Krystallographie und Mineralogie, ed. by P. Groth (Leipzig, since
1877); Bulletin de la société française de minéralogie (Paris, since
1878); Rivista di mineralogia e cristallografia (Padova, since
1887). (L. J. S.)
MINERAL WATERS. No absolute line of demarcation can
be drawn between ordinary and mineral waters. There is
usually in the latter an excess of mineral constituents or of
temperature, but some drinking waters contain more mineral
constituents than others that are called mineral waters, and
many very pure waters, both cold and warm, have been
regarded for ages as mineral springs.
As to the origin of mineral waters, there is much in what the elder Pliny said, that waters are such as the soil through which they flow. Thus in limestone and chalk districts an excess of lime is usually present, and the waters of a particular district have much resemblance to each other—as in the Eifel, in Auvergne, and in the Pyrenees. But this is only a partial explanation, for waters are by no means necessarily uniform throughout a particular geological formation. We do not know with any certainty the depth from which various mineral waters proceed, nor the various distances from the surface at which they take up their different mineral constituents. The source of the temperature of thermal waters remains a subject of much uncertainty. Among the assigned causes are the internal heat of the globe, or the development of heat by chemical or electrical agencies in the strata through which they arise.
Their occasional intermittence is doubtless often dependent on the periodical generation of steam, as in the case of the Geysers. A few geological facts are certain, which bear on the origin of mineral waters. Such springs are most abundant in volcanic districts, where many salts of soda and much carbonic acid are present. They occur most frequently at meetings of stratified with unstratified rocks, in saddles, and at points where there has been dislocation of strata.
The diffusion of mineral waters is very extended. Pliny was quite correct in observing that they are to be found on alpine heights and arising from the bottom of the ocean. They are found at the snow in the Himalayas and they rise from the sea at Baiae and Ischia. They are to be found in all quarters of the globe, but more particularly in volcanic regions, as in the Eifel and Auvergne, in the Bay of Naples, and parts of Greece, in Iceland, New Zealand and Japan, But there are few countries in which they are not to be found, except in very flat ones, and in deltas of rivers—for instance, in the north of France, where they are very few, and in Holland, from which they are absent. France, Germany, Italy and Spain, as well as Greece, Asia Minor, and the Caucasus, are all rich in mineral waters. The British Isles have a fair though not very large proportion of them. There are a few in Sweden and Norway. They are abundant in the United States, less so in Canada. They are found in the Azores and in the West India Islands. Of their occurrence in the interior of Africa or of Australia we know little; and the same is true of South America. But they are met with in Algiers, in Egypt, and in the Holy Land. The vast Indian peninsula has for its size a comparatively small supply.
Mineral waters, when analysed, are found to contain a great many substances, although some of them occur only in very minute quantities: soda, magnesia, calcium, potash, alumina, iron, boron, iodine, bromine, arsenic, lithium, caesium, rubidium, fluorine, barium, copper, zinc, manganese, strontium, silica, phosphorus, besides extractive matters, and various organic deposits known under the name of glairin or baregin. Of gases, there have been found carbonic acid, hydrosulphuric acid, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and ammonia. Of all these by far the most important in a therapeutic point of view are sodium, magnesia and iron, carbonic acid, sulphur, and perhaps hydrosulphuric acid. These substances, detected separately by chemists, are in their analyses combined by them into various salts, if not with absolute certainty, undoubtedly with a close approximation to it. Those combinations are very numerous, and some waters contain ten to twenty of them; but there are always some predominating ones which mark their character, while, many of them, such as caesium, rubidium, or fluorine, occur in mere traces, and cannot be assumed to be of any real importance. Mineral waters therefore resolve themselves into weaker or stronger solutions of salts and gases in water of higher or lower temperature. For medical purposes they are used either externally or internally. As the quantity of salts present commonly bears but a very small proportion to that of the fluid containing them, water becomes a very influential agent in mineral-water treatment, about which it is therefore necessary to say something.
For the action of mineral-water baths see Balneotherapeutics. According to the most generally received opinion, the cutaneous surface does not absorb any portion of the salts in a mineral-water bath, although it may absorb a little gas (and alkaline water, for instance, at most acting as a slight detergent on the skin), and that neither salts nor gases have any action on the system, except as stimulants of the skin, with partial action on the respiratory organs.
It seems to be ascertained that drinking considerable amounts of cold water reduces the temperature of the body, diminishes the frequency of the pulse, and increases the blood pressure temporarily. Water when introduced into the stomach, especially if it be empty, is quickly absorbed; but, although much of the water passes into the veins, there is no proof that it ever produces in them, as is sometimes supposed, a state of fluidity or wateriness. Therapeutically, the imbibition of large quantities of water leads to a sort of general washing out of the organs. This produces a temporary increase of certain excretions, augmented diuresis, and a quantitative increase of urea, of chloride of sodium, and of phosphoric and sulphuric acids in the urine. Both the sensible and the insensible perspirations are augmented. A draught of cold water undoubtedly stimulates the peristaltic action of the intestines. On the whole water slightly warm is best borne by the stomach, and is more easily absorbed by it than cold water; and warm waters are more useful than cold ones when there is much gastric irritability. In addition to the therapeutic action of mineral waters, there are certain very important subsidiary considerations which must not be overlooked. An individual who goes from home to drink them finds himself in a different climate, with possibly a considerable change in altitude. His diet is necessarily altered, and his usual home drinks are given up. There is change in the hours of going to bed and of rising. He is relieved from the routine of usual duties, and thrown into new and probably cheerful society. He takes more exercise than when at home, and is more in the open air, and this probably at the best season of the year. So important has this matter of season and climate been found that it is an established axiom that waters can be used to the greatest advantage during the summer months and in fine weather, and during the periods most convenient for relaxation from business. Summer is therefore the bath season, but of late years provision has been made in many places, with the aid of specially constructed rooms and passages, for carrying out cures satisfactorily during the winter season, e.g. at Aix-la-Chapelle, Wiesbaden, Baden Baden, Baden in Switzerland, Dax, Vichy and Bath. The ordinary bath season extends from the 15th of May to the 20th or 30th of September. The season for baths situated at considerable elevations commences a month later and terminates some ten days earlier. Mineral waters may be employed at home, but patients seldom so use them; and this necessarily limits the time of their use. It is common to declare that the treatment should last for such or such a period. But the length of time for which any remedy is to be used must depend on its effect, and on the nature of the particular case. It is found, however, that the continued use of mineral waters leads to certain disturbances of the system, which have been called crises, such as sleeplessness, colics and diarrhoea, and to skin eruptions known as la poussée. This cause, and also certain peculiarities of the female constitution, have led to the period of three weeks to a month being considered the usual period for treatment. A certain after-treatment is often prescribed—such as persistence
