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under his direction. It appears that the management cf these 
waters was in the hands of the Prior and Monks of the Monastery 
of Bath until the time of Henry VIII., when all the property con- 
nected with the Monastery was granted to a certain Humphrey 
Colles ; some fifty years later this property, including the King’s 
Cross and Hot Baths, was given to the City of Bath. 
Royalty appears to have honoured the Baths from a very early 
date. Warner mentions that Athelstan and Edgar made use of 
the Waters, and Dr. Falconer mentions in his work that a Bath 
seems to have been provided, from very ancient times, for the use 
of Royal visitors, since the name of “ King’s Bath” occurs as early 
as the beginning of the 13th century. 
I notice in Mr. Earle’s work that the present “‘ Queen’s Bath” 
took its name from the following circumstance ; Anne, the consort 
of James I., was bathing in the “ King’s Bath,” when there arose 
from the bottom of the cistern, just by the side of her Majesty, a 
flame of fire like a candle which then spread itself on the surface 
into a large circle of light and disappeared. The Queen was 
frightened, and though assured by the Doctors that it proceeded 
only from natural causes she would bathe no more there, but 
went to the “ People’s” Bath, which has since borne her title. 
I will now draw your attention to a few remarks on the original 
sources of mineral waters. We all know that constant evaporation 
goes on from all surfaces of water on the face of the earth, this 
vapour being condensed into rain falls, and is absorbed by the 
earth or ocean. That portion falling on the earth permeates 
through it until it reaches a less permeable strata, when, taking 
the downward direction of the dip, it follows its course, filling up 
the holes and caverns. As the water accumulates, so is it forced 
up through the different crevices, until it finds its way out at 
some lower level ; thus giving rise to the formation of Springs and 
Rivers, which in their turn supply the Lakes and Oceans, from 
whence the water vapour originates. 
The question arises, how are the mineral constituents, which 
