114     PURE  CARBONIC  ACID,  MINERAL  AND  LITHIA  WATER. 
1  150  03580 
8-180  6*1533 
0900  00042 
0  780  0-3970 
e  striking,  should  we  compare  all 
Blood  serum.  Sellers. 
Chloride  of  Sodium       .       .       .       17-292  grains.  172^20 
Chloride  of  Potassium  . 
Carbonate  of  Soda 
Phosphate  of  Soda 
Sulphate  of  Potash 
The  resemblance  would  be  still  mo- 
raine ral  ingredients  of  the  blood  with  those  of  Selters  ;  and  that  Spa  has, 
on  that  account,  always  seemed  to  us,  of  all  natural  mineral  water,  the 
most  philosophically  compounded.  It  is  not  a  whim  that  has  made  of 
Selters  a  luxury ;  it  is  not  an  accident  that  it  agrees  with  people,  that  it 
is  always  liked,  and  that  they  never  get  tired  of  its  use.  We  explain  it 
by  the  composition  of  the  Spa ;  it  furnishes  the  normal  mineral  ingredi- 
ents of  the  blood  in  a  condition  in  which  they  are  easily  absorbed,  inde- 
pendently of  the  state  of  digestion  ;  it  must  have  a  tendency  to  establish 
them  in  their  normal  fixed  proportion,  and  to  induce  a  healthy  metamor- 
phosis of  matter  by  reflex  action.  It  is  also  apparent  why  other  Spas  of 
more  marked  variations  can  be  advantageously  used  for  the  restoration 
of  a  normal  condition  of  the  blood,  in  cases  where  its  composition  has 
undergone  more  serious  changes ;  and  why  carbonic  acid  water,  by  dis- 
solving the  mineral  ingredients  of  food,  will  gradually  produce  the  same 
result.  The  single  consideration  that  blood  contains  its  own  volume  of 
carbonic  acid  gas  in  solution,  shows  the  importance  of  using  water  of  the 
same  condition.  The  production  of  carbonic  acid  is  largest  in  a  healthy 
state  of  the  system,  and  is  always  diminished  in  chronic  diseases,  and  in 
most  conditions  which  interfere  with  perfect  health  ;  and  as  that  gas  must 
form  an  important  constituent  of  the  gastric  juice  and  intestinal  liquids, 
we  find  such  disorders  usually  accompanied  by  impaired  digestion,  and  the 
use  of  carbonated  waters  signalized  by  improved  nutrition." 
For  much  further  matter  of  moment  I  must  refer  to  the  origi- 
nal*, which  is  in  fact  a  compendium  that  should  be  read  by  every 
medical  man  and  pharmaceutist. 
The  practical  artificial  reproduction  of  such  a  mineral  water, 
(which,  in  view  of  the  analogy  pointed  out  by  Mr.  Schultz,  we  may 
call,  almost  without  hyperbole,  the  natural  milk  of  our  mother  earth 
presented  to  us  fresh  from  her  bosom,)  all  chemists  know  to  be  a  mat- 
ter of  far  less  simplicity  than  is  usually  imagined.  The  prepara- 
tion, on  a  large  scale,  in  a  reliable  state  of  purity,  and  homoge- 
neous combination  of  the  ingredients,  belong  to  the  most  difficult 
*  Schultz  &  Warkers'  Mineral  Spring  Waters,  etc.,  by  Carl  SchuHz. 
Published  by  Westermann  &  Co.,  New  York,  1865. 
