The mineral springs of western Virginia with remarks on their use, and the diseases to which they are applicable |
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| XVI. |
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| XVIII. |
| XIX. |
| XX. | CHAPTER XX. |
| XXI. |
 | CHAPTER XX. The mineral springs of western Virginia |  |
CHAPTER XX.
DISEASES TO WHICH THE SALT SULPHUR IS
APPLICABLE.[1]
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 determination
of blood to the head, or at least not until
this determination has been guarded against
by previous diet, purgation, and if necessary,
blood-letting. But in all chronic affections
of the brain, nervous system, some diseases
of the lungs, stomach, bowels, liver, spleen,
kidneys, 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 sequelæ; in hemorrhoidal affections;
and in chronic diseases of the womb,
it is also a remedy of immense importance.
1. Of Chronic Disease of the Brain!—
In no class of diseases, probably, is there required
mineral water, and especially of one which,
under ordinary circumstances, excites the
system at large. Many persons on this account
have prohibited its use; but experience,
the only sure guide, has shown that many a
case of chronic headache, incipient mania,
and local palsy, dependent upon congestion or
chronic inflammation of the brain, will yield
to the steady use of a cathartic mineral water,
when almost every other agent has failed.
For such cases the Salt Sulphur seems peculiarly
adapted; but it must be used with caution,
and assisted, if necessary, by local depletion,
counter-irritation, and diet.
2. Neuralgia.—It is well known to the
profession, that neuralgic affections are often
dependent upon a deranged condition of the
chylopoietic viscera. The habitually costive,
or those who have suffered from repeated attacks
of miasmatic diseases, and the dyspeptic,
are generally most liable to attacks of
neuralgia. In 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
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, &c.,
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
condition. 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
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 affection of the heart or large
blood vessels, and if there be fever, emaciation,
tubercles with cavities in the lung, hæmoptysis,
or diarrhœa, the death of the patient
will be hastened by the employment of a
stimulant so active as the Salt Sulphur. For
pulmonary cases,[2] the Salt Sulphur offers the
advantage of an agreeable temperature, and
a dryness of atmosphere not possessed by
the other Springs in the mountains of Virginia.
During the season, which continues
from the 1st 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. Disease of the Heart.—The following
certificate is published by Mr. H. McF., of
suppose, however, that the affection of the
heart was organic; it must have been one of
those cases of functional disturbance dependent
upon disorder of the digestive apparatus:
Having been a sufferer for more than
three years, from organic disease of the heart, connected
with bronchitis, pronounced so by eminent physicians of S.
Carolina, I had the good fortune to visit your Spring, and
using the water freely for nearly two weeks, with a decidedly
good effect upon my obstinate disease, I feel it a duty I
owe to the public, and to other sufferers like myself, to say,
that I find it to possess none of the irritating quality that
some persons suppose. So highly have I been pleased with
the medicinal qualities of the water of your Spring, that I
beg you will send me a barrel of it containing 30 or 35 gallons.
6. Chronic Diseases of the Abdominal
Viscera.—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, diarrhœa, &c., are
encountered at every turn.
In hepatic affections, or those commonly
called bilious, the Salt Sulphur water is, without
doubt, one of the most powerful and efficient
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 sequelæ of the fevers of the
south, I have known frequently relieved 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
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 example of this.)
When dyspepsia is known to be dependent
upon scirrhus 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
Carolina, was, I am convinced, destroyed by it.
Chronic Irritation of the Bowels, giving
rise to chronic diarrhœa, 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 attention to the subject,
will bear me out in the assertion. Mr. T., of
Philadelphia, who for three years laboured
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
affection for which the Salt Sulphur
water is an excellent remedy.
Hemorrhoids.—The use of laxatives in
piles is a treatment so long in use that nothing
need be said in its favour but that Sulphur
water operates 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 admitted, that I shall
not stop to say anything towards its further
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 favourite
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
as a general rule, and always where the stone
is large, they prove but a doubtful remedy.
In the incipient stages of calculous disease,
however, and those especially in which the
formation of stone is dependent upon some
disease of the digestive apparatus, the Sulphur
waters are often useful. Many such
cases have been benefitted at the Salt Sulphur.
When this water fails to accomplish
the desired object, I have seen that of the
Sweet Springs productive of much good.
Although this water may be considered as
a somewhat doubtful remedy in calculous disease
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 irritation and gleet,
are annually cured by its employment.
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
amenorrhœa, and dysmenorrhœa; 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 Rheumatism 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 Sulphur
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 the Salt Sulphur.
