SPLENIC APOPLEXY. 
539 
exhaustion, or natural poverty, or a combination of these 
conditions. To this end, I would venture to suggest that 
the arterial drainage of the whole district should be looked to, 
and that the system of always taking hay from one meadow 
and depasturing another, should be be inquired into, and, con¬ 
sequent upon this, an attempt should be made to weed, and 
to introduce, where absent, some better species of herbage to 
replace the poorer kinds. 
Professor Voelcker followed, and remarked that he had 
a very short report to make. All he had to speak of 
was, that he had analysed four different kinds of water, and 
that among them there was only one which was not largely im¬ 
pregnated w ith enough of both mineral and organic matter to 
produce disease. One sample in particular contained no less 
than 235 grains of solid matter in the imperial gallon, com¬ 
posed of various medicinal salts, which must necessarily 
affect the w hole constitution of animals. He did not feel in 
the least surprised that animals supplied with such water had 
become the subjects of serious disease. 
The Chairman : What Avater was it ? 
Professor Voelcker said the water was taken from the 
pump at Mr. Bradley’s farm. It was clear-looking water, but 
was nevertheless very foul indeed. Among other things, it con¬ 
tained nitric acid, as much as one grain to the imperial gallon, 
and nineteen grains of organic matter; showing that, somehow 
or other, refuse materials had accumulated near to the surface 
of the soil, underwent regular nitrification, and found their 
way, in a more or less changed state, into the w hole of the 
pump w T ater. Then, again, there w r as a large proportion of 
sulphate of soda present, besides sulphate of lime, sulphate of 
magnesia, and some sulphate of potash. These were salts 
w hich in their combinations had a medicinal effect very much 
greater than that which they produced separately. It was a 
well-known fact that in certain districts of Somersetshire, 
where tart or scouring lands prevailed, medicinal effects fre¬ 
quently occurred from the water. Referring to the composition 
of some w ater in a district near Bridgwater, he found that it 
contained 202 grains to the imperial gallon, while the water on 
Mr. Bradley’s farm contained 235 grains. It was, unques¬ 
tionably, mineral water, a single tumblerful of it taken in the 
morning being sufficient to produce a decided effect on the in¬ 
testines. There could be no question, then, that in a lias dis¬ 
trict there were materials in the waters having a tendency 
to produce disease; w hether it were splenic apoplexy, scour¬ 
ing, or some other affection, he could not say, but that such 
water could not be drunk with impunity was certain. 
