix building or pavilion, which has a portico on its western front commanding a view of the lawn and an extensive picturesque region beyond, there are several brick buildings of a large size. Ample provision is made for all the varieties of bathing. Traversing the beautiful and fertile region, knov/n as the Valley, between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains, which begins at Harper's Ferrj^, and ends at the Natural Bridge, south of Lexington, we find ourselves in the region of the celebrated "Virginia Springs." We know of no part of the world, of the same extent, which is marked by such a number and variety of mineral and thermal springs as the one now under notice. It pos- sesses, at the same time, the advantages of a fine climate and scenery of a highly diversi- fied character. The company at the several springs, free from aristocratic pretensions and ridiculous attempts at exclusiveness, always ■^m III jwianpi BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 180 exhibits a large share of int'-l^igencO; good taste and sociability. The i? .sioi. of the Virginian or southern element— a frank, cor- dial address and good hum >•— adds not a little to the pleasures of the nonhern visitors, who, with excellent intentions, are not re- markable for that ease of manner and confid- ing speech which invite intimacy. Leaving Staunton, with a design to visit the "springs," we shape our course west, and at a distance of forty-five railes in that direc- tion, we reach — The Bath Ahwo Springs. — They are on the main road from Eichmond to Guyandotte on the Ohio Eiver, at the eastern base oi the Warm Spring Mountain, and a few miles east of these springs on the direct road fro.ii Staunton to the White Sulphur Springs. An analysis of the water of one of the Bath Alum Springs, that most used, by Dr. Hayes, of Boston, shows it to contain, in a gallon, nearly fifty-five grains of saline sub- stances, and of carbonic and sulphuric acids. Those most active are the salts of iron and alumina, and on them and the free sulphuric acid, the sensible properties and curative iif m 190 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. powers of these waters in a great measure depend. Being a strong tonic and astringent, it is easy to indicate a number of diseases in which they must be of service, and, already, experience has proved in many respects what a 2^^^on reasoning would have suggested re- specting their beneficial operation. We may specify, as first on the list, chronic affections of the digestive mucous membranes, includ- ing those of the throat, stomach, and bowels, and marked by feebleness or imperfection of function and morbid secretions. Similar praise may be extended to it in chronic rheu- matism, chronic diseases of the urinary and generative organs, and cutaneous diseases. Chronic ulcers, simulating cancers, and scro- fula have been greatly relieved, and in some cases entirely cured by the methodical drink- ing of these waters — a result quickened by their external application to the sore or tumor. The accommodations for the reception and entertainment of visitors are represented to be of a superior kind at these springs. Bockbndge A lum Spriyigs. — If, in place of turning off west from Staunton, we were to w ROCKBRIDGE AND BATH SPRINGS. 191 go further south, to Lexington and the Na- tural Bridge, and then visit the Warm Springs, we should meet with these alum springs on the road. They are seventeen miles from Lexington, thirty-three from the Natural Bridge, and twenty-two from the Warm Springs, by way of the Bach Alum ones, in a valley between the North Mountain on the east and the Mill Mountain on the west. The composition of the waters of these springs, as ascertained by Dr. Hayes, is simi- lar to that of the Bath Alum Waters, and both of them resemble those of the Oak Or- chard Springs in New York. The Eock- bridge water is stronger in the proportion of free sulphuric acid and the sulphate of alu- mina, but contains less iron than the Bath waters. Its use is applicable to the same diseases in which the other is beneficial, with the modifications required by the differences in chemical composition just now stated. The following are the analyses of the two springs by Dr. Hayes : — In order to show at a glance the compara- tive composition of the two springs de- scribed, I give them in a tabular form. I iil! 192 MINEKAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. In a gallon of the water are found — Rockbridge. Bath. Sulphate of potash . 1.755 0.258 " lime . 3.263 2.539 ** magnesia . 1.763 1.282 ** protoxide iron . 4.863 21.776 Alumina . 17.905 12.293 Crenate of ammonia . 0.700 1.776 Chloride of sodium . 1.008 Silicic acid . . 2.840 Silicate soda, 0.150 Free sulphuric acid . 15.224 7.878 Carbonic acid . 7 536 3.846 56.867 54.798 Pure water . . 58315.133 58317.202 58372.000 58372.000 Volcanism and Thermal Springs. — Now that we are approaching the region of ther- mal springs, it will be well to inquire into their geological relations, and to see whether here, as in so many other parts of the world, they are not associated with faults, and .other evidences of disturbance and disruption, by which the strata have been converted from their horizontal position, into sharp angles and breaks. Changes of this nature, evincing the operation of a deep-seated cause, usually referred to igneous or volcanic forces, were laical la. FAULTS — THERMAL SPRTN"GS. 193 alluded to when speaking of the gaseous and thermal springs of New York. Primitive mountain chains, although they rnay not present on their surface volcaric products, bear undoubted marks of igneous origin, and of having been upheaved during a period of the greatest activity of what may be caJed general volcanism. Professor Forbes, of Edinburgh, in his visit to the springs of the Pyrenees, has shown that the majority of those of a thermal character, gush out at or near the line of junction between the granite or other igneous pro- ducts, and the stratified rock, resting upon its flanks. "In a great many instances it happens that part of the springs rise from granite, and part from the slate or limestone in connection with it." Thus, as Dr. Dau- beny remarks, the same agent which forced up the granite through the axis of the chain, may have given rise to he hot springs which accompany it, just along the line of disruption. He points out a similar geolo- gical character of the rocks whence issue the thermal waters of Dauphiny, Savoy, Valais, and Upper Piedmont, and, also, the 17 4 194 MINERAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. interesting fact of the contiguity of some springs to remarkable dislocations of tlie strata. Examples of this nature are pre- sented at Aix, Carlsbad, Pfeffers, and other thermal springs in Switzerland ; and at Clif- ton and Matlock, in England* These views are strongly corroborated by the situation of the thermal waters in the beautiful mountain region of "Western Vir- ginia, which Dr. D. visited in 1838. Dr. Wm. B. Eogers has given his views on the subject in a paper entitled "The Connection of Thermal Springs with Anticlinal Axes and Faults." In common with G. Bischof, Dr. E. believes that the expletive, thermal, is applicable to springs whose temperature ex- ceeds that of the atmospheric mean of the region in which they are situated. He then expresses his conviction, based on his own observations made from time to time, during a period of eight years, that a great propor- tion of the copious and constant springs of the vast belt of mountains occupied by the I'- ll ^ Description of Active and Extinct Volcanoes, of Earthquakes, and of Thermal Springs. ANTICLINAL AXES. 195 Appalachian range, especially tliose of the great limestone valley of Virginia, "are truly, though slightly, thermal, and that they owe to a deep subterranean source, the remark- able uniformity of temperature they exhibit." His notices on the present occasion are, how- ever, restricted to those which are decidedly and unequivocally thermal. Of the Jifty-six springs enumerated by Dr. Kogers, embracing twenty-five distinct lines, and individual localities, situated in various and remote parts of the valley, and the mountainous belt adjoining it, on the north- west, making, in all, an area of about fifteen thousand square miles, forty-six springs are situated on or adjacent to anticlinal axes, seven on or near lines of faults and inversion, and tJiree^ the only group of this kind yet known in Virginia, close to the point of junction of the Appalachian with the Hypo- gene (primitive) rocks. This author thinks himself justified in an- nouncing the prevailing law in reference to the more decided thermal springs of Virginia; and he believes that in the other parts of the Appalachian belt, they issue from the lines of m 196 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. h anticlinal axes^ or from j^oirds very near such lines. He introduces sections witb suitable explanations confirmatory of the above views, and at the same time imparting just concep- tions of the geological structure of the dis- tricts in which the thermal waters are situ- ated. The celebrated White Sulphur Spring is regarded by Dr. Rogers as decidedly thermal, for, although fluctuating in temperature, its waters, he thinks, never indicate less than ten degrees above the atmospheric mean. "While agreeing in some respects with the views so ably advocated by Dr. Daubeny, in relation to the evolution of the gases, and to other matters associated with thermal waters, the Virginia professor is not, by any means, prepared to adopt the hypothesis of the chemical action of the metallic bases of the alkalies and earths, nor to accede to the opinion that the heat of our thermal springs, as well as that of the rocks from which it is directly derived, is due to what is usually termed volcanic action. In explaining the phenomena of thermal waters, we ought, he very properly argues. VaRM springs — BATH COUNTY. 197 to try and do it b}'' explaining the chemical 2)roperties of the rocks, in connection with a generally diffused internal heat. lie directs attention to the almost entire absence, over the vast surface of the A-ppalachian region, of ig- neous or volcanic rocks ; and sees in the pecu- liar position of our thermals in reference to axes, simply those mechanical conditions ichich favor the access of air and ivater to the deeper seated, and, therefore, hot strata in the interior, and their expulsion at the surface. As bearing on the subject now before us, it may be Avell to state, for the information of the reader, that, as we learn from Captain Newbold, a majority of the springs of India which can be strictly called thermal, occur at or near lines of great faults, occasioned by the upheaving of plutonic rocks. A similar remark may be extended to some of the hot springs of Asia Minor. Warm Springs. — They are situated in a valley in the county of Bath, between two ranges of mountains, one hundred and seventy miles from Kichmond, and fifty from Staunton, on the turnpike road which leads to the Ohio. There is not a more delightful 17* illi 198 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. m ml ")i /■ ii natural warm batli to be found in any part of the world than is obtained in the reservoir which receives the water of the chief spring. Its temperature, at first 98° F., is soon re- duced to 96°; and for mere luxurious enjoy- ment it would merit a visit from Hudson's Bay, not to speak of Canada or New Eng- Iv. A. The large bath is of an octagonal form, 38 feet in diameter, and, on an average, five feet deep. Nitrogen is largely evolved, and in small quantities carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen gases. The solid contents are in small quantity; not tv/enty four grains in a gallon of the water. In ad- dition to the large octagonal bath, there are now a ladies' bath and a spout bath, and also a cold plunging bath near the chief warm one. The quantity of water given out by the warm spring has been estimated to be a thousand gallons a minute. All that has been said of the enjoyment from warm bathing, and its utility in a long list of diseases, is applicable to the extern?! use of the Warm Spring water. Adequate attention is not paid to the systematic use, internally, of this water, which, although " ffi m WARM SPRINGS IN DISEASE. 199 possessed of little mineral strength, might be made a powerful and an efficacious auxil- iary to the bath. In plethoric and intlamma- tory states of the system, and with a tendency to cerebral determination and excitement, caution must be displayed in the large or prolonged employment of this double re- medy; for, although the temperature is such as to bring it within the limits of the warm bath, it comes so near the hot as to prove, in some cases, a =?timulant, and, as such, it is not to be trifled with under the circumstances just mentioned. The house at the springs is one of the best. If we wish to appreciate at their full value the remedial virtues of methodical bathing at the "Warm Springs" in Virginia, we ought to learn the results from long and recorded experience of the use of the bath of nearly the same temperature at the warm springs of Wildbad in Germany. On this point I have written elsewhere, in some detail, as the reader may satisfy himself by reference to my volume on Baths and the Watery Regimen^ in which will be found an enumeration of the B J 't. 200 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. HI 1 H diseases successfull}'' treated by a course of bathing at Wildbad. Objection will not, I suppose, be made to my repeating, in part, what is said in that work. " Paralysis, both of the lower extremities and of one side of the body, has been, in many cases, entirely removed by a course of bathing at Wildbad. Before any ameliora- tion takes place, the patient generally expe- riences some pricking pains and tinglings in the paralyzed parts, followed by a sense of heat, perspiration, and increase of feeling. To these symptoms succeed a gradual resto- ration of muscular power, accompanied by a sense of electrical shocks passing along the nerves. " Paralytic persons, of a full or plethoric habit, or whose circulation is active, should watch the effects of the warm bath, and make, at first, but moderate use of it. " The baths at Wildbad are lauded for their remedial powers in affections of the joints, white swellings, and contractions ; and, also, in lumbago and sciatica. " Diseases of the ckin are, in a more espe- WILDBAD WATERS. 201 cial manner, overcome by these baths. Those specified are, herpes, prurigo, ptyriasis, acne, inveterate itch, fetid perspirations, kc. "The baths at Wildbad, conjoined with the internal use of the water, at a tempera- ture of 92° F., are efficacious in scrofula and chronic aff^tions of the glands generally, including enlargements of the liver, spleen, and mesenteric glands. " The water of Wildbad, like that of Wis- baden and Leuk, may be regarded as a pure thermal water. "In chlorosis and sterility, not rlnpending on organic affections of the uterus or ovaries, the "Wildbad baths have displayed excellent effects. " ' The Wildbad baths are celebrated for the removal of those various pains and aches which not seldom attend old gunshot and other wounds. A case is related of an officer who had been wounded in the arm by a musket-ball, in the late war, and who was harassed by pains in the site of the wound many years afterwards. The use of the AYildbad baths reopened the wound, from I 202 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. w"hence a piece of flannel was discliargeJ, and the pain ceased.''^ " Counter-indications to the use of the Warru Bath. — From its effects in retarding the cir- culanon, the warm bath is not adapted to the plethoric, nor to those suffering from active conp^estion of the great viscera, or from hem- orrhage, which is so generally associated with congestion. Hence, its use is not proper for the apoplectically disposed^ nor for those who labor under cardiac aneurism, or a varicose state of the vessels generally. The habitually feeble, and they who have been weakened by violent disease, will, also, avoid the warm bath, unless tlioy have, cit the same time, a febricula or febrile irritation, which this remedy will remove. The tonic effects which I attribute to the warm bath, are indi- rect, and depend on its abating excessive ex- citement or irritation, and unless these states are present, its contra-stimulant action will only increase the existing debility. " In all cases of doubtful propriety, or in which a trial is about to be made of the * Johnson — Pilgrimages to the Spas, &c. THE BATH AT WILDBAD. 