MINERALS. (continued 5)

It is found in Sicily, Hungary, and various parts of Germany: and is very common in several districts of China.

Its texture is laminated, the plates crossing each other in almost every different direction. It is as hard as silver, and so brittle that it may easily be reduced to powder, in a mortar.

In the state of the Connecticut, North America, it is said that antimony, in a pure metallic form, is found in such abundance that, in some places, large masses of it may be seen lying on the surface of the ground. The principal supply of antimony in Europe is from an ore which is found in Hungary and Norway, called sulphuret of antimony. The process of bringing it into a state for use is very simple. The mineral is put into pots, each of which has a hole in the bottom, and which is placed on another pot bedded in the earth. The upper pots, which are filled with the mineral, are heated. As soon as the antimony is fused it flows into the lower pots, while the substances with which it was combined remain in the upper ones. The antimony fixes, and forms cakes of the shape of the pots which receive it. In this state the metal presents, in its fracture, a surface thick-set, with long needle-shaped crystals, which, lying by the side of each other, compose, as it were, the whole of the mass. It is afterwards re-melted and cast into cakes for sale.

This metal, in a pure state, or alloyed only with a very small portion of silver and iron, is found in veins of mountains in some parts of France and Sweden, occurring in massive and kidney-shaped lumps of white colour.

The only mine of antimony in Britain, which is of any importance, is at Glendinning in Dumfries-shire. It was discovered in 1760, in searching for lead ore, but 216was not regularly worked till 1763. In the first five years about a hundred tons’ weight of antimony were obtained from it. This at 84l. per ton, produced the sum of 8400l. The undertaking was afterwards relinquished, but, as the price of antimony is now at least thrice what it then was, it is supposed that this work, if resumed, might prove an advantageous speculation. The vein of ore is only from eight inches to a foot and a half in thickness.

Antimony was known to the ancients. The earliest account we have of it is in the Sacred Writings. The passage in the Second Book of Kings,^[4] which states that, on the approach of Jehu to the city of Jezreel, “Jezebel painted her face,” implies, in the original, that she stained her eyes and eyebrows with antimony, for the purpose of making them look black and large, a custom which, at that period, was prevalent in several of the Eastern countries. Antimony was likewise considered by the ancients a remedy against inflammations of the eyes.

This metal is the basis of many of the officinal preparations which are now in use; and it was the basis of many others which were formerly used, but are now discontinued. No mineral substance has so much attracted the attention, or so much divided the opinion of physicians, as antimony. One party extolled it as an infallible specific for almost every disease; whilst another described it as a virulent poison, which ought to be expunged from the list of medicines. It was on this metal that the alchemists of the middle ages principally founded their hope of discovering the philosopher’s stone; and, by a kind of good fortune, of which we can cite but few examples, it has happened that, in pursuing a chimera, they hit upon a succession of important realities. To the unremitted perseverance with which they tormented this metal, if we may so express it, the art of healing has been most essentially indebted.

217The first rational account of the properties of antimony was given, about the end of the seventeenth century, by a French chemist, whose name was Lemeri. Its great importance in medicine will be seen by an enumeration of some of the most valuable preparations of it which are still in use.

Antimonial Wine is prepared from antimony, in conjunction with white Lisbon wine. It is employed as an emetic; but, if mixed with milk, this quality is said to be completely destroyed, and it becomes narcotic.

Emetic Tartar, which is much more employed in this country than all the other antimonial preparations put together, is formed from antimony mixed with its own weight of tartar, and a certain proportion of water, and afterwards boiled, filtered, and suffered to crystallize.

Butter of Antimony is obtained from a combination of antimony with corrosive sublimate. It is denominated by chemists muriat of antimony, and is usually a thick fatty mass of greyish white colour.

Glass of Antimony is a vitreous substance of reddish brown colour, which is occasionally used in medicine, but more frequently in colouring the imitations of yellow diamond, Oriental, Brazil, and Saxon topaz, hyacinth, emerald, and beryl.

James’s Powder, or Antimonial Powder, is a well-known medicine, composed of phosphat of lime and antimony.

