358 B0T1IAMLEY : MINERAL WATERS OF ASKERN IN YORKSHIRE. 
The quantity of iodine that the waters contain is so minute that it 
can scarcely be regarded as an active agent. There is, however, very 
good reason for supposing that the dissolved organic matter plays an 
important pait, especially in the case of skin diseases, and this point 
is at any rate worthy of the careful attention of any one who in the 
future may investigate the therapeutic action of the Askern waters. 
In a very curious and interesting old treatise (the existence of 
which seems to have been overlooked), entitled A Methodic Synopsis 
of Mineral Waters, comprehending the most celebrated Medical 
Waters, both cold and hot, of Great Britain, Ireland, France, 
Germany, Italy, and several other parts of the World, by John 
Rutty, M.D., 4to, London, 1757, an account is given of the medicinal 
use of the bog waters of Ireland, and especially of the waters of 
Lough Neagh and of Loch Sheighs, in the County of Cavan, "which 
have acquired no small reputation in the cure of scrophulous sores 
and cutaneous disorders." They are described as very soft waters, 
containing little saline matter, but a considerable quantity of dis- 
solved peaty matter, which on evaporation is left as a brown or black 
unctuous and inflammable residue. Of the water of Lough Neagh, 
Dr. Rutty states, "The Appendix to Boate's Natural History of 
Ireland mentions the first occasion of introducing it into practice to 
have happened in King Charles the Second's time, in a young man 
who, having scrophulous ulcers running on him, used all imaginable 
means for his recovery without effect ; at length, on eight days 
bathing every day in this Lough, all his sores dried up, and he was 
restored to health and strength ; and this so remarkable a cure brought 
many others who had running sores upon them, who were also cured 
in a little time ; and of late years the use of this water has been 
revived in the same cases, with good success in many instances." 
# % 'fi 5j< 
"The water of Lough Sheighs, however, in the year 1736 was 
resorted to from all parts of this kingdom, and even from England, as 
an infallible remedy in cutaneous eruptions and ulcers, and the very 
mud of it was exported for these purposes. . . 
"This water is said to have been first used for curing horses and 
dogs of the mange, and from all the observations I could make on the 
