LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 00DD14bfl3D3 
 
to* .M1M T4- 
 
THE 
 
 
 VIRGINIA SPRINGS: 
 
 C0MPS1RING AN ACCOUNT OF ALL THE PRINCIPAL MINERAL SPRINGS 0&, 
 
 VIRGINIA, WITH REMARKS ON THE NATURE AND MEDICAL 
 
 APPLICABILITY OF EACH, 
 
 By JOHN J. MOORMAN, M. D.,- 
 
 For many years Resident Physician at the White Sulphur Springs. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 GREATLY ENLARGED. 
 
 WITH MAP AND PLATES, 
 
 AND THE ROUTES AND DISTANCES TO THE VARIOUS SPRINGS. 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 J. W. RANDOLPH: 
 121 MAIN. STREET, RICHMOND, VA. 
 
 1854. 
 
n the year 1854, by 
 
TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 Fob, many years I have directed my especial 
 and almost exclusive attention to an investigation 
 of the nature and medical applicability of mineral 
 ■waters. During the greater part of this time, I 
 have resided at the White Sulphur Springs, where, 
 in the capacity of resident physician of that ex- 
 tensive watering place, I have enjoyed ample op- 
 portunities for witnessing the various and modified 
 effects of the water, in almost every variety of 
 disease and state of the system. 
 
 Although my attention, during this time, has 
 been especially directed to the investigation of 
 the character of the water of the White Sulphur, 
 I have not neglected the other valuable waters 
 of the great "spring region," nor failed to mark 
 and appreciate their various pcculiaritiir., ;nnl re- 
 lative and positive merits. 
 
iy PREFACE. 
 
 The main design of the present volume is, to 
 bring the waters of the White Sulphur Springs, 
 as a therapeutical agent, in a condensed view be- 
 fore the public ; to state what is known of their 
 applicability to disease; and to lay down some 
 general rules for their administration ; and at the 
 same time, to present such an account of the 
 neighboring Springs, as to enable the public to 
 understand something of their general character, 
 and to appreciate their merits. They are all , 
 valuable, and have their peculiar applicability; all 
 rich in objects of special inquiry, and well de- 
 serving the attention of the profession, and the 
 public generally. To have gone into a more par- 
 ticular account of the springs, however, would 
 have swelled this volume far beyond its intended 
 limits : Besides, while long observation has made 
 me somewhat familiar with, the nature and pecu- 
 liarities of the White Sulphur water, I know far 
 less of the peculiarities of the other springs, 
 and do not wish to seem to teach that which I 
 do not myself understand. 
 
 The position of the writer, while it has ena- 
 bled him to witness the virtues of the White 
 
preMce. v 
 
 Sulphur water in disease, has, at the same time, 
 enabled him to see that its good effects are not 
 only often lost, but that consequences highly in- 
 jurious sometimes result from its injudicious use. 
 
 Impressed with the importance of arresting the 
 abuse of this potent agent, I published in 1839 
 "A Directory for the use of the White Sulphur 
 waters." It was with reluctance I then under- 
 took this pioneer effort in a field so entirely un- 
 explored ; for it is remarkable, that although, 
 thousands of invalids had for more than half a 
 century annually resorted to these waters, up to 
 the period of issuing the " Directory," not a line 
 had ever been published relative' to their medical 
 applicability and the mode of administering them. 
 
 Being satisfied, from the experience of the last 
 seven years, that the little effort alluded to has 
 not been without its effects in guiding to a more 
 prudent use of the waters, I have thought that 
 a work on the same general plan, but more com- 
 prehensive in its scope, and more specific in its 
 instruction, might be useful and acceptable to the 
 spring-going public. 
 
|l PREFACE* 
 
 S6 little has been written in reference to our 
 valuable mineral waters, that it seems to be the 
 duty of every one who may have had any expe- 
 rience with them to contribute his mite. No 
 other motives than a desire to offer to the pub- 
 lic the little that experience has taught me in 
 reference to them, induces me to publish this 
 volume. I regret that incessant engagements, 
 claiming my entire time, have prevented me from 
 bestowing that care in its composition and ar- 
 rangement so necessary to one who is utterly 
 unpracticed and unskilled as an author. The 
 work, such as it is, has been composed in the 
 fractions of time that I could snatch from pro- 
 fessional engagements and agricultural cares. 
 With this apology for the many imperfections in 
 style and arrangement which will be discovered, 
 I submit the volume to an indulgent and gen- 
 erous public. 
 
 JOHN J. MOORMAN. 
 
 Fancy Hill, Va., 
 November, 1846. 
 
TO THE 
 
 INVALIDS 
 
 WHO MAY RESORT TO THE VARIOUS 
 
 MINERAL SPRINGS OP VIRGINIA, 
 
 THIS SECOND EDITION 
 
 OF MY OBSERVATIONS ON THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS 
 
 IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED, 
 
 WITH THE FOLLOWING 
 REMARKS, 
 
 I have endeavored, in getting up the second edition 
 of my volume, to adhere to the plain, unassuming, 
 practical method, which was, I think, a characteristic 
 distinction of the first, and perhaps its chief merit. 
 
 It was my earnest aim in the first edition, and has 
 not been less so in this, to put into the hands of the 
 invalid a short and easy, but condensed and compre- 
 hensive account of the principal mineral waters of Vir- 
 ginia, and to indicate with all candor, and with as 
 much plainness as possible, their nature and medical 
 applicability. 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 Wherever I could do so to advantage, I have availed 
 myself of the observations of others; and I claim at 
 your hands this award of merit, at least : of having 
 honestly endeavored to make my little volume conve- 
 nient and valuable to you; not by dazzling and futile 
 theories, or by an attempt to create hopes that might 
 end in sad disappointments; but by plain, practical 
 facts in relation to the nature and use of our mineral 
 waters generally, and especially of those with which I 
 have now had practical observations for near twenty 
 years. 
 
 I intentionally avoided, in my first edition, and in 
 this, any criticism up#n the improvement of spring 
 property, or the character of the accommodations at 
 the several springs. Such criticism in a printed vol- 
 ume, intended for reference long after it issues from 
 the press, would be likely to mislead, and probably do 
 great injustice, inasmuch as improvements now very 
 faulty, may, before the next season, be made very com- 
 fortable, and bad hotel accommodations are often 
 changed in a day by a change of landlord or manager, 
 
 It is of the nature and medical applicability of our 
 mineral waters that I have felt called upon to write; 
 and this I have done, without prejudice, fear or favor; 
 having no interest directly or indirectly in any of the- 
 
PREFACE. IX 
 
 springs, and influenced alone in niy estimation of them 
 either from personal observation, or, when this has 
 been wanting, from the most reliable information I 
 could collect. 
 
 I am not vain enough to suppose that none of my 
 opinions are erroneous — to err is both human and 
 common; but in the honest integrity with which they 
 have been formed, the invalid and the public may 
 rely. 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Fancy Hill, Va., 1854 
 
VARIOUS ROUTES 
 
 TO THE 
 
 VIRGINIA SPRINGS 
 
 The various routes ta the spring region of Virginia 
 have all been greatly improved within -the last few years. 
 Either "by private or public conveyance, persons can now 
 reach our mountains with far greater ease, safety and 
 expedition than they could have done some years ago. 
 
 Taking Baltimore as a starting point, the Virginia 
 Springs may be reached by a variety of routes. One of 
 the most pleasant, and as expeditious as any other, is by 
 railroad to Harper's Ferry, thence to Winchester by a 
 similar conveyance, and thence by stage-coach, on a good 
 M'Adamized road, to Staunton. From Staunton the 
 traveler may proceed directly across the North and Warm 
 Spring Mountains to the Warm and Hot Springs, by 
 way of the Bath Alum ; or, he may proceed up the Val- 
 ley, by the way of Lexington, the Natural Bridge and 
 Dibrell's Springs, to the White Sulphur. 
 
 By this Valley route, the traveler has the advantage 
 of seeing Harper's Ferry, and the romantic meeting of 
 the waters of the Potomac and Shenandoah : to see 
 
Xll ROUTES TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS. 
 
 which, Mr. Jefferson said, was " worth a voyage across 
 the Atlantic " ; he travels almost the whole length of 
 the Shenandoah valley, in agricultural points of view, 
 decidedly the most fertile and interesting portion of Vir- 
 ginia. He passes within seven miles of the famous 
 Weyer'8 Cave, and may conveniently visit it by losing one 
 day in his travel; and last, though not least, he may 
 pass over the celebrated Natural Bridge, with an allow- 
 ance of time, if he be in a public conveyance, to take a 
 glimpse at its magnificent structure. 
 
 Another route from Baltimore is, to proceed by the 
 way of Washington and Fredericksburg to Richmond; 
 or, from Baltimore, you may reach Richmond by steam- 
 boat, down the Chesapeake Bay, by the way of Old 
 Point Comfort, Norfolk, and up James River. From 
 Richmond to the Springs, you have choice of two routes : 
 either to take a canal-boat one hundred and forty-six 
 miles to Lynchburg; or the railroad by way of Char- 
 lottesville to Staunton, and thence into the spring region. 
 
 When the traveler is at Lynchburg, he has again a 
 choice of routes : he may go by rail to Bonsack's, forty- 
 nine miles west of Lynchburg, and thence by stage to 
 the Sweet Springs ; or, he may take a canal boat thirty- 
 six miles to the Natural Bridge, and thence by stage to 
 Dibrell's Springs and the White Sulphur. 
 
 The several routes making Richmond a point, give to 
 the traveler an opportunity of seeing the metropolis of 
 the State, and the University of Virginia, situated near 
 the flourishing village of Charlottesville. In common 
 with the " Valley route/' it extends to the traveler an 
 
ROUTES TO THE VIRGINIA SPRINGS. Xlll 
 
 opportunity of seeing the Natural Bridge without much 
 delaying his journey. 
 
 The western and south-western traveler to the Virginia 
 Springs, has but little choice of routes. The usual way 
 of reaching thern from those quarters, is to disembark 
 from a steamboat at Guyandotte, and proceed by stage- 
 coaches into the spring region. The Blue Sulphur is 
 reached in one hundred and thirty-eight miles from 
 Guyandotte, the White Sulphur in one hundred and 
 sixty. Travelers sometimes take the Kanawha boats at 
 Louisville or Cincinnati, and proceed up the Kanawha 
 river to Charleston, where they take the stage • the for- 
 mer route, however, commands a general preference. 
 
SYNOPSIS OF EOUTES 
 
 Of Travel from the Northern, Eastern & Middle States, 
 to the Mineral Springs of Western Virginia. 
 
 Where from. 
 
 Conveyances. | To what place. 
 
 | Miles. 
 
 Washington, 
 
 Steamboat, 
 
 Aquia Creek, 
 
 ' 50 
 
 Aquia Creek, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Fredericksburg, 
 
 13 
 
 Aquia Creek, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Junction, 
 
 56 
 
 Aquia Creek, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 76 
 
 Junction, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Gordonsville, 
 
 45 
 
 Gordonsville, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Charlottesville, 
 
 22 
 
 Charlottesville, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 40 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Charlottesville, 
 
 97 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Top of Blue Ridge, 
 
 116 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Rail Road, 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 140 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Lexington, 
 
 35 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Bath Alum Springs, 
 
 45 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Warm Springs, 
 
 50 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Hot Springs, 
 
 55 
 
 Hot Springs, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Healing Springs, 
 
 31 
 
 Staunton, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 White Sulphur, 
 
 92 
 
 White Sulphur, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Sweet & Red Springs, 
 
 16 
 
 White Sulphur, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Salt and Blue, 
 
 25 
 
 White Sulphur, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Red Sulphur, 
 
 45 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Canal Boat, 
 
 Lynchburg, 
 
 146 
 
 Lynchburg, 
 
 Canal Boat, 
 
 Buchanan, 
 
 48 
 
 Buchanan, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Dagger's Spring, 
 
 16 
 
 Buchanan, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 Covington, 
 
 38 
 
 Buchanan, 
 
 Stages, 
 
 White Sulphur, 
 
 59 
 
 Lynchburg, 
 
 Canal Boat, 
 
 Cedar Creek, 
 
 35 
 
 Cedar Creek, 
 
 Stage, 
 
 Natural Bridge, 
 
 2 
 
 Natural Bridge, 
 
 Stage, 
 
 Dibr ell's Springs, 
 
 19 
 
 Natural Bridge, 
 
 Stage, 
 
 Lexington, 
 
 14 
 
 Lexington, 
 
 Stage, 
 
 Rock. Alum Springs, 
 
 17 
 
XVI 
 
 SYNOPSIS OF ROUTES 
 
 Where from. 
 
 | Convej'ances. | 
 
 To what place. 
 
 Lynchburg, 
 
 Bonsack's, 
 
 Bonsack's, 
 
 Christiansburg, 
 
 Wytheville, 
 
 Bonsack's, 
 
 Bonsack's, 
 
 Washington, 
 
 Winchester, 
 
 Winchester, 
 
 Winchester, 
 
 Baltimore, 
 
 Baltimore, 
 
 Harper's Ferry, 
 
 Martinsburg, 
 
 St. John's Depot 
 
 Harper's Ferry, 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Winchester, 
 
 Winchester, 
 
 Baltimore, 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Port Walthall, 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Robio's, 
 
 Richmond, 
 
 Washington, 
 
 Alexandria, 
 
 Junction, 
 
 Fredericksburg, 
 
 Rail Road, Bonsack's, 
 
 Stages, < Fmcastle, 
 
 Rail Road, Christiansburg, '< 
 
 Stage, Wytheville, 
 
 Stage, Grayson's W. Sulphur, 
 
 Stage, Sweet Springs, 
 
 Stage, White Sulphur, 
 
 Rail Road, Winchester, 
 
 Stages, Woodstock, 
 
 Stages, Harrisonburg, 
 
 Stages, Staunton, 
 
 Rail Road, Washington, 
 
 Rail Road, -Harper's Ferry, 
 
 Rail Road, Martinsburg, 
 
 Rail Road, St. John's Depot, 
 
 Stage, 'Berkeley Springs, 
 
 Rail Road, Charleston, 
 
 Rail Road, Winchester, 
 
 Stage, Shenandoah Springs, 
 
 R.R.&st'ge Jordan's W. Sulphur 
 
 Stage, -Capon Springs, 
 
 Steamboat, Old Point, 
 
 Steamboat, Old Point, 
 
 Rail Road, Port Walthall, 
 
 Steamboat, Old Point, 
 
 Rail Road, Robiou's^, 
 
 Stage, Huguenot Springs, 
 
 Rail Road, Amelia Springs, 
 
 Steamboat, Alexandria, 
 
 Rail Road, Junction, 
 
 Rail Road, Fauquier Springs, 
 
 Stage, Fauquier Springs, 
 
TO THE MINERAL SPRINGS. 
 
 XV11 
 
 ROUTES OF TRAVEL 
 
 From the Western and South- Western States. 
 
 Where from. 
 
 Conveyances. | To what place. 
 
 f Miles. 
 
 Cincinnati, 
 
 Steamers, 
 
 Gruyandotte, 
 
 .150 
 
 Gruyandotte, 
 
 Stages, &c, 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 48 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Stages, &c. 
 
 Salines, 
 
 5 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Stages, &c. 
 
 Great Falls, 
 
 35 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Stages, &c. 
 
 Gauley Bridge, 
 
 40 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Stages, Ac- 
 
 Hawk's Nest, 
 
 48 
 
 Charleston, 
 
 Stages, &c. 
 
 Blue Sulphur, 
 
 90 
 
 Blue Sulphur, 
 
 Stages, &c. 
 
 Lewisburg, 
 
 1?> 
 
 Lewisburg, 
 
 Stages, &c. 
 
 White Sulphur, 
 
 9 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 Definition of Mineral Waters ; Estimation in which they were held 
 by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. — Pains taken to Analyze 
 Mineral Waters in France — Advantages to be derived from 
 Analysis of Mineral Waters. — Mineral Waters abound in the 
 United States. — Want of Information both among Physicians and 
 the Public in relation to Mineral Waters ; Mistakes and Injuries 
 that result from want of Information. — The direct and active 
 Influence of Mineral Waters. — Modus Operandi of Mineral Wa- 
 ters. — Must not always look to the immediate Effects of Mineral 
 Waters for the production of the good they accomplish ; the 
 Alterative action of Mineral Waters generally their most efficient 
 action. — Mineral Waters not adapted to Acute Diseases; they 
 are adapted to Chronic Diseases; should be perseveringly used, 
 regarding their Effects, not the time that they may have been 
 used. — Mineral Waters are Stimulants; Difference with or without 
 their Gases. — Similarity between Mercury and Sulphur Waters. — 
 Errors often committed in the Use of Mineral Waters. — The Ac- 
 tion of Mineral Waters may be modified or changed by different 
 methods of using them, Ac. ----- Page is 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 Location and General Physical Characteristics. — Its Strength uni- 
 formly the same. — Does not lose its Strength by parting with its 
 Gas. — Does not Deposit its Salts when Quiescent. — Its Gas Fatal 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 to Fish.— Its Early History.— Known to the Indians as a "Medi- 
 cine Water." — First used by the Whites in 1778.— Progress of Im- 
 provements, and Present Condition.— Analyses of Mr. Hayes and 
 Professor Rodgers. ------.« 25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE RELATIVE VIRTUES OF THE SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS 
 OF THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER. 37 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER. 
 
 Directions meant to be General, rot Specific. — Must not Generally 
 look to the Sensible Operations of the Water for its best Effects. 
 Moderate, or Small Quantities, generally preferable. — Usual quan- 
 tities to be taken through the Day, and the best times for taking 
 it. — Length of time for which it should be used. — Necessary 
 preparations of the System for the use of the Water. — Sensible 
 Medicinal Effects of the Water. — Appropriate Adjuncts often 
 Necessary. — Error in Changing from one Watering Place to 
 another. — Necessary Cautions as relates to Dress; Silk th« best 
 Security against Cold. — General Directions as to Diet and 
 Exercise. -- - - -- - - Page 54 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DISEASES TO WHICH THE WHITE SULPHUR IS APPLICABLE. 
 
 Dyspepsia. — Gastralgia. — Water Brash. — Diseases of the Liver and 
 Spleen. — Jaundice. — Chronie Irfitatiou of the Bowels. — Costive- 
 ness. — Piles. — Diseases of the Urinary Organs. — Amenorrhcea, 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XXI 
 
 Dysmenorrhoea, and Leucorrhoea. — Chronic Inflammation of the 
 Brain. — Nervous Diseases. — Chronic Diseases of the Chest. — - 
 Bronchitis. — Diseases of the Skin. — Rheumatism and Gout. — 
 Scrofula. — Dropsies. — Mercurial Diseases, <&c, 75 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Salt Sulphur Springs, 
 
 120 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Red Sulphur Springs, - - -« - - 141 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Blue Sulphur Spring, 
 
 360 
 
 1 j3weet Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 165 
 
 Red Sweet Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 173 
 
 Hot Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 182 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 "Warm Springs, 
 
 190 
 
• 
 
 »; 
 
 xx ii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 199 
 Healing Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Rockbridge Alum Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Bath Alum Springs, - 
 
 $ 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Dibrell's Spring, 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Rawley's Spring, - - 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Fauquier White Sulphur Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Jordon's White Sulphur Springs, 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Shannondale Spring, 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Berkeley Springs, -------- 259 
 
 Orrick's Sulphur Spring, - 267 * 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Capon Springs, --------- 268 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Grayson Sulphur Springs, - - - - * - - - 275 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Alleghany Springs, - - - - -;- - - 278 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Pulaski Alum Spring, ------- 280 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 New London Alum Spring, ------ 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Huguenot Springs, -------- 
 
xx i v CONTENTS. 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF VIRGINIA, &C. 
 
 Harper's Ferry, - 
 Wcyer's Cave, 
 Madison's Cave, 
 Blowing Cave, 
 Natural Bridge, 
 Peaks of Otter, 
 Hawk's Nest, 
 Ice Mountain, 
 Caudy's Castle, 
 Tea Table, 
 Hanging Rocks, 
 Salt Pond, 
 Old Point Comfort, 
 
^>^ 
 
 a</e 
 
 
 
 i:M. 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 Early use of, &c. &c. — Mineral waters rank among 
 the ancient remedies used for the cure of disease. The 
 Greeks, who in knowledge of medicine were superior to 
 the nations who had preceded them, regarded natural 
 medicated waters as a special boon of the Deity, and 
 piously dedicated them to Hercules, the god of strength. 
 They used them for drinking, and for general and topical 
 bathing. Hippocrates was acquainted with the value 
 and uses of various mineral waters, and many other 
 Greek physicians, we are told, employed them for nume- 
 rous diseases for which they are used at this day. 
 
 "With the Romans, mineral waters were a familiar 
 remedy, not only in Italy, but in all the countries over 
 which that nation obtained dominion. Mineral springs 
 were eagerly sought out in the countries over which their 
 conquests from time to time extended, and prompted by 
 " gratitude to the benefit which they experienced from 
 their use, they decorated them with edifices, and each 
 fount was placed under the protection of a tutelary 
 
2 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 deity." — (Bell.) Pliny, in his natural history, treats 
 of various mineral waters and their uses ; and it is a fact 
 worthy of remark, that they were highly recommended 
 by various Roman physicians, in the fifth century, in the 
 same diseases for which they are at this day so much em- 
 ployed — particularly for nervous and rheumatic diseases, 
 and for derangements of the liver, stomach and skin. 
 
 With the modern nations of civilized Europe, mineral 
 waters, both as internal and external remedies, have 
 always been held in high estimation. The national reg- 
 ulations that have, from time to time, been adopted to 
 investigate their virtues, and their appropriate applica- 
 bility, and to guard against their improper use, suffi- 
 ciently manifest the importance that has been attached 
 to them as remedial agents. Henry IV., we are told, 
 " during his youth, had frequented the springs of the 
 Pyrenees, and witnessing the abuses in the employment 
 of so useful a remedy, sought to correct them after his 
 ascension to the throne of France. He nominated by 
 edicts and letters patent, in 1603, superintendents and 
 superintendents-general, who were charged with the en- 
 tire control over the use of mineral waters, baths and 
 fountains of the kingdom. Most of the mineral springs 
 and bathing establishments on the Continent of Europe, 
 are placed under a somewhat similar superintendence, 
 and a resident physician is also appointed by the govern- 
 ment."-— (.Seft.) 
 
 Although mineral waters had been favorite remedial 
 agents with the enlightened nations of the earth for 
 many centuries, it was comparatively but recently that 
 
 
EXPERIENCE THE BEST GUIM 3 
 
 chemistry, by minute analysis, was able to determine 
 with precision their constituent parts. 
 
 In 1670 the mineral waters of France were first fully 
 analyzed by a commission appointed by the Academy of 
 Sciences at Paris; but it was not until 1766, nearly a 
 hundred years afterwards, that Bayen discovered the 
 means of separating sulphur from sulphurous waters — 
 nor until 1774 that the celebrated Borgamann demon- 
 strated the existence of sulphuretted hydrogen gas. 
 Meanwhile, physicians stationed at the several watering- 
 places were active in observing and noting the various 
 operations of the different waters on the human system, 
 and in determining, from experience, the various cases in 
 which they were beneficial or injurious. 
 
 Experience the only sure Guide in the Administration, 
 &c. — After all that science can effect in determining the 
 component parts of mineral waters, it is experience alone 
 in their use, that can be fully relied upon as to their 
 specific effects, or applicability to particular diseases. 
 Chemical analysis is important mainly as a matter of 
 general scientific knowledge, and may be so far practi- 
 cally useful to the physician, as to enable him to form 
 correct general views as relates to the nature and powers 
 of the remedy; but it is fallacious to suppose that an 
 analysis, however perfect, can ever enable the physician, 
 in the present state of our knowledge, and in the ab- 
 sence of practical observation, to prescribe a mineral 
 water with confidence or safety. An accurate knowledge 
 of the component parts of mineral waters might do much, 
 
4 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 I admit, to prevent the incessant mistakes and mischief 
 which medical men commit in sending their patients, 
 " hap hazard" to drink mineral waters which are often 
 unadapted to their cases; but it never can, in the ab- 
 sence of experimental knowledge, qualify them for giving 
 specific and detailed directions for their use. Dr. John 
 Bell, in his valuable work on " Baths and Mineral Wa- 
 ters," has the following sensible and judicious passage 
 upon this subject. " I wish not," he says, " to be 
 ranked among the chemical physicians, who, having dis- 
 covered the proportion of each foreign ingredient in the 
 mineral spring, and studied its operation on the economy, 
 pretend to determine the general effect of the compound. 
 We may, indeed, by a knowledge of the constituent 
 parts, predict to a certain extent, the medicinal power of 
 the compound ; but it is only by multiplied facts, that is, 
 experience of its use, that we can speak positively of 
 its virtues." 
 
 In no other country, perhaps, do mineral waters 
 abound in greater variety than in the United States, 
 and it is a subject of sincere regret, that their nature, 
 applicability, and proper method of administration, should 
 have been so little studied, both by physicians and the 
 public at large. It is true that certain opinions gene- 
 rally prevail in enlightened circles, as regards the cura- 
 tive powers of some of our more celebrated fountains; 
 and these opinions, so far as they go, being generally 
 founded on experience, may, in the main, be tolerably 
 correct. Nevertheless, there is a lamentable want of in- 
 formation generally, and even among our more enlight- 
 
 
EXPEDIENCE THE BEST GUIDE. 5 
 
 ened physicians, as to the specific nature and adaptation 
 of our mineral waters to particular diseases— informa- 
 tion, the want of which must always disqualify for the 
 safe and confident recommendation of these valuable 
 agents. 
 
 A perfect knowledge of the various influences, and of 
 the peculiar minute circumstances that control the use of 
 mineral waters in different systems, as well as the best 
 methods of using them in certain pathological conditions 
 of the system, must, as with all other medicines, be 
 learned from observation. Now, as physicians but rarely 
 have an opportunity of observing the use of mineral wa- 
 ters for a sufficient length of time and in a sufficient va- 
 riety of cases, and as but little has been written by those 
 who have observed their effects, it ought not to be sup- 
 posed that the medical public generally would be greatly 
 enlightened on this subject. 
 
 I have said that the opinions generally prevailing in 
 enlightened circles relative to the curative powers of our 
 principal mineral fountains, being founded on experience, 
 may, in the main, be correct. I would not be under- 
 stood, however, as advising a reliance upon such " popu- 
 lar fame." Information of this kind is sufficient to 
 awaken attention and incite inquiry, but certainly should 
 not be implicitly relied upon in individual cases. At 
 best, it is generally " hearsay " opinion, made up, ordi- 
 narily, from partial and empirical sources ; or, quite as 
 likely, from the prejudiced accounts which are brought 
 by visiters from the different watering places, and which 
 are sweepingly favorable, or prejudicial, as they may 
 
d MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 chance to have been benefitted or worsted, and that with- 
 out reference to the specific action of the agent, or that 
 clear understanding of the pathology of the case, which 
 would serve as a safe guide in its application to others. 
 Every physician knows how prone persons are to err in 
 the use of medicines, from the supposed resemblance of 
 cases. Often am I pained to see persons persevering in 
 the use of a mineral water to their evident prejudice, and 
 for no better reason than that Mr. or Mrs. Such-a-one 
 was cured of a disease supposed to be similar; or, by 
 the general recommendation of some medical man who 
 sent them to the " mountains" with a "carte blanche," 
 to use "some of the mineral waters" Occasionally it 
 has become my painful duty to advise patients to re- 
 trace their melancholy steps homeward, without using 
 any of the waters, because none were adapted to their 
 case. 
 
 Mineral waters are not a panacea; they act like all 
 other medicines by producing certain effects upon the ani- 
 mal economy, and upon principles capable of being clearly 
 defined. It follows, that there are various diseases and 
 states of the system to which they are not only not 
 adapted, but in which they would be eminently injurious. 
 
 Some years since, I was requested to visit a highly re- 
 spectable gentleman, who had just arrived at the White 
 Sulphur with his family, from one of our distant cities. 
 He was in wretched health, and sought my advice as 
 to the applicability of the water to his case. On exam- 
 ination, I felt astonished that any medical man of intelli- 
 gence should have recommended such a case to mineral 
 
MEDICAL EFFICACY. 7 
 
 waters for relief. I advised the gentleman to retrace his 
 steps homeward, and put himself under medical treat- 
 ment, as he had no time to lose. Accordingly, the ensu- 
 ing morning, he recommenced his journey of seven hun- 
 dred miles to reach his home. Medicine did for him 
 what mineral waters were not calculated to do, and I 
 have since heard of his entire recovery. This gentleman 
 informed me that he had been influenced to undertake 
 the distant, and, to him, painful journey, by a physician 
 who had never before prescribed for his case, and who 
 candidly stated to him that he knew but little of the 
 mineral waters of Virginia ; but he had heard of many 
 cures from tneir use, and therefore advised that he should 
 hasten to give them a trial. Influenced by this medical 
 opinion, the unfortunate invalid had dragged himself and 
 his family seven hundred miles, under the vain hope of 
 finding a remedy, which the physician should, in such a 
 case, have found in his own office. Now a little more 
 knowledge of the nature of our mineral waters, and a 
 more commendable caution in advising their use, would 
 have prevented the heavy sacrifice this gentleman in- 
 curred. Nor is this by any means an isolated instance ; 
 my case-book furnishes me with many others equally 
 strong, that have come under my observation within the 
 last few years. 
 
 Medical Efficacy, &c— Mineral waters are exceed- 
 ingly valuable as medicinal agents, are applicable to a 
 large circle of cases, and will, unquestionably, cure 
 many which the ordinary remedies of the shops will not. 
 
8 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 Nevertheless, it should always be borne in mind that 
 they are not a catlwlicon ; that they are not to be used 
 for every disease; and that, to be prescribed success- 
 fully, they must, like all other medicines, be prescribed 
 with reference to the nature and pathology of the case. 
 Nor is this caution ordinarily more necessary in using 
 the various medicines of the shops than in using our 
 more potent mineral waters. 
 
 Some there are, I know, who profess to be unbeliever 
 in the medicinal activity of mineral waters, and who, 
 without denying the benefit that is often derived from 
 visiting such fountains, attribute the whole to travel, 
 change of air, exercise, relaxation from business, &c. &c. 
 Now, I freely admit that these are often important 
 agents in the cure, of a large class of cases; but from 
 long experience at a popular watering place, and the nu- 
 merous cures I have seen effected from the water itself, 
 totally disconnected with any of the adjuncts alluded to, 
 it would be quite as easy to convince me that bark is not 
 tonic, that jalap does not purge, or that mercury will 
 not salivate, as that mineral waters may not be an active 
 and potent means of curing disease, entirely indepen- 
 dent of the valuable adjuvants that have been alluded to. 
 The advocates of the non-efficacy of mineral waters 
 per se, would scarcely persist in this opinion, after seeing 
 the large amount of active medical material obtained by 
 evaporation from some of our more active waters; the 
 white sulphur, for instance, which yields more than 150 
 grains to the gallon, and which, upon analysis, is found 
 to consist of iodine, sulphur, the various combinations 
 
MEDICAL EFFICACY. 9 
 
 of soda, magnesia, and other active ingredients. Would 
 it not be aBsurd to believe, that so large an amount of 
 these* efficient medical substances, as is usually taken 
 into the stomach by those who drink mineral waters in 
 which they abound, could fail to exert a positive influ- 
 ence upon the economy ?. My own experience for many 
 years, in the use of such waters, enables me to bear 
 the most unequivocal testimony, as to the direct and 
 positive influence of many of them upon the human 
 body. In the language of the celebrated Patissier, I 
 can unhesitatingly say, that, "in the general, mineral 
 waters revive the languishing circulation, give a new 
 direction to the vital energies, re-establish the perspira- 
 tory action of the skin, bring back to their physiological 
 type the vitiated or suppressed secretions, provoke salu- 
 tary evacuations, either by urine, or stool, or by tran- 
 spiration ; they bring about in the animal economy an 
 intimate transmutation — a profound chanye ; they satu- 
 rate the sick body. How many sick persons, abandoned 
 by their physicians, have found health at mineral springs ? 
 How many individuals, exhausted by violent disease, 
 have recovered, by a journey to mineral waters, their 
 tone, mobility and energy, to restore which, attempts in 
 other ways might have been made with less certitude of 
 success." And hence, most cordially do I adopt the 
 sentiments of the distinguished Dr. Armstrong, who, in 
 speaking of the medicinal efficacy of mineral waters, 
 says, " I dare pledge my word, that, if they he only 
 fully and fairly tried, they will be found amongst the 
 
10 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 most powerful agents which have ever been brought to 
 the relief of human maladies" 
 
 Modus Operandi, &c. — Various attempts have been 
 made to account for the peculiar effects of mineral wa- 
 ters upon the system. They seem to act, in the first 
 place, as a simple hygienic agent. Secondly, they act, 
 in accordance with their constituent ingredients, spe- 
 cifically on the animal economy. Mineral waters exert 
 their more important influences upon the human body 
 upon a different principle from many of the articles of 
 the materia medica; they are evidently absorbed, enter 
 into the circulation, and change the consistence, as well 
 as the composition of the fluids; they course through 
 the system, and apply the medical materials which they 
 hold in solution, in the most minute form of subdivision 
 that can be conceived of, to the diseased surfaces and 
 tissues ; they reach and search the most minute ramifi- 
 cations of the capillaries, and remove the morbid con- 
 dition of those vessels, which are so commonly the pri- 
 mary seats of disease. It is thus that they relieve 
 chronic disordered action, and impart natural energy and 
 elasticity to vessels that have been distended either by 
 inflammation or congestion — while they communicate an 
 energy to the muscular fibre and to the animal tissues 
 generally, which is not witnessed from the administra- 
 tion of ordinary remedies. 
 
 Many of the articles of the materia medica seem to 
 act by sympathy and counter-irritation, and to cure one 
 organ of the body by irritating another; thus calomel, 
 by irritating the stomach and duodenum, is made to 
 
MODUS OPERANDI. 11 
 
 act efficiently upon the liver, to which organ it has a 
 strong specific tendency. Not so, however, with mineral 
 waters ; they never cure one organ by irritating another. 
 I can with confidence assert, that I have never seen 
 mineral waters successfully used in any case in which 
 they kept up a considerable irritation upon any of the 
 organs of the body. 
 
 Both physicians and patients are quite too much in 
 the habit of looking to the immediate and sensible ope- 
 rations of mineral waters, and of judging of their effi- 
 cacy from such effects. In most cases, it is serviceable 
 for such agents to open the bowels gently ; and in some, 
 it is best for them to purge actively. . Occasionally, ad- 
 vantage is derived from promoting an increased flow of 
 urine or perspiration ; but, as a general rule, the greatest 
 good is derived from the absorption of the water, result- 
 ing in that u profound change" spoken of by Patissier, 
 or, in other words, the alterative action of the remedy. 
 It should always be borne in mind that this profound 
 change — this alterative effect — is incompatible with con- 
 stant or active action of the water upon any of the 
 emunctories. This, unquestionably, is true as relates to 
 the White Sulphur Water, with which I am most fa- 
 miliar, and I believe it to be so with all alterative 
 waters. 
 
 So well convinced am I, that the alterative action 
 is the real curative action effected by sulphur waters, 
 in nine cases out of ten where any serious disease exists, 
 that, ordinarily, I am not solicitous to obtain much 
 daily increase of evacuation from any of the emunctories. 
 
12 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 On the contrary, I often find great advantage from the 
 administration of some appropriate means to prevent the 
 too free action of the water, especially on the bowels 
 and kidneys. As a general rule, it is far better that 
 such waters should lie quietly upon the system, without 
 manifesting much excitement upon any of the organs, 
 and producing, at most, but a small increase in the 
 quantity of the ordinary healthy evacuations. 
 
 The quality or kind of evacuations produced by min- 
 eral waters, is a matter of far more importance, and 
 when strong sulphur waters are used, never fail to evi- 
 dence the existence and the extent to which alterative 
 action is going on in the system, and to this, persons 
 using such waters should always pay a careful attention. 
 
 I have said that the best effects of mineral waters are 
 their alterative or changing effects; and that in the 
 administration of the White Sulphur Water, I do not, 
 ordinarily, desire to provoke much increase of the natu- 
 ural evacuations. I do not wish, however, to be under- 
 stood by this general declaration, as laying down an 
 absolute rule of practice to govern all cases. The ad- 
 ministration of this water, like the administration of 
 every other active remedy, should be governed in refer- 
 ence to the particular character and demands of each 
 case; and in such discriminating practice, it will some- 
 times be found best to use it in a manner to produce ac- 
 tive operations for a short time. I have, indeed, gene- 
 rally found, that those who are actively purged by mine- 
 ral waters, if they have strength to bear it, will be best 
 satisfied with the remedy at the time, and, in fact, are 
 
HOW LONG TO BE USED. 13 
 
 apt to feel better at the time, than those upon whom 
 the water is exerting but little or no purgative effect. 
 It may be laid down as a general fact, in the use of 
 the White Sulphur Water, subject to but few excep- 
 tions, that those on whose bowels it acts freely, will 
 feel best while at the Springs; while those who are 
 but little purged, will feel best after they have left the 
 Springs, and will, ordinarily, enjoy the most permanent 
 advantage. The reason of this is obvious ; in the first 
 case, the active purgation throws off the gross humors 
 of the body, and the patient feels promptly relieved ; in 
 the other case, the remedy lies upon the system, is ab- 
 sorbed, and gradually produces its changing influences — 
 bringing the various secretory functions into a healthy 
 condition — unloading and cleansing the machinery of the 
 economy — silently putting its works to rights, and giving 
 them their natural and healthy motion. All this re- 
 quires time for its accomplishment ; and hence, we often 
 hear persons say, "I was no better while at the Springs, 
 but T began to mend soon after I left, and have continued 
 better since." Declarations of this kind I hear every 
 day by persons who have previously visited the Springs | 
 and they verify the correctness of my proposition. 
 
 Length of Time to be used, &c. — To acute diseases, 
 mineral waters are not adapted ; for all such they are 
 too exciting, too prone to increase the activity of the 
 circulation, and to stimulate the general system. It is 
 in chronic diseases only that they are found so emi- 
 nently serviceable. By chronic diseases I mean those 
 
14 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 slow diseases of the system, uniformly attended either 
 with simple excitement, chronic inflammation, or chronic 
 congestion of the blood-vessels. To be permanently ben- 
 eficial in diseases of this description, the use of mineral 
 waters, like the disease for which they are taken, should 
 be "chronic." I mean an instantaneous cure should not 
 be expected ) but that the remedy should be persisted in, 
 and the cure gradually brought about. Sulphur wa- 
 ters may be easily brought into disrepute by short and 
 imperfect trials of them. To prove effectual, "they 
 should for the most part be continued daily, in sufficient 
 quantity, until the disease gives way, or until their ineffi- 
 cacy has been fairly proved by an unremitted persever- 
 ance. In some cases of opthalmia, of rheumatism, and 
 slight cutaneous affections, I^have known them to effect 
 a cure in two or three weeks, while in other cases, appa- 
 rently similar in all respects, twice, thrice, or even four 
 times that period has elapsed before the cure had been 
 accomplished \ and what is here affirmed of these exter- 
 nal affections, is still more strongly applicable to inter- 
 nal diseases, which are seldom speedily overcome by 
 these waters, how completely soever they may yield at 
 last. In illustration of this point, as to internal dis- 
 eases, it may be mentioned that I have seen both chro- 
 nic inflammation of the liver, and chronic inflammation 
 of the rectum, where no benefit was produced for three 
 or four weeks, and yet a continuation of the waters for 
 six or eight weeks longer has effaced every vestige of the 
 morbid indications for which they were prescribed." — 
 {Armstrong on Sulphur Waters.} 
 
HOW LONG TO BE USED. 15 
 
 There is no greater folly in the use of mineral waters, 
 than that of laying down a definite period of time for 
 which they should be used, without reference to their ef- 
 fects upon the system. Like all other medicines, min- 
 eral waters should be used, discontinued, or modified in 
 their use, with a strict regard to their operations upon 
 the body, and to their good or bad effects upon the dis- 
 ease. Whenever prescribed, their operations should be 
 watched with the same care with which we watch the 
 effects of any other medicine ; and they should be per- 
 severed in, or temporarily, or permanently discontinued, 
 or controlled in their action by some appropriate ad- 
 juvant, according to the indications presented in each 
 case. 
 
 It will occur to every reflecting mind, that the expec- 
 tation of being cured, or even essentially benefitted, in 
 an obstinate chronic disease, from a few days' use of any 
 mineral water, is altogether unreasonable. Nevertheless, 
 I have often seen persons at watering places despairing 
 of the efficacy of the water, simply because it had not 
 produced an obvious and appreciable benefit in five or six 
 days. A sort of stereotyped opinion indeed prevails 
 with numerous visiters to such places, that the water 
 should not in any case be used longer than two weeks. 
 I scarcely need say that this is a most erroneous opinion, 
 and often interposes between the patient and his re- 
 covery; instances of which I almost daily see at the 
 White Sulphur. It is true, that some who hold the un- 
 warrantable opinion alluded to, perseveringly endeavor 
 to drink as much in the "two weeks/ ' as they should do 
 
16 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 in six, but this only serves in a common way, to make 
 them abandon it four or five days before their prescribed 
 time, by absolutely disqualifying the system for its re- 
 ception at all. 
 
 I can say, as the result of many years' observation, 
 that the White Sulphur, which is one of the strongest 
 sulphur waters in the world, rarely produces its full al- 
 terative effects within two weeks, under its most judi- 
 cious administration, and under favorable circumstances 
 for its use; and that three, four, five and even eight 
 weeks often elapse before it has displayed its full reme- 
 dial powers in obstinate cases. 
 
 General Remarks on the Administration , &e. &c. — 
 Mineral waters are all stimulants in a greater or less de- 
 gree, and some have attributed much of their virtue to 
 this property. Such an opinion, however, is clearly er- 
 roneous. I have already remarked that such waters are 
 rarely serviceable when they keep up any considerable 
 irritation of an organ. I now remark that any consid- 
 erable excitement of the general organism is equally 
 prejudicial : indeed I have often been embarrassed, and 
 sometimes thwarted in the successful use of mineral wa- 
 ters, from the prevalence of this quality. The amount 
 of excitement resulting from the use of such waters, de- 
 pends upon the nature of their constituent principles; 
 upon the quantity taken, the manner of taking it, and 
 the excitability of each individual's constitution. If it 
 be a water abounding in sulphuretted hydrogen gas, the 
 most essential difference exists in taking it with or with* 
 
THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 17 
 
 out its gas ; that is, in taking it fresh at the spring, or 
 after its gas has flown off. In the use of the White Sul- 
 phur Water, with or without its gas, the most marked 
 difference exists in its stimulating quality. In relation 
 to this particular water, it is greatly advantageous in 
 many cases, particularly in very excitable persons, to 
 have the gas expelled in part, or in whole, before 
 using it. 
 
 Some mineral waters, by varying the method of their 
 administration, or, by the interposition of appropriate 
 adjuvants, are capable of extensive and valuable modified 
 actions and effects upon the human body. The White 
 Sulphur is susceptible of as many varied, different, and 
 modified actions upon the system generally, and upon 
 its particular organs, by varying the methods of using 
 it, as is mercury, or antimony, or any of our leading 
 therapeutical agents. For instance, it can be so used as 
 to stimulate distressingly — or, without any appreciable 
 stimulating effect. It can be so given as almost inva- 
 riably to purge actively; or, without lessening the 
 quantity producing such effect, but merely by changing 
 the time and manner of taking it, it can be so given as 
 to exert little or no cathartic operation. It may be di- 
 rected to, or restrained from the kidneys, or skin; and 
 what, in a general way, is far more important, it can be 
 so used as to lie quietly on the system, producing no ex- 
 cessive action upon any of the organs, and, with a quiet 
 but sure progress, go on breaking up the obstructions in 
 the glandular organs and removing the impediments to 
 the proper discharge of their functions : equalizing the 
 
18 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 circulation, removing chronic inflammations, and gener- 
 ally restoring the energies of the system. 
 
 Between the action of mercury, and the more power- 
 ful of the sulphur waters on the organic system, the 
 most striking similarity exists. Dr. Armstrong long 
 since remarked the resemblance between mercury and 
 the sulphur waters of Europe, and confidently expressed 
 the opinion that the latter are equally powerful as the 
 former, in their action upon the secretory organs ; and 
 with this very important difference, that while the long- 
 continued use of mercury in chronic disease generally 
 breaks up the strength, that of the sulphur waters gen- 
 erally renovates the whole system. Mercury has here- 
 tofore, by common consent, been regarded as the most 
 powerful alterative we possess. I am not prepared to 
 dispute this high claim of the medicine, but this much 
 I will assert, as a matter of professional experience, that 
 ' sulphur water, in my hands, has proved an alterative 
 quite as certain in its effects as mercury, though some- 
 what slower in its operations. Not only so, I believe it 
 to be far better adapted than mercury to a large circle of 
 cases in which glandular obstructions and chronic inflam- 
 mations are to be subdued. If the claims of the two 
 remedies for preference were otherwise nearly equal, the 
 great advantage on the score of safety from the sulphur 
 water would give it an immense preference over its rival. 
 Numerous cases present themselves, however, in which 
 they are used in conjunction to great advantage. Where 
 this becomes necessary, however, I have, as a general 
 rule of practice, found it best not to continue the mer- 
 
THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 19 
 
 cury longer than six or eight days ; nor is it often neces- 
 sary to use it continually during that period. 
 
 The effects of the White Sulphur Water upon the 
 human body resemble mercury in several respects. Not 
 to mention others, its resemblance is strikingly manifest 
 from the fact of its producing salivation under certain 
 peculiar circumstances. Another marked similarity may 
 be mentioned, especially as it has a direct bearing upon 
 the proper method of its administration : I allude to the 
 existence of a phlogistic diathesis in individuals "with 
 whom either remedy is used. " When the system resists 
 the specific action of mercury, it is a certain test that 
 the inflammatory diathesis prevails to a considerable ex- 
 tent, and this is the cause of the resistance ; for lessen 
 the inflammatory diathesis by proper evacuations, and 
 the specific action of the mercury will be readily in- 
 duced." The system often offers the same resistance to 
 the successful use of this water, which is evidently occa- 
 sioned by the excess of the inflammatory diathesis, inas- 
 much as when the inflammatory disposition' 5 ; is abated by 
 the lancet, purgatives, &c, the water promptly produces 
 its wonted good effects. In the administration of the 
 White Sulphur Water it is of the utmost consequence 
 to keep this practical fact constantly in view, and by 
 proper treatment to keep down both general and local 
 excitement. 
 
 " Notwithstanding mineral waters are so well adapted 
 to the cure of chronic diseases, it should not be expected 
 that they will be uniformly successful; for it must be 
 remembered that such diseases are only remediable when 
 
20 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 unconnected with alterations of organic tissue, which is 
 their ultimate and mortal product. Nor is it reasonable 
 to expect that any plan of treatment will succeed in all 
 cases of chronic disease unconnected with alteration of 
 tissue ; and I have accordingly found the methods recom- 
 mended at times ineffectual, even when they were tried 
 under circumstances which simply indicated disorder of 
 the function, without any concomitant sign of disorgan- 
 ization." 
 
 Errors, and Abuse of Mineral Waters, &c. <Scc. — I 
 have before alluded to some of the abuses of mineral 
 waters by those who resort to them for relief: this 
 subject, I conceive, may be still further pursued with 
 profit to my readers. To one familiar with the many 
 errors and mistakes committed in the use of mineral 
 waters in this country, it is not wonderful that numbers 
 return from visiting our most celebrated watering places, 
 without having received any essential benefit ; it is rather 
 a matter of surprise that so large an amount of good is 
 achieved. The precautions in the use of such waters, 
 deemed indispensable in France, Germany and England, 
 are greatly neglected here. There, the advice of a com- 
 petent physician who is well acquainted with the nature 
 and peculiarities of the water, is thought so important, 
 that persons rarely enter upon their use without such 
 advice, and at some places are actually not permitted to 
 do so. If similar precautions were more commonly 
 adopted by visiters at our various watering places, a far 
 larger amount of good would be achieved to the afflicted, 
 
ERRORS AND ABUSE. 21 
 
 much injury prevented, and the character of the several 
 waters better established and preserved. It is a subject 
 of daily and painful observation at all our principal 
 watering places, to witness numerous individuals using 
 mineral waters that are not adapted to their cases ; and 
 still more common is it to see those, to whose cases they 
 are adapted, using them so improperly as entirely to 
 prevent the good they would accomplish under a proper 
 administration. Professor Mutter, of Philadelphia, makes 
 the following judicious remarks when speaking of the 
 use and abuse of mineral waters in this country : " Like 
 every other remedy of any efficacy, mineral waters are 
 liable to abuse, and it is really astonishing that such 
 glaring errors should be daily committed, not only by 
 the patients, but often by the physicians who recommend 
 their employment. It is by no means an uncommon 
 occurrence (and those who have visited the springs of 
 our country, will bear me out in the statement I am 
 about to make,) for an individual to arrive, furnished 
 with a ' carte blanche/ from a physician who has proba- 
 bly little or no knowledge of the active properties of the 
 agent he recommends, to use the water as he may see fit, 
 or with merely a charge to i use it with caution.' 
 Others are sent without any direction whatever, in the 
 hope that the water may suit their condition, and come 
 trusting in Providence alone. Others, again, arrive with 
 written instructions, to drink so many glasses of the 
 water per diem, whether it agrees with them or not. 
 Many patients do not take the advice of a physician at 
 all, but relying on the representations of those who have 
 
22 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 derived benefit, imagine that they, too, will be cured, . 
 although in all probability, from the nature of their dis- 
 ease, the water may be the most prejudicial to which 
 they could resort. Used in this careless and dangerous 
 manner, is it to be wondered at, that so many individuals 
 leave the springs, either not at all benefitted, or in a 
 worse condition than when they arrived? The regula- 
 tions which are thought necessary, and which are adopted 
 in most European countries, especially France and Ger- 
 many during the use of a mineral water, are either 
 unknown or neglected in this. There, nearly every 
 spring is supplied with an experienced physician ; one 
 familiar with the character of the water, whose duty it is 
 to take charge of the sick as they arrive; here, with but 
 one or two exceptions, those who frequent our watering 
 places have to rely on chance for medical aid. Is this 
 as it should be?" 
 
 A vague impression seems to pervade the public mind, 
 that mineral waters, as medicinal agents, are totally un- 
 like all other medicines, and that in their administration 
 there is no necessity for observing any cautions or for 
 adoptino- extraneous expedients to procure the best effects 
 of the agent employed. This is an error as injurious as 
 it is common, and ought to be corrected in the public 
 mind. Our more potent mineral waters ought indeed to 
 he regularly incorporated into our materia medica, their 
 several qualities properly defined, and the medical mind 
 thus instructed to regard them not only as valuable ther- 
 apeutical agents, per se, but as agents capable of exten- 
 sive and valuable modifications in their application to dis- 
 
ERRORS AND ABUSE. 23 
 
 ease. A pathological practice should be established in 
 relation to theni, not less strict than in relation to the 
 ordinary remedies of the shops, and the best means of 
 influencing their sanative operations on the system 
 understood. 
 
 The physician who desires to throw his patient under 
 the alterative influence of mercury, is not so discouraged 
 as to abandon the remedy, if it chance at first to run off 
 by the bowels, and thus thwart his object; but either by 
 changing the method of using his medicine, or by uniting 
 with it some soothing astringent, he ultimately effects the 
 important object in view. Neither should the physician 
 be discouraged in the use of a mineral water because it 
 occasionally manifests a vagrant and improper effect ; for 
 facilities can be commanded to control its operations as 
 readily as we can control the. improper operations of mer- 
 cury. Such facilities may generally be found, either in 
 an increase or diminution of the quantity taken — an 
 alteration of the periods at which it has been taken — or, 
 in the manner of using it (where gases prevail,) in rela- 
 tion to its gaseous or ungaseous form. Occasionally, 
 medical adjuvants are found necessary, and then I have 
 been in the habit of using those most simple, and which 
 least derange the animal economy. 
 
 As a general rule, I have found mineral waters most 
 serviceable in those cases in which the stomach and 
 general system tolerated them readily; yet such tole- 
 ration depends so much upon the proper preparation of 
 the system, and the manner of using the water, that the 
 patient should by no means infer that it is unsuited to 
 
24 
 
 MINERAL WATERS IN GENERAL. 
 
 his case, simply because it has manifested some improper 
 operation in the commencement. For, as before inti- 
 mated, it will often happen, that by changing the method 
 of using the water, or by the administration of some ap- 
 propriate adjuvant, the difficulty will all be removed, and 
 the agent afterwards act most pleasantly and profitably 
 upon the system. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 The White Sulphur Springs are located in the county 
 of Greenbrier, Virginia, on Howard's Creek, and on 
 the immediate confines of the " Great Western Valley/' 
 being but six miles west of the Alleghany chain of 
 mountains which separates the waters which flow into 
 the Chesapeake Bay, from those which run into the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 The waters of the spring find their way into Howard's 
 Creek, two hundred yards from their source, which, 
 after flowing five miles, empties into Greenbrier River. 
 
 The spring is situated on an elevated and beautifully pic- 
 turesque valley, hemmed in by mountains on every side. 
 Kate's Mountain } celebrated as the theatre of the ex- 
 ploits of a chivalrous heroine in the days of Indian 
 troubles, is in full view, and about two miles to the 
 south ; to the west, and distant from one to two miles, 
 are the Greenbrier Mountains ; while the towering Alle- 
 ghany in all its grandeur is found six miles to the north 
 and east. 
 
 This spring is in the midst of the celebrated " spring 
 region/' having the "Hot Spring " thirty-five miles to 
 c £5 
 
26 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 the north, — the "Sweet," seventeen miles to the east, — 
 the "Salt" and "Red," the one twenty-four, the other 
 forty-one miles to the south — and the "Blue," twenty- 
 two miles to the west. Its latitude is about 37 $° north, 
 and 3J° west longitude from Washington. Its eleva- 
 tion above tide-water is two thousand feet. It bursts 
 with unusual boldness from rock-lined apertures, and is 
 enclosed by marble casements five feet square and three 
 and a half feet deep. Its temperature is 62° of Fahren- 
 heit, and remains uniformly the same during the win- 
 ter's blasts and the summer's heat ; any apparent varia- 
 tion from this temperature, will be found, I think, to 
 have been occasioned by the difference in thermometers, 
 as repeated trials with the game instrument prove the, 
 temperature to be uniform. 
 
