THE ALUMNI JOURNAL 45 



ARTIFICIAL MINERAL WATERS. 



Dr. Hallock, who is a member of the official staff of the American Chemical 

 Societ}', and is associated with the Carl H. Schultz corporation of New York 

 City, one of the largest producers of artificial mineral waters in the United 

 States, delivered an instructive and interesting lecture before the Senior class 

 at the College of Pharmacy on Wednesday, March 6th, 1907. 



In the lecture lie described the difference between an ordinary spring water 

 and the mineral waters as l)eing mainly in the quantity of dissolved gases and 

 nnneral constituents, the mineral waters containing the larger quantity. 



The temperature of the various natural waters varies between 35° F. and 

 2T2° F. They often present remarkable appearances when emerging from the 

 earth, by losing their gases, with more or less rapidity, according to the tension 

 to which they were subjected, and by parting with a portion of their mineral 

 constituents. Some of them issue from the earth with rumbling, gurgling or 

 hissing noises ; others do so only at regular intervals, and rise to a height of 

 from twenty to forty or more feet ; some ascend from the bottom of the sea, 

 of lakes and of rivers. Still others appear many thousand feet above the level 

 of the ocean; some break at a boiling heat thru a crust of ice and snow; others 

 issue with icy coldness near shrubs and flowers. Some destroy vegetation in 

 their immediate vicinity, while others penetrate and cover organic structures 

 with calcareous deposits and thereby preserve them for study by future genera- 

 tions. 



Pliny, more than 2,000 years ago, observed that "waters are of the same 

 nature as the earth thru which they flow." 



The physical properties of waters have attracted the attention of philosophers 

 from an early period. 



Supernatural properties were ascribed to the springs. Strange theories were 

 propounded regarding their origin, and wonderful tales and fables were current 

 of their curative powers. 



Strabo relates that the spring of Hierapolis imparted a red color to the roots 

 of trees and shrubs, and that the juices of the latter when mixed with water 

 produce a purple liquor which was used for dyeing wool. Philostratus, when 

 speaking of the battle which the Greek army fought with Telephus, on the 

 banks of the river Caicus. states that the wounded Greek soldiers who resorted 

 to Agamemnon's spring, near Smyrna, were all restored. According to Hero- 

 dotus, a spring in the country of the Ichthyophagi or fisheaters prolonged life 

 to beyond 120 years; it made the skin shine as if polished, and had the perfume 

 of violets. A spring in Chios caused insanity; another in Magnesia improved 

 the voice of singers ; and the spring of Alysson was a specific for hydrophobia. 

 The springs of Lethe and Mnemosyne are often mentioned in classical literature ; 

 the former gave oblivion and the latter memory. 



Little is mentioned of mineral springs in the Old Testament. According to 

 the Genesis, Anah, the father of Esau's wife, discovered some thermal springs 

 in the desert, and in the second book of Kings we find mention made of a 

 spring at Jericho which made the ground barren and was made wholesome by 

 the Prophet Elisha throwing salt into it. But from the New Testament we 

 learn that Jews, before Christ, used thermal waters extensively. "There lay 

 a great multitude of impotent folks, of blind, halt and withered, in the porches 

 of the Lake of Bethesda. liy the sheep market at Jerusalem, waiting for the 

 moving of the water; and whosoever first, after the troul^iing of the water, 

 stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had." This water had a 

 reddish-brown color from sediment of ochre, probably deposited by the escape 

 of carbonic acid gas; sulphur was also found in the mud, and the more rapid 

 disengagement of carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen when the water was 

 stirred up, may account for its increased curative power at such time. 



