Of Natural baths, some are nitrous, some saline, some aluminous, some
sulphureous, some bituminous, some copperish, some ferruginous, and some
compounded of these. Of all the Natural waters the power is, upon the
whole, desiccant and calefacient; and they are peculiarly fitted for
those of a humid and cold habit. The nitrous and saltish are beneficial
to the head, to defluxions of the chest, to a watery stomach, to
dropsies, to swellings after diseases, and to collections of phlegm. The
aluminous are fitted for spitting of blood, vomiting from the stomach,
immoderate menstrual discharges of women, and repeated miscarriages.
The sulphureous are soothing and warming to the nerves, and relieve
lassitude, but weaken and upset the stomach. The bituminous occasion
fulness of the head, and hurt the senses, but occasion a steady degree of
heat, and soothe when persevered in. The copperish are peculiarly adapted
for the mouth, tonsils, uvula, and eyes. The ferruginous are useful to
the stomach and spleen. The descent into the water ought to be without
precipitation, in order that its impression may sink deep into the body
when in a relaxed state.
* * * * *
COMMENTARY. This Section is taken from Oribasius. (Synops. i, 29.) A
fuller account is given in the Med. Collect. (x, 3 et seq.) See further,
Aëtius (iii, 167); Haly Abbas (Theor. v, 13); Rhases (Contin. xxxvii);
Avicenna (ii, 2, 15.)
Hippocrates briefly mentions thermal springs of iron, copper, silver,
gold, sulphur, alum, bitumen, and nitre. He speaks unfavorably of all
such waters, as being hard and heating. (De Aër, &c. 35.) The ancient
nitre or natron, it is now well known, was a native carbonate of soda.
The alum, mentioned by Hippocrates and the other writers on the thermal
springs, cannot have been the alum of modern commerce, since it is very
rarely to be detected in mineral waters, but it must have been the alumen
plumosum, or hair alum, which Klaproth found to consist principally of
the sulphate of magnesia and iron.
By far the most interesting account which has been transmitted to us of
the thermal springs of the ancients is that given by Pliny in the 31st
book of his ‘Natural History.’ He more especially commends the medicinal
waters near Baiæ, consisting of all the kinds mentioned by Hippocrates
and our author, namely, sulphureous, bituminous, saline, &c. Some of
them, he says, prove medicinal by their vapour. He speaks of their good
effects in diseases of the nerves and joints, and mentions generally
of them that they open the bowels. Pliny’s account of the virtues of
medicinal springs in different parts of the world is curious, but mixed
up and disfigured with his usual traits of credulity and love of the
marvellous.
The tepid springs of Albula, in the vicinity of Rome, are briefly
mentioned by Pliny (l. c.); Vitruvius (viii, 3); and Pausanias
(Messeniaco.) Among the natural springs of the Romans the Fons Aponus, or
Bagni d’Abano, near Padua, is particularly celebrated. Claudian’s poem in
praise of its medicinal waters is well known. He calls it
“Publica morborum requies, commune medentûm
Auxilium, præsens numen.”
Joannes de Dondis has given an elaborate disquisition on the hot springs
of Padua, but it is not by any means so satisfactory as could be desired.
This would be the proper place to give some account of the ancient
Temples of Health, most of which, there is reason to believe, were
connected with medicinal springs. But our information respecting them
is so scanty, that we can scarcely venture to touch upon the subject
at all. We would refer, however, to what Pausanias says of the warm
saline springs in the neighbourhood of the Asclepieion at Cenchreæ in
Corinthiaca (ii, 2, 4), and of the springs near the temple of Æsculapius
at Corone (iv, 34); and of the wells near the temple of Æsculapius at
Pergamos (viii. 25.)