 The principal spring yields about thirty gallons per 
 minute ; and, it is a remarkable fact, that this quantity 
 is not perceptibly increased or diminished during the 
 longest spells of wet or dry weather; while other bold 
 springs of the country have failed during the long 
 droughts of summer, this has invariably observed "the 
 even tenor of its way." There is no discoloration of the 
 water during long wet spells, or other evidences that it 
 becomes blended with common water percolating through 
 the earth. The quantity and temperature of this spring 
 being uniform under all circumstances, gives a confi- 
 dence, which experience in its use has verified, of its 
 uniform strength and efficiency. The water is most 
 clear and transparent, and deposits copiously, as it flows 
 over a rough and uneven surface, a white, and some- 
 
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS. 27 
 
 times, under peculiar circumstances, a red and black 
 precipitate, composed in part of its saline ingredients. 
 Its taste and smell, fresh at the spring, are that of all 
 waters strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen 
 gas. When removed from the spring, and kept in an 
 open vessel for a sufficient length of time for this gas to 
 escape, or, when it has been heated or frozen for this 
 purpose, it becomes essentially tasteless, and inodorous, 
 and could scarcely be distinguished, either by smell or 
 taste, from common limestone water. Its cathartic ac- 
 tivity, however, is rather increased than diminished 
 when thus insipid and inodorous.* It does not lose its 
 transparency by parting with its gas, as many other wa- 
 ters do ; nor does it deposit its salts in the slightest de- 
 gree when quiescent — not even sufficiently to stain a 
 glass vessel in which it may be kept. 
 
 The gas of this spring is speedily fatal to all animals, 
 when immersed even for a very short time in its waters. 
 Small fish thus circumstanced survive but a few mo- 
 ments, first manifesting entire derangement, with great 
 distress, and uniformly die in less than three minutes. 
 
 The springs are surrounded with mountain scenery of 
 great beauty, and blessed with a most delightful climate 
 in summer and fall. Independent of the benefit that may 
 be derived from the waters, a better situation for the 
 invalid during the summer months can scarcely be im- 
 agined. They have the advantage of a salubrious and 
 
 See Chapter III.— On " The relative virtues of the saline and 
 gaseous contents of the White sulphur water.'* 
 
28 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 invigorating air, an agreeable temperature, cool at morn- 
 ing and evening, the thermometer ranging at those pe- 
 riods during the summer, between 50° and 60°, and 
 rarely attaining a greater height than 80° at any time 
 of the day, and an elasticity in the atmosphere that 
 prevents the heat from being at any time oppressive, and 
 enables the invalid to take exercise in the open air du- 
 ring the day without fatigue. 
 
 There is but little in the early history of this cele- 
 brated watering place especially worthy of preservation. 
 
 Tradition says that the charming valley in which it 
 is situated, was once a favorite "hunting ground " of 
 the proud Shawanees, who then owned and occupied this 
 fair region, and the numerous ancient graves and rude 
 implements of the chase that are found in various parts 
 of the valley, sufficiently attest the truth of this legend. 
 That a small marsh, originally contiguous to the spring, 
 was once a favourite deer and buffalo "lick" is well 
 known to the oldest white settlers in the country ; and 
 it is confidently asserted by some of that venerable class, 
 that the spring was known to the Indians as a "medi- 
 cine water," and that since their migration across the 
 Ohio, they have occasionally been known to visit it for 
 the relief of rheumatic affections. Whether this legend 
 be truth or fiction, I cannot avouch; authentic history, 
 however, abundantly testifies to the reluctance with 
 which its ancient owners abandoned this lovely valley, 
 to the rapacious avarice of the invading white man. 
 
 During the year 1774, the proud, but ill-fated 
 Shawanees, being overpowered by the encroaching colo- 
 
EARLY HISTORY. 29 
 
 nists from Eastern Virginia, and having sustained, in 
 October of that year, a signal defeat by the colonial 
 troops, at Point Pleasant, were forced finally to abandon 
 their country, and seek shelter and protection with the 
 main body of their tribe, then living on the waters of the 
 great Sciota ; not, however, until by frequent battles and 
 midnight murders, they had testified their attachment to 
 their ancient hunting grounds and the graves of their 
 fathers. 
 
 The property on which this spring is situated, was 
 originally patented to Carpenter, one of the ear- 
 liest pioneers of the country, and who was subsequently 
 killed by a band of marauding Indians, at the fort at 
 the mouth of Dunlap's Creek, near where the town of 
 Covington now stands. It is rather a remarkable fact, 
 in a country like this, in which land is so prone to 
 change owners, that this, as a whole, has never been 
 bought or sold, the present proprietor owning it by right 
 of descent from the original patentee. 
 
 The precise time at which this spring, now so cele- 
 brated among mineral waters, was first used for the cure 
 of disease, cannot be ascertained with absolute certainty. 
 It is believed, however, that a Mrs. Anderson, tlje wife 
 of one of the oldest settlers, was the first white person 
 who tested its virtues as a medicine. 
 
 In 1778, this lady being grievously afflicted with rheu- 
 matism, was borne on a litter, from her residence, ten or 
 fifteen miles, to the spring, where a tent was spread for 
 her protection from the weather ; and a " bathing tub/' 
 provided by felling and excavating a huge tree that grew 
 
33 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS* 
 
 hard by. Here she remained until she had entirely re- 
 covered, drinking the water from the fountain, and bath- 
 ing in the sulphur water previously heated in the trough 
 by " hot rocks. " It is reasonable to suppose that the 
 fame of this cure spread abroad among the " settlers/' 
 and from them into Eastern Virginia, and among the few 
 6i spring-going folks' ' who then annually visited the Sweet 
 Springs, not many miles distant. Accordingly, in 1779, 
 and from that to 1783, there were annually a few visiters 
 here, who spread their tents near the spring, no house 
 having then been erected, and with the rude " trough' ' 
 for a bathing tub, and this protection from the weather, 
 are reported to have spent their time most agreeably and 
 profitably. Some of these primitive visiters, "who dwelt 
 in tents," have visited the springs of late years, and with 
 ' pleasurable emotions marked out the spot where their 
 tents stood some sixty years ago, while they recounted 
 with delight the amusements and pleasures they then 
 enjoyed. 
 
 In 1784-5 and '6, numerous "log cabins" were erected, 
 not where any of the present buildings stand, but imme- 
 diately around the spring, not one of which, or the ma- 
 terials which composed it, is now remaining. 
 
 The present proprietor of this property came into pos- 
 session of it in the year 1808, but did not personally 
 undertake its improvement until the summer of 1818. 
 Before this period, the buildings for the accommodation 
 of visiters, although sufficient for the number that then 
 resorted to the place, were exceedingly rude, being alto- 
 gether small wooden huts. The interest and enterprise 
 
ANALYSIS. 31 
 
 of the proprietor soon led him into a different and more 
 appropriate system of improvement, and from small be- 
 ginnings, he has gone on, progressing in the rapid ratio 
 of demand, until from the "tent" accommodations in 
 1779, and the "log cabins" in 1784, the place now, both 
 in elegance and extent, exhibits the appearance of a neat 
 and flourishing village, affording comfortable and conve- 
 nient accommodations, (including the surrounding hotels,) 
 for from twelve to fifteen hundred persons. 
 
 ANALYSIS. 
 
 In the winter of 1842, Mr. Augustus A. Hayes, of 
 Massachusetts, made an analysis of the White sulphur 
 water, at his laboratory, in Roxbury, from a few bottles 
 of water forwarded to him from the spring the preceding 
 fall. The following is a communication received from 
 him on that subject : 
 
 " This water is colorless and transparent ; when agi- 
 tated it sparkles from the disengagement of air bubbles. 
 Taste hepatic, resembling that of a solution of hydro- 
 sulphuric acid in water. Exposed to the atmosphere, 
 the hepatic odor is succeeded by a slight earthy odor. 
 It blackens metals and salts of lead. Compared with 
 pure water, free from air, its specific gravity is 1.00254. 
 
 " 50.000 grains (about 7 pints) of this water contain, 
 in solution, 3.633 water grain measures of gaseous mat- 
 ter, or about 1-14 of its volume, consisting of — 
 
32 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 Nitrogen gas .... 1.013 
 
 Oxygen gas - - - - .108 
 
 Carbonic acid - 2.444 
 
 Hydro-sulphuric acid - - - .68 
 
 3.633 
 " One gallon, or 237 cubic inches of the water con- 
 tain 16 739-1000 cubic inches of gas, having the propor- 
 tion of — 
 
 Nitrogen gas - - - - 4.680 
 
 Oxygen gas - - - - .498 
 
 Carbonic acid, - 11.290 
 
 Hydro-sulphuric acid, - - - .271 
 
 16.739 
 50.000 grains of this water, contain 115 735-1000 grains 
 of saline matter, consisting of — 
 
 Sulphate of lime - - - - 67.168 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia - 30.364 
 
 Chloride of magnesium - - - .859 
 
 Carbonate of lime - - - 6.060 
 
 Organic matter (dried at 212° F.) - 3.740 
 
 Carbonic acid - 4.584 
 Silicates (silica 1.34, potash .18, 
 soda .66, magnesia and a trace 
 
 oxyd. iron) - - - 2.960 
 
 115.735 
 
ANALYSIS. S3 
 
 " Unlike saline sulphuretted waters generally, this 
 water contains a minute proportion of chlorine only, the 
 sulphates of lime and magnesia forming nearly ten- 
 elevenths of the saline matter. 
 
 u The alkaline bases are also in very small proportion, 
 and seem to be united to the silicious earths, in combi- 
 nation with a peculiar organic matter. The organic 
 matter, in its physical and chemical character, resembles 
 that found in the water of the Red Sulphur Springs, and 
 differs essentially from the organic matter of some ther- 
 mal waters. 
 
 " In ascertaining its weight, it was rendered dry at the 
 temperature of 212° F. When dry, it is a grayish- 
 white, translucent solid. When recently separated from 
 a fluid containing it, it appears as a thin jelly or muci- 
 lage, and gives to a large bulk of fluid a mucous-like 
 appearance, with the property of frothing by agitation. 
 It unites with metallic oxydes and forms compounds both 
 soluble and insoluble. In most cases an excess of base 
 renders the compound insoluble. The compound with 
 oxyde of silver, is soluble in water; with baryta and 
 lime it does not form a precipitate, while magnesia forms 
 with it a hydrous white, gelatinous mass. In acids it 
 dissolves, the oxy-acids do not change its composition, 
 while they are diluted and cold, by boiling they produce 
 sulphuric acid from its constituent sulphur, and change 
 its carbon to other forms. In contact with earthy sul- 
 phates at a moderate temperature, it produces hydro-sul- 
 phuric acid, and to this source that acid contained in the 
 water may he traced. This substance does not rapidly 
 
34 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 attract oxygen from the atmosphere and from colored 
 compounds, as some other organic compounds do. The 
 proportion of organic matter, like that usually contained 
 in our waters, is in this water very small ; until forty- 
 nine fiftieths of the bulk of a quantity is evaporated the 
 residual matter does not become colored, and when the 
 saline residue is dried it is of a pale yellow. 
 
 u The medicinal properties of this water are probably 
 due to the action of this organic substance. The hydro- 
 sulphuric acid resulting from its natural action is one of 
 the most active substances within the reach of physicians, 
 and there are chemical reasons for supposing that, after 
 the water has reached the stomach, similar changes, 
 accompanied by the product of hydro-sulphuric acid, 
 take place* 
 
 "Substances having characters similar to those pre- 
 sented by this matter, have been classed with the lower 
 order of living plants. With such matters, this sub- 
 stance does not belong in the state in which it is found in 
 the water, for it there forms compounds, the result of 
 chemical affinities, wholly incompatible with vital action. 
 In its altered state, produced by atmospheric agencies, it 
 may nourish plants and develope the growth of seeds 
 fitted to such a soil as its elements form. 
 
 "AUG. A. HAYES. 
 
 " Roxbury Laboratory, Feb. 1st, 1842." 
 
 * See Chapter III. — On " The relative virtues of the saline and 
 gaseous contents of the White sulphur water" 
 
ANALYSIS. 
 
 35 
 
 Professor William B. Rogers, of the University of 
 Virginia, has also, in the course of his Geological Survey 
 of the State, analyzed this water. The following is the 
 result of his examinations: 
 
 Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 cubic 
 inches of White Sulphur Water, weighed after being 
 dried at 212°, 
 
 65.54 grains. 
 
 Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches, 
 estimated as perfectly free from water. 
 
 Sulphate of lime - 
 Sulphate of magnesia - 
 Sulphate of soda - 
 Carbonate of lime 
 Carbonate of magnesia 
 Chloride of magnesium 
 Chloride of calcium - 
 Chloride of sodium - 
 Proto-sulphate of iron 
 Sulphate of aluminae 
 Earthy phosphates - 
 Azotized organic matter blended 
 
 with a large proportion of 
 
 sulphur, about - 
 Iodine, combined with sodium or 
 
 magnesium. 
 
 31.680 , 
 
 grains 
 
 8.241 
 
 « 
 
 4.050 
 
 a 
 
 1.530 
 
 u 
 
 0.506 
 
 a 
 
 0.071 
 
 a 
 
 0.010 
 
 a 
 
 0.226 
 
 a 
 
 0.069 
 
 (C 
 
 0.012 
 
 a 
 
 a trace 
 
 u 
 
36 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 Volume of each of the gases in a free state, contained 
 in 100 cubic inches.* 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen 0.66 to 1.30 cub. inches. 
 
 Nitrogen - - - 1.88 
 
 Oxygen - - - 0.19 
 
 Carbonic acid - - 3.67 
 
 * 100 cubic inches amounts to about 3£ pints. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 ON THE RELATIVE VIRTUES OF THE SALINE AND GASEOUS 
 CONTENTS OE THE WHITE SULPHUR WATER. 
 
 Speculation has existed as to the relative efficacy 
 of the different component parts of the White Sulphur 
 Water in the cure of disease, and while some have sup- 
 posed that its gaseous contents are essential to its sanative 
 virtues, others, and we think the best informed observers, 
 attribute its medicinal virtues mainly to its solid or saline 
 contents. To the latter opinion the able Professor of 
 Natural Philosophy in the University of. Virginia, who 
 has carefully examined the water, and other distinguished 
 chemists and physicians, decidedly incline. 
 
 It certainly is a question of no little interest to the 
 valetudinarian, whether he should use this water fresh 
 as it flows from the spring, and abounding in all its stim- 
 ulating gas, or whether he should use it after it has 
 partially or entirely parted with this gas. To this sub- 
 ject we have, for the last several years, devoted the most 
 laborious and particular attention, having instituted, with 
 great care, various and diversified experiments, in order 
 to establish something like definite and positive con- 
 clusions, 
 
 37 
 
38 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 Although the value of this water in what is usually 
 termed its non-stimulating form, or, in other words, when 
 deprived of its gas, has long heen known to many who 
 are familiar with its use, it was not until the last few 
 years that it was commonly used from choice, after it had 
 been long removed from the spring, or from any cause 
 had parted with its gaseous contents; an opinion, the cor- 
 rectness of which had never been examined, prevailed in 
 the minds of many, that in losing its gas, it lost its 
 strength and efficacy. 
 
 Having settled at the "White," as the resident physi- 
 cian of the place, it became alike our duty and our inte- 
 rest to investigate the character and operations of its 
 waters under every possible form and modification in 
 which they could be presented. In the pursuit of this 
 duty we resolved to take no opinion upon "trust," but 
 carefully to examine and investigate for ourselves. A 
 prominent question immediately presented itself for in- 
 quiry, involving the relative merits which the solid and 
 gaseous ingredients of the water possess as remedial agents 
 It would be tedious, and to many uninteresting, to detail 
 the several steps and multiplied experiments which led us 
 to conclusions upon the subject, satisfactory to our own 
 mind, and upon which we have established certain prac- 
 tical principles in the use of the water, which have ena- 
 bled us to prescribe it, especially for nervous and excita- 
 hie patients, with far greater success than heretofore. II 
 is sufficient for our purpose at present to state, that while 
 we freely admit that the gas, which abounds in the water 
 is an active nervine stimulant, and therefore may be s 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 39 
 
 most potent agent in some cases, we are fully impressed 
 with the belief that either in its direct or indirect effects, 
 we must look mainly to the solid contents of the water 
 for its alterative power as well as for its activity mani- 
 fested in its operations through the different emunctories 
 of the human body. 
 
 Whether the efficacy of the solid contents of this water 
 be owing to the specific character of any one, or to all of 
 the thirteen different salts of which it is composed, and 
 which exist in the water in the most minute form of sub- 
 division, and in this condition enter the circulation, and 
 course through the whole system, applying themselves 
 appropriately to diseased tissues ; or, whether its efficacy 
 depends upon the evolution of sulphuretted hydrogen gas 
 after the water has reached the stomach, is a matter of cu- 
 rious and interesting inquiry. 
 
 The distinguished chemist, Mr. Augustine A. Hayes, 
 of Roxbury, after having bestowed much pains in analy- 
 sing the White sulphur water, and in studying its pecu- 
 liar character, comes to the following conclusions as to the 
 source of its medicinal power. After describing, at con- 
 siderable length, a certain matter which he found to abound 
 in the water, and which he terms " organic matter," in 
 the course of which he says, it "differs essentially from 
 the organic matter of some thermal waters," he proceeds 
 to say, "In contact with earthy sulphates, at a moderate 
 temperature, it produces hydro-sulphuric acid, and to 
 this source that acid contained in the water may be traced. 
 This substance does not rapidly attract oxygen from the 
 atmosphere, and from colored compounds, as some other 
 
40 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 organic compounds do, — the medicinal properties of this 
 water are prohably due to the action of this organic sub- 
 stance. The hydro-sulphuric acid resulting from its nat- 
 ural action, is one of the most active substances within 
 the reach of physicians. There are chemical reasons for 
 supposing that, after the water has reached, the stomach, 
 similar changes, accompanied by the production of hy- 
 dro-sxdphuric acid, take place" * 
 
 Before Mr. Hayes had communicated the above opin- 
 ion, growing out of his chemical examinations, we had 
 again and again been much interested with certain phe- 
 nomena which we have termed the secondary formation 
 of gas in the White sulphur water. Instances had fre- 
 quently been reported to us of the water having been 
 put into bottles after it had lost its gas entirely, being 
 void both of taste and smell, and yet, after these bottles 
 were kept for some days in a warm situation, and then 
 opened, the water appeared equally strong of the hydro- 
 sulphuric acid, as it is found to be fresh at the fountain. 
 
 In a shipment of this water to Calcutta, some years 
 since, the " transporting company" had the water bot- 
 tled in Boston, from barrels that had been filled at the 
 spring six months before. This water, although taste- 
 less and inodorous, when put into the bottles at Boston, 
 was found, on its arrival at Calcutta, so strongly im- 
 pregnated with the hydro-sulphuric acid gas as to ren- 
 der it necessary, under the direction of an intelligent 
 gentleman of Boston, (who had witnessed this secondary 
 
 *See Hayes* Analysis, Chapter II. 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 41 
 
 formation of gas before,) to uncork the bottles for some 
 time before using, that the excess of gas might escape. 
 
 We had also known that in the process of thawing 
 sulphur water in a warm room, that had been previously 
 frozen, sulphuretted hydrogen gas is evolved; for al- 
 though the ice has neither the taste nor smell of sul- 
 phur, a strong smell of sulphuretted hydrogen gas is 
 manifest as the ice is returning to water. 
 
 We had often observed that individuals who drank 
 the water entirely stale, and void alike of taste and smell, 
 were as liable to have eructations of sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen gas as those who drank the water fresh at the foun- 
 tain. These, and other facts connected with the pecu- 
 liar operations and effects of this water, when used in 
 its ungaseous form, — operations and effects which it fs 
 not necessary here to refer to, but all going to prove the 
 secondary formation of gas under certain circumstances — 
 had, in our investigations of this water, interested us 
 exceedingly, and consequently, we were not a little 
 pleased that Mr. Hayes' chemical examinations so fully 
 sustained the opinions we had been led to entertain from 
 our personal observations. 
 
 The interesting opinion of this distinguished chemist, 
 in connexion with the numerous proofs, derived from 
 analogy and observation, of the secondary formation of 
 sulphuretted hydrogen gas in this water, would seem to 
 be well calculated to harmonize the opinion advanced by 
 us of the equal efficacy of the water when deprived of 
 its gas, with the sentiment entertained by some, that the 
 hydrogen gas is essential to its sanative operations. 
 
42 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 The phenomena of a secondary formation of sulphu- 
 retted hydrogen gas in mineral waters, has not, that we 
 are aware of, been noticed before ; it certainly has not 
 in relation to the White sulphur water, and we hope 
 that medical gentlemen generally, who may have occa- 
 sion to use the water, will direct a careful attention to 
 this singular fact. For ourselves, we promise still fur- 
 ther to investigate the subject, and may, at some subse- 
 quent period, lay the results of such investigation before 
 the medical public. 
 
 Our investigation of the relative virtues of the gase- 
 ous and saline contents of this water, have fully satisfied 
 us that the physician, in making up his judgment as to 
 the best method of administering it in particular cases, 
 may always properly moot the propriety of using it 
 either fresh as it flows from the spring, deprived of its 
 gas, or with modified quantities. He should bear in 
 mind that there are cases in which it is preferable that 
 the water should be used stale, and that by depriving it 
 in icliole or in part of its gas, which is its active stimu- 
 lating principle, he can graduate that amount of stimu- 
 lus to the system which it may demand, and this, in 
 most cases, without lessening the actively operative or 
 alterative effects of the water. 
 
 For some patients, the White sulphur water, as it 
 flows from the spring, is too stimulating, and hence, 
 before the non-stimulating method of using it was intro- 
 duced, many such patients annually left the spring, 
 either withovit giving the water a trial, or actually ren- 
 dered worse by its stimulating influence. This class of 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 43 
 
 persons can now use the water when deprived of its gas, 
 not only with impunity, but often with the happiest results. 
 Numerous cures, effected by the use of the water for the 
 last ten or fifteen years, have v been in that class of pa- 
 tients by whom the water, fresh at the spring, could not 
 have been used without injury. The cases of Mr. Mor- 
 ton, of Mississippi, and J. L. Jernagan, Esq., reported 
 at large in a pamphlet published in 1841, are pertinent 
 examples of such cases. 
 
 In the case of many nervous persons, and especially 
 those whose brain is prone to undue excitement, we have 
 often found it necessary, either by freezing or heating 
 the water, to throw off its gas completely, before it could 
 be tolerated by the system ; and some of the happiest 
 results that we have ever witnessed from the use of the 
 water, have been achieved by it after being thus pre- 
 pared. The cases of Mrs. H., of Georgia, and of Mr. 
 B., of Massachusetts,* the one afflicted with disease of 
 the stomach and chest, the other with chronic inflamma- 
 tion of the brain, are instances, among scores of others 
 that might be referred to. But this is not all. With 
 the view of guarding effectually against any errors that 
 might arise from a defect in our own observations, we 
 procured the assistance of several physicians, and other 
 intelligent gentlemen, all of whom were familiar with 
 the operations and effects of the water when drunk fresh 
 at the spring, and who, with the view of testing the facts 
 we have mentioned, used it themselves, and gave it to 
 
 ^Reported at large in a pamphlet published in 1841. 
 
44 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 others, after it had been long removed from the spring, 
 and to all appearances parted with its gas ; and with the 
 same results that they had previously experienced in 
 their own persons, or witnessed in others, from like 
 quantities of the fresh water, abounding in its gas. 
 
 Our object in prescribing White sulphur water has 
 been to pursue a discriminating or pathological practice. 
 We regard it as an active and potent medicine, and be- 
 lieve that, like all such medicines, it should be used 
 with a wise reference to the nature of the case, and the 
 state of the system. We must not be understood as ad- 
 vancing the opinion, that the White sulphur water is 
 always to be preferred after the escape of its gas. We 
 entertain no such opinion j on the contrary, for a large 
 class of visiters to that watering place, we think it pre- 
 ferable that they should avail themselves of the use of 
 the water either at, or recently removed from the foun- 
 tain, and as it naturally abounds in its gases. There are 
 other cases in which the exciting influence of its gas can 
 only be borne in a more limited degree, and for such, we 
 permit its partial escape before using the water; while 
 in a numerous class of cases, (and especially on first com- 
 mencing the use of the water,) we esteem it indispensa- 
 ble to its quick and beneficial operation, that its. uncom- 
 bined gas, which gives taste and smell, should have es- 
 caped. 
 
 In recommending the White sulphur, then, to the use 
 of the invalid, we esteem it quite as necessary to investi- 
 gate the manner of using, as relates to its fresh or stale 
 quality, as we do in reference to its dose, or the times of 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 45 
 
 administering it; and for neither would we lay down 
 positive and absolute rules in advance; for each case 
 must, in the nature of things, to a great extent give rules 
 for its own government. 
 
 The great value of this water as a therapeutical agent 
 to a large class of persons who visit the fountain, is a fact 
 alike unquestioned and unquestionable. That in its nat- 
 ural condition, as it flows from the bosom of the earth, it 
 is happily adapted to numerous cases of disease, is a truth 
 established by upwards of sixty years' experience, as well 
 as fully sustained by the numerous cures that are constant- 
 ly occuring. The great value of the water, then, fresh as 
 it flows from the spring, and abounding in its gas, is a 
 truth, so far as we know, that is unassailed, and which, 
 we believe, is unassailable. Nevertheless, that there are 
 many cases in which the gas is not beneficial in the 
 amount in which it exists in the fresh water, is a fact 
 which our experience enables us to assert with the utmost 
 confidence. That the water in such cases, therefore, is 
 better without its gas than with it, follows as effect fol- 
 lows cause. But we do not teach that the water, per se } 
 and without reference to cases, should always be preferred 
 without its gas. We base not our practice upon any such 
 narrow and exclusive views ; nor do we deny the value of 
 the agency of the gas in appropriate cases. 
 
 We, then, regard the solid contents of the White sul- 
 phur water, either in its direct or indirect influences, as 
 the main agency in its medicinal efficacy. Whether the 
 efficacy of the salts of the water be owing to their absorp- 
 tion into the system as such, or whether it depends upon 
 
46 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 the secondary formation of hydro-sulphuric acid gas in 
 the stomach, or whether it ought to be ascribed to the 
 combination of these different agencies, we leave for 
 others more fond of speculation to decide. We have 
 heretofore been satisfied with the knowledge of the effi- 
 cacy of the solid contents, without much theorizing to 
 explain the why and wherefore. 
 
 But, it may be asked, If the gas does good in the state 
 of a secondary formation in the stomach, would not a 
 larger quantity, taken with the fresh water, do more 
 good ? "We reply, that this by no means follows in that 
 class of cases for which we specially advise the ungaseous 
 water; for our only objection to the fresh water in such 
 cases is, that it has too much gas. Admitting, then, as 
 we do, that the gas may exert an influence, we allege that 
 in nervous and excitable cases, the quantity is not only bet- 
 ter adapted to the system, but that any given quantity, un- 
 der a secondary formation, excites the system less, from its 
 gradual formation in the stomach, than if suddenly re- 
 ceived in volume into that viscus. 
 
 Nor do we, because we recommend the ungaseous water 
 in particular cases, repudiate and disallow all medicinal 
 agency of the gas as a general principle ? Not at all. 
 We simply contend that for the treatment of certain 
 cases, there is more of the stimulating gas in the fresh 
 water than such cases can bear with advantage or impu- 
 nity; and that its excessive excitation in such cases 
 would be prejudicial instead of beneficial. 
 
 But do we find it necessary to guard the amount of 
 gas for every water drinker ? or in effect to erect a bed of 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 47 
 
 Procrustes, and oblige every one to conform to its length ? 
 By no means. A. arrives at the springs, not much de- 
 bilitated by disease, and with a firm, nervous, and mus- 
 cular system ; there is no excessive excitability in his 
 case, and neither his cerebral, nervous, nor vascular sys- 
 tem is particularly prone to be affected by stimulants or 
 exciting medicines. We advise him to use the water 
 as it flows from the fountain, and if he should, contrary 
 to expectations, find that it stimulates him unpleasantly, 
 to set it by for a short time before using. 
 
 B. calls for advice as to the manner of using the 
 water; — his temperament, and the state of his cerebral, 
 nervous, and vascular system is the opposite of A's, — his 
 physical energies have been prostrated by disease; his 
 nerves are unstrung, and, like his brain, prone to be 
 painfully affected by stimulants or exciting medicines. 
 We advise him to use the water after it has, either par- 
 tially or entirely, parted with its gas, that is, after it has 
 been set by for twelve or eighteen hours, as the delicacy 
 and excitability of his system demand. 
 
 The following extract of a letter from Charles Keen, 
 Esq., so happily represents the different effects we daily 
 witness, from the use of the water in its ungaseous state, 
 that we insert it in elucidation of our own views. 
 
 "Dear Sir, — When I first came to the Springs I com- 
 menced using the water fresh at the fountain, but was 
 compelled to discontinue it, in consequence of its stimu- 
 lating effects upon my system, producing at the same time 
 headache, dryness and burning in the skin, with constipa- 
 tion of the bowels. I then had recourse to it, brought to 
 my room in an open vessel, and let it remain until its gas 
 
48 i WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 had partly escaped, before I drank it. The use of it in 
 this way produced the most desirable results, and in a rea- 
 sonable time did much to restore me to health, having 
 been previously afflicted with disease of the liver and 
 stomach, with a symptomatic affection of the lungs. 
 
 CHAKLES KEEN." 
 
 In cases of inflammation of the parenchyma of the 
 brain, and in other highly excitable conditions of the 
 cerebral or nervous system, we have the water more care- 
 fully prepared, either by heating or freezing it. We have 
 a case at this time under treatment, in the person of 
 Mrs. F., in which there is such an extreme susceptibility 
 of the brain, that absolute derangement for several hours 
 was the consequence, in several instances, of taking two 
 glasses of the water fresh from the spring ; although she 
 bears with impunity, and is improving rapidly, under 
 prepared water. 
 
 In graduating the amount of stimulus, or if the gase- 
 ous theorist please, the amount of medical material to the 
 wants of the system — in other words, varying our pre- 
 scription to suit the case — are we departing from a scien- 
 tific and improved system of practice ? What would be 
 thought of the science of a medical man, who invariably 
 used, either the same medicine, or the same dose of any 
 medicine, without regard to the peculiarities or consti- 
 tution of his patients ? Just what ought to be thought 
 of us, or any one else, who would direct so potent an 
 agent as White sulphur water to be used alike in every 
 variety of constitution and disease. 
 
 A popular error, in relation to mineral waters, is that 
 they exert a sort of mysterious influence on the system • 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 49 
 
 and that as nature has elaborated them in the bowels of 
 the earth, they are, therefore, formed in the best possible 
 manner for the cure of disease. This opinion is not more 
 reasonable than it would be to suppose that nature has 
 formed antimony in the best possible form, for the cure 
 of disease, although we know, that in this form, under 
 the administration of the celebrated Basil Valentine, it 
 slew all the monks in his cloister. 
 
 Like all other remedial agents, potent mineral waters 
 produce certain effects upon the animal economy, and 
 these effects will be beneficial or injurious, as the remedy 
 is properly or improperly employed. For instance, C, 
 who is nervous, delicate, and excitable, and is affected 
 with functional derangement of the organs, requires to 
 receive for a certain time, the influence of a mineral 
 water, which while it acts as an aperient upon his bow- 
 els, enters his circulation, courses through his system 
 and alterates his deranged organs; being at the same 
 time so bland and unstimulating in its general effects, as 
 not to arouse any one, or a series of organs into undue 
 excitement and rebellion against the common good. Such 
 a remedy is found in the stale and ungaseous White sul- 
 phur water. 
 
 D. requires the very same effects to be be exerted 
 upon his diseased organs, — but he is of very different 
 temperament and constitution. His brain and nerves 
 are prone to no unnatural excitement, and he is unaffected 
 with the thousand physical sensibilities to which C. is 
 subject. D. may take the White sulphur water with 
 impunity and advantage, in any manner most agreeable 
 
 D 
 
50 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 to him. In his case its exciting gas constitutes no objec- 
 tion to its use. The good effects of the water, so diffe- 
 rently used by C. and D., will be the same, because the 
 difference in their cases makes the difference in the use of 
 the remedy. 
 
 In conclusion let us for a moment look into the reason- 
 ableness of ascribing medicinal efficiency to the saline mat- 
 ter of mineral waters, and inquire what the most distin- 
 guished physicians have thought on this subject. 
 
 The analysis of this water shows it to be composed of 
 several of the more active alteratives of the Materia Me- 
 dica; and this alone would seem to settle the question 
 of its alterative power. To what medicine, next to mer- 
 cury, do we look as the most certain alterative ? In the 
 mineral kingdom, to iodine certainly ; — this we have in 
 the White sulphur water. Sulphur too, is a powerful 
 alterative. This we have in the form of precipitated 
 sulphur. We have also its combinations in the active 
 forms of sulphate of lime, sulph. magnesia, sulph. soda, 
 and sulph. hyd. sodium. We, also, there find various 
 carbonates and chlorides, all more or less alterative in 
 their character. These salts exist in the water in the 
 most minute form of subdivision that can be conceived, 
 or, in other words, in solution; they are absorbed into 
 the mass of the circulation, course through the whole 
 system, applying themselves as appropriate agents to dis- 
 eased organs and tissues. 
 
 Professor Mutter, of Philadelphia, when speaking of 
 the different ingredients of mineral waters, says, " It is 
 general admitted, I believe, that when absorbed and con- 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 51 
 
 veyed through the economy, they have the property of 
 changing the consistence as well as the composition of 
 our fluids, thereby accomplishing what is called an alte- 
 rative action." 
 
 Dr. John Bell, confessedly the standard authority in 
 the United States, on such subjects, in his admirable 
 work on " Baths and Mineral Waters," bears the follow- 
 ing emphatic testimony to the virtues of the saline ingre- 
 dients in mineral waters : u When taken into the sto- 
 mach or intestines, they (mineral waters) have a double 
 operation, the one common, and generally uniform, de- 
 pending on their basis, or their pure watery vehicle ; the 
 other proper and peculiar, being the effect of their saline 
 or mineral substances held in solution" The same au- 
 thor continues to remark, " that the small proportion of 
 foreign ingredients in mineral waters, compared with the 
 quantity of the same substances prescribed in medical 
 practice, has created surprise in the minds of some, and 
 incredulity in others, at the alleged efiicacy of the former, 
 when the latter, in so much larger doses, has been at- 
 tended with comparatively trifling results. In reply to 
 this it is only necessary to remind my readers of a few 
 tolerably familiar principles in physiology and therapeu- 
 tics. First, we know that the action of many remedial 
 agents, chiefly of the stimulant and narcotic tribes, is 
 primarily and almost exclusively exerted on the stomach, 
 and by sympathy on the rest of the system. Solids, 
 vegetable and metallic, in small bulk, and taken without 
 much dilution, are nearly equally local, in their first 
 effects, with the additional application to the surface of 
 
52 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 the intestines, but in either case their action is dif- 
 fused by the same law of sympathy. In the second place, 
 as the whole mucous surface of the stomach and intes- 
 tines has this great sensibility to the impression of 
 ingesta of every kind, especially those of a remedial na- 
 ture, it is very obvious that the sensations produced by 
 these means will be active, and their diffusion through 
 the system by nervous agency or sympathy prompt and 
 general, in proportion to the extent of the surface acted on. 
 Now, mineral waters taken usually in considerable quan- 
 tity, so as to fill the stomach, and pass promptly into the 
 intestines, are so applied to these parts, as to enable their 
 saline and metallic ingredients to act on almost the entire 
 surface of the digestive tube, and of course to produce all 
 the effects which we could desire from such ingredients ; 
 effects not to be expected from them, even though in 
 larger quanties, when applied but to a few points, or lim- 
 ited extent of surface. Finally, the experiments of late 
 years have most satisfactorily established the fact of the 
 absorption of various substances, nutritious and medici- 
 nal, and above all, fluids, by the veins of the stomach and 
 intestines, as well as by the lacteals, without, in many 
 cases, those substances losing their distinctive character : 
 nay, further, that the peculiar and specific action and ef- 
 fects of the various agents, are as operative when injected 
 into the veins as when taken into the stomach. 
 
 It is then hardly necessary, after such preliminaries, to 
 draw the inference in which most reader will have antici- 
 pated me; namely, that the absorption of the mineral 
 water j drunk in large quantities, must be prompt and 
 
SALINE AND GASEOUS CONTENTS. 53 
 
 abundant, — and consequently that the different ingredi- 
 ents of which the fluid was the memstruum, being thus 
 thrown into the circulation, will produce varied and de- 
 cisive results, such as could not be expected from any 
 other mode of administration." 
 
 Dr. Bell, after laying down the positions we have just 
 quoted, makes this additional reflection upon the subject, 
 which we commenced to such as form hasty theories and 
 opinions, as to the virtues of mineral waters ; and we will 
 add, as to the virtues of the different ingredients of min- 
 eral waters, " that it is only by multiplied facts, that is, 
 by experience of its use, thoA, we can speak positively of 
 its virtues." 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE WHITE 
 SULPHUR WATER. 
 
 Much that might have been said under this head, has 
 been anticipated in the chapter on "mineral waters in 
 general." 
 
 1. It is scarcely necessary to remark after all that has 
 heretofore been said of the necessity of using Mineral 
 Waters, with strict reference to the nature of the disease 
 in which they are employed, and of the injurious conse- 
 quences, often arising from their careless or improper use, 
 that it is not designed that the directions herein given, 
 shall be considered sufficient to guide in the use of the 
 White sulphur water in all cases, nor in any difficult and 
 important case to the exclusion of the more minute and 
 specific directions which such case may demand. It is 
 my intention rather to indicate the general rules, which 
 ordinarily must be observed in its administration, than 
 to lay down definite directions which shall apply to all 
 cases. 
 
 •Every one who is familiar with the various types of 
 disease, and with the peculiarities and radical difference 
 in different constitutions and temperaments, modifying 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 55 
 
 and influencing diseased action, will at once be satisfied 
 of the impossibility of laying down any absolute rule for 
 the use of a potent medicine, that should be strictly 
 adhered to in all cases. Each case, to a certain extent, 
 must, with this, as with all other medicinal agents, 
 indicate the proper dose, and the proper manner of 
 administration. 
 
 2. As has been already remarked, it is very common 
 to attribute the beneficial effects of mineral waters to 
 their immediate sensible and obvious effects upon the 
 human body. I have already shown this opinion to be 
 erroneous : that so far from it being true that mineral 
 waters uniformly manifest their beneficial effects by their 
 active operations — that such operations frequently delay, 
 or entirely prevent the good which they otherwise would 
 have accomplished through the medium of their alterative 
 effects. 
 
 Those who desire to obtain the alterative operations of 
 the water, must, as a general rule, take it in small quan- 
 tities, and continue its use for such length of time as 
 will be sufficient, in common spring parlance, to " saturate 
 the system." Patients thus using the water are apt, 
 however, to become restless and dissatisfied for the first 
 few days ; so much so, that it is often difficult to reconcile 
 them to this manner of administration ; because, say they, 
 " it is doing me no good : M they wish to see such tokens 
 of activity as are given by prompt and vigorous purgation. 
 In a general way, I prefer that the water should act suffi- 
 ciently on the bowels, even when given in reference to its 
 
56 
 
 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 alterative effects, to obviate the necessity of giving any 
 other medicine for that purpose : but it is often better to 
 use some mild purgative from the shops to effect this 
 object for the first few days, than that the quantity of 
 water should be greatly increased. This advice we know 
 is very different from that generally given, and but too 
 willingly pursued by those who receive it. 
 
 Comparatively but few strangers who visit the White 
 Sulphur, are aware of the potency of its waters, and 
 under the false impression that no harm will arise from 
 any quantity that the stomach will bear, many are induced 
 to use them in quantities that not only defeat their sana- 
 tive effects, but do much positive injury. 
 
 I have just remarked that it is often difficult to recon- 
 cile patients to the use of small and inoperative quantities 
 of this water. Many such instances have come under 
 my observation, and some in which painful experience 
 alone could control. A prominent instance of this kind, 
 occurred in my practice several years since, in the person 
 of Mr. C . He was under treatment for a compli- 
 cated stomach and neuralgic affection, and had used the 
 water twelve days in small doses with happy effect, — he 
 was lodging at one of the adjoining hotels, and believing 
 that he was doing well, I did not see him for two or three 
 days, and then casually met with him. I was astonished 
 to find him greatly changed for the worse. His appetite, 
 before good, had almost entirely ceased ; his system was 
 irritable and feverish ; could not sleep at night ; and in 
 every respect was sensibly worse ; had begun to despair, 
 and proposed leaving for home, as he was " satisfied the 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 57 
 
 water was not agreeing with him." I accused him of 
 impropriety in diet, or of other imprudences, but he sat- 
 isfied me that he had followed my directions in all " such 
 things," but that he had so far varied from my advice in 
 the use of the water, as to take sixteen instead of six 
 glasses daily for the last few days. I advised this gen- 
 tleman, as I would all others who have committed a sim- 
 ilar " debauch" on cold water, to discontinue its use 
 entirely for a time — take some cooling opening medicines, 
 and then return to the use of it in rational doses. This 
 plan was pursued by Mr. C, and with the happiest 
 results. 
 
 The opinion is as common as it is erroneous, among 
 those who visit mineral waters, that they are to be bene- 
 fited in proportion to the quantity they drink. Persons 
 in health, or not debilitated by disease, do sometimes 
 indulge in enormously large and long-continued potations 
 of such waters with apparent impunity; but it by no 
 means follows, that those whose stomachs are enervated 
 by disease, and whose general health is much enfeebled, 
 can indulge the habit with equal safety. In such sto- 
 machs, the effects of inordinate distension are always 
 painful and injurious, while the sudden diminution of the 
 temperature, from large quantities of cold fluid suddenly 
 thrown into the system, can scarcely fail to prove 
 injurious. 
 
 We sometimes meet with another class of visiters who 
 err just as much on the opposite extreme : they arrive 
 at the springs, and place themselves under the govern- 
 ment of a recipe for the use of the water, drawn up, 
 
58 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 most commonly, by some distant medical adviser, who 
 has never himself had an opportunity of observing its 
 effects; and such we not unfrequently see taking this 
 aqua medicinalis in literally broken doses ; — in quantities 
 altogether insufficient to produce any sanative effect. 
 
 3. Quantity of the Water to be Used. 
 
 The quantity of the water to be taken in the course of 
 the day, depends, in a very great degree, upon the nature 
 of the case and the peculiar condition of the system at 
 the time of taking it. Comparatively but few invalids 
 should use, at first, more than from four to eight glasses 
 during the day ; in some instances, not more than two or 
 three. In most cases these quantities may be gradually 
 increased to ten or twelve glasses. In a general way, 
 this should be considered the maximum quantity, even 
 for robust persons, though there are cases in which the 
 amount may be still further enlarged. 
 
 4. Periods for the Use of the Water, &c. 
 
 The periods at which the water should be used is a 
 matter of no little importance. A common practice at 
 the springs is to drink it a short time before each meal, 
 morning, noon, and afternoon. In some cases this man- 
 ner of using the water is to be preferred ; in others, it is 
 better that the whole that is taken in the course of the 
 day, be divided into two parts, and taken, either in the 
 morning before breakfast, and a short time before dinner ; 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 59 
 
 or, in the morning, and a short time before going to bed 
 at night. 
 
 Advantage is very seldom secured from the water 
 taken before supper, and often it is prejudicial from its 
 proneness to run off by the kidneys. Observations lead 
 me to believe that, as a general rule, the water taken 
 before breakfast, and before going to bed at night, is 
 most serviceable to a majority of invalids; though there 
 are some who cannot very well bear it at night, and 
 attention should always be paid to this circumstance. 
 
 It should not be used immediately before or after a 
 meal ; nor should glass after glass ordinarily be taken in 
 rapid succession. By this reprehensible practice the 
 stomach is often overtasked, and immediately-unpleasant 
 consequences result, such as eructations, giddiness, un- 
 pleasant excitation, and a painful sense of fullness, and 
 sometimes a permanent injury of the stomach with atonic 
 dyspepsia. Such a course also disposes the water to run 
 off hastily by the kidneys — an operation for which it has 
 naturally a strong tendency, and which often embarrasses 
 in its administration. 
 
 Now and then advantage is derived from using the 
 water at meals, and sometimes a tolerance is established 
 for it in this way, which cannot be achieved by any other. 
 In most cases, however, it is very unpleasant to the in- 
 valid to use it with his meals. 
 
 I cannot leave this branch of the subject without earn- 
 estly urging upon invalids the importance of strict atten- 
 tion as to the manner and periods of using the White 
 sulphur water ; — much, very much, of its curative power 
 
60 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 depends upon the use of proper quantities and upon the pe- 
 riods of administration. A series of comparative experi- 
 ments with the water as to times of using, quantities 
 used, <Scc, <Scc, has fully satisfied me, that its influences 
 on disease are as much modified by the different methods 
 of using it as we find to be the case with mercury, or any 
 other article in general use by the physician. 
 
 5. Length of time to use the Water. 
 
 The length of time the invalid should continue the use 
 of this water, depends entirely upon the nature of the 
 case, — the manner in which it has been used, and the sus- 
 ceptibilities of the system. Most erroneous notions exist 
 in a large portion of the public mind upon this subject. 
 Many believe that it will exert all its good influences ; or, 
 as they say, will " saturate the system/ ' in eight or ten 
 days; others allow it two, three, and four weeks to effect 
 the same object. Now, the truth is that the time, in 
 which the ultimate good effects of the water are accom- 
 plished, always depends, as before remarked, upon circum- 
 stances ; — upon the nature of the case, — the manner in 
 which the water has been used, and upon the susceptibili- 
 ties of the system. Some persons will be thrown as fully 
 under its influence in two weeks as others will be in four ; 
 and yet it may be equally well adapted to each case. In 
 every case of its administration, respect should rather be 
 had to the effects it is producing, than to the time it has 
 been used. It never cures diseases until it has first pro- 
 duced certain effects upon the animal economy — effects 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 61 
 
 which can always be distinguished by the practiced 
 observer during the progress of their operation, with the 
 same certainty that we can distinguish the effects under 
 the alterative operation of mercury. 
 
 It often happens that persons to whose cases the water 
 is well adapted, use it assiduously for three or four weeks, 
 without deriving a particle of permanent benefit ; — and 
 all in consequence of so improperly using it, both in time 
 and quantity, as to force it out of the system by the 
 emunctories, without " touching the case," — without 
 being permitted to tarry long enough to produce any of 
 those salutary effects which must precede a cure. 
 
 It cannot, therefore, be too earnestly urged upon those 
 who are using the water for any obstinate disease, to have 
 their attention fixed upon the effects which it is producing, 
 or has produced, rather than upon a given number of 
 days, in which they may have been taught to believe 
 their systems would become changed or " saturated." 
 
 Dr. Armstrong found that from six to twelve zoeeks 
 were often required for Harrowgate and Dinsdale waters 
 to produce their full curative effects ; and we occasionally 
 see similar time required for the development of the full 
 sanative effects of this water. In some cases, however, 
 where the system was previously well prepared, and the 
 subsequent management judicious, the White sulphur 
 water will produce its full alterative operations in about 
 two weeks. Such cases, however, are rare, and it ivill 
 generally be found that from three to six weeks, or even 
 longer, must elapse under its use, before those " profound 
 changes " are wrought which precede and ensure a return 
 
62 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 to health. These remarks, as far as they relate to time, 
 are applicable to all our mineral waters that cure disease 
 in virtue of their alterative action • for if they be true as 
 to the Harrowgate ;* admittedly one of the strongest 
 sulphur waters in the world, and of the White Sulphur, 
 scarcely, if at all inferior in strength to that celebrated 
 
 • Note. — The Harrowgate and White Sulphur waters differ very 
 materially. The author visited and spent some time at Harrowgate 
 in 1851, and expresses the opinion, as the result of his own personal 
 observations and enquiries at the Springs ; that the Harrowgate Sul- 
 phur Waters, while they are stronger than the White Sulphur in 
 some of the salts common to both, are nevertheless inferior to the 
 latter in alterative potency and efficacy. 
 
 There are no less than fourteen different Wells at Harrowgate, all 
 of Tvhich are more or less resorted to on account of their medical 
 properties. Six of them are impregnated with sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen ; five of them are pure chalybeates; one is a saline chalybeate; 
 and two may be considered as simply saline, since they contain little 
 iron and are destitute of sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 
 The Old Sulphur Welly the strongest of this class of waters at 
 Harrowgate, is beautifully transparent and sparkling; of the tem- 
 perature of 49°, supposed to be the mean temperature of that part 
 of Yorkshire. By analysis, it is found to contain in an imperial 
 gallon- 
 Chloride of sodium, - 867.0 grains. 
 Chloride of calcium, - - - - 87.0 " 
 Chloride of magnesium, - 42.5 " 
 Bi-carbonate of soda, - 20.0 " 
 
 1016.5 " 
 
 Sulph. hydrogen gas, - - - - 15.64 cub. in. 
 Carbonate acid gas, - 2.72 " 
 
 Carburetted hydrogen gas, - - - 6.80 " 
 
 Azotic gas, 8.84 * 
 
 34.00 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 63 
 
 European spring, they cannot be less true of waters of 
 the same class, but inferior in point of strength. 
 
 When sulphurous waters are prescribed, their opera- 
 tions should be narrowly watched, and if they produce 
 untoward and unpleasant symptoms, such as headache, 
 gastric distress, furred tongue, quick and - irritable pulse, 
 with costive bowels and loss of appetite, they should ordi- 
 narily be temporarily, or permanently discontinued, as 
 circumstances may demand. The temporary discontin- 
 uance of the water under the circumstances just sup- 
 posed, and the use of a brisk cathartic, or the lancet, if 
 the state of the blood vessels demand it, will generally 
 enable us to return to its use in a day or two with safety 
 and success. 
 
 6. Previous Preparation for the Use oe the 
 Water. 
 
 Some preparation of the system preceding the use of 
 the water, is often, though not always, necessary for its 
 safe and advantageous administration. Mcst persons, 
 after the excitement usual to the travel in visiting the 
 springs, will be profited by taking some gentle purgative, 
 and by the use of a light and cooling diet for a day 
 or two before the water is freely used. Those in feeble 
 health should always commence the use of the water 
 with great caution, and generally in its least stimulating 
 form, that is, after it has set in an open vessel until its 
 gas has escaped. If, with these precautions, it fail to 
 exert its desired effects, or produces unpleasant symp- 
 
64 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 toms, the medical adviser, to whom it would be necessary 
 to resort in such an emergency, would, of course, pre- 
 scribe according to circumstances; nor can any general 
 rule be given as respects the treatment that would be 
 necessary in such a case ; one patient often requiring 
 treatment essentially different from another. 
 
 Invalids, however, ought not to despair of the use of 
 the water, and of its adaptation to their cases, simply 
 because it may, at first, or even in the progress of its 
 use, display some vagrant and improper action upon the 
 system. Errors in its action, if tliey may so be termed, 
 generally arise from errors in its use, and may generally 
 be prevented by a change in the method of administra- 
 tion, or by some medical adjuvants, so that the water 
 may be safely continued. 
 
 7. Effects of the Water on the System. 
 
 The sensible medicinal effects of the water are promi- 
 nently displayed in its action upon the Bowels, Liver, 
 Kidneys, and Skin, and when drunk fresh at the foun- 
 tain, by a lively Stimulant effect upon the system in 
 general, and upon the brain in particular. 
 
 Proper quantities, taken in the morning before break- 
 fast, will often exert some cathartic effect in the course 
 of the day. The liver is, in most instances, brought 
 under its influences, from a few days perseverance in the 
 use of it, as will be manifest from the character of the 
 excretions. Its action upon the kidneys is readily in- 
 duced, and we occasionally see it exerting at the same 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 65 
 
 time, both a diuretic and cathartic operation. Very 
 commonly the exhalent vessels of the skin are stimulated 
 to increased perspiration ; but its full effects upon the 
 surface, manifested not only by increased but sulphurous 
 perspiration, do not often occur until it has been freely 
 used for several weeks, nor until the secretory system 
 generally has been brought under its influence. 
 
 As the system is brought under the influence of the 
 water, the appetite and the ability to digest food are 
 sensibly augmented. The spirits become buoyant and 
 cheerful, with increased desire for social company and 
 amusements. 
 
 Exercise, previously irksome, is now enjoyed without 
 fatigue, and so great is the change in the whole man, 
 that the patient often expresses his appreciation of it by 
 declaring that he is " a new man," — and so he is in 
 reference to his physical and social feelings. 
 
 8. Use of Medicines. 
 
 Advantage is often derived during the administration 
 of this water, from the judicious use of appropriate 
 medicinal adjuncts, whose tendency is to give to the 
 water a specific direction upon the organs, or to restrain 
 some untoward and improper action. 
 
 In most obstinate cases in which it is desirable to pro- 
 cure the specific operations of the water on particular 
 organs, much time, to say the least of it, is saved by 
 uniting with the water for a few days, some adjuvant 
 that specifically determines to such organs. By such a 
 
66 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 procedure, the water may be invited to the organs and 
 establish its action upon them much sooner than it would 
 without such aid. 
 
 In diseases of the abdominal viscera, generally, the 
 patient may often economise a week or more of the time, 
 which otherwise it would be necessary for him to use 
 the water, by the proper introduction of some medical 
 adjunct to the end that hari been intimated. The milder 
 mercurials, in union with some of the vegetable purga- 
 tives, often answer exceedingly well in such cases. 
 
 I believe that the proportion of invalids, especially of 
 such as are suffering with Biliary derangements, that 
 will derive increased benefit from the employment of 
 mild alterative cathartics, to precede or accompany the use 
 of the White sulphur water, is as ten to one at least, — 
 and that, in nine cases out of ten, the subject of bil- 
 iary derangements, will economise a week or ten days in 
 the necessary use of the water, by the occasional use of. 
 such medicines. As this is a matter of importance to 
 many invalids, I remark, that of the varied forms of 
 purgatives which I have tried, none have proved so gen- 
 erally beneficial as the following : 
 
 R. Extract Colocinth Comp. 3 i ss. 
 
 Blue Mass, B ii ss. 
 
 Ant. Tart., gr. ij. 
 
 Oil Caraway, gtt. vj. 
 
 Mix and make 25 pills. 
 The dose must be regulated by the effects produced. 
 One or two stools should be procured each day, and ordi- 
 narily two of the pills will produce this effect ; until the 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 67 
 
 water has time to alterate the liver and supercede their 
 use altogether. 
 
 During the same period, advantage may generally be 
 derived from the use of some of the vegetable bitter ex- 
 tracts or infusions, such as the Quassia, Gentian or 
 Colombo. 
 
 A most valuable aid in the use of this water is the 
 tepid } warm, or hot sulphur bath. We cannot here enter 
 into particular directions for the use of such baths. 
 We just observe that they may be made a most impor- 
 tant auxiliary in a large circle of cases, if timely and 
 otherwise properly employed. 
 
 Hot sulphur bathing , indeed hot bathing of any kind 
 is a remedy potent and positive in its influences ; — capa- 
 ble of effecting much good when judiciously employed, 
 or corresponding evil when improperly used. Like po- 
 tent mineral waters, it is often used empirically and 
 improperly, and, hence, becomes a curse when it should 
 have been a blessing. It is a remedy essentially revolu- 
 tionary in its character, — never negative, but always 
 producing positive results upon the economy for good or 
 for evil. 
 
