Schultz & Warker's mineral spring waters : their chemical composition, physiological action, and therapeutical use : with a short review of the history of mineral waters / by Carl Schultz.

  • Schultz, Carl, 1827-1897.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Schultz & Warker's mineral spring waters : their chemical composition, physiological action, and therapeutical use : with a short review of the history of mineral waters / by Carl Schultz. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    HISTORICAL REVIEW. The principal difference between a mineral and an ordinary spring is to be found in the larger volume of gases, especially carbonic acid gas, dissolved in the water, and in the mineral ingredients which are held in solution by both; also in the temperature of the water, which varies from 33° to 212°. They often present remarkable appearances when relieved from subterranean pressure, by losing their gases with more or less rapidity, according to the tension to which they had been subjected, and by parting with a portion of their mineral ingredients. Some of them issue from the earth with rum- bling, gurgling or hissing noises; others do so only at regular intervals, and rise to a height of from twenty to forty feet; some ascend from the bottom of the sea, of lakes and rivers ; others appear many thousand feet above the level of the ocean; some break at a boiling heat through a crust of ice and snow; others issue with icy coldness near shrubs and flowers; some destroy vegetation in their immediate neigh- borhood, while others penetrate and cover organic structures with calcareous incrustations, and preserve them for the study of future generations. Such phenomena were replete with wonder to the unedu- cated, and attracted the attention of philosophers from an early period. Supernatural properties were ascribed to the springs. Strange theories were propounded regarding their origin, and wonderful tales and fables were current of their curative powers. Strabo relates that the springs of Hierapolis imparted a red color to the roots of trees and shrubs, and that the juices of the latter, when mixed with the water, produced a purple liquor which was used for dyeing wool. Philostratus, when speaking of the sanguinary battle which the Greek army fought with Telephus, on the banks of the river Caicus, states that the wounded Greek soldiers who resorted to Agamem-