VOL. XLIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 5/ 



solvent for the stone in the bladder ; from which it appears that these waters 

 have that property in a much higher degree than even lime-water. The Carlsbad 

 waters have been long celebrated for their excellent effects in removing, or at 

 least relieving, many of the disorders to which mankind is subject. How high 

 they stood in the opinion of the great Hoffman, almost every part of his writ- 

 ings bears testimony ; and if to their other before-known properties they should 

 prove a safe, easy, and effectual solvent for the stone in the kidneys and bladder, 

 it certainly would greatly enhance their value. 



Our author has very attentively considered the writings of Doctors Jurin, 

 Hales, Hartley, Whytt, and others, concerning solvents for the stone. He 

 has administered to several patients, with little or no success, the late Mrs. 

 Stephens's medicine, with the strictest observance of all the cautions, said to be 

 necessary in courses of that medicine. And though he allows every thing to be 

 true that has been laid down by Dr. Whytt and others, in regard to oyster-shell 

 lime-water, he does not scruple to assert, that the Carlsbad waters, which have 

 great analogy to calcareous waters, are a far more excellent solvent for the stone 

 in the kidneys and bladder, than any lime-water. Of this truth he is satisfied by 

 various experiments, several of which were made by himself alone, and others 

 in conjunction with our learned and ingenious brother Dr. Lieberkuhn, whose 

 exactness, as well as fidelity in making experiments of this kind, no one will 

 question. 



Dr. Springsfeld, in a treatise on the Carlsbad waters, published by him in the 

 year 1749, has shown by undoubted experiments, that these waters partake 

 always of an alcaline principle ; for every pint of them, besides the neutral purg- 

 ing salt, contains 3 grains of "alcaline salt, and 10 grains of calcareous earth ;* 

 for which reason they ferment with every species of acids. Dr. S. before 

 mentioned that these waters have great analogy with lime-water ; and if they 

 continue in the baths for any considerable time, they not only turn milky, like 

 lime-water, but have a pellicle on them as that water is observed to have. They 

 have likewise a gently constringing taste ; that were it not for their saline taste 

 they could not easily be distinguished from lime-water. 



It must here be premised, that all hard bodies, viz. pieces of wood, bone, 

 stones, earthen vessels, bits of straw, and such like, are incrusted over by lying 

 in the Carlsbad waters, and that in a very little time. These bodies in the space 

 of a night will be covered with a tophaceous crust, which continually increases. 

 But human calculi, though hard in themselves, are not incrusted by them ; but 



* The solid ingredients in the Carlsbad waters are carbonate of lime (mild calcareous earth) sul- 

 phate of soda (Glauber's salt) muriate of soda (sea salt) carbonate of soda (mild mineral alkali) and 

 a minute portion of iron. See the analysis of these waters by Bergman (1778) by Becher (1789) 

 and by Klaproth (1790). 

 . VOL. XI. I 