 The condition of the system indicates with sufficient 
 clearness the time for commencing, and the temperature 
 of the bath. In most cases, the bathing point is as 
 clearly indicated under a course of sulphur waters as the 
 blistering or bleeding point is in inflammations, and the 
 value of the remedy is much dependent upon such 
 timely employment. When the water has well opened 
 the bowels, has found its way into the general circula- 
 
68 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 tion, softening the skin and calming the irritation of the 
 arterial system, the sulphur baths may be used with 
 great confidence in their efficacy. 
 
 Hot baths should never be taken during the existence 
 of febrile excitement. They should be used on an 
 empty stomach, and, as a general rule, before the decline 
 of the day, and their temperature always carefully regu- 
 lated to suit the nature of the case and the state of the 
 system. 
 
 9. Changing from Spring to Spring. 
 
 A very common error in the use of Mineral Waters, 
 is the belief that the patient should often change from 
 one water to another, and that no one should be used 
 longer than some given number of days, and this without 
 any reference to its effects upon the system. This absurd 
 notion leads many persons to fly from spring to spring, 
 performing in a few weeks or days the circuit of the 
 whole "spring region" and without remaining long 
 enough at any one to receive permanent benefit. Now, 
 if the position heretofore laid down be correct, that 
 " mineral waters, like all other medicines, cure disease 
 by exerting effects upon the animal economy," the impro- 
 priety will be obvious to all, of rapidly hastening from 
 one fountain to another, without tarrying long enough at 
 any to receive those effects upon the body which are neces- 
 sary to a cure. Such a water-drinker acts like the " maid 
 of all works," always busy, but accomplishing nothing. 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 69 
 
 What would be thought of the physician, who, having 
 decided that his patient must undergo the influence of 
 alterative action upon his system, and having put him 
 upon a course of mercury to accomplish this object, 
 should, just before this drug would have accomplished 
 the end, discontinue its use, and put him upon iodine ; 
 and just as this was about to alterate the system, abandon 
 it and substitute sarsaparilla ; and thus, from one drug 
 to another, running through the whole routine of altera- 
 tive remedies, without giving any sufficient time to fcffect 
 the object. This would surely be an absurd method of 
 practice ; and yet it would not be more absurd than the 
 course we often see pursued by visiters at our springs, — 
 who literally waste their whole time " in the mountains/ ' 
 and debar themselves of all permanent good, by spending 
 their time rather among the springs, than at any one of 
 them. The state of mind which leads invalids thus 
 improperly to act, is often induced from the random opin- 
 ions or injudicious advice of their fellow sufferers whom 
 they meet with at the various watering places. One will 
 tell another that they have seen or heard of some person 
 that was cured at once, at this, that, or the other spring. 
 You will be assured by one, that the " White" is the 
 place ; by another, that the " Salt" is better suited to 
 your case 5 a third informs you that you would do better 
 at the "Blue;" while others will tell you there is nothing 
 like the "Red," the " Sweet," the "Warm," the "Hot." 
 Thus are the minds of persons frequently perplexed, until 
 they come to the conclusion to " make the rounds" and 
 try them all for a day or two. In this way the hapless 
 
70 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 invalid is often led to fritter away the whole time he 
 remains in the mountains, without deriving permanent 
 advantage from " all the springs" when, very probably, 
 the time he had fruitlessly spent at them all, would 
 have been sufficient to have cured him at any one of them. . 
 Let it be distinctly understood that these remarks are 
 meant for the serious invalid only. Persons who visit 
 the springs for amusement or pleasure, or those who come 
 merely as a relaxation from business, and require only the 
 tone which travel and mountain air can give, may, with 
 great propriety, go from spring to spring, and spend their 
 time just where they are the happiest. But for the in- 
 valid who has something for the waters to do, it is not so ; 
 he should first wisely determine which of the springs is 
 best calculated to cure his disease ; and having settled 
 this important question, should persevere in the use of 
 that particular water ; carefully watching its effects, and 
 " not be carried about by every wind of doctrine." If 
 the appropriate agent for his cure be the " Blue," the 
 "Red," the "Salt," the "White," let him use it to the 
 exclusion of all others, either until its inapplicability has 
 been proven, or until it produces the specific effects which 
 he desires. 
 
 10. Dress. 
 
 Delicate persons visiting the mountains for health, 
 should be particularly cautious on the subject of dress. 
 It is rather more easy to dress with the ever varying 
 fashions, than to dress appropriately for all the weather 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 71 
 
 that happens in our mountains during the " watering 
 seasons." The weather is often so variable and uncertain 
 as to make it a good general rule for the invalid to dress 
 without reference to any particular state of it, but always 
 warm and comfortable, with (in most cases) but little 
 change from his dress in the spring season before he 
 reached the mountains. 
 
 Some invalids will be benefitted by constantly wearing 
 soft flannel next the skin, not only because it keeps up 
 a more uniform temperature than linen, but also because 
 of the gentle excitement it occasions on the surface of 
 the body. The best summer dress, however, which we 
 have ever seen worn next the body — and always a valu- 
 able accompaniment of flannel, winter and summer, is 
 woven silk. We are led to believe from experience, that 
 silk, worn next the skin, is the very best protection we 
 can command against the influence of cold. In rheuma- 
 tism and neuralgia , a covering of woven silk is a valuable 
 remedy ; and for all delicate persons, and for those pecu- 
 liarly susceptible to colds, it is a most invaluable shield to 
 the body. The superiority of silk over every other cover- 
 ing is probably owing to its peculiarity as a non-conductor 
 of electricity ; but whether this be so or not, is left to the 
 astute medical philosopher to determine; it is sufficient 
 for us to know the fact of its superior efficacy, without 
 stopping to account for it. 
 
 Since the above paragraph was written, we have had 
 six years additional observation of the use of silk as a 
 covering for delicate and susceptible persons ; and the 
 result is, that we are more than ever convinced of its 
 
72 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 great superiority. Indeed, such persons, while in our 
 variable climate, and under the influence of Sulphur 
 Waters that increase the susceptibility of the system, 
 cannot by any other dress, so effectually secure them- 
 selves against the encroachment of colds, as by the use 
 of silk sacks worn next the skin. Nor ought this pre- 
 caution to be neglected by such, especially, as the exist- 
 ence of a cold always renders the use of the waters less 
 efficacious, and sometimes positively injurious, for the 
 time it may continue. 
 
 11. Diet, Exercise, &c. 
 
 Diet and exercise during the use of mineral water, are 
 of too much importance to be passed over without no- 
 tice. It is to be regretted that so little as relates to diet, 
 is placed within the power of the invalid at our watering 
 places generally. Usually there is but one general sys- 
 tem of living at all such places, and this invariably a 
 system very illy adapted to the invalid. 
 
 Persons using the White sulphur water may ordina- 
 rily, indulge in moderation, in that diet which they found 
 to agree best with them at home. Imprudencies as to 
 the kind of food, or of excess in its quantity, should be 
 as carefully avoided by the invalid while using the water, 
 as when under treatment by other medical means. This 
 however is by no means commonly the case. 
 
 The use of the water generally removes acidity from 
 the stomach and sharpens both the appetite and the diges- 
 tion ; hence it is often really difficult for the invalid to 
 
GENERAL DIRECTIONS. 73 
 
 restrain himself at table, and we might be astonished to see 
 the quantity and quality of food he sometimes consumes. 
 Dyspeptics, as might be expected, suffer most from impro- 
 priety in diet : indeed we are persuaded that more than 
 half the good this water would otherwise achieve in such 
 cases, is prevented by impropriety in diet. But the evil of 
 over and improper feeding, although, most manifest in 
 dyspeptics, is by no means confined to such. Upon the 
 subject of diet Dr. John Bell has well observed, that 
 " slow and laborious digestion, heartburn, disordered kid- 
 neys, discoloration of the skin, and some affections of the 
 liver, often the effects of excessive eating and drinking 
 alone, are not to be readily cured by visiting mineral 
 springs, and keeping up the same kind of living." If they, 
 and the remark applies to all invalids, be sincerely desi- 
 rous of gaining health, they will most successfully do so 
 by simplifying their regimen, and abstaining from all 
 those appliances to force appetite and tickle the taste 
 which they had formerly used in the shape of ardent spi- 
 rits, wine, and malt liquors, fried meats, pastry, and unripe 
 fruits. In fine, we may sum up in a few words, by repeat- 
 ing after the great father of medicine, that all excesses are 
 dangerous ; a maxim every one must have fully tested. 
 
 Eating much in the evening, sitting up late, prolonged 
 and immoderate dancing, remaining too long in the cool 
 air of the evening, are often the cause of many unplea- 
 sant complaints, which might have been easily prevented. 
 
 The passions are to be kept in check by avoiding every 
 exciting cause, either of the boisterous or melancholy 
 kind. A giddy chase after pleasure and luxurious indul- 
 
74 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 gence, are scarcely more reprehensible than an indolent 
 and secluded life. The kind and amount of exercise to 
 be indulged in by the patient, must of course be regulated 
 by the nature of his disease and the attendant'circumstan- 
 ces : walking, riding on horseback or in a carriage, may 
 be selected, as one or the other may be best adapted to 
 the physical ability, and to the inclinations of the patient ; 
 but in some form or other, all whose strength will admit 
 of it should take regular exercise in good weather. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DISEASES IN WHICH THE WHITE 
 
 SULPHUR WATERS HA YE BEEN FOUND SUCCESSFUL 
 WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR USE. 
 
 All Mineral waters, as before remarked, are stimulants 
 to a greater or less degree, and consequently are inappli- 
 cable to the treatment of acute, or highly inflammatory 
 diseases. This remark is especially true as relates to the 
 White sulphur, particularly when drunk fresh at the 
 spring, and abounding in its stimulating gas. It is true, 
 as before shown, that when its exciting gas has flown off, 
 it becomes far less stimulating, and may be used with 
 safety and success in cases, to which in its perfectly fresh 
 state, it would be totally unadapted. But even in its 
 least stimulating form, it is inadmissible for excited or 
 febrile conditions of the system ) and especially to cases 
 of inflammatory action; — at least, until the violence of 
 such action has been subdued by other and appropriate 
 agents. 
 
 It is to chronic affections of the organic system that 
 the White sulphur water is peculiarly applicable. 
 
 Various diseases of the stomach, liver, spleen, kidneys, 
 and bladder, as well as some derangements of the* brain 
 and nervous system generally, are treated successfully by 
 
76 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 this agent. To the various affections of the skm, unat- 
 tended with active inflammation ; to chronic affections 
 of the bowels, and to gout and rheumatism, it is well 
 adapted. In haemorrhoids; in some of the chronic affec- 
 tions of the womb ; in chlorosis and other kindred female 
 disorders; in mercurial sequelse, and especially in the 
 secondary forms of lues, and ill-conditioned ulcers in de- 
 praved constitutions, it constitutes the most valuable agent 
 to which the invalid can resort. 
 
 If the individual about to submit himself to the use of 
 this water, is suffering from fullness and tension about the 
 head, or pain with a sense of tightness in the chest or 
 side'; he should obtain relief from these symptoms before 
 entering upon its use. If his tongue be white, or heavily 
 coated; or, if he be continuously or periodically feverish, 
 or have that peculiar lassitude, with gastric distress, 
 manifesting recent or acute biliary accumulations, he 
 should avoid its use until, by proper medical treatment, 
 his biliary organs are emulged, and his system prepared 
 for its reception. Much suffering, on the on© hand, 
 would be avoided, and a far larger amount of good, on 
 the other, would be achieved, if visitors were perfectly 
 aware of, and carefully mindful of these facts. 
 
 It is an every-day occurrence during the watering sea- 
 son at the "White," for persons to seek medical advice, 
 for the first time, after they have been using the water 
 for days, perhaps for weeks, and it is then sought because 
 of vagrant operations, or injurious effects of the water. 
 In m#st such cases there will be found, upon examination, 
 either the existence of some of the symptoms just men- 
 
DISEASES— DIRECTIONS. t7 
 
 tioned, or evidences of local inflammation in some part 
 of the body, sufficient to prevent the constitutional efficacy 
 of the remedy. We are often struck with the control 
 which an apparently inconsiderable local inflammation 
 will exert in preventing the constitutional effects of 
 mineral waters. To remove such local determinations 
 where they exist, or greatly to lessen their activity, is all- 
 important to secure the constitutional effects of sulphur 
 water. 
 
 It is necessary to reflect that Mineral Waters, like all 
 medicinal substances, are adapted only to certain diseases, 
 and that the more powerfully they act, the greater mis- 
 chief they are capable of doing if improperly adminis- 
 tered; for, if it be asserted that they are capable "of 
 doing good only, without the power of doing harm, we 
 may be satisfied that their qualities are too insignificant 
 to merit notice. 
 
 This consideration indicates the necessity of some cau- 
 tion in the use of waters which possess any sanative 
 powers, and suggests the propriety in all doubtful cases, 
 of consulting some professional man familiar with the 
 subject whose judgment may determine how far the water 
 is applicable to each individual case, and in what manner 
 it should be employed to be most efficacious. 
 
 A long list of successful cases that have fallen under 
 my care, adapted to illustrate the beneficial effects of these 
 waters, in some of the more general and important mala- 
 dies, might perhaps, without impropriety, be inserted 
 here ; but I am induced to omit the insertion, because I 
 am aware with what suspicion medical cases, however well 
 
78 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 authenticated, are received from an individual, when they 
 are given to favor any particular practice, or to recommend 
 any particular water. Besides, the insertion of names is 
 objectionable in all private practice, and I consider the 
 reputation of the waters to be now too well established 
 to require such assistance. 
 
 But, anxious to obviate all possibility of mistake, and 
 to prevent the reputation of a remedy so well deserving 
 public confidence fronu-being sullied by failures, on account 
 of misapplication and improper collateral treatment, I 
 shall add to a catalogue of the leading diseases to which 
 these Mineral Springs are more immediately adapted, a 
 few succinct directions for the rational observance of such 
 cautions as well be most likely to increase their salutary 
 efficacy. And this, from local situation, and the ample 
 experience of near twenty years, I flatter myself, I am in 
 some measure capable of doing. 
 
 Dyspepsia, 
 
 In this common and annoying disease, consisting in 
 derangement of function in the organs of digestion, the 
 White sulphur water has long maintained a high charac- 
 ter. In this affection, especially in its confirmed stage, 
 we almost invariably find the biliary secretions either 
 vitiated in quality or deficient in quantity ; constituting 
 an important, and not unfrequently an embarrassing, fea- 
 ture in its treatment : nor can we ordinarily succeed in 
 effecting a cure, until the secretory functions of the liver 
 are restored to a natural and healthy condition. 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 79 
 
 The beneficial effects of this water in dyspepsia, seem 
 to result, mainly from its sanative action upon the liver. 
 To alter ate the secretory functions of that organ, and 
 establish a flow of healthy bile, is one of the great fortes 
 of the water, and almost an invariable result of its perse- 
 vering use. 
 
 That the water benefits the stomach in many cases by 
 a primary action, — first, as an alkali and stimulant, neu- 
 tralizing its acidity, and imparting directly a tone and 
 energy to the viscus — and, secondly, by a positive influ- 
 ence on its glandular structure, occasioning a healthy 
 flow of gastric juice, we do not doubt. Still, the most 
 decided and permanent benefits derived by dyspeptics, 
 have always seemed to us to be the result of full altera- 
 tive impressions upon the liver. Certain it is, that with- 
 out such an influence upon that organ, the dyspeptic can 
 never be confident of the permanency of his relief. It 
 would be well for sufferers under this distressing malady 
 to bear this in mind, and not abandon the use of the 
 water, as many do, until it has fully impressed the liver ; 
 nor be discouraged at its apparent want of efficacy until 
 it has been used sufficiently long to effect this object. 
 
 In the course of our observations, we have often 
 alluded to the alterative effects of sulphur water on the 
 liver as affording a most important indication of its effi- 
 cacy. It may be asked, how shall it be known when 
 this alterative effect has taken place? We reply, you 
 are to judge of this mainly by the character of the ex- 
 cretions, and by all the indications by which you judge 
 of the alterative effects of mercury upon the same organ, 
 
82 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 tinuo its use, at first, no longer than may be necessary to 
 bring the bowels and the secretory action of the liver 
 under its influence, and then give the patient the advan- 
 tage of the tonic influence of the waters of the Sweet, 
 or lied Chalybeate, and their champaigne baths. Ad- 
 vantage is often derived by alternating during the 
 season between the latter springs and the White, or 
 some other sulphur water. 
 
 PYROSIS, or Water Brash, is another form of stomach 
 disease, in which this water is occasionally used, and 
 sometimes with very good effects. Indeed, it is rarely 
 used in water brash without benefit. In this form of 
 disease, the water should never be taken in large and 
 often repeated draughts : from such a course increased 
 debility of the stomach, with other deleterious conse- 
 quences, would rarely fail to follow. 
 
 When good reasons exist for supposing the stomach to 
 be schtrrous or cancerous, the patient should carefully 
 abstain from the use of this, or any of our mineral 
 waters. Two cases have come under our notice, in which 
 much injury was received from their use, one from the 
 Alum water, the other from this. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say to the intelligent reader, 
 that dyspepsia is rarely cured, whatever be the remedies 
 used, without a careful attention to diet. By care in 
 diet, we by no means wish to be understood, that the 
 patient is to confine himself to the stereotyped recipe of 
 " black tea and toast/' and other light slops — the ten- 
 dency of which is rather to enervate than invigorate the 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 83 
 
 stomach — or that, in his mind's eye, he is ever to be 
 weighing or measuring the quantity of food he is to 
 consume at each meal. It has rarely been our good 
 fortune to see any one cured of confirmed dyspepsia, 
 who had been long kept on the miserably attenuated 
 debilitating slops, so often recommended for such ; and 
 especially one who weighs, if not his appetite, at least 
 his aptitude to eat by avoirdupois. The fastidious par- 
 ticularity secundum artem, in such cases, that is often 
 witnessed, serves admirably to impress upon a mind 
 disposed from the nature of the case to be distempered, 
 the appalling truth that mortal disease is ever threaten- 
 ing ; to induce low spirits and despondency, and to 
 superadd new horrors to a disease of itself sufficiently 
 horrible. 
 
 The diet in dyspepsia should always be appropriate to 
 the wants and ability of the stomach. In a majority of 
 cases, the dyspeptic will more readily digest the lighter 
 meats than the vegetable matter, upon which they gen- 
 erally feed; and in such case there is nothing more 
 proper than light meats. Fresh eggs, properly prepared, 
 may always be taken. Coarse rye bread is often the 
 best diet of the kind. When wheat bread is used, it 
 should always be well lightened and stale. Bread of 
 corn, popular as a diet in Virginia, is found to agree 
 admirably with some dyspeptics. Milk, as a general 
 rule, is not only harmless but useful.- Vegetables, 
 whether dressed or undressed, in their simple state, or 
 manufactured into pies, tarts, sweet-meats, &c, &c, 
 must be repudiated. The same of soups, gravies, molten 
 
84 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 butter, &c. After all, however, there is no one who can 
 judge of diet for the dyspeptic like the dyspeptic him- 
 self. Let such carefully examine themselves, and espe- 
 cially the effects of different articles of diet upon their 
 system, and they may without mistake settle down upon 
 those that are most beneficial. The true and only secret 
 upon this subject is, to eat nothing that disagrees, and 
 any thing docs not. 
 
 Diseases of the Liver. 
 
 Tie liver is the largest gland in the human body and 
 the first to exhibit development in the foetal state. It 
 exists in almost every variety of animals, even in those 
 whose other organs are very imperfectly developed. Its 
 great size, its early and relative development in the foetus, 
 and the complicated character of its vascular machinery, 
 all point it out as an organ of immense importance in the 
 animal economy, and renders the opinion very probable, 
 which has been long entertained by physiologists, that 
 it performs other functions and offices in the body 
 besides the daily secretion of a small quantity of bile. 
 
 The amount of bile secreted by the liver in twenty- 
 four hours, in an ordinary healthy condition of the 
 body, is said not to exceed six or eight ounces — a rela- 
 tive amount altogether inadequate to its vast size and 
 vascularity, in contrast with any other gland of the body. 
 It serves as a central termination of the black blood of 
 the abdomen, as the lungs do of the blood of the general 
 system — a peculiarity which distinguishes it from every 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 85 
 
 other gland of the body, and renders it probable that, 
 like the lungs, it exerts a peculiar influence upon the 
 circulating fluid. 
 
 The variety of forms and phases under which liver 
 complaints exist, and the sympathies by which the liver 
 is connected with other organs and tissues of the body, 
 demand the careful consideration of the medical prac- 
 titioner in making up his diagnosis, and must always be 
 duly weighed in forming his prognosis as to the results of 
 clinical effort. 
 
 The sympathy between the liver and stomach is con- 
 stantly remarked, and is often so intense as to cause the 
 practitioner to doubt as to which of the organs is the 
 primary seat of disease. Indeed, the symptoms attend- 
 ing biliary derangements are so easily mistaken for, and 
 so generally accompanied by derangements of the other 
 digestive organs, as often to mislead both the patient and 
 his medical adviser. Hence it is that liver disease and 
 dyspepsia are so often confounded, and the intelligent 
 physician unable clearly to determine which of these 
 organs was the original seat of the malady. 
 
 The sympathy between the liver and brain has long 
 been observed. In functional or structural derangements 
 of the liver, there are few symptoms more constantly 
 present than vertigo, head ache, or disturbance of t^ie 
 mental faculties. So constantly do these disturbances of 
 the mental functions exist in liver complaints, that they 
 present one of the leading diagnostic symptoms of the 
 existence of the disease. It has long been observed 
 that intense thought, or any strong emotion of the 
 
80 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 mind ; will derange the biliary secretions. Fear, grief, 
 and the other depressing passions, lessen ; while anger, 
 hope, joy, &c, increase and sustain a rapid flow of bile. 
 Diseases of the liver not uncommonly assume the ap- 
 pearance of pulmonic affections, and sometimes end in 
 actual disease of the lungs. Doubtless this is often 
 owing to the encroachment of the liver on the lungs, 
 when the former is morbidly enlarged — thus disturbing 
 the respiratory functions; or an irritation may extend 
 itself from the former to the latter, and assume all the 
 symptoms of an original idiopathic affection, while the 
 original malady lies concealed. 
 
 Chronic Hepatitis is a very common disease in this 
 country, especially in our warmer latitudes and mias- 
 matic districts. In its least complicated form it is char- 
 acterized pathologically by a plethora or congested state 
 of the vascular system of the liver, accompanied, of 
 course, by derangements of the biliary functions and of 
 the nervous system of the organ. Its approaches are 
 generally slow and insidious, and often the health is 
 entirely undermined before the sufferer is fully aware of 
 his danger. For, without any symptoms of severe indis- 
 position, it will often run on to suppuration or organic 
 induration of the viscus, before its existence is suspected. 
 
 I once saw a patient, (a young man,) whose first seri- 
 ous concern for his condition was occasioned by the 
 bursting of an abscess in his liver. He died a few 
 hours afterwards, and a post mortem examination revealed 
 the fact that his liver had been so entirely absorbed as to 
 leave only a very small portion investing the gall bladder. 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 87 
 
 Chronic inflammation of the liver seldom goes for a 
 great while without producing important mischief in the 
 organs, occasionally resulting in abscess or tubercles, but 
 more generally in indurating the structure or enlarging 
 the volume of the viscus, constituting what is termed 
 " enlarged liver" schirrous liver, &c. 
 
 While this chronic inflammation, obstruction, or im- 
 paired function of the liver is going on, they occasion 
 indigestion, flatulence, a tenderness or pain in the right 
 hypochondrium, which pain is often extended to the 
 right scapula or top of the shoulder, but occasionally in 
 the back, or on the left side over the region of the heart, 
 (Johnson.) To these symptoms are usually added an 
 unpleasant sense of distension about the stomach, acidity, 
 inability to lie comfortably on the left side, with pale or 
 sallow complexion, and a gradual diminution of the flesh 
 and strength. 
 
 In the, beginning of these affections, the bowels are 
 generally constipated, the feces being at one time of a 
 dark and at another of a lighter color than natural. As 
 the disease advances, it sometimes ends in diarrhoea or 
 dysenteric irritation. 
 
 Listlessness, languor and aversion to enterprise are 
 characteristics of the disease. The sufferer delights to 
 detail the misery of his case, and contemplates it ordi- 
 narily in its most unfavorable results. Wherever we 
 find derangements of the hepatic functions, we find low 
 spirits, irritability of temper, fickleness, timidity and 
 hypochondriacism to a greater or less extent, and this 
 
00 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 irrespective of the high natural order or cultivation of 
 the mind of the sufferer. 
 
 The White sulphur water acts specifically upon the 
 secretory organs, and especially upon the liver. 
 
 AYc have already, in another part of this volume, 
 shewn the striking similarity of action between mercury 
 and sulphur waters upon the animal economy. In no- 
 thing is this more manifest than in their operations on 
 the liver. 
 
 The modus operandi of sulphur water upon this viscus 
 is dissimilar, we conceive, from that of mercury, and yet 
 the effects of the two agents are strikingly analogous. 
 The potent and controlling influences of the water over 
 the secretory functions of the liver, must be regarded as 
 a specific quality of the agent, and as constituting an 
 important therapeutical feature in the value of the article 
 for diseases of tins organ. Its influence upon this gland 
 radually but surely to unload it when engorged, and 
 to stimulate it to a healthy exercise of its functions 
 when torpid. The control which it may be made to 
 exercise over the liver, in correcting and restoring its 
 energies, is often as astonishing as it is gratifying — estab- 
 lishing a copious flow of healthy bile, and a consequent 
 activity of the bowels — imparting vigor to the whole 
 digestive and assimilative . functions, and consequently 
 energy and strength to the body, and life and elasticity 
 to the spirits. 
 
 Attention was directed at an early period in the his- 
 tory of mineral waters, to their controlling influence over 
 diseases of the liver, and by the best informed practi- 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 89 
 
 tioners both of Europe and this country, sulphur waters 
 have always been favorite remedies in the treatment of 
 that class of affections. m 
 
 The celebrated Dr. Armstrong, although of cool dis- 
 criminating and well balanced mind, was so much de- 
 voted to their use in • chronic inflammations and conges- 
 tions of the liver, that some of his contemporaries, less 
 practised in their use, thought him infatuated upon the 
 subject. He preferred them, most decidedly, as an inde- 
 pendent remedy, to mercury in all its forms ; but very 
 properly observes, that in some cases it will be found 
 best to combine the operation of the two agents at the 
 same time. 
 
 For many years we have kept a case book at the White 
 Sulphur, and have carefully noted the influence of the 
 water upon such diseases as have been submitted to our 
 management. Among the number are several hundred 
 cases of chronic affections of the liver, embracing disease 
 of simple excitement, chronic inflammation, congestion, 
 engorgement and obstruction to the biliary ducts, &c, &c. 
 These cases were all treated either with the White sul- 
 phur water alone, or aided by some other appropriate 
 alterative remedy, and in looking at the results, we must 
 be permitted to express a doubt whether a larger relative 
 amount of amendments and cures have ever been effected 
 by the usual resources of the medical shop. This we 
 know is high eulogy of sulphur water in such diseases. 
 It is considerately made, and is not higher than their 
 merits deserve. 
 
 It is proper that those affected with liver disease, (and 
 
00 WHITE SULrilUR SPRINGS. 
 
 tlicy constitute no small portion of the population, in 
 certain districts of our south-western territory,) should 
 know something of the confidence they may place in 
 these waters for relief. 
 
 Volumes might be filled with details t)f gratifying 
 results that have taken place in the cases of invalids, 
 from almost every section of the country, who visited 
 these waters as a sort of " last resort" for liver disease. 
 And hundreds of delighted witnesses may be found, 
 especially in the warmer regions of the south, who bear 
 a willing and grateful testimony to their utility in such 
 cases. 
 
 Let us not be understood, however, as advancing the 
 opinion, that sulphur water will cure every case of chronic 
 liver disease. Far from it. We have already stated 
 elsewhere, that mineral waters will sometimes fail in 
 chronic diseases of disordered action only. This, it is 
 most probable, happens in cases where the blood-vessels 
 have been so long distended as to have lost their power 
 of returning to their natural state. Besides, it will hap- 
 pen, that among the number of invalids that crowd our 
 watering places, seeking relief frpm this common affec- 
 tion, many will be found, in whose livers organic lesions 
 have already taken place. In such, perfect cures need 
 not be expected, either by sulphur waters or any other 
 agents. 
 
 In another part of this volume,* the importance of 
 using mild alterative cathartic medicines, in connection 
 
 * See Chapter IV. — On the Use of Medicines. 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 91 
 
 with the sulphur water, has been distinctly stated. In a 
 large majority of cases, in commencing the use of the 
 water, perhaps in nine out of ten, decided advantage will 
 accrue to the patient, by taking every third or fourth 
 night, the Compound Cathartic Pill,- composed of Colo- 
 cynth, Blue Mass and Ant. Tartar; or, if the liver be 
 obstinate, Calomel may be substituted for the Blue Mass 
 in forming the pill, using half the quantity that is di- 
 rected for the latter. 
 
 In obstinate cases, or in those in which the use of 
 Mercury is admissible, the Nitro Muriatic Bath may 
 be resorted to with good effect. It may be prepared as 
 follows : Mix Nitric and Muriatic Acids together in equal 
 quantities, and pour two ounces of the mixture into 2 J 
 gallons of warm water, in a narrow wooden bucket. The 
 feet and legs of the patient ought to be immersed in this 
 bath, made of the temperature of blood heat, and kept 
 there for twenty or thirty minutes, every night before 
 yoing to bed. The same bath will remain good for three 
 or four nights. The region of the liver may be sponged 
 night and morning with the same, or a similar mixtiire. 
 The bath should be increased or diminished in strength, 
 according to the age, strength, or peculiarities of the 
 patient. I have seen this bath, unaided by any other 
 means, produce heavy bilious operations, such as are 
 commonly produced from decided mercurials. 
 
 Jaundice. — Jaundice is a form of liver disease in 
 which the White sulphur water is used with very happy 
 effects. 
 
92 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 This affection is characterized by a yellow tinge of the 
 skin generally, and particularly of the tunico conjunc- 
 tiva : deep yellow or brown color of the urine, pale or 
 clay-like color of the stools, sense of languor and lassitude, 
 wkh depression of spirits and a disinclination to exercise. 
 A sense of weight or uneasiness is often felt about the 
 pit of the stomach, while the bowels are costive and the 
 urine very high colored. 
 
 The cause of this disease has always been considered 
 to be obstructions of some kind or other to the free egress 
 of the bile from the excretory ducts of the liver. Most 
 commonly, these obstructions are occasioned by inspissated 
 bile or calculous concretions within the gall ducts them- 
 selves : occasionally from spasmodic constrictions of the 
 biliferious tubes ; and now and then from external pres- 
 sure by tumours on the liver itself, or some neighboring 
 part. 
 
 When the obstruction, arises from inspissated bile or 
 very small calculi, or from spasm of the gall ducts them- 
 selves, the disease is comparatively easily relieved; and 
 such cases are generally cured by the White sulphur 
 water with certainty, in a few weeks. 
 
 When, however, the obstructing calculi is large, and 
 the spasm and irritation considerable, the disease is not 
 only more tedious, but the measure of relief from the 
 water more uncertain. 
 
 The use of mercurial aperients, especially small doses 
 of calomel with aloes, or col. and ant., which, while 
 they clear the bowels, excite the biliary ducts, are gene- 
 rally valuable adjuvants to the water. Advantage is also 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 93 
 
 derived, especially in the declining stage of the disease, 
 from the bitter vegetable infusions, such as camomile, 
 gentian or quassia. The Nitro- Muriatic bath is a rem- 
 edy of much promise in this disease, and should not be 
 overlooked in obstinate cases. 
 
 Chronic Enlargement op the Spleen. — Disor- 
 der and enlargement of the spleen are very often met 
 with at all our watering places. For many years we 
 have carefully noted the operation of the White sulphur 
 water in such cases. Unaided by other means, it has 
 not altogether realized the high hopes which we once had 
 of it. Satisfied of the great advantage — we might say 
 absolute necessity in many cases — of urging a treatment 
 nore active than the water alone, we now rarely rely on 
 it to the exclusion of other agents. 
 
 The preparations of iodine, used both internally and 
 externally, are valuable adjuncts to the water in these 
 cases. We have in some instances derived the happiest 
 effects from large doses of quinine; and often find it 
 necessary to aid the purgative operations of the water in 
 these cases, by the use of mild cathartics. 
 
 Chronic Irritation of the Bowels. 
 
 Our note book exhibits a variety of cases of disorders 
 of the alimentary canal, which were treated by this 
 water. They were generally connected with chronic irri- 
 tation or inflammation, and attended with mucous or 
 serous discharges from the bowels. 
 
9-1 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 In such affections, attended with frequent or copious 
 serous dejections, sulphur water, if admissible at all, 
 should be used with great care, and in small portions at a 
 time. In cases attended with much irritability of the 
 canal, we have found the water entirely inadmissible. 
 
 Somewhat less difficulty is presented in mucous diar- 
 rhoea, and the action of the water is often favorable. 
 "We sometimes find an affection of the mucous coat of 
 the bowels, especially in persons from the warmer regions 
 of our country, connected with functional derangements 
 of the stomach and liver; and, in such cases, it will 
 usually be found, that in proportion as the tone of the 
 former, and the healthful secretions of the latter are 
 restored, the morbid condition of the bowels ceases. In 
 no class of cases, however, if we except diseases of the 
 lungs, is more prudence demanded in the administration 
 of the water than in irritated conditions of the bowels. 
 When judiciously and cautiously prescribed, the agent is 
 not only a safe, but a valuable remedy in several diseases 
 of this class ; but when used, as it sometimes most im- 
 prudently is, in cases attended with exalted irritation, 
 or ulceration of the coats of the bowels, the most pre- 
 judicial consequences may result. 
 
 In connection with' the water in this class of diseases, 
 we often, and with excellent effect, use warm emollient 
 cataplasms, with the internal administration of some mild 
 alterative and soothing medicine. 
 
 To warm sulphur bathing in such cases, much confi- 
 dence is due. To be safely and successfully employed, 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 95 
 
 the bath should be carefully adapted, both as to time 
 and temperature, to the demands of the case. 
 
 We know that it is usual to decry the use of sulphur 
 waters in bowel complaints. We admit that those who 
 enter at random, and without proper discrimination, upon 
 their employment in such cases, will often have cause for 
 regret. But we venture, nevertheless, to aver, that in 
 many cases of chronic irritation of the bowels, attended 
 with diarrhoea, they are, when properly administered, not 
 only safe, but a valuable remedy. 
 
 Costiyeness. — In costiveness dependent upon defi- 
 cient or depraved biliary secretions, great confidence may 
 be placed in the persevering use of the water, especially 
 if it be aided by the occasional administration of small 
 mercurials combined with taraxicum and rhubarb. 
 
 Where great paucity or deficiency of bile exists, the 
 inspissated ox gall is found to be useful. It may be 
 taken in pills, in quantity of 10 or 15 grains daily, with 
 a little taraxicum and rhubarb. 
 
 In costiveness from general inertia of the alimentary 
 canal, there is less cause to be pleased with the efficiency 
 of the White sulphur water. Such cases are commonly 
 found connected with great languor of the body and gen- 
 eral nervous irritability. The use of the sulphur baths, 
 of a temperature from 98 to 106 should be employed in 
 such cases, in connection with the water, which should 
 be drunk as freely as the stomach will bear it, morning, 
 noon and night, unless it run off by the kidneys; in 
 
9G WHITE SULrHUR SrRINGS. 
 
 which case it ought to be entirely suspended for a day, 
 and an active cathartic taken before its use is resumed. 
 
 PILES. — The use of mild laxatives in haemorrhoids has. 
 been so long a favorite practice, that nothing need be 
 said here in its favor. The beneficial effects of this water 
 in Piles, are doubtless, in some degree, owing to its mild 
 purgative operations, but to a still greater extent, to its 
 alterative action. In most cases of this disorder, the 
 liver is more or less implicated, and the relief of that 
 yiscus 1 'rings relief to the hemorrhoidal vessels. TVc 
 will only add, that both in the common and blind piles, 
 the water is advantageously used, but more especially in 
 the latter. 
 
 is of the Urinary Organs. 
 
 Incipient Calculous affections arc occasionally submit- 
 ted to the use of this water, and for such cases it has 
 long maintained a reputation. Cases are said to have 
 occurred, though none such have come under our observa- 
 tion, in which it displayed Uthontriptic qualities. 
 
 The palliative effects of the water in calculous affec- 
 tions are often experienced to the great comfort of the 
 sufferer ; but it is only, we believe, in the earlier stages 
 of such affections, that it can be regarded as better than 
 a palliative. 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 97 
 
 Chronic Inflammation of the Kidneys, as well as sim- 
 ilar affections of the Bladder and Urethra, are often 
 successfully treated by this water. We deem it our duty 
 to allude to a very common error in the manner of using 
 the water in these affections. We have reference to the 
 practice of drinking it in large quantities, with the view 
 of establishing copious discharges from the kidneys. By 
 an imprudence of this kind, the cure of the case is not 
 only often prevented, but lasting injury inflicted in a 
 superadded debility of the organs. 
 
 In these cases, the water should be so used as to keep 
 up a gentle diuretic action for several weeks, carefully 
 guarding against excessive discharges of this kind. 
 
 Diabetes. — The nature of Diabetes is so imperfectly 
 understood, that medical men do not agree as to the part 
 of the body in which it is primarily situated. Some sup- 
 pose that the kidneys are the original seat of the disease ; 
 others that it depends on the state of the stomach ; while 
 it has been imputed by others to a diseased state of the 
 blood. Its exciting causes are numerous, such as over- 
 bodily or mental exercise, use of spirituous liquors, ex- 
 cessive or improper indulgences, the depressing passions, 
 &c. It is commonly connected with a depraved and 
 shattered constitution, and it is often difficult, when phy- 
 sicians are consulted, to say whether it be the cause or 
 the consequence of the constitutional deprivation. 
 
 It is often attended with indigestion, general debility, 
 constipation of the bowels, thirst, dryness of the skin, 
 and irregular, capricious, and sometimes voracious appe- 
 
98 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 tite. Its pathognomic symptom is a great increase in 
 the flow of urine, which is generally of a pale straw 
 color, sometimes insipid, but oftener of a sweetish taste 
 and faint smell resembling that of violets, and contain- 
 ing a considerable quantity of sugar. 
 
 Cased of Diabetes have not been very numerous at the 
 "White," but they have occasionally come under my 
 observation. One of great interest fell under my notice 
 some years since, in the person of Mr. S., a very intelli- 
 gent gentleman from the State of Georgia. He was 
 greatly emaciated, from the effects of the disease, but 
 after using the water for some ten days, he commenced 
 improving, and regained his flesh at the rate of a pound 
 a day for a number of days. Another case was 'so far 
 relieved last summer as to give me confidence in its 
 ultimate recovery. 
 
 In Diabetes, the water should be administered in small 
 and oft-repeated doses. The diet should be the most 
 nourishing kinds of animal food, and in quantities suited 
 to the strength of the digestive powers. The tincture 
 of iron is useful in connection with the waters, and the 
 hot sulphur bath is a valuable adjunct in such cases. 
 
 Amenorrhea, Dysmenorrhoea, and Atonic Leucor- 
 rlicea, are sometimes submitted to the use of the White 
 sulphur water. For these disorders, considered spe- 
 cifically, we would not prefer this water. It is inferior 
 in efficacy to many other remedies that might be em- 
 ployed. We often, however, find these affections con- 
 nected with a peculiar state of the general system, 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 99 
 
 rendering it a valuable adjunct in their treatment. As 
 a general riile, either local or. general depletion, or both, 
 as may be necessary, is required to precede the use of 
 the water in these affections, when they are found con- 
 nected with general plethora of the system, or with 
 congestion in the uterine region. During the use of 
 the water, the important auxiliary of warm sulphur 
 baths should not be neglected. 
 
 Sufferers from the diseases under consideration should 
 not lose sight of the potent influences which the baths 
 at the Hot Springs are so well calculated to produce. 
 Many who are languishing under the blighting influences 
 of these affections, might, doubtless, find a sure and 
 speedy relief from a few weeks' use of these valuable 
 agents. 
 
 Chronic Affections of the Brain. 
 
 Many interesting cases of chronic inflammation and 
 congestion of portions of the cerebral mass, are met with 
 at the White Sulphur. 
 
 It is only since the discovery of the successful use 
 that may be made of the water, after being deprived of 
 its stimulating gas, that it has been prescribed advan- 
 tageously in affections of the brain. We have never, 
 indeed, seen a case of inflammation of this organ, in 
 which the fresh water could be borne. When it is care- 
 fully deprived of its gas, however, either by heating or 
 by being kept for ct sufficient length of time in an open 
 
100 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 vessel, it agrees well with such affections, and we have 
 in many instances prescribed it with the most h»ppy 
 results. Mr. B., whose case we referred to in another 
 part of this volume, had been for more than a year 
 under the care of distinguished physicians for the relief 
 of chronic inflammation of the brain, without having 
 derived any permanent benefit, was cured by four weeks' 
 use of the ungaseous water. In this case it was care- 
 fully deprived of its gas by being heated nearly to the 
 boiling point, and suffered to cool before using. This 
 gentleman attempted repeatedly during the progress of 
 his case, to use water that had stood twelve or eighteen 
 hours from the spring, but found it too exciting, and 
 was forced in each instance to return to the heated 
 water. 
 
 Mr. M. arrived at the White Sulphur in June, 1839, 
 laboring under agonizing distress in the head, attended 
 at intervals with partial derangement, and with horrid 
 threatenings of confirmed mania constantly before him. 
 Cups were repeatedly applied to the base of the cranium, 
 gentle cathartics were administered for a few days, and 
 the water perfectly deprived if its gas was perseveringly 
 pressed. In six days it became obvious that Mr. M. was 
 improving, and in four weeks he left the Springs entirely 
 restored. He has visited his "old benefactor/' as he 
 terms the White, every year since, and it is gratifying 
 to know that his cure was in every respect complete and 
 permanent. 
 
 Many cases might be mentioned not essentially dis- 
 similar from the two just noticed, but we deem it unne- 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 101 
 
 cessary. The efficacy of the water in chronic inflam- 
 mation of the brain has been rendered as obvious to us 
 as its efficiency in similar inflammations of other organs. 
 
 Nervous Diseases. 
 
 The great increase of nervous diseases within the last 
 decade must have attracted the attention of every ob- 
 servant individual. 
 
 Neuralgia, in one form or another, has become the 
 prevailing disease of the whole country. It has been but 
 a few years since it was only known among us as a tooth- 
 ache from a denuded nerve, or in the form of the erratic 
 but twinging Tic-dou-lou-reux. Now it is not only the 
 common, but the fashionable, disease of the country. 
 Once it was the peculiar privilege of the wealthy and 
 the luxrious to boast of their neuralgia, as the parvenu 
 does of his gout ; but now, the poorest, most unpretend- 
 ing subject can have his full share of this aristocratic 
 affection. Formerly, a vulgar rheumatism took posses- 
 sion of the extremities, while a still more vulgar dyspep- 
 sia claimed the dominion of the stomach. But, how 
 changed. Neuralgia now takes the limbs, and gastralgia 
 the primse vie. Formerly, a fashionable lady, to in- 
 duce a reluctant husband or father to make a pilgrimage 
 to a fashionable watering place, was driven to a vulgar 
 dyspepsia to effect the object; now, a u little neuralgia" 
 which may be located just at her pleasure, will answer 
 every purpose. 
 
102 WHITE SULPIIUR SPRINGS. 
 
 But, soberly, we are, and have been for ten years, 
 living under the reign of a nervous diathesis, which 
 literally obliges every species of disease, acute and 
 chronic, to wear its livery. The revolution that it has 
 effected in the type and the treatment of disease is won- 
 derful. To a large extent, even our fevers obey its 
 behests, and hence inflammatory and bilious have almost 
 given way in our nomenclature to nervous and typhoid. 
 
 In every acute disea.se, we are admonished that there 
 is a prevailing constitution that inhibits the lancet and 
 other rapid depletory practice, that so distinguished our 
 country within the present generation. 
 
 The most apathetic are now obliged to yield to the 
 reign of the nerves, and look around for a placebo that 
 was formerly allotted to the most effeminate alone. 
 
 The various nervous affections, such as neuralgia, hypo- 
 chondria, hysterics, chorea, &b., &c., are not unfrequently 
 met with at the springs. Sometimes as primary or in- 
 dependent diseases, but more frequently in connection 
 with derangements of the digestive organs. The direct 
 influence of the water in restoring the tone and energy 
 of the general system, by removing obstructions and 
 correcting the functional derangements of the organs, 
 obviously point to it as a remedy in the latter class of 
 cases. The invigorating effects of the salubrious and 
 charming climate in which the spring is situated, and, 
 we might add, the advantage of the exercise necessary 
 to reach it, are efficient auxiliaries in such cases. 
 
 In nervous diseases, especially under exalted nervous 
 excitement, the water should almost invariably be used 
 
DISEASES — DIEECTIONS. 103 
 
 in small quantities at first, and in its least stimulating 
 form ; that is, after it has been deprived of its gas by 
 standing at least twelve hours in an open vessel. In 
 many cases it is indispensable that it should be suffered 
 to stand even for twenty-four hours, or be gently heated, 
 that its gas may be entirely thrown off before it is used. 
 
 It was in nervous cases, many years ago, that I was 
 led to appreciate the advantage of administering the 
 water in its unstimulating form; a practice that has 
 effected a triumph over the former method of using it 
 fresh from the spring, as complete as it has been bene- 
 ficial to thousands of nervous individuals. After thus 
 using it a few days, the patient will probably bear it 
 fresh from the spring, and when such a tolerance is 
 established, there is no objection to its being thus taken. 
 
 In simple or independent affections of the nerves, 
 (those that do not depend upon disease in other regards,) 
 the waters of the Sioeet and Red Sweet Springs are a 
 valuable remedy. Indeed, in noxious disorders gener- 
 ally, whatever be their cause, the bracing influence of 
 those waters, especially the delightful bath that is found 
 at either of these places, will prove eminently service- 
 able, after sulphur waters have* corrected the digestive 
 and assimilative organs. 
 
 For the treatment of this class of affections, when 
 perfectly unconnected with organic derangements, we 
 would also call attention to the " Eawley Springs." 
 
 The Eawley water is the purest and strongest cha- 
 lybeate that is found in our country, and where a strong 
 
102 white suLPnuR springs. 
 
 But, soberly, we arc, and have been for ten y< 
 living under the reign of a nervous diathesis, which 
 literally obliges every species of disease, acute and 
 chronic, to wear its livery. The revolution that it has 
 effected in the type and the treatment of disease is won- 
 derful. To a large extent, even our fevers obey its 
 behests, and hence inflammatory and bilious have almost 
 given way in our nomenclature to nervous and typhoid. 
 
 In every acute disease, we are admonished that there 
 is a prevailing constitution that inhibits the lancet and 
 other rapid depletory practice, that so distinguished our 
 country within the present generation. 
 
 The most apathetic are now obliged to yield to the 
 reign of the oerves, and look around for a placebo that 
 was formerly allotted to the most effeminate alone. 
 
 The various nervous affections, such as neuralgia, hypo- 
 chondria, hysterics, chorea, Ac., &c, are not unfrequently 
 met with at the springs. Sometimes as primary or in- 
 dependent diseases, but more frequently in connection 
 with derangements of the digestive organs. The direct 
 influence of the water in restoring the tone and energy 
 of the general system, by removing obstructions and 
 correcting the functional derangements of the organs, 
 obviously point to it as a remedy in the latter class of 
 cases. The invigorating effects of the salubrious and 
 charming climate in which the spring is situated, and, 
 we might add, the advantage of the exercise necessary 
 to reach it, are efficient auxiliaries in such cases. 
 
 In nervous diseases, especially under exalted nervous 
 excitement, the water should almost invariably be used 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 103 
 
 in small quantities at first, and in its least stimulating 
 form ; that is, after it has been deprived of its gas by 
 standing at least twelve hours in an open vessel. In 
 many cases it is indispensable that it should be suffered 
 to stand even for twenty-four hours, or be gently heated, 
 that its gas may be entirely thrown off before it is used. 
 
 It was in nervous cases, many years ago, that I was 
 led to appreciate the advantage of administering the 
 water in its unstimulating form; a practice that has 
 effected a triumph over the former method of using it 
 fresh from the spring, as complete as it has been bene- 
 ficial to thousands of nervous individuals. After thus 
 using it a few days, the patient will probably bear it 
 fresh from the spring, and when such a tolerance is 
 established, there is no objection to its being thus taken. 
 
 In simple or independent affections of the nerves, 
 (those that do not depend upon disease in other regards,) 
 the waters of the Sweet and Red Sweet Springs are a 
 valuable remedy. Indeed, in noxious disorders gener- 
 ally, whatever be their cause, the bracing influence of 
 those waters, especially the delightful bath that is found 
 at either of these places, will prove eminently service- 
 able, after sulphur waters have* corrected the digestive 
 and assimilative organs. 
 
 For the treatment of this class of affections, when 
 perfectly unconnected with organic derangements, we 
 would also call attention to the "Kawley Springs." 
 
 The Eawley water is the purest and strongest cha- 
 lybeate that is found in our country, and where a strong 
 
iUdt WHITE SULTIIUR SPRINGS. 
 
 iron tonic is demanded; it may be relied on with con- 
 fidence. 
 
 For many years I have occasionally sent patients to 
 this water, and have generally been much pleased with 
 its effects. 
 
 Paralysis. — In most cases, Palsy is the sequel of an 
 attack of apoplexy, which has come on suddenly and 
 unexpectedly. > In other cases, however, it is brought on 
 slowly and from causes that do not directly implicate the 
 brain, affecting certain muscles only, leaving others of 
 the same parts untouched. 
 
 Ftalyris may be complete or incomplete ; that is, the 
 muscles affected may be totally or partially powerless. 
 There are many other causes besides apoplexy, that pro- 
 duce paralysis ; such as tumors, injuries caused by vio- 
 lence, cold, the action of poisons, excessive or improper 
 indulgences, derangement of the digestive functions, &c. 
 
 When palsy occurs without being preceded by apo- 
 plexy, its approaches are generally gradual and con- 
 nected with some appreciated derangement of the health. 
 
 A gentleman was under my care last summer with a 
 decided paralysis of the' entire right side, resulting from 
 derangement of the chylopoietic viscera, in whom the 
 disease came on so gradually, that he was unable with 
 distinctness to designate the time of its first appearance. 
 Another individual, an elderly gentleman, was under my 
 direction the same season, with a paralysis that had been 
 indaced by injudicious perseverance in cold shower 
 bathing. Although this was an unequivocal case of 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 105 
 
 hemiplegia, barely enabling the patient to drag his 
 leaden-like limbs along, it was preceded by no apoplectic 
 shock, the gentleman being quite conscious of the occa- 
 sion and progress of the attack. There are other cases 
 in which the loss of power over the muscles takes place 
 instantaneously, although not preceded by a distinct 
 apoplexy. 
 
 The number of paralytics that resort to the White 
 Sulphur is large, and their success from the use of the 
 waters has been various. Cases resulting from dyspeptic 
 depravities are oftener cured than those from any other 
 cause; but in almost every case some amendment of the 
 general health takes place, notwithstanding the paralysis 
 may not be removed. Warm or hot sulphur baths are 
 useful in connection with the water. 
 
 Chronic Diseases of the Chest, or Breast Com- 
 plaints. 
 
 The public generally, and no portion of it more than 
 valitudinarians themselves, are prone to be exceedingly 
 loose, undefined and inaccurate in drawing distinctions 
 between the different and dissimilar diseases that occa- 
 sionally affect the same organs of the body. This is 
 especially the case when such diseases have one common 
 generic name ; as, for instance, the name of " Breast 
 Complaint," which, by a comprehensive and sweeping 
 application, is made to embrace, not only Tubercular 
 Consumption, a disease of scrofulous origin, and gener- 
 ally, if not uniformly incurable, but also a large number 
 
106 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 of other affections of the "breast," whose nature and 
 termination are altogether dissimilar, and none of which, 
 from their peculiar pathologj r , ought to be regarded as 
 necessarily incurable. 
 
 The same want of discrimination that confounds dis- 
 - affecting the same organ and of the same generic 
 name, is prone, as might be expected, to confound the 
 practice appropriate for their cure. This is constantly 
 found to be the case in reference to the use of the White 
 sulphur water in brecut complaints. 
 
 Pulmonary Consumption (Phthisis Pulmonalis) has 
 
 to an alarming extent become a disease of our country, 
 and especially in the more Northern and Northwestern 
 portions of it; yet, notwithstanding its frequency, it is 
 unquestionably true, that many diseases, accompanied 
 by wasting of the body, hectic fever, cough and mucous 
 expectoration, are often classed with it, both by friends 
 and medical attendants, where no scrofulous taint lurked 
 in the constitution. 
 
 It is often embarrassing, even to the most experienced 
 physician, to decide with clearness whether the lungs are 
 the primary seat of disease, or whether they are merely 
 the seat of a sympathetic irritation originating in some 
 other organ. Nor can the practitioner always, with more 
 than problematical conjecture, decide as to the existence 
 or condition of tuberculous formations. But whatever 
 may be the medical opinion as to the precise pathology of 
 the disease, if the hectic flush be upon the cheeks, the 
 vermillion upon the lips, the burning heat in the palms 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 107 
 
 of the hands and soles of the feet, with evening fever 
 or cold colliquative sweats, connected with hollow, pale, 
 languid countenance, sharpened features, purulent expec- 
 toration and progressive emaciation, constituting the ever 
 present symptoms of Phthisis Pulmonalis, the use of the 
 water ought to be withheld. 
 
 The symptoms just enumerated are those that distin- 
 guish tubercular consumption in its ultimate or matured 
 stage, and in which the use. of the water would prove 
 injurious; but in no stage of formed, or forming tuber- 
 cles of the lungs, should it be relied upon as a remedy. 
 
 But it by no means follows, either from sound rea- 
 soning in the premises, or from observation and expe- 
 rience, that the want of adaptation in the waters to 
 tubercular consumption proves their want of adaptation 
 to other forms of breast complaints. On the contrary, 
 we know that the very best effects have often been de- 
 rived from their use in various cases that seriously impli- 
 cated the lungs. 
 
 Caution, however, should be exercised in submitting 
 breast affections to the use of the White sulphur water; 
 and where doubts exist as to the nature of the case, a 
 careful exploration of the chest should be made, and the 
 best professional opinion elicited as to its true •pathology. 
 If tubercles in a mature or immature state are found in 
 the lungs, prudence dictates the avoidance of the water ; 
 but if there be no tubercles, and no febrile excitement, 
 the water may be employed without fear, although there 
 may be cough, mucous expectoration and other symptoms 
 evidencing a morbid determination to the lungs. 
 