203 warm bath, as a means of cure, the immer- sion, at first, should be for a brief peiiod — five to ten or fifteen minutes." And again i have said, "At our own, as at the German thermal springs, the good effecis of the bathing may be increased by drinking of the water, which is lilightly lax- ative and diuretic, and more evidently dia- phoretic. "Making some allowances for a lively imagination. Dr. Granville's* account of his sensations in the ba'h at Wildbad, may very well be received as descriptive of those en- joyed by a bather in the Warm Springs of Virginia. He writes as follows: 'After de- scending a few steps from the dressing-room into the bath-room, I walked over the warm soft sand to the farthest end of the bath, and I laid myself down upon it- near the princi- pal spring, resting my head on a clean wooden pillow. The soothing effect of tlie water as it '.me over me, up to the throat, transparent like the brightest gem or aqua- marine, soft, genially warm, and gently mur- * Spas of Germany. li 204 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ' n muring, T shall never forget. Millions of bubbles of gas rose from the sand, and play- ed around me, quivering through the lucid water as they ascended, and bursting at the surface to be succeeded by others. The sen- sations produced by these, as many of tbem, with their tremulous motion, just effleuraient the surface of the body, like the much- vaunt- ed effect of titillation in animal magnetism, is not to be described. It partakes of tran- quillity and exhilaration ; of the ecstatic state of a devotee^ blended ivith the repose of an opiurii- eater. The head is calm^ the heart is calm, every sense is calm; yet there is neither drowsiness^ stupefaction^ 7ior numbness ; for every feeling is fresher, and the memory of worldly pleasures keen and sharp. But the operations of the moral as well as physical man are under the spell of some powerfully tranquillizing agent. It is the human tempest lulled into all the delicious playings of the ocean's after- waves. From such a position I willingly would never have stirred. To prolong its delicious effects, what would I not have given ! but the badmeister appeared at the top of the steps of the farther door, and warned me to eschew is danj greatl;) "'I meter told m few mi imagin Eeaun: found whene^ of san( gaged which not to warm 1 At ; of the 112° F temper and 99 both S( regulat engage^ ing, ch ing the SOCIAL BATHING AT LEUK. 205 eschew the danger of my situation ; for there is clanger even in such pleasures as these, if greatly prolonged. " 'I looked at the watch and the thermo- meter before I quitted my station. The one told me I had passed a whole hour in the few minutes I had spent according to my imagination, and the other marked 29J° of Keaumur, or 98i° of Fahrenheit. But I found the temperature warmer than that, whenever, with my hand, I dug into the bed of sand, as far down as the rock, and disen- gaged myriads of bubbles of heated air, which imparted to the skin a satiny softness not to be observed in the effects of ordinary warm baths.' " At Leu;:, or Loeche, in the Yalais, four of the baths supplied by hot water, from 112° F. to 124° F., are brought down to the temperatures respectively of 95°, 96°, 98°, and 99° F. In them a number of bathers of both sexes, suitably attired after a strictly regulated costume, spend hours at a time, engaged the while in conversation, read- ing, chess, sewing, taking tea, &c. Count- ing the two periods of bathing, the first in 18 ii M^ 206 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. the morning and tlie second in the afternoon, the whole time spent in the bath daily is from two to eight hours. The ordinary pe- riod of bathing, or cure, as it is called, is twenty-five days. Two or more seasons are often deemed requisite for a single cure. The water is used internally as well as ex- ternally, sometimes in conjunction with the bath, sometimes by itself. The time of drinking is in the morning, fasting. The quantity drunk is from two to ten glasses, with an interval of between ten and fifteen minutes between each two. There are eighteen or twenty large public baths, varying in size from eight feet by eleven, to eighteen by thirty, and each capa- ble of containing from fifteen to thirty-five persons, according to its size. Smaller ones hold from four to six. It may be a question how far the leuker- bad should be imitated in our thermal springs, by invalids laboring under a certain class or classes of infirmities and disorders. I have mentioned, in my volume, other places in which this bathing in company is practised. A description is also given of the plan of TRANSITION BATHING. 207 Pomme, who directed liis patients to spend many hours a day in the bath. I shall not repeat here what was said in that work of the several diseases for the cure of which the warm bath is resorted to. In dwelling on the luxurious and salutary effects of the bath at the Warm Springs, we must not forget the internal use of the water, to which allusion has been already made. It acts on the skin, kidneys, and glandular or- gans generally, and in this way, with the ad- dition of a slight aperient operation, it ope- rates as a gentle but efficient alterative in irritable as well as in atonic dyspepsia, and restores suspended, and removes perverted secretions, as well hepatic and uterine as cutaneous. To derive the fullest effects from the water as a drink, its use in this way ought to be aided by the bath. The quantity will vary from two (half-pint) glasses to six or even eight glasses daily. A cold bath plentifully supplied, adjoin- ing the gentlemen's warm bath, allows of transition bathing, of which I have spoken in my other work On Baths ^ kc. Some- times, for hygienic comfort, sometimes in I I 208 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. I, I : I 9, 1 ll' disease under suitable directions, this plar merits occasional trials. The fever of reac- tion from bathing in the Wildbad water, spoken of as a matter of course by most German and some English writers on the " Spas," has been too much dwelt on. We are not to look for its frequent occurrence in our " Warm Spring" baths. Hot Springs.— These springs are situated five mile west of the Warm, and in the same county o Bath. The hotel and cabins have little in their appearance to recommend them, but the table is good. The water of the baths — six in number — is from 98° to 106° F., and it is so distributed as to allow of its use by imm^ersion in the common way, and by the douche or spout. Dr. Goode, the proprietor, exercises a general supervision. As no person in his senses ought to take a hot bath, in common health or for mere plea- sure, these waters a resorted to by the sick and invalid, and hence there is not the crowd at the Hot which is so common at the other springs, especially the White Sulphur. They are too powerful to be had recourse to except under medical guidance. As ex- citants of the first class, they are only adapted ENGLISH BATH WATERS. 209 to diseases of functional debility, without inflammation or active congestion, or fever. In chronic rheumatism and gout, and in chronic stomachic and intestinal diseases, in -which the circulation is languid and the skin cold or clamm.y, and tongue moist, and there is an absence of thirst, the hot bath and hot douche and drinking the hot v/ater display, often, won- derfully restorative powers. So, also, in tumid livers and spleens after a subsidence of fever and phlogosis, in paralysis where the brain has recovered its functions, and in stiff and anchylosed joints and indolent and scrofulous tumors, old ulcers and chronic diseases of the skin, especially of the scaly kind, these means deserve a full trial. The application of hot water by douching adds greatly to its power. Nine-tenths of the patients who resort to hot bathing at Bath, England, the tempera- ture of the water being upwards of 100° F,, are paralytic. Of these, more than two- thirds are either cured or receive great benefit. All these patients were bathed twice a week, and many of them three times. The mode of bathing consisted in immersion, and douch- 18 7? 210 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. V:l iii'i ; I ing with tlie aid of tborough friction and sliara- pooing. The exciting and diaphoretic effects of the bath are greatly increased by drinking the water. Hot douches or spout bathing is an important variety of the hot bath, and adds greatly to its effects, whether for good or evil. The internal use of the water of the Hot Springs, like that of every other hot water, is attended with excitement of the circulation and nervous system, amounting to a kind of inebriation. Often it will be found, when drunk in the quantity of half a pint to a pint in the evening, to induce sleep in the pre- viously wakeful and restless. Where a gene- ral stimulant is required, the effects of which we can, in a great degree, measure in advance, this water may be had recourse to with great advantage — as, for example, in gastralgia and enteralgia, in weakened states of the stomach and bowels without fever or inflammation, and often accompanied by chronic diarrhoea and dysentery, and especially if the skin be habitually cold at the same time. The free use of hot water as a drink, aided by the warm and on occasions the hot bath, will replace, to the great comfort and lasting benefit of STAY AT THE HOT SPRINGS. 211 the patient, all tlie drugs from tlie sliop. Not only by its direct action on the digestive canal, as a mild aperient, but also by second- ary action on the skin as a diaphoretic, will it give early relief and often entirely cure these diseases. In other cases, where no pains are taken to aid its diaphoretic operation by ex- ternal warmth, it determines to the kidneys and increases their secretion. As a diluent and a soothing stimulant it will be often found of service in paroxysms of calculous disease, both renal and vesical, and particularly of the lithic acid variety. Dr. Falconer, in speak- ing of the Bath water as a drink, calls it antispasmodic, attenuant, antacid, expecto- rant and emmenagogue, sometimes inducing constipation, sometimes acting as an aperient; and he extols its use in diabetes when all other medicines, even the astringents had failed ; also in dropsy from suppressed per- spiration, and in hepatic obstructions, includ- ing those from biliary calculi. A period of a month to six weeks would be required to gi^^e full effect, in many diseases, to the use of the Hot Sprmg water by drink- ing and bathing. The quantity to be taken 212 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. '4 iu as a drink will vary witli the case and tlie degree of excitement following its use. As an alterative, from three to six half pints in the day, taken before meals and in the eve- ning, will be sufficient. As a diaphoretic, to produce copious and continued sweating, with confinement of the patient to bed, it may be drunk more freely. The use of this water is contra-indicated in hypertrophy of the heart, aneurism, general and especially cerebral plethora, in hemorrhages actual or threatened in either sex, and in inflammation or fever of any violence ; also during preg- nancy. THE GROUP OF SULPHUR SPRINGS. On leaving the Hot Springs, the traveller reaches, afttr a journey of thirty-five miles in a southwestern direction, the White Sulphur Springs ; and if he continue on westwardly, he comes to the Blue Sulphur, distant twenty- two miles from the White. The Salt Sul- phur Springs are twenty-four miles southwest from the White, and the Ked Sulphur are seventeen miles farther on in the same direc- tion. This is not the place to speak of the ■ 1 ::| 1 1 l'^ Mmm i GROUP OF SULPHUR SPRINGS. 213 geological relations of these several springs, nor to inquire liow far they are all referable to the class of what have been called, of late, by some, Secondary or Accidental Sulphu- reous Springs, in contrast with those of the Pyrenees, chiefly thermal, by the way, which alone are thought to belong to the class of the Natural or Primary Sulphureous. For the latter has been claimed a therapeutic energy by no means proportionate to the amou..L of their constituent principles ; and hence some of them, with only a half or even a fourth of those contained in the secondary class, will, we are told, display much more curative power. These are points on which I can only enlarge with advantage in my larger work. Whatever result may be reached in an in- quiry of this kind, no one can contest the really curative v^ tues of the waters of this entire group ; at the same time, no one will de^^y that they are all endowed with such therapeutical energy that they must be either beneficial or mischievous, according to the wisdom of the prescriber in adapting their use to meet the requisite indications. Ko tk h Jiiii lU 11 21i MINERAL AND THERMAL SPR'XGS. visitor at a sulphur spring can gorge himself with the waters, for experiment or amuse- ment, with impunity. In fact, few remedies are as diffusive in their action on the animal frame, or as searching and alterative on the tissues, as the sulphureous. But, in order to produce their full and salutary effects, they ought to be administered in quantities, or doses, of moderate strength and for a length- ened period, and in that state of dilution in which they are found in mineral springs. By this means we shall avoid, in a great measure, that excitement and disturbance of function, resulting from the common indis- criminate use of the waters, which not seldom constitutes a disease itself, or brings back with aggravation the original malady they were intended to remove. Some, particularly the German physicians, insist on the necessity of a mo^"'^ld reaction of this kind, which they call bad-f-torm or commotion, especially after the prolonged use of baths of a high tem- perature. "Were we to admit this, it ought to be regarded as a conclusive reason for a longer time being taken and greater patience displayed by the invalid, and more watchful WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 215 superintendence on the part of the physician, than arc conceded for the treatment of a case of chronic disease at any of the sulphur springs. To do full, we ought rather to say common, justice to such a case, the methodical and regular use of the bath, together with drinking of the water, must be enjoined. White Sulphur S2)rings. — Experience has pretty well established the fact of the water of the White Sulphur Springs^ on Howard's Creek, the original "White Sulphur of Green- brier County, being the strongest, most ac- tive, and stimulating, and there^ "e, when misapplied, the most mischievous of the group, and the one which requires the great- est caution in its use. These matters will be regulated by physicians on the spot. Among them. Dr. Moorman has given us the result of his now somewhat long expe- rience of the remedial value of the White Sulphur water, in a small volume, entitled The Virginia Sjorings. He, or some other permanently resident physician, ought to be consulted by all the invalids, who propose to make use of the water of the White Sul- ki iiiH ii| 216 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. phur. The terr^jerature of tliis water, 57°, as stated by some, and 62° F., according to Dr. Moorman, is several degrees higlier than that of the common springs of the district, and makes it rank, in strictness, in the ther- mal class. The chief, or the Wliite Sulphur Spring, is at an elevation of two thousand feet above the level of the ocean. "It bursts with unusual boldness from rock-lined apertures, and is in- closed by marble casements five feet square, and three and a half feet deep." It yields, con- tinues Dr. Moorman, ab( it eighteen gallons per minute; and it is a remarkable fact that this quantity is not perceptibly increased or diminished during the longest period of wet or dry weather. While other springs of the country have failed during the long draughts of summer, this has invariably preserved " the even tenor of its way." " The water is most clear and transparent, and deposits copiously, as it flows over a rough and uneven surface, a vjhite^ and some- times, under peculiar circumstances, a red and black precipitate, composed in part of its saline ingredients. Its iastc and smell, fresh at the spring, are that of all waters strongly PROPERTIES OF THE WATER. 