10. Mercurial Rheumatism, Periostitis,
and Inflammation 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
judiciously administered, no remedy is productive
of more permanent benefit in all cutaneous
unfortunately they are but too often 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.
I have thus briefly sketched the principal
affections to which the water of the Salt Sulphur
is applicable, and to show that my assertions
are borne out by facts, I insert the certificates
of several persons, who, with myself,
were very much benefitted by its use:
The undersigned, visiters at the Salt
Sulphur Springs, prompted by a sense of grateful respect
for your kind and unwearied attentions to ourselves and
families, beg leave to convey to you our assurance of entire
satisfaction with the arrangements of your establishment.
Such have been the cordial hospitalities and ample
and varied accommodations of your house, that we shall
ever look back to our temporary residence with you with
pleasure and delight.
Experience, which is the best analysis your Spring can
have, justifies us in recommending it as an invaluable antidyspeptic
and acting very kindly upon the secretions generally.
If order, abundant and well prepared fare, excellent
bedding, quiet and obliging domestics, impartial and
gentlemanly efforts to promote health and comfort, have
any influence upon public favor, the proprietors of the
Salt Sulphur will certainly secure it.
Chestnut, Camden, S. C.; Jos. Otis, New York; Rev.
John Johns, D. D., Baltimore, Md.; Alfred Leyburn,
M. D., Lexington, Va.; Rev. Henry V. D. Johns,
Fredericktown, Md.; H. V. Levis, Philadelphia; Wm.
H. Hubbard, Richmond, Va.; Thomas Wilson, Baltimore;
Thomas Easley, Halifax co., Va.; A. Sebrell, Kanawha,
Va.; William Ellicott, Ellicott's Mills, Md.; Willis Jones,
M. D., Milton, N. C.; Henry P. Norris, Baltimore; R.
Jones, U. S. A., Washington; W. B. Meacham, Mississippi;
Peter H. Dilliard, Rockingham co., N. C.; James
V. Toby, New Orleans; Geo. L. Twiggs, Georgia; Richard
Tubman, Georgia; S. T. Gaillard, South Carolina; P. A.
Clay, Bedford, Va.; Jacob G. Davies, Baltimore; Samuel
R. Smith, Baltimore; Robert M. R. Smith, Baltimore; J.
B. Grimball, South Carolina; Oliver Norris, Baltimore; A.
K. Brown, Petersburg; Wm. A. Caruthers, M. D., New
York; Jno. Clark, M. D., New York; Samuel St. John,
Jun., Mobile; William Wilson, Lexington, Va.; Charles S.
Richards, New York; Olio Dyer, Mobile; William Bones,
Charleston, S. C.; John P. Staples, Patrick co., Va.; Geo.
Walton, Lynchburg, Va.; John T. E. Lewis, Brunswick,
Va.; James Greenlee, Rockbridge co., Va.; Benj. B. Duke,
Louisa co., Va.; M. H. Dosson, Louisiana; Wm. Brown,
North Carolina; John Harleston, South Carolina; Francis
D. Quash, South Carolina; S. Garland, Lynchburg, Va.;
Carolina; Orlando S. Rees, South Carolina; J. B. Billysley,
South Carolina; Thomas Shivers, Philadelphia; F. Pinckney
Lowndes, Charleston, S. C.; Thomas W. White, Hal
ifax county, Va.; Burwell Basset, Williamsburg; C. P.
Dorman, Lexington, Va.; Charles H. Robertson, Charlotte
county, Va.; Henry Robertson, Charlotte county, Va.;
Samuel N. Stevens, Charleston, S. C.
Having been greatly benefitted by drinking
the waters 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 days, the Salt Sulphur
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, my health and strength
restored, and I am now going home in cheerful spirits to
my friends.
Mrs. — left her house in a state of great debility,
scarcely able to walk, and was but little recruited by the
journey. She reached the Salt Sulphur on the 20th July
having stopped a week at the White Sulphur on the way
but without using the water. After remaining three days
at the Salt Sulphur, and partaking of the waters there
she proceeded to the Red Sulphur, and staid there six days
Red, used two or three tumblers of the water per diem; remained
at the Salt Sulphur until the 9th of August. When
Mrs. — arrived first at the Salt Sulphur, she weighed 91
pounds, and was unable to walk any distance, or use any
degree of exercise, without suffering greatly.
In thirteen days after her arrival at the Salt Sulphur, she
was again weighed in the same scales, and had increased to
95½ pounds, making a gain of 4½ pounds in weight, while
the circumference of her waist had been reduced nearly five
inches. In the interim, her countenance and eyes had undergone
an essential change for the better, her spirits and
strength restored, so as to take any ordinary exercise of
riding or walking without inconvenience. The quantity of
water which she ordinarily took was from three to four
glasses per diem, and she was careful in her diet, avoiding
all warm bread, and principally using bran bread, hominy,
mutton, &c. &c.
