78 



The human frame, endowed with a power of re- 

 action , cannot be compared to a glass or earthen 

 vessel, nor to any cavities of inanimate bodies; 

 the physiological processes, which dissolve, elaborate 

 and assimilate substances introduced in the alimen- 

 tary tube, differ entirely from the chemical and 

 physical operations taking place upon inorganic bo- 

 dies; a patient, drinking, in one morning , twelve 

 beakers of mineral water , swallows scarcely eigh- 

 teen grains of their fixed parts; and animal sub- 

 stances , immerged in the Sprudel, take no incrusta- 

 tion, except when, like eggs and craw -fish, they 

 are covered with a calcareous envelop. 



Many patients, arriving here with the idea that 

 the waters can attack their teeth, rub them, after 

 each goblet, with a crust of bread, or with sage 

 leaves. In 1826, I placed human teeth in the Spru- 

 del, during a week, others during a fortnight. They 

 were more or less incrustated, according to the length 

 of their immersion, but, in removing the sediment, I 

 found them perfectly white and sound. Teeth, covered 

 with a very thin and weak enamel , though I never 

 saw such accident, might perhaps be split, if the 

 water was drunk as hot as it springs from the Spru- 

 del (60 R. or 168 F.), but every one lets it cool, 

 so that it is seldom swallowed warmer than 45 R. 

 or 135 F. When the water touches the nerve , it 

 excites sometimes pain in decayed or worn out teeth. 

 A little milk, added to the water, blunts that effect. 

 In general, patients with bad teeth and spongy gums, 



