Bath, Contrexéville and the lime sulphated waters : with their use in medicine / by John Macpherson.

  • Macpherson, John, 1817-1890.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Bath, Contrexéville and the lime sulphated waters : with their use in medicine / by John Macpherson. 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.

    54/63 (page 46)
    neighbouring downs for exercise ; the easiness of the amusements ; and the advantage of what conversation one desires. I say taking all these advantages together, I can affirm from near twenty years experience, without suspicion of flattery or fear of contradiction, that Bath is the place.” This remains true in its essentials, al- though Bath has become rather more of a city. In bidding farewell to Bath and to its remarkable Roman remains, I beg to salute its fountains in a couple of lines, which will be amusing to local antiquaries. I have ventured to substitute the word Sulis for that of Divona in the original:— Salve urbis genius, medico potabilis haustn, Sulis, Celtarum lingua, fons addite Divis. The Bristol waters furnish a not-a-little curious chap- ter in the history of mineral waters. The Hot wells rise from the bed of the Avon at the foot of the St. Vincent rocks, below the highest tide mark. They have a tem- perature of 70° to 76°, and must be classed as weak lime waters, the carbonate preponderating over the sul- phate. They yield from 2,000 to 3,000 gallons per hour. The water is clear, pure, sparkling and rather pleasant to the taste, owing to the presence of a good deal of car- bonic acid. The latest analysis, however, show less of that gas, than was to be expected. These waters were coming into favour in 1650, and there prosperity lasted for more than 150 years. We have already seen that they were the Vichy, or Contrexeville, or Wildungen of the day, in their popularity in gravel and diabetes.