108 WHITE SULPHUR BPBINOS. 
 
 I might give numerous cases illustrating the safety 
 and success of the water in several ibrms of u breast 
 complaints," unconnected with a scrofulous diathesis or 
 tubercles, but I will give one Otlly, and that because it is 
 of very recent occurrence, and happened iu the person of 
 an intelligent young physician of my acquaintance. 
 
 ])r. 11., of C, had been Buffering for more than two 
 years with an affection of the lungs, during which time 
 he lias had several hemorrhages, with two distinct attacks 
 of apoplexy of the lungs; requiring, in each instance, 
 active treatment for Ins relief. One of these apoplectic 
 attacks, attended with hemorrhage, had occurred two 
 weeks before T saw hi in. On his arrival at the springs, 
 his pulse was 1 1 5 beats a minute, sen,-" of fullness about 
 the cheat) with restlessness and general nervous excita- 
 bility. I discouraged him from the use of the waters, 
 under the apprehension of an increased excitement from 
 their use, both in the vascular and nervous system, and 
 advised him to visit the Red Sulphur, as offering a safer 
 remedy. He disliked to make the journey, and deter- 
 mined to remain a few days at the White without using 
 the water, and then return home. Under this state of 
 things, and as he was a physician and could watch his 
 own case intelligently, I advised him to make a careful 
 trial of the water in its ungaseous form; enjoinino- it 
 upon him to discontinue its use if he found it to increase 
 his pulse, and to persevere if the force or frequency of 
 the pulse was reduced. The experiment was most fortu- 
 nate ; his pulse was reduced day by day, until it came 
 down to its natural standard, the sense of fullness in the 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 109 
 
 chest disappeared, the nervous excitement was assuaged, 
 and in every respect, the amendment was clear and une- 
 quivocal; not evanescent, but progressive, and as I be- 
 lieve, permanent. 
 
 It is proper to state that Dr. H. made several attempts 
 to take the water fresh from the spring, but always found 
 it too stimulating, and was forced to return to the ungas- 
 eous water. 
 
 It would be impossible, without going into a very te- 
 dious dissertation on the nature and causes of the various 
 diseases of the chest, (and which would be foreign to the 
 objects of this work,) to set forth with such clearness as 
 would be useful to the invalid, the various forms and mod- 
 ifications of Breast Complaints, for the cure of which the 
 "White sulphur water may be safely and profitably em- 
 ployed. I shall allude here to but one of these forms, 
 and to that mainly because it is of very common occur- 
 rence and not unfrequently mistaken for genuine Con- 
 sumption. 
 
 I shall take the liberty of calling this form of disease 
 Sympathetic Consumption, because this name will more 
 clearly convey a correct idea of its character than any 
 other I could give it. 
 
 Sympathetic Consumption, although not peculiar to, 
 occurs most frequently in persons of some constitutional 
 disposition to phthisical complaints. It is the result of 
 morbid sympathies extended from some other parts of 
 the body, and more commonly from a diseased stomach 
 or liver. The great par vagum nerve, common to both 
 
110 WHITE SULPHUR BPBIKGS. 
 
 the stomach and lungs, affords a ready medium of sym- 
 pathy between those two important organs. In pro- 
 tracted cases of dyspepsia, the stomach often throws out 
 morbid influences to the windpipe and surface of the 
 lungs, occasioning cough, mucous expectoration, pain in 
 the breast, and many other usual symptoms of genuine 
 consumption. So completely! indeed, does this translated 
 
 affection wear the livery of the genuine disease, that, as 
 before remarked, it is often mistaken for it. This form 
 of disease comes often under nay notice at the springs, 
 and I frequently witness the happiest result from the 
 employment of the water in such cases : and the more 
 so, because its beneficial effects resolve a painful doubt 
 that often exists in the mind of the patient as to the true 
 character of his dis< 
 
 Bronchitis, 
 
 Bronchitis is often met with at all our watering places; 
 some times as a primary affection of the bronchia, and 
 often in connection with other diseases. 
 
 Of late, this has become an exceedingly common dis- 
 ease with the Clergy of our country; so much so, as em- 
 inently to demand an investigation into the peculiar 
 causes that render this valuable class of men so subject 
 to its influence. Such an investigation would not only 
 be highly interesting as a curious subject of pathological 
 inquiry, but also might be valuable by enabling the 
 Clergy to avoid the exciting and predisposing causes of 
 the malady. It is * not our purpose to enter into this 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. Ill 
 
 investigation ; it would be foreign to the objects of this 
 work; but merely to observe, for the benefit of those 
 thus afflicted, that the Mineral Waters of this region 
 afford encouraging prospects of relief. We occasionally 
 meet with cases that are relieved at this place ; and simi- 
 lar results occur at all watering places. 
 
 The Red Sulphur is well adapted to many cases of 
 Bronchitis. When a strumous diathesis prevails, the 
 waters of the Alum Springs are happily adapted for 
 relief, and in such cases, we would give them a prefer- 
 ence over any of our springs. 
 
 We often see Bronchitis, at the White, give way and 
 disappear, in the same ratio in which the water exerts its 
 alterative power over the digestive and assimilative or- 
 gans. Dr. R., of lower Virginia, was relieved of an 
 obstinate attack in this way ; an officer of our navy expe- 
 rienced the same good fortune. 
 
 Chronic Diseases of the Skin. 
 
 The sympathy existing between the surface of the body 
 and the large internal organs, particularly the stomach 
 and liver, has long been known and appreciated by medi- 
 cal men. The celebrated practice of Abernathy, of di- 
 recting his remedies to the stomach and bowels for the 
 cure of cutaneous diseases, was based upon a knowledge 
 of this sympathy. Dr. James Johnson, of London, in 
 treating of the morbid sympathies of the organs, remarks, 
 that in Cutaneous and Eruptive Complaints, "an exten- 
 sive class of diseases, whose treatment has hitherto been 
 
112 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 very puzzling, the stomach, in company with the liver 
 and intestines, sympathises to an extent that is little 
 imagined ;" and adds, " that from the midst of the most 
 inveterate of these, there is scarcely one that is not more 
 or less connected with derangements of the above-men- 
 tioned organs, but particularly the liver, and consequently 
 under the control or influence of remedies directed to 
 them." 
 
 I have very generally observed in the administration of 
 sulphur waters for cutaneous diseases, that just in pro- 
 portion as the great abdominal organs became altcrated, 
 the disease of the skin was relieved; nor do I anticipate 
 any very decided amendment in such cases, especially if 
 they be of long standing, until the water has exerted its 
 sanitary effects upon those organs. 
 
 The warm sulphur hath is a valuable assistant to the 
 internal use of the waters in cutaneous diseases, and 
 should be daily employed after the water has begun to 
 shew its alterative effects upon the liver and bowels. 
 
 It is often exceedingly gratifying to residents at the 
 springs, to witness the progressive disappearance of cuta- 
 neous eruptions, and ultimate recovery in the course of 
 the season, of persons who come there with unseemly 
 affections of this kind. 
 
 We occasionally see eruptive disorders located in the 
 beard of gentlemen, generally caught from want of care 
 or cleanliness on the part of their barbers. This affec- 
 tion, although slight at first, assumes in its progress an 
 obstinate and unpleasant character. The sulphur water, 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 113 
 
 in connection with the cream-like deposit found about the 
 spring, will ordinarily be successful in its relief. 
 
 In ill-conditioned ulcers of the extremities, which are 
 most generally found connected with some general de- 
 pravity of the constitution, the water, in a general way, 
 displays very fine effects. In such cases, we prefer the 
 water to be so used as to make decided impressions upon 
 the boivels and skin for a few days, to be continued after- 
 wards in smaller and less operative quantities. 
 
 Rheumatism and Gout. 
 
 Next to diseases of the abdominal viscera, rheumatism 
 is most frequently met with at our watering places. The 
 ancient reputation of the White Sulphur, and that which 
 at an early day directed public attention to its potency, 
 was derived from its successful use in rheumatism. Tra- 
 dition says, that the efficacy of this spring in this disease 
 was known to the Indians whilst they dwelt in the coun- 
 try; and it is a matter of history that the first important 
 cure it is known to have effected among the whites, was 
 in a disease of this kind. The reputation thus early 
 acquired has not been lost, but, on the contrary, has 
 become established by the experience of more than half 
 a century. 
 
 It must be borne in mind, however, that it is not 
 adapted to every case of rheumatism. It is only in the 
 chronic form of this disease, when active inflammatory 
 action is not present ; that it can be looked to for success. 
 
114 WHITE SULrilUR SrRINGS. 
 
 We often sec at our watering places, and particularly 
 in persons from warm miasmatic regions, a form of 
 rheumatism intimately connected with, and dependent 
 upon derangement of the internal organs. For the cure 
 of such cases, the water is peculiarly adapted. The same 
 discriminative and especial praise may be bestowed upon 
 it in Mercurial rheumatism, which we occasionally find 
 connected with chronic inflammation and enlargement of 
 the hones. In most cases it will be advisable to connect 
 the use of warm or hot bathing with the drinking of the 
 water, and in many, especial advantage will be derived 
 from the local application of this adjuvant in the form of 
 a douche. 
 
 The united effects of these agents, operating for a 
 sufficient length of time, rarely fail to relax the rigidity 
 of the muscles, to give strength, ease and elasticity to the 
 diseased joints, and to impart vigor and tone to the whole 
 Bystem. 
 
 The reputation of the JTot Springs in diseases of this 
 class, is too familiar to the public to require any special 
 comment here. The well-contrived arrangements at that 
 place for receiving baths of a variety of temperature, and 
 in different forms, from the douche to the sweating pro- 
 cess, gives to that place great advantages, so far as hot 
 bathing is concerned. 
 
 Gout is not unfrequently seen at this, and all our 
 watering places. The general operative influences of 
 sulphur waters, and the tone and energy which they 
 impart to the digestive and assimilative functions, are 
 
DISEASES — DIRECTIONS. 115 
 
 often serviceable in this painful affection ; and especially, 
 when, with the use of the water, the patient pursues that 
 prudent course of regimen which in this, not less than in 
 other diseases originating in the stomach, is absolutely 
 necessary to a cure. 
 
 As a palliative, the water is very generally serviceable. 
 
 Dropsies. 
 
 The alterative influence of sulphur waters is often very 
 conspicuously displayed upon the absorbent as well as 
 upon the secretory system, and hence, under its use, 
 dropsical effusions are often removed, while the general 
 health and tone of the system is so improved as to pre- 
 vent their re-accumulation. 
 
 Perhaps there is no season at the White during which 
 dropsical cases are not cured. A case came under my 
 notice some years ago, in which a radical cure was effected 
 after the patient had undergone the operation of paracen- 
 tesis, and had become much emaciated by the disease. 
 
 In cases originating, and dependent upon obstructions 
 of the glands, the sulphur waters may be used with great 
 confidence. 
 
 Scrofula. 
 
 The celebrated Dr. Armstrong states that he found the 
 internal and external use of sulphur waters far more 
 efficacious in scrofula than the common measures; for, 
 after all the ordinary treatment had failed, he had seen 
 
lib white suLrnuR springs. 
 
 scrofulous affections cured by drinking such waters, and 
 using them as a tepid bath. 
 
 We regret that we cannot award the same unlimited 
 praise to sulphur waters in such cases. Our success with 
 them has been various. In the early stages of scrofulous 
 affections, their administration is generally attended with 
 benefit — occasionally, with marked benefit. In the ad- 
 vanced stages, there is generally less cause of gratification, 
 though even in such we have occasionally seen them ser- 
 viceable, and in no instance injurious, except in a single 
 case, which was attended with ulceration of the bowels. 
 
 The Alum Spring offers a valuable resource in scrofu- 
 lous affections. In the united use of sulphur and alum 
 waters in this disease, there is a perfect compatibility, 
 and the employment of the former for a few weeks, 
 often constitutes the best preparation for the use of the 
 latter. 
 
 Mercurial Diseases. 
 
 In that enfeebled and peculiar condition of the sys- 
 tem resulting from the long protracted or injudicious use 
 of mercury, the White sulphur water has displayed its 
 happiest effects. 
 
 The extraordinary powers of this water in correcting 
 the injurious constitutional and local effects of this drug 
 upon the system, cannot be appreciated too highly by 
 the medical profession or the public. 
 
 After long experience with the water in this peculiar 
 form of disease ; we have no hesitation in observing, that 
 
DISEASES— DIRECTIONS. 117 
 
 if called on to designate a particular affection, or state of 
 the system in which the agent is most beneficial, we would 
 not hesitate to name Mercurial diseases; because we 
 regard the water in such cases as a specific agent, and as 
 almost certain to bring relief where other known agents 
 would not. This we know is strong praise, and nothing 
 but long and successful observation could induce us to 
 award it. 
 
 Of the many patients afflicted with disease from the 
 abuse of mercury — and many of them in a state of 
 great wretchedness — who annually resort to this place 
 for relief, we have rarely seen a case, in which the water 
 was properly used for a sufficient length of time, that 
 was not either cured, or so relieved as to evidence the 
 triumph of the remedy. The salutary action of the 
 water in such cases may be considerably expedited by 
 uniting with it some of the preparations of sarsaparilla 
 or of iodine. The warm sulphur bath also, in such 
 cases, comes in as an important auxiliary. 
 
 The patient laboring under this anomalous affection, is 
 required to exercise fully as much patience in the use of 
 the water as is demanded in any other case. To make 
 it fully successful in bad cases, from one to three months' 
 use of it will generally be required ; occasionally inter- 
 mitting it, for short periods, during this time. 
 
118 WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 CHALYBEATE SPRING. 
 
 About forty rods from the White Sulphur Spring, 
 and near the road that leads to Lewisburg, is a Chalyh- 
 <<it> Spring, which is now being much and beneficially 
 used by invalids. The existence of this iron water has 
 long been known, but it is only within the last two years 
 that it attracted sufficient attention to induce the pro- 
 prietor, Mr. Calwell, to have it deepened, walled up, and 
 properly enclosed. 
 
 The water has not been analysed, but there can be no 
 doubt that the efficient medical material in it is iron, and 
 that this is held in solution in the form of a carbonate, 
 constituting the mildest, least offensive, and ordinarily 
 the most efficient form in which ferruginous waters are 
 found. 
 
 I allude to this Spring in connection with the White 
 Sulphur, because it is found immediately contiguous to 
 it, and will doubtless be used in connection with it to a 
 considerable extent. 
 
 During the two last seasons, it has been much used 
 by invalids, either in connection with the White sulphur 
 water, or as an independent remedy, and its tonic effects 
 in several cases that have come under my observation, 
 have been gratifying. Judging from the taste of the 
 water and its kindly influences upon the stomach, I infer 
 that it is, to a great degree, exempt from the irritating 
 salts that impregnate the waters of limestone regions. 
 
CHALYBEATE — ALUM. 1 19 
 
 It acts mildly as a diuretic, and slightly on some per- 
 sons as an aperient, but its chief value must be attributed 
 to its tonic powers. 
 
 Near the White Sulphur Hotel, familiarly known as 
 : Mastin's/' and not more than the fourth of a mile 
 from the Sulphur Fountain, Alum water of very good 
 quality, was discovered in digging a well, some years ago. 
 It was found issuing from a thick stratum of semi-soft 
 slate stone, about fifteen feet below the surface of the 
 earth. This water was favorably noticed by Professor 
 Hay ward of Boston, who visited the Springs while it 
 was in use. It was chemically examined by Professor 
 Rodgers, but his notes in reference to it have been mis- 
 placed. As a medicinal agent, it was thought favorably 
 of by several persons who used it. The year after it 
 was discovered, the late Mr. Mastin, then the lessee of 
 the Hotel near which the water was found, very inju- 
 diciously deepened the well, penetrated through the slate 
 formation and struck upon a bold stream of common . 
 water, which submerged and thus destroyed the alum 
 water. It is probable that, by sinking a well into the 
 same slate formation, at some other point, the same kind 
 of water may be found ; or, by filling up the old well 
 with hydraulic cement, near to the point at which the 
 alum water issued, it might be recovered and made 
 useful. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 6 A LT S U LV U l a SPB I N QS. 
 
 These springs, three in number, are about twenty-four 
 miles BOtth from the White Sulphur, in the county of 
 Monroe, and near Union, the seat of justice for that 
 county. They are encircled by mountains on every 
 Bide, — having Peters' Mountain to the south and east, 
 the Alleghany to the north, and Swopes* Mountain to 
 the west, near the ha.se of which are the three springs 
 alluded to. 
 
 This watering place has been a popular and profitable 
 resort for invalids for the last forty years; having always 
 heretofore, as now, enjoyed a high reputation, alike for 
 the virtue of its waters and the excellence of its accom- 
 modations. It is owned by Messrs. Erskine & Caruthcrs, 
 worthy and enterprising proprietors, under whose per- 
 sonal management the establishment has been 'for many 
 years, and who made the principal improvements at the 
 place — which are both comfortable and extensive ; being 
 sufficient for the accommodation of three hundred and 
 fifty persons. 
 
 The "Salt Sulphur" proper was discovered by Erwin 
 Benson, Esq., in 1805, when boring for salt water, which 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 121 
 
 he was induced to believe might be found there, from the 
 fact that, in old times, the spot had been a favorite 
 
 Lick" for deer and buffalo. This spring is neatly en- 
 closed in a marble reservoir, two feet square, and about 
 two feet ten inches deep, and is protected from the 
 weather by a neat and comfortable edifice. 
 
 The following is the analysis of this water, as fur- 
 nished by Professor Eodgers : 
 
 Temperature variable from 49° to 56°. 
 
 Solid matter procured, by evaporation, from 100 cubic 
 inches, weighed, after being dried at 212°, 81.41 grains. 
 
 Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches, 
 estimated as perfectly free from water : 
 
 1. 
 
 2. 
 
 Sulphate of lime, - - - 
 Sulphate of magnesia, - - 
 
 36.755 grains. 
 7.883^ " 
 
 3. 
 
 Sulphate of soda, - - - 
 
 9.682 
 
 u 
 
 4. 
 
 Carbonate of lime, - - - 
 
 4.445 
 
 a 
 
 5. 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia, 
 
 1.434 
 
 u 
 
 6. 
 
 Chloride of magnesium, 
 
 0.116 
 
 a 
 
 7. 
 
 ' Chloride of sodium, - - 
 
 0.683 
 
 (C 
 
 8. 
 
 Chloride of calcium, - - 
 
 0.025 
 
 u 
 
 9. 
 
 Peroxide of iron, from proto- 
 
 
 
 10. 
 
 suiphate, ----- 
 An azotized organic matter, 
 
 0.042 
 
 a 
 
 
 blended with sulphur, about 
 
 4 
 
 a 
 
 11. 
 12. 
 
 Earthy phosphates, - - 
 Iodine. 
 
 a trace. 
 
 
122 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Volume of each of the gases contained in a free stale 
 in 100 cubic inch; - : 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, 1.10 to 1.50 cubic Inches. 
 
 Nitrogen, 2.05 . " 
 
 Oxygen, - . - - - - 1 0.27 " 
 
 Carbonic acid, 5.75 " 
 
 The above analysis applies to the Iodine, or New 
 Spring, as well as to the Upper, or Old Spring, as the 
 following extract of a letter, from Professor Kodgers to 
 the proprietors, will show : 
 
 "I enclose you a list of the ingredients in the Salt 
 sulphur water, which applies to the New as well as to the 
 
 Old Spring, the former having rather a smaller amount 
 
 of saline matter in general, though in some ingredients 
 surpassing the other. It lias been very minutely ana- 
 lyzed, and is the first of all the waters in which I was 
 enabled to detect traces of iodine, which it contains in 
 larger amount than the Old Spring, -and, indeed, than 
 most of the other waters in which I have been so fortu- 
 nate as to discover this material." 
 
 The Iodine, or New Sj^rlng, was accidentally discov- 
 ered by the proprietors in 1838, while engaged in opening 
 a drain for the water of the " Salt," and was immediately 
 deepened and enclosed in a marble reservoir, and covered 
 by an appropriate building. Owing to a large deposit of 
 sulphur in combination with some peculiar organic matter, 
 which floats as a pellicle upon the surface of the spring, 
 this water is less limpid than that of the " Salt." Under 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 123 
 
 an intense heat of the sun, it occasionally deposits a beau- 
 tiful pink« sediment upon the bottom and sides of the 
 reservoir. In taste and smell, it much resembles the 
 water of the other springs, but being ten degrees warmer, 
 is less palatable to some persons. Its temperature varies 
 from 62° to 68° Fah. 
 
 The presence of a larger quantity of iodine in this 
 pring, points it out as a superior agent in many affec- 
 tions for which iodine is successfully employed, par- 
 ticularly in scrofula, goitre, and some diseases of the 
 kin. 
 
 The Upper, or Old Spring, was discovered in 1803, 
 y Alexander Hutcherson, Esq., who was searching for 
 alt water on Indian Creek. It soon came into high 
 eputation as a mineral water, and was the annual resort 
 f a large company. T&e house now occupied as a hotel, 
 nd several of the old cabins, were erected at that early 
 lay. The water of this spring is now almost exclusively 
 ised for the baths : the opening of the Salt Sulphur 
 proper, whose waters are more strongly marked, having 
 n a great degree superseded it as a drink. 
 
 The water of the Salt Sulphur possesses all the sen- 
 ible properties of the sulphur waters in general. u Its 
 >dor, for instance, is very like that of a i tolerable egg/ 
 nd may, in certain states of the atmosphere, be per- 
 ceived at some distance from the spring, and in taste it 
 \ cousin-german to a strong solution of Epsom salts and 
 nagnesia. In a short time, however, strange to say, 
 hese disagreeable properties are either not observed, or 
 ecome, on the other hand, attractive; indeed, there is 
 
124 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 hardly an instance of an individual's retaining his origi- 
 nal repugnance to them longer than three or four days, 
 and some there are who become so excessively fond ot 
 the water as to give it the preference over any other liquid. 
 Like most of the sulphurous, this water is perfectly 
 transparent, and deposits a whitish sediment, composed 
 of its various saline ingredients, mingled with sulphur. 
 It is also for the most part placid; occasionally, however, 
 it is disturbed by a bubble of gas, which steals slowly to 
 the surface, where it either explodes with a timid and 
 dimpling smack, or is eagerly caught up by some care- 
 worn and almost world-weary invalid as a gem from the 
 treasury of Hygeia I M 
 
 AW are indebted to Dr. Mutter's pamphlet on the 
 Salt Sulphur for many of our facts in relation to this 
 interesting establishment, and shall still further avail 
 ourselves of it in noticing the various diseases to which 
 these waters arc applicable. 
 
 Diseases to which the Salt Sulphur is 
 applicable.* 
 
 The Salt Sulphur, like almost all the sulphurous 
 waters, being a stimulant, should consequently not be 
 employed in acute or highly inflammatory affections; 
 nor in those in which there exists much active determi- 
 nation of blood to the head, or at least not until this 
 determination has been guarded against by previous 
 
 *Dr. Thomas D. Mutter. 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 125 
 
 diet, purgation, and, if necessary, blood-letting. But in 
 all chronic affections of the brain, nervo'us system, some 
 diseases of the lungs, stomach, bowels, liver, spleen, hid- 
 neys and bladder, it is one of the most valuable of our 
 remedial agents. In diseases of the joints (gout and 
 rheumatism) and skin ; in mercurial sequelae ; in hem- 
 orrhoidal affections; and in chronic diseases of the 
 womb, it is also a remedy of immense importance. 
 
 1. Of Chronic Diseases of the Brain. — In no class 
 of diseases, probably, is there required more caution in 
 the exhibition of a mineral water, and especially of one 
 which under ordinary circumstances excites the system 
 at large. Many persons, on this acsount, have prohib- 
 ited its use; but experience, the only sure guide, has 
 shown that many a case of chronic head-ache, incipient 
 mania, and local palsy, dependent upon congestion or 
 chronie inflammation of the brain, will yield to the 
 steady use of a cathartic mineral water, when almost 
 
 very other agent has failed. For such cases the Salt 
 Sulphur seems peculiarly adapted, but it must be used 
 
 yith caution, and assisted, if necessary, by local deple- 
 
 ion, counter irritation, and diet. 
 
 2. Neuralgia. — It is well known to the profession, 
 Ithat neuralgic affections are often dependent upon a 
 pleranged condition of the chylopoietic viscera. The 
 aabitually costive, or those who have suffered from 
 Repeated attacks of miasmatic diseases, and the dyspeptic, 
 are generally most liable to attacks of neuralgia. In 
 
J2(i MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 such cases I have known the Salt Sulphur prove highly 
 beneficial. 
 
 3. Nervous Diseases. — The various affections termed 
 nervous, such as hypochondria, hysteria, catalepsy, 
 chorea, &c, are also frequently dependent upon dis- 
 order of the digestive apparatus, and resist all our 
 remedies for months or years. In such cases a trip to a 
 mineral spring is generally recommended, not so much 
 for the waters, probably, as for the change of air, scene, 
 mode of life, &<*., which it entails. Making all due 
 allowances for the beneficial action of the last named 
 agents, I am confident that the steady cathartic action of 
 the water is of infinite benefit. Two cases of chorea 
 and one of hysteria I saw completely relieved in the 
 course of six weeks, by the use of the Salt sulphur 
 water. 
 
 4. Chronic Diseases of Chest. — Diseases of the 
 thoracic viscera are unfortunately too common in our 
 country, and hence we find crowds of their unfortunate 
 victims at nearly every watering place, seeking, and too 
 often but vainly, some relief from their distressing con- 
 dition. In some cases — those, for example, in which the 
 irritation is dependent upon the retrocession of some 
 habitual discharge, and those too in which the skin is 
 dry and cool, and the indication is to produce a revulsion 
 to the surface by directing the fluids from the centre to 
 the circumference, which will also facilitate expectora- 
 tion — the cautious administration of the Salt sulphur 
 
water will be useful. In those cases also in which the 
 cough is sympathetic or dependent upon some lesion of 
 the chylopoietic viscera, it may be employed. But in 
 every instance where it can be traced to an organic affec- 
 tion of the heart or large blood vessels, and if there be 
 fever, emaciation, tubercles with cavities in the lung, 
 haemoptysis or diarrhoea, the death of the patient will 
 be hastened by the employment of a stimulant so active 
 as the Salt Sulphur. For pulmonary cases the Salt Sul- ' 
 phur offers the advantages of an agreeable temperature, 
 and a dryness of atmosphere not possessed by the other 
 springs in the mountains of Virginia. During the sea- 
 son, which continues from the first of June to the middle 
 of September, the thermometer ranges from 70° to 85° 
 Fahrenheit, and there is little or no fog in the morning. 
 
 5. Chronic Diseases of the Abdominal Vis- 
 cera. — In making an estimate of the cases of disease 
 one meets with at a watering place, it will not, I think, 
 be going too far to say, that two-thirds at least are 
 referable to some affection of the abdominal viscera. 
 Hepatitis, jaundice, splenitis, gastritis, gastralgia, pyrosis, 
 dyspepsia, enteritis, diarrhoea, &c, are encountered at 
 every turn. 
 
 * In Hepatic affections, or those commonly called Bil- 
 ious, the Salt sulphur water is, without doubt, one of the 
 most powerful and efficient remedies we possess. When 
 taken in a proper manner, its sanative influence is 
 speedily manifested by a change in the biliary secretion. 
 
Constipation, the usual attendant upon such cases, is 
 relieved, the sallowness of the skin disappears, and in 
 the course of a few weeks a complete and radical cure is 
 often accomplished. 
 
 Chronic Splenitis, one of the most common, and at 
 the same time one of the most obstinate of the sequelae 
 of the fevers of the South, I have known frequently re- 
 lieved by the use of this water, as well as by that of the 
 White Sulphur. 
 
 Chronic Gastric Irritation, it is well known, is often 
 relieved by the administration of an agent calculated to 
 set up a new action in the mucous coat, and those cases 
 of dyspepsia which depend upon such a condition of the 
 stomach are often relieved by the use of a sulphur water. 
 A number of such are annually met with at the Salt 
 Sulphur, many of which leave the spring perfectly cured. 
 
 Gastralgia, or Nervous Dyspepsia, is also occasionally 
 met with, and may depend upon a variety of causes. 
 When it is purely a functional disease, unaccompanied 
 by organic \ lesion, a sulphur water, along with sulphur 
 baths, will sometimes produce a very happy effect. 
 
 Pyrosis, or Water Brash, is another disease in which, 
 the Salt Sulphur proves pre-eminently useful. I have 
 known cases in which a pint or more of a secretion so 
 acid as to set the teeth on edge, was daily thrown up, 
 radically cured, by the use of this water, in the course 
 
of six or eight weeks. — (Mr. F., of Princeton, is an ex- 
 ample of this.) 
 
 When Dyspepsia is known to be dependent upon scir- 
 rhous or cancer of the stomach, I would strenuously 
 advise the patient to abstain from the use of the Salt 
 Sulphur, and indeed from that of any mineral water. 
 
 Mrs. C , of North Corolina, was, I am convinced, 
 
 destroyed by it. 
 
 Chronic Irritation of the Bowels, giving rise to chronic 
 diarrhoea or dysentery, upon the principle of a new action 
 being set up, are frequently cured by the use of the Salt 
 sulphur. I wish this statement to be borne in mind, for 
 it is usual to decry the use of a sulphur water in such 
 cases ; but the experience of those who have paid atten- 
 tion to the subject, will bear me out in the assertion. 
 Mr. T., of Philadelphia, who for three years labored 
 under chronic diarrhoea, and who was supposed to have 
 ulceration of the mucous membrane of the bowels, was 
 radically cured by a few weeks use of the water. 
 
 Constipation. — Habitual costiveness is another affec- 
 tion for which the Salt sulphur water is an excellent 
 remedy. 
 
 Haemorrhoids. — The use of laxatives in piles is a treat- 
 ment so long in use that nothing need be said in its favor, 
 but the sulphur waters operate much more beneficially 
 than any other agent, inasmuch as in nearly every case of 
 
chronic piles we find the liver more or less affected. This 
 fact, first observed by Armstrong, is so universally admit- 
 ted, that I shall not stop to say any thing towards its fur- 
 ther substantiation. 
 
 7. Chronic Diseases of the Urinary Organs. — 
 From the fact that nearly all mineral waters, either from 
 the quantity usually taken, or from some peculiarity of 
 their ingredients, prove diuretic, they have always been 
 favorite remedies in diseases of the urinary organs. 
 Those which contain an excess of alkaline ingredients, 
 have, without doubt, proved remarkably serviceable in 
 cases of acid calculous diathesis, but it must be confessed 
 that as a general rule, and always where the stone is 
 large, they prove but a doubtful remedy. In the incip- 
 ient stages of calculous disease, however, and those espe- 
 cially in which the formation of stone is dependent upon 
 some disease of the digestive apparatus, the sulphur wa- 
 ters are often useful. Many such cases have been bene- 
 fited at the Salt Sulphur. When this water fails to 
 accomplish the desired object, I have seen that of the 
 Sweet Spring "productive of much good. 
 
 Although this water may be considered as a somewhat 
 doubtful remedy in calculous diseases of any duration, it 
 must be allowed to possess astonishing sanative properties 
 in chronic irritation of the mucous membrane of the 
 kidneys, bladder, prostate gland, and urethra. Many 
 cases of chronic nephritis, vesical catarrh, prostatic irri- 
 tation and gleet, are annually cured by its employment. 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 131 
 
 8. Chronic Diseases of the Genitals. — Like all 
 sulphur waters, those of the Salt Sulphur are often very 
 useful in obstinate cases of general or local debility, the 
 result of previous excessive indulgence. They are also 
 remarkably beneficial in atonic leucorrhcea, amenorrhea, 
 and dysmenorrhea ; but when either of these complaints 
 is dependent upon local or general plethora, the use of 
 the water must be preceded by depletion, either local or 
 general ', according to circumstances. 
 
 9. Chronic Eheumatism and Gout. — The diseases 
 most frequently met with, after those of the digestive 
 organs, at our different watering places, are rheumatism 
 and gout. In all such, the alterative influence of a sul- 
 phur water is invariably, I believe, more or less useful ; 
 but to receive full benefit from its use, the warm or hot 
 mineral bath should be resorted to, and the diet, clothing 
 and exercise properly regulated. With many others, I 
 cheerfully acknowledge the immense benefit derived from 
 the use of Salt sulphur. 
 
 10. Mercurial Eheumatism, Periostitis and In- 
 flammation of the Bones, are also very much relieved 
 (in most cases) by the use of the Salt sulphur. Along 
 with the water, it will be well to use the hot baths. 
 
 11. Chronic Diseases of the Skin. — When judi- 
 ciously administered, no remedy is productive of more 
 permanent benefit in all cutaneous affections, than the 
 sulphur waters ; but unfortunately they are but too often 
 
132 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 abused. They are only suitable when the eruptions are 
 of long duration, and unaccompanied by inflammation. 
 Used in the acute stages, they aggravate the symptoms. 
 It is always proper, moreover, to employ the warm or hot 
 baths, during the use of the water. The Salt sulphur is 
 often eminently successful in relieving cases of this kind. 
 
 We insert the certificates of several persons, going to 
 shew the medicinal efficacy of the Salt Sulphur waters. 
 Those from Baron Burnaby and Mr. Polk are particu- 
 larly interesting and instructive. We find these certifi- 
 cates in Dr. Mutter's pamphlet, from which we have 
 already so freely quoted. 
 
 Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 13, 1838. 
 Messrs. Er shine & Caruthers : 
 
 Gentlemen — Having been greatly benefited by drink- 
 ing of your valuable spring, I deem it a duty to my 
 fellow-beings, to leave this statement of my case in your 
 hands. 
 
 For six months previous to my coming here, I had 
 been suffering with a most obstinate constipation of the 
 bowels, which I had tried in vain to remove by medicine, 
 diet and exercise, and during that time I could not obtain 
 a stool without the aid of an injection, and great pain 
 attending it. After being here ten clays, the Salt sul- 
 phur water began to act freely on my bowels, and now, 
 at the expiration of a month, I am glad to inform you 
 that the constipation is entirely removed, and my health 
 and strength restored. I am now going home in cheerful 
 spirits to my friends. Yours, truly, 
 
 GEO. A. BUTT, New York. 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 133 
 
 Staunton, March, 1822. 
 Some years since, I was afflicted with an obstinate and 
 dangerous disease, from which I was unable to obtain 
 relief, until I visited the Salt Sulphur Spring, near Union, 
 in the county of Monroe. The use of that water restored 
 me to perfect health — which makes it my duty to state, 
 at the request of the proprietors, the high opinion I have 
 formed of its medicinal efficacy. I consider the Salt sul- 
 phur water eminently useful in all cases that require ca- 
 thartic remedies, particularly such diseases of the liver 
 and stomach as proceed from biliary obstructions. The 
 operation upon the bowels is active, but not violent — 
 cleansing effectually the alimentary canal, and promoting 
 digestion in a remarkable degree. The cathartic tendency 
 of the water is so mild and certain, that the stomach and 
 bowels are never oppressed or irritated, and whilst the 
 healthy functions of the system are enabled to take their 
 course, the suspended causes of disease are gradually 
 worn away. 
 
 BRISCOE G. BALDWIN. 
 
 Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 31st, 1836. 
 Messrs. Ershine & Caruthers : 
 
 Gentlemen — Intending to leave your excellent and 
 perfectly arranged establishment to-morrow, on my return 
 home, I cannot, however, do so without expressing my 
 thanks to you for your politeness and attention to myself, 
 (and I observed the same attention to others) during my 
 stay at the Salt Sulphur; and I have much pleasure in 
 saying that the use of the Salt Sulphur Spring water has 
 been eminently beneficial to me ; for, prior to my coming 
 here, I had been suffering for upwards of eighteen months 
 from a total derangement of stomach from a long resi- 
 dence in a warm climate, (Bermuda,) say, bad bile, great 
 
134 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 acidity of stomach, and an overflow of mucus to the 
 lungs ) in short, I had dyspepsia, with all its disagreea- 
 bles, accompanied with debility of body. Having tried 
 the White sulphur water for ten days without benefit, I 
 came here, and in a week I found relief from all my 
 complaints ; but my medical adviser, who practised at the 
 White, recommended me to try the Red Sulphur, not- 
 withstanding my having written to him of my improved 
 state — my pulse, for one thing, being reduced from 80 to 
 73 beats. I went to the Red and stayed there eight days ; 
 my pulse rose on the third day to 82, the fifth day to 89, 
 the sixth day to 96 and 100 ; I was obliged to be leeched, 
 which reduced my pulse to 84 ; I had there headaches 
 and great dryness of tongue \ so on the ninth day, in the 
 morning, I returned to the Salt, where, on the fourth day 
 my pulse was again at 73, on the sixth day at 71 beats, 
 and has continued from that day to this, varying from 71 
 to 72, night and morning. I always counted my pulse 
 *in led, when quiet, before drinking the water, for after 
 drinking the spring water, my pulse latterly came down 
 to 68 beats. I was attentive to my diet, taking only 
 stale bread or dry toast with scarcely any butter, two cups 
 of tea with milk (no cream) for breakfast; dinner was 
 mutton, (iio gravy j) with rice and stale bread, no other 
 vegetable — sometimes I took roast fowl, but no pudding 
 or pies; at tea time, I took one cup of tea and stale 
 bread, no butter, I found grease so bad for me. The 
 quantity of water taken by me was two half-pint tum- 
 blers at half past 5 o' clock in the morning, in bed, one 
 tumbler at 12 o' clock, sometimes one at 5 o' clock, and 
 when in bed at night I took one more tumbler of the 
 water ; but if I wished to perspire a little more freely, I 
 took two tumblers of it. I found the water determine 
 gently to the bowels, rather than to the kidneys ; what I 
 took produced a full movement of the bowels. Before 
 breakfast I walked a quarter of an hour ; between break- 
 fast and dinner I walked about five miles, often going to 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 135 
 
 Tnron ; between dinner and bed-time I think I walked 
 bout two miles more : I used to calculate about seven 
 riles a day. For one hour after dinner I remained quiet 
 1 my room. I ate fruit once, and it gave me such a 
 isson I never tried it again. I am thus particular ; for 
 ; may be of benefit to some one else next year ; and you 
 re quite welcome to show this letter if you wish it. 
 
 Wishing you your healths, not forgetting Mrs. Er- 
 Idne, I remain, gentlemen, your obedient servant, 
 
 W. H. BUBNABY, Baronet. 
 
 Salt Sulphur Springs, Sept. 22d, 1839. 
 $ess?*s. Urskine & Caruthers : 
 
 I have been affected for five or six years with an obsti- 
 ate disease of the liver, and dyspepsia, and have visited 
 early all the springs in the mountains without having 
 xperienced any material benefit, until I came to this 
 lace. I have applied to some of the best physicians 
 ithout being relieved, but am happy to state, that the 
 alt sulphur water has had a most beneficial effect in 
 smoving many of the inconveniences attending my dis- 
 ase, insomuch that I am induced to carry a portion of it 
 ome with me. 
 
 Yours, most respectfully, 
 
 JOSEPH E. GABEATT. 
 
 P. S.- — I am a resident of Knoxville, Frederick county, 
 laryland. J. E. Gr. 
 
 Wilmington, Delaware, Aug. 31st, 1846. 
 Calling at the Salt Sulphur Springs this summer, on 
 ay way to the Bed Sulphur, where I had received great 
 >enefit last season, I was induced by a friend to stop a 
 
day or two and try the effect of the water. After Say- 
 ing a day or two, I was so much pleased that I deter- 
 mined to stay longer; and being more and more pleased 
 with the water, I declined my visit to the Red, and 
 staid here three weeks. My pulse, ranging when I ar- 
 rived at from 70 to 72, was reduced, in two or three days, 
 to from 59 to 63, where it remained so long as I staid. 
 I always felt my pulse before getting up in the morning. 
 My disease is one of the lungs. I have had six haem- 
 orrhages, and been severely threatened with pulmonary 
 consumption. I spent the last three winters in Florida, 
 and about a fmonth last summer at the Red, and I can 
 say, without hesitation, that I have never received so 
 much benefit any where. I found the water much more 
 active than any I had before tried, and at the same time 
 very gentle and soothing in its operations. It excited me 
 very little, if any, and reduced my pulse several beats 
 lower than it was reduced by the Red last summer. I 
 used the Iodine spring altogether. 
 
 ROBERT POLK. 
 
 Richmond, May 20th, 1840. 
 Messrs. Er shine & Caruthers : 
 
 Gentlemen : — It is with great pleasure that I answer 
 your enquiry. I consider the Salt Sulphur Spring one 
 of the most valuable of the sulphur waters of Virginia. 
 I speak from my own experience,: an opinion formed 
 from several years use of those waters, during a pe- 
 riod of very ill health. I went first to the Springs by 
 the advice of an able physician, who recommended for 
 me the use of the Red Sulphur. On trial, I found the 
 Salt Sulphur much more salutary. I was laboring under 
 a highly excited state of pulse, which indicated low febrile 
 symptoms, with a pulse, ordinarily at about 90 to 100 
 beats to the minute, accompanied with much difficulty 
 
0-tt.ljA E>UJU.rXlU.K, i3JfJ^±l>UO. 
 
 breathing upon the slightest exercise. I was much 
 mefited by the use of the Salt Sulphur water, and I 
 ink I can safely say that any one similarly affected will 
 irive sensible benefit from its use. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 J. B. ABBOTT. 
 
 Salt Sulphur Springs, Aug. 10th, 1836. 
 left her house in a state of great debility, 
 
 Mrs. — 
 
 arcely able to walk, and was but little recruited by the 
 urney. She reached the Salt Sulphur on the 20th of 
 aly, haying stopped a week at the White Sulphur on 
 Le way, but without using the water. After remaining 
 Lree days at the Salt Sulphur and partaking of the waters 
 Lere, she proceeded to the Bed Sulphur and staid there 
 x days, returning on the 29th of July to the Salt, hav- 
 Lg, while at the Bed, used two or three tumblers of the 
 ater per diem — remained at the Salt Sulphur until the 
 
 th day of August. "When Mrs. arrived first at 
 
 le Salt Sulphur, she weighed 91, and was unable to 
 alk any distance, or use any degree of exercise, without 
 iffering greatly. 
 
 In thirteen days after her arrival at the Salt Sulphur, 
 as again weighed in the same scales, and had increased 
 > 95 pounds and a half, making a gain of four pounds 
 ad a half in weight, while the circumference of her 
 aist had been reduced nearly five inches. In the inte- 
 rn, her countenance and eyes had undergone an essen- 
 al change for the better, her spirits and'strength restored, 
 d as to take any ordinary exercise of riding or walking 
 ithout inconvenience. The quantity of water which 
 ae ordinarily took, was from three to four glasses per 
 iem, and she was careful in her^et, always avoiding all 
 r arm bread, and principally using bran bread, hominy, 
 mtton, &c, &c. 
 
The Salt Sulphur Iodine Spring has attracted 
 increased attention the last few years, and a recent analy- 
 sis of its waters by Dr. David Stuart, of Baltimore, 
 gives a sanction to medical anticipations as to its pecu- 
 liar virtues and appropriate applicability. The follow- 
 ing are the results of Dr. S.'s chemical investigations : 
 
 Iodine Spring. 
 
 One wine gallon of the water contains : 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, - 19.19 cubic inches. 
 Carbonic acid, - - 34.60 " " 
 
 Oxygen, - - - 00.62 " « 
 
 Nitrogen, - - - 04.73 " " 
 
 Total gaseous contents, 
 
 59.14 
 
 Solid contents of one 
 
 gallon : 
 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 20.00 grains 
 
 Sulphate of soda, 
 
 - 
 
 24.00 " 
 
 Carbonate of lime, 
 
 - 
 
 33.00 " 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 07.00 " 
 
 Chloride of magnesium, 
 
 - 
 
 00.28 " 
 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 
 - 
 
 01.28 " 
 
 Chloride of calcium, 
 
 - 
 
 00.56 " 
 
 Silicic acid, 
 
 - 
 
 01.76 « 
 
 Carbonate of potash, 
 
 - 
 
 02.33 " 
 
 Carbonate of soda, 
 
 '- 
 
 10.80 " 
 
 Sulphate of line, 
 
 - 
 
 68.00 " 
 
 Iodine, - 
 
 - 
 
 00.93 « 
 
 Bromine, 
 
 - 
 
 00.65 " 
 
 Sesqui-oxide of iron, 
 
 - 
 
 01.06 " 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 - 
 
 00.18 <* 
 
 Phosphate of soda aacl lithia, 
 
 00.73 « 
 
 Total solid contents, 
 
 172.48 
 
SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 139 
 
 Specific gravity, 1002.7 — reaction alkaline. Tempera- 
 ture 64.75 to 65.50 Fahrenheit. 
 
 This analysis presents this water as an interesting and 
 somewhat peculiar medical agent, differing in some re- 
 spects from any of the sulphur springs in this region. 
 
 The discovery of iodine in this water, some twelve 
 years ago, by Professor Eodgers, has led to its successful 
 use in various disorders for which that article is known 
 to be a reliable remedy. In addition to the diseases 
 already mentioned for which the Salt Sulphur proper is 
 advised, the Iodine Spring will be found especially ser- 
 viceable in the various glandular affections, mercurial 
 rheumatisms, secondary syphilis, enlargements of the 
 spleen, hepatic disease, mesenteric obstructions, and 
 chronic exanthemata. 
 
 The following interesting certificate illustrates the 
 value of this water in an obstinate affection of the skin : 
 
 Union,- Monroe County, Va., \ 
 15th December, 1845. } 
 During the summer of 1845 I was induced to try the 
 Iodine Spring, at the Salt Sulphur Springs, in Monroe, 
 for an obstinate and (as I then supposed) incurable erup- 
 tion on the skin of one of my children. The disease first 
 appeared, at the age of three weeks, in the shape of small 
 red spots upon the cheeks, succeeded very soon by little 
 watery pimples, which rose and broke continually, but 
 without healing. In a short time the affected parts in- 
 creased in size as well as quantity, until they extended from 
 the face to the head and neck, and thence over the entire 
 body — presenting one uniform and consolidated appearance 
 of disease over the whole surface. The neck, head, and 
 
face discharged matter from the scabs, and the legs from 
 the knee down. For fourteen months I kept the child 
 constantly under medical treatment, but without any per- 
 manent benefit, or any prospect of recovery, until, at the 
 
 instance of Dr. M. (who at the time was residing at 
 
 the Salt,) I was induced to make a trial of its waters. 
 He represented the disease as a constitutional affection of 
 the blood, which could not be relieved, and which ought 
 not to be arrested very suddenly, but assured me, very 
 confidently that it would yield to nothing with so much 
 certainty and success as to the external application of 
 the Iodine water at the Salt. The child was bathed twice 
 a day in the water made gently tepid, of which it drank 
 pretty copiously during the ceremony. About the fourth 
 day there was an evident change for the better, and the 
 child from that time continued to improve daily, until, at 
 the expiration of six weeks, the sores had healed, the scabs 
 had disappeared, the pimples and splotches had subsided, 
 and the skin, for the first time for more than fourteen 
 months, assumed a natural and healthy appearance. I 
 have no doubt by remaining a few weeks longer every 
 vestige of the eruption would have been removed. But 
 I consider the disease at this time as effectually con- 
 quered, and as having changed its type completely. In- 
 deed, the only indications ever visible are an occasional 
 roughness on the skin. As we used no medicine, except 
 occasionally some mild cathartic, I feel no hesitation in 
 ascribing all the results that I have stated to the effects 
 of the Iodine water. 
 
 WILLIAM Gt. CAPEETON. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 RED SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 The Eed Sulphur Springs are in the southern portion 
 of the county of Monroe, 42 miles south from the White 
 Sulphur. They are distant 17 miles from the Salt, 39 
 miles from the Sweet, and 32 miles from the Blue Sul- 
 phur. *The approach to the Springs is beautifully ro- 
 mantic and picturesque. Wending his way around a 
 high mountain, the weary traveller is for a moment 
 charmed out of his fatigue by the sudden view of his 
 resting-place, some hundreds of feet immediately beneath 
 him. Continuing the circuitous descent, he at length 
 reaches a ravine, which conducts him, after a few rugged 
 steps, to the entrance of a verdant glen, surrounded on 
 all sides by lofty mountains. The south end of this en- 
 chanting vale, which is the widest portion of it, is about 
 two hundred feet in width. Its course is nearly north 
 for about one hundred and fifty yards, when it begins 
 gradually to contract and changes its direction to the 
 north-west and west, until it terminates in a narrow point. 
 This beautifully secluded Tempe is the chosen site of the 
 village. The north-west portion is occupied by stables, 
 
 ♦Huntt. 
 
carriage houses, and shops ot various sorts; the southern 
 portion, just at the base of the east and west mountains, 
 is that upon which stand the various edifices for the ac- 
 commodation of visiters. These buildings are spacious 
 and conveniently arranged, while the promenades, which 
 are neatly enclosed by a white railing, are beautifully 
 embellished, and shaded from the mid-day sun by indi- 
 genes of the forest, the large, umbrageous sugar maple. 
 The spring is situated at the south-west point of the 
 valley, and the water is collected into two white marble 
 fountains, over which is thrown a substantial cover. 
 
 These springs have been known and distinguished as a 
 watering place for near fifty years. The improvements 
 at the place are extensive and well-designed, combining 
 elegance with comfort, and are sufficient for the accommo- 
 dation of 350 persons. 
 
 The water of the spring is clear and cool, its tempera- 
 ture being 54° Fahrenheit. 
 
 The following is Professor Rodgers' analysis of the 
 water of this spring : 
 
 " Gaseous contents in an imperial gallon : 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, 4.54 cubic inches. 
 Carbonic acid, - - 8.75 " 
 
 Nitrogen, 4-25 " 
 
 Solid contents of 32 cubic inches of water, gr. 1.25, 
 consisting of sulphate of soda, lime and magnesia, car- 
 bonate of lime and muriate of soda. 
 
 Besides these ingredients, the water contains, in con- 
 siderable quantity, a peculiar organic substance, which 
 
mingled with sulphur, is deposited on the sides of the 
 spring, and seems to increase by a species of organic 
 growth." 
 
 Mr. Augustus A. Hayes, of Roxbury, Massachusetts, 
 has also analyzed this water, and apparently with great 
 care and scientific skill. The following are the results of 
 his chemical examinations : 
 
 Kates' Analysis. 
 
 u This water is perfectly colorless and transparent ; 
 when agitated it has an agreeable sparkling appearance. 
 Its odor is that of hydro-sulphuric acid, mixed with that 
 from earth or clay; the latter being retained, after the 
 hydro-sulphuric acid is dissipated, or destroyed. Its taste 
 is hepatic and slightly bitter. By ebullition, it does not 
 immediately become turbid, gases escape, and when re- 
 duced in volume by evaporation, deposition takes place. 
 
 The specific gravity of this water, compared with pure 
 water at the same temperature, and pressure equal, is 
 100029. Subjected to the influence of chemical re-agents, 
 it presents the following characters : 
 
 With a solution of chromate of potash, the yellow 
 color becomes greenish yellow. 
 u solution of nitrate of mercury, a grayish- 
 brown precipitate is formed. 
 ci acetate of lead ; the first drops give a brown 
 colored precipitate ; an additional quantity of 
 a yellowish white precipitate. 
 
in, ,- HI ' 
 
 l'v a bulky greenish-gray precipitate, 
 
 11 sulphate <>i* silver, i brown, succeeded I 
 yellowish white and flocculenl precipil 
 
 k ' mnri ryta, i white precipitate, insolu- 
 
 ble in w 
 
 u oxalate of ammonia, a white precipitate. 
 
 u nitrate of silver and ammonia, white prtocipi- 
 • which becomes brown and purple in 
 sunlight. 
 
 11 nitrate of nd ammonia, a pale bluish- 
 
 ao precij itate i fi ra \kt first 
 
 few drops of the re-agent have separated, a 
 brown precipil 
 
 u tincture erf iodine, a. Mr.! to a large bulk of 
 ili« i water, oontaining Btarch dissolved in it, 
 iarti i a blue color to die starch. 
 
 Indications abov 1 afford evidence (rf bydro- 
 
 Bulphurie acid in the i ile the iodine solution 
 
 shows thai it exists in a relati nail proportion. A 
 
 bottle of the i !, a ( the momenl ot t taking 
 
 Jt from t! . with a small quantity of oxide of bis- 
 
 muth, and closely sealed. Aft. r the agitation due to car- 
 >veral w* ks, it was foimd thai the 
 particles of oxide of bismuth were Tendered brown su- 
 perficially, and no traces of hydro-sulphuric acid remained 
 in the water. The oxide contained carbonic acid, and less 
 than one-third of a grain of the oxide Uiel absorbed and 
 combined with all the hydro-sulphuric acid, contained in 
 
about iourteen thousand, grams or the recently drawn 
 water. By careful experiments, in which the hydro-sul- 
 phuric acid was measured by its action on iodine, and the 
 latter weighed in its silver compound, the bulk of the 
 hydro-sulphuric acid was ascertained. 
 
 50,000 grains (about seven pints) of the water, from 
 which the hydro-sulphuric acid had been removed, af- 
 forded by the usual processes 2698 grain measures of 
 gases, or one volume of gases from 18} volumes of water. 
 
 1000 parts of the mixed gases are made up of — 
 
 Carbonic acid gas, 
 Nitrogen gas, 
 Oxygen gas, 
 
 4.19 
 4.77 
 1.04 
 
 ■1.000 
 
 The two latter gases form the bulk of our atmosphere, 
 in the proportion of 79 nitrogen to 21 oxygen — 477 of 
 nitrogen requires 126 oxygen, while the analysis gives 
 1.04, showing that oxygen is abstracted by the constit- 
 uents of the water. All the well-corked bottles had rare- 
 fied atmospheres over the water, and when they were 
 pierced, even at 32° F., air would enter. 
 
 A well-scaled bottle, containing the hydro-sulphuric 
 acid gas in the water, afforded for 50,000 parts of water 
 8088 of mixed gases, or one volume of gases from less 
 than 17 volumes of water, consisting of — 
 
 Carbonic acid gas, - - 1245 
 Nitrogen gas, - - - 1497 
 Oxygen gas, ■ - 260 
 
 Hydro-sulphuric acid gas, - 86 
 
 — 3008 
 
the Red sulphur spring water : 
 
 
 Carbonic acid. 
 
 5.750 
 
 Nitrogen, - 
 
 6.91G 
 
 Oxygen, 
 
 1.201 
 
 Hydro-sulphuric acid, 
 
 0.397 
 
 14.264 
 
 In this analysis, the proportion of oxygen gas to tl: 
 nitrogen is still smaller — a result which accords wit 
 other observations made at the same time. The hydr< 
 sulphuric acid gas is the most active of the gases found 
 while the carbonic acid gas acts the part of an acid, i 
 rendering earthy salts soluble in the water. 
 