217 impregnated with sulphuretted hydrop^cn gas. When removed from the spring, and kept in an open vessel for a sufficient length of time for this gas to escape, or, when it has been heated or frozen for this purpose, it becomes essentially tasteless^ and inodorous^ and could scarcely be distinguished either by smell or taste, froL common limestone water. Its cathartic activity, however, is rather increased than diminished when thus insipid and in- odorous.* It does not lose its transparency by parting ^./ith its gas, as many other waters do ; nor does it deposit its salts in the slight- est degree when quiescent — not even suffi- ciently to stain a glass vessel in whicli it may be kept. V " The gas of this spring is speedily fatal to some animals, when immersed even for a very short time in its waters. Small fish thus cir- cumstanced, survive but a few moments; first, manifesting entire derangements, with great distress, and uniformly die in less than three minutes." "If, in 4 * See Chapter V.— On ♦•The relative virtvea of the Baline and gaseous contents of the White Sulphur water." 19 ii ' ''i » , IT JiW'!! Jin 218 MINER VL AND THERilAL SPRINGS. The analyses of the "White Sulphur water, by Dr. Hayes and Prof. Wm. B. Rogers, would not induce, a priori, a very great confidence in the therapeutical activity of these waters. The proportion of solid contents in the ana- lysis by Dr. Hayes, of a pint of the water, is 16.57 grains; and in that by Prof. Rogers nearly the same ; of which the sulphate of magnesia makes 4.32 grains in the former, and about 3 grains in the latter analysis. Dr. K. finds about 1.5 grains of sulphate of soda, Dr. H. none. The largest ingredient is the sulphate of lime. bei'^«' about 18 or 19 grains. The carbonates Jt magnesia and lime, and the chlorides of magnesium, cal- cium, and sodium, are in very minute propor- tions, or small fractions of a grain, in a pint of the water examined by Dr. Rogers. Dr. Hayes makes no mention of the chlorides of calcium or of sodium, nor of the protosul- phates of alumina or of iron, found by Dr. R. ; but he reports silica and the silicates of potash, soda, and magnesia, and a trace of iron. As regards the gaseous contents, one is sur- prised to find such a minute proportion of CONSTITUENTS OF THE WATER. 219 sulphuretted hydrogen, very little more tlian a quarter of a cubic inch in a gallon of the water, according to Dr. Hayes, and not more than from 1.40 to 2.75 cubic inches by Dr. Rogers's analysis. Carbonic acid was in the proportion of 11.290 by the former, and 7.75 by the latter of these gentlemen's analysis. Iodine combined with sodium and magnesium has been found by Dr. Rogers, who reports also azotized organic matter blended with a large proportion of sulphur. Had the matter been undertaken by less able analytical chemists, we might suppose that there exists in the water a sulphuret, say of sodium, still undetected, which might give some explanation of the clinical results ob- tained by its methodical use. Having dwelt with some care on the reme- dial value of sulphureous waters, both inter- nally and externally, when speaking of those of New York, I shall not go over the ground again here; but would refer the reader to what was said on that occasion, as applicable to his guidance at the White Sulphur and most of the other sulphur springs of Virginia. I cannot, however, forbear, even though it :.: i lis ; li . . I ! i1 . :;■ 1 kll m 220 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. may involve some repetition, from introduc- ing Dr. Moorman's sensible remarks on the use of this water, to the effects of which he has directed his attention for some years past: — " All mineral waters, as before remarked, are stimulants to a greater or less degree, and consequently are inapplicable to the treatment of acute, or highly inflammatory diseases. This remark is especially true as relates to the White Sulphur, particularly when drank fresh at the spring and abounding in its Soimu- lating ['-as. It is true, as before shown, that when its exciting gas has flown off, it becomes far less stimulating, and may be used with safety and success in cases to which, in its perfectly fresh state, it would be totally un- adapted. But even in its least timulating form, it is inadmissible for excited or febrile conditions of the system; and especially in cases of inflammatory action; at least, until the violence of such action has been subdued by other and appropriate agents. " It is to chronic affections of the organic system that the White Sulphur w^ater is pecu- liarly applicable. 1 MEDICAL USES OF THE WATEK. 221 "Various diseases of tlie stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, and bladder, as well as some derangements of the brain and nervous sys- tem generally, are treated successfully by this ao-ent. To the various affections of the skin, unattended with active inflammation; to chronic affections of the bowels, and to gout and rheumatism it is well adapted. In he- morrhoids, in some of the chronic affections of the womb, in chlorosis and other kindred female disorders, in mercurial sequelae, and especially in the secondary forms of lues, and ill-conditioned ulcers in depraved constitu- tions, it constitutes the most valuable agent to which the invalid can resort. "If the individual about to submit himself to the use of this water, is suffering from fulness and tension about the head, or pain with a sense of tightness in the chest or side, he should obtain relief from these symptoms before entering upon its use. If his tongue be white, or heavily coated; or if he be con- tinuously or periodically feverish, or have that peculiar lassitude, with gastric distress, manifesting recent or acute biliary accumu- 19* ] ;^.H>! lii iiM iHI 222 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. lations, he should avoid its use until, by pro- per medical treatment, his biliary organs are emulged, and his system prepared for its re- ception. Much suffering, on the one hand, would be avoided, and a far larger amount of good, on the other, would be achieved, if visitors were perfectly aware of, and carefully mindful of these facts. " It is an every day occurrence during the watering season at the ' White,' for persons to seek medical advice, for the first time, after they have been using the water for days, per- haps, for weeks, and it is then sought because of vagrant operations, or injurious effects of the water. In most such cases, there will be found, upon examination, either the existence of some of the symptoms just mentioned, or evidences of local inflammation in some part of the body, sufficient to prevent the consti- tutional efficacy of the remedy. "We are often struck with the control which an appa- rently inconsiderable local inflammation will exert in preventing the constitutional effects both of mercurials and mineral waters. To remove such local determinations where they exist, or greatly to lessen their activity, is all lii I THE WATEK IN OTHER DISEASES. 223 important to secure the constitutional effects of sulphur water." Dr. M. farther enumerates, as coming under the benign influence of the White Sulphur wa- ter, dyspepsia, including gastralgia and pyro- sis, chronic diseases of the liver and spleen, jaundice, chronic irritation of the howels, dis- eases of the urinary organs, and diabetes. He thinks less of its value in amenorrhoea, dys- mer-orrhoea, and atonic leucorrhoea. When resorted to in these cases, the use of warm sulphur baths ought to be conjoined. In chronic afiections of the brain, bordering on mania, and most remarkably in chronic cuta- neous affections, also, in rheumatism and gout in their chronic states, and in scrofula, drop- sies, and mercurial diseases, the water has been found to possess great virtues. I H 224 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. CHAPTER XII. ]wm^4 '■■■ ii! IhiM fi^ f ■; ■!(' Red Sulphur — Salt Sulphur— Sweet Sulphur — Blue Sul- phur — Sweet Springs— Red Sweet Springs — Healing Springs — Dibrell's — Rawley's — Ilolstein — Church- Hill Alum — Huguenot. Bed Sul2^hur Simng — in Monroe County, 42 miles from the White Sulphur, 89 from the Sweet Springs, 32 miles from the Blue Sulphur, and 17 from the Salt Sulphur. This spring furnishes a water which is the mildest of the group, and perhaps of its class ; and it has even been regarded by some as sedative in its operation on the animal economy, although this is a con- tested point. If it act as a sedative, it does so probably in an indirect or secondary manner, as explained in a previous chapter. But still more, it has been extolled for its power to cure pulmonary consumption itself. Instances are recorded of its effects on the action of the heart, so as to reduce the beats of this organ from upwards of 100, and RED SULPHUR WATERS. 225 even 120 and 130, to 70 and Qd in a minute. Drinking of it allays thirst and causes sleep. That it has really a soothing and salutary effect in tracheal and bronchial irritation seems to be pretty evident ; but of its curing consumption we hive, I believe, no well au- thenticated proof. It will not probably ag- gravate this disease, as the water of the "White Sulphur does. For details of the operation and curative powers of the Ked Sulphur, the reader is referred to the work of Dr. Burke on "The Mineral Springs of Virginia." This writer gives a tolerably comprehensive list of diseases in which the red sulphur water has been found available, viz: chronic laryngitis, chronic bronchitis, hemo- ptysis, chronic phthisis, functional disease of the liver, hypertrophy of the heart, mucous diarrhoea, irritability of the nerves with sleeplessness, irritation of the kidneys and bladder, lithic acid gravel, chronic hepatitir., amenorrhoea, dysmenorrhoea, monorrhagia, chronic splenitis, chronic gastritis, hemor- rhoids, scrofula and chronic exanthemata. It is contraindicated in plethora, tendency to apoplexy, and in epilepsy, vertigo, and the acute stasies of disease. p»niFfBi 226 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. iliiyiiil •lit 1*1 illJ»: .1 f m i In a former work, published twent3^-five years ago, I pointed out the then alleged efficacy of this water in hemoptysis, and in reducing vascular excitement. Drinking from nine to twelve and sixteen tumblerfuls of the water, on successive days, caused at first a diuretic and a diaphoretic, and, when continued to the fifth day, pro- duced bilious evacuation "as much," writes one writer (Dr. Scott, of Lexington, Ya.), "as I ever experienced from an active portion of caJomeiy Dr. Hayes and Dr. Wm. B. Eogers attribute much of the good effects of the water to an orojanic matter found in it and many other springs. Dr. Hayes calls it a sulphur compound. On analysis. Dr. Hayes found 50,000 grains of this water (nearly seven pints) to contain of solid matters — Grain? Silicious and earthy matter 6.70 Sulphate of soda .... . 3.55 Sulphate of lime .... . 0.47 Carbonate of lime . . . 4.50 Carbonate of magnesia . . . 4.13 Sulphur compound .... . 7.20 Carbonic acid . 2.71 23.20 CONTENTS OF THE RED SULPHUR. 227 The same quantity of water exhibited, of dissolved gases, the following:— Carbonic acid Nitrogen . . Oxygen Hydrosulphuric acid 1.245 1.4'.)7 .200 8G 3.088 The gaseous contents of a gallon, or 231 cubic inches, cf the Ked Sulphur v/ater were as folio Sii — Carbonic acid 5. < uO Nitrogen 6.91G Oxygen 1.201 Sulphuretted hydrogen .... 0.397 14.204 There is no free carbonic acid. We may doubt the propriety of introduc- ing in the record of an analysis, as has been done above, a sulphur compound, the con- stituent parts of which are not known. M. Fontan, in his valuable work on the mineral waters of the Pyrenees,* shows that the baregine or glairine— the organic matter or * Recherches sur les Eaux Minerales des Pyrenees, &c., 1855. I 228 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. m sulphur compound found in sulphureous waters — consists of two distinct parts: 1st. Baregine, properly so called, an azotized and gelatiniform substance; and 2d. Snlphuraria^ a vegetable confervoid in close affinity with the genus anahaina in the oscillaria3 tribe. "When the sulphuraria is exposed to direct light, and its white pearly color changed in consequence, there are developed in the fila- mentous masses which it forms, some other confervoid plant, whose characters are not yet fully ascertained. As regards the part which the baregine may be supposed to perform therapeutically, we learn that although, in the Pyrenean springs, it is always in proportion to the amount of the sulphureous principles, it con- stitutes, ^.n fact, no part of them. They con- sist mainly and chiefly of sulphur combined with sodium in the form of a sulphuret; and secondarily, in much less degree, of sul- phuretted hydrogen. Sulphur deposited with the filamentous structure, is merely so much abstracted from the water, which cer- tainly is not more active in consequence. M. Fontan Droi^oses to ffive the nam.e of SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 929 ireous ;: 1st. id and irarat Y with tribe, direct gecl in [le fila- 5 other re not iregine tically, renean to the it con- ey con- nbined Dhuret; of snl- posited srelj so ch cer- q[uence. amp. nf pyrenine to the substance heretofore called barcgine or glairine. Salt Sulphur Springs.— "Iho designation of salt is hardly justified by the very minute quantity of chloride of sodium which enters into the composition of these waters. It contains larger proportions of sulphates of soda and magn ^sia. The temperature varies from 49° to 56° F. As more aperient and diuretic than some others of its class, the Salt Sulphur, though it must still be ranked as an excitant, is applicable to mixed cases of febricula and languor, as in chronic dyspep- sia and renal affections, and chronic diar- rhcea; in some of which the frequency of the pulse has been r'^iminished under its use. The water of the ''New Spring," with a smaller proportion oi saline matters has more evident traces of iodine than the "Old Spring." Analyses of the waters of the Salt Sulphur Springs have been made by Dr. Kogers, of Va., and Dr. David Stewart, of Baltimore. In botii, the sulphate of lime figures largely; but the chloride of sodium in very small propor- tion—a grain and a half in the gallon of 20 ■P^HB^ t ' ^^^& ^^^^^~ i; f ^H^^^H! ■ ( |jL i 1^ ,i ; '• ! j'Ji ■^ 1 ij - If ; ':! 1 fi ' I^^^^^^^^^^^^BS 1^ ■ Hli« t^ 230 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. water, according to Dr. S. While there is an agreement between the two chemists in regard to the gases in this water, the pro- portions which they give are very different. Thus, while Dr. Eogers finds only 3.46 cubic inches of sulphuretted hydrogen, Dr. 3tewart reports 19.19 of this gas, in a gallon of the water. The latter gentleman specifies in this quantity of water 20 grains of sulphate of magnesia, 24 grains of sulphate of soda, and 33 grains of carbonate of lime. Of the other springs, the Iodine or Kew Spring is the more active. Its water con- tains iodine, bromine, carbonates of potash and of soda, alumen and phosphate of soda, compounds not found in the other spring or Salt Sulphur proper. Dr. Moorman,^ after referring to some pre- cautionary advice of Dr. Mutter, who has written an instructive pamphlet on the sub- ject of these waters, repeats the opinions of the latter gentleman in the following terms: — "But in chronic affections of the brain, in neuralgia and nervous diseases generally; in some affections of the chest, particularly * Op. cit. BLUE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 231 sucb as ai-e brought on from the retrocession of some habitual discharge ; in chronic affec- tions of the kidneys .nd bladder; in rheu- matism and gout, and in many diseases of the skin, it is amc-^^- the most valuable of our remedial agents. The same may be said of its value in mercurial seqiielce— in hemor- rhoidal affections, and in some of the chronic diseases of the womb. "In the various and multiform diseases affecting the abdominal viscera— sucli as he- patitis, jaundice, gastritis, pyrosis, dyspepsia, and some forms of diarrhoea, the Salt Sul- phur is one of the most valuable of our reme- dial agents. " The result of our own observations for many years, leads us to entertain a very high opinion of the salt sulphur water in dyspep- sia—and pa.'ticularly in cases connected with obstinate coptlveness.