Natural mineral waters : their properties and uses.

  • Ingram & Royle (Firm)
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Natural mineral waters : their properties and uses. 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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    to our object to employ the natural mineral waters ; since what are called artificial waters,' however admirably prepared, are simply pharmaceutical products, and are destitute of the very quality which distinguishes the remedy they are designed to imitate So that there is something, which I do not pretend to explain, and certainly shall not speculate about here, which distinguishes the action of Natural Mineral Waters from the action of salts which arc produced pharma- ceutical! jr. Further Medical testimony against the use of Artificial Mineral Water is given in the following extracts :— I cannot blame in too strong terms the use of Artificial Mineral Waters. They never replace those of the natural springs. To give the name of Vichy waters to a mere solution of bi-carbonate of soda is as absurd as to give the name of wine to a mixture of cream of tartar, alcohol, and mineral salts, which this liquid is proved to be when analysed. Go to the natural springs ; Dature is far better than the laboratory.—Dr. Bousdon. Artificial Mineral Waters of the best fabrication are, in a medical and chemical point of view, only a poor counterfeit of the real waters whose name they usurp. They are doubly pernicious, as they do not attain the physician's aim, and cast a certain discredit on the genuine production.—Dr. Constantin James. Having heard so much of Mineral Waters, you will ask perhaps—does not the name indicate that certain mineral substances are dissolved in the springs 1 And if so, why could we not, with the knowledge of their composition, combine the same substances in the same proportions, and expect similar results ? I answer, if only soluble remedies were contained in them, you might certainly easily imitate them, but although these waters appear perfectly clear and transparent, every one of them contains substances insoluble in common or distilled water.—Dr Sigismund Sutro. When Bacon expressed surprise that ' no man hath sought to make an imitation by art of natural baths and medicinal fountains,' he was not aware that such imita- tions had already been made. Herodotus, indeed, a successor of Galen, had declared that the copies were not equal to the originals. We have already seen that, as regards baths, everything had been done that Bacon could have wished ; and it is the same with medicinal fountains, of which imitations have now for a long time past been prepared. These are truly called imitations, for they are seldom exact enough to rank even as accurate copies. And this is not surprising, while the exact chemical constitution of mineral waters is by no means positively determined. Whether the presence of minute quantities of a great many salts is of any real importance ; whether nature's polypharmacy is more valuable than man's, or not, it is very difficult to add these fractional quantities accurately to artificial waters ; and the organic matters, such as baregine, present in some, cannot be imitated at all. As these artificial waters are but imperfect copies, perhaps it would be better if the actual contents of the bottles were specified on the outside, instead of the name of the spring they imitate.— Dr. Macpherson. Our last quotation will be from the writings of Dr. Durand-Fardel, of Paris, one of the most eminent hydrologists, if not the most eminent, of the day ;— There is all the difference in the effect of carbonic acid gas upon the stomach, accord- ing as it emanates from a liquid, artificially rendered gaseous, or from a naturally gaseous uquid. I have known too many cases in which the stomach has been injured by the habitual and too prolonged imbibition of artificial gaseous waters to doubt that every other'specialist has had the same experience It may be accepted, as a general rule, that the less effervescent a bicarbonated water is, the more beneficial is its use, and the longer can its use be continued with impunity. The reason is that the gas which Mir'water contains is retained therein, and only escapes gradually, instead of being ciisengaged and disappearing at once, as it does from artificially aerated waters. But ttie very opposite principle has met with general acceptance. The more effervescing a water is the more loudly is its merit proclaimed. It is precisely this error which nas brought into vogue some artificial waters, which have passed as natural mineral En land senous detriment of the stomachs of those who use them freely, as in 1fis<n' C!iat!n! in,a communication to the Paris Academy of Medicine (31st January, ivoi), categorically declared I hat the introduction of the gas by artificial pressure only