Chap. 32.] HOW MINERAL WATEES SHOULD BE USED. 495 



with sulphur are good for the sinews,^ and aluminous waters 

 are useful for paralysis and similar relaxations of the system. 

 Those, again, which are impregnated with bitumen or nitre, the 

 waters of Cutilia,^^ for example, are drunk as a purgative.^- 



Many persons quite pride themselves on enduring the heat 

 of mineral waters for many hours together ; a most pernicious 

 practice, however, as they should be used but very little longer 

 than the ordinary bath, after which the bather should be 

 shampooed^^ with cold water, and not leave the bath without 

 being rubbed with oil. This last operation, however, is com- 

 monly regarded as altogether-foreign to the use of mineral baths; 

 and hence it is, that there is no situation in which men's 

 bodies are more exposed to the chances of disease, the head 

 becoming saturated with the intensity of the odours exhaled, 

 and left exposed, perspiring as it is, to the coldness of the 

 atmosphere, while all the rest of the body is immersed in the 

 water,*'* 



There is another mistake, also, of a similar description, made 

 by those who pride themselves upon drinking enormous 

 quantities of these waters f^ and I myself have seen persons, 

 before now, so swollen with drinking it that the very rings on 

 their fingers were entirely concealed by the skin, owing to 

 their inability to discharge the vast quantities of water which 

 they had swallowed. It is for this reason, too, that these 

 waters should never be drunk without taking a taste of salt 

 every now and then. The very mud,"'' too, of mineral springs 

 may be employed to good purpose ; but, to be effectual, after 

 being applied to the body, it must be left to dry in the sun. 



It must not be supposed, however, that all hot waters are 



60 Or rather, as Ajasson says, for cutaneous diseases. 



61 See B. iii. c. 17. 



62 In conformity with Sillig's suggestion, we reject " atque " as an in- 

 terpolation. 63 «< Mulceri." 



61 In spite of what Pliny says, in some cases the use of a mineral bath 

 is recommended for a long period of time together. At Leuk or Lsoh, 

 for instance, in the Valais, the patients, Ajasson says, remain in the bath 

 as much as eight hours together. 



65 To promote expectoration, Dalechamps says ; or rather romiting, 

 according to Holland. 



«6 This substance, Ajasson says, is still used in medicine ; that of the 

 waters of Silvanez, for example, in the department of Aveyron, is highly 

 celebrated for the cure of inveterate ulcers and sciatica. The mud baths, 

 too, of Saiut Amand, enjoy an Eui-opean reputation. 