An alloy consisting of sixteen parts of lead and one part of antimony constitutes the metal of which printers’ types are formed. This alloy does not differ from lead except in being considerably harder and more tenacious. The plates on which music is engraved are formed of a mixture of tin and antimony; and the oxides of antimony are used for the colouring of glass.

246. BISMUTH is a reddish white semi-metal, harder than silver, and composed of broad brilliant plates adhering together.

218It is nearly ten times heavier than water, and is so brittle as readily to break under the hammer. None of the semi-metals are so easy to be fused as this; it melts even in the flame of a wax candle, and long before it becomes red hot, and has the singular property of expanding as it cools.

The ores of bismuth chiefly occur in Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, and England. This metal appears to have been known to the ancients. It was confounded by them with tin; and, even in our own manufactories, it is known to the workmen by the name of tin-glass.

It is not of much use in the arts; but its fusibility renders the working of it very simple and easy. It is employed in the composition of some of the soft kinds of solder; and is also used for giving hardness to tin and other metals. Amalgamated with mercury it renders that metal less fluid; and the addition of it to mercury and tin is found useful in the foliating or silvering of looking-glasses. Some manufacturers use it in the composition of pewter; but it is said that this ought not to be done, particularly for the formation of vessels intended to contain food, as bismuth partakes of the noxious properties of lead, and sometimes contains even arsenic. It is also occasionally employed in the fabrication of printers’ types.

A very singular metal is formed by melting together eight parts of bismuth, five of lead, and three of tin. Tea-spoons formed of this metal surprise all who are unacquainted with their nature: they have somewhat the appearance of common spoons, but they melt as soon as they are put into boiling water.

Bismuth reduced to powder, mixed with the white of eggs and applied to wood, gives it, when gradually dried and rubbed with a polisher, the appearance of being silvered. If this metal be dissolved in aquafortis (30), and water be poured into the solution, a white powder precipitates, which is an oxide of bismuth, and which, after being well washed, is used as a pigment, under the name of pearl-white. From its beautiful appearance, 219this powder is sometimes employed by ladies for painting their skin; a practice which cannot be too much condemned, both on account of the danger with which it is attended, and from its soon injuring both the texture and natural colour of the skin. It has the further disadvantage of turning black when touched by the fumes of fetid and other substances; and ladies, who have used this cosmetic, and have afterwards bathed in the Harrowgate waters, have come from the bath a perfectly tawny colour. It was probably the oxide of bismuth which the Roman ladies used for whitening their skin; for Martial, in speaking of a lady, who made too free an use of cosmetics, describes her as afraid even of the sun. The oxide of bismuth is used in the composition of most of the pomades employed in France for painting the face.

A preparation of bismuth has lately been employed in medicine, as a remedy against spasmodic affections of the stomach.

The following is a pleasing experiment, illustrative of metallic crystallization. Melt a ladleful of bismuth, and allow it to cool slowly and quietly till a thin crust is formed on the surface: then, with a pointed iron, make two small opposite apertures through the crust: and, through one of these, quickly pour out the fluid portion, as carefully and with as little motion of the mass as possible. The air having entered by the other aperture, there will appear, on removing the upper crust by means of a chisel, when the vessel has become cold, a cup-shaped concavity, studded with very brilliant crystals, and more or less regular according to the quantity of metal employed, the tranquillity and slowness with which it has cooled, and the dexterity with which the fluid portion of the mass was poured off before it became solid. The same effect may be produced by melting bismuth in a crucible which has a hole in the bottom, lightly closed by an iron rod or stopper; this is to be drawn out when the mass begins to congeal. 220By so doing, the upper portion, which is fluid, is made to run off, and a cake studded with crystals will be left.

The ores of cobalt are not numerous, and are, for the most part, combinations of this substance with other metals, or of its oxides (24) with arsenic, or with sulphuric acid (21).

The name of this metal implies an evil being, (Kobold, German, goblin) and is said to have been given on account of the vapour of arsenic, which issues from it, tormenting the miners, and making them believe that they are afflicted by wicked spirits. Hence it was once customary in Germany to introduce into the church service a prayer that God would preserve miners and their works from cobalts and spirits.

