Page:Essay on the mineral waters of Carlsbad (1835).pdf/59

 alkali with their subtler parts, such as the oxid of iron, the carbonic acid gazgas [sic], and the new ingredients, found by Mr. Berzelius (without speaking of those which may perhaps be hereafter discovered), and particularly by their high temperature, which, volatilizing those constituent parts, so wonderfully united and combined together, conveys them, by the finest ramifications, to the last extremities of our organism, imparts to them a vivifying power, and deprives them of their hurtful qualities. David Becher, whilst drinking our waters, found Carlsbad salt in his own urine, and some drops of his perspiration, gathered upon a watch-glass, examined with a strong microscope, showed, during their evaporation, crystals similar to Carlsbad salt.

It is undoubtedly as difficult to tell by what process alkaline water separates, moves and eliminates morbid matters, as to understand how mercury, introduced by the stomach or the skin, frees the animal economy from inveterate syphilitic affections. Without attempting a methodical solution of this problem, one can conceive how an alkaline substance, reaching, more or less slowly, the last ramifications of our secretory and excretory organs, produces effects not to be expected from coarser medicaments, administered only in small doses, such as antimony, gums, soap, ox-gall, vegetable juices or extracts. Whoever has experienced at Carlsbad a regular crisis, will never more question the power of its waters, the revolution they cause in the whole system, nor the artificial