Excursions to the principal mineral waters of England, in pursuit of health and information / by James Johnson.

  • Johnson, James, 1777-1845.
Date:
1843
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Excursions to the principal mineral waters of England, in pursuit of health and information / by James Johnson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    MALVERN. infirmity. It is to an examination of the latter, and to an enquiry into the manner in which it has proved serviceable in scrofulous and other diseases occurring in weak habits, that some of the following pages will be especially appropriated, parti- cularly as it has long been resorted to not only for the cure of these, but also for the alleviation of other important disorders to which mankind are subjected. There are two wells here frequented by invalids, one called St. Ann's Well, which is a little distance above the village of Great Malvern, the other, or the Holy Well, is nearly a mile and a half upon the road towards Little Malvern and Ledbury, where are a number of genteel residences and some boarding-houses for the accommodation of those, who, either for benefit or pleasure, resort to this enchanting spot. Both these springs are upon the eastern side of the range, and being situated some distance up the ascent of the hill, are removed from the influence of decaying vegetable or animal matters. It is abundantly evident that a jflace of this kind, combining such qualities of water and air, and presenting such facilities and even inducements for bodily exercise, must be admirably calcu- leted to ameliorate or cure a host of maladies engendered by close and mephitic air, noxious and polluted water, sedentary avoca- tions, and the wear and tear of mental anxiety and perturbation. It evinced no small sagacity in one of the hydropathic, or rather hydrophagic priests of Hygeia, to select Malvern for the temple, in which the miracle of the day, and the regnant mania of the moment, should be exhibited to the million, who are always under the influence of some moral epidemic. There are worse places, after all, than this wicked world. We hear a great deal, indeed, about excruciating maladies, and even death itself. Mr. Farr exhibits his weekly and quarterly black, white, and red catalogue of deaths, marriages, and births ; but the first column ought to be entirely omitted, because it is solely the fault of an individual if he labours long under a malady—or if he suffer the grim tyrant to seize him with his fangs. There is no disease, however painful or obstinate, for which there is not a o 2