Cobalt is found in several parts of Europe, but most plentifully in the southern borders of France, and in Saxony; and the cobalt ores of Hesse, although they were formerly used for no other purpose than the mending of roads, are said now to yield a clear profit of nearly 15,000l. a year. Some parts of our own country yield this substance in considerable abundance, particularly the Mendip Hills in Somersetshire, and a mine near Penzance in Cornwall.

After the ore is taken from the earth, it is broken into pieces about the size of a hen’s egg, and the stony parts are picked out. The sorted mineral is then pounded in mills, and sifted through brass-wire sieves. The lighter particles are next carried off by water. After undergoing some other preparations, to rid it of the impurities and foreign matters with which it is connected, it appears in the form of a dark grey oxide. The working of the cobalt ores in Germany is considered so injurious, on account of the arsenic with which they are combined, that much of the labour is 221performed by criminals who are condemned to it for the commission of crimes which, by the laws of the country, have deserved the punishment of death.

As a metal, cobalt was unknown till the year 1733, when it was discovered by a celebrated Swedish chemist whose name was Brant. In its metallic state it is not employed in the useful arts; but in a state of oxide it is found extremely valuable in the colouring of porcelain, in painting, enamelling, and for other purposes. Cobalt and ultramarine form the most permanent blue colours with which we are acquainted. The old painters generally used them for the representation of the sky and of blue drapery, and this is the reason why these parts in some old pictures have been found so much more durable than any others.

Zaffre is an oxide of cobalt mixed with about three times its own weight of calcined and pounded flint. It has been chiefly imported into this country from Saxony and Bohemia, but it is now also manufactured from cobalt dug from mines in the Mendip Hills and in Cornwall. In Staffordshire there are several persons who carry on a considerable trade in preparing this colour for the earthenware manufacturers of that county.

This substance is extremely valuable for the colouring of porcelain and glass; as it resists without change, the effects of the most intense heat. Hence also it is advantageously used for giving various shades of blue to enamels, and to glass manufactured in imitation of lapis lazuli, turquoise, sapphire, and various precious stones. So intense is the colour imparted by it that a single grain of zaffre will give a full blue tint to 240 grains of glass.

Smalt is a kind of glass, of dark blue colour, formed by melting zaffre with three parts of sand and one of potash; when this substance is ground to a coarse powder, it has the name of strewing-smalt, and is much used by sign painters, as an ornamental filling up of the vacant space betwixt the letters of signs. In Germany it is frequently employed instead of sand for the purpose 222of drying ink after writing. The same substance reduced to a perfectly fine or impalpable powder, is the article which is sold under the name of powder-blue, and which is not only used by laundresses and others in the getting up of linen, but also as the basis of several kinds of paint; and by the manufacturers of writing and printing papers, to give a blue tinge to those articles.

A solution of the oxide of cobalt in spirit of salt (muriatic acid, 29) and afterwards diluted till nearly the whole of its colour disappears, forms one of the most beautiful sympathetic inks with which we are acquainted. If a landscape be drawn with Indian ink, and, afterwards, the foliage be washed over with this solution, it will have no peculiar appearance; but, on holding the paper near the fire, the part representing the vegetation will gradually assume a green tint, which will subside on removing the paper into a cool situation.

248. MANGANESE, in the state that we usually see it, is a black oxide of a metal which is of a silvery grey colour, of leafy or foliated texture, and somewhat more than six times as heavy as water.

Mines of manganese have long been worked in several parts of Great Britain, but particularly in the counties of Devon and Somerset. Near Exeter and in the Mendip Hills this mineral is found in great abundance.

It is employed for various useful purposes. In the manufacture of the finer kinds of glass it is used in a double capacity, both as a colouring material and as a destroyer of colour. As a colouring ingredient, the imitators of several precious stones are indebted to it for the red and purple tints which they give to the oriental ruby, the balais ruby, and the amethyst.

The violet colour given to porcelain is obtained from manganese. This substance is also used for the glazing of black earthen ware, as a paint, and an ingredient in 223printers’ ink. As a discharger of colour it is applied in small quantities, and, by the oxygen which it gives out, it is said completely to destroy any tinge left in the glass, by the presence of iron, and some other colouring matters. This property has obtained for it the appellation of the soap of glass.

