The Woodhall or Iodine Spa, Lincolnshire / by Robert Cuffe.

  • Cuffe, Robert.
Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Woodhall or Iodine Spa, Lincolnshire / by Robert Cuffe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    * mineral springs, the peculiar properties of each spring, and the diseases which are suitable for treatment at each particular Spa require quite as much attention on the part of the phy¬ sician as the study of the various medicines which crowd the shelves of the dispenser. Why it is that natural springs con¬ taining various saline and mineral ingredients are infinitely more curative than an apparently similar solution manu¬ factured in the laboratory of the chemist, is perhaps somewhat difficult to understand; of the fact, however, there can be no doubt. Every year cases of disease are cured by the waters of some spring properly selected by a physician, and .judi¬ ciously employed under the superintendence of a competent medical man. It is, especially, chronic cases of constitutional disease, such as have long resisted the efforts of the physician, that are most benefited bv the use of mineral waters; and t/ s though it is doubtless true that the best effect is obtained by leaving the cares of home and using them at their source, still there are some waters that contain such an appreciable amount of fixed bodies, powerful medicinal agents, as to be capable of exercising their curative power when taken and used at the home of the patient. The labours of the chemist, within this nineteenth centurv, have enriched our list of mineral medicines by two notable, additions—Iodine and Bromine. The knowledge of these elements has thrown much light upon the tlierapentical pro¬ perties of some medicines enjoying a high reputation, as burnt sponge, sea-weed, &c. Iodine is generally used in medicine in combination with an Alkaline metal as Iodide of Potassium. PTo medicine has a higher reputation, or is more frequently prescribed by physicians and surgeons; it is supposed to act principally through the medium of the lymphatic vessels, and it certainly increases the activity of the absorbents in an extraordinary degree, so as to cause absorption of solid and especially glandular tissues. This power is very plainly exemplified in the absorption of tumours of the neck (,goitre) under its influence. All glandular swellings are