593 



MINERAL WATERS. 



lieved or cured by these waters. The bathing 

 establishments are well appointed. 



Saint Catharine's Wells, Ontario, Canada, are 

 thirteen miles west of Niagara Falls. They are 

 a perfect type of iodo-bromated saline water, 

 containing much chloride of sodium, of cal- 

 cium, and of magnesium. These waters are to 

 be much diluted when taken internally ; exter- 

 nally they are used as embrocations and for 

 baths, of which an ample variety may be had 

 at the Spring Bank Sanitarium. 



Salins, in the Jura, eastern France, an an- 

 cient town of 6,100 inhabitants, is situated in 

 a highly picturesque valley, at an elevation of 

 1,115 feet above sea-level, between the forti- 

 fied summits of two mountains, Belin and Saint- 

 Andre. The waters are cold, strongly saline, 

 and have been used from immemorial antiquity. 

 They are tonic, exciting, and alterative, and act 

 strongly upon the lymphatic system. Scrofu- 

 lous, rheumatic, gouty, and anaemic cases find 

 relief or cure from these excellent waters, which 

 are mostly frequented by the French. The sea- 

 son lasts from the first of June to the middle of 

 September. The climate, the scenery, and the 

 accommodations, are all very attractive. The 

 piscine, or marble bathing-pool, is one of the 

 finest in Europe. 



The Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New 

 York, are the most frequented of any in the 

 United States. The waters are alkaline-saline, 

 and are charged with carbonic-acid gas, making 

 them pleasant to the taste. They are cathar- 

 tic in their action, and are especially adapted to 

 cases of the dyspepsia resulting from too high 

 living, which are becoming more and more 

 frequent in the Eastern States. The hotels are 

 very large, showy, and fashionable, and thou- 

 sands of visitors resort to them rather for the 

 social than for the medicinal attractions of the 

 place. Some of the waters contain a small 

 amount of iron, which gives them a valuable 

 tonic quality. This, however, is denied by the 

 proprietors of rival springs in the same place, 

 who seek to prove that even these very small 

 quantities of iron are injurious. 



Selters, in the duchy of Nassau, exports an- 

 nually about two million bottles of a carbon- 

 ated s&line water, used chiefly as a table-drink. 

 There are no medical establishments there. 



Wiesbaden, in the duchy of Nassau, has 

 strong saline spring?, part of which are cold 

 and part thermal; one of them, the Koch- 

 brunnen, has the taste of chicken-broth. The 

 waters act mainly upon the digestive organs, 

 increasing their secretions and producing a 

 moderate laxative effect, which is stronger if 

 the water be allowed to cool before drinking 

 it. Chronic rheumatism, gout, and malarial 

 affections are the maladies that are oftenest 

 cured by these waters. As baths they are much 

 used, the quantity of water being abundant. 



3. Sulphur Waters. Aix-la-Chapelle, Aix- 

 les-Bains, Avon Springs, Ax, Bagn&res-de-Lu- 

 chon, Bareges, Blue Lick Springs, Cauterets, 

 Clifton Springs, Eaux- Bonnes, Salt Sulphur 



Springs, Greenbrier White Sulphur, Red Sul- 

 phur, Richfield Springs, Santa Barbara Springs, 

 Sharon Springs, Uriage, and Yellow Sulphur 

 Springs. 



The sulphur waters produce different effects 

 as they disengage more or less sulphohydric 

 acid when in contact with the air. Those 

 which give it up slowly, and are consequently 

 more stable, are the less exciting; they are 

 a slow but effective alterative. Those which 

 give it up rapidly act very promptly, whether 

 on the skin, the bronchi, the lungs, or the di- 

 gestive tract. Sulphureted hydrogen is their 

 most constant constituent, but otherwise they 

 vary greatly in their mineral elements, the 

 calcic carbonates being frequently found in 

 some of them, and in others the sulphates of 

 soda or magnesia, and the chloride of sodium. 

 They are effectively employed in cutaneous 

 affections of many kinds, in various lung com- 

 plaints, in stiff joints and old wounds, and in 

 chronic poisoning by metals, and are also use- 

 ful in the cure of abdominal congestions and 

 consequent hemorrhoids. Among many ex- 

 cellent sulphur waters the following may be 

 mentioned: 



Aix-la-Chapelle, in Rhenish Prussia, has four 

 principal thermal springs, ranging from 112 to 

 131 Fahr. They are much resorted to for the 

 cure of chronic rheumatism, muscular and ar- 

 ticular, of scrofula, herpes, eczema, and acne, 

 of lead-paralysis, laryngitis, and bronchial ca- 

 tarrh. The waters are generally used exter- 

 nally and internally at the same time. 



Aix-les-Bains, near Chambery, in Savoy, is 

 a town of 4,200 people, 846 feet above sea- 

 level, and surrounded by high mountains. The 

 establishment is one of the completest in Eu- 

 rope ; 1,200 baths and 2,000 douches are given 

 daily. The climate is mild, and the situation, 

 in France near both Switzerland and Italy, 

 extremely attractive. The baths are open all 

 the year round. The waters are thermal (113 

 to 116 Fahr.), and are of great service in rheu- 

 matism, gout, and scrofula. No thermal springs 

 unites more advantages than these. The wa- 

 ters are not exported. 



Avon Springs, Livingston county, New York, 

 are valuable sulphur waters. They are mildly 

 cathartic ; bathing arrangements exist. 



Ax, in the Ariege, southern France, 2,631 

 feet above sea-level, is a town of 1,700 people; 

 the springs are so numerous as to make the 

 whole place seem a reservoir of boiling water. 

 Many of them flow away unused ; fifty-three 

 are employed, for the most part in medica} es- 

 tablishments. The hottest has a temperature 

 of 170 Fahr. Their great variety permits their 

 use in the treatment of many different affe< 

 tions: they are classified as sedative waters, 

 medium, and strongly mineralized waters, 

 which according to the indications are success 

 fully used in the treatment of almost every 

 kind of rheumatism and skin-disease. 



Bagneres-de-Luchon is an attractive town of 

 4,000 inhabitants, situated in a magnificent 