It is from manganese that all the oxygen gas (21) used by chemists is obtained. By the application of a red heat this is yielded in such abundance that an ounce of the oxide of this metal will yield about two quarts of gas. The consumption of manganese has, of late years, become very considerable by the discovery of the oxygenated muriatic acid, which is now extensively used in the bleaching of linen and cotton; that liquor being made by the distillation of the oxide of manganese with spirit of salt (muriatic acid, 29).

224

COMPOUND MINERALS,

OR

ROCKS.

249. There exist considerable masses of minerals in a state of combination, or aggregation with each other. These constitute the rocks and soil of which the globe of the earth is composed; and the study of them is called GEOLOGY. The opinions of learned men relative to their structure, and original formation, have produced various systems denominated theories of the earth; but, when we consider that the greatest depth beneath the surface to which the art and industry of man have been able to penetrate, does not exceed 1/35000 part of the earth’s diameter, we must confess that this is very insufficient to allow of any correct opinion being thereby formed concerning the structure of the whole.

Modern geologists, for the more convenient arrangement of the compound minerals, have divided them into four classes, which they denominate primitive rocks, secondary rocks, alluvial depositions, and volcanic rocks.

I. PRIMITIVE ROCKS.

Rocks of this description are of a nature extremely hard. They contain no vestiges whatever of animal or organic remains; and the substances of which they are composed are crystallized. They rise through other rocks at various elevations, in every quarter of the globe; and never either alternate with, or rest upon rocks that enclose organic remains, though they are themselves frequently covered by such.

The following are the principal kinds.

This is one of the most common and most widely extended rocks that are known; and is considered as the foundation on which the secondary rocks are deposited. In Cornwall it is very abundant, and veins both of copper and tin are found in it. Granite forms the summits of the highest mountains in Scotland, of the highest of the Grampian Hills, the Alps, and the Pyrenees; and indeed the loftiest parts of most of the countries of the world. The Logan or rocking stones, in Cornwall, are immense blocks of granite.

The uses of this stone are numerous and important. Millstones, steps, troughs for stamping mills, and innumerable other articles, are made of it. The streets of London are chiefly paved with granite, and its hardness and durability render it peculiarly eligible for this use. Weather has little effect upon it. Consequently, when applied to architectural purposes it is found infinitely preferable to Portland stone, of which nearly all the public buildings of modern date in London have been constructed, and many of which are fast going to decay. This circumstance induced the proprietors of the Waterloo Bridge to adopt granite in the construction of that edifice. Mr. Smeaton also chose it for the outer walls of the Eddystone Lighthouse.

252. Scottish Granite.—Scotland is remarkable for many kinds of granite, some of which are susceptible of an excellent polish. The greatest part of the mountain of Ben Nevis, near Fort William, is composed of a reddish granite, one of the best and most beautiful that is known. This mountain is nearly a mile in perpendicular height, and is said to contain granite enough for all the kingdoms of the earth, although they should be as partial to this stone as the ancient Egyptians 226were. Columns and obelisks of any size and height might be cut from it: for the rock is one uniform mass, without appearance of strata, division, or fissure of any kind. A convincing proof has been given of the strength and hardness of this granite, in a fragment of several tons’ weight, which fell from nearly the top of a precipice five hundred yards in height, upon a hard and solid rock below, and yet continued entire.

253. Granite of Ingria.—A beautiful red granite is found in some parts of Russia, remarkable on account of the felspar (110) that it contains, appearing in round or oval pieces, from half an inch to two inches in diameter. This granite, when polished, exhibits shining spots of round or oval shape, which give to it somewhat the appearance of being studded with precious stones.

The royal summer garden at Petersburg is decorated with a superb colonnade of Ingrian granite. The columns are sixty in number, and each of a single piece twenty feet high, and three feet in diameter. Many of the public buildings in Petersburg are of this granite. An immense block of it thirty-two feet long, twenty-one feet broad, and seventeen feet high, forms the pedestal of the celebrated equestrian statue of Peter the Great, in that city.