^' The JBdue Sulphur Sprmgs (Greenbrier CoL^nty) are thirty-two miles from the Red Sulphur, and nearly thr same distance from the Salt Sulphur Springs, and twenty-two miles from the Sweet. Resembling in their chemical nrooerties those of the Yf hite Sul- I II fM 111 . ^ 3 ! u 232 MINEEAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. phur, these waters are applicab' 3 to the same diseases, and require the samo precautions for their use as the former. Temperature variable from 43° to 06°. Analysis by Dr. Roger's; Solid matter pro- cured by evaporation from 100 cubic inches, weighed, after being at 212°, 44.62 grams. Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches estimated as perfectly free from water: — Grains. Sulphate of lime . . . . . . 20.152 Sulphate of magnesia . 2.760 Sulphate of soda ... 9.021 Carbonate of lime 2.185 Carbonate of magnesia 0.481 Chloride of magnesium 0.407 Chloride of sodium 1.868 Chloride of calcium .... 005 Peroxide of iron derived from proto-sulphate 0.015 An azotized organic matter blended with sul- phur, about 8.000 Earthy phosphates 1 • a trace. Volume of each of the gases in a free state contained in 100 cubic inches: — Cubic Inches. Sulphuretted hydrogen . . . 0.45 to 0.00 Nitrogen 3.25 Oxygen 0.50 Carbonic acid 2.75 I SWEET SPRINGS. 233 Tlie stimulant operation attributed to the water of the Blue Sulphur, is denied by Dr. Hunter, the experienced resident physician; but his experiments on different individuals, as reported by him, leave the question unset- tled. We may, however, very well demur to the practice of giving it in inflammatory fevers, as impliedly recommended by Dr. Hunter. Putting aside speculative considera- tions, we can place more confidence in this gentleman's conclusions, the result of experi- ence, respecting the remedial value of the Blue Sulphur watero He enumerates the diseases to which its use is applicable, viz: Nervous disorders, including hypochondriasis, hyste- ria, catalepsy, chorea, chronic hepatitis, ame- norrhoea, irregular menstruation, and dys- menorrhoea, chronic diseases of the urinary organs, chronic diseases of the skin, particu- larly the class of scaly diseases. A well conducted Bathing establishment under the direction of Dr. Martin, gives ad- ditional attractions to the Blue Sulphur Springs. The Sweet Springs^ among the first of the mineral springs of this region which were 20* J 4 234 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. I t visited by invalids, still retain their early attractions. They are situated on the eastern border of Monroe County, seventeen miles from the White Sulphur and twenty-two from the Salt Sulphur, in a beautiful valley, bounded on the north by the Alleghany, and on the south by the Sweet Springs Mountain. It is the spot where the last rally of visitors is made for the season, before separating for their several homes. The temperature of the water, 74° F., places it in the thermal class. Being in taste sub- acid and slightly alkaline, and evolving free- ly carbonic acid, it belongs to the class of acidulous waters, and may be used with the same benefit as these are. It is applicable, therefore, to irritable dyspepsia, with gastral- gia, renal and hepatic colic, and to bilious diarrhoea. In renal affections, and especially in those of the lithic and phosphatic diathesis, and in irritable bladder, it is calculated to do much good, when continued for an adequate period. The same remark applies to chronic gout, of which these disorders are often varieties. The full therapuetical value of the water BED SWEET SPRINGS. 235 I of the Sweet Springs is far from being properly appreciated ; and if a careful clinical record of each disease, regularly subjected to its use, were to be kept for a few seasons by a resident physician, it would show that these springs might be compared advantage- ously with some of the most noted of the class on the continent of Europe. Their tendency, after a time, to produce constipa- tion, and their immediate effects, evinced in fulness of the head and often drowsiness, point to their cautious use, if not their being withheld, for a while, at least, in general and also in local plethora. The copious and continued supply of the water, which is received in a large reservoir for bathing, and its temperature, are such as to attract many to the spot on this account alone, who could not take a cold bath, but who find in this temperate one a means of refreshment and invigoration, some would say rejuvena- tion, in wbich old Jason himself might have rejoiced, notwithstanding the marked prefer- ence of his daughter and doctress Medea for the hot bath. Red Sweet Springs.— '^\\qsq are only a I ■:|i ■■mc:\.!m- '1 i 1- 286 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. mile distant from the Sweet Springs, which they closely resemble in all essential particu- lars; with the exception of their being more evidently impregnated with iron than the latter. The two prominent gases are nitro- gen and carbonic acid, in the proportion, re- spectively, of 62.5 and 37.5 cubic inches per cent, of the entire volume. Of the three springs, the upper has a temperature of 77° F., the middle 80°, and the lower 79^, the waters of which, blended into one stream, give a temperature of about 78° F., or 4° higher than the Sweet Spring. The bathing house is a large building, suitably divided for the two sexes. DibrelVs Sjmng^ on the road from the Natu- ral Bridge to the Vv^hite Sulphur Springs, belongs to the sulphureous class. Healing Springs. — These springs, of recent discovery, are situated south of the Hot Springs, at the short distance of three and a half miles. " They are placed," as we learn from Dr. Burke, "in the gorge of the moun- tains near the road to the celebrated Falling Spring, one of the curiosities of this region." In their composition, they are represented by rawley's spring. 237 the same writer to be "apparently very like tlie Sweet Springs, or, perhaps, more so to the Bed Sweet, since the chalybeate flavor is more distinct than that of the former. Like the springs mentioned, they bubble up from the ground." They are said to perform wonders in rheu- matisms, sprains, herpetic eruptions, and cuta- neous diseases generally, and in scrofulous ulcers. Effects hardly short of the miracu- lous have been attributed to the waters of ^ the Healing Spring. (The temperature, 84° F., two degrees above that of the famed Buxton, in England, makes a bath of its water adapted to a large circle of diseases in which the? is still remaining excitement, a frequent pulse, dry skin and thirst, and in which its moderately contra- stimulant operation is better borne, and more useful than if baths of a lower tempe- rature were resorted to. As a means of healthful enjoyment, it must rank highly, es- pecially for children, delicate females and the dyspeptic student. Rawley's Spring, a strong and simple chalybeate, is in Eockingham Co., twelve 1 ^'Wmm-- if m 1 1.;! 238 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. miles from Harrisonburg, and one hundred and twenty northeast from the White Sul- phur. The Holstein Springs are in Scott Co., in the southwestern angle of the State, near the Tennessee line, forty miles from Abingdon, and sixty from the Warm Springs of Bun- comb Co., N. C. One of them comes within the thermal limits, being 68°.5 F., or fifteen or sixteen degrees higher than the common springs of the country around. Of the saline constituents of the water, the chief ones are sulphates of magnesia and of lime ; the saline contents altogether being 41.14 grains in the gallon. It is represented by Dr. Gaines, to whom I am indebted for all the information I have on the subject, to be actively diuretic, and with suitable appliances diaphoretic. Its action on the bowels is induced, by restoring to the digestive canal its lost tone and healthy secretions. With proper caution, the bath will be found serviceable in certain cases. In Eastern Virginia, I have to speak of two springs which merit attention. Church Hill Alum Spring. — This is a recent HUGUENOT SPRINGS. 239 addition to the mineral springs of Virginia, having been discovered or rather opened only a few years ago, in the process of level- ling a street, which bordered on the garden of a lady in the city of Ei^hmond. The supply of water is abundant, and its mineral constituents place it at the head of this class of springs. An analysis by Professor Booth shows it to contain 184.5 grains of alkaline salts, 159.5 of salts of iron, and 7.3 of persulphate of alumina in a gallon. Of the alkaline salts nearly one-half is Epsom salts. On this account it is generally aperi- ent, while, at the same time, owing to its large aluminous and chalybeate impregna- tion, it manifests actively tonic and astring- ent properties. This alum water is of great value in a number of diseases, such as passive hemorrhage, the profluvia, nervous diseases, and cutaneous and ulcerative affections. It is used to a considerable extent in Philadel- phia. I have prescribed it in several cases with decided benefit. Huguenot (formerly Howard's) Springs. — These are two in number, a Sulp)hureous and a Chalvheate, situated near James River, in , ill mm %■ 240 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Powhattan Co., 17 miles above Kichmond, on the main river road, between that city and Lynchburg. The Sulphur Spring resembles the White Sulphur; but its water is not so strong as that of the latter. The chalybeate has the virtues of its class. Dr. Eoyster, to whom I am indebted for a notice of these springs, writes favorably of their utility in different diseases. Suitable arrangements have been made for the reception and accom- modation of visitors. KENTUCKY SPRINGS. 241 ad, on y and mbles lot so ^beate >yster, ' these ity in ments ,ccom- CHAPTER XIII. KENTUCKY SPRINGS. Kentucky Springs— Ilarrodsburg— Rochester— Olympian —Blue Lick— Lower Blue Lick — Ohio Springs- Yellow Spring— Westport— Illinois Springs— Tennes- see Springs — White Creek - - Robertson's — Lee's — Nashville — Winchester — Montevale. For a knowledge of the chief mineral springs of Kentucky, I must gratefully ac- knowledge my obligation to Dr. Drake.* Harrodshurg Springs.— ^' These springs be- long to the basinf now nnder examination, being situated near the sources of Salt River. Unlike most of the mineral springs of Ken- tucky, which are found in deep valleys, these * Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America, Vol. I. f [Basin of Salt River. Up this stream the defeated party, after a political contest in our country, is invited to take refuge. I have myself received, jefore now, a printed card, in the form of a free ticket, for this destina- tion. — J. B.] 21 212 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ill I burst out near the summit-level of the country, at an altitude of near a thousand feet above tlie Gulf of Mexico. From near the springs, small tributaries of the Kentucky Kiver and of Dick's Eiver, flov/ off to the east and north, and those of Salt Kiver to the south and west, a sufficient evidence of the relative elevation of the spot where they are found. In every direction, for several miles round, the country is as free from drowned lands, marshes, swales, and ponds, as any other equal area in the Ohio Basin. In fact, there does not seem to be a single source of malaria in their neighborhood, and my colleague. Professor Miller, who practised medicine nine years in this locality, has as- sured me that intermittent and remittent fevers are far less prevalent here than in the Barrens. " The town of Ilarrodsburg, in the suburbs of which we find the springs, was the first- settled spot in the state of Kentucky, and, consequently, the soil has been under cultiva- tion since the month of June, 1774; that is, nearly seventy-five years, a period quite sufficient to diminish those elements on It' ,1 * 3. of the lousaud >m near :ntiicky ■ to the liver to lence of Te they several 36 from ponds. • Basin. I single :)od, and ractised , has as- imittent n in the suburbs he first- ky, and, cultiva- that is, d quite ents on HARRODSBURG SPRINGS. 2-43 which autumnal fever ?motcly depends. I am the more careful to set forth these iixcts, because most of the watering places in the west, from being in valleys, arc scourged in August and September with bilious fevers, and because the invalids of the southwest, especially those who have been made such by its fevers, cannot have their constitutions repaired by sojourning at springs which are situated in malarious localities. "Ilarrodsburg Springs are not only in the oldest-settled spot in the valley of the Ohio, after Pittsburg, but they issue from strata which, I am informed by Professor Yandell, rest upon the very oldest formations known in the Ohio Basin. Considered in reference to chemical character, they are magnesian limestone. " Desirous of publishing an accurate account ;f the composition of these waters, I desired Dr. C. II. Ptaymond, of Cincinnati, to visit and analyze them, which he did in the month of October, 1848, selecting the two fountains from which invalids are chiefly supplied. The following are the results with which he has furnished me : — n .1 1 : ":; 1 . .., : :i If i 1 1 i<|l III 244 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. The Greenville Spring. Ingredients in a pint of the water, stated in grains and hundredths, Troy. Bicarbonate of magnesia . . » 2.87 Bicarbonate of lime . . . . 0.86 Sulphate of magnesia (crystallized) . . 1G.16 Sulphate of lime (crystallized) . . 11.00 Chloride of sodium trace. 30.95 The Saloon, or Chalybeate Spring. Quantity of water the same. Bicarbonate of magnesia 0.43 Bicarbonate of lime 4.31 Bicarbonate of iron 0.50 Sulphate of magnesia (crystallized) . 27.92 Sulphate of lime (crystallized) 10.24 Chloride of sodium .... 1.24 44.60 " The bicarbonate of iron in this spring is sufficient to impart to its salts a light fawn color. The water of both springs is limpid. Dr. Eaymond could not detect either free carbonic acid or sulphuretted hydrogen gas. "It will be seen by these analyses, that every tumbler of the water of the Greenville Spring contains within a fraction of sixteen half of grains of saline matter, rnuru than COMPARATIVE EFFECTS. 245 ains and 2.87 0.86 1G.16 11.00 30.95 0.43 4.31 0.50 27.92 10.24 1.24 ■ ■■■■■»IIM^ 44.60 )rmg is it fawa limpid, er free jen gas. 3S, that 3enville sixteen half of which consists of magnesian salts ; that every tumbler of the water of the Saloon Sprin^^ contains twenty tv/o grains of valine matte i, two-thirds of which are sulphate, with a small quantity of bicarbonate, of magnesia ; and that in the same quantity of the water there is a quarter of a grain of iron. The patient who, in one morning, drinks four tumblers of the water of the Saloon Spring, takes nearly a drachm of sulphate of mag- nesia, with other saline ingredients, and a grain of bicarbonate of iron. " I shall follow these estimates no further, but proceed to say, that the water of the Greenville Spring is the better antacid— that of Saloon, the better tonic. Indeed, small as the quantity of iron is, it sometimes produces an uncomfortable feeling in the head, which is relieved by drinking at the other fountain. In reference to the excretions, the water from both acts upon the bowels, kidneys, and under proper regulations at night, upon the skin. Beyond these sensible effects, it per- vades the whole constitution, and many classes of invalids very soon feel a renova- tion of appetite, strength, and cheerfulness, 2P VH] i. r .* t^ 246 MINEKAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. althougli its primary effects seem to be sed- ative, not stimulant. I transcribe from the article in the journal already quoted {Western Journ., 1828), the following remarks on the curative effects of these waters. " 'The cases to which they are, in a pecu- liar manner adapted, are chronic inflamma- tions and obstructions of the abdominal vis- cera. Thus, they are eminently serviceable in such cases of dyspepsia as are attend- ed with subacute gastritis, in almost every kind of hepatic disorder, except when the liver is indurated, and, consequently, incura- ble ; and in constipation, so constant an at- tendant on diseases of the stomach and liver. They are almost equally beneficial in chronic inflammations of many other part3 of the system — especially of the serous and fibrous membranes. In tonic dropsies, in rheuma- tism, and in various affections of the perios- teum from febrile metastases, from syphihs, and from, mercury, they have often effected a cure, when other means had failed. In several urinary disorders they have done equal good. In chronic diseases of the skm they have also been found useful, when the HARRODSBURG SPRINGS. 