Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/225

Rh and emptying themselves into the river Avon, after having passed through the several baths. Their supply is so copious, that all the large reservoirs used for bathing, are filled every evening with fresh water, from their respective fountains. In their sensible and medicinal properties, there is but a slight difference: according to Dr., the former are, 1. That the water, when newly drawn, appears clear and colourless, remains perfectly inactive, without bubbles, or any sign of briskness or effervescence; 2. After being exposed to the open air for some hours, it becomes rather turbid, by the separation of a pale yellow, ochery precipitate, which gradually subsides; 3. No odour is perceptible from a glass of the fresh water, but a slight pungency to the taste from a large mass of it, when fresh drawn; which, however, is neither fetid nor sulphureous; 4. When hot from the pump, it affects the mouth with a strong chalybeate impression, without being of a saline or pungent taste; and 5. On growing cold, the chalybeate taste is entirely lost, leaving only a very slight sensation on the tongue, by which it can scarcely be distinguished from common hard spring water.

In specific gravity, the water of the King's, or Hot Bath, and that of the Cross Bath, exceed all other cold or warm springs of that city; the former being one-tenth, and the latter one-twelfth part of a thousand, heavier than the water in the river Avon.

The temperature of the King's Bath water, which is usually preferred for drinking, is, when fresh drawn in the glass, above 116°.; that of the Cross Bath 112°. But after flowing into the spacious bathing vessels; it is generally from 100 to 106° in the hotter baths, and from 92 to 94° in the Cross Bath; a temperature which remains nearly stationary, and is greater than that of any other natural spring in Britain. A small quantity of gas is also disengaged from these waters, which Dr. first discovered to contain no more than one-twentieth part of its bulk of fixed air, or carbonic acid. It would be foreign to our plan, to expatiate upon the chemical properties of the Bath waters, which have been so ably analyzed by the ingenuity of Drs. , and, to whose description we refer: we shall here only remark, that they contain so small a proportion of iron, as to amount only to 1-20th or 1-38th of a grain in the pint; and, according to Dr. , $15 1⁄4$ grains of siliceous earth, in the gallon.

Dr., of London, from whose valuable work "On Mineral Waters," lately published (8vo. 8s. boards), we have extracted the preceding facts, estimates a gallon of the King's Bath water to contain about eight cubic inches of carbonic acid, and a similar quantity of air, nearly azotic; farther, about 80 grains of solid ingredients, one-half of which probably consist of sulphat and muriat of soda; $15 1⁄2$ grains of siliceous earth, and the remainder is selenite, carbonate of lime, and so small a portion of oxyd of iron, as to be scarcely calculable. Hence he concludes, that the King's Bath water is the strongest chalybeate; next in order, the Hot Bath water; and lastly, that of the Cross Bath, which contains the smallest proportions of chalybeate, gaseous, and