 50,000 grains (about seven pints) of this water a 
 forded by slow evaporation in air at 200° F., a light ye 
 lowish-brown matter, which, after it had been careful] 
 dried, weighed 20 56-100 grs. At the temperature < 
 240° F., this residue becomes changed, and suffers a lo: 
 of weight, being reduced to 17.55 grs. 
 
 This residue contains the saline part of the water, an 
 is composed of — 
 
 Silicious earthy matter, containing traces of ox- 
 ide of iron and alumina, probably sus- 
 pended merely, - - - - 0.70 
 Sulphate of soda in a dry state, - - 3.55 
 which forms with the water 802 grs, Glau- 
 ber's salts. 
 Sulphate of lime, .... 0.47 
 Carbonate of lime, - - - - 4.50 
 dissolved in carbonic acid^ 
 
dissolved in carbonic acid, and forming the 
 " fluid magnesia." 
 A peculiar substance, containing sulphur com- 
 bined with organic matter, - - 7.20 
 
 20.55 
 There are traces of chlorine, or muriatic acid, in some 
 specimens, but at most only 0.03 of chloride of silver 
 could be separated from 10,000 grs. of water. This sub- 
 stance is rarely absent from natural waters, which have 
 penetrated the earth. 
 
 The peculiar sulphur compound which forms a part of 
 the saline contents of this water, has never been de- 
 scribed, if it has ever before been met with. While in 
 the natural state, and out of contact with atmospheric 
 air, it is dissolved in the water, and forms a permanent 
 solution. Air, acids, and other agents, separate it from 
 the water, in the form of a jelly, and alkaline carbonates, 
 alkalies, water, and other agents re-dissolve it. It has 
 no acid action on test fluids, but bears that character with 
 bases, and forms compounds analogous to salts. In its 
 decomposition, ammonia is formed, and hydro-sulphuric 
 acid is liberated ; or if heat be employed in the experi- 
 ment, sulphur is separated. It combines with the oxide 
 of silver, and forms a salt of a reddish purple color, in 
 the form of a flocculent precipitate, which dissolves in 
 pure water ; with the oxide of lead, a yellowish white 
 powder; and with the oxyde of copper, a pale blue salt 
 in fine powder. In these compounds it remains unal- 
 
to other bae 
 
 Mixed ^vi tli a BmaU quantity of water, and exposed to 
 the temperature of S0° P., it decomposes, and emits a 
 most offensive odor of putrefying animal matter, with 
 hydro-sulphuric aeid gas. It is to this property that the 
 hydro-sulphuric acid in the water is due, and to the oxida- 
 tion of a part of this compound most of the sulphuric 
 avid found in the wafer may be referred. 
 
 I have endeavored to ascertain how its elements are 
 
 arranged, but so small a quantity has been separated, 
 
 that I could not insure the purity of any salt formed 
 
 with it. 1 44-100 grs. gave with oxide of copper S 42-100 
 
 !' a dry, bluish-green compound. 
 
 Wi fecimens of water, I received a small quan- 
 
 tify of a k -rc<\ deposit," which invests the surfaces of the 
 marble slabs forming the basin of the spring. It had bc- 
 ; . although the cork was tightly sealed. 
 When opened for examination, a soft, clay-colored mass, 
 composed of films having a greasy appearance, mixed 
 with some filamentous parts, was found. The odor it ex- 
 haled was insupportable j it blackened metals, and when 
 ted with water, rendered it viscid. With a solution 
 of c f soda it formed a frothy solution, which, 
 
 while cold, had the appearance of a solution of soap, and 
 when heated disengaged some ammoniacal vapors, and 
 formed a solution of all excepting some earthy and fila- 
 mentous parts. This substance contains the same com- 
 pound of sulphur and organic matter as that found 
 dissolved in the water of the spring. I separated from 
 
tie water the peculiar matter it contains, in the form of 
 films, and compared these with those obtained from a 
 soda solution of the altered " red deposit/ ' by the aid of 
 re-agents, and they proved to be identical. From the ex- 
 amination of this altered matter, I have formed the con- 
 clusion, that the red color of the matter which covers the 
 slabs is that of a moss or lichen, which finds its habitat 
 in the viscid covering produced by the deposition of the 
 sulphur compound. 
 
 My early attempts to illustrate this point failed. The 
 substance separated from the water, by uniting it to oxide 
 of copper, and afterwards destroying the union by hydro- 
 sulp. acid, would become, after a few days, covered with 
 vegetation of mosses, unlike those described as occurring 
 at the spring, I was led to the conclusion that the spores 
 or seeds of the peculiar " red inoss" did not exist in the 
 atmosphere of this place and must be found in the pro- 
 ducts of warmer climates. After several trials, I suc- 
 ceeded by treating rice, with a hot dilute solution of 
 carbonate of soda, in obtaining a red colored moss vege- 
 tation, which could be transferred to the decomposing 
 compound on which it flourished. In its union with 
 oxide of copper, no tendency to decay, or the production 
 of vegetation was observed, under the most favorable 
 circumstances ; but when, after separation, decomposition 
 and decay had progressed, vegetation appeared. I need . 
 not ask, if a substance possessing vitality, can be com- 
 bined with oxide of copper and afterwards eliminated 
 by hydro-sulp. acid and retain its vital powers ? 
 
where the water from the spring flows, was received. It 
 was a Mack, tenacious mud, exhaling an odor of hydro- 
 sulphuric acid, mixed with that from earth. The color 
 is due to the sulphuret of iron, formed by the action of 
 the hydro-sulphuric acid on the ferruginous matters con- 
 tained in the soil, which is a product of a further decom- 
 position of the sulphur compound contained in the water. 
 It forms brown colored solutions and imperfect salts; its 
 sulphur clement is retained j in other respects, it resem- 
 bles the brown extracts from soils, or the humus and 
 apocrenie acids of Berzelius. 
 
 Having studied the chemical characters of the sulphur 
 compound imperfectly, I give oidy those re-actions in the 
 following description, which will serve to show its want 
 of identity with any of the various substances which 
 have been found in thermal waters, and in some European 
 
 hepatic waters'. 
 
 Chemical character of the Sulphur C<>mj>'>iuul. 
 
 I. When separated from a solution by evaporation, or 
 by drying from a gelatinous state, it forms greasy films, 
 which do not darken solutions of lead or copper. 
 
 II. In pure water they slowly dissolve, and the solu- 
 tion gives salts of the compound, with the bases. 
 
 III. Solution of carbonate of soda dissolves them, and 
 a fluid results which froths by agitation. 
 
 IV. In caustic solutions of alkalies, the films dissolve, 
 and the solutions are slightly yellow colored. These so- 
 
blacken metals, nor color metallic solutions. Acids de- 
 compose the solutions, and the sulphur compound sepa- 
 rates in the form of a bulky jelly generally; some oxy- 
 acids giving flocks. 
 
 V. Nitric acid dissolves the films, and the salts of 
 baryta and lead do not indicate the presence of sulphuric 
 acid. On heating the acid solution, a yellow matter sep- 
 arates, which resembles that produced by acting on azo- 
 tized bodies by this agent ; sulphuric acid is thus pro- 
 duced, and the yellow precipitate requires a large propor- 
 tion of nitric acid for its complete oxidation. The result 
 of this action is an acid which gives a deep yellow color, 
 with ammonia in excess. 
 
 VI. Chlorine in muriatic acid separates from the sul- 
 phur compound some white flakes, which are finally ox- 
 ydized, and a colorless solution formed, in which sulphuric 
 acid exists. • 
 
 VII. Alcohol did not dissolve the compound. 
 
 Chemical experiments do not show the medicinal pro- 
 perties of the substances operated on. But when a sub- 
 stance, the result of delicately balanced affinities, gives in 
 its decomposition an agent of powerful action on the ani- 
 mal system, we may conclude that it is an active ingre- 
 dient, if found in a water possessed of high curative 
 powers. I am disposed, therefore, to consider the sulphur 
 compound in this water as the principal medicinal agent 
 contained in it; although its action in combination with 
 the other constituents may be necessary to produce the 
 effects for which this water is so justly celebrated. 
 
oi uiis waicr : 
 Gaaeoas contents of a gallon, or 231 cubic inches of 
 
 the Bed Bulphur spring water — 
 
 Carbonic arid, - - . 5.750 
 
 Nitrogen, .... 8.916 
 
 Oxyj - - - - L201 
 
 Hydro-sulphuric acid, - - 0.307 
 
 14.264 
 
 wii pints I of this water contain 
 dissolved i grain measure,) — 
 
 Carbonic acid, - - 1245 water 
 Nitrogen, - - - 1497 
 Oxygen, - - - 260 
 
 Hydro-gulp, acid, - - 86 
 
 
 rain measures of gases. 
 
 50,000 gre. of this wafer afford of— 
 
 
 Silicions and earthy matter, 
 
 0.70 
 
 Sulphate of soda, - 
 
 3.55 
 
 Sulphate of lime, - 
 
 47 
 
 Carbonate of lime, - 
 
 4.50 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia, 
 
 4.13 
 
 Sulphur compound, 
 
 7.20 
 
 Carbonic acid, ... 
 
 2.71 
 
 23.2G 
 
i\ote. — xne caroonic acia wnicn is given witn tn 
 saline matter, being all which the water contains, ir 
 eludes that which is given off as gas by ebullition. 
 
 AUGUSTUS A. HAYES. 
 
 Roxbury Laboratory, Jan. 14, 1842. " 
 
 The peculiar and distinguishing reputation of thi 
 water, as a medicinal agent, is for diseases of the thoraci 
 viscera, and by some it has been considered remedial i 
 confirmed tubercular consumption. Without affirmin 
 or controverting this high claim for the water as 
 remedy in confirmed consumption, our observations fc 
 many years enable us to award to it decided efficacy i 
 many cases of irritation of the pulmonary organs. I 
 sympathetic or translated affections of the lungs, whethe 
 that state be occasioned from disease of the digestive c 
 chylopoietic viscera, or be dependent upon the retroce* 
 sion of some habitual discharge, the water deserves to lb 
 regarded as a valuable remedy. 
 
 "A distinguished physician of South Carolina, wh 
 passed the summers of 1822— '3, and part of '24, at th 
 Red Sulphur Spring," after giving a detailed report c 
 three cases of pulmonary irritation connected with ha 
 mopotysis that were cured by the use of this water, unde 
 his own observation, makes the following judicious an 
 sensible observations in reference to its powers in sue 
 cases : " I do not wish to be understood as stating tha 
 the water of the Red Sulphur will cure confirmed phthisis 
 or tuberculous consumption ; but I believe we are ver 
 often mistaken in supposing a case of pulmonary irrritatio 
 
licve that in most oases, if this Spring is retorted to 
 
 early, end the clothing and diet and exercise duly at- 
 
 tended to, its waters will be found a most powerful 
 adjunct, and assistant in the management of these hith- 
 erto unmanageable oases/' 
 
 The late Dr. R, 11. Bradford, who praotioed medicine 
 
 for many years at the Red Sulphur, remarks : :;; " The 
 in eifect of this water reducing the frequency of the pulse, 
 
 i< one of the numerous singular and powerful properties 
 
 belonging to it. It lessens arterial action to such a de- 
 t hat it seldom fails to remove fever, difficulty of 
 
 breathing, and pain in the chest. When the patient is 
 
 restricted to a proper regimen, this water may be taken 
 with greater advantage in all pulmonary cases than any 
 (•ther remedy 1 have e\er seen employed for that 
 purpo 
 
 The late Dr. lluntt, of Washington City, spent a por- 
 tion of the summer of 1837 ;it the lied Sulphur, for the 
 
 relief of a pulmonary affection, with which he was at- 
 tacked early in the spring of the sanm year. He pub- 
 lished a pamphlet on the nature and use of the Red 
 Sulphur water, in which he gives the following report 
 of his own case : — 
 
 "In March, l v ^7, I was attacked with a slight hem- 
 orrhage from the lungs, attended with other symptoms 
 indicating a diseased state of those important organs. 
 For a time I neglected to resort to medical treatment, 
 
 >Pr. Huntt's pamphlet. 
 
and continued to pursue my professional labors unti 
 warned by my failing strength that the disease was gain 
 ing ground. By the application of the usual remediei 
 the violence of the symptoms was soon subdued, and ii 
 a short time I felt myself sufficiently restored to resunn 
 my usual labors; but, with the exercise my wonte( 
 strength did not return ; the cough continued, with occa 
 sional pain in the chest, and an uneasy sensation of ful 
 ness about the liver, stomach, and spleen. These symp 
 toms, after a time, were attended with increased cough 
 copious, morbid expectoration, hectic chills, fever an( 
 night sweats'; my weight was reduced from 135 to Hi 
 pounds. 
 
 " Such was my situation, when, about the middle o 
 July, I left home for the Red Sulphur Spring, in Vii 
 ginia. 
 
 u On the evening of my arrival at the Spring, I com 
 menced the use of its water. The next day, during 
 violent paroxysm of coughing, a coagulum of blood wa 
 discharged from the lungs, which was followed by consid 
 erable haemorrhage. After this, the cough became les 
 troublesome, but the evening exacerbations of fever, an* 
 the night sweats continued, my pulse beating a hundre< 
 and fifteen strokes in a minute. I confined myself to 
 low diet, and drank six glasses of the water durin 
 the day, namely, two before breakfast, one at 11, A. M 
 one at 5, P. M., and two at bed time. The water actc 
 freely on the bowels, and particularly on the secretions c 
 the liver. In ten days, the abdominal viscera were er 
 tirely relieved, the pulse reduced to seventy-eight, an 
 
the fever and night sweats had ceased. J ho quantify of 
 water was now Increased to twelve glasses during the day, 
 taken at the same hours, but in double doses. It acted 
 very gently on the bowels and skin, but most powerfully 
 as a diuretic. Thus it appears that in small quan- 
 tities the water acted freely on the bowels, and but 
 little on the kidneys, while in larger quantities it acted 
 
 freely On the latter and scarcely affected the former. In 
 fact, 1 could direct its action to the one or die other, at 
 
 are, by increasing or diminishing the quantity. My 
 cough became bul my strength still continued 
 
 feeble, owing to my extremely low diet, and the copious 
 action of the water. Unfortunately, I took but little ex- 
 ercise, which I deem all-important while using the 
 watei 
 
 "After a residence of three weeks at the Spring, and 
 the constant U8e Of the water during that dine, to the 
 manifest alleviation of the mosl pr< - iptoms of 
 
 my complaint, I was uu ly called home, in con- 
 
 ace of the illness of a member of my Family. In 
 the commencement of my homeward journey, my weak 
 Mate compelled me to make \ cry short stages; but us 
 soon as I had crossed the mountains, and resumed my 
 usual mode of diet, my appetite and strength returned 
 rapidly, and I completed the distance of three hundred 
 and six miles in live days, without feeling the slightest 
 inconvenience. The water seemed to produce its good 
 effects in the improvement of my health for months after 
 I had left the Spring/' 
 
Dr. Huntfc remarks, that u On examining the visiters 
 laboring under pulmonary disease, I observed that all 
 those patients who drank the water so as to act freely on 
 the bowels, for any length of time, did not improve in 
 their health, because active purging is not proper for the 
 lungs in this disease. The water must be drunk in such 
 quantities as to act freely on the kidneys. There seems 
 to be an intimate association between the lungs and the 
 kidneys, and the kidneys seem to be the great emuncto- 
 ries by which the lungs are relieved in all pulmonary 
 diseases. This idea has been repeatedly suggested to me 
 in my attendance on patients laboring under this disease. 
 On inquiring into their condition, they have frequently 
 said, <I feel much better to-day; I have had a most 
 copious flow of urine, which has afforded me great relief/ 
 This view of the connexion between the lungs and kid- 
 neys has been confirmed by witnessing the diuretic effects 
 of the Red sulphur water in pulmonary diseases. I have 
 a friend, who is a physician, and who has labored, more 
 or less, under pulmonary disease for twenty years. He 
 informed me that, whenever his lungs were disturbed by 
 irritation, he always resorted to i cooling diuretic medi- 
 cines for relief/ 
 
 " There were but few persons laboring under the third 
 or last stage of tuberculous disease, who visited the Red 
 Sulphur this season, and among those few, there was 
 scarcely a case that derived any advantage from the use 
 of the water. When tuberculous disease arrives at this 
 stage, and the constitution is broken down, it is not only 
 useless but cruel to send the patient to the Red Sulphur, 
 
condition, by my advice, visited the Bed Sulphur this 
 season, ami I witnessed the bad effeeta of the water in 
 their eases, as weB as in the oases of others of a similar 
 
 character. They were laboring under that peculiar irri- 
 tation, and perhaps ulceration of the bowels, so common 
 in this Btage of the disease. Thej were unable to drink 
 but a small (jiiantity of the water, and the consequence 
 that the bowels Were purged and griped, the secre- 
 tion of the kidneys was not increased, and the patient 
 grew worse daily." 
 
 "The lied Sulphur has been considered peculiarly 
 adapted to the cure of pulmonary diseases, and it is true 
 that it has a most beneficial iniluenec in most cases of 
 
 this disease ; but its good effects equally extend to all 
 
 3 of Md^acuto inflammation, whether seated in the 
 
 Btomach, liver, spleen, intestines, kidneys bladder, and 
 
 most particularly in the mucous membrane.' 7 
 
 It is also used with good effects in chronic bowel com- 
 plaint.-, lcucorrlnea, elect, catarrh of the bladder, and in 
 
 some forms of uterine derangement. 
 
 "Many persons arrive at the Red Sulphur, who are 
 not prepared to use the water, in consequence of high in- 
 flammation, or congestion of the lungs, or other organs, 
 attended with pain in the side, constriction at the breast, 
 or hot and restless nights, with a quick, sharp pulse; all 
 sueli cases must have the vascular excitement subdued 
 before the water can be taken with any advantage." 
 
 Dr. Iluntt gives the following directions for the use of 
 the water : 
 
 
••j.1 wit; system snuuiu. uu tuu jjieiDunc, ur too mucn 
 excited, the use of the water should be postponed until 
 the excitement shall be reduced to a proper state. Com- 
 mence by taking one glass of water at bed-time, and one 
 before breakfast ; after a few days, take two glasses at 
 bed-time, and two before breakfast, one at 11 o' clock, A. 
 M., and one at 5, P. M. ; this quantity will generally 
 operate freely on the bowels ; if it should fail to produce 
 this effect, a little common salt, magnesia, or cream of 
 tartar may be added. If it is desired to act on the kid- 
 neys, increase the quantity of water to three or four 
 glasses between a light supper and bed-time, and the 
 same quantity between day-light in the morning and 
 breakfast-time, two glasses at noon, and one or two glasses 
 about 5 o'clock, P. M., taking care to exercise freely 
 after drinking. The most proper periods for using the 
 water are, at night before bed-time, and in the morning 
 before breakfast time." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 B L D E S r L r II B 9 P B I N Q . 
 
 Tnrs S; ituated in Greenbrier County, thirteen 
 
 miles i'rcm Lewisburg, twenty-three from the White Sul- 
 phur Springs, and thirty-two from the Red Sulphur, on 
 rent thoroughfare leading to Guyandot 
 The knowledge of this Spring dates far back into the 
 rarly history of Western Virginia. It was first known 
 lick, and the vicinity of the Sewel Moun- 
 
 I vasl herds of buffalo and deer. It was 
 red to ]> rerful sanative 
 
 influences, producing the most extraordinary results in 
 
 the cure of indolent ulcers and chronic diseases of the 
 
 skin. It soon because a popular neighborhood resort for 
 many of the sick and afflicted. The notoriety thus ex- 
 cited led to a scientific examination of its qualities, which 
 resulted in a confirmation of its sanative power; and 
 now it deservedly ranks high among the sulphuretted 
 waters of our country. 
 
 The locality of the Blue Sulphur is within the geo- 
 graphical limits of the mineral fountains — both sulphu- 
 
enjoys to a full extent their balmy influence and the 
 striking grandeur of their sublime scenery. 
 
 This watering place has been improved by an enter- 
 prising company, living in this and the adjoining coun- 
 ties, with great attention to the comfort and convenience 
 of their guests. The buildings consist of a large brick 
 Hotel, 180 feet long and three stories high. From each 
 side of this centre building are wings two stories high 
 and 109 feet long, with piazzas running their entire 
 length, and so constructed that the invalid need in no 
 wise suffer from any inclemency of the weather. 
 
 The fountain rises in the centre of an extensive and 
 beautiful lawn, and is covered by a massive and well- 
 devised temple. The Spring, which is directly in front 
 of the hotel, is enclosed in a handsome white marble box, 
 five feet in diameter, the sides of which are coated with 
 a pink deposite, imparting to its cool, crystaline water a 
 peculiar opalescent tinge. Nothing of the kind can be 
 more beautiful or more inviting than this elegant pool of 
 water. It flows off in a bold stream, and is soon received 
 into pipes, and conducted away for bathing purposes. 
 
 The following is the quantitative analysis of this water, 
 as made by Prof. Rodgers, of the University of Virginia : 
 
 Temperature variable, from 45° to 46°. 
 
 Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 cubic 
 inches, weighed, after being dried at 212°, 44.22 grains. 
 
 Quantity of each solid ingredient in 100 cubic inches, 
 estimated as free from water : 
 
in mv cut), inciics. in -.>i euu. inciics. 
 grains. 
 
 Bulph. lime, 
 
 20.152 grains. 
 
 46.661 
 
 Sulph. magnesia, 
 
 2.760 
 
 a 
 
 6.876 
 
 Sulph. Bodtj 
 
 7.020 
 
 a 
 
 16.218 
 
 Oarb. lime, 
 
 2.1B6 
 
 a 
 
 5.Q47 
 
 Garb, magnesia, - 
 
 O.K)7 
 
 ii 
 
 0.640 
 
 CM, sodium, 
 
 L868 
 
 a 
 
 4.2 If) 
 
 (111. calcium, 
 
 0.005 
 
 a 
 
 0.011 
 
 Protoxide iron, reoeived 
 
 
 
 
 from proi. sulph. 
 
 0.015 
 
 .. 
 
 0.084 
 
 An aaotized organie mat- 
 
 
 
 
 tor, blended with sul- 
 
 
 
 
 phur, 
 
 B.000 
 
 a 
 
 6.980 
 
 
 37.413 
 
 86.821 
 
 
 
 
 Earthy phosphates, a trace — iodine, a trace. 
 Volume of each of the eases in a free Btate i 
 
 In 100 nil), inches. In 2.'3l cub. inches. 
 
 Sulph. hydrogen, 0.45 to46gr. 1.03 gr. 
 
 Nitrogen, - 3.25 " 7.49 " 
 
 Oxygen, - 0.56 " 1.29 " 
 
 Garb, acid, - L ; .7."> « G.35 « 
 
 Total cubic inches, 7.01 
 
 1G.1G 
 
Therapeutical Agency, &c, &c. 
 
 * u In Chronic Diseases, I have found no agent so 
 potent as mineral water, and none from which relief may 
 be more confidently expected. 
 
 • 
 
 Nervous Diseases — under which head may be classed 
 hypochondria, hysteria, catalepsy, choria, &c, originating 
 from disordered digestion — are successfully treated by 
 this water. 
 
 Chronic Hepatitis. — In whatever form this disease 
 presents itself, eithe'r in tissue or secretion, this water is 
 a valuable remedy. Its power as an emulgent and as an 
 alterative upon the liver, in some instances, is astonishing ; 
 the icterode appearance of the skin rapidly fading, the 
 secretions changing, and the digestion strengthening. 
 In connection with chronic hepatitis, I may class jaundice 
 and splenitis. 
 
 AmenorrJicea and Irregular Menstruation. — In these 
 types of uterine disease, I have had the best results from 
 the use of the water; nay, the frequent cures that have 
 come directly under my observation, warrant me in re- 
 
 *I am indebted to my friend, Dr. John A. Hunter, who has been 
 the resident physician at the Blue Sulphur for a number of years, for 
 this account of the therapeutical agency of this mineral water. Dr. 
 H. is a very intelligent and discriminating physician, with an amount 
 of experience in the use of these waters that entitles his opinion to 
 great confidence. 
 
confidence. 
 
 Chronic Diseases of the Urinary Organs. — In calcu- 
 lous aflfeotionS, I doubt its Utility, as all acid calculous 
 
 affections require a greater amount of alkalinity than this 
 Bpring p Consequently, the remedial effect is 
 
 equivocal. But in all oases of chronic irritation of the 
 mucous membrane of the kidneys, bladder, or prostate 
 gland, its value is w table. 
 
 In CI Disease* of th Skin } the water is used 
 
 Hy, and particularly in that class of scaly dis- 
 
 where the opaque and thickened 
 
 lamina of the cuticle are a product of inflammation in 
 
 the true >kin ; and not unfrequently IS it found valuable 
 
 in th | when the cuticle alone, 
 
 or the rete mucosum, appears to be in amorbid condition. 
 In that variety of i Deluding lepra, psoriasis and 
 
 icthryosis, I have witm - »m the use of the 
 
 water, conjoined with the baths, rare and unexpected/' 
 It may be added, that the Spring has attached to it 
 an excellent lit tinny Establishment, consisting of shower, 
 warm and tepid baths, medicated and vapour, under the 
 control of Dr. Martin, whose long experience with them 
 well qualifies him to judge of their medical applicability. 
 
CHAPTER IX, 
 
 SWEET SPRINGS. 
 
 The Sw£et Springs are situated in a charming valley in 
 the eastern extremity of Monroe county. They are 17 
 miles south-east from the White Sulphur, and 22 east 
 from the Salt Sulphur. 
 
 These springs were discovered in 1764, before any of 
 the other mineral waters in this section of the State were 
 known. In 1774, they had attracted so much attention, 
 as to be analyzed by Bishop Madison, then President of 
 William and Mary College. 
 
 The beautiful valley in which the spring is situated, is 
 about five miles in length, and from one-half to three- 
 fourths of a mile in width, and is bounded on the south 
 by the lofty Sweet Spring mountain, and on the north by 
 the Alleghany. The spring and bath are situated in the 
 lower end of a small hollow or valley, that makes out 
 from the base of the Sweet Spring mountain, from which 
 the ground gradually swells on either side. Contiguous 
 to the spring is a grove of a few old natives of the forest, 
 that have fortunately escaped the axe of the spoiler, 
 which, together with a fine sodding of grass, give the 
 means of a pleasant promenade in good weather. 
 
 165 
 
kjviv^i/ tiivj uu>» 
 
 extensive and comfortable, being sufficient for 300 per- 
 sons. The property is owned by three enterpri 
 tkuKMi, Messrs. Ofeperton, Echols and Bierne, who are 
 now making preparations for enlarging the capacity of the 
 place for accommodating visiters, and also for adorning 
 and beautifying the grounds. The energy and enterprise 
 of these gentlemen, with the ample means at their com- 
 mand, give a guarantee for the speedy accomplishment of 
 every improvement at this place, which the public conve- 
 nience 1 or a correct taste can demand. 
 
 "The water of the spring (Bell) rises into a large 
 cylindrical reservoir, from opposite sides of which it flows 
 out by small pipes, one OOnveying water to the bath for 
 the men, the other to that lor the ladies. The men's 
 
 bath is of a quadrangular form, surrounded by a wall, 
 and open at top. It is of tolerable extent and clear — 
 the bottom being of gravel, and the water constantly 
 flowing in and as constantly passing out, after it reaches 
 a certain height. 
 
 "The temperature of the Sweet Spring is 73° Fall., 
 the Same as that which, in England, by a strange blun- 
 der, is called Bristol Hot Well. There is considerable 
 resemblance between the two in other respects, as well in 
 the evolution of carbonic acid, as in the earthy and saline 
 matters held in solution. In the Virginia Spring, how- 
 ever, iron has been detected ; whereas the Bristol Hot 
 Well has none in its composition. 
 
 " By the analysis of Rowelle, one quart of the Sweet 
 Spring water contains — 
 
Saline substances in general, 12 to 15 grains. 
 Earthy substances, - 18 to 24 " 
 
 Iron, - - - .J to 1 grain. 
 
 " The saline substances are sulphate of magnesia, mu- 
 riate of soda, and muriate of lime, with a little sulphate 
 of lime. The earthy matters consist of sulphate of lime, 
 a small portion of carbonate of magnesia and lime, with 
 a small portion of silicious earth." 
 
 Professor Wm. B. Eodgers, late of the University of 
 Virginia, in the course of his geological survey of the 
 State, analyzed the waters of the Sweet Spring, with the 
 following results : 
 
 1st. Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 
 cubic inches, 32.67 
 
 A portion of this is combined with water. 
 
 2d. Quantity of each solid ingredient, estimated as 
 perfectly free from water, in 100 cubic inches : 
 
 Sulphate of lime, 
 
 - 
 
 5.703 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 4.067 
 
 Sulphate of soda, 
 
 - 
 
 2.746 
 
 Carbonate of lime, 
 
 - 
 
 13.018 
 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 
 - 
 
 0.060 
 
 Chloride of magnesium, 
 
 - 
 
 0.136 
 
 Chloride of calcium, - 
 
 - 
 
 0.065 
 
 Peroxide of iron, (Sesqui 
 
 oxide,) - 
 
 0.061 
 
 Silica, - 
 
 - 
 
 0.075 
 
 Earthy phosphate, 
 
 - 
 
 a trace. 
 
• >'i. \ online ('I cww i)i mi' giurca nnimiiiui iu a iiuu 
 
 state in 100 cubic inches of tke water: 
 
 Carbonic acid, - - - : 7 . 1 7 
 
 Nitr .... 1.86 
 
 Oxv - . - a trace. 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, a trace too small to be mea- 
 sure 
 
 1 tli. Composition of 100 cubic indies of the mixed 
 - rising in bubbles in the sprii 
 
 Nitr - - - - 71.7 
 
 Carbonic i ... 28.3 
 
 The chi fishing feature of this water is the 
 
 predominance of the carbonic acid (fixed air) which it 
 ins, and it is properly regarded as the best example 
 of the acidulous that is found in our country. 
 
 mineral waters have acquired such fashionable 
 an«l well merited celebrity m the Sweet Springs. The 
 name is calculated to coiiv ous impi 
 
 their taste, which is like a solution of a small quantity of 
 a calcareous or magi rbonate. The i " car- 
 
 bonic acid gives, howev* r, the water a briskness, produc- 
 tive of a very different effect on the palate from what an 
 imperfect mixture of the earths would produce. 
 
 The first effects of this water, due to its temperature 
 and g >nten1 i, when drunk, are a feeling of warmth 
 
 at the stomach, with a sensation of fullness of the head, 
 and some giddiness. .'Taken at stated intervals in modc- 
 
 *BeU on tathr and Mineral Waters 
 
rate quantity, it will produce a moisture on the skin, and 
 increase the flow of urine. If the stomach be in a good 
 state, it gives additional appetite, and imparts fresh vigor 
 to the system. Its operations on the bowels vary at first, 
 but after a more protracted use, it will generally be found 
 to increase a costive habit. 
 
 The Sweet Spring water is serviceable in the varieties 
 of dyspepsia accompanied by gastrodynia or spasm, with 
 pains occurring at irregular intervals, and heart burn — 
 where the extremities are cold and the skin torpid. In 
 secondary debility of the digestive canal, from the ex- 
 hausting heats of summer, or in chronic diarrhoea and 
 dysentery, without fever, or not sustained by hepatic 
 inflammation, much good will be produced by the inter- 
 nal use of these waters. ' 
 
 If much gastric irritation, or evident phlogosis of the 
 liver be present, with a parched skin and other phe- 
 nomena of fever, it will be better to premise one or two 
 small bleedings, followed by the use of a blue pill at 
 night, and a tumbler-full or two of the water, to which 
 has been added a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts, or twice 
 the quantity of calcined magnesia, early in the morning. 
 
 The harrassing cough to which } T oung persons are occa- 
 sionally subject, and which often has its origin in an en- 
 feebled state of the stomach, or in scrofulous habits from 
 the enlargement of the bronchial glands — as also the 
 tussis Jiumoralis of old people — will all be materially 
 benefited by the use of these waters. The relief afforded 
 in such cases as these has usually given Bristol Hot 
 
>> in us lcpuuuiuii in uiu euiu ui piumoiuuy-. con- 
 
 mmption." 
 
 Females who have become enervated by long confine- 
 ment, or from nursing their children, and whose consti- 
 tutions have suffered for want of exercise and fresh air, 
 will be greatly benefited by the use of these waters, in- 
 ternally and as a bath. 
 
 In sub-acute rheumatism, and in neuralgic attacks, the 
 Sweet Spring bath is often eminently useful. In the 
 closing stages of acute rheumatism, the patient is often 
 
 harrassed with a lingering irritability of his system, with 
 tenderness, pain and inability in the diseased joints, some- 
 times attended with Blight feverishnesSj especially toward 
 the close of the day. 
 
 In such cases, while hot or warm bathing would be 
 injurious, the baths of the Sweet or Red Sweet Springs 
 may be resorted to with tli< i best effects. The use of the 
 spout, in Mich valuable, by placing the diseased 
 
 part under the falling water, and allowing it to receive 
 the dash for a short time. 
 
 A very efficacious way of applying this water to the 
 surface is by douche — the stream being directed to 
 the part in which the disease is situated, wherever there 
 is " augmented heat and iixed pain, as over the stomach, 
 or liver, or abdomen generally, above the pubis, or on 
 the loins and sacrum; also to the joints, when the vio- 
 lence of inflammation has not yet subsided, nor passed 
 entirely into the chronic state. If the irritation of the 
 stomach forbids the drinking of the water, douching the 
 epigastrium would form a good preparative for its use in 
 
tnis way. ljumpago, wiin some evening iever, cmurusis, 
 or fluor albus, with heat and pain at the loins, would be 
 benefited by douching this part. 
 
 " As we should have inferred from the excess of car- 
 bonic acid, and the presence of earthy carbonates in the 
 water, it is useful in calculous and nephritic complaints." 
 
 The Sweet Spring waters, internally and externally 
 employed, are adapted to a large circle of cases. As a 
 tonic, in cases of pure debility, they may be used with 
 great confidence — always, however, regarding this as an 
 aphorism, that they are contra-indicated, and should he 
 withheld in all cases in which there is positive congestion 
 in any of the vital organs. 
 
 The first sensation on immersion in the Sweet Spring 
 bath is a slight shock, which speedily passes off, leaving 
 the bather with the most agreeable sensations while he. 
 disports himself in the sparkling pool. 
 
 The freedom and advantage with which this bath has 
 been used by aged persons, is evidence of its general 
 safety. 
 
 In using the bath, " the chief points to be attended to 
 are, that the skin should not be moist or cold with per- 
 spiration, nor that there shall be general chill, nor the 
 languor that follows excessive muscular action. The 
 stomach also should be nearly empty, or at least not 
 actively engaged in its work of digestion." Many per- 
 sons are injudicious in remaining too long in the bath. 
 From two to ten minutes will embrace periods adapted to 
 every condition, and only the most robust should remain 
 in the last mentioned time. In a large majority of cases, 
 
bility, from (too to five minutes, according to circum- 
 stances, will embrace the proper periods for remaining in 
 the bath. Jt is often advantageous to bathe twice or 
 
 thrice a day, ami this can be clone safely in all eases, pro- 
 vided the patient does not remain too long in the water 
 at any one time. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 RED SWEET, OR SWEET CHALYBEATE SPRING. 
 
 One mile North of the Sweet Springs, on the road 
 leading to the White Sulphur, and just within the 
 Southern border of Alleghany County, are the Red 
 Sweet Springs. 
 
 This property was originally owned and improved by 
 Mr. Philip Rogers, who for many years kept the old 
 Sweet Springs. About the year 1845, it became the 
 property of John R. Sampson, Esq., who occupied it for 
 several years and still further improved it. It is now 
 owned by Mr. C. Bias, formerly of Memphis, Tennessee, 
 who occupies it and is devoting a large amount of energy 
 to its further improvement. 
 
 This property, embracing about 1700 acres of land, 
 affords one of the most productive farms in the State — a 
 very great convenience to a spring establishment in re- 
 ference to its supplies. 
 
 The improvements subservient to the Springs are spa- 
 cious, well-designed and comfortable, and are sufficient 
 
In the course of another year, they will be considerably 
 enlarged, with the view of meeting the demands of a 
 constantly increasing patronage. 
 
 There are two medical springs at this establishment, 
 the one a few paces below the hotel, essentially the same, 
 both in quality and temperature, with the old Sweet 
 Spring! j indeed, it may be regarded as identically the 
 same water. The other, some forty rods, perhaps, above 
 the hotel, is in many respects like it, but containing a 
 much lamer quantity of iftm, which, being abundantly 
 deposited in the form of a red precipitate, has given it 
 the name of Red Spring* 
 
 The water of the Red Spring, which is the character- 
 istic water of the place, and most relied upon both for 
 drinking and bathing, iflSUeS I'nmi beneath heavy and 
 
 alar liniestone arches, jusl at the head of a narrow 
 
 DOV6 formed by a projecting hill on one side, and on the 
 Other by large ma88e8 of porous stone, probably deposited 
 thore from the Sweet Spring water, which once flowed in 
 
 this direct ion. 
 
 There arc here three fountains, separated by narrow ^ 
 stone petitions, but all running into one common sluice. 
 The upper and boldest of these fountains is about two 
 degrees colder than the two lower ones, and evidently 
 contains less of ferruginous matter. The water issuing 
 from all of them, is probably two hundred and fifty gal- 
 lons in a minute. 
 
 The water of the Red Spring has been twice analyzed, 
 first by Rowelle, and then by Professor llodgers. 
 
JTJLUUU1 Ulll^ LU JLtUVYUlltJ, UiLV <£UiU,T(t Ul tlllS WcllCl CULL- 
 
 Carbonate of lime, 
 
 4 grains. 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia, 
 
 3 » 
 
 Carbonate of iron, 
 
 2 " 
 
 Silex. -• 
 
 1 « 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 
 1 " 
 
 Muriate of soda, * - 
 
 1 " 
 
 Iron combined, 
 
 : 1 « 
 
 Carbonic acid. 
 
 
 The following is the result of an analysis by Professor 
 Eodgers of this water : 
 
 1st. Solid matter procured by evaporation from 100 
 cubic inches, weighed after being greatly dried at 112° 
 40.76. 
 
 A portion of this is combined water. 
 
 2d. Quantity of each solid ingredient estimated as per- 
 fectly free from water. In 100 cubic inches : 
 Sulphate of lime, 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 Sulphate of soda, 
 Carbonate of lime, 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 Chloride of magnesium, - 
 Chloride of calcium, 
 Sesquioxide of iron, 
 Organic matter in small quantities. 
 Iodine, a mere trace. 
 
 4.233 
 
 3.107 
 
 1.400 
 
 1.166 
 
 0.037 
 
 0.680 
 
 0.010 
 
 0.320 
 
bonatc. 
 
 3d. Volume of each of the gases contained in a free 
 State, in TOO cubic inches of the water. 
 
 Carbonic acid, - - 46.10 cubic Inches. 
 Nitrogen, - - 2.57 " 
 
 Oxygen, - - .20 " 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, a trace, too small to be 
 measured. 
 
 4th. (VnipnMtiou of 100 cubic inches of the mixed 
 rising in bubbles in the spring: 
 Nitrogen, - - - - 62.5 
 
 Carbonic acid, - - - - 37.5 
 
 The temperature of the Red Spring water, as it Ese 
 
 from three different beads, is from 7T)° to 79°. Frequent 
 examinations of this Spring with a thermometer induces 
 me to believe that its temperature is slightly variable, 
 never exceeding, however, one or two degrees of va- 
 riation. 
 
 The analysis of the lied Sweet and Sweet Spring wa- 
 ters, by the same chemist, show that they contain essen- 
 tially the same ingredients, but in different proportions, 
 both the salts and the gases being more abundant in the 
 former. The chief difference in the medical effect of the 
 two waters is probably owing to the larger quantity of 
 iron held in solution by the Red Sweet. While the 
 Sweet Spring contains of iron 0.0G1 in 100 cubic inches 
 of its water, the Red Sweet in the same amount of water 
 
contains U.o^U, or about iour-ntths in excess. This goes, 
 so far as analysis can be satisfactory, to prove its higher 
 tonic power. The iron in this water exists in the form of 
 a carbonate, held in solution by carbonic acid gas, consti- 
 tuting the mildest, and at the same time the most efficient 
 preparation of our ferruginous waters. 
 
 While the carbonic acid gas in the Red Sweet is 41.10, 
 against 37.17 in the Sweet, the carbonates as a whole 
 largely prevail in the latter. Again, while the sulphate 
 of lime is much the largest in the Red Sweet, the sul- 
 phates of magnesia and soda, both aperient in their char- 
 acter, decidedly predominate in the Sweet Spring waters. 
 It may be noted that iodine, in small quantity, is found 
 in the Red Sweet, and not in the Sweet ; but its quantity 
 is doubtless very small, and I am not aware of any pecu- 
 liar effects of the water that can with certainty be 
 attributed to this agent. It may possibly exert some 
 beneficial influence as a tonic in combination with the 
 other ingredients. From a review of the analysis of 
 these two interesting waters, as well as from observation 
 of their effects on disease, it would not be very inaccu- 
 rate to say that the Red is the Sweet Spring water with 
 a strong iron base. But medical men, who should look 
 closely into the peculiarities of remedial agents, will find 
 upon careful scrutiny of these, that the difference in the 
 amount and combination of their materials must modify, 
 to some extent, their therapeutical agency upon the hu- 
 man system, and that, according to the practical object 
 they wish to effect, they should select one or the other of 
 them. 
 
of a mineral water as a guide in its administration. 
 
 Although an analysis as correct as can be obtained in the 
 
 present state of chemical science, is an important assis- 
 tant in understan ling the general nature of remedial 
 waters, and in aiding in the format inn of general conclu- 
 sions in relation to them; still, actual observation of the 
 peculiar effects ^( these agent- is greatly more satisfac- 
 tory, and far mere to be relied upon. Mineral waters 
 often produce effects apOH the animal economy that arc 
 not indicated by their analysis, and in BOH they 
 
 produce 1 results that are directly contra-indicated. But, 
 in reference to these particular waters, there seems to be 
 
 <juite a concurrence between the indications afforded 
 
 by their analysis and actual observation as to their effects. 
 
 With both the- 1 lights before as, we are forced to 
 regard the Red Spring watu- as being more decidedly 
 
 tonic in its influences upon the system than the water of 
 the Sweet Spring, and somewhat more exciting, too; 
 hence, all the caution- that have been urged in reference 
 to the contraindications of the use of the Sweet Spring 
 water apply even with more force as to the use of this. 
 
 From the same lights, we also learn that, as a very 
 gentle aperient, and a mild and somewhat less exciting 
 tonic, the Sw T eet Springs have the preference, and espe- 
 cially in such cases as do not admit or require the nse of 
 ehalybeates. The diuretic effect is about the same from 
 the use of either water. 
 
 These general principles may, to some extent, I hope, 
 indicate the class of cases that will be most benefited by 
 
one or the other of these springs, .but it must be con- 
 fessed that the subject is sometimes an intricate one, 
 requiring a full knowledge of the case, with a careful 
 comparative estimate of the powers of the two waters, 
 to decide with certainty under the use of which the 
 patient will be most benefited. There is, however, a 
 large class of cases that will be essentially, if not equally 
 benefited by the use of either of these waters. To such 
 cases as require the use of the iron tonics, the Red Sweet 
 water is peculiarly well adapted, and may be prescribed 
 with great confidence. 
 
 In neuralgic affections, unattended with organic lesion 
 or obstructions, this water is used with very general success, 
 and rarely fails to ameliorate or cure such cases. The 
 writer has great cause to speak favorably of this water 
 in neuralgia, not only from its success in a large number 
 of patients for whom he has advised its use, but espe- 
 cially in his own case. In the summer of 1842, he spent 
 several weeks here, using the water externally and inter- 
 nally, for a sciatic neuralgia, under the painful effects of 
 which he had been entirely prostrated for several months. 
 To describe the great relief which he derived, would de- 
 mand the language of enthusiasm. For more than two 
 months he had been unable to turn in his bed, and during 
 all this time suffering untold misery. Before using this 
 water, he underwent a three week's course of the White 
 Sulphur, which, although it did not relieve the pain, 
 brought his general system into a good condition for the 
 use of tonics. Unable to sit up, he was conveyed, lying 
 
entered upon the use of the water and bath. The effeetB 
 
 wore as remarkable as they wore prompt and happy. Iii 
 
 a word, ho here fonnd a speedy and effectual remedy for 
 
 this Protean and painful disease, after all other remedies 
 
 had tailed. 
 
 In Bpealdng of the waters of the Red Sweet and Sweet 
 Springs, 1 wish to he understood as alluding to the baths, 
 as well as t.> the internal use of the waters. In a large 
 majority of cases, the bath is doubtless the most promi- 
 nent agent in effecting a cure. Merely as a bath, there 
 is probably little difference in the effects of the two 
 Springs. The temperature of the Bed Sweet bath is two 
 or three warmer than the bath at the Sweet. 
 
 This in some would be a difference of impor- 
 
 tance, and not to be overlooked by the physieian or the 
 invalid. 
 
 Tip 1 after coming out of these baths, 
 
 provided the patient has not indulged himself in them 
 too long, are as remarkable as tiny are agreeable. They 
 
 differ widely from the effects of an ordinary cold bath. 
 There is an elasticity ami buoyancy of body and spirit 
 that makes one feel like leaping walls or clearing dit( 
 at a single bound. It cannot be from the absorption of 
 any of the materials of the water by the cutaneous ves- 
 sels. The few minutes that we remain in the water, es- 
 pecially the very short time after the stricture of the 
 skin from the first plunge has passed off, forbids such an 
 idea. May it not be owing to a stimulant impression 
 imparted by the carbonic acid gas to the nerves of the 
 
skin, and by sympathy extended rapidly over the whole 
 body? 
 
 Immediately on the bank of the creek, and about two 
 hundred yards from the Red Sweet, a Sulphur Spring 
 exists, which copiously deposits its salts in large white 
 flakes. This Spring has not been improved, nor have its 
 virtues been tested. Its sensible qualities, however, 
 afford favorable indications of its value as a medicinal 
 water. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 HOT SPRINGS. 
 
 Tins celebrated bathing establishment is situated in 
 the county of Bath, thirty-five miles north-cast from 
 the White Sulphur, and immediately on the great tho- 
 roughfare from the capital of the State to the Ohio river. 
 It is owned by Dr. btoode, who resides on the premises, 
 and personally directs in its management. Comfortable 
 bathing booses have been erected for the accommodation 
 both of male and female patients. In each of these 
 houses suitable arrangements are made for taking the 
 siccat OT plunge bath, is may be desired; or for receiving 
 the douch* when it may be required. 
 
 " There arc six baths at this place," (Dr. Goode,) 
 "each supplied with water from a separate spring; they 
 range in temperature from 100° to 106° of heat. The 
 effects of these waters in disease prove that they are 
 highly medicated, though they are considered by many 
 a$ simple hot water. They are known to contain sul- 
 phate and carbonate of lime, sulphate of soda and mag- 
 nesia, a minute portion of muriate of iron, carbonic acid 
 gas, nitrogen gas, and a trace of sulphuretted hydrogen 
 
gas ; and when used internally some of the consequences 
 are such as we might expect from our knowledge of their 
 constituent parts. 
 
 " But the chemical composition of a mineral water can 
 lead to no safe conclusions as to its medical powers. Its 
 most potent part may be incapable of analysis, or de- 
 stroyed by the process, and its mere properties cannot be 
 developed by analysis; our only sure test is experience 
 of the actual result when applied to the diseased human 
 system. I have been at the Hot Springs for six entire 
 seasons, and have watched their effects on several thou- 
 sand invalids with all the interest which ownership could 
 excite, and the result of my experience is as follows : — 
 these waters, taken internally, are anti-acid, mildly ape- 
 rient, and freely diuretic and diaphoretic. But when 
 used as a general bath their effects are great and excel 
 all expectation. They equalize an unbalanced circula- 
 tion, and thereby restore the different important parts of 
 the system when torpid — that natural and peculiar sensi- 
 bility, upon the existence of which their capacity to per- 
 form their several functions, and the beneficial action of 
 all remedies depend. They relax contracted tendons; 
 excite the action of absorbent vessels ; promote glandular 
 secretion ; exert a marked and salutary influence over the 
 biliary and urinary systems, and often relieve, in a short 
 time, excruciating pain, caused by palpable and long 
 standing disease in some vital organ." 
 
 These waters are suited only to chronic conditions of 
 the system. Dr. James Johnson, of London, after 
 
. adds, k * But there is a long catalogue of 
 chronic disorders, to which thermal medicinal waters, 
 
 both internally and externally applied, prove extremely 
 useful, Thermal waters act in three principal ways mi 
 the human machine: l*t, through the medium of sensa- 
 tion, on the nervous system ; 2d, through the ageney of 
 their temperature, on the vascular system; and <Jd, by 
 means of their chemical contents, on the secretory and 
 
 excretory organs. In most chronic complaints, and espe- 
 cially in rheumatism, gout, cutaneous defedations, neu- 
 ralgia, dyspepsia, glandular swellings, and visceral ob- 
 structions, there is pain, uneasiness or discomfort of some 
 
 kind, which, indeed, constitutes the chief grievance of 
 the individual. It is no unimportant matter to soothe 
 
 those sufferings during the process employed for the cure. 
 The warm bath effects this purpose in an eminent degree, 
 through its agency On the sentient extremities of the 
 
 nerves distributed over the surface of the body. There 
 i extensive chain of sympathies established between 
 the skin and the internal viscera, and through the me- 
 dium of this channel, agreeable sensations excited on the 
 exterior, are very often communicated to the central 
 organs and structures themselves. Even in this way, 
 torpid secretions are frequently roused into activity and 
 improved in quality, while the secretory apparatus itself 
 is relieved from a host of painful feelings" 
 
 These waters have been critically analyzed by Prof. 
 William B. Eodgers, of the University of Virginia. 
 
J_ XXO OOiXXXXO XLlhLL t/VXXt«XXLO XIX A VU OU-MXU XXXV-/XXOO Ui VI Oili^X 
 
 are — 
 
 Carbonate of lime, 
 
 
 J 
 
 7.013 
 
 Carbonate magnesia, 
 
 
 - 
 
 1.324 
 
 Sulphate of lime, 
 
 
 . 
 
 1.302 
 
 Sulphate magnesia, 
 
 
 . 
 
 1.530 
 
 Sulphate soda, 
 
 
 - 
 
 1.363 
 
 Chloride of sodium 
 
 and 
 
 magnesium, 
 
 
 with a trace of chloride of calcium, 
 
 0.105 
 
 Proto-carbonate of iron, 
 
 - 
 
 0.096 
 
 Silica, 
 
 
 - 
 
 0.045 
 
 ' 12.778 
 The free gas consists of nitrogen, oxygen and carbonic 
 acid gas. It also contains a mere trace of sulph. hy- 
 drogen. 
 
 The heat of the human body, as ascertained by insert- 
 ing the bulb of a thermometer under the tongue, is 
 about 96° — sometimes as high as 98°; and these degrees 
 seem to be the same, with little variation, in all parts of 
 the world, neither affected, in the healthy body, by the 
 heat of the torrid nor the cold of the frigid zones. But 
 this, however, relates only to the internal temperature of 
 the body; the heat of the skin is very variable, and 
 generally considerably below the degree of animal heat. 
 This arises from the great cooling process of evaporation, 
 constantly going on over the whole surface ; its sensibility 
 to all external impressions, and its exposure to the atmos- 
 phere, which seldom rises so high as 98°, even in the 
 highest heats of summer. 
 
perceive why a Lath hefitcd to 98° gives a strong and de- 
 cided sense of warmth to the skin; and a sensation of 
 slight warmth, rather than of chilliness, is felt, even 
 several degrees below this point. 
 
 Whenever a bath is raised above the degree of animal 
 heat, it then becomes a direct stimulus to the whole 
 system, rapidly accelerates the pulse, increases the force 
 of the circulation, renders the skin red and susceptible, 
 and the vessels lull and turgid. 
 
 The temperature of the Hot Spring baths, ranging 
 from 100° to 106°, must be decidedly stimulant) and the 
 more or less so according to the particular bath employed. 
 It is probably to their stimulant power that we arc 
 mainly indebted for their curative virtue. The soothing 
 and tranquilising effects which often follow their use, is 
 the result of their sanative influence in bringing the 
 organism into a normal condition. 
 
 Hot baths are potent and positive agents. When 
 applied to the human body they are never negative in 
 their influences, but will do either much good or much 
 harm, according to the judgment and skill with which 
 tin 1 }- are employed. 
 
 Their stimulant influences forbid their use in all acute 
 diseases, and they arc contra-indicated in such chronic 
 cases as are attended with high vascular excitement, or 
 exalted nervous susceptibility. There are nevertheless a 
 large number of chronic diseases in which hot bathing 
 constitutes the most rational and the chief reliance of the 
 invalid. But these potent agents should never be pre- 
 
fully its nomenclature has been selected. The precise 
 existing state of the system, whatever may be the pa- 
 thology of the disease, ought always to be carefully 
 looked to before a course of hot bathing is directed. 
 
 These baths are found eminently useful in most cases 
 of chronic rheumatism, in the various forms of gout. In 
 local paralysis, occasioned by the use of any of the 
 mineral poisons, or in metastasis of gout, rheumatism or 
 other diseases, these baths may be used with good effect. 
 Chronic bronchitis, especially if connected with a gouty 
 diathesis ; deafness, connected with defective or vitiated 
 secretions of the membrane of the ear ; old sprains, or 
 other painful injuries of the joints, are often much bene- 
 fited by the use of the baths. 
 
 Diseases of the Uterine System, such as arnenorrhoea, 
 painful dysmenorrhoea, &c, are often greatly relieved 
 here. 
 
 In some of the more obstinate forms of biliary de- 
 rangements these baths are used with the most happy 
 effects; particularly the hot douche, when applied over 
 the region of the liver to relieve the torpor of that 
 organ. 
 
 There has already been so much written on the medi- 
 cal applicability of thermal ivaters, that I have not 
 thought it necessary here to do more than to lay down a 
 few general principles to guide the invalid in their use, 
 and to allude to some particular diseases, for the cure of 
 which the Hot Springs are known to be well adapted. 
 
has long been a matter of curious speculation. Some 
 have attributed it to the agency of electricity; but this 
 must be regarded in the light of an ingenious specula- 
 tion, rather than the result of observation and facts. It 
 is very common now to regard phenomena as the result 
 of electrical influences, principally, perhaps, because we 
 know the agent to be very potent and pervading, but 
 partly because of our ignorance of the general laws by 
 which electricity is governed. But whatever the facts 
 may be, there seems to be no proof approximating to a 
 >nable probability, that electricity is in any way con- 
 cerned in producing the high temperature of thermal 
 water-. 
 
