i 34 Analysis of the Pittsburgh Mineral Spring. 



man mineral waters, and greater than in many of those which 

 are most esteemed and frequented in this country. The 

 mineral spirit or fixed air by which the metal is held in solu- 

 tion should by no means pass unnoticed, as it is an agent pos- 

 sessing no small powers over the human frame, and if prop- 

 erly employed becomes one of the most useful remedies. To 

 this principle most mineral waters owe their activity; it is this 

 agent which holds many of their most powerful ingredients 

 in solution, and enables them to pervade the remotest recess* 

 es of the human frame. 



With these observations on the effect of chalybeates ori 

 the system, we are prepared to enter into the medicinal qual- 

 ities of the Pittsburgh spring. 



The first effect of those waters, and which is easily and 

 distinctly remarked in the water at Pittsburgh, is decidedly 

 of a stimulant kind. Soon after taking a few glasses of it, 

 the pulse is increased in strength, the patient if previously chil- 

 ly and pale, feels a glow occasioned by the increased circula- 

 tion, and by persevering in the use of the water for a few 

 days, the appetite becomes greatly increased, and the gen- 

 eral spirits and health improved ; these effects are more stri- 

 king in some than others. It is not uncommon however on 

 beginning a course of this water, for the patient to experi- 

 ence nausea, vomiting, and pain about the region of the 

 stomach, or else a heaviness of the head, slight vertigo, and 

 sense of fullness over the whole body. Sometimes these 

 are so troublesome as to shew that it was not adapted to the 

 nature of the complaint, and to forbid the use of it, but in 

 general these symptoms soon disappear after a little use, 

 and particularly when an increase of any of the natural ex- 

 cretions, such as the urine, or faeces, is established. 



Such chalybeates as the Pittsburgh water, produce no 

 certain action on the bowels, nor if we attend to the na- 

 ture of their contents as they appear by analysis, could 

 it be expected, when the bowels are foul and loaded with 

 bilious sordes. The water often purges pretty briskly at 

 first, but this is a very desirable circumstance, and its opera- 

 tion in this way soon ceases, when the intestines are restor- 

 ed to their proper state. The secretion which this mineral 

 water most commonly excites is that of urine, and this is 

 generally in the greatest quantity, when the water best agrees 

 with the habit of the patient. 



The general operation of such waters is to increase the 

 power of the secretory system in a gradual and uniform 



