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Vol. XVn. NEW YORK, Janiiabt 16, 1891. No. 415. 



CONTENTS: 



Applied Ento 



The OtJTLOOK 



MOLOGT 



Notes and News 



The Mineral Waters op the 



Yellowstone National Park 



Walter Harvey Weed 



Letters to the Editor. 



Time-Measuring among Savage 



Peoples, O.T.Mason 



Professor Ferrel and American 



Meteorologists 



Alexander McAdie 37 

 Cyclones and Areas of High 



Pressures. Wm. Ferrel 38 



Book-Reviews. 



Tycho Brahe 40 



Introduction to the Study of 

 Federal Government ... 41 



AuoNO the Publishers 41 



THE MINERAL WATERS OF THE YELLOWSTONE 

 NATIONAL PARK. 



The recent publication of Bulletin No. 47, of the United 

 States Geological Survey, containing analyses of hot-spring, 

 geyser, and river waters from the Yellowstone National 

 Park, is not without interest to the medical profession and 

 to the public at large. 



The waters, collected by experts employed by the Geo- 

 logical Survey, have been most carefully examined by Dr. 

 F. A. Gooch, now professor of chemistry at Yale College, 

 and Mr. J. Edward Whitfield of the survey laboratory, and 

 represent the latest and best methods of water-analysis. 



The analyses of these waters are of particular interest, be- 

 cause the great variety of mineral springs found in the 

 Yellowstone, attracting the attention of all visitors to that 

 region, suggests their use as remedial agents in the cui'e of 

 disease. 



Aside from the well-known resorts of the Virginias, there 

 are but few places in the United States where natural hot 

 waters are thus utilized. The hot-springs of Arkansas have 

 long been known, and many cures effected by their use, com- 

 bined with the care of the attendant physicians. More re- 

 cently the Spas of Las Vegas, N. Mex., have been brought 



before the notice of the medical profession and the public 

 generally. 



Without detracting from the merits of these justly noted 

 sanitaria, it may be stated that at neither place do the waters 

 present as important a combination of salts in solution as 

 those of the Yellowstone Park. Indeed, with the exception 

 of the hot-springs in New Zealand, no waters readily acces- 

 sible are known presenting the variety and remedial con- 

 stituents of the Yellowstone springs. In New Zealand the 

 government, appreciating the muniScent endowment which 

 nature has given the country in its hot-springs, has set apart 

 certain tracts as sanitary resorts ; and at the most famous 

 resort, Rotorua, bath-houses and bathing-pools, with the 

 usual accessories of reading-rooms and hotels, have been 

 built at government expense, and are under the supervision 

 of a government physician. 



From a therapeutic standpoint, the analyses of hot-spring 

 waters from the Yellowstone may be grouped as calcareous, 

 alkaline-silicious, acid, and sulphurous. 



The former, comprising the hot water of the Mammotb 

 Hot Spring, are highly charged with carbonate of lime^ 

 which they deposit, on exposure, in the form of travertine. 

 They resemble in composition the waters of Carlsbad, as will 

 be seen by a comparison of the analyses of the two waters. 



For bathing purposes they are less agreeable, and prob- 

 ably less beneficial, than the alkaline waters of the geyser 

 basins of the Yellowstone Park. 



These latter waters are generally highly charged with 

 alkaline salts, — sodium chloride and sodium carbonate, to- 

 gether with silica, being the chief constituents, — but there 

 is generally present also a small amount of sodium borate,, 

 also sodium arseniate, the latter a most valuable thera- 

 peutic agent in a variety of diseases. 



The luxury of bathing in these waters must be indulged' 

 in to be appreciated. The extreme softness of the water, and 

 the delightful freshness which one notices after the bath,, 

 render the use of the water a great pleasure. In New Zealand, 

 where a water almost identical in composition, save that it. 

 lacks the arsenic, has been used for several years, this type 

 of water has been found most beneficial in the treatment of 

 gout, rheumatic troubles, and sciatica. In France the cura- 

 tive properties of waters carrying arsenic in solution are 

 fully recognized, especially for the cure of certsin forms of 

 nervous and skin diseases. While the Yellowstone waters 

 contain a little less arsenic than those of the Frencli springs 

 at La Bourboule, there is no reason to doubt their usefulness 

 for similar diseases. At present the only water of this class: 

 utilized for bathing purposes is that of the Hygeia Spring,, 

 supplying the baths of the hotel at the Firehole, or Lower 

 Geyser Basin. 



This water carries three-tenths of a grain of sodium arsenic 

 to the gallon. It has been tried by ibe writer, and found a. 

 most delightful water for bathing, but no invalids have yet 

 tested its virtues. Springs of Ibis character are, however, 

 very numerous, and their waters might be easily utilized for 

 bathing. 



The acid waters, carrying free hydrochloric a,cid, are less 

 numerous in the park, but many springs of this character 

 are found at the Norris Geyser Basin. The waters may be: 

 perfectly clear, as is the case with the outflow of the Echenis 

 Geyser and the discharge from Green Spring, or turbid, and 

 charged with more or less sulphur, as is more frequently the 

 case. Such waters have achieved a considerable reputation 

 in New Zealand as a tonic and alterative, particularly in 

 diseases of the liver and in functional troubles of females. 