 Another theory, and one which elicits the largest 
 amount of credence, perhaps, by scientific men, alleges, 
 that "the heat of thermal springs is owing to the central 
 luat of the globe, and that it increases in proportion to 
 the depth from which they proceed. The philosopher 
 Laplace embraced this theory, and it is, we believe, held 
 by many [ . It is urged,* and to some extent is 
 
 well maintained, that the u temperature of the earth in- 
 creases, as we descend into it, about one degree for every 
 hundred feet ; and if the increase continues in thip pro- 
 portion, we should arrive at boiling water at the depth of 
 less than three miles. " In proof of this fact, the regu- 
 lar increase of temperature as workmen have descended 
 into the earth in boring the artesian well at Paris, now 
 
 • See Prof. Daubeny's essay in the Sixth Report of the British 
 Association for the Advancement of Science. 
 
loUU feet deep, and throwing out by a subterranean 
 power an immense volume of warm water, might be cited. 
 But what are we to do with the obviously refuting fact 
 exhibited in the salt wells at Kanawha in our own State ? 
 Several of these wells have been bored to the depth of 
 sixteen or seventeen hundred feet, and, as we are in- 
 formed, without any appreciable increase of temperature. 
 
 Other theorists suppose that thermal springs owe their 
 temperature to circumscribed volcanoes, and that such 
 springs are a sort of safety valve to those subterraneous 
 conflagrations. " It is well known that an earthquake, 
 or an eruption of a volcano, has often produced a change 
 in the temperature of thermal springs that were even at 
 some distance from the place where these phenomena 
 occurred. 
 
 There is still another theory, " that supposes that the 
 heat of these springs is produced by certain processes 
 going on in the interior of the earth, and that these pro- 
 cesses are attended with an absorption of oxygen and a 
 consequent extrication of caloric." In the absence of 
 any positive knowledge on the subject, this theory would 
 seem to be sustained by as much probability as any of 
 the others that have been alluded to. But this is a sub- 
 ject that falls strictly within the province of geology, and 
 the zeal and success with which that science is now being 
 prosecuted, afford us reasonable grounds to look to its 
 votaries for some elucidation of this curious topic. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 WARM SPRINGS. 
 
 Tin Warm Springs are situated in a narrow vale, at 
 the Western base of the Warm Spring Mountain, in the 
 
 County of Bath, fifty miles West of Staunton, and live 
 miles N. E. from the Hot Springs. They are among 
 the oldest of our watering places, having been resorted 
 •i account of their medicinal virtues for more than 
 my years. The property was patented by Governor 
 Fauquier to the Lewi* family in 17(>0. For many years 
 it was owned by the late Dr. John Brockenbrough, of 
 Richmond, who devised it to his two interesting grand- 
 daughters, also the grand-daughters of the distinguished 
 Dr. Chapman, of Philadelphia. 
 
 Several of our medicinal fountains claim to have been 
 known and appreciated by the aborigines of the country. 
 In reference to this particular one, there are many tales 
 related by that venerable class, the oldest inhabitants, of 
 the discovery and use of its waters by the Indians. One 
 of the most interesting of these stories, and which pur- 
 ports to be derived through the old bath-keeper at the 
 
Warm, is thus related by the eloquent pen of Mr. Otis, 
 of Boston :* 
 
 " A young Indian, more than two centuries ago, was 
 coming from the Western valley of the great Appalachian 
 mountains, towards the waters of the East that opened 
 into the beautiful bay, whose branches touched the 
 strands of some of the mightiest marts of a nation that 
 was not then in existence. He had never trodden that 
 path before, and nothing but the pride of youth, which 
 would not brook that his brethren of other tribes should 
 triumph over him as their inferior in adventure, had sus- 
 tained his manly heart so far, for he had come, since the 
 rising sun first touched that day the mighty peaks of 
 the Alleghanies, from the vales that lay at their feet on 
 the West. He was going to carry the voice and vote of 
 a powerful nation to the council-fire that was kindling on 
 the banks of the great water, and he felt shame at the 
 recurrence of the idea that the place of the young Appa- 
 lachian Leopard could be vacant. But the night winds 
 beat coldly around him, and the way was dark. There 
 had been rains, and the earth was damp and swampy ; 
 and no grass, or fern, or heather was at hand with which 
 to make a bed in the bosom of the valley where he stood. 
 He had not strength to climb the near range of moun- 
 tains that drew up their summits before, as if to shut 
 out all hopes that he could accomplish his ardent desire. 
 Weary, dispirited, and ready to despair, he came sud- 
 denly upon an open space among the low under-wood that 
 
 ^Literary Messenger of March, 1838. 
 
looking narrowly he observed that it was filled With 
 
 water. He could see the clear reflection of the bright 
 evening star that was just declining to her rest, and that 
 was peeping into the fountain — 
 
 t Like a bride full of blushes, just lingering to take 
 A last look in her mirror, at night, ere she goes/ 
 
 " By this translucent reflection, he could perceive that 
 the water was clear, and ils depth he could discern by 
 the pebbles that glistened in the star-light from the bot- 
 tom. He saw, too, that the water was continually flow- 
 ing off, and supplying a stream that ran rippling away 
 among the roots of the oaks that surrounded the spot; 
 and as he stopped to taste the liquid element, he found 
 it warm, as if inviting him to relax his chilled limbs by 
 bathing in its tepid bosom. 
 
 " lie laid aside his bow and quiver, unstrung his 
 pouch from his brawny shoulder, took off his moccasins, 
 and plunged in. A new life invigorated his wearied 
 spirit, new strength seemed given to his almost rigid 
 nerves; he swam, he dived, he lay prostrate upon the 
 genial waves in a sort of dreaming ecstacy of delight; 
 and when the first dawn of day broke over the rock- 
 crowned hill, at the foot of which the Spring of Strength 
 lay enshrined, the young Leopard came forth from his 
 watery couch, and strode proudly up the mountain c where 
 path there was none/ 
 
 " He was a l young giant rejoicing to run his course/ 
 Full of new fire and vigor, he manfully sped his way; 
 
and upon the eve of that day, when the chiefs and the 
 sons of chiefs were seated around the solemn council-fire, 
 no one of them all was found more graceful in address, more 
 commanding in manner, more pleasing in look, and saga- 
 cious in policy, than the young Appalachian Leopard, 
 who bathed in the ' Spring of Strength/ n 
 
 Of course, we do not vouch for the truth of this 
 legend, but it is a matter of sober history, that very soon 
 after the discovery of the Warm Springs by civilized 
 man, they became celebrated for their curative qualities, 
 in various diseases, as well as for the mere luxury of 
 bathing ; and that they were frequented at much labor 
 and fatigue by great multitudes, before any other (save 
 the Sweet Springs) of the valuable watering places in 
 Virginia were known. 
 
 The waters of the Warm Springs have been analyzed 
 by two distinguished chemists, and with such discrepancy 
 in results as to afford indubitable evidence that an analysis 
 is not to be implicitly relied on in the administration of 
 mineral waters. 
 
 The following is the analysis made by Professor Wm. 
 B. Rodgers, of the University of Virginia : 
 
 " The large bath is an octagon 38 feet in diameter; its 
 I arena is 1163.77 feet. The ordinary depth being five 
 feet, (it can be increased to six,) the cubic capacity is 
 5818.86 feet, or 43,533.32 gallons; notwithstanding the 
 IZea/cs, this quantity of water will flow into the reservoir 
 I in one hour. The average temperature of the bath is 
 1 98° Fah. The gas which rises in the bath consists of 
 K 
 
uiuogeii, \\uii iiiiiiuitj ijiuiiiiiiies ui suipiiuieueu nyuro- 
 
 gen and carbonic acid. 
 
 "Besides this gas, each gallon ©f water contains 4.5 
 
 cubic inches of gas, consisting of — 
 
 Nitrogen, - - - 3.25 cubic inches. 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen, 0.25 " * 
 
 Carbonic acid, - - 1.00 " 
 
 The saline contents of one gallon of the 
 
 water are as 
 
 follows : 
 
 
 Muriate of lime, - 
 
 3.9G8 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salts,) 
 
 9.984 
 
 Carbonate of lime, ... 
 
 4.288 
 
 Sulphate of lime, ... 
 
 5.4G6 
 
 And a trace of soda, - - • 
 
 0.000 
 
 23.706 
 
 The following is the analysis of the Warm Spring 
 water by Mr. Hayes, of Roxbury, Massachusetts :* 
 
 "In physical characters, this water resembles ordinary 
 chalybeate waters. Recently drawn, it is clear, colorless, 
 and in some degree sparkling, wdien agitated. Its taste 
 is styptic or ferruginous, leaving the impression of a 
 large amount of mineral matter being present. Agitated 
 in the atmosphere, it becomes turbid, and deposits in fila- 
 ments an ochry matter, consisting of oxide of iron and 
 organic matter. 
 
 ^Mineral Springs of Virginia. 
 
nitrogen ; no oxygen is present. By heat it is rapidly 
 changed, the deposit of ochry matter increasing in 
 density, while gas is disengaged. 
 
 A standard gallon of this water, weighed at 60° Fah., 
 afforded the following proximate constituents : • 
 
 1st. Sulphuric acid, - 
 
 9.443 grains. 
 
 Carbonic acid, 
 
 9.210 
 
 u 
 
 Silicic acid, 
 
 0.990 
 
 a 
 
 Organic acid, 
 
 1.525 
 
 a 
 
 2d. bases. Potash, 
 
 0.741 
 
 u 
 
 Ammonia, 
 
 0.110 
 
 u 
 
 Lime, 
 
 8.906 
 
 a 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 0.444 
 
 a 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 0.973 
 
 a 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 0.290 
 
 (C 
 
 32.632 grains. 
 u The change produced in this water by exposure to 
 the air, or by heating it, indicates that the protoxide of 
 iron exists in the water, united with organic acid. When 
 silver salts are mixed with ,the freshly drawn water, the 
 decomposition which follows is not attended by the color- 
 ation which humic and apocrenic acids produce. The 
 deposition, too, is largely mixed with oxide of iron. 
 These, With other considerations, induce me to state that 
 the protoxide of iron is united with crenic acid. In the 
 further apportioning of the bases, by which we theoretically 
 make up the salts supposed to exist formed in this water, 
 the magnesia and alumina are combined with hydrous 
 
and water, lhe remaining bases, then, constitute salt: 
 which, through the influence of chemical affinities, arc- 
 Sulphate of potash, - - 1.371 grains. 
 Sulphate of ammonia, - 0.369 " 
 
 Sulphate of lime, - - 14.531 " 
 
 Carbonate of lime, - - 5.220 " 
 Crenate of iron, - - 2.498 " 
 
 Silicate of magnesia and alumina, 1.724 " 
 Carbonic acid, - - - 6.919 " 
 
 32.632 grains. 
 
 "In the preliminary examination of this water, it wa 
 deemed remarkable that so small a weight of iron sal 
 should impart so sensibly a chalybeate taste to so larg 
 a volume of water. Neither the carbonate nor sulphat 
 of iron has this effect, and the only explanation is tha 
 alluded to above : the existence of a crenate dissolved ii 
 carbonic acid so as to form an acidulous water. Thi 
 compound with the lime salts may be considered as th< 
 active medicinal parts of the water." 
 
 The virtues of this water are probably owing to iti 
 temperature, rather than to any medicinal agents com 
 bined with it. The supply of water is very abundant- 
 estimated at 6000 gallons a minute. For the gentle 
 men's bath, it is received into a room thirty-eight feet ir 
 diameter, and may be raised to the depth of six feet 
 After it has been used, the water is drawn off and the 
 bath fills again in fifteen or twenty minutes. The ladies 
 
uaiii i» coKiionauiy mrmsnea, ana wnen required me 
 water may be raised to the depth of five feet. Adjoin- 
 ing the gentlemen's bath, a room has been constructed 
 for a cold plunge bath, which is plentifully supplied with 
 common spring water, piped from the neighboring hills, 
 of a temperature of from 60° to 65°. 
 
 The common practice in the use of the Warm Spring 
 bath is, to bathe twice or even three, times a day, and 
 remain in the water from twelve to twenty minutes each 
 time. In some cases, especially when the bath is used 
 for cutaneous diseases, the patient may profitably remain 
 in for a much longer period, even from half an hour to 
 one hour. As a general rule, and especially for delicate 
 persons, active exercise should be avoided while in the 
 bath, and always, on coming out, the bather should be 
 well rubbed over the whole body with a coarse cloth. 
 
 The best times for bathing are, in the morning before 
 breakfast, and on an empty stomach an hour before dinner. 
 Where perspiration is required, the bath should be taken 
 in the evening, the patient retiring to bed immediately 
 after. 
 
 The diseases for which these baths have been profitably 
 employed are numerous; among them are atonic gout, 
 chronic rheumatism, indolent swellings of the joints or 
 lymphatic glands, paralysis, obstructions of the liver and 
 spleen, old syphilitic and syphiloid diseases, chronic cu- 
 taneous diseases, nephritic and calculous disorders, amen- 
 orrhoea and dysmenorrhea. Occasionally chronic diar- 
 rhoea is relieved. The same may be said of neuralgia ; 
 but, most generally, we find baths of somewhat lower 
 
tion with the internal use of the alum waters, these baths 
 will be found very serviceable in the various and distress- 
 ing forms of scrofula. In painful affections of the 
 limbs, following a mercurial course, these baths are effi- 
 cacious, and the more so if employed in connection with 
 the internal use of the sulphur waters. 
 
 Some precautions should be observed in entering upon 
 the use of these baths, even by those to whose diseases 
 they may be well adapted. The boWels should be open, 
 or in a solvent condition ; the state of the tongue should 
 indicate a good condition of the stomach; the patient 
 should be free from febrile excitement, and from the 
 weariness and exhaustion generally the result of travel- 
 ing in the public conveyances in hot weather. Many 
 commit a great error, and occasionally make themselves 
 quite ill by imprudently plunging into the bath imme- 
 diately after arriving at the Springs, and before they have 
 in any degree become relieved from the fatigue and ex- 
 citation of the travel necessary to reach them. From 
 such an imprudent course, the bather has little rational 
 grounds to hope for benefit, and is fortunate if he escape 
 without injury. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 HEALING SPRINGS.* 
 
 This medicinal fountain is in Bath county , Va., and is 
 one of the thermal springs that give name to that county, 
 and for which the chain of valleys that lie at the western 
 base of the Warm Spring Mountain is so remarkable. 
 The most southern of the group is the " Falling Spring 
 Valley/ ' and embosoms the water under notice. This is 
 a narrow, but fertile and well cultivated valley, of eight 
 or ten miles in length, and is bounded on the East by the 
 Warm Spring Mountain, and on the West by one of its 
 parallel spurs, known as the " Yalley Mountain." On 
 the South it is entered by the magnificent waterfall from 
 which it derives its name, and on the North near the 
 Healing Springs. Its general elevation above the bed 
 of the Jackson river is from 300 to 400 feet, and about 
 1800 feet above the level of the sea. 
 
 The waters of the Healing Springs and those of Cedar 
 Creek, a spring of great boldness and beauty, in its 
 neighborhood, escape from the valley through deep paral- 
 lel clefts in the Valley Mountain, and, uniting at its 
 
 * "A Notice of the Healing Springs of Bath County, Virginia, 
 by Wm. N. Patton, M. D." 
 
 199 
 
eight miles, into Jackson River, near the point where 
 that stream is crossed by the great thoroughfare from 
 Richmond to the White Sulphur Springs. 
 
 Finding outlets through deep chasms in the mountain, 
 these streams leave a narrow transverse section of it 
 wholly unique and wildly grand, while the corresponding 
 facings from which it has been torn are almost mural, 
 and afford a fit haunt for " the eagle and the stork." 
 
 In its descent to a valley bearing its name, the Cedar 
 Creek passes through a wild mountain gorge, and forms 
 a series of beautiful cascades and rapids, as its crystal 
 waters are impetuously hurried on to meet the silvery 
 stream from the Healing Springs, that comes leaping and 
 dancing through its own rugged channel. Uniting at 
 this point, these waters flow through a beautiful valley, 
 still clad in its native forests, and afford for several miles 
 the finest trout fishing in the mountains. 
 
 Situated in the midst of a confined but fruitful 
 valley, and surrounded by wild and romantic scenery, 
 the Healing Springs afford a sequestered retreat for the 
 invalid, and a pleasing resort for those who seek respite 
 from the cares of business, or desire the refreshing in- 
 fluences of mountain scenery and climate. It is easy of 
 access by several good country roads, and is approachable 
 within three miles, at several points, by the main western 
 thoroughfare. The approach from Lowry's is up the 
 Cedar Creek valley, and over a delightfully shaded road 
 of three miles length. 
 
turnpike road, that passes through the whole length of 
 the Falling Spring Valley, and immediately by the Heal- 
 ing Springs 5 and it is proposed so to change the present 
 location of the great thoroughfare westward, that it will 
 also lead directly to this place. 
 
 "The improvements at the Healing Springs are 
 planned after the best modern style, and will accommo- 
 date, when completed, two hundred boarders. Two 
 commodious and elegant bathing houses enter into the 
 plan of improvements, and from the air of neatness and 
 comfort apparent in the whole establishment, the amplest 
 proof is given of the full purpose of the gentlemanly 
 and enterprising proprietors to make this watering place 
 a home for the invalid, and an elegant and sumptuous 
 residence for the temporary visitor. 
 
 This water, and something of its curative powers were 
 known at an early day ; but owing to the want of means, 
 and the existence of a bitter feud between the parties to 
 whom it belonged, no improvement whatever was made ; 
 yet such has been its reputation that every year a greater 
 or less number of visitors, composed chiefly of extreme 
 cases that had failed to be relieved elsewhere, or were too 
 ill or too poor to go, abroad, have resorted to it. Of late 
 years, since it has become more the practice, in obstinate 
 and long standing complaints, to seek relief by the use of 
 mineral waters, this Spring has been steadily advancing 
 in reputation, and, without improvements or other ad- 
 vantages, has now forced itself into public notice, and 
 created the demand for elegant and expensive buildings. 
 
• hundred dollars, and now it could not be bought 
 tot fifty thunsajtd. 
 
 Whilst a grant number of'oures, as remarkable n tlu-v 
 
 gratifying, aw known to have been effected by this 
 
 water, yet no record of the character of the cases, nor 
 
 history of their course and termination, has bees made; 
 
 nor do ire know of any attempt bo define the character of 
 
 the water, to determine its mode Of action, nor to d< 
 Date the diseases which it is known to control. 
 
 To determine thetiO points, a variety and number of 
 facts have been gleaned from reliable sources, and furnish 
 the data upon which the following conclusions are based. 
 
 The absence of any systematic account whatever of 
 and the i to which they are appli- 
 
 cable, is onr only apology for the present notice; nor can 
 we doubt it- acceptability to the public, since this water 
 is known be be i positive agi nt, adapted to a wide mnge 
 of morbid conditions, and exercising almost gpeoific con- 
 trol over many affections of formidable character. 
 
 The statements in reference to the remedial powers pf 
 this agent do net rest upon theoretical or speculative 
 grounds, but open actual oases and actual cures. Nor are 
 the facts from which they are drawn exclusively of recent 
 or remote date ; they have occurred in every period of 
 its history, and in such numbers as to preclude the idea 
 that the results are clue to accident or coincidence, but 
 establish the relation of cause and effect. 
 
 Indeed, quite as much certainty attaches to the use of 
 these waters as to any agent whatever ; and we are proud 
 
welcome it to a chief place amongst the medicinal foun- 
 tains for which our region is already so distinguished. 
 
 The Healing Springs comprise three separate Springs. 
 Two of these are quite near each other, and the third at 
 a distance of perhaps two hundred yards, in the same 
 ravine. These Springs are beautifully bright and crys- 
 talline ; and the ever bursting bubbles of gas that escape 
 with the water and float in myriads of vesicles upon its 
 surface, impart to it a peculiar sparkling appearance. 
 
 The temperature of these Springs is uniformly 84° 
 Fah., nor are they subject to any variation of quantity or 
 quality. Singly, these Springs afford a considerable vo- 
 , lume of water, and, together, they would form quite a 
 bold fountain. Each, it is thought by some, possesses 
 properties and virtues peculiar to itself, and hence they 
 have received distinctive titles; but, as the same sensible 
 properties are common to them, perhaps no essential dif- 
 ference will be found in their qualities. The waters 
 have not been analysed. Lime and sandstone are the 
 prevailing formations, and black slate, containing bi- 
 sulphuret of iron, and other traces of minerals, are met 
 with about the Springs. From the superficial formations, 
 however, it would hardly be legitimate to infer the cha- 
 racter of this water, as it most probably has a very re- 
 mote source, and derives chiefly its mineral elements from 
 strata in the depths of the earth. The deposit along the 
 stream is much more worthy of trust, and would seem to 
 indicate the presence of lime, alumina, iron, and other 
 salts ; but, in the absence of any analysis, we forbear to 
 
chemical character of the water ; nor do we know that it 
 is greatly to be regretted that we are left in ignorance of 
 its exact constitution, since we must ultimately rely upon 
 experimental results to guide us in the discriminate use 
 of a mineral water, rather than the known absence or 
 presence of any given constituent. A species of argae 
 springs up most luxuriantly in these waters. It is of a 
 dark green color, and exceedingly delicate and beautiful 
 in its structure. Its chemical nature has not been defined, 
 though its therapeutical effects have been abundantly 
 tested. Whether it acts by virtue of some inherent pro- 
 perty of its own, or in consequence of principles imbibed 
 from the water, or simply upon the principle of a poul- 
 tice, or by combining all these, we will not attempt to 
 decide. Charged with saline and gaseous matter, the 
 baths at these Springs are exceedingly buoyant and grate- 
 ful, and perhaps unsurpassed for the delightful and re- 
 freshing sensation it communicates to the system. For 
 drinking purposes, the water is too warm to be altogether 
 palatable at first, but its cordial effects upon the stomach 
 soon make it an agreeable and even delightful beverage. 
 This water, when drank, acts in three principal ways 
 upon the system, to wit : upon the kidneys, the bowels, 
 and skin ; and perhaps the relative affinity for each par- 
 ticular organ is correctly indicated by the order of their 
 enumeration. The direction to either viscus, is influ- 
 enced somewhat by the condition of the system and to 
 the manner of using the water. Whilst it is capable of 
 being directed to either organ specifically, it may be so 
 
employed as 10 exert a quiet ana less marKeu, uul not 
 less salutary, effect over the whole at once. Its simul- 
 neous action upon three great emunctories of the body, 
 with its capacity to be directed specifically to either, con- 
 stitutes this water a safe and gentle, but at the same time 
 a certain and efficient depurating agent of the human 
 body. 
 
 Acting upon the whole of the external surface, with 
 its countless pores and innumerable sebaceous glands — 
 stimulating to new action the entire track of the alimen- 
 tary canal, with its numerous and important organs — and 
 urging the kidneys to throw off the multiform materials 
 designed to be separated from the circulating fluids, and 
 producing, when retained or imperfectly eliminated, such 
 dangerous disturbance to the constitution, it is not won- 
 derful that this water should exercise immense control 
 over diseased action, and prove a remedy for a wide- 
 spread range of human maladies. 
 
 The water is remarkably light, and does not oppress 
 the stomach, however freely it is drank. It is a great 
 promoter of digestion; and it is a common remark of 
 those under its use, that they can eat with impunity what 
 would otherwise be intolerable. 
 
 This fact, however, does not confer a license upon the 
 patient to drink ad libitum, nor to eat indiscriminately. 
 
 The effects upon the system are greatly increased, and 
 the most desirable results obtained, by combining the 
 internal and external use of the water. 
 
 Bathing, both general and topical, is a most valuable 
 and important mode of employing the water, and should 
 
stances of a given case. 
 
 The water of the Healing Springs, so far as it is ca- 
 pable of classification, may be regarded, in its general 
 action upon the system, as decidedly alterative and tonic, 
 both directly and indirectly ; but inasmuch as it is an 
 agent sui generis in its character, we doubt the correct- 
 ness of limiting its action by restrictive definitions. 
 
 The first employment of these medicinal springs, and 
 their earliest manifestation of curative powers, was in ill- 
 conditioned ulcers and intractable affections of the shin; 
 and hence the significant name they bear. In these dis- 
 eases, as classes, often as annoying and unsightly as they 
 arc painful and intractable, perhaps this agent stands 
 without a rival in nature or in art. From whatever 
 cause it may arise, it is proverbial that physicians and 
 surgeons deprecate the charge of such cases, and turn 
 them too often to seek ill-judged means of relief at the 
 merciless hands of empiricism, or leave them the victims 
 to disease that renders the subject alike an object of dis- 
 gust and a prey to suffering. 
 
 For such as labor under inveterate ULCERS, this water 
 is indeed a boon, and promises, by a painless process, to 
 achieve what the surgeon's knife had been powerless to 
 effect, or the more dreaded cautery had failed to accom- 
 plish. In cutaneous diseases, so frequently persisting for 
 years, and even for life remaining unsubdued, this water 
 is not less remarkable for its benign effects. In many of 
 the graver forms of skin diseases, as well as in those of 
 
jluj.iu.cj. ujj.cu.ch; lci ^ ljj.c ucisi icouito may mc cuiijj.u.cji5jij ex- 
 pected. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that the grave consequences 
 that sometimes result from healing long standing ulcers 
 and diseases of the skin by the ordinary methods, are not 
 to be apprehended in the cases of cure by this water. 
 
 Scrofula is known to be amenable to this agent. Of 
 very recent date several remarkable cures of this terrible 
 malady have occurred under its use, and we believe it is 
 destined to become a standard remedy, to which we may 
 look with the highest certainty for its relief. 
 
 In chronic ophthalmic affections, whether dependant 
 upon a scorbutic habit or other dyscrasy of the body, and 
 in all degenerate and morbid conditions of the eye, re- 
 sulting from neglected or improper treatment, the most 
 gratifying results may be anticipated from the judicious 
 use of these Springs. Again and again have those who 
 came blind returned seeing. 
 
 Here, as in all the varieties of ulcers and local inflam- 
 mations treated by this water, a new and powerful agent 
 is employed : it is the topical application of the moss 
 that grows luxuriantly in the baths and streams that flow 
 from them. This has a peculiar effect. When applied 
 to a diseased surface it becomes painful, sometimes ex- 
 ceedingly so, and yet, upon inspection of the part, its 
 redness has been dispelled, and a new and more healthy 
 action established. When the application has been long 
 continued the surface becomes blanched and corrugated. 
 
of these Springs was proved, is rheumatism. 
 
 In affections of this character they have acquired a 
 deservedly high reputation, and are second in rank, per- 
 haps, to no waters of this region. There are cases, it is 
 true, with such rigidity of parts and loss of vitality, or 
 with the diathesis or habit of body so fixed, as to doom 
 the victim to remediless torture; but in all cases in 
 which agencies may be expected to accomplish any good, 
 either by relieving suffering or correcting the morbid con- 
 dition upon which it depends, we know of no means 
 more useful, or that may be employed with greater confi- 
 dence of success. In numerous instances, we could cite 
 those who came to these " pools" with flexed and rigid 
 limbs, and a prey to ever gnawing pains, have speedily 
 found their suffering dispelled as an illusion, and the 
 long contracted muscles restored to their wonted func- 
 tions. In many cases, this water has acted as a charm 
 indeed, and we are aware of none that have not been sen- 
 sibly ameliorated, if not ultimately cured. Its applica- 
 tion has mainly been made to the more strictly chronic 
 forms of the complaint, but it also has its triumphs in 
 the sub-acute varieties. In the latter grade of this in- 
 tractable and painful malady, we believe the baths not 
 only perfectly safe, but entirely applicable. The tempe- 
 rature of the water is not so high as to stimulate this 
 form into the acute, nor so low as to endanger the patient 
 by sudden metastasis; while both effects are guarded 
 against by its powerful diuretic action, and its tendency 
 to the bowels and skin. In the present instance, as in 
 
other cases, wnere it is desirable to give tne water a de- 
 cided direction to the bowels or skin, appropriate adju- 
 vants should be employed. 
 
 In Neuralgia , a congener of the disease just consid- 
 ered, this water is frequently found a specific, and from 
 its alleviation of the thrilling, piercing pain attendant 
 upon this affection, one of the Springs received, long 
 since, the homely but expressive title of " Tooth-ache 
 Spring." It is to those cases, dependent upon general 
 derangement of the system — resulting from a residence 
 in unhealthy districts of country, or those that have their 
 origin in nervous irritability, or spring from a gouty or 
 rheumatic diathesis — that the water is so happily adapted. 
 In tooth-ache, which is frequently a form of neural- 
 gia, there are numerous individuals, now living in the 
 neighborhood of this fountain, who would testify to its 
 efficacy as a speedy and certain remedy. 
 
 The evidence of the powers of these waters in rheu- 
 matic affections, is by no means slender ; but is basecl 
 upon years of observation and upon multiplied cases. 
 
 To many nervous affections these Springs are exactly 
 suited, and in some paralytic cases act most favorably. 
 Perhaps in chorea, and some forms of epilepsy, they 
 would be found valuable; but we have not learned 
 whether any example of either has been furnished. 
 From the history of two remarkable cases, relieved by 
 the use of these waters, after resisting other means, we 
 suppose them to have been rickets. They occurred years 
 
nature. 
 
 Dy$pepsia } that inveterate scourge of the sedentary 
 and thoughtful, which has so long mocked all the rational 
 as well as foolish means that have been invoked by turns 
 for its relief, here finds an almost infallible antidote. 
 The dejected and apprehensive spirit that finds no joy in 
 the present, and looks only * for evil in the future — the 
 hesitating will that can mature no purpose, and desponds 
 even in success — the emaciation of frame and haggard- 
 ness of visage — the ever present endurance, and all the 
 real and fantastic ills that torture the hapless sufferer, 
 are made to yield to the renewing and invigorating influ- 
 ences that a few weeks' use of these waters uniformly 
 send in healthful and rejoicing currents through his lan- 
 guid system. 
 
 It is true, that alone, and in every condition of body, 
 the effect may not be so marked ; but, in most instances, 
 the water is sufficient. Where great torpor of the ab- 
 dominal viscera exists, additional means may be used 
 with profit, and/ indeed, may be found indispensable ; 
 but all that could reasonably be expected of any single 
 remedy, in a disease so Protean in its character, and so 
 intractable in its nature, will be more than realized under 
 the alterant and corroborant effects of the baths and 
 spring. 
 
 For chronic thrush or apilise, the Healing Springs have 
 been employed with entire success, after a fruitless, but 
 persevering use of the best directed means. 
 
chronic affections of the lining coat of the bowels ; but 
 from its soothing effects upon other mucous surfaces, and 
 its power to modify secretion, we should anticipate most 
 favorable results. 
 
 Leucorrhoea, and other kindred disorders of the female, 
 when independent of malignant action or actual displace- 
 ment of organs, will generally yield to the free internal 
 and external use of this water. It is also of great value 
 in chlorotic conditions, and when irregularities of the 
 female habit exist. From the general invigorating effects 
 of the water, the appreciable quantity of iron it contains, 
 and its affinity for the pelvic organs, it is by no means 
 surprising that it should be found so valuable an agent in 
 this class of human infirmities. 
 
 Many diseases of the urinary organs are greatly con- 
 trolled by these waters ; among which are enumerated cal- 
 culous disorders, chronic inflammation of the bladder, en- 
 largement of the prostate gland, and irritation of the 
 urethra. Gleet and stricture have yielded to this agent, 
 after resisting other agents, however judiciously applied. 
 From the decided affinity of the water for this class of 
 organs, we should anticipate just such results as expe- 
 rience has determined to follow their use. 
 
 From the powerful action of the water as a diuretic, 
 some discretion should be observed in its application to 
 this class of affections, and its internal use suspended, if 
 unpleasant symptoms should arise. 
 
cured by this remedy. Whilst it soothes the cough and 
 improves the character of expectorated matter, it imparts 
 a corroborant influence to the general system, and estab- 
 lishes a sure basis for recovery. For enfeebled states of 
 the system, without serious lesion or structural change of 
 any important organ, and springing from exhaustion of 
 vital energy, and attended by an insupportable sense 
 of weariness and lassitude, a panacea is found in the de- 
 lightful and refreshing baths of the Healing Springs. 
 The elasticity of frame and buoyancy of spirit expe- 
 rienced by the exhausted and sighing invalid is no less 
 gratifying to him than it is wonderful to his friends. 
 Just suited by its equable and agreeable temperature to 
 the enervated and enfeebled, this water is adapted above 
 all others to the real valetudinarian. Neither inordi- 
 nately stimulating him by excess of heat, nor unduly 
 depressing his feeble energies of life by too great a de- 
 gree of cold, the invalid can enjoy all the advantages 
 of a delightful bath without sustaining a shock or incur- 
 ring the risk of other injurious consequences. 
 
 In shattered conditions of the system, so often follow- 
 ing severe and protracted illness — exhausting discharges — 
 inordinate attention to business — long residence in un- 
 healthy districts of country — excessive mental anxiety — 
 and from whatever cause it may result, this water, con- 
 joined with the advantages of scenery and climate, pro- 
 mises, with much certainty, the recovery of the lost 
 boon of health. 
 
cure'Of many chronic affections, and its almost indispen- 
 sable importance in the removal of that nameless, but 
 wide-spread tribe of infirmities embraced in the general 
 term debility, is considered, a water of the character 
 here presented cannot be too highly appreciated." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 
 
 These Springs are situated in the northern part o 
 the County of Rockbridge, on the main turnpike roac 
 leading from the town of Lexington to the Warn 
 Springs, seventeen miles from the former and abou" 
 twenty-one from the latter. They were originally th< 
 property of the Campbell family, by whom the land or 
 which they are situated was located about fifty years ago 
 
 The existence of an alum spring at this place was 
 known at the time of the entry of the land, and its pe- 
 culiarities soon led the people of the neighborhood tc 
 test its virtues, first as an external and then as an inter 
 nal remedy, especially for diseases of the skin. The 
 success of these experiments established a local reputa- 
 tion for the water to such an extent that the proprietoi 
 of the Springs found it to his interest to open a house oi 
 entertainment for the accommodation of those who mighl 
 desire to use them. 
 
 But the isolated character of the place, the limited 
 accommodations, and especially the fact that it was then 
 out of the great "Spring circle," and withal inconvenient 
 
tion to the place. But the reputation of the water, re- 
 sulting from actual experience in its use, continued to 
 increase and extend, until the public demand for accom- 
 modation forced an enterprise into the economy of the 
 establishment that has resulted in the erection of appro- 
 priate buildings sufficient for the accommodation of five 
 or six hundred visiters, and in greatly improving and 
 beautifying the grounds adjacent to the Springs. Still 
 the increasing reputation of the waters, and a consequent 
 increasing patronage, so urgently demand further accom- 
 modations that the proprietors are now actively engaged 
 in the erection of new buildings, to be finished by the 
 next season, and which will greatly increase their capacity 
 to accommodate. 
 
 The property is now owned by Messrs. Frazier, & Kaf- 
 dolph, whose industry and enterprise give ample guar- 
 antee that the extent of their accommodations will here- 
 after be commensurate with the public demands. 
 
 Small reservoirs cut in the rock receive the alum wa- 
 ter as it percolates through a heavy cliff of slate-stone. 
 There are five of these reservoirs or springs, all differing 
 slightly from each other, and also differing from them- 
 selves at different times, being stronger and the water 
 also more abundant in rainy weather. 
 
 At the base of the same hill from which the alum 
 water issues, and a few hundred yards above, is a good 
 Chalybeate Spring, which in many cases may be used 
 either alone or in connection with the alum water, to 
 great advantage. 
 
of Boston, in 1852, with the following results :* 
 
 u Description and Analysis of three Samples of Rock- 
 hridge Alum Water from Virginia. 
 
 The samples presented perfectly clear, colorless, and 
 odorless water; the taste was very stringent, with the 
 more lasting impression produced by iron salts. In 
 closed vessels the water may be heated without becoming 
 turbid, but boiling causes ochry matter to fall. In the 
 composition of Rockbridge waters much more of the salts 
 of alumina is found than in the Bath Alum water. 
 
 Rockbridge, No. 1. 
 
 A standard gallon at 60° F. 
 
 contains — 
 
 
 Of bases : Sodium and soda, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.250 
 
 Potash, traces. 
 
 
 
 
 Ammonia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.471 
 
 Lime, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.594 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.368 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4.420 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.748 
 
 Of acids : Sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 32.626 
 
 Carbonic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 2.623 
 
 Organic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.930 
 
 Silicic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 2.460 
 
 Chlorine " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.257 grs 
 
 * Mineral Springs of Virginia. 
 
j.ne enanges wuicn lane piace in mese waters vy poll- 
 ing, the action of sulphydric acicl and salts of silver, in- 
 dicate that these proximate constituents are combined to 
 form the following salts : 
 
 Sulphate of lime, - 
 
 - 1.439 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 
 1.081 
 
 Protoxide of iron, * - 
 
 3.683 
 
 Alumina, - _- - 
 
 - 11.764 
 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 
 0.423 
 
 Silicate of soda, 
 
 2.544 
 
 Crenate of ammonia, 
 
 1.401 
 
 Free sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 18.789 
 
 " carbonic acid, 
 
 2.623 
 
 
 46.747 grs 
 
 Pure water, 
 
 58325.253 
 
 58372.000 
 
 Sample of Rockbridge Alum, No. 2. 
 
 One gallon of this sample 
 
 measured -at 60 c 
 
 F. contains 
 
 the following substances : 
 
 
 
 As bases : Potash, 
 
 . 
 
 0.954 
 
 Sodium, 
 
 . 
 
 0.401 
 
 Ammonia, 
 
 . 
 
 0.300 
 
 Lime, 
 
 . 
 
 1.346 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 . 
 
 0.600 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 . 
 
 2.304 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 - 
 
 5.360 
 
 L 
 
 
 
As acids : fculpnunc acid, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 o4.ziy 
 
 Carbonic u 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 7.356 
 
 Crenic a 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.400 
 
 Silicic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 2.840 
 
 Chlorine « 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.607 
 
 The acids unite to the bases, 
 
 forming 
 
 salts of the 
 
 lowing weights : 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sulphate of potash, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.765 
 
 " lime, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 3.268 
 
 u magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.763 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4.863 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 17.905 
 
 Crenate of ammonia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 •- 
 
 0.700 
 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.008 
 
 Silicic acid, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 2.840 
 
 Free sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 15.224 
 
 Carbonic " 
 
 ' 
 
 ' 
 
 * 
 
 7.356 
 
 
 56.687 
 
 Pure water, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 58 
 
 315.313 
 
 58372.000 
 
 Sample of Rockbridge Alum, No. 4. 
 
 One gallon of this sample afforded — 
 As bases : Potash, traces. 
 
 Sodium, - - - - 0.173 
 
 Ammonia, - 0.360 
 
 Lime, - - . 1.346 
 
 Magnesia, - 1.503 
 
Alumina, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 7.210 
 
 Organic matter, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.020 
 
 3f acids : Sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 29.686 
 
 Carbonic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4.203 
 
 Chlorine u 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.266 
 
 Silicic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.710 
 
 Crenic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 860 
 
 Those substances combinec 
 
 as 
 
 salts 
 
 give 
 
 the followini 
 
 onstituents : 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 0.439 
 
 Sulphate of lime, 
 
 - 
 
 .- 
 
 - 
 
 3.261 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4.418 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4.693 
 
 Alumina, - - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 24.085 
 
 Crenate of ammonia, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.220 
 
 Free sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 5.511 
 
 (i carbonic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 4.203 
 
 " " silicic " 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.710 
 
 Organic matter, 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 1.020 
 
 50.560 
 58321.440 
 
 58372.000 
 
 In comparing these samples with those of the Bath 
 Mum Springs, it will be seen that they are more highly 
 .cid in composition, and contain besides more of the tri- 
 mlphate of alumina in a given volume. This salt gives 
 
subjects of great interest when used as remedial agents 
 Of the waters hitherto described, those from the Oal 
 
 Orchard Acid Mineral Springs, of Alabama, Gcnesse 
 
 county, New York, approach most nearly to this com 
 
 position. 
 
 The results of an analysis by Dr. James R. Chilton 
 
 of Spring- No. 1, is given for comparison : 
 
 Spring 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 
 One gallon contains, of 
 
 
 
 Free sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 
 
 82.96 
 
 Sulphate of lime, 
 
 - 
 
 39.60 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 - 
 
 14.32 
 
 Alumina, 
 
 - 
 
 9.68 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 - 
 
 8.28 
 
 Silica, 
 
 - 
 
 1.04 
 
 Organic matter, 
 
 " 
 
 3.28 
 
 
 159.16 era 
 
 Containing nearly three times the weight of solid mat 
 ter in the gallon, this water does not afford more thai 
 half the amount of tri-sulphate of alumina which i; 
 found in the average of the Rockbridge Alum Springs 
 
 The supposed presence of arsenious acid, and the ex 
 pectation that more active bodies than those named woulc 
 be found, led to a careful examination of the black, de 
 composed shale from which the Bath Alum water takes 
 
alumina to pure water, and contained an abundance of 
 iron pyrites. When two pounds of the clay were decom- 
 posed, the resulting fluid contained no arsenious acid or 
 copper. The earthy part afforded a trace merely of the 
 phosphate of lime. The same negative results followed 
 an analysis of the dry mass from four gallons of the 
 mixed waters. 
 
 The general conclusions following from the results of 
 these analyses are, that the Bath Alum Springs, contain- 
 ing more ferruginous salts, and having the sulphuric acid 
 more equally neutralized, approach more nearly in com- 
 position to chalybeate waters. While the proportions of 
 the salts to the pure water may vary, the relation in hind 
 will be preserved. 
 
 The Rockbridge Alum waters, on the other hand, have 
 their iron salts almost masked in their action by the pre- 
 dominance of free sulphuric acid and tri-sulphate of 
 alumina. In these, too, we may expect the same general 
 relation of hind to prevail, although more or less of the 
 salts is present in the water. Both contain a portion of 
 iron oxide, united to organic compounds, which, inde- 
 pendently of the other salts and acids, would constitute 
 them chalybeate waters. In their origin they are quite 
 pure surface waters, which percolating strata undergoing 
 decomposition, take from their soluble mineral and 
 organic matters. Respectfully, 
 
 AUG. A. HAYES, M. D., 
 Assay er to the State of Mass. 
 
 1, Pine St, Boston, 9th March, 1852." 
 
Such is the analysis of this interesting mineral water, 
 by the same distinguished chemist that analyzed the wa- 
 ters of the Bath Alum Springs. 
 
 The analyses of these two waters, so essentially resem- 
 bling each other, are laid before the public in this vol- 
 ume, and by comparing them, an opportunity is afforded 
 the medical man of hypothetically determining the char- 
 acter of each, and to see at one view in what they airroe, 
 and in what they differ from each other; and hence, so 
 far as analysis can settle the question, to determine their 
 relative powers and medioal applicability. Candor will 
 have to admit, however, that it is not analysis alone, nor 
 principally, that can satisfactorily determine the thera- 
 peutical character or medical adaptations of mineral 
 water-. 
 
 Dr. lluntt, in his pamphlet on the Red Sulphur, in 
 alluding to Professor dodgers' analysis of that Spring, 
 observes that "it certainly does not satisfactorily account 
 for the wonderful effects of the water." The same re- 
 mark may be made in reference to the analysis of all our 
 mineral waters, in connection with the well known and 
 peculiar operations of those waters, with the exception, 
 perhaps, of the simple chalybcatcs; and this, it is fair 
 to presume, will continue to be true of any analysis that 
 can be made in the present state of chemical science. 
 "It is well known to every one at all acquainted with 
 chemical science, that compounds of a very dissimilar 
 character are produced by the combination of the same 
 elements in different proportions, producing substances, 
 in some instances, of far greater activity than either of 
 
 "'iiimimiB 
 
the articles of which they are composed. There is, per- 
 haps; no better illustration of this than that offered by 
 the union of oxygen and nitrogen, producing, when com- 
 bined in one proportion, atmospheric air, nitrous oxide 
 in another, and nitric acid in a third. Nor are we sure 
 that the chemist is able to detect all the ingredients which 
 mineral waters contain. The very tests which reveal 
 some of them to us, may have the power of destroying 
 others, and these, too, may be those in which the medici- 
 nal properties reside. The remedial properties, then, of 
 mineral waters cannot he determined with any certainty by 
 analysis, however nicely conducted, but must be ascer- 
 tained by experience."* One dozen well "ivatched" 
 cases, under the use of a mineral water, will do more to 
 determine the medical powers and applicability of such 
 water than any analysis that can be made by the 4 ablest 
 chemist. 
 
 An analysis of a mineral water satisfies curiosity as to 
 the materials the water is supposed to contain, while it 
 enables the medical man to form some general conclu- 
 sions as to the most prominent characteristics of the 
 water as a remedial agent. Thus far, they are valuable, 
 but singly and alone, without the aid of observation and 
 experience, they never can be safely relied upon to guide 
 in the administration of a remedial water in individual 
 cases. 
 
 'This position finds a pertinent illustration in the Rock- 
 bridge Alum water. Who would not say, looking at the 
 
 ^Professor Haywood. 
 
analysis of this water alone, that its operation would be 
 that of an astringent upon the system ? while the fact is, 
 that it purgts seven out of ten that use it. Again, who 
 would have judged, from a mere analysis of the water, 
 that it was calculated to remove a great reproach from 
 the healing art, by constituting B reliable remedy for 
 scrofula, a disease hitherto so entirely unmanageable ? 
 Vet, experience has established this fact beyond con- 
 troversy. 
 
 Alum waters arc of very recent introduction as re- 
 medial agents ami close practical ohscrvation is yet a <1>- 
 Meratum as to their peculiar therapeutical agency and 
 most appropriate medical applicability. These waters 
 
 certainly p<»>>ess une«jui vocal medicinal powers, and al- 
 though their reputation is now high, they are destined to 
 advance still i'urther in public confidence. Experience 
 has fully shown that they are very eilicaciously used in 
 many diseases rf the skin and glandular system; and 
 that in scrofulous affections they offer new hopes to the 
 afflicted. 
 
 Dr. CHRISTIAN, the intelligent and well-informed re- 
 sident physician at the place, makes the following sum- 
 mary of the applicability of these waters to diseases, 
 which, from the high source whence it emanates, is enti- 
 tled to confidence : 
 
 "They are an invaluable remedy in the cure of all 
 scrofulous and cutaneous diseases, lupus and other malig- 
 nant ulcerations of the mouth and throat, chronic dis- 
 eases of the digestive organs, dyspepsia, diseases of the 
 
 illiimiiiM 
 
KUUK±51ilL>Ui^ AL.UM JSPKiiNUS. ZZD 
 
 liver, chronic diarrhoea, scrofulous affections of the me- 
 sentery and peritoneum, diseases of the urinary organs, 
 diabetes, chronic inflammation and irritation of the kid- 
 neys, bladder and urethra, diseases peculiar to females, 
 amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, leucorrhcea, monorrhagia, 
 chronic inflammation and ulceration of the uterus, hem- 
 orrhoids, all hemorrhagic affections of a passive character, 
 and all anemic conditions of the system and broken down 
 states of the constitution, whether resulting from the im- 
 prudent use of medicine or the errors of youth. In all 
 diseases of the glandular system, whether of uiflainma- 
 tion, induration, or deficient secretion, it has no superior, 
 if an equal, as a curative agent : restoring the secretions 
 generally to a healthy condition, particularly those of the 
 liver, skin and kidneys, whether deficient, excessive, or 
 of bad quality. Its purgative action is characterized by 
 copious bilious discharges, very similar to those produced 
 by mercurials. 
 
 As a remedy in all depraved conditions of the consti- 
 tution, involving as such diseases necessarily do, an un- 
 healthy condition of the blood, we know of no agent that 
 has performed such astonishing cures.; thus it is that it 
 has cured scrofula in all its stages and worst forms, with 
 its kindred affections. 
 
 Acting as a purgative or astringent, according to the 
 quantity taken, it cures with equal facility diseases of the 
 alimentary canal, whether attended with constipation 
 or diarrhoea. 
 
 Unlike most other mineral waters, it retains its cura- 
 tive properties at all seasons of the year, and when sent 
 
away in barrels or bottles, possesses most or till of its 
 medicinal virtues." 
 
 Desirous to avail myself of every source of informa- 
 tion in reference to the peculiar characteristics of these 
 Waters, I requested my friend Dr. McPhebteeb, of 
 Natchez, who spent a portion of the season of 1S44 here, 
 than whom there was no physician more capable or relia- 
 ble, to furnish me with the results of his observation and 
 experience with the waters. The following is his com- 
 munication to me on the subject : 
 
 "Alum Spring^ Va., Sept. 26th, 1844. 
 
 Dear Sir: — It is with considerable reluctance that 1 
 comply with your request, thai 1 should give you a writ- 
 ten account of ?ny experience of the medical virtues of 
 the waters of this place. my opportunities 
 
 of observation have been very limited. Secondly, on ac- 
 count of a great natural disinclination I have to appear 
 before the public. On the other hand, so very little has 
 been published of the very important therapeutical quali- 
 ties of the Virginia Springs, that it is perhaps the duty 
 of every observer to contribute his mite, however small. 
 
 In order that you, and the public may know what de- 
 gree of importance to attach to my remarks, I will observe 
 that I have been here but two seasons. I spent about 
 three weeks here in September, 1840, and about five 
 weeks in August and September of this year. As I have 
 had no opportunity of ascertaining their chemical com- 
 position, I will confine my remarks to their therapeutical 
 
ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 227 
 
 effects, as manifested under my own observation. In 
 their general effects on the system, they are a febrifuge 
 tonic. In their effects on the pulse and skin, they more 
 closely resemble the action of the sulphate of quinine 
 than any other article of the materia medico, that I have 
 met with ; producing a full slow pulse and warm moist 
 skin. By their astringent and tonic qualities, they di- 
 minish internal congestions, and give a centrifugal tend- 
 ency to the fluids, thereby filling the superficial veins and 
 capillaries. They are more uniformly and powerfully 
 diuretic than any waters I have met with. They act 
 as moderately purgative on one-half, or perhaps two- 
 thirds of the visiters. In what may be termed neuralgic 
 dyspepsia, they change the action of the mucous mem- 
 brane — relieve it of the sub-acute inflammation under 
 which it labours, and powerfully promote the appetite and 
 the powers of digestion — and at the same time relieve 
 those intermittent pains, and distressing nervous sensa- 
 tions, that so generally accompany that form of dyspepsia. 
 They very promptly relieve uterine hemorrhage of the 
 passive description. They speedily cure leucorrhcea even 
 when it has been a complaint of years' standing. They 
 relieve some cases of hemorrhoids very promptly. They 
 cause the absorption of scrofulous tumors, and promote 
 the healing of indolent ulcers. The powders prepared by 
 evaporating the water, given in doses of 3 or 4 grains three 
 times a day, in half a drachm of the aromatic syrup of 
 rhubarb, promptly relieves the summer complaint of chil- 
 dren (produced by hot weather and teething) when unat- 
 tended by fever. In doses of from 5 to 15 grains, three 
 
L'L's MINERAL WATERS or VIRGINIA. 
 
 times a day, they relieve weak digestion and strengthen 
 i in children and adults. 
 The common opinion (which I believe is correct) is, 
 thai the upper spring i> most purgative and alterative — 
 the middle one most astringent, and the lower one most 
 tonic — and that the Btrength of all of them is materially 
 increased by wet weather. 
 With these bat I v rema 
 
 1 remain, very d spectfully, 
 
 Viuir obedient ••<• rvant, 
 
 II. M'FHEBTEBS, Bf. D. 
 To J. d. Moorman M- D." 
 
 I have already strongly intimated my opinio! of the 
 great value of this water in sorof&la. But the frequent 
 occurrence, and intractable character of thai disease un- 
 der the ordinary treatment invests with so much interest 
 any new remedy that may be looked to with hope, that I 
 shall be pardoned for again referrii ■_■ bo the subject; For 
 more than fifteen years my attention has been directed to 
 this water as a remedy in scrofulous disease* and as the 
 result of this long observation [ can bear an unequivocal 
 testimony to its value in such eases. In the various forms 
 of scrofula, and especially in the incipient stages of the 
 affection, it may be looked to with great hope, and I 
 verily believe will be found greatly superior to any of the 
 remedies hitherto used by the profession. 
 
 The following letter from Dr. G. A. Rose, formerly 
 much \dktinguished in his profession in Virginia, and 
 now not less so in Indiana, where he has resided for 
 
 inininmiiiB 
 
ROCKBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS. 229 
 
 many years, presents the curative powers of the Alum 
 waters in a very favorable point of view. To a mind na- 
 turally energetic and discriminating, Dr. Rose adds high 
 scientific cultivation and the experience of long and la- 
 borious investigation into the nature of diseases and their 
 remedies. The opinions of such a physician, based upon 
 his own personal observations, are well worthy of the 
 confidence of the public. 
 
 " La Porte, Ind., Dec. 18, 1853. 
 u Dear Sir : — Your card as you passed this place last 
 season, induced a hope you would visit us on your return, 
 but in this we were sadly disappointed. The ill-health of 
 my son Garland, whom you once saw sick in his cradle 
 some thirty-three years since, induced me to take him to 
 the Virginia Springs in the hope of curing him of Coloni- 
 tis, and of meeting with you, as I expected you were 
 still resident physician at the White Sulphur Springs. 
 But I was again disappointed in seeing you. Finding 
 neither the White Sulphur, nor the Hot, nor the Warm 
 Springs to impart any permanent benefit, I repaired 
 to Rockbridge Alum Spring. As before remarked we 
 had used the upper springs without permanent benefit, 
 and faithless as I was, with regard to the Rockbridge 
 Alum waters, I determined to visit them. The night 
 before we left the hot for the Rockbridge Bath Alum, 
 my son was very ill, and although it was raining in 
 the morning, we embarked for the Alum as the last re- 
 sort. The truth was, I had heard so much said in its 
 praise, I classed it among the quack remedies \ but in the 
 
language of the Queen of Sheba, witb regard to Solomon, 
 I found, the half its merits had never been told. No wa- 
 tor in the mountains is used more injudiciously by visi- 
 ters, yet all who had a right to expect benefit, received it, 
 despite their imprudence. The difference between that 
 water and all others Ifl this: an intelligent physician can 
 before hand tell precisely what the water can do, and 
 what it cannot do. A case in point occurred to me in a 
 pair of fair damsels, daughters of an old acquaintance 
 near Lynchburg. I saw them packing up for a move, 
 and inquired what they were alter. " Oh, we are not 
 mending, and we think of going to the White Sulphur, if 
 yon think best/' 1 replied yon are not mending, because 
 then 4 is not iron enough in this water. Go to the Bath 
 Alum. If you are not better in three days, proceed to 
 
 the Hot Spring. If you improve there, stay as long as 
 you do improve. If you do not improve, return to the 
 Bath Alum. I lnard no more of them for 10 or 12 days, 
 when tiny oast up with red cheeks and lips, haying gone 
 no farther than the Hath Alum, where the increased 
 quantity of iron was precisely adapted to their anemic 
 condition. I now return to my son's case. In three 
 days after he began the use of the water, he said there 
 W*fl a salutary change in his feelings, and in three weeks 
 he was well, is now well and fat. He brought home with 
 him two demijohns, of the water which he used on the 
 route, but since he got home, he has not indeed given 
 his " physic to the dogs/ ; but he has had no need for 
 its use. 
 