24: patient has beei . subjected to a regimeu that has determined them to the surface. In pul- monary complaints they have been found serv^'ceable, but not in the same degree as in disc .3rs of the abdominal organs, and their use in those maladies requires discrimination. In chronic pleurisy, and the early stages of subacute bronchitis, they have performed cures; but in vomica, tubercular suppura- tions, and hepatization of the pulmonary tissue, they are injurious, and, if persevered in, may even prove fatal. When they have rendered occasional assistance in these affec- tions, it was chiefly by correctin.cr a morbid condition of the digestive funct^ ns, so often associated with them. In sick headache they occasionally do good, but many cases of that obstinate malady are attended with such an enervated condition of the nervous system, that their sedative operation becomes pre- judicial.' "The experience of multitudes, since these remarks were, published, twenty years ago, has, in the main, confirmed their accuracy, and even added to the catalogue of maladies which have been palliatec or removed. If m 24.S MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ti^Hi ii I 1 i ' 'i 1 '. f ;|i ■; 1 i , ' '; "The Harrodsburg waters have, by export- ation, been extensively distributed over the southwest, and even found their way into use in several of our garrisons. The salts ob- tained by their evaporation have long been employed by the people, and also by many physicians, who have found them more effi- cacious than the officinal sulphate of mag- nesia. " It is proper to say something of what art has done to make this an acceptable resi- dence to the infirm, and to the friends who may desire to accompany them. To this end the enterprising and courteous proprietor, Dr. Christopher Graham, through a period of twenty- five years, has devoted himself, a Itha liberality only equalled by his taste and dili- gence. Within that period, his permanent ex- penditures have exceeded two hundred thous- and dollars, and he is still inventing new means for comfort, amusement, and the beneficial use of the water ; among which are baths, both cold and warm, the latter of which, from the high degree of saline impregnation, cannot but prove valuable in a great variety of cases. ATTRACTIVE SPOT. 249 "A topographical map of the grounds around the principal spring, including the various improvements, has been made at my request, by Captain Fuller, topographical engineer, the inspection of which will render a description of them unnecessary ;* and I need only say, that while the waters are per- haps adapted to as great a variety of infirm- ities as any now in use in any country, the accommodations which have been created will, from the reports of travellers, bear an advantageous comparison with any to be found either in America or Europe. Such is the spot which, in the midst of a highly cultivated society, may be added to the wild scenes on the Tennessee Eiver, the Mammoth Cave, the Upper Mississippi, and the Great Prairies, ah^eady recommended as places of beneficial resort for various classes of in- vahds. "But the attractions of the Ilarrodsburg locality are not confined to its medicinal waters and its munificent accommodations; * The map is given in tlie volume from which the pre- sent account of the springs is taken. r-(?i IM 250 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. :;i 1 i i i 4 ■!' liiiii for, althongli it lies in a region of fertile and gently-rolling country, which would seem to promise nothing rare or romantic in nature, it is by no means destitute of objects and scenery which the eye of taste must regard with the deepest interest. About fifteen miles to the southeast are the "Knobs," where, on a plain, the basis of which is the black or Devonian slate, may be seen a scattered and picturesque group of slate-clay pyramids, or rude, truncated cones, rising from one to two hundred feet in height. At a less distance to the east, is the gorge through which Dick's Eiver precipitates itself into the Kentucky. Lastly, at the distance of eight or ten miles to the north, the beholder finds himself on the verge of a chasm, as deep, and dark, and wild, as that of Niagara below the Falls. In this profound ravine, with walls of the oldest transition marble, and a garniture of mingled ever- green and deciduous forest trees, the Ken- tucky Eiver quietly winds its way, and, by its very repose, seems to say that its work of excavation is finished." There are, writes Dr. Drake, in the OLYMPIAN SPRINGS. 251 At V^^estern Journal, for 1828, other Epsom springs iu Kentucky, besides those of Ilar- rodsburg; of which the only one that has acquired notoriety, is situated ten or twelve miles from that town, and one from Perry- ville. It is named the ^'Rochester Spring.— It is a feeble but con- stant stream, that bursts out about sixty feet below the summit of a ridge of coarse grained, shell limestone. From the experi- ments and observations which I have made upon this water, its sensible qualities, com- position and effects are so nearly the same with those of the waters just described, that a detailed account of them would be supers fluous." The Olympian Springs [or Mud LicJc], con- tinues this writer, in the same journal as above, constitute one of the oldest and most noted watering places of Kentucky. They are situated in Bath County, about fifty miles east of Lexington, on the waters of Licking Kiver, which unites with the Ohio, opposite Cincinnati. On approaching them from the west, the country undergoes a change in its topogra- phy, geology, and botany. The gentle slopes mn M 3 : ■I! ■,:l I I I f i 252 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. that give such beauty to the basin of Elk- horn, and the ** country round about," of which Lexington is the metropolis, are suc- ceeded by high and steep hills, the summits of which are narrow and serpentine. This is the commencement of the broken country, which, becoming more and more Alpine as we advance to the east, at last terminates in the Alleghany Mountains. With this change of aspect, there is a corresponding change of structure. The first shows itself, on ap- proaching Slate Creek, between Mountster- ling and the springs, where we observe strata and beds of arenaceous limestone, alternating with the blue, shell limestone just passed over, and presenting organic remains of a different kind. Two miles from the springs is a detached and somewhat conical summit, that has re- ceived the name of Olympus. It may be re- garded as a specimen of the region adjoining, and still further east. The road to Beaver Creek Iron Works passes near the base of Olympus, ard at length the observer, ascend- ing from t!i( valley, finds himself at an ele- vation of six or eight hundred feet, and sees s. of Elk- )Ut," of are sue- ummits I. This country, pine as lates in chan OLYMPIAN SPRINGS. 253 o-ft lange of on ap- untster- 7G strata jrnating ; passed ins of a ietacliecl has re- y be re- Ijoining, Beaver ) base of ascend- ; an ele- and sees around liim nothing but deep and angular valleys, mural precipices, and rocky summits, ^YLich resemble ruined fortresses and towers. There are several springs and wells, which present such differences in their composition, that of all the watering places of the west, this is supposed to afford the greatest va- riety. Dr. Drake says, further :— «' I could not myself detect more than three kinds— a salt and sidj^hur, a ivMte sulphur, and a chalyheate. « 1. The Salt and Sulphur water is pumped up from a shallow well, near the margin of the brook. The temperature of the water as its issues from the pump is 58° of F. Its taste is that of a weak brine, moderately charged with sulphuretted hydrogen. Com- pared with the greater number of salines in the western country, the quantity of com- mon salt which it contains is small, and the sulphuretted hydrogen is too little to escape from the surface in bubbles. When the neighboring stream is swollen, its waters find their way into the well, which then affords a more dilute solution. It was in this state when my observations were made. S3 254 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. a U ^-Mi 3 sir Subjected to the action of a variety of re- agents, it afforded the following results; which, however, I do not state with confi- dence in their accuracy. "1. Sulphuretted hydrogen. " 2. Muriate of soda, or common salt, and perhaps a little muriate of lime. " 3. Carbonate of soda. " I could detect no sulphuric acid, and, con- sequently, it contains no Epsom salts; and if either lime or magnesia be present, the quan- tity is exceedingly small. "2. The Wh'.te Sulphur Spring is situated half a mile from the well. It bursts out from a bank of shale, a short way up the side of a hill. Mr. Bankes, of Mount- sterling, assured me that this spring made its first appearance during the earthquakes of 1811. Its temperature is 59°. Its com- position is substantially the same with that of the well just described, but the ingre- dients of the two springs vary in their pro- portions. In the Sulphur Spring, the quantity of that substance is so great as to be depo- sited in the form of a whitish sediment, upon the leaves and twigs which the water flows jrSi OLYMPIAN SPRINGS. 255 ity of re- results ; h. confi- salt, and md, con- 3; and if he quan- situated rsts out way up ' Mount- ag made -hquakes Its corn- nth that e ingre- leir pro- quantity be depo- mt, upon ber flows over. Silver is more speedily tarnished than in the well, and the proportion of sulphuret- ted hydrogen is sufficient to rise in bubbles to the surface, but still is much less than in many other springs in Kentucky. On the other hand, the spring has but a weak im- pregnation of muriate of soda, compared with the well. The proportion of carbonate of soda seemed to be nearly the same in both. I could not detect in it either sulphuric acid or magnesia. The existence of iodine in sulphuretted waters, not having at the time of my visit been made known, I did not, of course, examine for them. /'3. The Chalybeate Springs. These are two in number, and are situated about forty yards apart, and half a mile from the salt and sulphur well. They burst out from between strata of arenaceous limestone, near the bank of a stream, which a rnile below mingles its waters with those of the brook already de- scribed. Their temperature, as the water issues from the rock in lively currents, is 52° F. They deposit a reddish sediment. From a variety of experiments on the water of the lower of these springs, I was satisfied iM '. I ih (1 (••'1 i I I I i 256 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. tliat it contains nothing but the carbonate of iron, with the proportion of muriates and carbonates, which our common springs afford. I observed the bottles in which it was car- ried to the lodges of invalids, to be incrust- ed with the red oxide of iron, from the decomposition of the carbonate of that metal, and the escape of the carbonic acid, by the agitation. Thus many who thought them- selves in the use of an efficient chalybeate, were drinking a water which contained little else than what exists in ordinary springs. " Besides the fountains, which I have de- scribed, there is another—a feeble vein—near the principal well, and called the Vitriol Spring, It seemed to contain muriates and carbonates only, and these in such moderate quantities, that it is used for culinary pur- poses, although spoken of as medicinal. I could not discover in it either sulphur, mag- nesia, or sulphuric acid. " The following are the principal observa- tions which I made on the spot. " The salt and sulphur water was chiefly drunk. From one to eight tumblerfuls were taken in the morning. It lay light on the i% 5. OLYMPIAN SPRINGS. 257 nate of es and afford, ras car- ncrust- )m tlie : metal, by the : them- jbeate, 3(1 little ngs. lave de- 1 — near Vitriol tes. and Loderate try pur- inal. I ir, niag- )bserva- 1 chiefly uls were on tlie stomacb. Its diuretic elTcct was prompt and certain. Its action on the bowels was, in most cases, so inconsiderable, tbat common salt was added to increase its aperient quali- ties ; and many persons found it necessary, besides, to dissolve in it a portion of Epsom salt. To some dyspeptic stomachs it was op- pressive, even in small quantities, and in one delicate female 1 saw it produce a tendency to syncope. In many persons it produced abdommal distension, and a few thought it the cause of more obstinate constipation, which arose, perhaps, from its great determi- nation to the kidneys. " During my week's residence at the springs, I saw no invalids in a rapid state of recovery, nor heard any speak with applause of the beneficial effects of the water upon them. ^ It is certain, however, that many interesting cures have been effected by it, although it is less powerful than some other springs of the same kind." Dr. Peter enumerates six different springs of the Olympian group, of which three con- tain sulphuretted hydrogen, two are saline 9,9* li 258 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. cbalybeates, and one is acidulous. If we except one of the second class, called the Epsom Spring, their saline constituents, al- though diversified in number, are, in amount, inconsiderable. Of the other five, the White Sulphur or Tea Spring vnter has the weak- est, and the Black Sulphur the strongest, sa- line impregnation. The completion of the railroad from Lex- ington to Big Sandy Kiver will contribute to make those springs, once more, a place of general and fashionable resort; additionally attractive as it is, by "the novel objects and romantic scenery which it presents." Blue Licks.— At this watering' place, Dr. Drake tells ns, there are several fountams, all, however, of one kind, the sulphureous sahne. They are found on either bank of Licking Kiver, twenty-four miles from the Ohio, and at the intersection of the former by the high road that leads from Maysville to Lexington. From the first settlement of th State, till within the last fifteen years, salt was manu- factured at this place. The manufacture was rendered unprofitable by the increasing scarcity of fuel, and by the discovery of BLUE LICK SPRINGS. 259 stronger wat«r in Western Yirginia and Pennsylvania. Lower Blue Lich Spring.