THE MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



By Prof. Max Morris Rindl, Ing.D. 



In a young country like ours, with such a variety of pro- 

 blems, scientific and otherwise, and such a small population to 

 solve them, progress is necessarily slow. Comparatively few- of 

 the problems, it is true, are left entirely untouched, but most of 

 the work is done by individual effort. The medicinal springs of 

 this country constitute a case in point Many valuable data con- 

 cerning them are in existence, but no effort has been made to 

 collect and correlate them. Some of the information is recorded, 

 much of it has never found its way into print. The problem is 

 one which commands mere than merely scientific interest. It 

 is of practical importance. Most European countries issue big 

 volumes containing all the information about their watering 

 places and health resorts, and these compilations are indispen- 

 sable to the medical profession. That is far more than we can 

 hope to do for some time to come ; but I have attempted at 

 least to make a beginning by putting together all the available 

 facts, incomplete and fragmentary as they are, in a ])erspicuous 

 form. My object has been a double one, to place on reconl 

 what has been done, and to stimulate interest by showing what 

 still remains to be done. 



Part I. — General. 



I am painfully conscious of the incompleteness of my paper. 

 Many of the data herein contined need amplification and corro- 

 boration ; mtich of the information will undoubtedly be modified 

 and changed beyond recognition in the course of time. I have 

 included in my list all springs known or reputed to be, or likely 

 to become, of medicinal value. The majority of the springs 

 have a local reputation, and are frequented by the farmers of 

 the surrounding district, l)ut their efficacy remains to be estab- 

 lished by imi)artial medical evidence. The statements of the 

 owners and patients are naturally biassed. 



Analyses. — The majority of the analyses are taken from the 

 .\nnual Reports of the Senior Government Analyst of the Cape 

 Colony. As most of the waters were analysed with a view to 

 a.scertaining their fitness as lx>iler waters, the analytical results 

 are in some respects incomplete. For example, iron and 

 aluminium are usually determined together as oxide's, whilst it 

 i.s desirable to know the amount of ferrous iron se])arately, par- 

 ticularly in the case of chalybeate springs. Lithium compounds, 

 bromides and iodides, the presence of 'which, even in minute 

 ([uantities, seems to have a very marked effect, are usually re- 

 corded simply as traces, if at all. Many of the waters have been 

 analysed hundreds of miles from the .source of the springs, with 

 the result that the dissolved gases, several of which have pro- 

 nounced thera])eutic ])roi)erties, have liffused out. Moreover. 



