2,74 



cated state, as recommended by my learned and indefati- 

 gable friend, Dr. Beddoes; or in that of the well knoM'n 

 soda waters, first introduced in Geneva and Paris. 



Now, in whatever of the above forms these saline mat- 

 ters are employed, their decided good effects are univer- 

 sally experienced and acknowledged. The Aqua mephitica 

 alkalina I consider the most valuable gift, bestowed upon 

 mankind, by our modern chemistry: and, to Beddoes' de- 

 siccated soda pills, my colleagues must join with me, in 

 acknowledging our greatest obligations. But how account 

 for these good effects? or what can their modus opei'andi 

 be.'' Hie labor, hoc opus. Carbonates, we have always been 

 given to understand, exerted no solvent power on gravelly 

 or calculus matter: and this continues to be the opinion of 

 philosophers, as well as medical chemists, to this day. We 

 find Fourcroy, in lus late elaborate work on this subject, still 

 continuing to assert, (in mentioning the action of various 

 matters upon uric acid,) " les carbonates alkalines n'ont 

 " aucune action sur lui." Nor does the difficulty diminish, 

 with respect to the pure alkalies; for, in the stomach and 

 primcB vice, they must return again, to either a carbonated 

 or saponaceous state. My ingenious friend, and master in 

 chemistry, Mr. Wm. Higgins, (in the work already quoted,) 

 emphatically exclaims, " why not at once give soap.'' why 

 " not turn our attention to the mild mineral alkali?" With 

 regard to the common alkaline carbonates in use, it may 

 be observed, that the saturation is not complete; and that 

 the uncombined portion of alkaline matter may still exert 



its 



