THE MOUNTAIN. 201 



much fire in burning deserts, too much air, monsoons, si- 

 roccos, and tornadoes, too much earth in vast spaces of 

 dead stone, the rugged bones of the world projecting, or too 

 much water in paludal spaces unreclaimed. But on these 

 wonderful Americas see the harmonious play of those great 

 old creatures, earth, air, fire, and water ! By a closer inspec- 

 tion, see also the list of medicated waters, fountains of healing 

 forces, the earth, the water, and the air in strange commu- 

 nion again.* Is this another cosmical contract on the ques- 

 tion of health and soundness ? Quantity the Infinite cared 

 not for, but quality, quality 1 ! must play a more refined and 

 delicate part in the onward progression, ultimation, and per- 

 fection of the world. Matter was great, but spirit was 

 greater; organic life was great, but CONSCIOUS LIFE WAS 

 GREATER. This HIGHER LIFE, then, seems the end for which 

 the lower life exists, and health of body and soul, which is the 

 harmonious marriage of the higher and the lower, is the 

 condition of true ecstasy, the gorgeous beatitude, the abso- 

 lute perfection, that which was originally pronounced by 

 God himself to be the "all good, the all fair." For this 

 triumphant attitude of health, for this strange normality, 

 this miraculous equipoise, magazines of forces, reservoirs of 

 power, were required ; and hence the play of waters mineral, 

 thermal, and pure, forms an integral part of the machinery 

 of the life of all things. Without, within organic bo- 



* It must be acknowledged and regretted that the medical pro- 

 fession at large has given but little attention to the subject of mineral 

 springs. Very few physicians know where to send their patients, or 

 have detailed information sufficient to fill the indications of their cases 

 in the momentous points of climate and water ; and especially what 

 instructions to give them when the last prescription, in getting clear 

 of troublesome cases, is made, "Go to the springs." Dr. Bell's valu- 

 able little work, so often quoted, and from which so much important 

 information has been derived in this synopsis, fills a need long felt by 

 the profession. It is to be hoped that the work on the "Mineral 

 Springs of the World," promised by this faithful laborer in the litera- 

 ture and science of medicine, will soon appear, and be fully appre- 

 ciated, at least by his professional brethren. 



