HYGEIA. 555 



man from whose vital surface all the radicles of the miracu- 

 lous tree of life suck nourishment, is poisoned and foul. 

 The Cadmus sin has sown it with dragon teeth, and the 

 harvest is death.* 



THE WATERS WE DRINK, f 



That the habitual use of water surcharged with earthy 

 salts is productive of disease, there is not the least doubt. 

 Pure water is the great hygienic water. It is a generally 

 received impression that the influence of climate, and other 

 agents, in the prevention (as well as cure) of many diseases, 

 is effectually promoted by the use of what are called "min- 

 eral waters." Many places, like the fabulous wells and en- 

 chanted springs of Eastern romance, have, by common con- 

 sent, been made shrines and places of holy pilgrimage to 

 the world of invalids. Like the belief in charms and witches, 

 this faith has, as have many others, come to be accepted 

 without challenge by multitudes of unreflecting minds. How 

 just and rational, how near to science and demonstration, 

 this impression is, unassisted common sense alone can an- 

 swer. The unintelligent, indiscriminate flocking to watering- 

 places, or " going to the springs" as it is called, is essentially 

 absurd. 



The diseases in which mineral waters have been supposed 

 to possess their most energetic action, preventive and cura- 

 tive, are those of the digestive, or great assimilative function. 



In joint, nervous, skin, and uterine diseases, the efficacy 

 of a change of water, or the supposed specific benefit of a 

 particular water on those diseases, is wholly referable to the 



medium, or glass, through which he looks upon the world. Suppose 

 an inflamed stomach, or an ulcerated intestinal tube, the optical in- 

 strument through which he contemplates the earth and its glories, the 

 heavens and their majesties. Would nature or the stars bloom with 

 celestial beauty to one in the horrors of gastritis or pains of the 

 bowels? Is not the "mens sana in corpore sano" the end of all 

 science? 



* See note, page 564. f See note, page 564. 