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 Sulphur water
eminently useful in all cases that require cathartic 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
disease are gradually worn away.
In the year 1812 I visited the Sweet and Sulphur Springs.
I was then laboring under a nervous debility and extreme
costiveness. I derived much benefit from the use of all
those waters, but found none so strong and active as the
Salt Sulphur. I concur in the opinion with many, that this
is a valuable water, and should be more sought after.
Certified this 6th day of May, 1823.
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 residence in a
warm climate (Bermuda), say, bad bile, great acidity of
stomach, and an overflow of mucus to the lungs; in short,
I had the dyspepsia with all its disagreeables, accompanied
with debility of body. Having tried the White Sulphur 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, notwithstanding 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 staid
fifth day 89, the sixth day to 96 and 100. I was obliged to
be leeched, which reduced my pulse to 84. I had three headaches
and great dryness of tongue; so on the 9th 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, and
has continued from that day to this, varying only from 71
to 72, night and morning.
I always counted my pulse in bed, 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; my dinner was mutton (no gravy) 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
tumblers 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 breakfast and dinner I walked
about five miles, often going to Union; between dinner and
calculate about seven miles a day. For one hour after dinner
I remained quiet in my room. I ate fruit once, and it
gave me such a lesson I never tried it again. I am thus
particular; for it may be of benefit to some one else next
year, and you are quite welcome to show this letter if you
wish it.
Wishing you your health, not forgetting Mrs. Erskine,
I remain, gentlemen, your obedient servant,
We have a distinct recollection of this gentleman's case. He had
been laboring under chronic irritation of the stomach, which, by too
free use of the Sulphur waters, and perhaps imprudence in diet, was
converted into an acute form, about the time he reached the Red Sulphur.
Dr. Saunders, then resident physician at the Red, instituted a
vigorous treatment, which in a few days subdued the attack, and the
patient's system was now in a condition to receive all the benefit
which he subsequently derived from the Salt Sulphur.
I have been affected for five or six years with an obstinate
disease of the liver, and dyspepsia, and have visited
nearly all the Springs in the mountains without having experienced
any material benefit, until I came to this place.
I have applied to some of the best physicians without being
relieved, but am happy to state, that the Salt Sulphur water
has had a most beneficial effect in removing many of the
inconveniences attending my disease, insomuch that I am
induced to carry a portion of it home with me.
Maryland.
ANALYSIS OF THE SALT SULPHUR SPRINGS,
By Prof. Wm. B. Rogers.
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 | Sulphate of Lime, | 36·755 grains. |
| 2 | Sulphate of Magnesia, | 7·883 grains. |
| 3 | Sulphate of Soda, | 9·682 grains. |
| 4 | Carbonate of Lime, | 4·445 grains. |
| 5 | Carbonate of Magnesia, | 1·434 grains. |
| 6 | Chloride of Magnesium, | 0·116 grains. |
| 7 | Chloride of Sodium, | 0·683 grains. |
| 8 | Chloride of Calcium, | 0·025 grains. |
| 9 | Peroxide of Iron derived from Proto-Sulphate, |
0·042 grains. |
| 10 | An azotized organic matter blended with Sulphur, about |
4 grains. |
| 11 | Earthy Phosphates, | a trace. |
| 12 | Iodine, | a trace. |
Volume of each of the gases contained in a
free state in 100 cubic inches.
| Sulphuretted Hydrogen, | 1·10 to 1·50 cubic in. |
| Nitrogen, | 2·05 cubic in. |
| Oxygen, | 0·27 cubic in. |
| Carbonic acid, | 5·75 cubic in. |
"I enclose you a list of the ingredients in
the Salt Sulphur water, which applies to the
New as well as the Old Spring, the former
having rather a smaller amount of saline matter
in general, though in some ingredients surpassing
the other. It has been very minutely
analyzed, and is the first of all the waters in
which I was able to detect traces of Iodine,
which it contains in larger amount than the
Old Spring, and indeed most of the other waters
in which I have been so fortunate as to
discover this material."
In connection with the claim of the agency
of Iodine in the New Spring, we give insertion
to the following interesting certificate.
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 eruption 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 increased 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 permanent
benefit, or any prospect of recovery, until, at the instance of
Dr. M.—(who at that 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
would have been removed. But I consider the disease
at this time as effectually conquered, and as having changed
its type completely. Indeed, 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.
| CHAPTER XX. The mineral springs of western Virginia | |