— Tn all that re- lates to the geology ^^ the region in which this spring is found, and to the analysis of its water, I avail myself of the information kindly furnished by Professor Peter of the Kentucky School of Medicine. The geological formation in which the Blue Lick Springs are located, is the same as that which underlies Cincinnati and the central fertile region of Kentucky, called by the western geologists the great Blue Limestone formation. It is a lower member of the so-called Silurian System of Murchi- son. It is a formation of great thickness in the west, composed of limestone layers^ of greater or less thickness, hardness and purity, with beds of bluish marly clay presenting sometimes a shaly structure; all rich in the fossilized remains of inhabitants of the deep primeval ocean under which they were evidently deposited. "The well known Big Bone Lick of Ken- tuc^:y is seated on this same rock formation, and the composition of the water of the 260 MINEKAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. ''1 :■ i; spring in that locality appears, by all ac- counts, to be nearly analogous to that of the Blue Licks ; it being a saline sulphur spring like the latter. Indeed, the Blue Limestone is very generally known as a saliferous for- mation : which is doubtless to be referred to its submarine origin. Numerous springs of salt water have been found on it, and many salt wells, some containing sulphuretted hy- drogen, have been obtained in it by boring. "At the Blue Licks, beside the main spring, there are a number of minor ones, on the two sides of the Licking River and in its bed, the water of some of which has been exa- mined by the author, and found to be very much like that of the principal spring in com- position. Johnson's Well, in Scott County, Ky., also presents a composition somewhat analogous to that of the Blue Lick water, but it is much weaker, and it contains more magnesian salts. "While the water of the superficial wells and springs, on this formation, are generally what is denominated hard or limestone ivater^ containing bicarbonates of lime and mag- nesia, with a little iron, and some phosphate IM HB-wg»gw^0;-^ ^gA; s. all ac- i of tlie r spring nestone Dus for- jrred to rings of i many ted by- borins:. I spring, on the L its bed, len exa- be very in corn- County, >me\vbat £ water, ns more ial wells •enerally ne ivateVy id mag- bospbate ARTE5IAK SULPHUR WELLS, 261 of lime, beld in solution by carbonic acid ; tbese salt wells, or " licks," so called, contain cblorides of sodium and potassium, chlorides of calcium and magnesium, sulpbate and carbonate of lime, &a, and are frequently impregnated, to a greater or less degree, witli sulpburetted hydrogen. Saline water of this character, as above intimated, has been fre- quently obtained in the Blue Limestone formation by boring. For example, in the little town of Keene, in Jessamine County, Ky., a water was obtained in this manner, in 1848, by Mr. Wm. R. Dean, which \i a very good salt sulphur water, and has been considerably employed for its medicinal pro- perties. It contains sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid gases; bicarbonates of lime and magnesia, with a trace of bicarbon- ate of soda ; chlorides of sodium, calcium, magnesium, and doubtless of potassium, with a trace of iron ; but this is much weaker than the Blue Lick water containing only 16 grains of saline in the 1000 grains of the water ; being only about one-sixth the strength of the former. In a later testing, in May, 1850, it was found to be yet weaker, % 262 MINEKAL AXD THERMAL SPRINGS. probably because of the then extremely wet season. This water has not been fully ana- lyzed to detect the presence of iodine and bromine. "In Scott County, of this State, in a well bored to the depth of 176 feet in this lime- stone, Mr. W. Roszell obtained a water which contains a notable proportion of chlorides of sodium, calcium and magnesium, &c. &c., and smells strongly of sulphuretted hydro- gen. The water of another bored well, 105 feet deep, obtained in 1848 by Major B. Rob- erts, in Harrison County, also on the Blue Limestone formation, has a very slight bitu- minous or sulphureous odor, but contains as much as sixteen parts in the thousand of saline matters, principally chloride of sodium, with chlorides of potassium, calcium and magnesium; sulphate of lime; bicar- bonates of lime, magnesia and iron, and a trace of iodine. This is rather stronger • in salts than the Blue Lick water, and differs from it also in its deficiency of sulphuretted hydrogen, but in other respects they resemble each other very much in composition. "Another well, 81 1-2 feet deep, w^as made k:,Jt^ ARTESIAN SULPHUR WELLS. 263 ily wet ly ana- ne and . a well is lime- T which lilorides &c. &c., hydro- ell, 105 B. Rob- lie Blue ;ht bitu- contains housand )ride of calcium ; bicar- 1, and a d differs iliuretted resemble n. {as made by boring, in Scott County, near George- town, on the property of Mr. R. Ford, the water of which contains as much as 4 per cent, of saline matter, principally common salt, with sulphates of lime and potash, chlo- rides of calcium and magnesium, &c. &c. Some of the wells in Lexington yield a water smelling slightly of sulphuretted hy- drogen, and while penning these remarks, a bottle of water was brought to me from a boring in progress, forty-five feet deep, in this city, which is a weak sulphur water .-^^ " Saline and saline-sulphur w^aters, therefore, * Associated -with the water thus obtained by boring, in our Blue Limestone, is sometimes found a large quan- tity of liglit carburetted hydrogen gas. One remarkable instance occurred in Franklin County, at the mV of the Messrs. Steadman, where, as I am informed, th'- gas, in large quantities is poured out from thebor ,.. 'he stream lasting for some time, and perhaps existin- at the present moment. The origin of this gas in the coal formations, where it is more abundant is, doubtless, fr. .u the vegeta- ble matters which formed the coal, but in this formation it is a puzzle to geologists, [Quite an active saline cha- lybeate water, containing some brcrcide of magnesium, and evolving free carbonic acid, has been found, by bor- ing, in the cellar of Mr. John S. Wilson, druggist, Lex- ington.] m ! m 26i MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. are quite frequent, comparatively, in our Blue Limestone strata, but amongst all the springs of tliis nature, known at present on tliis formation, in Kentucky, none are as valuable, and as remarkable, in many re- spects, as those of the Lower Blue Licks. " The principal spring of this locality, from which the water submitted to analysis \vas taken, is situated near the banks of the Lick | ing Kiver, flowing out about twenty feet above low water in that stream. It rises in a hexagonal basin of stone, which has been built for it, which is six feet two inches in diameter, from one side to the opposite paral- lel one, and about five or six feet in depth. The quantity of water which flows out varies in different seasons. Wnen the water for the present examination was obtained, June 6, 1850, it was low in the spring, and not running. The water in this basin was lowered about one foot by pumping out fei'^venty-six barrels^ in the course of three hours; and in the winter time the stream * These barrels vrill not contain [each] more than thirty gallons. GS. in our b all the 'esent on i are as many re- Licks, lity, from lysis was tlie Lick enty feet t rises in has been inches in site paral- in depth, lows out the water obtained, -)ring, and basin was iping out e of three he stream ] more than BLUE LICK SPRING. 265 which flows out from it would probably fill :! pipe three inches in diameter." " In six observations, at different times, on June 4th and 5th, the external air varying from 60° to 76° F., the temperature of the water stood very constantly at 62°. This is about seven degrees above the mean tempe- rature of this region, which is about 55° ; and it is probable that the temperature of the water in the basin had been somewhat raised by the external heat of the atmosphere. When flowing rapidly, it may, perhaps, be found to approximate more nearly to the mean annual temperature. " The mass of water in the spring presents a light yellowish-green color, partly owing, perhaps, to the reflection from the yellowish- gray sediment, for when it is taken up in a clear vessel, it appears perfectly colorless, and beautifully transparent. On standing exposed to the air, however, it becomes of a yellowish--reen color, very perceptible in a white pitcher, or even in a white glass bottle. This color deepens on boiling the water, but boihng does not cause it to appear in the re- cent water. This color, to which the spring 23 i '",if '•.%!: •■ 266 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. probably owes its name of Blue Licks, is due to the decomposition of some of tlie dis- solved ingredients. On exposure to the air, the hydrogen of the sulphuretted hydrogen, becomes converted into water by com- bining with oxygen from the atmosphere, while the sulphur, with the trace of iron, &c., is deposited as a light yellowish green pre- cipitate, at the same time, in consequence of the escape of some of the free carbonic acid, carbonate of lime is thrown down, whicli mixes with the sulphur precipitate. Tlie minute portion of iron which exists in the recent water, probably as carbonate of the protoxide, losing its carbonic acid and oxy- . gen, becomes a sulphuret, by taking some of the sulphur of the decomposed sulphtiretted hydrogen, and gives the greenish tinge to the water and its sediment. "In the water which has been bottled, or brought in barrels from the spring, this change of color and consequent deposition occurs a few hours after it has been bronglit in contact with the air, by uncorking and withdrawing a portion out of the vessel. It changes, in a marked manner, in flavor, ^ XGS. Licks, is of tlie dis- to the air, hydrogen, by com- tmosphere, )f iron, &c., green pre- equence of bonic acid, 'Wn, whicli itate. Tlie :ists in the late of the d and oxy- ng some of .ilphtiretted sb tinge to . bottled, or , ipring, this deposition sen brought lorking and ) vessel. It , in flavor, BLUE LICK SPRING. 26" owino- to the decomposition of the sulphu- retted hydrogen ; and after a few days' ex- posure, loses ail smell and taste of this gas, as might be expected from its decomposible Bature. To preserve its virtues in exporta- tion, therefore, it should be bottled like a sparkling wine, and used as soon as it is opened. In this manner, if but little air be left in the neck of the bottle, and the cork is very tight and secured by sealing wax, it may be preserved, unchanged, for a consider- able time. In the spring and its channel this decomposition and escape of gas contin- ually take place, causing the formation of sediment. Less decomposition would prob- ably take place in the spring, were its basin smaller, so that the water would be more rapidly renewed, and it would expose less surface to the air. "Some of the sediment collected from the bottom of the spring, was found by analysis to contain the following ingredients, viz:— Sand, in considerable proportion. Carbonates of lime and magnesia. Sulphur. Oxide and sulphuret of iron. iir m ' 1^ ii 1' 268 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Alumina. A trace of oxide of manganese. Apocrenio acid. A trace of crenic acid. "All these ingredients, except the sand, which is probably brought out mechanically suspended, were, doubtless, dissolved in the recent water, and were deposited on its ex- posure to the air. "In addition to the gases, sulphuretted hy- drogen and cai.bonic acid, which are thus gradually decomposed in the water, or which escape insensibly from its surface, streams of bubbles of gas are continually rising through the spring, and breaking into the atmo- sphere. " Some of this gas, carefully collected for me by Major Owen, in bottles prepared for the purpose, was submitted to analyses, and found to consist mainly of nitrogen, mixed with about 4.5 per cent, of carbonic acid gas, and only a trace of sulphuretted hydrogen." The composition of the Blue Lick water, according to this analysis, is as follows; cal- culated both in 1000 grains of the water and in the wine pint of 7,680 grains, viz:— < H 1 ' ■ '■ \ 1 i i a, H h. '■, ANALYSIS OF BLUE LICK WATER. 269 H >» the sand, chanically ''ed in the on its ex- iretted hy- 1 are thus r, or wbicli streams of ig througli the atmo- )llected for 'epared for alyses, and gen, mixed ic acid gas, hydrogen." Liick water, dIIows; cal- 3 water and viz :— Gases in 1000 grains:— Specific gravity 1.007. Grains. In tlie wine pint. Cubic In. Grains. Cubic In. Sulphuretted hyd. gas 0.0394 0.1086 0.3031 0.8340 Free carb. acid gas 0.3547 .0776 2.7240 5.8368 The former is in the proportion of about 1.36th, the volume of the water, and the latter about 1.5th the vol- ume. Saline contents in 1000 grains :— Carbonate of lime Carbonate of magnesia Alumina, phosphate of lime, and ox. iron Chloride of sodium Chloride of potassium Chloride of magnesium Bromide of magnesium Iodide of mag;\esium Sulphate of lime Sulphate of potash Silicic acid Loss Grains. 0.3850000 0.0022065 0.0058330 8.3472930 0.0226690 0.5272000 0.0009394 0.0007340 0.5533300 0.1519190 0.0079400 0.2819861 In the wine pint. Grains. 2.9568000 .0169459 0.0447974 64.1072102 0.1740979 4.0488960 0.0302546 0.0056371 4.2495744 1.1166738 0.1377792 2.2158335 10.3000000 79.1040000 The water also contains traces of oxide of manganese, and apocrenic and crenic acids. The solid contents of the Blue Lick water 23* H ^il ; ■■I 270 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. are to those of the Wbite Sulphur, as rather more than 9 to 2. In the former are U grains of chloride of sodium or common salt to the pint ; in the latter but a small fraction. The first contains but 3J grains of sulphate of lime, that inert salt, if not one of equivocal benefit; and the second about 10 grains ot the same. The White Sulphur holds in so- lution, however, sulphates of magnesia and soda, both of which are wanting in the Blue Lick; while in its turn the latter has chlo- ride of potassium and sulphate of potash and bromide of magnesium, which are not in the former. The quantity of sulphuretted hy- drogen in the Blue Lick is double that in the White Sulphur, even if we assume Dr. Ko- o-er's more favorable analysis as the stand- ard. Iodide of magnesium is found in both. The medicinal virtues of the Blue Lick water are those of a saline sulphur, and ana- logous to, but more active than the Olym- pian Spring water. It acts freely as a diu- retic ; but only on occasions as a purgative. It may be used with advantage in nearly all the chronic diseases in which the sulphur ■ iiBL ESTILL SPRINGS. 271 as rather ir are 64 (imon salt 1 fraction. ' sulphate equivocal grains ot )lds in so- nesia and 1 the Blue has chlo- )otasli and not in the retted hy- that in the le Dr. Ko- the stand- id in both. Blue Lick r, and ana- the Olym- r as a diu- purgative. 1 nearly all tie sulphur waters already described have been pre- scribed, especially in chronic rheumatism and cutaneous diseases ; and in atonic dyspepsia and obstructed and painful menstruation. The use of the water as a bath is properly conjoined with its internal use. The Blue Lick water is brought on to Philadelphia, and used by many persons with decided benefit. One drawback to visiting the Blue Lick Springs is thus mentioned by Dr. Drake^ in the fir°st volume of his great work (p. 25G). "In former times, when salt was manufac- tured here by furnace heat, autumnal fever seems to have prevailed but little. Latterly, however, the sluggish water which winds round the spring generates intermittents, which, nevertheless, do not become prevalent until the latter part of the summer, when watering-places are not much frequented." Estill Springs.—l am again indebted to the kindness of Dr. Peter for the following notice of these springs :— _ " Of the waters of the ' Estill Sprmg (Es- till Co., Ky.), I have tested two varieties sent to me in bottles, viz:— ^ -\H' EMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) &< 'Q.r V.A 1.0 ilM 12.2 I.I 1.8 111.25 1.4 1.6 ^ 6" — ► t • riiuUJgicipiiiL ^Sciences Corporation s. ,\ ^> V ^9) V cF \\ ^. hitaw—The]T Bituation-Between the Hot and Cold Mountains -Vapor bathing— Cold affusion— Warm bath— Com- position of the water— Its resemblance to chicken broth —Diseases cured by the water- Chalybeate and Acidu- lous Springs-Number of the Hot Springs-Their geological relations-Warm bath in the creek-Tem- perature of the Springs— Adaptation of the water to certain domestic purposes-These Hot Springs resem- ble those of Baden, Wisbaden, Teplitz, and Carlsbad— Applicableto the same diseases— Cause of the animal fla- vor— Vapor bathing— Its effects and utility— Springs of Florida— Numerous but not described— Subterranean rivers— Sulphur Spring near Tampa. SPRINGS OF ALABAMA. The tertiary formations of the United States are not remarkable for the mineral character of the water ; yet, in the Alabama tertiary formation, there are several springs of very marked properties. 292 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Besides numerous saline springs in a stra- tum associated with the burr-stone, there are others strongly impregnated with sulphu- retted hydrogen. One occurs at the lower Salts, which is quite strong; and another at the upper Salt-works. Both of these are places of occasional resort for invalids. Tallahatta Springs are well known, and much visited by citizens of that part of the State. Besides sulphur, the water contains salts of iron, lime, and magnesia. Of all the springs of this region, those of Bladon are deservedly the most noted. The water has been analyzed by Prof. Brumby, but, as the analysis was executed at a dis- tance from the spring, and no precautions were taken to preserve the gaseous ingredients when the water was transmitted to the pro- fessor, of course the sulphur does, not appear in his analysis. One is, therefore, surprised after reading it to find the Bladon among the strongest sulphur waters in the State. The springs are pleasantly situui^ed, and, at the proper season, very accessible from the Ala- bama Eiver. There is a strong chalybeate spring still in e BLADON SPRINGS. 293 the tertiarv formation, west of Claiborne. It is sltuated^in the superficial beds of red loam. ^TuomeTfs First Biennial Report of ./.e Geo- iQny of Alabama, Bbdon Springs.