Bath, Contrexéville and the lime sulphated waters : with their use in medicine / by John Macpherson.

  • Macpherson, John, 1817-1890.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bath, Contrexéville and the lime sulphated waters : with their use in medicine / by John Macpherson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    the cause of the production of favourable results. But in cures with the waters, on the investigation of which I am about to enter, the cause of success is not so patent. I intend to treat as much as possible only of the internal use of the earthy waters, as in these days when cutaneous absorption is not believed in, it is solely by their internal use that we can study the action of the constituents of mineral waters, (excluding the effects of baths and various bath processes with mineral waters of differing temperatures). I say as much as possible, because although the practice varies at different periods, still at the present day there are few mineral waters, especially if they are thermal, which are not used for both drinking and bathing pur- poses. At one time such waters have been used only internally, at another time only externally, and with- out auy reasonable explanation of the grounds for the difference of practice. In order to show the relations of the waters, of which we are about to treat, to other ones, it is necessary to say something about alkaline waters. These are somewhat multifarious, but are usually divided into :— 1. Pure, i.e., comparatively pure alkalines, in which carbonate of soda with carbonic acid predominates, such as Vichy, Yals, with the important subdivisions of a. Chloride of sodium alkalines, as Ems, Lu- hatschowitz, etc. b. Sulphate of sodium alkalines, as Carlsbad, Tarasp, etc.