C 612 ) 
11 Obferv Attorn [ur les EaUX MINER ^LES deflufieurs Pro- 
vwce$ de France, faites en I' Academie Royale des Sciences, en 
I mnee 1 6 7 o, 1 6 7 1 . /e Sieur du ClosyConfeiller Mede^ 
tin ordinaire du RojM h dite Ac&dentie. J. Paris. 1 67 1 z'?. 
THE Royal Parifun Academy^ refolvingro fearch into the 
Qualities of the moft couMtid^bltMineralwaters o{ Prance, 
did not^it feems,proceed to ihls^xamen without great deliberati- 
on 5 the reafons of the Ufefulnefs of thefe waters for the recovery 
of the Health of many fick perfons, being bailanced by thofc of 
the difficulty of knowing the Caufes of the proprieties of the faid 
waters, depending particularly upon the ujixcures of certain bo- 
dies they meet with intheir paflTages through the Earth,and in the 
cavities or interflices of Rocks, and v^hich are divers and very 
numeroqs/uch as Vapors Juyces,Salts,Earths,(i7'^. 
They were aware, that thegreateft part of thofe matters, with 
wh.ch Mineral waters may be impregnated, are not difcern'd in 
them,and that thedififerenc mixture which is made of many of them 
together, may conftitute fo many kinds of Mineral waters/alubri- 
ous or perniciouSjthacitfeems impoffibleto know them all and to 
determine them. The Waters of the fame Springs imyjay they^zt - 
difFerenr times receive notable alterations by new mixtures, or by 
ithe ceflation of thofe that were made before. 
They think it not likely, that the Waters, called Mz/^^m/, arc 
produced of the fole Mineral Fapors condenfed, and that in the 
Earth there are Mines in that abundance as contini a ly to furnifli 
Vapors C3pabie,when condenred,to entertain and feed the perpe- 
tual courfe of thofe waters in Springs that dry not up : But they 
Judge, that feme M/'/^^f^^/ Vapors or Exhalations ipix themfelves 
with the Common waters that traverfe (he Earth where they are, 
and are condenrtd,and that thefe wafers remain impregnated w^th 
their qualities,and vvi[h feme volatil Salts not concreted,elevatcd 
in thofe dry Exhalations.or in thofe moid Vapors. 
They find, that the difcerningof the Qualities of thofe Exhala- 
tions and Vapors is not eafie ; that the diverfity of their matter is 
very great ; that the occurfion of their mixtures is cafual ;ihat the 
conditions of the places where they pafs and where they are de- 
tained,arenot manifeft ; and that theaherations which they pro- 
duce in the waters,into which they infinuate themfelves,arc not al- 
ways well known. 
They 