254. Graphic Granite.—A singular kind of granite has been discovered in the island of Corsica, and lately near Portsoy in the north of Scotland. The ground of this granite is a whitish or reddish yellow felspar, in which are embedded crystals of quartz each from an inch to an inch and half long, and several lines in diameter. The name of graphic granite was given to it in consequence of an imaginary resemblance which the sections of these crystals have to Hebrew, or Arabic, and sometimes to musical characters.

227Mountains of gneiss are not so steep as those of granite, and their summits are usually rounded. Ben Lomond and others in Scotland, and mount Rosa in Italy, are almost wholly of gneiss, as well as the middle part of the Pyrenees. It is not an uncommon rock, but in Britain is of less frequent occurrence than granite.

Many valuable metallic ores are found in veins of gneiss. This rock also sometimes contains crystals of garnet (70), and tourmaline (69).

256. MICA SLATE, or MICACEOUS SCHISTUS, is a primitive rock of slaty structure, consisting principally of quartz (76) and mica (123).

Like gneiss, it is rich in ores. It often contains beds of magnetic ironstone (235), galena (239), copper, blende (241), cinnabar (228), and sometimes even gold. It frequently has garnets, and sometimes tourmalines (69), interspersed in different parts of it.

Mica slate occurs in many parts of Scotland; the mountain of Schehallien, and the rocky adjacent country, are in a great degree composed of it.

Under the appellation of clay slate are included roofing slate (120), whet slate (122), drawing slate (121), and some other kinds already described.

Few rocks abound more in veins and beds of valuable metals than slate. In different countries it contains ores of tin, lead, cobalt (247), silver, and copper; and gold, and mercury (228) sometimes occur in it. The celebrated quicksilver mines of Idria (228), and the immense mass of copper at Parys mountain in the island of Anglesea (230), are in clay slate. Crystals of pyrites (236), and sometimes garnets (70), and thin layers of quartz (76), and felspar (110), are all occasionally found embedded in it.

228This is a widely-extended rock; it sometimes forms whole mountains, and even chains of mountains; but these usually have a gentle acclivity. The summit of the celebrated mountain called Skiddaw in Cumberland is of clay slate.

258. PRIMITIVE LIMESTONE is a simple mountain rock of crystalline or granular structure; and generally of white, yellowish, greenish, or reddish colour.

To this species of rock belong many of the rich and beautiful kinds of marble already described (143, &c.). Carrara, or statuary marble (146), is a familiar instance of it. Whole mountains in Stiria, Carinthia, Carniola, and the Pyrenees, and three mountains in Switzerland, 10,000 feet in height, are of primitive limestone. The mountain of Filabres in Spain, is said to consist of one block of white granular marble, 2,000 feet high, and three miles in circuit; without intermixture of other earths or stones, and almost without a fissure.

Various mineral ores, in beds and veins, as lead, zinc (241), and iron, are occasionally found in this kind of rock.

259. PRIMITIVE TRAP is a mountain rock composed of a black mineral called hornblende, mixed, in some varieties, with felspar (110), and, in others, with mica (123).

The word trap is of German origin, signifying a stair; and rocks of this formation are called trap rocks, because their strata, when exposed, usually jut out, one beneath the other, somewhat like a stair. Under this term is comprehended a series of rocks, distinguished chiefly by the hornblende, which they all contain.

Rocks belonging to this formation are numerous. They occur in Scotland; and abundantly in Derbyshire and some other parts of England. In many countries they constitute considerable hills. They abound in ores.

260. SERPENTINE is a primitive rock, usually consisting of quartz (76), magnesia (198), alumine (197), with a portion of oxide (21) of iron.

229This rock and its various uses, have been already described (132). It generally occurs in shapeless masses and beds; and seldom in distinct strata. It is found in Cornwall, the island of Anglesea, and several parts of Scotland; but it rarely forms mountains.

Ores of lead, silver, and copper, are sometimes found in serpentine.

261. PORPHYRY is a primitive rock, consisting of quartz (76) or felspar (110), or both, embedded in a solid and compact cement or ground.

