and Bath as a Health Resort. 177 



for they are with difficulty obtained, and will, probably, 

 never be republished. But they are full of wisdom and 

 gentle humour, and are mostly faithful records of what their 

 authors heard and saw. We shall keep in honourable re- 

 merhbrance the names of Jones, Jorden, Venner, Guidott, 

 Peirce, the two Olivers, Sutherland, Charleton, Baylies, 

 William Falconer, Harington, Gibbes, and Parry ; the mortal 

 remains of some lie within our " great church of SS. Peter 

 and Paul," and are duly commemorated in John Britton's 

 " History and Antiquities of Bath Abbey Church." Nor 

 may we forget the scarce and precious volume written by 

 our own Bishop Ken — " Prayers for the use of all persons 

 who come to the Baths for Cure." 



In a short monograph one can only indicate in a general 

 way the place of the Bath thermal Waters in our therapeutic 

 economy. There is no room for more than the alphabet 

 or elementary grammar of a large subject. It was a bold 

 saying of Emerson's that it is the duty of man to repair 

 Nature ; or, in other words, to make the most of what 

 Nature gives us. Unworthy though we may be, we are the 

 stewards of what is held in trust for the benefit of all man- 

 kind. There is a discourse by Pliny on the wonderful things 

 which exist in water (Aquarum 7nirabilia), and on Cicero's 

 estate there were particular springs dignified in poetry. The 

 thermal fountains of Bath have been called her " staple 

 commodity." By chemical and organic powers is their 

 work done ; and we know that these powers are in harmony 

 with the old and abiding law, that " Nature is the physician, 

 and Medicine her mate." 



