VOL. LI.] PHILOSOPHICAL TKANSACTIONS. 431 



most of them are so acid as to curdle milk, yet this is not altogether universal ; 

 and though in many of them the acid is so far enveloped in their solid contents 

 as to ferment with alkalies, this appearance is not always conspicuous; whence 

 one would imagine, that the milder sort might be used with more freedom, or 

 less danger; and yet it is certain, that one of the sharpest of them all, viz. that 

 of Kilbrew, in the County of Meath, has been taken inwardly, with success, in 

 some very stubborn cases. 



Yet, on the other hand, it has been observed, that even the German Spa 

 sometimes has proved too irritating in some tender constitutions, where our ordi- 

 nary milder chalybeates have succeeded well ; and he was informed by an accurate 

 observer that, in some tabid cases, particularly that called the galloping con- 

 sumption, the mildest and lightest of our own chalybeates, even though blended 

 with milk, have been found to increase the hectic heats and tension of the pulse. 

 Now, this observation seems not easily reconcileable to another of Dr. 

 Horseburgh, in the place above-mentioned, on the Hartfell spa (a much stronger 

 and harsher chalybeate than either the German spa, or any of our ordinary cha- 

 lybeates) viz. that it has actually been given, with notable success, from half a 

 pint to a pint a day, in consumptions of the lungs, far advanced, even attended 

 with hectic heats and night sweats. So memorable a fact, in the cure of a de- 

 plorable disease, deserves attention; and the Scotch physicians in that neigh- 

 bourhood are called on to corroborate it by further observations; as how long 

 those cures stood, and how far they may have been confirmed by the like success 

 in similar cases; whether used with or without milk; and lastly, whether, as an 

 acid austere medicine, they may cool, correct, and give a better consistence, in 

 a colliquative state of the blood; seems well to deserve further inquiry, and that 

 the result should be communicated for the public utility. 



There had indeed formerly obtained a general prejudice against the use of the 

 ordinary chalybeates in diseases of the lungs; but, at length, experience has 

 convinced us not only of their safety, but usefulness, and good effects, especi- 

 ally when tempered with milk, in many of those cases» And moreover, it is but 

 doing justice to our acid vitriolic waters, to acknowledge, that the empirical 

 trials made on them by the giddy vulgar, have been frequently such as demon- 

 strate, not only their safety, but even powerful effects in other rebellious dis- 

 orders; as, particularly, the Kilbrevv water (one of the sharpest and most 

 strongly saturated with martial vitriol of all these waters yet discovered) in the 

 notable cure of an ascites, complicated with a jaundice, which Dr. R. had else- 

 where related; and he saw no reason why physicians should not, in this as well 

 as other cases, avail themselves of the happy success of such casual experiments. 

 In order, therefore, to promote a view of this kind, and, as these vitriolic 

 waters are better adapted for use than the ordinary chalybeates, as bearing car- 

 riage to remote places, and may be kept fit for use at all seasons of the year, and 



