< Page:EB1911 - Volume 18.djvu
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MINERAL WATERS

other salts with which they are associated. Some of the best known springs of the kind are: Challes, Wildegg, Castrocaro, Hall, Adelheid's Quelle, Krankenheil, Kreuznach, Woodhall Spa. Iron or Chalybeate Waters.-Iron usually exists in waters in the state of protoxide or its carbonate, less frequently as sulphate or crenate, and very rarely, if at all, as chloride. The quantity present is usually extremely small. It may be said to vary from 0- 12 to 0-03 in the 1000 parts of water. Some wells considered distinct chalybeates contain less than 0-03. Many wells, especially in Germany, have a rich supply of carbonic acid, which is unfortunately wanting in French and English ones.

It has long been the prevalent idea that want of iron in the blood is the main cause of chlorosis and of other anaemic conditions, and that these conditions are best relieved by a supply of that metal. Since the detection of it in haemoglobuline this view has been still more popular. It is pretty certain that the blood contains 37 to 47 grains and the whole system 70 to 74 grains of iron; and it has been calculated that in normal conditions of the system somewhat more than one grain of iron is taken daily in articles of food, and that the same amount is passed in the faeces; for although the stomach takes the iron up it is excreted by the alimentary canal mainly, it being doubtful whether any is excreted in the urine. It TABLE V.¢Stranger Salt Walers.

any other explanation be satisfactory, there is no question as to the excellent effects often produced by drinking chalybeate waters (especially when they are carbonated), and by bathing in those which are rich in carbonic acid after they have been artificially heated. As regards the drinking cure we must not, however, forget that carbonate and chloride of sodium, and also the sulphate, are often present and must be ascribed a share in the cure. Thus chloride of sodium is a powerful adjuvant in the strong Stahl Quelle of Homburg and in the Putnam Well at Saratoga. A whole category of female complaints is treated successfully with these waters. Indeed, anaemia from any source, as after fever or through loss of blood, and enlargements of the spleen, are benefited by them. The stimulating action of the copious supply of carbonic acid in steel baths is a very important adjuvant; no one now believes in direct absorption of iron from the bath. Iron waters are scarcely ever thermal. They are extremely common in all countries frequently along with sulphuretted hydrogen in bogs and near

coal-measures. But such springs and non-carbonated wells generally are weak, and not now held in much esteem.

It may be added that some of the strongest known iron wells are sulphaled or alumina ted. They are styptic and astringent, and can only be used diluted. They are sometimes useful as an application to ulcers and sores. Such springs have often been brought into notice, but never retain their popularity. They are known in the Isle of Wight, in /Vales, in Scotland, as well as in Elba, &c.; and of L§ E+§§ late years the Bedford Alum and Oak Orchard Springs, U.S., jg E gas have been brought into notice, the latter containing IO grains of LOC3-1115Y~ '53 O3 Thefapel-17510 APPllCall0l'1- free sulphuric acid in the pmt. All such springs have been con-Eg 8 -5 sidered useful in scrofula, anaemia and chronic diarrhoea's. Urn »-1 Sulphur Sprzngs.-Waters having the odour of hydro sulphuric acid, however slightly, are usually called sul hur ones. The owe P Y

5010flll3, efficts of iniiaén- their lsmqeél songetimes to the presence of the free acid, sometimes - - HQHUOH, C FOHIC @3411 8' to su p i es 0 sodium, calcium or magnesia, and sometimes to Rhemfeld'Aargau' Switzer 311 U0flS» S0m€ Cl'1l'0f11C €X' both. Sulphuretted hydrogen is absorbed more freely b cold than land ' ' "" f1Htl1€IHaS I'l'1@Umat1S1°0 by hot water and is therefore most abundant in cold spiiings The uterine infiltrations. sulphides decompose and give off the gas. Most of these springs Salll-11136111 North G€l'¥¥1a11Y 255 D0- 00- occur near coal or shale measures, or strata containing fossils, or in Ischl, A'-lStf1a (1440 ft-)- ~ 256 DO- fl0~ mo0rs and in places generally where organic matter is present in Hall, Tsfrol (1700 ft-) ~ - 255 D0- Cl0- the soil or strata. Many of them contain so little mineral impreg-R€1Cl1€I1l'1all, I1€21I' Salzburg 224 ' D0 do nation that they might as well be classed among the indifferent (1800 ft.) .... ' ' or earthy waters. One group contains a considerable amount of BCX1 Rh0r1eVall@y (140015) 156 DO- Cl0- chloride of sodium, another of sulphate of lime, while' a third has Castrocaro, Tuscany. . 36 DO- Cl0- little mineral impregnation, but contains sulphides. D1'0lWiCl1, Deaf Worcester ~ 233'6 DO- <l0- Sulphuretted hydrogen is a strong poison, and its action on the Sea Water ...... 30-4 D 1 I system; has been pretty well ascertained.l It has been assumed - 0-§ SIX'-fC1a PS0 111 000' t at the gas in mineral watr a ts similar, though in a d'fi d Rehmé' WeSfPhal'a (92° F')' 24 85 1Tl0t0l' Ht8X19— degree; but there is next toL1i;thing absolutlxy known of thndlhckign Nal1l'1€1m» Weffefau (30°- 2 DO do of the small quantities of the gas that are present in mineral waters, 103° F.) .... 9 ' ' " and which certainly have no toxic effect. It has been assumed v ' ' that this gas has some special action on the portal s stem and 'so th l' O th ' f t ll' ' Y 'th th

