ARTIFICIAL CHELTENHAM WATER. 141 



drinking, no medicine seems more proper than this laxative 

 diluent. For habitual constipation of the bowels, as the 

 stimulus of this water is so slight that its frequent repetition 

 cannot be productive of injury, it may be considered the 

 safest as certainly it is the most pleasant remedy. 



From the many valuable properties of this mineral water, An artificial 



I am firmly persuaded, that it would be far more exten- water ' et *. ual ,f 



J l . ' . i • . not su P erior to 



sively employed than it is at present, if it were possible to the natural, 

 convey the natural water to a distance unimpaired, or to easi1 )' prepared. 

 procure at a reasonable price an imitation of it, that could 

 be relied upon. I therefore trust, it may not be altogether 

 useless, to lay before the public a simple and economical 

 method, by which any person may in a few minutes pre- 

 pare a water eminently possessing the virtues of the natural 

 spring, as composed of the same ingredients, but more 

 palatable, as containing a larger quantity of the carbonic 

 acid, which also increases its tonic powers. 



The natural Cheltenham water owes its virtues principally Ingredients of 

 to the sulphates of soda and magnesia ( vitriol ate d natron, ter < ] nd ura wa " 

 and vitriolated magnesiaj which are its purgative consti- 

 tuents. It contains also about one eighth of its bulk of 

 carbonic acid, which holds in solution nearly rive grains of 

 iron in each gallon of the water. The sulphate and carbo- 

 nate of lime, which may also be detected in it, are not 

 likely in any respect to influence its medicinal properties. 



The carbonic acid employed in preparing artificial mine- Impregnation 



ral waters is obtained by decomposing: the natural carbonates of wat< ; r wit ^ 

 j, iii.T n carbonic acid. 



ot lime ( marble or chalk J, by means of the sulphuric (vitri- 

 olic) acid, which disengages the carbonic, in its elastic form, 

 to be afterward forced into the water by mechanical pressure, 

 and apparatus which has not yet been disclosed to the public. 



The carbonates of soda and magnesia (common soda' or Carbonates of 



prepared natron, and magnesia alba) contain a largre pro- tlle bases in 

 c , , l-j i • • , ., Cheltenham 



portion ot condensed or combined carbonic acid essential to water g i ve out 



their constitution; the former about one sixth, and the lat- this acid whett 



ter nearly half its weight. They likewise are both decom- comp^the 



posed by a proper quantity of the sulphuric acid, which, neutral salts in 



uniting to their bases the soda and magnesia, forms the sul- lt ' 



phates of these bases, or the salts of Cheltenham water ; the 



carbonic acid escaping with effervescence in its aeriform state. 



It 



