284 Medicinal Mineral Water at Helwdn. 



On the Discovery and Analysis of a Medicinal Mineral 

 Water at Helwdn, near Cairo. (In a Letter to Professor 

 Jameson, from Leonard Horner, Esq., F.R.S.L. & E., 

 and F.G.S.) 



I have been for a considerable time in correspondence with 

 the Honourable Charles Augustus Murray, H.M. Consul- 

 General and Diplomatic Agent in Egypt,* on the subject of 

 some geological researches instituted by me respecting the 

 alluvial deposits in the Nile Valley which are now in progress. 

 In the following letter, dated the 2d of May 1852, he announced 

 to me his discovery of a mineral water, which he believed 

 might prove of great value to the inhabitants of Cairo and 

 the vicinity. 



" Having heard from my friend, Dr Abbott of Cairo, that 

 some Arabs had told him of the existence of mineral springs 

 near the edge of the desert, on the east bank of the Nile, 

 nearly opposite to Memphis, I crossed over thither to a village 

 called Helwan, and having obtained a confirmation of the re- 

 port from the Scheik of the village, I went out with him, 

 accompanied by two men with spades. Not more than two 

 miles from the village, in an easterly direction, and about 

 one mile beyond the cultivable soil, we came to a small green 

 oasis in the desert, betokening the presence of water. On 

 approaching it, a strong sulphurous effluvium tainted the air, 

 and at the upper edge of the little oasis, I came to the spring, 

 bubbling up into a natural basin in the sand, about 5 feet 

 long, 4 feet broad, and 3 J feet deep. Its temperature, at the 

 time of my visit, was 90° Fahr., but the Arabs told me it 

 was sometimes much warmer. Judging from the appearance 

 and smell, I conceive that the principal mineral ingredients 

 of the water must be sulphur and iron ; but there is a gray- 

 blue film upon the surface, which leads me to imagine the 

 possible presence of iodine. 



" Filling a bottle which I had carefully cleaned, I proceeded 

 in my search in a southerly direction, and found four more 



* Mr Murray has recently been appointed our Minister Plenipotentiary to 

 the Swiss Confederation. 



