59 



add to it, some miscellaneous observations, without 

 systematic order, upon various essential points of 

 our practice. 



The virtues of the Carlsbad waters, says Becher, 

 can be reduced to five principal effects: 



1. They correct the weakness of the primae viae, 

 free them from matters collected and accumulated 

 there, even when inveterate. 



2. They resolve and dissipate obstructions, particu- 

 larly those of the abdomen. 



3. They correct , change , evacuate the acrimony 

 of the blood, or drive it towards the lower ex- 

 tremities or the surface of the body. 



4. They expell from the urinary passages sand, 

 gravel and calculi. 



5. They have often proved very beneficial in many 

 serious disorders , produced by occult causes, 

 difficult to point out. 



The last paragraph shows particularly the great 

 utility of providing patients sent to Carlsbad with a 

 good history of their complaints, which are in general 

 complicated, obstinate, and arise from a variety of 

 causes, climate, mode of life, etc. Such invalids, 

 careless about the past, lay often the highest impor- 

 tance upon insignificant circumstances, and say nothing 

 about those which would throw light upon their case. 

 As to instructions , about the mode of drinking, 

 bathing, douching, and steaming, as well as about 

 regimen and diet, which of course should be entirely 