-"The Bladon Springs savs Hon. S. S. Houston, a member of the House of Eepresentatives from Wasliington County, "are eighty-five miles from Mobile, seven Trom Coffeeville, in Clarke County, eight from Barryton, in Wasbington County, and three from Tombecbee Eiver, between which and the. springs are pine lands, with no swamp intervening. The surroundmg country is much broken and diversified The "rowth is pine, with an admixture ot oak, hickory, &c., and it is abundantly sup- phed with good water. The river up to this place is always navigable for steamboats ot some class, and the run from Mobile can be made in from ten to eighteen hours. "The accommodations at the sprmgs are now (December, 1845) sufficient for one bun- dred visitors, and the proprietors have erected a large hotel, which will be finished before the next season, and which will accommodate 25* ii If- ; , 1 1 f 1 ;i iltl 294: MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. two hundred more. They are also making efforts to improve the roads leading to the springs from all points." Six or seven fountains, diflfering slightly in their deposit and other characteristics, it is said, gush from the earth in a small area, furnishing abundance of water, and present- ing a striking appearance. Analysis of a wine pint : — Cubic Inches. Sulphuretted hydrogen (quantity not ascertained). Carbonic acid gas 4.075 Chloride of sodium . . 0.9625 Carbonate of soda . . 4.1112 Carbonate of lime . 0.3437 Carbonate of magnesia . 0.1706 Oxide of iron . 0.0300 Sulphate of lime . 0.0019 Silica and alumina . . 0.2631 Crenic acid . 0912 Apocrenic ficifi . . 0.0750 Loss . 0.0400 6.0892 The free carbonic acid and the relatively large proportion of carbonate of scda in this water place it among the acidulous ones. In certain forms of dyspepsia and bowel dis- f ras. ) making Qg to the : slightly eristics, it nail area, I present- Cubic Inches, tained). 4.075 BAILEY^S SPRING. 295 0.9625 4.1112 0.3437 0.1706 0.0300 0.0019 0.2631 0912 0.0750 0.0400 6.0892 relatively da in this ones. In owel dis- anie dbj heat and irritation, the Bladon waters must be valuable.* Bailey's Spring is situated in Lauderdale County, Alabama, fourteen miles from Tus- cumbia, nine from Florence, and two and a half from the stage-road leading to Kash- ville. The water is cool, transparent, ana almost tasteless. A qualitative analysis made by Dr. Currey, of Nashville, shows it to con- tain carbonic acid, sulphuretted hydrogen, carbonates of soda and magnesia, oxide of iron in union with carbonic acid, chloride of sodium, and carbonate of potash. Mr. Tuo- mey, in his analysis of this water, found car- bonates of iron and of soda, chloride of so- dium, and a trace of carbonate of potash, and sulphur— the last perhaps in combina- tion with soda as a sulphuret. The water of this spring is extolled in dyspepsia, scrofula, and dropsy; but we have no specification of the stages or particular features of these diseases in which it is apr'i- cable, nor the quantity of the water drank to produce the desired effect. * The analysis of Bladon Springs was made by Pro- fessor Brumby, of the University of Alabama. i 'Ax ii ^iSl 'fl M mi ii i 296 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. As an acidulo-sulpliureous and chalybeate water, this would be adapted to a variety of functional disturbances of the digestive and renal organs, and to scrofula in its incipient, as well as in its more advanced and ulcerative stage. Nothing is said in the pamphlet be- fore me of its action on the bowels, and we are left to infer that it is a mild alterative not wanting in therapeutic activity. Numerous mineral waters have been ob- tained of late years in Alabama, by boring, with a view of getting pure potable water. SPRINGS OF MISSISSIPPL Coo_pe7^s W<^^^ is four miles from Eaymond, the county seat of Hinds, and twelve miles west of Jackson, the seat of government, Mississippi, on land belonging to the Eev. Preston Cooper. The water is derived from an Artesian well dug to the depth of 107 feet iu a solid sand- stone rock; in some parts, a considerable conglomerate overlaying and mixed with the sandstone. At the surface, the rock is soft, but becomes quite hard at a depth beyond the reach of atmospheric action. After re- HHi cooper's well. 29: peated attempts and pauses of labor, the water first flowed into the veil on Friday, Sept. 16, 184:1. The country around is bro- ken and hilly, remarkably dry, and enjoying a reputation for great salubrity. It is near the Jacksuii Kailroad. The depth of water at the well seldom ex- ceeds five feet. It is said to flow in, at the bottom, fiom three different sources, the wa- t:rs of which differ from each othor, so that it will be desirabb, at some future period, to examine the general character of each. As it now presents itself, it is an active saline chalybeate. Temp, of Cooper's Well water, 6d° F.; the air being at 80° F. Taste not unpleasant, and slightly mineral. Ocbr, little or none, although it is said to have a marked one of sulphuretted hydro- gen: the quantity must, however, be very small. Color, transparent, with small yellow flakes floating on it. S]pec:fic gravity, 1.00147. Gas in a wine gallon : — Cubic inches. r, . . 6.5 Oxygen 4 5 Nitrogen A a Gojbonic acid .••••* i- '4, 298 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. 't' w Solid contents of one gallon are 105 composed as follows : — Sulphate of soda Sulphate of magnesia Sulphate of lime Sulphate of potash . Sulphate of alumina Chloride of sodium . Chloride of calcium . Chloride of magnesium Peroxide of iron Crenate of lime Crenate of silica grams, Grains. 11.705 23.280 42.132 0.608 6.120 8.380 4.322 3.480 3.352 0.311 1.801 105.471 The deposit from this water by evaporation contains, in 100 grains :— Water Chloride of lime Sulphate of lime Peroxide of iron Grains. . 38 . 25 . 35 The iron in this water was found altogether in the yellow particles which float about, although it is more than probable that, at certain seasons of the year, it must also be found in the clear water. The water loses none of its properties by GS. 5 grains, Grains. 11.705 23.280 42.132 0.608 6.120 , 8.360 . 4.322 . 3.480 , 3.352 . 0.311 . 1.801 105.471 ap oration Grains. . 38 . 25 . 35 altogether )at about, Le that, at 3t also be perties by coopek's well. 299 being kept. At all times, when the effects of the iron are sought for, the sediment should be taken along with the water. The concentrated wetter loses nothing by the process but a portion of the sulphate of lime, which is separated and adheres to the vessel. Season for visiting the well— latter part of spring, and in the summer, and early autumn. The water is quite efficient in winter, and many invalids resort to the spot at this season. Diseases in which Cooper's Well water^ is used: Chronic intestinal ones, unaccompanied with organic alterations : it is very useful in dyspepsia, inflammation of the bladder, ffropsy dependent on hepatic or intestinal disease, and chronic diarrhoea. Dr. Foster's case, reported by J. Mason Sims, M. D., Montg'y Ala.: Chronic diar- rhoea in its worst form; extreme emaciation; dry skin; eyes sunken; ghastly expression; caused a female to faint at the sight of him ; pulse small and feeble; discharges copious and frequent. Began by taking a wineglass- ful of the water four times a day, gradually increasing until he drank a pinb in the course 300 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. of the day. In eiglit weeks, returned home a well man. Ocean Springs.— These are in Jackson Co, Lynchburg, Miss. Dr. Austin, of New Or- leans, tells us, that the springs are situated among the pine hills, five miles from the town of Biloxi, and about a half mile from the eastern shore of Biloxi Bay, near Fort Bayou. This name is derived from a fort built there two centuries ago by the French, who were under the impression that the mouth of Biloxi Bay was the mouth of the ]^[ississippi River. The bluff on this shore presents a beautiful appearance, is much higher than on the other shore of the bay, and the land is more elevated and rolling than any land on the sea coast between this place and the city of New Orleans. Analysis.— ''Water colorless, even when kept for :t length of time in bottles, provided the bottles be well corked. So soon as opened, the water begins to blacken from a deposit of sulphuret of iron. The odor of the water is that of sulphuretted hydrogen, which the water contains in considerable quantity; the n» i»Ji«p <«!■■ OCEAN SPRINGS— ANALYSIS. 301 son Co., Few Or- situated :om the lie from 3ar Fort n a fort French, that the :h of the lis shore is much the bay, i rolling v.een this en when provided IS opened, a deposit the water ivhich the Qtity; the taste is that known to belong to this class of waters. Specific gravity, 1.00082. Gaseous contents in one gallon:— Grains. 4.632 0.481 Grains. 47.770 3.882 4.989 4.712 Carbonic acid . • • ; • Sulphuretted hydrogen . Solid contents in one gallon :— Chloride of sodium . . • • Chloride of calcium . • • • Chloride of magnesium . Protoxide of iron . • • • Iodine, a strong trace. Organic matter, trace. Chloride of potassium, trace. Alumina, trace. "The iron is doubtless in combination with both the sulphuretted [hydrogen] and carbonic acid gases; the excess of carbonic acid, holding both these combinations in so- lution. . " The medicinal virtue of these waters is to be looked for more particularly in the oxide of iron and sulphuretted hydrogen, both of which exist in notable quantities; and it is therefore apparent that many chronic dis- eases might be cured, or receive important 26 ■»l i 802 MINEEAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. alleviation from these waters. As a batli, it could be applied witli much advantage."-- J. Lawrence Smith, If. D. "The proximity of these springs to the city of New Orleans and the city of Mobile, being nearly equidistant (90 miles) from both places, constitutes one of its advantages, and must, from its eligibility of location, cause it to be patronized by the lovers of freedom from the foul, reeking streets of southern cities, during the summer months." Dr. Austin, in a letter accompanying a printed account of the Ocean Springs, just made use of, writes: "Striking cures have been wrought by them in many chronic dis- eases—among them were affections of the skin, scrofula, dyspepsia, and strumous oph- thalmia." Ir. ^ RKANSAS I shall only notice The Hot Springs of Ouachita ( Washitaiv).— They are situated on a stream called Hot Spring Creek, which falls into the Washitaw Eiver° eight miles below. They are fifty miles south of the Arkansas Eiver, in Clark County, Arkansas, and six miles west of the HOT SPKLSGS OF WASHITAW. 305 road from Cadria to Mount Prairie, on Ked Biver. . ,• *i , The approach to the springs lies up the valley of the creek, which is partly made up of its waters. Oa leaving the banks of the AYashitaw, the face of the country almost imperceptibly changes from a rich soil, cover- ed with luxuriant growth of trees, to a sterile mineral tract, and on coming near the springs the traveller is presented with one of the ino«t picturesque views in nature. On the rine half hich to is the g room es wide 3d over ue from 5 steam, tlie first dry, but !aks ont. 'he tem- 116° F. , for per- the ves- the roof 3 the ex- Q steam." ' to forty when he r two or own over 10 danger of taking cold if the most ordinary precaution is nsed.^ It is not unusual to take a steam bath in the forenoon, and a water bath in iH afternoon. The water bath ic frequently taken ^n a creek, into which all the hot sprin-s run. After a spell of dry weather, it is necessary to go half a mile, and some- times three-quarters of a mile below where the hot springs run into the creek, before the water is of a temperature to bathe m. If the water is carried from the spring to a hathino; tub, it must stand about four hours before it can be used. ' ^ ^ * ^ ^ * * * ^ ^ * ^ ^ There have been some attempts to analyze the water, but I have no faith in any of them. The water is much impregnated with lime and magnesia, * r. .radoxlcal as it may seem to those ignorant of tlie circumstances under ^'hich animal heat is developed there is less danger of taking cold at this time than if the nervous system had not been excited, and tne capil- laries rendered turgid by the high heat of the vapor ap- plied to the surface. This point is fully argued and ex- plained in my volume so often referred to in these pages, particularly in connection with the Russian Yapor baths and " transition bathing."] « 308 MINERAL AND UIERMAL SPKINGS. and the deposit of these substances is very creat on the mountain, and in the channels ki which the water runs, and leaves and sticks are continually petrified into <<, kmdof rotten stone, composed of lime and magnesia. " The water may be drank without nausea as soon as the throat can bear it, and if a little salt be put into it, it could not be distinguish- ed from chicken broth. The best season for the use of the water is late in the fall, and in the winter and spring. Every spec.es ot chronic disease is cured by these waters, to ^vit: rheumatism, gout, scrofula, venereal, mercurial, erysipelas, consequences of mea- sles of scarlei fever, and of whooping cougb, and all diseases occasioned by obstructions. « Three miles from the Hot Springs is a very fine chalybeate spring, and at the dis- tance of forty miles, at a place called Irons, is a spring of highly exhilarating properties, so much so as to produce a species of intoxi- cation * The mode of access to the waters when the rivers are high, is by ascending tlie * rCoubtless an acidulous or UgWy carbonated yaler probably holding in solution carbonates of soda and l.me.] THEIR TIIEllArEUTIC VALUE. 309 IS very lannels es and kind of xgnesia. , nausea I a little inguislv ason for fall, and oecies of raters, to venereal, of mea- g coiigli, ctions. ings is a t the dis- ed Irons, )roperties, of intoxi- he waters snding the (iiated waier, la aud lime.] ^,^,,„,as to Little Eoclc, sixty rndcs fiom .vhicli tlie springs are situated; but as th. Arkansas is not always navigable tliore is a foute by way of White Eiver, to Eoclc Uy^ f,,m tbence by stage sixty m.les to Little Rock Tiiis route is always accessible. ' ' Br Bennet Dowler, the enthusiastic inves- tigator of physiological and pathological phenomena, was kind enough to ans^^•er my request to him for information, by the follow- [nne, rj£Q- neiits of Some of d of the !st bank, and numerous others, of which perhaps .0 rather copious ones are found at various lieicrhts on the ridge, rising through the old rcd%andstone. Of springs of feebler force there are a great many. Some issue from the rock at an elevation of at least one hun- dred feet from the valley where the present locr cabins are built. A more beautiful and sii^ularly convenient situation for a town can°not be imagined, for by the aid of the simp- lest frames to support spouts, thr. hot water may be conveyed to the houses in great pro- fusion, for baths and medicinal purposes, as well as for domestic uses. (These arrange- mentshave,asDr.D.learn., been made.) Upon repeated trials, I found the water of some ot the principal springs to be 146° F., never hicrher ' From the Hot Springs occupying a breadth equal to four hundred yards of the base of the ridge, all the hot w.ter was dis- charged into the creek, which, m many parts, was of a temperature just fitted for a warm bath ; and what further assists to keep up its temperature, is the great number of hot springs rising througli the slate at the bottom of tbe brook. ' This can be seen S12 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. at almost a hundred places, and altliougli tlie water does not scald the hand there, still, npon insinuating my fingers a few inches be- low the ground, at the edge of the stream, I was obliged to retire them instantly, having more thwi once burned them in that way. It this stream were turned, it is incredible tlie quantity of water of a temperature perhaps always equal to 145° ¥., which might be ob- tained These mineral hot waters, except one or two of the springs, which are slightly ohalybeates, are tasteless, having not tbe least saline >uce; but immense deposits of ' the carbonate of lime attest the contrary The thermal waters rise in a very hmpul state, but as soon as they get into motion, and their parts become exposed to the atmo- sphere, a mineral deposit commences, attach- in"' itself to dead leaves, to sticks, to anything that serves for a point of adhesion; upon this deposit a brilliant green enamelled looking substance presents itself, which in- creases and thickens in favorable situa- tions ' Mr. F. did not analyze these wa- ters, though he says ' their gaseous volume VARIED USES OF. O 1 o ugli the Te, still, dies be- tream, I , having wa}'. If iible the perhaps it be oh- ;, except ) slightly not the ^posits of ' contrary, •y limpid ) motion, the atmo- js, attach- any thing 3n; upon snamelled which in- Die situa- these wa- IS volume i, insic^niflcant-azoteand a trace of carboiuc Lid °The solid contents are carbonate oi toe, carbonate of iron, and a trace of the cinlohate of lime.' \ Cartwrigbt, late of Natchez, now oi Kew Orleans, informs me that he has obtain- ed magnets of uncommon power from these '^r/;orrespondent of Professor Sillimans Tournal represents the temperature ot the r; as ranging from 154= to 1560 F., m July, 1837, that they discharge from one barrk to fifty gallons of water per minute, and that their latitude is 34 30 Is . "Several persons have assured me that the temperature of the water is exactly adapted to those processes of domestic economy call- ed scalding hogs, fowls, &c.; and hat, a certain seasons and places, the hot wa^ Laving entered the brook, and overlying the cold water of the latter, does not prevent fish from living in the lower stratum. The Hot Springs of Washitavv are, as re- spects elevated temperature, in the same class with the famed ones of Baden-Badeu, ^\ is- 27 814 MI>-ERAL AOT THEMIAL SPKINGS. baden, Teplitz, and Carlsbad* and nearly all that is said of tlie curative powers of these * The celebrated Unsprung, at Baden-Baden is 151» F A pint of the water contains 23 grains of saline mat- tcr of which 16 grains arc chloride of sodium F.veor si^' glasses, in all about two pints and a half of the «tcr, .re drunk, at intervals, before breakfast. The chief reli- ance however, is on the baths, the indiscriminate use 01 ,.hic'h has been productive of tatal effects in some cases. The Carlsbad Springs (in Bohemia) are fourteen m „„mber of which the Sprudel is the hottest and the most rius Its temperature is 168» F., that of two others 1440 .nd 137° F. The water holds in solution 44 grainsof solid matters to a pint, 37 grains of which consist of the sulphates, carbonates, and muriates of soda, with trace of iron aiU iodine. The taste of the water very much resembles that of weak chicken broth, with a fla and alkaline savor. As a drink it must be taken a, to Tsmall quantities. It is now used more internally than '^The Slitz Springs (in Bohemia) have a rangeof tern- perature from 84° F. to 120°. Their chief ingredient is c bonate of soda, in the proportion of two or t lee plains to a pint. The long ranges of bath-h-.es,^^ public and private, are on a grand scale. At Aashitw the is every inducement to rival Teplitz in these struc- • ::::, Id iff as a writer has said, there ought to e . mart at this Bohemian watering place for the sale ol r^es ->^-'ch are no longer needed we may rea<^^see that the day will come when a second-hand shop for tie *me purp o'se may be set up at our Arkansas Springs. iarly all of these en, is \bi^ saline mat- i. Five or the water, e chief reli- nate use oi some cases. fourteen in nd the most two others ,44 grains of )nsist of the with traces I' very much with a flat :akcn at first ternally than range of tem- ingredieut is two or three rho^i^es, both At Washitaw n these struc- lught to be a or the sale of lay readily see i shop for the sas Springs. TO WEAT CASES APPLICABLE. 315 ,,ters ^vlIeIl used as a batb, is applicable to 'own The same precautions arc neces- %Vribe one case as the other, when re- ' ^'i hid to a bath at a temperature be- ^'Tl Qo 7 and still more whenit approach- !7mmersio-a in the Washitaw wa- r Ters"-^^^^^^ .^rred from hemorrhages, or who at th fXeiof the vessels of the head, and ;i: Xl^o are laboring under acute cb. - "' »' nss' ■ » .*:.r of Aese waters at their mailer i ^ On the other hand, recourse to them vim Jad" itt considerable confidence m para Wsis and in chronic rheumatism and gout, in S;randrenal calculi, constipation, chronic S Cents of the liver and spleen, chronic T°Zl diseases obstructed or suspended cutaneous diseases, _o ^exvons menstruation, and m a ^^^'^ .° . .^^^^ge xs- .■ „<, Tn all these cases the internal ubt. affections, in an iuc=c of the water should be conjoined wuh its em ployment as a bath ■ ^ With the abundant «"PP^y °1 , .^^^,, j^ from the numerous springs at WashitaN\, 316 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. would be an easy matter to have every va- riety of batbs on a large scale, viz : A piscina or swimming batb,a leukerbad, if it were desirable, and douches after every model of temperature, size, and force. The soup-like taste of this water, mention- ed by Judge Watts, is the same as that de- scribed by visitors to some of the German Spas, and proceeds from the same cause, viz: the azotized or organic matter which they contain, and to which reference has been al- ready made, when speaking of the Blue Sul- phur Spring, in Virginia. An extensive suite of vapor baths might be made at the Washitaw Springs, so as to allow of the use of this active means of cure of many diseases, both alone and in connec- tion with other forms of bathing. The tem- perature of the vapor introduced into the somewhat primitive bath, as described by Judcre Watts, is as high as at any time ne- cessary, and higher than is required or pro- per in most cases. A vapor bath, at 100° F. , will answer most purposes, unless it be de- sired to produce strong excitement. At a lower degree, as 90° F., it will be found to be I^PW sntion- hat de- rerman se, viz: ill they Deen al- Lue Sul- 30 as to ; of en re con nee- Dhe tem- into the •ibed by time ne- 1 or pro- tlOO°F. it be cle- t. At a md to be EFFECTS OF VAPOR BATHING. 31 , very sootbir^g remedy in diseases of irrita- !•!! and even inflammatory exeitement. On SSo^B connected with the n^ of vapor h tto^ and its applieation to different dis- ' S I ave .-ritten .'itb some fulness rn tvolume on Baths^ &c. 1 will merely re- ''^ wbaTis there skid of its physiological 'tl^LVr^e.^-^ o^ .'^ts therapeutical ap- SX ISrthe various indications which 1 vv vessels of the true skin acquire more Sr-a fulness from the afflux of blood Ttlim, in consequence of the he.t<^^^^^^^ vapor, and they - ^^ ^^^^^^ tlip secretion of sweat, inere it., Sarge imbibition of moisture, and conse- iuenttaSgrnented size of the lympbat.c and To s absorbents. Webave tl^- ^^ <;-- lions Yiz: fulness of tbe aroenal capn a- H "; afflux of blood, and fulness of the lor/ents by tbe watery ^f^^^;^ which give a plumpness and roundness to tiin and eelldar tissue, observed those ^vbo have just left the bath. 27* a. 318 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. Florida can boast of lier more than two tliousand Mineral and Thermal Springs,ontlie authority of a writer, some time back, m the Floridian Journal. As yet, however, it is all boast, as far as anything like a detailed knowledge of the alleged fact is possessed by others than the writer himself. He tells us, indeed, that their principal solid contents are the sulphates of lime, magnesia, and soda, oxide of iron and some iron. Their volatile in-redients consist of sulphuretted hydrogen carbonic acid and nitrogen gases. I should feel greatly indebted to this gentleman, and to others resident in different parts of Flo- rida by their communicating to me au- thentic details in their possession, or procura- ble by them, on this confessedly very im- portant subject. The writer referred to speaks ot the "Natural wonders" of the State, especially under the hydrographic head. He says, "The upper stratum of Rorida rests on one vast network of irregular arches of stupen- dous magnitude, through which innumerable rivers, creeks, and mineral waters, m silent darkness perpetually flow. Walkulla, OciUa, iWfPPH FLORIDA SPRINGS. o 19 an two 3, on the , in tbe r, it is detailed sssed by tells US, ,ents are id soda, volatile ^^drogen, I should nan, and s of Flo- me au- procura- very im- s of the 3specially He says, ts on one Df stupen- lumerable !, in silent dla, Ocilla, Wnrcissa, Crystal, Uomosassa, Cliesiouitska, wSicha, and Silver Spring, are the nnl rivers The creeks of this denomi- So? re o^^^^^^^^ - -^^^^^^•' "^^^ ""' t^^Z^'^--r.m.^'^- They are, too, Sv o^ ^v^olly navigable for the smaller Cof steam and sail vessels throughou ie entire distance of their subterraneous ZZ Those that are not can be mace so Sc^mparatively small trouble and little ,Hclf is a white sulphur, bubbles up J m the crevices of limestone, about a hundred ^ 1 • -Uf T^ilpci uD this latter, it v\^Tpr and eisnt miies up i^nio fors'a basin figbteen feet deep, the water of which is very limpid. Mention may be made, also, of the Magno Ha * the Walake, and the Enterprise Spnngs, on St. John's River; and those on the Su. wannee-all sulphureous. «nv N Benedict,fomcrlyofPhUadclphia,andafter- . „f UUca NY.), well and advantngeoudy known wards of Ut.ca(N JOj ,„„„,„,;««. at Magnoha, in botli places, has estaBUsncu ^ for the reception of invalids who wish to spend in a southern climate. 320 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. CHAPTER XYI. Mineral nn.l Thermal Springs between the IMississlppl and Pacific Ocean-Thermal Spring of Fort Laramie -Situation of the fort-Soda or Sal yEratus Ponds- Beer Springs on Bear River-Their situation and tern- perature-Analysis-IIiUocks formed by the waters -Steamboat Spring-Vvhy so called-Properties of its ^ater-Other like springs adjolinng-Extinct volcano near the Beer Springs-Boiling (Acidulous) Springs of Pike's Peak— Analysis of Saline accumulations at this spot— Temperature of the water. MINERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS BETWEEN THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE PACIFIC OCEAN. The vast regions extending from 95° W. long., or from tlie western limits of Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas, to the Pacific Ocean, are remarkable, among other great natural traits, for the number and variety of their mineral and thermal springs. Some of these are in the territories of Nebraska, Kansas, and Kew Mexico ; many in Oregon, and in Utah around the Great Salt Lake, and not a few in California. ississippi Laramie ; Ponds— and tem- le waters :-ties of its ct volcano Springs of )ns at this ETWEEN 3CEAN. 95° W. of Iowa, ic Ocean, , natural of their } of these ,nsas, and I in Utah not a few THERMAL SPRING OF FORT LAKAMIE. 321 nermal Spring of Fort Laramie.-'Th\s J^., mentioned by Captains ivremout and Sansbury,in tbeir respective narratives i ^Sed in a narrow defile, being the bed rate., sbaded by V^^^f^::^^ ™les west from Eort Laramie. It gushes wun ™„s durable noise and force out of a Ume- on roek, and soon forms a small stream a cd Vam Spring Creek. Temperature '7f ^hicb is tbat of tbe Sweet Springs in Virginia The land about here is table, and liiTeLen the North Fork of the Platte, and the Laramie Kivers Fort Laramie itself is m 1U4 *' " ' and about 42° 15' N. lat., distant one and a Talf miles from thePlatte Eiver, at the end of ;lUmie Yalley, and 625 mi cs ^.om ^ Joseph's, on the western hmits of il ssour. 's in the southern part of Nebraska, and on the great emigrant route to Oregon on rXjcted line°of the Central Railroad to the Pacific. . ^ i „^.].o Ponds of Sal y&«*»..-Still m Nebras^.. near to the Oregon line, and between Eock Independence on the east, --f-^')^^^ the west, are found three ponds, on extensive » I 322 MIKERAL AND THERMAL SPRINGS. salt plains, in tlie valley of the Swot: Wuter Eiver, abovr the Devil's Gate, where it breaks through the mountains. To he more specific, it ought to be said, that here the traveller meets with saline incrusta- tions, and solutions of sesquicarbonate of soda, and muriate and sulphate of soda, in proportions not yet determined. These salts thus combined, are found in the Natron lakes of Hungary, Africa, and other countries. The chief of these ponds appeared to Cap- tain Stansbnry as if frozen over, and covered with a very light fall of drifting snow. It was found to be a slight depression about 400 yards long, by 150 in width, covered with an efflorescence of carbonate of soda, left by the. evaporation of the water which had held it in solution. This substance is quite abund- ant on the banks of the river, and it is used by the emigrants for making their bread, in preference to the sal asratus of the shops. Soda or Beer {Carbonated) Sjjrings.— Con- tinning on the great emigrant route to Ore- gon and the Pacific, along the north fork ot Platte Eiver, and having passed Rock Inde- SOUTH PASS. 823 Water ere it ro be d, that crusta- late of oda, in se salts n lakes untries. to Cap- covered , It was Dut 400 with an [t by the. held it 3 abund- ;. is used 3 read, in ;hops. js. — Con- 3 to Ore- 1 fork of ck Inde- ..rlencc the traveller finds himself at the ' te tbrou h .vhieh comrneree an ^^^^ L^ may hereafter pass between the A^al ;%rtle Mississippi and the IjorJ^^^^^^ L » Its elevation above the Gulf of Mex- is imU ana its ^vidth 20 miles. Si . dfstant fr'om the mouth of Oregon S^er about UOO miles, by the eommon- fv travelled route, it may be assumed to Ubo\. half-way between the «^^^^^^ A f1.P Pacific Ocean, still on this route, i tlSss is through the Wind Kiver MountLs, a part of the great ravage o Z Kocky Mountains which separate the ;lfstiing into the Atlantic fro.n those that find .heir way into '^' J.^''^'..^^,^^^ We are now in Oregon, at its southeastern a„X and not far from the -rtl^ern bound- 'r^ of Utah. Were a direct hu- to be fo- ld northwest from the Pass it wo^d le d^ at a distance of about one hundred and thuty miles, to the remarkable Beer Spring J ol- lowin- the emigrant route and tbat ^aken by kpt^nEremontand^Hsparty^;^^^^^^^^ far south, touchmg on the i^reen x :> > 324 MINERAL AND THEBMAL SPE1KG3. distance to the valley of Bear lliver is 185 miles, and thence to tlic springs near one hundred more. The Beer S2ynngs are in an amphitheatre of mineral waters, which is inclosed by the mountains that sweep arou..d a circular bend of the Bear Elver, at its most northern point in the territory of Oregon. This stream, which so far had pursued a north- era course, now takes a southern direction, and ultimately empties into the Great Salt Lake We shall again meet with it in our thermal and hydrological tour round the lake " In the bed of the river for a space of several hundred yards, these springs are very abundant ; the effervescing gas rising up and agitating the waters in countless bub- bling colamns." This eftervescence and their acidulous taste caused the first voyageurs and trappers to call them Beer Springs. They were often half hidden by tufts of grass, v/hich Capt. F. and his party amused theni- selv3S in removing, and searching about for more highly impregnated waters. Some o. th<>m are deep and of various sizes, some- BEER SPRING— ANALYSIS. '^.O o~0 is 185 ar one tlieatre by the ir bend Drtbern . This , north- rection, eat Salt \ ill our md the a space ngs are IS rising .ess bub- Hid their ;eurs and 5. They Df grass, ed them- iboat for Some of es, some- times several yards in diameter. A grove of cedars adjoins the springs. ^ The tern .^srature of tlie water of ti.e largest ,pn„gwas;atsanset,65°F.,atanelevaUon of 5,840 feet, that of the air b«ing 02. o 1. They are in 42° 40' N. lat., and 1U° 4b W. Ion.. On the following morning, at sunnse, the°temperature of the same water was o6 , hat of Ihe air being 28.°5 F. An analysis of one quart of water of the Beer Spring a reported in Col. Fremont's Eeport, yielded the following results :— ^^ ^^ Sulphate of magnesia . Sulphate of lime . Carbonate of lime Carbonate of magnesia Chloride of calcium Chloride of magnesium Chloride of sodium Vegetable extractive matter 20.84 The carbonic acid had escaped from the water before the analysis was made, ihe proportion of the gas is doubtless very con- ^inpr'^^ble CaBtain Fremont, in wandering through the cedar grove which was the seat oi his en- 2.12 3.86 3.22 . 1.33 . 1.12 t • • • • • . 0.85 II 326 MINERAL AND THERMAL SPEIXGS. campment, in tlie bot.om towards tlie mouu- tain noticed saline e.ftorescences, and a num- ber of re-ularly shaped and very remarkable hillocks." These latter have been formed by the rrradual deposit from the waters of ex- tinct''springs,the orifices through which they found issue being still visible at the summits. Some of them resemble funnel-shaped cones. At another spot, a little higher up the mea- dow he saw several remarkable white and red hillocks, ^vhich are immediately ou a small stream that flows into Bear Eiver They are formed like the ones just mentioned, but the openings on their summits were much lar