The circulation of the waters on the surface of the earth / by H.W. Dove.

  • Dove, Heinrich Wilhelm, 1803-1879.
Date:
1871
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The circulation of the waters on the surface of the earth / by H.W. Dove. 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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    in contact with substances which it has power to melt. Even common spring-water is, for this reason not so chemically pure as rain-water; and although it holds but a very small quantity of carbonate of hme in solution, it is still sufficient to form, inconjunction with soap, a flaky lime-soap, while in rain and river water the soap dissolves equally; and it pre- vents pease and beans becoming soft in boding, for the hme adheres to the shells, and in this manner excludes the entrance of the water. Therefore we call spring water hard, in contrast with the soft river water. A spring becomes a mineral spring, when the ingredients which it holds in solution, exist in greater quantities. Pliny has given us the key so to say, to the fabrication of mineral springs; it is as follows. The waters partake of the nature of the country through which they flow. Starting from this dictum, Struve investigated the basalts, phonolite and porphyry in the vicinity of Bilin, Teplitz, Marienbad, Carls- bad and Eger. After having discovered all the sohd ingredients of the neighbouring chalybeate springs, he proceeded to imitate them artificially, by bringing the pounded rocks in contact with carbonic acid gas and water, under the pressure of a piunp. The brilliant results of these experiments are the artificial mineral waters, a blessing indeed more especially for those regions remote from the healing springs. Those waters have been objected to on the score, that in the natural waters, there were possibly unknown ingredients, an assertion which has been confirmed since the discovey of Cesium and Rubi- dium in the waters of Baden-Baden and Turkheim, by means of Bunsen's spectral-analysis. But further, you have to con- sider that, along with the healing substances beneficial for a cer- tain form of disease, the natual mineral waters frequently con- (116)