I hope in your treatise on the mineral waters of Vir- 
 ginia you will attempt to do justice to this invaluable wa- 
 ter. In conversation with intelligent men, at the various 
 springs, I obtained statistics enough to fill a small volume, 
 relative to its curative power, and most assuredly your 
 information must be much more extensive and critical. 
 I pray you to receive the homage 
 
 Of my great esteem, 
 
 a. A. ROSE. 
 Dr. J. J. Moorman. 
 
CHAPTER XV, 
 
 BATH ALUM SPRINGS. 
 
 The Bath Alum Springs are situated near the eastern 
 of tlic Warm Spring mountain, on the main 
 I leading from Staunton to the Warm Springs, 45 
 miles wesl from the former, and 6 miles east from the 
 r place. 
 The valley in which they arise, is an extensive < 
 gularly encircled by mountains, with an unproductive 
 Bandy Boil, and affords indications of salubrity and health- 
 fulness. 
 
 It is only within the last two years that these Springs 
 D to attract public attention as a mineral water; and 
 it doe- not exceed four years since the grounds near the 
 Springs, now so elegantly and tastefully improved, were a 
 wild and primitive forest. This great change, by which 
 the '-desert was made to blossom as the rose," was 
 brought about by the energy of the late lamented John 
 W. Frazier, Esq., whose family still own a large interest 
 in the property. 
 
 The improvements here are extensive, substantial, and 
 convenient, affording comfortable and elegant accommo- 
 dations for a large company. 
 
The Alum waters issue from a slate-stone cliff of twelve 
 or fifteen feet high, and are received into small reservoirs 
 that have been excavated near each other in the rock. 
 These different springs, or reservoirs, differ essentially 
 from each other. One of them is a very strong chalyb- 
 eate, with but little alum ; another is a milder chalybeate, 
 with more alumina ; while the others are alum of different 
 degrees of strength, but all containing an appreciable 
 Quantity of iron. 
 
 Dr. Hayes, of Boston, the same gentleman to whom 
 we are indebted for the analysis of several of our Mineral 
 Springs, has analyzed the waters of the Bath Alum, and 
 renders the following report of his chemical investi- 
 gations :* 
 
 "Description and Analysis of the Bath Alum Spring 
 Waters of Virginia. 
 
 u The sample of these waters were received in excellent 
 order and abundant in quantity. On carefully opening 
 the vessels at 60° F., the external air entered, to restore 
 in volume a portion which had been absorbed by the wa- 
 ter from the small space below the sealed aperture. 
 With the samples was some of the nearly black clay of 
 the Bath Alum Spring location, which had apparently 
 been derived from the breaking down of shale or slate 
 and shales. On exposure to the air, these samples of 
 water lost their brilliant, sparkling appearance, becoming 
 
 * Mineral Springs of Virginia. 
 
cloudy and slowly depositing in flocks an ochry matter. 
 They were perfectly colorless before exposure, and when 
 tasted left an acid impression and strongly astringent 
 taste. 
 
 "When the temperature of these waters is raised, 
 they become turbid at about 120° F., and before any 
 considerable escape of air or gas takes place. Nearly the 
 same effect is produced, if the water to be heated is ex- 
 cluded from air, the partial decomposition being in no 
 wist' connected with the escape of carbonic acid. No 
 sulphurous or hepatic odor is exhibited, nor can any fer- 
 menting action or change be produced by exposure in 
 warm places. 
 
 * A n alysis. 
 
 "A standard gallon (58.372 gre.) was the measure of 
 each water used in the determination of the quantities of 
 the substances found. The experiments necessary for 
 ascertaining the presence or absence of other substances 
 than those named, were made on much larger quantities, 
 so as to render the chemical history more exact. 
 
 " The first sample, Bath Alum No. 1,* at the tempera- 
 ture of 60° F. one standard gallon of this water, contains 
 of the bases : 
 
 Soda, 0.720 
 
 Potash, - traces. 
 
 Ammonia, - 0,830 
 
 * Referring to the lowest Spring. 
 
Lime, - - 
 
 1.570 
 
 Magnesia, - 
 
 0.960 
 
 Protoxide of iron, - 
 
 6.876 
 
 Alumina, - 
 
 - * 3.080 
 
 Of the acids : 
 
 
 Sulphuric acid, 
 
 - 24.750 
 
 Carbonic, - 
 
 4.140 
 
 Silicic, 
 
 1.390 
 
 Organic, 
 
 1.020 
 
 Chlorine, 
 
 0.107 grs 
 
 u When their proximate constituents are arranged, so 
 as to represent as nearly as it is possible, the compounds 
 which experiments prove to exist in the water, the com- 
 position of the whole may be expressed as — 
 
 Pure water, - 
 
 58326.557 
 
 Free sulph. acid, 
 Carbonic acid, 
 
 5.806 
 4.140 
 
 Sulphate of lime, - 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 Protoxide iron, 
 
 3.805 
 
 2.821 
 
 14.516 
 
 Alumina, - 
 
 10.288 
 
 Chloride of sodium, 
 Silicate of soda, 
 
 0.176 
 2.024 
 
 Crenate of ammonia, 
 
 1.850 
 
 Oxygen added to sodium, 
 
 .017 
 
 
 45.443 
 
 
 
Sample No. 2, Bath Alum No. 3. 
 
 In one gallon of this sample there were contained as 
 bases : 
 
 Potash, 
 Soda, 
 
 Ammonia, 
 Magnesia, 
 Lime, 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 Alumina, 
 As acids : 
 
 Sulphuric acid, 
 Carbonic, 
 Organic, 
 Silicic, 
 Chlorine, a trace. 
 
 0.140 
 0.350 
 0.462 
 0.486 
 1.049 
 10.314 
 3.680 
 
 30.359 
 3.846 
 1.310 
 
 2.800 
 
 These substances united in the form of salts as existing 
 in the water, give the matter foreign to pure water. 
 The composition of the gallon in grains is — 
 
 Pure water, 
 
 58317.206 
 
 Free sulphuric acid, 
 Carbonic acid, 
 
 7.878 
 3.846 
 
 Sulphate of potash, 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 Lime, 
 
 .258 
 1.282 
 2.539 
 
 Protoxide of iron, 
 
 - 21.776 
 
 illiiiiiiiiiir 
 
Alumina, 
 
 - 12.293 * 
 
 Crenate of ammonia, 
 
 1.776 
 
 Silicate of soda, - 
 
 3.150 
 
 
 54.798 
 
 Pure water, 
 
 58317.202 
 
 
 58.372.000 
 
 "This sample differs from the first in acting much 
 more strongly on the organs of taste, and the quantity of 
 free sulphuric acid is larger than in that water. Both 
 these waters are highly acid in their action, although the 
 acid is united to bases, which in part neutralize its power. 
 When by boiling a deposit takes place, if the heat is 
 continued, the deposited matter re-dissolves as the water 
 evaporates. 
 
 " When much reduced in volume by evaporation, the 
 excess of acid chars the organic acid present, and alters 
 the composition of the salts. 
 
 " In considering the composition of these waters, the 
 protoxide of iron is assumed to be united to the sulphuric 
 acid. The change produced by heating is referred to the 
 action of the crenate of ammonia, and is the same as 
 ordinarily where crenates, free from apocrenates, are nat- 
 urally contained in a water. When mixed with the solu- 
 ble salts of silver and exposed to light, the gray color is 
 entirely distinct from that produced by either apocrenates, 
 humates or any decomposing matter. When the metallic 
 silver and oxide of iron resulting from the first action are 
 
removed, the mixture by evaporation continues to afford 
 brilliant scales of metallic silver, until reduced to a small 
 volume. 
 
 " The gaseous matter in these waters is a mixture of 
 carbonic acid, nitrogen, and a small proportion of oxygen, 
 and the measure is about 1 volume of the mixed gases to 
 40 volumes of the water. The carbonic acid is given by 
 weight, so that an uniform expression of acid relation is 
 adopted, and no misconception can arise, if the reader 
 bears in mind the fact that carbonic acid has more than 
 twice the acid or neutralizing power possessed by the 
 strongest fluid sulphuric acid." 
 
 Dr. Strother, an intelligent and discriminating physi- 
 cian, who resides in the neighborhood, and has enjoyed a 
 better opportunity than any other medical man for under- 
 standing the nature and value of the Bath Alum waters, 
 thinks very favorably of them in scrofulous, eruptive and 
 dyspeptic affections. He also bears testimony to their 
 good effects, in old hepatic derangements, chronic diar- 
 rhoea, chronic thrush, nervous debility, and in various 
 uterine diseases, especially in the worst forms of monor- 
 rhagia, and in fluor albus, both uterine and vaginal. 
 
 In chlorotic females, and in a broken down condition 
 of the nervous system, often in males, the result of youth- 
 ful improprieties, as well as when the system is anemic, 
 but free from obstinate visceral obstructions, this water 
 promises to be very beneficial. 
 
 The following communication from a highly respectable 
 gentleman of Massachusetts, shows the prompt and happy 
 
 llllllfffffllffffi 
 
effects of this water in an obstinate disease of the skin, 
 of long standing : 
 
 Bath Alum, April 21st, 1853. 
 B. K. Spangler, Esq. : 
 
 Intending soon to leave Bath Alum, I wish to leave in 
 your hands a statement of the effects which I have expe- 
 rienced from the use of the alum water at this place, 
 hoping it may be of service to others who are similarly 
 afflicted. I had in my system a disease which began to 
 appear when I was about two years old, in eruptions on 
 the skin, which gradually extended over a great part of 
 the body. At the time time it affected my eyes, causing 
 much inflammation and soreness. The eruptions were 
 healed for a time by the application of mineral waters in 
 Massachusetts, in which State my parents resided. In a 
 few years afterward they re-appeared, and for the last 
 twenty years my disease has continued at intervals of 
 about one and four years to show itself on the surface. 
 Several eminent physicians tried their skill, but only in 
 one instance was there even the shadow of success. In 
 that instance, the disease was healed externally, still 
 remaining in the system and gathering strength from 
 year to year. It is about Jive years since this external 
 cure was effected by a physician in Massachusetts, who 
 denominated my complaint as the Salt Rheum. It in- 
 variably attacks me in cold weather, and when hot 
 weather returns heals up. For the last five years it has 
 given me no trouble until the past winter. The excessive 
 cold of the northern climate caused a number of erup- 
 tions to appear on the skin, which were accompanied with 
 much soreness and lameness. They were confined princi- 
 pally to my right leg. Having occasion to come to the 
 northern part of this State, I determined while at Har- 
 per's Ferry to make trial of some of the springs of Vir- 
 ginia. I had not heard of the Bath Alum, and on my 
 way to the springs west of this, it was almost by accident 
 
that I stopped here. My leg was extremely painful — it 
 was with great difficulty that I could walk, and the effects 
 of the disease for some nights previous had been such as 
 to make me entirely restless and sleepless. After using 
 the alum water moderately for tico days, I could enjoy 
 " tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep," as well 
 as any body. Soon afterwards the sore on my leg began 
 to discharge freely, which it continued to do for about 
 three weeks, though less and less each succeeding day. 
 By this time all the itching and inflammation which 
 always accompany these eruptions had been removed. 
 But they were not yet in a state to heal up. I gradually 
 increased the quantity of water I drank, which caused it 
 to act more powerfully in throwing my disease out. A 
 new sore came on my right arm, which, after discharging 
 freely, healed up. Immediately another sore came in 
 the same place, which disappeared in a similar manner. 
 After using the alum water copiously for about five 
 weeks, I had partially lost my relish for it. My relish 
 for the water was restored by an intermission of its use 
 for two weeks, which I spent among the mountains west 
 of this. I have now used the water freely for about one 
 week since my return. All the eruptions on the skin 
 are healed up, and I think the disease is effectually con- 
 quered. Heretofore this disease has left me in an enfee- 
 bled condition, but now I am in better health than I have 
 ever enjoyed. While the alum water has been rapidly 
 removing my disease, its effect has been highly salutary 
 on my whole system. 
 
 CHARLES BLISS. 
 
 Hlllliiiimii 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DIBRELL S SPRING. 
 
 Dibrell's Spring is in the extreme north-western 
 portion of Botetourt County, thirty miles east of the 
 great Alleghany chain of mountains, and just at the 
 western base of the Garden Mountain, on the main road 
 from Lynchburg to the White Sulphur, by way of the 
 James River Canal. It is nineteen miles west, by a 
 direct road, from the Natural Bridge, and twenty-eight 
 miles from that place by the way of Buchanan, the 
 route usually traveled. 
 
 The Spring was first opened as a watering place some 
 thirty years ago, by a gentleman by the name of Daggar y 
 and hence it is often called by his name. Subsequently, 
 it was owned by the late James W. Dibrell, Esq., of 
 Richmond. The present proprietor and landlord is Mr. 
 
 Hatcher, a gentleman whose good cheer and kindly 
 
 attentions to his guests, make him very favorably known 
 to the public. 
 
 The improvements here are neat, appropriate and com- 
 fortable, and calculated for 150 persons. 
 
 The company that assembles at this place has hereto- 
 fore been largely composed of persons from the towns 
 
 M ** 
 
and villages of the surrounding country, and from East 
 em Virginia, constituting a most agreeable and socia 
 circle. Indeed, the place has long been remarkable foi 
 sociability, and there are few, if any, situations in oui 
 mountains where a period of relaxation from the care* 
 and business of life can be more agreeably spent. Free 
 and easy social intercourse, sanctioned and sustained b} 
 the polite courtesies of life, while it is delightful in itself 
 powerfully contributes to the relief of many ills thai 
 flesh is heir to. It well deserves to be taken into the 
 account of the advantages accruing to the invalid al 
 watering places, and cannot for a moment be overlooked 
 by those who resort to such places for happiness merely. 
 
 The Spring, which arises at the termination of a 
 pretty lawn in front of the Hotel, and about two hun- 
 dred yards distant from it, is a very bland and agreeable 
 sulphur water, acting kindly as a diuretic, aperient, and 
 gentle alterative. Holding in solution essentially the 
 same medical ingredients, though probably not in as large 
 an amount, that distinguish our best sulphur waters, it 
 may be used advantageously in the various diseases for 
 which sulphur waters generally are employed. Being 
 less exciting than many of our sulphur waters, and acting 
 at the same time kindly on the various emunctories, it 
 would seem to be better adapted to some cases than the 
 more potent waters. 
 
 It is a valuable dyspeptic water, rarely failing to pro- 
 duce beneficial effects in the simple forms of that disease. 
 In derangements of the biliary organs, unattended with 
 obstinate obstructions, it may be used to great advantage. 
 
AJJ.J~>±.\,JUXJJ-l 13 PX11111U. 
 
 In all cases in which a gentle diuretic is demanded, it 
 will be found serviceable. 
 
 It is a mineral water upon the use of which the inva- 
 lid, who desires to induce gentle alterative effects upon 
 his system, may enter with much hope, and without that 
 fear of over-stimulating the organs which demands a 
 prompt and decided caution in the use of our stronger 
 sulphur waters. 
 
 Professor Wm. B. Rodgers, in the course of his geo- 
 logical survey of the State, chemically examined this 
 water, but failing to make his analysis quantitative, it 
 affords but little satisfaction. 
 
 The following is a list of the ingredients in the water, 
 as ascertained by Professor Rodgers : 
 
 Solid ingredients : Carbonate of soda. 
 Sulphate of soda.J 
 Chloride of sodium. 
 Carbonate of magnesia. 
 Peroxide of iron. 
 Silica dissolved. 
 Organic matter, containing chloride of potassium, ni- 
 trogen, carbonate of iron, and carbonate of ammonia. 
 Gaseous ingredients : Carbonic acid. 
 Oxygen. 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 Nitrogen. 
 
CHAPTER XVII, 
 
 rawley' s spring. 
 
 Rawley' s Spring is situated on the southern slope of 
 the North Mountain, in the County of Rockingham, 
 twelve 'miles north-west from Harrisonburg, and about 
 one hundred and twenty miles north-east from the White 
 Sulphur. 
 
 The Rawley water is a strong and pure chalybeate, and 
 well adapted to cases requiring such a tonic. 
 
 The writer has had some personal experience in the 
 use of this water, and for many years has been in the 
 habit of occasionally directing its use in cases to which it 
 is applicable. As a pure iron tonic, it deserves to stand 
 at the very head of that class of remedies. 
 
 In that class of female affections dependent upon de- 
 bility, or want of tone in the uterine system, the water 
 is an exceedingly valuable remedy. Its salutary effects 
 in cases of this description are often as remarkable as 
 they are gratifying, restoring the functions of the debili- 
 tated organ, and imparting vigor and health to the whole 
 system. 
 
 The Rawley waters are the strongest chalybeate known 
 to us; and if their great tonic virtues were more gen- 
 
erally known, and especially their very superior efficacy in 
 the class of female derangements just alluded to, they 
 would be much and beneficially resorted to by those who 
 frequent watering places. 
 
 In some forms of dyspepsia, and in nervous diseases 
 with general debility and unattended with organic ob- 
 structions, these waters are used with great success. 
 The same may be said of their employment in many 
 cases of leucorrhoea and gleet, and especially in that 
 peculiar form of nervous and mental debility, the fre- 
 quent result of improper youthful improprieties. 
 
 The water of this Spring has never >• been analized, but 
 it is evident that the iron is held in solution in the form 
 of a carbonate, which is the least irritating and the 
 most efficient form in which it exists in mineral waters 
 
 The accommodations at Rawley's are not extensive — 
 sufficient, perhaps, for one hundred and fifty persons, and 
 about that number may often be found there in the 
 course of the season. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS.* 
 
 The Fauquier White Sulphur Springs are situated in 
 the county of Fauquier, Virginia, 56 miles from Wash- 
 ington, and abou|^0 from Fredericksburg. 
 
 The medical quality of the sulphur springs at this 
 place, were known and highly appreciated, long before 
 they were opened to the public. While the virtues of 
 the waters remained in comparative obscurity, the resort 
 of those living in the neighborhood caused such an inter- 
 ruption to the farming operations of the proprietor, as 
 induced him, after every other endeavor to keep out 
 crowds of visiters had failed, to fill up the spring. 
 
 But so clearly had its virtues been established by the 
 comparatively partial trial of its virtues, that the estate 
 was purchased by Hancock Lee, Esq., one of the present 
 stockholders, with the view of making it a place of pub- 
 lic resort. 
 
 These valuable waters and grounds are now owned by 
 an incorporated company, under the title of the " Fau- 
 quier White Sulphur Springs." The real estate, which, 
 
 * " Six Weeks in Fauquier, Tby a Visiter." 
 
with the improvements and personal property, constitute 
 the principal stock of the company, consists of about two 
 thousand nine hundred and thirty-four acres of land, ly- 
 ing upon and on both sides of the Rappahannock river. 
 
 The Springs establishment consists of an elegant brick 
 pavilion, which, including the wings, is one hundred and 
 eighty-eight feet in length, by forty-four in width. It 
 is four stories high, and capable of accommodating four 
 hundred persons. Across the street, and directly oppo- 
 site the pavilion, stands what is called the " new build- 
 ing," which is also of brick and four stories high, one 
 hundred and five feet long, and thirty wide. There are 
 also ninety cabins or rooms, separate and distinct from 
 the pavilion and new building. Those visiters, who from 
 ill health or other causes, desire the quiet and comfort of 
 their own homes, added to the healthy and balmy breezes 
 that steal through the valley, obtain one of these cabins, 
 which, being arranged on the northern and southern 
 sides of the square, and amid the serpentine and shady 
 walks and playing fountains, contribute much towards 
 making a somewhat distant south-east view of the prem- 
 ises picturesque and beautiful. * 
 
 There is here an elegant and commodious bathing 
 establishment, complete in all its arrangements and con- 
 stantly supplied with the sulphur water, of any desired 
 temperature. The architecture of this building is Gothic 
 and forms an additional ornament to the springs. 
 
 The first impression of the stranger on arriving here, 
 especially if it be his first visit to a watering place in 
 Virginia, cannot be otherwise than agreeable. The 
 
friendly shake of the hand, the true Virginia welcome, 
 u right hearty" and sincere, which he receives from the 
 principal managers, will cause him to feel that he is not 
 a stranger in a strange land, but among those who are 
 ready to participate and enjoy, in common with himself, 
 all the comforts, pleasures and recreations of the valley 
 of Fauquier. 
 
 The sulphur springs, surrounded by a tasteful octag- 
 onal pavilion, and supplied with seats, is situated in a 
 verdant valley, about one hundred and fifty yards from 
 the dining hall. It is most frequently visited at morn- 
 ing and evening, when it not unfrequently presents a 
 scene of beauty, cheerfulness and rational mirth, mingled 
 with entertainment and instruction. 
 
 According to analysis, which however is regarded as 
 very imperfect, the water is impregnated with sulphate of 
 magnesia, phosphate of soda, and sulphuretted hydrogen. 
 Its temperature is 56° Fahrenheit, 10 \ ° Raumer. It 
 has a strong sulphuric smell, and the taste being not 
 unlike the odor arising from the yolk of a hard-boiled 
 egg, is not, perhaps, at first very agreeable to the palate 
 of a gourmand. Withjsome reluctance, and possibly a 
 few wry faces, two or three glasses may be drank during 
 the first day. This disagreeable taste, however, is soon 
 changed to impatient longings, and even a strong appetite 
 for the water, till anon, five or six tumblers full before 
 breakfast, or twenty glasses during the day, are not con- 
 sidered an immoderate dose. The water operates purga- 
 tively and diuretically ; the cuticular pores being opened 
 
 'lllHliiiiiH 
 
FAUQUIER WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 24U 
 
 and perspiration, especially if the weather be warm, flows 
 easily and copiously. 
 
 The waters of Fauquier are not as strong as the sul- 
 phur waters of Greenbrier and Monroe, and consequently 
 will not act so soon or so powerfully on the system as the 
 latter. But they are in deservedly high repute as an 
 alterative, and the very gradual way in which they affect 
 the system, gives them a preference to stronger waters in 
 some cases ! 
 
 They are thought to be very valuable, particularly in' 
 certain dyspeptic depravities, and in dropsical affections. 
 
 The Hon. B. Watkins Leigh, late U. S. Senator from 
 Virginia, was cured of a dropsy by the use of these 
 waters in 1838, after having undergone the operation of 
 Paracentesis for the disease. 
 
CHAPTER XIX 
 
 jordon's white sulphur springs. 
 
 These Springs are in Frederick County, Virginia, five 
 miles from the town of Winchester, and one and a half 
 from Stephenson's Depot, a point on the Winchester and 
 Harper's Ferry Railroad. They are situated in a small 
 valley, surrounded by hills of no great altitude. The 
 earth in the vicinity of the Springs is blended with slate, 
 very porous, and readily absorbs all the water that falls 
 upon it. Hence, it is as remarkable for its dryness, as is 
 the neighborhood for its exemption from vapors and fogs. 
 The grounds about the Springs are well covered with 
 grass ; are sufficiently extensive for pleasant promenades ; 
 and, withal, are shaded by a variety of ornamental trees, 
 among which are found the aspen, willow, sycamore, ash, 
 cedar, &c. 
 
 From several of the surrounding hills, pleasant views 
 may be had of the Blue Ridge and Alleghany mountains 
 and the immense gap at Harper's Ferry. One mile from 
 the Springs is a small and unique mountain, covered 
 with stunted pine, and known by the somewhat unpleas- 
 ant cognomen of the " Devil's Back Bone." It is quite 
 a "lion" in its way, and is often visited by the sojourn- 
 
 'Illinium. 
 
joedon's white sulphur springs. 251 
 
 ers at " Jordon's." On the eastern side of this small 
 and narrow mountain, and just at its base, flows the 
 Opaquon Creek, 'affording good fishing privileges, while 
 along its western base runs a small stream that winds 
 its way through the Spring lawn midway between the 
 hotels. 
 
 The buildings for the entertainment of the public are 
 very comfortable, and consist of two large brick hotels 
 and a number of cabins, and are said to be sufficient for 
 the accommodation of 300 persons. 
 
 This property was owned and occupied for seventeen 
 years by Mr. Branch Jordon, who is favorably remem- 
 bered by many for the excellent fare with which he sup- 
 plied his guests, and especially for the admirable char- 
 acter of his bread, the great staff of life, which equalled 
 in quality the famous French rolls. Recently the pro- 
 perty was purchased by two of Mr. Jordon' s nephews, 
 of the same name, and who are applying a commendable 
 amount of energy and taste to the adornment and solid 
 improvement of the place. 
 
 The Spring, although not one of great boldness, af- 
 fords in abundance a mild, pleasant sulphur water, of 
 the temperature of 57° Fah., which is said not to be 
 influenced either in quantity or temperature by wet or 
 dry, hot or cold weather. Like all other sulphur waters, 
 it is unpleasant at first to tjie palate of the uninitiated, 
 but very soon it is not only tolerated, but actually pre- 
 ferred to common water. 
 
 The fountain is enclosed by marble slabs, and shaded 
 by an octagon structure, supported by large pillars. Its 
 
252 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 situation is midway between the hotels, and very conve- 
 nient to all the boarders. 
 
 These waters have never been analyzed, though it will 
 probably be found, judging from the geological position 
 of the fountain, as well as from the sensible properties of 
 the water itself, to contain less lime than many of our 
 sulphur waters, and, therefore, more free from the harsh 
 ingredients imparted by the sulphate and carbonate of 
 that mineral ; while it holds in solution the other com- 
 ponents usually found in our sulphur waters. If this 
 suggestion be correct, it points it out as peculiarly val- 
 uable in gravel and the various chronic diseases of the 
 kidneys, bladder and urethra. 
 
 Medicinally, the water acts as a diuretic and slight 
 aperient. As an alterative, it is found to be valuable in 
 the various forms of chronic disease in which sulphur 
 waters are commonly beneficial. Among other diseases, 
 dyspepsia and the various gastric derangements have 
 derived much benefit from its use. The same may be 
 said of liver disease, haemorrhoids, diseases of the skin, 
 and rheumatism, especially when it proceeds from the 
 use of mercury. Several gentlemen have borne very 
 decided testimony to the superior efficacy of these waters 
 in gout, and their unirritating quality would seem to 
 point them out as a valuable remedy in that disease. 
 
 The bland but sure effect of these waters upon the 
 system points them out as a valuable agent in a large 
 class of diseases, and inspires belief as to their successful 
 attainment to still greater public favor and confidence. 
 
jordon's white sulphur springs. 253 
 
 The following testimony as to the use and efficacy of 
 these waters by an old and distinguished physician of 
 Frederick County, Md., is every way worthy of at- 
 tention : 
 
 " " I have been a visiter, at different times, for the last 
 forty years, at the White Sulphur Springs of Frederick 
 County, Va. My opinion of the medicinal effects of 
 the water is conclusively in its favor. In all cases where 
 there exists functional derangement of any of the ab- 
 dominal viscera, with proper mangement, it seldom fails 
 to effect relief, if not a cure. I have seen many cases of 
 jaundice, depending upon the above cause, most effect- 
 ually removed and robust health restored. Diseases of 
 the stomach, bowels, kidneys, &c, &c, yield most readily. 
 When produced by suspended perspiration, the water will 
 restore the functions of the skin, and thereby give the 
 blood a free circulation through the capillaries, and thus 
 restore the equilibrium of circulation. In diseases of 
 the skin, it is an active agent, especially when aided by 
 the external application of the sediment or mud. I have 
 seen cases cured which had resisted the most scientific 
 treatment', indeed, when they were so offensive that it 
 was extremely unpleasant to be near them. 
 
 " The situation of the Spring and country around it, 
 with the many facilities of approach, &c, its nearness to 
 the seaboard, and the daily cars and mails, make it a 
 most desirable place * of resort for health or retirement 
 during the heat of summer. The surrounding country 
 is healthy, and the soil well calculated for invalids, as it 
 never remains long wet after rains. 
 
" The accommodations, as far as relates to the table, 
 lodging and servants, arc in good keeping. The table 
 affords all that is necessary for all classes of visiters, 
 even the most fastidious. Indeed, injury is often done 
 to the invalid by over-feeding, the temptations being irre- 
 sistible. Cases are often made worse by the want of 
 proper care to this part. The water, the company, the 
 bracing effects of mountain air, all conspire to induce an 
 unusual appetite, and this is indulged in before the sys- 
 tem is prepared for it. 
 
 " I have been afflicted with the gout for many years, 
 functional derangement of the liver being the great cause. 
 By a gentle alterative course of treatment, and then 
 washing out with the sulphur water, has INVARIABLY 
 afforded me the most decided relief. So with nearly all 
 the cases that have come under my notice. 
 
 "If you had a doctor during the season of the Springs 
 to give full directions for using the water, he under- 
 standing the use of them, it would add much to its ce- 
 lebrity. There is one other matter I will mention. Fre- 
 quently, after persons have derived all the benefits from 
 the water that they had a right to expect, they return 
 home and relapse. This, in many cases, can be satisfac- 
 torily accounted for. Whilst at the Springs, they in- 
 dulge freely in the good things afforded at the table; if 
 even repletion occurs, the water aids in affording relief 
 by the operation on the bowels, ajid thus prevents mis- 
 chief. When they get home, however, they treat their 
 appetite, produce repletion, headache, &c, &c. — they not 
 having the benefit of the cathartic operation of the 
 
jordon's white sulphur springs. 255 
 
 water, cheerful company, mountain air, &c, and retiring 
 to a sedative course of life. 
 
 " In conclusion : Every case depending upon func- 
 tional derangement of the viscera and skin, with diseases 
 of the skin, may calculate upon relief, if not a cure, with 
 proper management and care of the water, table and ex- 
 ercise. Yours, &c, J. B." 
 
 The following letter in reference to the virtues of the 
 water is from a physician who resides in the neighbor- 
 hood of the Spring, and who is familiar with its use : 
 
 "Dr. R. M. Jordan: 
 
 "In reply to your interrogatory, 'In what diseases 
 have you found the water of Jordon's White Sulphur 
 Springs most beneficial V I reply, that I have practiced 
 at and near said Springs for about twelve years. 
 
 " In dropsy, and diseases connected with the kidneys, 
 except peculiar kinds of calculi, they are highly beneficial. 
 No remedy in our pharmacopia will produce half the 
 urinary discharge in either ascites, hydrothorax or gen- 
 eral dropsy. 
 
 " In rheumatism, its effects are very serviceable, par- 
 ticularly bathing in the water ; consequently in gout, the 
 near relative of rheumatism, it proves highly beneficial. 
 
 "In torpid liver, with the usual accompaniments of 
 indigestion or dyspepsia, it is inferior to no water in Vir- 
 ginia. With blue pill, the liver acts freely and without 
 debilitating the patient. 
 
 " In suppressed menstruation, its effects are remarka- 
 ble. Females who use the water freely in a natural con- 
 
dition, are surprised to find this monthly visiter return- 
 ing semi-monthly; but such is the fact. Therefore, 
 when suppression exists, no remedy is better. 
 
 " In gleet, this water has no rival. 
 
 " But in chronic cutaneous diseases it is peculiarly cura- 
 tive. I have seen instances of the most ungovernable 
 herpes cured by the application of the mud from the 
 Spring, together with the use of the water. 
 
 u The greatest misfortune connected with Jordon's 
 Springs has always been, that the salubrious air, th« 
 good fare, and the general alterative and invigorating 
 effects of the water, make gourmands of its visiters. I 
 would respectfutly say to all visiters who would be 
 benefited by a visit thereto, to practice abstinence, and 
 benefit will certainly result. 
 
 " Respectfully yours, J. J. J., MB. 
 
 " April M } 1854." 
 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SHANNONDALE SPRINGS. 
 
 The Shannondale Springs are in the County of Jef- 
 ferson, and arise in a peninsula of the Shenandoah River 
 known as the " Horse Shoe." They are five and a half 
 miles from Charlestown, the seat of justice for Jefferson 
 County. 
 
 The Springs are three in number, hut one only is prin- 
 cipally used. The temperature of the water is 55° Fah. 
 as reported by Dr. De Butts. 
 
 The Shannondale water seems to have some approxi- 
 mation in its nature and effects to the celebrated Bedford 
 water. It may properly be classed as a saline chalybeate, 
 and may be used with good effects as a mild alterative 
 tonic, in some forms of dyspepsia, nervous diseases, gen- 
 eral debility unattended with severe organic derange- 
 ments, chronic diseases of the mucus surfaces, such as 
 gleet, luchorrhoea, &c, and to that class of female dis- 
 eases requiring the aid of mineral tonics. 
 
 The water acts generally as a diuretic, and very com- 
 monly has a mild aperient effect. 
 
 The late Dr. De Butts, of Baltimore, analyzed the 
 Shannondale water in 1821. 
 
One hundred grains of the solid contents of the water 
 nf the principal fountain afforded the following results : 
 Sulphate of lime, - - - 68 
 Carbonate of lime, - - - 10.5 
 Sulphate of magn - - 23.5 
 
 Muriate of magnesia, - - 1 
 
 Muriate of snda, ... 1 
 
 Sulphate of iron, - - - 0.3 
 
 ( iarbonate of iron, ... 0.7 
 
 nts: Sulph. hydrogen, quantity not ascer- 
 tained. 
 Oarbonic acid, quantity not a 
 tained. 
 The accommodations al Shannondale are not extensive, 
 ape adapted to t40 or 160 persons, but it is admit- 
 d< lightfal place, and the scenery is unsur- 
 l for its varied beauty and grandeur, eliciting the 
 admiration of all who behold it. 
 
■.'. 
 
 m HA jenl 
 
 a. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS.* 
 
 The Berkeley Springs are situated in the town of 
 Bath, Morgan county, Virginia, two miles and a half 
 from Sir John's Depot, a point on the Baltimore and 
 Ohio Rail Road, 130 miles west of Baltimore, and 49 
 miles east of Cumberland. 
 
 These springs were resorted to by invalids at a very 
 early period,' and had great celebrity throughout the 
 Colonies. Hundreds annually nocked thither from all 
 quarters, and traditional accounts of the accommodations 
 and amusements of those primitive times are calculated 
 to excite both the mirth and envy of the present age. 
 Rude log huts, board and canvass tents, and even cov- 
 ered wagons, served as lodging rooms, while every party 
 brought its own substantial provisions of flour, meat and 
 bacon, depending for lighter articles of diet on the " Hill 
 folk," or the success of their own foragers. A large 
 hollow scooped in the sand, surrounded by a screen of 
 pine brush, was the only bathing-house; and this was 
 
 * I am indebted to D. H. Strother, Esq. for much of my informa- 
 tion in relation to the Berkeley Springs, and particularly for the 
 historical sketch of the place. 
 
used alternately by ladies and gentlemen. The time set 
 apart for the ladies was announced by a blast^on a long 
 tin horn, at which signal all of the opposite sex retired 
 to a prescribed distance, and woe to any unlucky wight 
 who might be found within the magic circle. 
 
 The whole scene is said to have resembled a oamp- 
 meeting in appearance j but only in appearance. Here 
 
 day and night passed in a round of eating and drinking, 
 bathing, fiddling, dancing and revelling, (laming was 
 carried to a great 6X0688, and horse-racing was a daily 
 
 amusement. 
 
 Such were the primitive accommodations at the first 
 watering-place that was opened in Virginia, and such the 
 recreations and aiuu>eincnts of OUT forefathers, about the 
 eventful period that ushered OS as a nation into the 
 world. 
 
 The importance of this property was appreciated by 
 the country at a very early period, for in October, 1770, 
 in the iir>t year of the Commonwealth, we find the fol- 
 lowing in the statute book of Virginia : 
 
 " Whereas it hath been represented to the General 
 " Assembly, that the laying off of fifty acres of land in 
 u lots and streets, for a town at the Warm Springs in the 
 a county of Berkeley, will be of great utility, by encour- 
 ". aging the purchasers thereof to build convenient houses 
 " for accommodating numbers of infirm persons who fre- 
 u quent those springs yearly for the recovery of their 
 " health— 
 
BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 261 
 
 " Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly of 
 " the Commonwealth of Virginia ; that fifty acres of land 
 " adjoining the said springs, being part of a larger tract 
 " of land, the property of the Right Honourable Thomas 
 " Lord Fairfax, or other person or persons holding the 
 " same by a grant or conveyance from him, be, and the 
 " same is hereby invested in Bryan Fairfax, Thomas 
 " Bryan Mastin, Warner Washington, Rev. Charles M. 
 " Thruston, Robert Rutherford, Thomas Rutherford, 
 u Alexander White, Philip Pendleton, Samuel Washing- 
 " ton, William Ellzey, Van Swearengen, Thomas Hite, 
 u James Edmunson, James Nourse, gentlemen trustees, 
 u to be by them, or any seven of them, laid out into 
 u lots of one quarter of an acre each, with convenient 
 " streets, which shall be, and the same are hereby estab- 
 " lished a town by the name of Bath/' &c. &c. — Hen- 
 ing's Statutes at Large. 
 
 The town was consequently laid off into lots in Au- 
 gust, 1777. Among the purchasers were Charles Car- 
 roll of Carrollton, Horatio Gates, Gen. George Washing- 
 ton, and many others of note and distinction. 
 
 In the schedule to Gen. Washington's will, we find 
 the following clause : 
 
 "Bath or Warm Springs. 
 "Two well-situated and handsome buildings, to the 
 « amount of £150." 
 
_<>_: 
 
 MIXKUAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Ami this note of the property appended to the 
 schedule : 
 
 " Ilith. 
 "The lots in Bath (two adjoining) cost me, to the best 
 "of my recollection, between fifty and sixty pounds, 
 "twenty years ago. Whether property there has in- 
 " creased or decreased in value, and in what condition 
 u the houses are, I am ignorant ; but suppose they arc 
 u not valued too high." 
 
 The sites of these houses are still pointed out. 
 
 In the memoirs of the Baroness do Reidesil, (wife of 
 the (lerin: 1 who was taken prisoner with Bur- 
 
 goyne at Saratoga,) .-he speaks of having passed part of 
 the summer of 1 7 7 *. » at these springs with her invalid 
 husband, and mentions having made the acquaintance of 
 Gen. Washington's family. She devotes a page or two 
 of her most interesting work to the narration of quaint 
 and pleasant incidents illustrating their mode of life at 
 the springs, and at the same time illustrating (though 
 unintentionally) the excellent and amiable character of 
 the author 
 
 After the war of the Revolution, the accommodations 
 at the springs were greatly improved and extended; but 
 as the State progressed in population and prosperity, a 
 Lost of other bathing places and mineral springs were 
 discovered and improved. Saratoga at the north, and 
 the White Sulphur at the south, began to rival Berkeley 
 in the race for public favor, and from the superior spirit 
 
BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 
 
 263 
 
 and enterprise shown in their improvement, soon dis- 
 tanced her. Her register of thousands was reduced to 
 five or six hundred per annuni, and her hotels and bath 
 houses seemed destined to decay. In 1844 a fire accom- 
 plished in one night what time was doing gradually ) 
 fourteen buildings and half the hotel accommodations 
 were destroyed. *Col. John Strother, lessee of this pro- 
 perty, made immediate preparations for the erection of a 
 large hotel on his own ground, and by the next season, 
 (1845,) had a portion oi it ready for occupancy, and the 
 entire elegant and extensive establishment completed in 
 1848. The 'erection of this building, and the completion 
 of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, have restored 
 Berkeley to her former prosperity; and from 12 to 1500 
 annually register there and enjoy the great luxury of her 
 waters. 
 
 Baths, &c. 
 
 The water supplying the baths issues by three large 
 springs and a number of smaller ones, from the foot of 
 the Warm Spring ridge, all within seventy or eighty 
 yards of each other, forming a bold and beautiful stream, 
 which, in its course down the valley, supplies several 
 mills and factories, and empties into the Potomac oppo- 
 site to Hancock, Md., six miles distant. The water of 
 all these fountains is of the same character, light, spark- 
 ling and tasteless, its temperature ranging from 72° to 
 74° Fah. and remaining the same at all seasons. 
 
264 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 The accommodations for bathing arc most convenionl 
 extensive and elegant. 
 
 The gentlemen s bath house, a substantial brick build 
 ing, contains ten large bathing rooms. The baths are c 
 cement, 12 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 J deep, fille< 
 from a reservoir by a four inch pipe, and containing 
 about 1600 gallons each. In addition to this, and fo 
 the use of gentlemen, there is a swimming bath, 60 fee 
 long by 20 wide, and 5 feet deep, containing 50,00< 
 gallons. The superstructure is* handsome and tasteful 
 82 feet long, and contains 14 dressing rooms. The lux 
 ury of disporting in this ample and exhilarating pool cai 
 only be appreciated by those who have indulged in it. 
 
 The ladies' bath house is an elegant structure on thi 
 opposite side of the grove, 90 feet long, which contains 
 in addition to 9 private baths, a plunge bath 30 feet lon< 
 by 16 feet wide, 4 J feet deep, and floored with whit< 
 marble. There is also an establishment for shower 
 spout and artificial warm baths. The bathing area i: 
 surrounded by a beautiful grove several acres in exten 
 and handsomely improved. 
 
 The Hotel accommodations are extensive and wel 
 gotten up. 
 
 Strother's, the principal hotel at the place, is a large 
 elegant and well conducted establishment, adjoining tin 
 grove, and will comfortably accommodate about 400 per- 
 sons. It is built upon three sides of a quadrangle 168 
 feet front by 198, the front building being four stories 
 high, the wings respectively being two and three stories. 
 The court-yard is tastefully ornamented with trees, flowers 
 
BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 265 
 
 and shrubbery. Altogether, it constitutes one of the 
 most extensive and comfortable establishments to be 
 found at any of our places of fashionable resort. 
 
 O'FerralFs hotel is conveniently situated, well kept, 
 and will accommodate 150 persons. Other accommoda- 
 tions for 150 persons may be found at the place. 
 
 Medical Properties, 
 
 Although these waters possess considerable medical 
 virtues when taken internally, they have been most cel- 
 ebrated as a bath ; their pleasant thermal temperature, 
 in connection with other properties, adapting them, as 
 such, to a wide range of diseases. They have never 
 been accurately analyzed, but the presence of purgative 
 and diuretic salts have been ascertained, though the im- 
 pregnation is not strong and the amount uncertain. 
 
 Internal Use. — This water is tasteless, insipid from its 
 warmth, and so light in its character, that very large 
 quantities may be taken on the stomach without pro- 
 ducing oppression or uneasiness. Persons generally be- 
 come fond of it after a time ; and when cooled it is a 
 delightful beverage. It is beneficial in several of the 
 chronic and sub-acute disorders, such as derangements of 
 the stomach, with impaired appetite and feeble diges- 
 tion, unconnected with any considerable degree of or- 
 ganic disease. Its salutary effects in these cases would 
 seem to depend upon the exceedingly light character of 
 
 N 
 
266 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 the waters and their gentle alkaline properties, neuti 
 izing acidity and invigorating and soothing the viscera. 
 In the early stages of calculous diseases, attended w 
 irritable bladder, their free use internally and externa 
 is frequently of benefit. 
 
 External Use. — Externally used, these waters are b 
 eficial in the whole class of nervous disorders that i 
 disconnected with a full plethoric habit, extreme debili 
 or severe organic derangements. 
 
 In cases of relaxed habit and debility, where sumcii 
 power of re-action exists in the system, the tonic a 
 bracing influences of plunges in this water will be v< 
 invigorating. 
 
 Persons suffering from a residence in a warm, low, a 
 damp climate, and subject to nervous affections, will p 
 bably be*much benefited by the use of the baths. 
 
 To the various chronic affections of the mucus me 
 branes, especially leucorrhoea, gleet, &c, as well as 
 that peculiar form of bronchitis which depends upor 
 relaxed condition of the membranes, with general w< 
 of tone in the nervous system, the water and baths j 
 said to be highly beneficial. The same may be said as 
 local paralytic affections, if unconnected with congesti 
 of the brain, or cerebral tendencies. 
 
 In mildly chronic , or sub-acute rheumatism, the be 
 has long enjoyed a high reputation. Many intellig* 
 persons who have long been familiar with its use, ph 
 the most entire reliance on it in this class of cases. 
 
BATH OR BERKELEY SPRINGS. 267 
 
 The salubrious climate in which the springs are lo- 
 cated, the ease with which they are reached by the 
 Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road, the well-tested value of 
 their baths in all cases in which baths of their tempera- 
 ture ought to be employed, together with the excellent 
 accommodations at the place, must continue to make 
 a Berkeley" a favorite resort of the spring-going public. 
 
 There are in the immediate vicinity of Berkeley seve- 
 ral unimproved sulphur and chalybeate springs, that will 
 probably, at some day or other, be places of importance. 
 Among these, and as most prominent, may be mentioned 
 
 Orrick's Sulphur Spring, 
 
 Situated 3} miles from Berkeley, on the Warm Spring 
 Run, and near the road that leads to Hancock. It is a 
 very pleasant water, of the temperature of about 58° 
 Fah. It is now unimproved, but may, and some day 
 probably will be made a place of interest, and an impor- 
 tant auxiliary to the Berkeley Springs. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 CAPON SPRINGS. 
 
 At the western base of the North Mountain in th 
 county of Hampshire, 17 miles east of Ronmey, and 2 
 north-west of Winchester, whence they may be reache 
 by a well graded, but mountainous road, are the Capo 
 Springs. They are situated in a narrow vale not fa 
 distant from the Capon river, and surrounded by 
 rugged and romantic mountain scenery, perhaps unsui 
 passed in trossack wildness by any in Virginia. Th 
 region is high and healthy, and the sources of amus< 
 ment, (often of consequence to the invalid,) and esp< 
 cially those of trout and river fishing, together with th 
 excitement of the mountain chase, are unsurpassed a 
 any of our watering places. 
 
 The improvements at Capon are extensive, afFordin 
 acccommodation for about seven hundred and fifty pei 
 sons. 
 
 The largest building to be found at any of our watei 
 ing places is here. It is an immense structure fronl 
 ing 236 feet by 40, and 5 stories high; with a portie 
 200 feet in length by 16 in width. To this main build 
 ing a wing is attached of 196 feet in length by 40 i] 
 width and 5 stories high. The dining-room extends th 
 
M 1 
 
 € 
 

fcAPdN SPRINGS. 269 
 
 entire length of the front building, and will conveniently 
 seat from 900 to 1,000 persons, The lodging capacity 
 of the house is said to be 600. This building is known 
 as the "Mountain House" Besides this large estab- 
 lishment, there are other hotels at the place capable of 
 accommodating 150 persons, perhaps. 
 
 The Bathing Establishment at Capon is well designed 
 and handsome, affording 20 bathing-rooms for gentle- 
 men, and 17 for ladies, with comfortable parlours for 
 the use of the bathers. The baths are made of brick, 
 coated with hydraulic cement. Shower and douche 
 baths, and artificial warm baths are also supplied. 
 
 The spring affords about 100 gallons of water per 
 minute. The temperature of the water as it flows from 
 the fountain is 66° Fah : in the reservior that supplies 
 the baths, about 64°. 
 
 The water is essentially tasteless and inodorous. 
 
 Except in its thermal character it cannot be compared 
 to any of the springs in our " great spring region." 
 It more resembles the waters of the Berkeley than any 
 of our other springs. As a bath and a beverage, it will, 
 when properly directed, be found very useful in a wide 
 range of diseases, especially in idiopathic affections of 
 the nervous system, dyspeptic depravities, chronic de- 
 rangement of the mucus surfaces, &c. It has acquired 
 some reputation, and I believe justly, as a remedy in 
 gravel and other derangements of the urinary organs. 
 It is a valuable water, and like its neighbour Berkeley, 
 is destined to increase in favor with the spring going- 
 public. 
 
270 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Tne Capon waters have been analyzed by Dr. Charlei 
 Carter, of Philadelphia, and their principal medica 
 ingredients ascertained to be 
 
 Silicic Acid, 
 
 Magnesia, 
 
 Soda, 
 
 Bromine, 
 
 Iodine, 
 
 Carbonic Acid gas. 
 
 Professor Wm. Gibson, of the University of Penn 
 sylvania, in a letter to his son Prof. Charles Bell Gibson 
 gives the following interesting account of Capon Springs 
 
 "I have just returned from an excursion of ten day 
 to the Capon Springs, situated upon a lofty spur of th 
 Blue Ridge, in Hampshire county, Va. Although ver 
 familiar, as you well know, with all the celebrated water 
 ing places in the United States, and believing many o 
 them to possess undoubted sanative powers in certai] 
 affections of the stomach and liver, I was hardly pre 
 pared to suppose that one, comparatively unknown t 
 fame, and of singular efficacy in many varieties of dys 
 peptic depravity so common in our country, should hav 
 escaped my observation. You will be surprised, there 
 fore, when I tell you that, as far as I can judge fron 
 a short trial, I consider Capon equal, if not superior, t< 
 any mineral spring in America, as a remedy for dys 
 pepsia and the debility and depression of spirits gene 
 rally attendant upon that protei-form and eccentric ma 
 
CAPON SPRINGS. 271 
 
 lady. I had often heard my friends in Faquier and 
 Loudoun counties extol the virtues of Capon in such 
 glowing terms, as to induce me to believe that their pre- 
 judices as inhabitants of the Blue Ridge districts were at 
 the bottom of their extravagant praises. To clear up 
 my doubts upon the subject, I determined to explore 
 the region in question. * * * * * * * 
 
 "The whole scenery, for miles around the Spring, in 
 every direction, is eminently beautiful and picturesque. 
 But to the Spring itself: Imagine a stream of liquid or 
 molten silver issuing from the base of a pile of per- 
 pendicular blue rocks of immense height, bubbling up 
 and forcing its way energetically to the surface ; then 
 clashing off with the speed of a race-horse and forming 
 for itself, within a short distance, a small shining river, 
 and you can estimate the quantity of water discharged 
 each minute from the Capon Spring, and the exceeding 
 brightness and beauty of that water. Then when you 
 dip it from the Spring and observe its uncommon blue- 
 ness and transparency — such as I have never observed 
 in any other water — you are tempted to swallow without 
 tasting, as if it were the nectar of the heathen gods. 
 And you are not disappointed; for, soft and delicious 
 and perfectly free from unpleasant taste, you can throw 
 off the contents of tumbler upon tumbler, without even 
 the inconvenience of stopping to take breath. In fact, 
 no other water is used by man or beast about the estab- 
 lishment. 
 
 After drinking the water for a few hours, its diuretic 
 properties become very evident; and from that moment 
 
272 MINERAL WATERS OP VIRGINIA. 
 
 the invalid begins to experience its beneficial results; 
 for no matter how much he have been prostrated, his 
 peccant humors are floated away through the medium 
 of the kidneys, his spirits rise, his activity increases, 
 and in a wonderfully small space of time he becomes 
 a new man: The only inconvenience attending its use 
 is an amazing increase of appetite; so much so, that 
 the most feeble and delicate stomachs, after a few days 
 become boundless in their demands upon the good cheer 
 of the obliging and enterprising landlord, Mr. Waddle; 
 and mountains of wild mutton and venison, and phea- 
 sants and wild turkeys, and the finest vegetables, vanish 
 before the multiplied attacks of quondam invalids, 
 who before they left home would have sickened at the 
 sight of an egg or a mufiin. So insatiable does the 
 thirst for this water become, that the healthiest persons 
 crave it incessantly, and suffer as much while in the 
 sphere of its influence, as a tobacco chewer would if de- 
 prived of that fascinating weed. Not only does the 
 water, when taken internally, prove eminently useful 
 to almost every one, but externally applied, in the shape 
 of cold or warm baths, its beneficial results in cases of 
 gout, rheumatism, diseases of the skin, and several other 
 affections, are beyond all question. It has, moreover, the 
 singular property of cleansing the skin instantly with- 
 out soap, of removing tar and other similar substances 
 from the hands the moment it is applied. It operates 
 most powerfully, too, upon horses, in a very short time 
 after it is used, and brings away from these animals, 
 without failure, incredible quantities of hotts — a species 
 
CAPON SPRINGS. 273 
 
 of worm to which almost every animal of the kind is 
 very prone, and from which a great number annually 
 perish. When it is considered how difficult and almost 
 impossible it is by other means to kill a bott — for when 
 taken from the stomach of a horse and placed in the 
 strongest nitric acid, they have been known to live for 
 hours — does not this fact alone speak volumes in favor 
 of this water? I am told, upon high authority, also, 
 that it is equally iiseful in bringing away intestinal 
 worms from children, after every other vermifuge has 
 proved unavailing and nugatory. 
 
 " All the facts I have here stated have been verified 
 again and again, and are as familiar to the people of 
 Hampshire and the adjoining counties, and are as sus- 
 ceptible of demonstration to all that visit these Springs, 
 as any proposition in Euclid. * * Capon is only 
 23 miles from Winchester, by one of the best turnpike 
 and mountain roads in the United States. * * * 
 Only reflect, that here is a country with the wildest and 
 most picturesque scenery almost at our doors ; a country 
 filled with game of almost every description; * * 
 the air balmy and exhilarating as that of the Yougho- 
 gany glades, where the heat is never felt in the hottest 
 summer, and where a blanket can always be found com- 
 fortable at night, and will never be required in the day. 
 
 u I have formed the acquaintance here of several most 
 intelligent ladies and gentlemen, all of whom have de- 
 rived the greatest possible benefit from the water. Gen. 
 A., a distinguished officer of the U. S. Army, visited 
 
( 274 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 Capon early in the season, almost a skeleton from dys- 
 pepsia. He returned home in two or three weeks, com- 
 pletely metamorphosed. He paid a second visit during 
 my stay, and rode 30 miles on horseback, and felt, as 
 he expressed himself to me, like one risen from the 
 dead. My friend, Mr. C. S., a most respectable and 
 intelligent citizen of Fairfax, I found at Capon, very 
 miserable and very dyspeptic. In a few days I found 
 him chasing the deer and pheasants and fishing for trout 
 like a boy, and before I left he was the most success- 
 ful and energetic sportsman of the place. I could name 
 many other instances within my observation. Upon 
 myself the waters acted like magic. After ten days use 
 of them, I felt as if I could "ride on the whirlwind 
 and direct the storm. " All this may seem exaggerated, 
 or the effect of a heated imagination ; but I assure you 
 there is no poetry in the case, except what exists in 
 the nature of the scenes which I have attempted to 
 describe. If you have any poor, miserable, woe-begone 
 patient, who has been broken down by hard work, men- 
 tal or corporeal : any judge or lawyer who has been 
 working like a slave at the bench or bar: any ill paid, 
 conscientious, pains-taking doctor, who has been going 
 night and day for the last twenty years : any pale student 
 of divinity, who has been triturated by the wear and 
 tear of soul and body : any miserable editor, who has 
 been dunning subscribers from year to year, and been 
 contending with black and blue devils, until he is nearly 
 knocked into pi : if you have any or all of these as your 
 patients, send them to Capon, and my word upon it, 
 
CAPON SPRINGS. 275 
 
 they will all return novo homines, and be prepared, for 
 years to come, to follow their specific vocations with 
 more energy and effect than they ever < dreamed of in 
 their philosophy/ "When we meet, I will give you in 
 detail additional information touching this enchanting 
 and salubrious region." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 GRAYSON SULPHUR SPRINGS. 
 
