impregnations of the different mineral springs of this important watering-place, may be due to the shale formation, through which they issue to the surface ; or may be partly ascribed to a solution of the saline and sulphureous materials of a boggy soil which rests on the shale. It does not seem improbable, that the waters may acquire from the bog-land, in which vegetable matters appear to be in a state of extreme decomposition, a considerable amount of sulphureous and saline impregnation, which may be modified by the subsequent percolation of the waters through the shale. Dr. Neale, who practised at Harrogate about the end of the seventeenth century, appears to have been one of the first to collect the sulphureous and saline waters of this place; and, indeed, he says that he "made a large bason to contain several hogsheads of water, and covered it with a large stone, to preserve it from the sun and rain water; and for a week together we rammed its sides with clay, to prevent other springs from getting in ;" and he adds, that "the earth about these spas is black and bituminous, the surface whereof in hot weather is candied over with a yellow scurf, which is perfect brimstone." Dr. Short says, writing in 1734, "The soil out of which these springs rise, is, first, corn mould, then a marl stone."

The sulphureous waters of Harrogate are transparent, having a strongly sulphureous and fetid smell, and a saline and most disagreeable taste. The temperature probably varies, but is stated to be 54°. The importance of these waters, either used internally, of

made use of as baths, for which every accommodation and convenience are afforded, can hardly be over-estimated in many of the cases of hepatic derangement, and of the more chronic cutaneous diseases.

Harrogate likewise possesses pure chalybeate, saline-chalybeate, and pure saline mineral waters, which are respectively valuable to many invalids, either preparatory to commencing the course of the sulphureous waters, or auxiliary to the effects of those waters, or made use of after such course has been completed. These several waters are necessarily found useful in many cases, to which the sulphureous waters are not at all applicable.

Harrogate affords to its visitors all the usual watering-place accommodations and conveniences; and every means are had recourse to, for securing the comfort of those who resort to it for the sake of its justly celebrated mineral waters. Its air is bracing.

All mineral waters, including even those that are purely saline, are more or less stimulating; and this is perhaps particularly the case, when the water is warmer than the natural temperature. It is therefore obvious, that the use of these great agents should not be permitted in cases that are attended with febrile excitement, nor in systems characterised by plethora, until, in the one case, the febrile action has been subdued, and in the other case the full habit of body has been reduced, by dietetic regulations and medicinal means.

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"We agree with Alibert," writes Dr. Gairdner, "in regarding all thermal waters, and most mineral springs generally, to be physiologically and therapeutically stimulant; and that the degree of excitation is proportionate to their temperature. This may be stated to be the fundamental principle of thermological medicine; and is therefore of the utmost importance to be kept in view in determining the particular class of diseases, or the particular stage of any given disease, which they are likely to benefit. This stimulant power may be directed to very different organs. They may sometimes act by exciting the capillary circulation, the secretion of urine, the alvine excretions, the digestive functions, the locomotive organs, or, finally, the nervous system generally. In the early or acute period of a disease, they will seldom be beneficial, in most cases highly injurious, especially in that great class comprehended under the general title of Pyrexiæ. But, when it has assumed the chronic or indolent character, signal benefit will frequently result from their judicious application."*

The observation of the remarkable effects of the mineral waters on the various powers of disordered action that are of more chronic character, teaches and impresses the value of a comparatively expectant treatment of such cases, when the use of mineral waters may not be of sufficiently ready access. need not be hoped, that, by any artificial means, the same large amount of curative results may be obtained, as would follow the judicious and well-timed use of

It

* On Mineral and Thermal Springs. By Meredith Gairdner, M.D.

the appropriate mineral water in such morbid conditions; but a considerable amount of benefit may be generally obtained by imitating the methodus medendi adopted by nature. The large secondary means of cure, which generally obtain when the invalid makes use of a mineral water, may or may not be enjoyed in connection with the artificial treatment; and no observing person could undervalue the effects on the body and the mind, of change of air and scene and society, of being removed from the ordinary pursuits of life, of being freed necessarily from some of the daily cares and anxieties of the ordinary avocations, of being taken out of the wearing and wearying routine of duties and engagements. These are, indeed, important elements in the advantages offered to all classes of invalids by watering-places in general; and often, beyond a doubt, contribute largely to the curative results obtained by resorting to them. In a large number of chronic cases, salines, chalybeates, alkalies, &c., may be given with a much greater chance of beneficial results, if prescribed in some degree after the model presented in the several mineral waters. The strongest of the saline waters of Cheltenham and Leamington only afford, upon analysis, from 1000 to 1200 grains of salts in the gallon of water; the strongest sulphur water of Harrogate only shows 1016 grains in the gallon; the great alkaline saline water of Carlsbad only yields 383 grains from the gallon; and supposing an eighth, or a fourth part of a gallon of these waters, or somewhat more or somewhat less, to be taken daily, by so much

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smaller must be the dose of really medicinal mineral matter, that is day by day made to bear upon the morbid state, and found to fulfil curative indications. And yet it appears, from the universal experience of the profession, that, in the case of every one of the great mineral waters, when the mineral water is adapted to the nature of the complaint under treatment, the difficulty which is felt is that the water is apt to prove too active, or too stimulating, in its effects, and that these have to be modified by exhibiting the remedy in smaller doses, or by correcting such effects by medicinal means. When it is remembered that the unquestionably efficacious chalybeate waters of Tunbridge Wells contain less than three grains of oxyde of iron in the gallon, and that even the strongest of the springs at Spa contains little more than six grains of oxyde of iron in the gallon, the fact of their efficacy, and of the careful way in which it is found. necessary to exhibit them, become still more remarkable. Supported by these facts and the unavoidable deductions, it could hardly be doubted à priori, that much might be done in the treatment of many chronic morbid states, by a persevering use of appropriate remedies in small doses, largely diluted. When I say small doses, I do not mean what are called infinitesimal doses, or any similar appeal to the irrational and absurd; but simply, doses much smaller than are usually exhibited, and from which it may be unlikely that any immediate effect should be produced, either on the bodily functions, or on the disease. The degree of dilution in which such