TABLE VI Imn Watem on e 1ver. n e connexion o me a ic poisoning wi e liver has been founded the idea that sulphur waters are useful ln H . h, Carb metallic intoxication. Drinking large quantities of these waters, Localit . - elg L ' Thera eutic Use. especially of such as contain sulphates or chlorides of sodium or Y in Ft of Iron P - - -é,

magnesla, combined W1tl'l hot baths and exercise, may help to Rippoldsau Black Forest 1886 0 12 5 Foranaemic COndi albumin ates, but there is no proof of the action of the 4' tions; laxative. Z 1

~ For similar reasons, and pr1mar1ly to counteract mercurial polson gggglguéikgiar Frankfort' I; gf); gg' gg sulphur waters have been considered useful in syphilis. But it Liebeéstein 51(IO}th' Gér ' 4 5 ' ' may be well to remember that at most baths mercury is used along man ' 911 0-08 with them. N0 doubt they are frequently, like other warm waters, Y ""', - DO much of 3 useful 1n bringing out old eruptions, acting in this way as a test Schwalbach, Nassau 900 0-08 ~{ 'l » for syphilitic poison, and in indicating the treatment that ma be (ladies bath. g Y

B°C1<1<-ft, near Klssinsen ~ 600 0~<>8 0°~ TABLE vu.-Cold Sulphur Springs. G . Ab h B1 kF t 6 o o j, Do., laxatlve; a

ries ac, ac ores . 1 14 7 g ladies, bath Sulphuretted S I Vd Franzensbad, Bohemia . 1293 0-07 Do. do. Locaut Hydrogen U gf” 6, Pyrmont, Germany ' - 0-07 D0~ Y' dissolved in . E

Spa, Bigiurlgl 1; F. 1000 o-06 130. 1 Water. Sodlum Peterst a, ac orest 1333 0-04 o.; axative. v

St Moritz, Engadine, 4, Do.; sought for its Eilgcny Schaumbul-g Lipp@ 42-3 Switzerland 5464 O03 - l' 21iI'- Meinberg, Lippe-Detmold 23-1 0-008 Forges-les-Eaux, Francs - - 0-06 D0~ Gurnigel, Switzerland (3,600 ft.) 15-1-La Malou, Hérault, France Leuk, ' do. (3593 ft.) 44-5

(temp 88°) 0 O8 DO' Challes Savoy (000 ft) - 0-478

Rec0aro, North Italy . 1945 o-o4 ' 1130. d H Enghieh, near Paris .~ ' . — 0-106 - , o.; e cient in riage, Isére, France (1500 ft.) 7-34lrrunbndge Wélls- England 0 06 4? carbonic acid. Harrogate, England .... - 0-207

Muspratt Spring, Harro-, 600 0 1 Strathpeffer, Scotland . - 0-026

gate (chloride) 5 Lisdoonvarna, Clare, Ireland ...' -is possible by drinking several glasses to take in more than a grain of carbonate of iron in the day, equivalent to half that amount of metallic iron. It has further been ingeniously reckoned from practice that IO to 15 grains of metallic iron suffice to supply the deficiency in the system in a case of chlorosis. It is thought probable that a portion of the iron taken up in water is in certain pathological states not excreted, but retained in the system, and goes towards making up the want of that metal. But. whether this or required. Sulphur waters, both hot and cold, are used in gout and rheumatism, in dyspepsia, in hepatic and cutaneous affections; and of late years inhalation of them has been popular in phthisis and in laryngeal affections. They have long been popular remedies in cutaneous affections. While so much doubt has been cast on the action of the sul hur of these waters, it may be admitted that the sulphides are probably decomposed in the stomach and sulphuretted

hydrogen generated. That gas is probably a slight stimulant

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