 The Grayson Sulphur Springs are located immedi- 
 ately on the west side of the Blue Ridge, in the County 
 of Carroll, about twenty miles south of Wytheville. 
 They rise on the bank of the New River, in the midst of 
 scenery remarkable for its wildness and picturesque 
 grandeur, in a region as healthy as any in our country, 
 and abounding in fish and game of every variety that is 
 found in our mountains. 
 
 The improvements here are recent and not extensive, 
 but the waters have advanced within the last few years 
 in popular favor, and quite a number of visiters assemble 
 at the place during the watering season. To those who 
 are fond of fishing and hunting, Grayson offers strong 
 inducements. 
 
 The waters of these Springs are decidedly sulphurous, 
 and have been found useful in the various dyspeptic de- 
 pravities, rheumatism, and other diseases in which the 
 sulphur waters are generally used. 
 
 These waters have been analyzed by Professor Rodgers, 
 of the University of Virginia, and Dr. Aiken, of Balti- 
 
 9M 
 
GRAYSON SULPHUR SPRINGS. 277 
 
 more. The result of the analysis shows that in a given 
 quantity of their solid contents there is found — 
 
 Soda, 4 
 
 Carbonate of magnesia, 3 
 
 Carbonate of lime, 8 
 
 Sulphate of lime, ... 2 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, - 3 
 
 Chloride of sodium, « - - 2 
 
 Chloride of calcium, - - - 3 
 Chloride of magnesium, - - If 
 
 Sulphate of soda, - - - 4 J 
 
 Sulphuretted hydrogen and carbonic acid gases abound 
 in the water. 
 
 Grayson Springs are conveniently reached by persons 
 traveling either in public or private conveyances, from 
 the upper portions of North or South Carolina, into the 
 great Spring region of Virginia. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Alleghany Springs are situated on the south foi 
 of Roanoke River, in the County of Montgomery, thr 
 miles South of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroa 
 They are eighteen miles S. W. from the town of Saler 
 and ten miles E. from Christiansburg. 
 
 The property is owned by the Messrs. Holts, and 
 present furnishes accommodations for two or three hu: 
 dred visiters. These Springs are growing in popul; 
 favor, and the energies of the proprietors are being e 
 erted to keep their accommodations equal to the publ 
 demand. 
 
 Although the Alleghany Springs have long been e 
 teemed valuable by persons in their immediate neighbo 
 hood, it is only within the last two or three years th 
 they have attracted much general attention. The wati 
 of these Springs has not been analyzed. It is regarde< 
 however, as belonging distinctly to the saline class, an 
 to abound especially in sulphate of magnesia. It 
 cathartic, and somewhat diuretic in its operations, ar 
 many patients, together with several judicious physiciai 
 who have tested its virtues, regard it as a very superh 
 mineral water in dyspepsia. 
 
 m 
 
ALLEGHANY SPRINGS. 279 
 
 As yet, experience in its use has, perhaps, been too 
 limited to assign to it its distinct position as a therapeu- 
 tical agent ; but it may justly be regarded as a very in- 
 teresting medicinal agent, and one that promises to take 
 high rank with the mineral waters of the State. 
 
 The facility with which these Springs may be ap- 
 proached, from the east or west, by the railroad, together 
 with the great healthfullness of the climate in which they 
 are situated, are very favorable to their annual increase 
 of visiters, and consequently to their success as a water- 
 ing place. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PULASKI ALUM SPRING. 
 
 This Spring is situated in the N. W. portion of tl 
 County of Pulaski, on Little Walker's Creek, about U 
 miles from the town of Newbern, and seven in a dire 
 line from the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. It 
 owned by Mr. Hunter, who now furnishes accommod 
 tions for aboat 100 visiters, and who is actively engage 
 in so enlarging his improvements as to make them con 
 mensurate with the public demands. 
 
 This water has not been analyzed, but we are informs 
 by intelligent persons familiar with our alum waters, thj 
 it very much resembles, both in its sensible qualities an 
 its medicinal operations, the water of the Rockbrids 
 Alum. It already enjoys a high reputation in its neigl 
 borhood, as a remedy for scrofula, cutaneous disease 
 and other affections for which the alum waters of Rod 
 bridge have become celebrated. 
 
 The fine salubrious climate in which the Spring 
 found, and the convenience with which it can be a] 
 proached by the Railroad, together with the value of ii 
 waters as a medicinal agent, make it a place of interei 
 and importance to the Spring going public. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 NEW LONDON ALUM SPRING. 
 
 For a number of years it has been known that alum is 
 a constituent part of a rock that is found in large masses 
 near the town of New London, in the county of Camp- 
 bell, 10 miles south-west of Lynchburg. An excavation 
 made several years ago into the ground, penetrating this 
 rock, but with no view of obtaining alum water, the 
 virtues of which were not then appreciated, has, from 
 the exudation of water 'through the layers of rock, af- 
 forded an alum of sufficient purity to be used by the 
 good housewives of the vicinity for " setting their dies." 
 
 The medical reputation acquired within the last few 
 years by the alum waters of Rockbridge, induced the 
 proprietor of this rock, P. Echols, Esq., to sink a shaft 
 or well into it, with the hope of obtaining alum water in 
 sufficient quantity to be used for medical purposes. His 
 enterprise has been crowned with entire success. On 
 penetrating the rock to the depth of 16 feet, he came to 
 several leaps or percolations of water, furnishing a suffi- 
 cient amount to induce him to suspend .further opera- 
 tions and to cut an entrance into the basin, or spring, 
 after the manner of ancient wells, and of sufficient size 
 
282 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 to admit of easy ingress and egress to and from tr. 
 fountain. 
 
 This water has been much used since its discovery, ft 
 various diseases, and as popular fame alleges, and ? 
 several sensible and judicious persons in the neighbo 
 hood have assured me, with very great advantage. 
 
 An intelligent gentleman of the county of Bedfor< 
 who has been using this water in his family, writes nj 
 thus in reference to it : 
 
 " An invalid member of my family has been using th 
 New London alum water for several months, and wit 
 very pleasant and beneficial results. Three glasses a da 
 operate gently, but efficiently, upon the bowels, pr< 
 during effects much resembling the operations from bin 
 pill. It also promotes very decidedly the secretion ( 
 the kidneys, while it acts as a generous tonic, increasin 
 the appetite and strengthening the general system, 
 have heard of several cures, that may well be called wor 
 derful, that have been effected in this county from th 
 use of this water." 
 
 As a medicinal agent, this water is yet so new, and th 
 cases in which it has been tried are so undefined as t 
 their precise nature or pathology, that it is difficult t 
 say, with any degree of confidence, what may be if 
 peculiar therapeutical agency or medical adaptations. ] 
 is a water, however, that is justly exciting public atter 
 tion, and is probably destined to occupy a high positio: 
 among our mineral waters. 
 
 Since the above was written, I have been furnish e< 
 with an analysis of the water of this spring by Professo 
 
NEW LONDON ALUM SPRING. 283 
 
 G-ilham, and the following communication from that gen- 
 tleman shows the result of his chemical investigations : 
 
 V. M. Institute, 
 Lexington, Va., Nov. 30, 1853. 
 My Dear Sir : I enclose you the results obtained in 
 the analysis of a sample of alum water furnished me by 
 Mr. Echols. 
 
 A gallon of water furnished the following mineral 
 constituents : 
 
 Sulphuric acid, - - 59.008 grains. 
 
 Magnesia, - _- - 4.320 " 
 
 Protoxide of iron, - - 11.112 " 
 
 Alumina, - - - 4.072 " 
 
 Lime, - - - 7.768 " 
 
 Potassa, - - - 5.064 " 
 
 If we now suppose, which is the most probable suppo- 
 sition, that the sulphuric acid forms simple combinations 
 with the above bases, in the proportions of one atom, or 
 equivalent, of acid, to one atom, or equivalent, of base, 
 we shall have the various salts of the acid in the follow* 
 ing proportions : 
 
 Sulphate of magnesia, 
 " prot. of iron, 
 li alumina, 
 u lime, 
 a potassa, 
 
 12.664 grs. to the gal. 
 23.456 " « 
 7.240 " « 
 
 18.672 « " 
 10.160 " " 
 
 And, in addition, we have of free or un combined 
 
 sulphuric acid, 19.976 grains. 
 
 
 Respectfully, 
 
 your ob't serv't, 
 WILLIAM GILHAM. 
 
 Dr. J J. Moorman, Fancy 
 
 Hill. 
 
284 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 This analysis of Professor Gilham will give confidence 
 as to the component parts of this water, while it indi 
 cates, as far as can be done by chemistry, its appropriate 
 medical adaptations. 
 
 Suggesting now, as heretofore, when treating of the 
 analysis of other waters in connection with their medi 
 cinal use, the uncertainty of any analysis as a basis foi 
 the administration of mineral waters, I remark, that w< 
 have a new and valuable light in this particular case, no 
 always accessible to new and untried waters. Betweei 
 the analysis of this water, and the alum waters of Batl 
 and Rockbridge, whose reputation and adaptations are 
 now pretty well established, there is a similarity in sev 
 eral respects, so striking as to induce the belief that the^ 
 are suited to the same general range of disease. 
 
 The intelligent physician at all acquainted with th( 
 peculiar action of the alum waters, and looking to the 
 leading indications afforded by the analysis of this, wil 
 not fail to perceive that it is pointed out as a valuable 
 remedy in a large circle of cases that require an alterativt 
 tonic treatment. It will probably be found valuable ir 
 the various forms of Salt Rheum, as such waters inva- 
 riably are ; while its good effects in Chlorosis, and othei 
 female affections, unattended with febrile action, may be 
 looked to, we would think, with decided confidence. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 HUGUENOT SPRINGS, 
 
 This watering place is in Powhatan County, about 
 seventeen miles above Richmond. It is situated near 
 the centre of a tract of land granted by the British 
 Crown to a body of Protestant refugees driven from 
 France by the repeal of the edict of Nantes in 1685, 
 who came to our shores near the close of that century 
 and settled in Powhatan and Chesterfield. From this 
 circumstance, which cannot be without interest to a 
 brave and free people, strenuous upholders of the rights 
 of conscience as the Americans have always been, the 
 name of these Springs was taken when it was deter- 
 mined to establish them as a watering place. 
 
 Their situation is more than ordinarily striking. On 
 approaching the place from the north, along a broad and 
 level road, the hotel emerges to view across a smooth 
 green lawn, bounded on each side by a graveled avenue 
 which is used as a carriage way. On both sides of this 
 lawn, beyond the avenues, are rows of cabins, placed a 
 little irregularly and at varying distances, but which, 
 partly seen and partly concealed among the scattered 
 trees, contribute to the picturesque effect. Near the 
 
286 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 western row, a little in advance of it, and not far fror 
 the hotel, is an elegant pavilion, shaded by half-grow 
 trees — a favorite resort with the ladies. On approachin 
 nearer the hotel, the eye is arrested by a cabin in th 
 rear of the western row, standing a little apart, on th 
 brow of a bold rounded hill. This was built by Majo 
 Wooldridge, one of the proprietors of the place, and i 
 occupied by him as the summer residence of his family 
 Perhaps a scientific observer might be at a loss to detei 
 mine the exact style of its architecture, which seems c 
 a composite order, and it may be a little fantastic ; bu 
 all will agree that its long piazzas, numerous windows 
 and light, airy, half-oriental cast, produce a pretty am 
 pleasing effect, and adapt it well for a summer sojourn 
 But the hotel is the object which first arrests the vie\ 
 of the visiter. It is of large size, being 120 feet long 
 is three stories high, and has three broad piazzas running 
 its entire length. Its position is at the lower extremity 
 of the lawn above described. On the southern side th< 
 ground is level for only about fifty feet, after which i 
 descends rapidly, though not abruptly, to an extensiv< 
 valley, open in general, but interspersed with trees, anc 
 marked in various directions by intersecting roads 
 From this valley a lateral branch or broad ravine passe; 
 northward, running west of the western row of cabins 
 while, from the other extremity of the valley, anothei 
 ravine of about the same dimensions runs parallel to th( 
 first, at nearly the same distance from the eastern row o1 
 cabins. The hotel thus occupies the southern extremity 
 of a high level plateau of singularly symmetrical propor- 
 
HUGUENOT SPRINGS. 287 
 
 tions, which gives it a commanding position, similar, in 
 its more striking features, .to that of the Capitol in Rich- 
 mond before the western ravine of the square had been 
 reduced by the recent grading and filling. 
 
 Near the point where the western ravine enters the 
 main valley is the sulphur spring, which fills a marble 
 reservoir and then passes off by a covered conduit into 
 the brook running close by. It has a tasteful pavilion 
 erected over it. Immediately west of this spring rises a 
 high, bold bluff, free from undergrowth, but covered with 
 tall trees, which, being cool and breezy, and furnished 
 with numerous seats, is a favorite retreat for those fond 
 of quiet reading or lonely musing. Not far from the 
 corresponding point in the eastern ravine, but a little 
 more northward, is the chalybeate spring. No pavilion 
 has been erected over this, the high embowering trees 
 being a sufficient covering ; but the spring is surrounded 
 by a low-walled parapet. The stream issues from a fissure 
 in a large sandstone, and a reservoir for the water has 
 been hewn out of its native rocky bed. In the valley 
 south of the hotel, a little to the west, is the well from 
 which is obtained a water strongly tinctured with both 
 sulphur and iron. This is used, not only for drinking, 
 but for bathing, its medicinal properties when employed 
 in this way being considered highly valuable. Of these 
 waters, the first has been analyzed by Professor W. B. 
 Rodgers, who determined its properties to be similar to- 
 those of the Greenbrier White Sulphur water, but 
 weaker. The second was analyzed by Professor Socrates 
 Maupin, who pronounced it a mild and pure chalybeate. 
 
288 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 The third has not yet been analyzed, though the proprietors 
 intend shortly to have it done ; but if the award of ex- 
 perience is of any value, it is a fine, invigorating tonic, 
 highly useful in cases of children, and more especially 
 in female disorders. 
 
 Pleasant public retreats near large towns are always a 
 blessing to the community. During the hot summer 
 months, the system, debilitated by a city residence, often 
 gives easy access to the dangerous diseases by which 
 human life is perpetually assailed. This remark is true 
 in regard to all persons of feeble constitutions, and to 
 men subject to the languor and lassitude of a close, labo- 
 rious occupation. In the cases of such, a short visit to 
 a place of the kind, where good fare and comfortable 
 accommodations may be had, and pleasant society and 
 amusements are offered, often gives a healthful, elastic 
 tone to the system which bears it safely through the 
 "heat, dust and weariness of city life during the season 
 when the dog-star is raging. 
 
 The benefit is still greater if to these ordinary advan- 
 tages is added a mineral water which, as such waters 
 usually are, is mildly medicinal in its effects. There are 
 many who think these waters are of use only in a few 
 exceptional cases to which their properties are specially 
 adapted ; and that the marked improvement of health so 
 often exhibited is to be ascribed solely to change of air 
 and scene, and to relaxation from the toils of business. 
 These last have certainly their influence, and that influ- 
 ence is doubtless a highly salutary one. But it is an 
 error to refer all the advantage to this source, or to sup- 
 
HUGUENOT SPRINGS. Z%\) 
 
 pose that the number is small of those to whom mineral 
 waters are beneficial. In general they are mild tonics, 
 whose tendency is to open and excite languid secretions ; 
 and in cases of protracted weakness or lingering disor- 
 ders, their good effect is often great as gentle alteratives, 
 correcting the diseased habit of body and restoring health 
 and vigor to the frame. This view is supported by the 
 high popular favor such springs have secured both in 
 ancient and in modern times; and certainly a benefit 
 thus avouched by what may be called universal expe- 
 rience should not be lightly regarded. 
 
 The Huguenot Springs bear a high character for the 
 excellence of the fare and general accommodations. In 
 this respect their vicinity to Richmond gives them great 
 advantages. The hotel and cabins together offer ample 
 accommodations to 150 visiters, which number might be 
 doubled with little inconvenience, if the crowding sys- 
 tem adopted at some other springs were pursued here. 
 
 From Richmond the visiter to the Huguenot Springs 
 takes the Danville train and proceeds about ten miles to 
 Robiou's. At that place he is met by two large stages, 
 or omnibuses, sent by the proprietors, which, together, 
 are capable, without inconvenient crowding, of conveying 
 nearly forty persons. The entire cost of the trip is about 
 one dollar. He reaches the Springs about 9, A. M., and 
 has ample time to look around and judge for himself in 
 regard to all the advantages offered by the place, before 
 the dinner hour arrives. After that, if the Springs are 
 too crowded for his taste, or any other consideration in- 
 duces him to return, he can do so the same evening, and 
 o 
 
290 
 
 MINERAL WATERS OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 be in Richmond again by 6 o'clock. Moreover, for sue 
 as have families at the Springs, or may otherwise find i 
 convenient, the train and the omnibus carry up visiter 
 every Saturday evening, and return them to the city b 
 9 o'clock on Monday morning. This, we believe, is 
 permanent arrangement, and it affords great facilities t 
 the spring-going folk of Richmond. 
 
 For amusements, besides music and the dance, fo 
 which they have a band and a ball-room of large size 
 well suited to the purpose, there is a bowling saloon am 
 a billiard room, the former free of charge. Exhibition 
 of fire-works take place from time to time through th 
 summer ; cotillion parties are had weekly, and large ball 
 occasionally. The grand finale of the season is a tour 
 nament, in which gallant young gentlemen strive* to 
 gether in deeds of daring, each contending for th« 
 honor of placing the crown of love and beauty on th< 
 head of his selected fair. Then follow a coronation anc 
 a fancy ball, and so the season closes in gaiety anc 
 splendor. 
 
APPENDIX, 
 
NATURAL CURIOSITIES OF VIRGINIA. 
 
 As many who resort to the Mineral Springs of Vir- 
 ginia desire, in the progress of their travel, to see the 
 Natural Curiosities that may be conveniently accessible, 
 we have thought that an acceptable service would be ren- 
 dered to such, by enumerating the more interesting of 
 these objects of the traveller's curiosity, and by indi- 
 cating the routes by which they can conveniently be 
 reached. 
 
 harper's ferry, 
 
 On the Potomac, in the county of Jefferson, and imme- 
 diately on the great line of rail road from Baltimore to 
 Cumberland in Maryland, and to Winchester in Virginia, 
 has been rendered classic ground by the pen of the sage 
 of Monticello. It derives its interest from a happy com- 
 mingling of scenery at once wild, beautiful, and magnifi- 
 cent. Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia, says, it 
 " is one of the most stupendous scenes in nature. You 
 stand on a very high point of land ; on your right up 
 comes the Shenandoah, having ranged along the foot of 
 the mountain a hundred miles to seek a vent. On your 
 
294 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 left approaches the Potomac, in quest of a passage also ; 
 in the moment of their junction they rush together 
 against the mountain, rend it asunder, and pass off to 
 the sea. The first glance of this scene hurries our senses 
 into the opinion that this earth has been created in time ; 
 that the mountains were formed first; that the rivers 
 began to flow afterwards ; that in this place particularly, 
 they have been dammed up by the Blue Ridge moun- 
 tains, and have formed an ocean which filled the whole 
 valley; that, continuing to rise, they have at length 
 broken over at this spot, and have torn the mountain 
 down from its summit to its base. The piles of rock on 
 each hand, particularly on the Shenandoah, the evident 
 marks of their disrupture and avulsion from their beds 
 by the most powerful agents of nature, corroborate the 
 impression. But the distant finishing which Nature has 
 given to the picture is of- a very different character ; it is 
 a true contrast to the foreground ; it is as placid and de- 
 lightful as that is wild and tremendous; for the mountain 
 being cloven asunder, she presents to your eye, through 
 the clefts, a small catch of smooth blue horizon, at an 
 infinite distance in the plain country, inviting you, as it 
 were, from the riot and tumult warring around, to pass 
 through the breach and participate of the calm below, 
 There the eye ultimately composes itself, and that way 
 too, the road happens actually to lead. You cross the 
 Potomac above the junction, pass along its side througt 
 the base of the mountain for three miles, its terribh 
 precipices hanging in fragments over you, and withii 
 about twenty miles reach Frederickstown and the fin( 
 
APPENDIX. 295 
 
 country around that. The scene is worth a voyage 
 across the Atlantic, yet here^ as in the neighborhood of 
 the Natural Bridge, are people who have passed their 
 lives within half a dozen miles, and have never been to 
 survey these monuments of a war between rivers and 
 mountains, which must have shaken the earth itself to its 
 centre." 
 
 The grounds adjoining Harper's Ferry are the site of 
 a United States Arsenal, and the extensive manufactories 
 that are constantly in operation fabricating the various 
 implements of war, are well worthy of a visit from the 
 passing traveller. 
 
 From Harper's Ferry, the visiter to the Virginia 
 Springs should take the rail cars to Winchester ; thence 
 by £ tage coaches up the fertile valley of the Shenandoah, 
 and at the distance of eighty miles he reaches the little 
 village of Mount Sidney, in the county of Augusta. 
 Seven miles east of this village, and not far from the 
 western base of the Blue Ridge mountains, is the famous 
 
 WEYER S CAVE. 
 
 This cave derives its name from Bernard Weyer, who 
 discovered it in 1804, while in pursuit of a wild animal 
 that took refuge in it. 
 
 It would be difficult to convey an adequate idea of the 
 u vastness and sublimity of some, or the exquisite beauty 
 and grandeur of other, of its innumerable apartments, 
 with their snowy white concretions of a thousand various 
 
296 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 forms. Many of these, with their striking and pictu- 
 resque objects, have names exceedingly inappropriate, 
 which, to mention, would degrade any description, how- 
 ever well written, by the association of the beautiful and 
 sublime with the vulgar and hackneyed." Its largest 
 apartment is known as Washington Hall, and is 250 
 feet in length. A foreign traveller who visited the cave 
 at an annual illumination, gives the following description 
 of this hall : 
 
 " There is a fine sheet of rock-work running up the 
 centre of this room, and giving it the aspect of two sepa- 
 rate and noble galleries, till you look above, where you 
 observe the partition rises only 20 feet towards the roof, 
 and leaves the fine arch expanding over your head un- 
 touched. There is a beautiful connection here standing 
 out in the room, which certainly has the form and 
 drapery of a gigantic statue ; it bears the name of the 
 Nation's Hero; and the whole place is filled with these 
 projections — appearances which excite the imagination 
 by suggesting resemblances, and leaving them unfinished. 
 The general effect, too, was perhaps indescribable. The 
 fine perspective of this room, four times the length of an 
 ordinary church ; the numerous tapers, when near you, 
 so encumbered by deep shadows as to give only a dim, 
 religious light, and when at a distance, appearing in their 
 various attitudes like twinkling stars on a deep, dark 
 heaven \ the amazing vaulted roof spread over you, with 
 its carved and knotted surface, to which the streaming 
 lights below in vain endeavored to convey their radiance ; 
 together with the impression that you had made so deep 
 
APPENDIX. 297 
 
 an entrance, and were so entirely cut off from the living 
 world and ordinary things; produces an effect which, 
 perhaps, the mind can receive but once, and will retain 
 forever." 
 
 "Weyer's Cave," says the same writer, "is, in my 
 judgment, one of the great natural wonders of this new 
 world, and for its eminence in its own class, deserves to 
 be ranked with the Natural Bridge and Niagara, while it 
 is far less known than either. Its dimensions, by the 
 most direct course, are more than 1,600 feet, and by the 
 more winding paths, twice that length; and its objects 
 are remarkable for their variety, formation and beauty. 
 In both respects, it will, I think, compare, without 
 injury to itself, with the celebrated Grotto of Antiparos. 
 For myself, I acknowledge the spectacle to have been 
 most interesting ; but to be so, it must be illuminated 
 as on this occasion. I had thought that this circum- 
 stance might give the whole a toyish effect; but the 
 influence of 2,000 or 3,000 lights on these immense 
 caverns is only such as to reveal the objects, without 
 disturbing the solemn and sublime obscurity which sleeps 
 on every thing. Scarcely any scenes can awaken so 
 many passions at once, and so deeply. Curiosity, appre- 
 hension, terror, surprise, admiration, and delight, by 
 turns and together arrest and possess you. I have had 
 before, from other objects, one simple impression made 
 with greater power ; but I never had so many impres- 
 sions made, and with so much power, before. If the 
 interesting and the awful are the elements of the sub- 
 
298 APPENDIX. 
 
 lime, here sublimity reigns, as in her own domain, in 
 darkness, silence, and deeps profound. " 
 
 MADISON S CAVE. 
 
 Within a few hundred yards of Weyer's, is Madison's 
 Cave. It is thus described by Mr. Jefferson, in his 
 " Notes on Virginia'' : 
 
 " It is on the north side of the Blue Ridge, near the 
 intersection of the Rockingham and Augusta line with 
 the south fork of the southern river of Shenandoah. It 
 is in a hill of about 200 feet perpendicular height, the 
 ascent of which on one side is so steep, that you may 
 pitch a biscuit from its summit into the river which 
 washes its base. The entrance of the cave is in this 
 side, about two-thirds of the way up. It extends into 
 the earth about 300 feet, branching into subordinate 
 caverns, sometimes ascending a little, but more generally 
 descending, and at length terminates in two different 
 places at basins of water of unknown extent, and which 
 I should judge to be nearly on a level with the water of 
 the river ; however, I do not think they are formed by 
 refluent water from that, because they are never turbid ; 
 because they do not rise and fall in correspondence with 
 that in times of flood, or of drought, and because the 
 water is always cool. It is probably one of the many 
 reservoirs with which the interior parts of the earth are 
 supposed to abound, and which yield supplies to the 
 fountains of water, distinguished from others only by its 
 
APPENDIX. 299 
 
 being accessible. The vault of this cave is of solid lime- 
 stone; from 20 to 40 or 50 feet high, through which 
 water is continually percolating. This, trickling down 
 the sides of the cave, has encrusted them over in the 
 form of elegant drapery; and dripping from the top of 
 the vault generates on that, and on the base below, sta- 
 lactites of a conical form, some of which have met and 
 formed massive columns." 
 
 BLOWING CAVE. 
 
 On the stage road between the Rockbridge and Bath 
 Alum Springs, and one mile west of the little village of 
 Milboro', in a high ledge near the bank of the Cow Pas- 
 ture river, is the Blowing Cave, noticed by Mr. Jefferson 
 in his " Notes on Virginia." The mouth of the 'cave is 
 30 or 40 feet above the road; it is semi-circular in shape, 
 and about 4 feet in height. This cave has been explored 
 for a considerable distance. It is said that a small dog 
 who entered its mouth, found his way out by some un- 
 known passage. * " When the internal and external at- 
 mosphere is the same, there is no perceptible current 
 issuing from it. In intense hot weather, the air comes 
 out with so much force as to prostrate the weeds at the 
 entrance. In intense cold weather, the air draws in. 
 There is a Flowing and Ebbing Spring on the same 
 stream with the Blowing Cave, which supplies water- 
 
 *Howe. 
 
300 APPENDIX. 
 
 power for a grist-mill, a distillery, and a tan-yard. It 
 flows irregularly. When it commences, the water bursts 
 out in a body as if let loose from a dam." This is called 
 by Mr. Jefferson a Syphon Fountain. Two others of the 
 same kind are known in Virginia ; one in Brooks' Gap, in 
 Rockingham county, the other near the mouth of the 
 North Hoist on. 
 
 NATURAL BRIDGE. 
 
 This, perhaps the most celebrated of the Natural Cu- 
 riosities of Virginia, is in the county of Rockbridge, and 
 near the geographical centre of the State, 172 miles west 
 from Richmond, and 63 east from the White Sulphur 
 Springs. The mean height of the bridge from Cedar 
 Creek, which flows under it, is 215 feet. Its length is 
 93 feet, its -average width 80 feet, the thickness of its 
 arch 55 feet. Its height is greater than the Falls of 
 Niagara by about fifty -five feet, and by some who have 
 seen both, it is regarded as a greater object of wonder. 
 Whatever may be its relative merits when compared with 
 the peerless Niagara, it admittedly ranks high among the 
 natural curiosities of the world, and is well worthy of a 
 visit by all the pleasure-jaunting public that visit our 
 mountains. 
 
 An accomplished European traveller thus describes the 
 Bridge, and his own impressions on viewing it : 
 
 u This famous bridge is on the head of a fine limestone 
 hill, which has the appearance of having been rent aeun- 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 der by some terrible convulsion m nature. The fissure 
 thus made is about ninety feet ; and over it the bridge 
 runs, so needful to the spot, and so unlikely to have 
 survived the great fracture, as to seem the work of man ; 
 so simple, so grand, so great, as to assure you that it is 
 only the work of God. The span of the arch runs from 
 45 to 60 feet wide, and its height, to the under line, is 
 about 200 feet, and to the head about 240 ! The form 
 of the arch approaches to the elliptical, and it is carried 
 over on a diagonal line, the very line of all others so dif- 
 ficult to the architect to realize ; and yet so calculated to 
 enhance the picturesque beauty of the object ! 
 
 There are chiefly three points of sight. You naturally 
 make your way to the head of the bridge first ; and as it 
 is a continuation of the common road, with its sides 
 covered with fine shrubs and trees, you may be on it 
 before you are aware. But the moment you approach 
 through the foliage to the side, you are filled with appre- 
 hension. It has, indeed, a natural parapet ; but few per- 
 sons can stand forward and look over. You instinctively 
 seek to reduce your height, that you may gaze on what 
 you admire with security. Even then it agitates you 
 with dizzy sensations. 
 
 You then make your way some fifty feet down the 
 bosom of the hill, and are supplied with some admirable 
 standing? on the projecting rock-work, to see the bridge 
 and all its rich accompaniments. There is, 200 feet 
 below you, the Cedar River, apparently motionless, ex- 
 cept where it flashes with light as it cuts its way through 
 the broken rocks. Mark the trees of every variety, but 
 
302 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 especially the fir, how they diminish as they stand on 
 the margin of its bed ; and how they ascend step by step 
 on the noble rock-wOrk, till they overshadow you; still 
 preserving such delicacy of form and growth as if they 
 would not do an injur}^ while they lend a grace. Ob- 
 serve those hills, gathering all around you in their fairest 
 forms and richest verdure, as if to do honor to a scene of 
 surpassing elegance. Now look at the bridge itself, 
 springing from this bed of verdant loveliness, distinct, 
 one, complete ! It is before you in its most picturesque 
 form. You just see through the arch, and the internal 
 face of the further pier is perfectly revealed. Did you 
 ever see such a pier — such an arch ? Is it not most illu- 
 sive ! Look at that masonry. Is it not most like the 
 perfection of art, and yet what art could never reach ? 
 Look at that coloring. Does it not look like the painter's 
 highest skill, and yet unspeakably transcend it ? 
 
 This is exquisite. Still you have no just conception 
 of this master-piece until you get below. You go some 
 little distance for this purpose, as in the vicinity of the 
 bridge the rocks are far too precipitous. A hot and bril- 
 liant day is, of all others, the time to enjoy this object. 
 To escape from a sun which scorches you, into these ver- 
 dant and cool bottoms, is a luxury of itself, which dis- 
 poses you to relish every thing else. When down, I was 
 very careful of the first impression, and did not venture 
 to look steadily on the objects about me till I had selected 
 my station. At length I placed myself about 100 feet 
 from the bridge, on some masses of rock which were 
 washed by the running waters, and ornamented by the 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 slender trees which were springing from its fissures. At 
 my feet was the soothing melody of the rippling, gushing 
 waters. Behind me, and in the distance, the river and 
 the hills were expanding themselves to the light and 
 splendor of day. Before me, and all around, every thing 
 was reposing in the most delightful shade, set off by the 
 streaming rays of the sun, which shot across the head of 
 the picture far above you, and sweetened the solitude 
 below. On the right and left, the majestic rocks arose 
 with the decision of a wall, but without its uniformity, 
 massive, broken, beautiful, and supplying a most admira- 
 ble foreground; and, every where, the most delicate 
 stems were planted in their crevices, and waving their 
 heads in the soft breeze, which occasionally came over 
 them. The eye now ran through the bridge, and was 
 gratified with a lovely vista. The blue mountains stood 
 out in the back-ground; beneath them the hills and 
 woods gathered together, so as to enclose the dell below ; 
 while the river, which was coursing away from them, 
 seemed to have its well-head hidden in their recesses. 
 Then there is the arch, distinct from every thing, and 
 above every thing. Massive as it is, it is light and beau- 
 tiful by its height, and the fine trees on its summit seem 
 now only like a garland of evergreens ; and, elevated as 
 it is, its apparent elevation is wonderfully increased by 
 the narrowness of its piers, and by its outline being 
 drawn on the blue sky, which appears beneath and above 
 it ! Oh, it is sublime— so strong, and yet so elegant — 
 springing from earth, and bathing its head in heaven ! 
 But it is the sublime not allied to the terrific, as at Ni- 
 
304 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 agara ; it is the sublime associated with the pleasing. I 
 sat, and gazed with wonder and astonishment. That 
 afternoon was the shortest I ever remembered. I had 
 quickly, too quickly, to leave the spot forever ; but the 
 music of those waters, the luxury of those shades, the 
 form and colors of those rocks, and that arch — that 
 arch — rising over all, and seeming to offer a passage to 
 the skies — 0, they will never leave nie." 
 
 PEAKS OF OTTER. 
 
 These celebrated mountain heights, with one or two 
 exceptions, are of greater altitude than any other moun- 
 tains in the southern country. They are in the county 
 of Bedford, ten miles by the public road from the beau- 
 tiful village of Liberty, and about thirty-five miles from 
 the city of Lynchburg. Mr. Howe, in his interesting 
 history of Virginia, states that the northern peak is 
 4200 feet above the plain, and 5307 feet above the level 
 of the ocean, which is more than a mile in height. 
 The summits of these peaks are, perhaps, two miles 
 apart. The most southerly, or the conical peak, is much 
 visited. A writer in the Southern Literary Messenger 
 gives the following account of his visit to these interest- 
 ing heights : 
 
 " After riding about a mile and a quarter, we came to 
 the point beyond which horses cannot be taken, and dis- 
 mounting our steeds, commenced ascending on foot. 
 The way was very steep, and the day so warm that we 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 had to halt often to take breath. As we approached the 
 summit, the trees were all of a dwarfish growth, and 
 twisted and gnarled by the storms of that high region. 
 There were also a few blackberry bushes, bearing their 
 fruit long after the season had passed below. A few 
 minutes longer brought us to where the trees ceased to 
 grow ; but a huge mass of rocks, piled wildly on top of 
 each other, finished the termination of the peak. Our 
 path lay for some distance around the base of it, and 
 under the overhanging battlements, and rather descend- 
 ing for a while, until it led to a part of the pile which 
 could with some effort be scaled. There was no ladder, 
 nor any artificial steps, and the only means of ascent 
 was by climbing over the successive rocks. We soon 
 stood upon the wild platform of one of nature's most 
 magnificent observatories, isolated and apparently above 
 all things else terrestrial, and looking down upon and over 
 a beautiful, variegated, and at the same time grand, wild, 
 wonderful, and almost boundless panorama. Indeed, it 
 was literally boundless, for there was a considerable haze 
 resting upon some parts of the ( world below/ so that, in 
 the distant horizon, the earth and sky seemed insensibly 
 to mingle with each other. I had been there before. I 
 remember, when a boy of little more than ten years old, 
 to have been taken to that spot, and how my unpracticed 
 nerves forsook me at the sublimity of the scene. 
 
 " On this day it was as new as ever ; as wild, won- 
 derful and sublime as if I had never before looked from 
 those isolated rocks, or stood on that awful summit. On 
 one side, towards Eastern Virginia, lay a comparatively 
 
306 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 level country, in the distance bearing strong resemblance 
 to the ocean ; on the other hand were ranges of high 
 mountains, interspersed with cultivated spots, and then 
 terminating in piles of mountains, following in succes- 
 sive ranges, until they were lost also in the haze. Above 
 and below, the Blue Ridge and Alleghanies run off in 
 long lines ; sometimes relieved by knolls and peaks, and 
 in one place above us making a graceful curve, and then 
 again running off in a different line of direction. 
 
 "Very near us stood the rounded top of the other 
 peak, looking like a sullen sentinel for its neighbor. 
 
 u We paused in silence for a time. We were there 
 almost cut off from the world below, standing where it 
 was fearful even to look down. It was more hazy than 
 at the time of my last visit, but not so much so as to de- 
 stroy the interest of the scene. 
 
 " There was almost a sense of pain at the stillness 
 which seemed to reign. We could hear the flappings of 
 the wings of the hawks and the buzzards, as they seemed 
 to be gathering a new impetus after sailing through one 
 of their circles in the air below us. North of us, and on 
 the other side of the Valley of Virginia, were the moun- 
 tains near Lexington, just as seen from that beautiful vil- 
 lage — the Jump, North and House mountains succeeding 
 each other. They were familiar with a thousand associa- 
 tions of our childhood, seeming mysteriously, when away 
 from the spot, to bring my early home before me — not 
 in imagination, such as had often haunted me when I 
 first left to find another in the world, but in substantial 
 reality. Further on down the valley, and at a great dis- 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 tance, was the top of a large mountain, which was 
 thought to be the Great North Mountain, away down in 
 Shenandoah county. I am afraid to say how far off. 
 Intermediate between these mountains, and extending 
 opposite and far above us, was the Valley of Virginia, 
 with its numerous and highly cultivated farms. Across 
 this Valley, and in the distance, lay the remote ranges of 
 the Alleghany and mountains about, and, I suppose, be- 
 yond the White Sulphur Springs. Nearer us, and sepa- 
 rating Eastern and Western Virginia, was the Blue 
 Ridge, more than ever showing the propriety of its cog- 
 nomen of the 'back bone/ and on which we could dis- 
 tinctly see two zigzag turnpikes, the one leading to Fin- 
 castle and the other to Buchanan, and over which latter 
 we had traveled a few days before. With the spy-glass 
 we could distinguish the houses in the village of Fincas- 
 tle, some twenty-five or thirty miles off, and the road 
 leading to the town. Turning towards the direction of 
 our morning's ride, we had beneath us Bedford county, 
 with its smaller mountains, farms and farm-houses, the 
 beautiful village of Liberty, the county roads, and occa- 
 sionally a mill-pond, reflecting the sun like a sheet of 
 polished silver. The houses on the hill at Lynchburg, 
 twenty-five or thirty miles distant, are distinctly visible 
 on a clear day, and also Willis' mountain, away down in 
 Buckingham county. 
 
 "Myself and companions had, some time before, got- 
 ten on different rocks, that we might not interrupt each 
 other in our contemplations. I could not refrain, how- 
 ever, from saying to one of them, i What little things we 
 
308 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 are ! how factitious our ideas of what is extensive in ter- 
 ritory and distance ! 9 A splendid estate was about the 
 size I could step over ; and I could stand and look at the 
 very house whence I used to start in days gone by, and 
 follow with my eye my day's journey to the spot where, 
 wearied and worn, I dismounted with the setting sun. 
 Yet I could look over what seemed so great a space with 
 a single glance. I could also look away down the Valley 
 of Virginia, and trace the country, and in imagination 
 the stage coach, as it slowly wound its way, day and 
 night, for successive days, to reach the termination of 
 what I could throw my eye over in a moment. I was 
 impressively reminded of the extreme littleness with 
 which these things of earth would all appear when the 
 tie of life which binds us here is broken, and we shall 
 all be able to look back and down upon them from 
 another world. The scene and place are well calculated 
 to excite such thoughts. 
 
 " It is said that John Randolph once spent the night 
 on these elevated rocks, attended by no one but his ser- 
 vant ) and that when, in the morning, he had witnessed 
 the sun rising over the majestic scene, he turned to his 
 servant, having no other to whom' he could express his 
 thoughts, and charged him, < Never from that time to 
 believe any one who told him there was no God/ 
 
 " I confess, also, that my mind was most forcibly car- 
 ried to the judgment day; and I could but call the atten- 
 tion of my companions to what would, probably, then be 
 the sublime terror of the scene we now beheld, when the 
 mountains we saw and stood upon should all be melted 
 
APPENDIX. 309 
 
 down like wax ; when the flames should be driving over 
 the immense expanse before us ; when the heavens over 
 us should be ( passing away with a great noise ' ; and 
 when the air beneath and around us should be filled with 
 the very inhabitants now dwelling and busied in that 
 world beneath us." 
 
 Travelers in the public conveyances, who desire to 
 visit the Peaks, should stop at Liberty, where carriages 
 can be obtained for the mountain excursion. Those 
 traveling in private conveyances may detour at Buchanan 
 from the main Valley road, or from Liberty. They will 
 find a well-graded turnpike from either of these places to 
 the Peaks, and a comfortable hotel immediately at their 
 base. 
 
 THE HAWKS NEST, OR MARSHALL S PILLAR, 
 
 Is on New River, in the County of Fayette, a few 
 rods from the main turnpike leading from G-uyandotte to 
 the White Sulphur Springs —ninety-six miles from the 
 former and sixty-four from the latter place. It consists 
 of an immense column or pillar of rock, rising perpen- 
 dicularly to the height of 1,000 feet above the river. It 
 is called Marshall's Pillar in honor of the late venerable 
 Chief Justice, who, as one of the State Commissioners 
 appointed to reconnoitre that section of country for the 
 location of a public improvement, stood upon its dizzy 
 height and sounded its exact depth to the margin of the 
 river, 
 
310 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A foreign traveler thus beautifully describes the ele 
 vating and sublime emotions with which he was inspirec 
 on visiting the Hawk's Nest : 
 
 *" You leave the road by a little by-path, and afte: 
 pursuing it for a short distance, the whole scene sud 
 denly breaks upon you. But how shall we describe it 
 The great charm of the whole is connected with th< 
 point of sight, which is the finest imaginable. Yo\ 
 come suddenly to a spot which is called the Hawk's 
 Nest. It projects on the scene, and is so small as to giv< 
 standing to only some half dozen persons. It has on it; 
 head an old picturesque pine ; and it breaks away at you] 
 feet abruptly and in perpendicular lines, to a depth o: 
 more than 1,000 feet. On this standing, which, by iti 
 elevated and detached character, affects you like th< 
 monument, the forest rises above and around you. Be 
 neath and before you is spread a lovely valley. A peace 
 ful river glides down it, reflecting, like a mirror, all th< 
 lights of heaven, washes the foot of the rocks on whicl 
 you are standing, and then winds away into anothe 1 . 
 valley at your right. The trees of the wood, in all theii 
 variety, stand out on the verdant bottoms, with thei] 
 heads in the sun, and casting their shadows at your feet 
 but so diminished as to look more like the pictures o: 
 the things than the things themselves. The green hilL 
 rise on either hand and all around, and give complete 
 ness and beauty to the scene ; and beyond these appear* 
 the gray outline of the more distant mountains, bestow 
 
 ^Howe's History of Virginia. 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 ing grandeur to what was supremely beautiful. It is 
 exquisite. It conveys to you the idea of perfect soli- 
 tude. The hand of man, the foot of man, seem never 
 to have touched that valley. To you, though placed in 
 the midst of it, it seems altogether inaccessible. You 
 long to stroll along the margin of those sweet waters, 
 and repose under the shadows of those beautiful trees ; 
 but it looks impossible. It is solitude, but of a most 
 soothing, not of an appalling character, where sorrow 
 might learn to forget her griefs, and folly begin to be 
 wise and happy." 
 
 THE ICE MOUNTAIN, 
 
 In the county of Hampshire, is justly regarded as one 
 of the most interesting and wonderful curiosities of the 
 State. It is situated on the eastern bank of the North 
 River, and is twenty-six miles N. W. from Winchester, 
 and sixteen miles E. from Romney. It rises to the 
 height of near 500 feet above the river. 
 
 *"The west side of the mountain, for a quarter of a 
 mile, is covered with a mass of loose stone of a light 
 color, which reaches down to the bank of the river. By 
 removing the loose stone, pure crystal ice can always be 
 found in the warmest days of summer. It has been dis- 
 covered even as late as the 15th of September; but 
 never in October, although it may exist throughout the 
 
 # Howe's History of Virginia. 
 
312 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 entire year, and be found, if the rocks were excavated tc 
 a sufficient depth. The body of rocks where the ice it 
 found is subject to the full rays of the sun from nine 
 o'clock in the morning until sun-set. , The sun does nol 
 have the effect of melting the ice as much as continued 
 rains. At the base of the mountain is a spring of watei 
 colder by many degrees than spring water generally is, 
 'Very near this spring/ says Kerchival, 'the owner oi 
 the property has removed the stone and erected a small 
 log dairy, for the preservation of milk, butter and fresli 
 meats. When the author saw this little building, which 
 was late in the month of April, the openings between the 
 logs, (on the side next the cavity from which the stone 
 had been taken out,) for eighteen inches or two feet from 
 the floor, were completely filled with ice, and about one- 
 half the floor was covered with ice several inches thick. 
 Mr. Deevers, who is the owner of the property, informed 
 the author that milk, butter, or fresh meats of any kind, 
 are perfectly safe from injury for almost any length of 
 time, in the hottest weather. If a fly venture in, he is 
 immediately stiffened with the cold and becomes torpid. 
 If a snake, in his rambles, happens to pass over the 
 rocks covering the ice, he soon loses all motion and dies. 
 Christopher Heiskell, Esq., informed the author that sev- 
 eral instances had occurred of snakes being found dead 
 among the rocks covering the ice. An intelligent young 
 lady at the same time stated that she had seen instances 
 of this character. In truth, it was upon her first sug- 
 gesting the fact, that the author was led to make the 
 inquiry of Mr. Heiskell. And Mr. Deevers stated that 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 lie had several times removed torpid flies from his dairy 
 into a more temperate atmosphere, when they soon re- 
 covered life and motion, and flew off." 
 
 A writer in Silliman's Journal, Mr. C. B. Hayden, 
 thus accounts for the curious phenomenon of the preser- 
 vation of ice in this mountain : 
 
 u The solution, I conceive, is found in the large and 
 unusual collection of rocks, which, from their porous 
 homogeneous texture, are extremely poor conductors of 
 heat. One side of the mountain consists of a massive 
 wall, many hundred feet in thickness, and heaped up 
 against this as an abutment is a mass of rocks containing 
 several thousand cubic feet. As the mountain has a gen- 
 eral direction from N. E. to S. W., the talus heap con- 
 taining the ice has a N. W. exposure. The cavernous 
 nature of this heap would admit the free entrance of 
 atmospheric waters, which during the winter would form 
 ice in the interior of the mass. The ice thus situated 
 would be protected from external heat by the surround- 
 ing rocks, as in a refrigerator, isolated and protected 
 from the external temperature by the non-conducting 
 sides of the refrigerator. The Ice Mountain only re- 
 quires, for the explanation of its phenomenon, the appli- 
 cation of the familiar principle upon which is constructed 
 the common refrigerator, which temporarily effects what 
 the lea Mountain permanently does — ■& temperature in- 
 dependent of external causes. The Ice Mountain is, in 
 fact, a huge sandstone refrigerator, whose increased and 
 unusual effects beyond those of the ordinary refrigerator, 
 
m 
 
 APrENDIX. 
 
 are due to the increased and unusual collection of poor 
 conducting materials which form its sides." 
 
 In the same county there are several other curiosities 
 of interest, particularly — 
 
 CAUDY S CASTLE, THE TEA TABLE, AND THE 
 HANGING HOCKS. 
 
 Gaudy's Castle (Howe) " was so named from having 
 been the retreat of an early settler, when pursued by 
 the Indians. It is the fragment of a mountain, in the 
 shape of a half cone, with a very narrow base, which 
 rises from the banks of the Capon to the height of about 
 500 feet, and presents a sublime and majestic ap- 
 pearance. 
 
 " The Tea Talle is about ten miles from Caucly's Castle, 
 in a deep, rugged glen, three or four miles east of the 
 Capon. It is about four feet in height, and the same in 
 diameter. From the top issues a clear stream of wa- 
 ter, which flows over the brim on all sides, and forms a 
 fountain of exquisite beauty. 
 
 "The Hanging Rocks are about four miles north of 
 Roniney. There the Wappatomka River has cut its way 
 through the mountain of about 500 feet in height. The 
 boldness of the rocks and the wildness of the scene 
 excite awe in the beholder. 
 
 A bloody battle, says tradition, was once fought at the 
 
APPENDIX. 815 
 
 Hanging Hocks, between contending parties of the Ca- 
 tawba and Delaware Indians, and it is believed that 
 several hundred of the latter were slaughtered. Indeed, 
 the signs now to be seen at this place exhibit striking 
 evidence of the fact. There is a row of Indian graves 
 between the rocks and public road, along the margin of 
 the river, of from sixty to seventy yards in length. It is 
 believed that very few of the Delawares escaped. ;; 
 
 Persons who visit the Capon Springs may conveni- 
 ently see these curiosities, and they are all well worthy 
 of the observation of the inquisitive traveler. 
 
 SALT POND. 
 
 The Salt Pond, now becoming celebrated among the 
 curiosities of Western Virginia, is a beautiful lake of 
 clear, deep, fresh water, on the top of the Salt Pond 
 Mountain, one of the highest spurs of the Alleghany. 
 It is in the county of Giles, ten miles east of Parisburg, 
 and Rye from the Hygeian Springs. 
 
 This pond (Howe) "is about a mile long, and one- 
 third of a mile wide. At its termination it is dammed 
 by a huge pile of rocks, over which it runs ) but which 
 once passed through the fissures only. In the spring 
 and summer of 1804, immense quantities of leaves and 
 other rubbish washed in and filled up the fissures, since 
 which it has risen full 25 feet. Previous to that time, 
 it was fed by a fine large spring at its head ; that then 
 disappeared, and several small springs now flow into it 
 
316 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 at its upper end. When first known, it was the resort of 
 vast numbers of elk, buffalo, deer, and other wild ani- 
 mals, for drink. " It was also a place at which the pio- 
 neers of the country salted their cattle in the mountain 
 ranges 5 and hence its name of " Salt Pond." It has no 
 taste of salt, and is inhabited by fine trout and other 
 fish. 
 
 In enumerating the natural curiosities of the State, we 
 have confined ourselves to those that may be conveniently 
 reached by visiters to our springs ; nevertheless, the enu- 
 meration embraces all the most celebrated objects of the 
 kind. Every watering place, and almost every neigh- 
 borhood in ©ur mountain' regions, boast of their local 
 curiosities, or their wild, beautiful, and picturesque 
 scenery. Of these merely local objects of interest, every 
 pilgrim to our mountains, either in his travels or his so- 
 journings, will not fail to hear, and to learn, not only 
 their locality, but the peculiar interest that attaehes to 
 each. 
 
 OLD POINT COMFORT. 
 
 Although not strictly a natural curiosity, Old Point 
 Comfort is now so distinguished, not only for its fine sea 
 hathinr/j and as a place of fashionable and healthful re- 
 sort by persons from every portion of our country, but 
 also for its extensive fortifications guarding the entrance 
 from the ocean into the interior of the country, that we 
 
APPENDIX. 137 
 
 have thought some notice of it might be acceptable to 
 the spring-going and pleasure-seeking public. 
 
 Old Point *"on which stands Fortress Monroe, is 2 J 
 miles from Hampton, and about 12, in a direct line, from 
 Norfolk. It is a promontory exactly on latitude 37°, 
 and, with the opposing point WillongJiby } forms the 
 mouth of James River. The name was given to it in 
 1607, by the first colonists of Virginia, who, on their 
 exploratory voyage up the James, previous to landing at 
 Jamestown, called it Point Comfort u on account of the 
 good channel and safe anchorage that it* afforded. The 
 prefix of " Old 19 was afterwards given to distinguish it 
 from u New Point Comfort. 99 
 
 A fort was built on the Point a few years after the 
 first settlement of the country. The following act for its 
 erection was passed in March, 1629-30 : 
 
 " Matter of notifications was againe taken into consid- 
 eration, and Capt. Samuel Mathewes was content to un- 
 dertake the raysing of a ffort at Poynt Comfort ; where- 
 upon, Capt. Robert Ffelgate, Capt. Thomas Purfury, 
 Capt. Thomas Graies, .Capt. John Uty, Capt. Tho. Wil- 
 loby, Mr. Tho. Heyrick, and Lieut. Wm. Perry, by full 
 consent of the whole Assembly, were chosen to view the 
 place, conclude what manner of fforte shall bee erected, 
 and to compounde and agree with the said Capt. Ma- 
 thewes for the building, raysing, and finishing the 
 same," &c. 
 
 * Howe's History of Virginia. 
 
318 
 
 APPEJNDIX. 
 
 Count de Grasse, the admiral of the French fleet, 
 threw up some fortifications on Old Point Comfort a 
 short time previous to the surrender at York. 
 
 The salutary experience, dearly bought in the lessons 
 of the late war, when these waters were the resort of 
 British fleets, has doubtless had much influence in 
 prompting the erection of the fortresses Monroe and 
 Calhoun. The first is one of the largest single fortifica- 
 tions in the world, and is generally garrisoned by a regi- 
 ment of the U. S. troops. 
 
 The channel leading in from the Capes of Virginia t(j 
 Hampton Roads, is at Old Point Comfort reduced to a 
 very narrow line. The shoal water, which, under the 
 action of the sea, and re-acted upon by the bar, is kept 
 up in an unremitting ripple, has given the name of Rip 
 RajJs to this place. 
 
 When the bar is passed, Hampton Roads affords one 
 of the finest anchorages, in which navies could ride in 
 safety. Fort Calhoun, or the castle of the Rip Raps, is 
 directly opposite Fort Monroe, at the distance of 1900 
 yards. The two forts are so constructed as to present 
 immense batteries of cannon at an approaching hostile 
 ship ; and the probabilities are, that long before she had 
 completed the bendings of the channel, she would be 
 a wreck or a conflagration from the hot shot thrown 
 into her. 
 
 The Rip Raps structure is a monument of the genius 
 of the engineers by whom it was planned. It is formed 
 upon an island, made from the sea by casting in rocks in 
 a depth of 20 feet of water, until, by gradual accumula- 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 319 
 
 tion, it emerged above the tides. The present aspect of 
 the place is rough and savage; the music of the sur- 
 rounding elements of air and sea is in keeping with the 
 dreariness and desolation of the spot ! 
 
 Old Point affords a delightful beach for sea bathing, 
 equal to any on the coast ; J;his, with its fine hotels and 
 the facility with which it^is reached from any quarter of 
 the country, make it a place of great resort during the 
 summer months. 
 
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