The ground or basis of porphyry varies in the different kinds. In some it is claystone, in others pitchstone, hornstone, or compact felspar.

When not covered by other formations, porphyry sometimes forms single rocks; but it never constitutes elevated mountains. It occurs in beds of considerable magnitude, but never appears in distinct and well-defined strata.

There are many beautiful and splendid works in porphyry. Obelisks, statues, and columns, wrought in it, have had great celebrity. It is susceptible of a polish as high as that of marble, but is so hard, that the expense of working it has caused it to be much neglected by the moderns. This hardness, however, renders it very durable, and also constitutes it a material of great utility for mortars, slabs for grinding colours upon, and for several other purposes.

Porphyry was much esteemed by the ancient Egyptians; and Pliny informs us that the procurator-general in Egypt, under Claudius Cæsar, brought thence, for that Emperor, certain statues of porphyry, which he conceived to be very valuable: this act, however, was not much approved, and the example was not followed by any other Roman.

The principal quarries of porphyry are in Egypt; but this stone is also found in Italy, Germany, and various parts of the European continent. It may be traced from Norway to the borders of the Black Sea, 230and it has been discovered in some of the western and northern parts of Great Britain.

262. SIENITE is a rock composed chiefly of felspar (110) and hornblende. Its colours are usually reddish and black.

Some varieties of it contain quartz (76) and mica (123), with but little hornblende. In these the colours are various.

Although this is a less abundant rock than any of those that have yet been mentioned, it occurs, in great abundance, at Mount Mado, in the island of Jersey. There are extensive quarries of it in that mountain, not only for the use of the island, but for exportation to England, and other distant countries. The cliffs, for a long space, and an elevation of a hundred feet or more, consist entirely of sienite, in large masses, which are apparently uninterrupted by a single fissure. Shafts for columns of considerable length have been taken from these quarries; and, were the demand sufficient to call for new openings, it is imagined that columns of twenty feet and upwards in length might be raised. The felspar is of a flesh colour, and the stone is capable of a beautiful polish.

A somewhat similar kind of sienite is found at Grande Roque, in the island of Guernsey, in large masses, which are quarried for building stones. Sienite also occurs in some parts of Scotland and Derbyshire; in Saxony, Hungary, the island of Cyprus, and Egypt. Its name has been derived from that of the city of Syene, in Upper Egypt, where it is found in great abundance.

Sienite was much used by the ancients in ornamental architecture. What was called the red granite of Egypt (for this rock has usually been considered a granite) furnished numerous magnificent obelisks and columns, of a single piece, which have been much admired in Rome and other places. The ancient artists sometimes cut this kind of stone into statues, vases, monumental and other works. The celebrated column in Egypt, upwards of ninety feet high, and known by the name of Pompey’s Pillar, is formed of sienite.

231In veins of this rock are found, in different countries, many kinds of metallic ores: among others, silver, iron, tin, copper, and lead.

263. QUARTZ ROCK is a simple mountain rock, usually of granular texture, and whitish colour.

It sometimes contains mica, in which case it has a slaty form.

In certain mountains of Scotland, and the Scottish islands, quartz rock is very abundant. On the Continent it appears in Saxony, Bohemia, Silesia, and several other countries. We are informed that a mountain, 350 feet high, and near 5000 feet broad and long, one of the Altaisch chain, in Siberia, consists entirely of a milk-white quartz.

The uses of quartz have been already described (76, &c.) This kind of rock does not contain metallic ores of any description.

II. SECONDARY ROCKS.

264. Secondary Rocks are composed of, or at least contain within them, the mineralized remains of organic substances. These must necessarily have been formed at a period subsequent to the formation of those organized bodies the remains of which they enclose; and they have apparently been formed by the deposition of water. Hence it is that, to distinguish them from rocks of the preceding class, they have received the appellation of secondary. They always rest upon or cover primitive mountains, and sometimes lean upon their sides or invest them.

Werner, the celebrated German mineralogist, makes two divisions of secondary rocks. The first of these he denominates transition rocks, and states that they are less perfectly crystallized than the primitive rocks; and that they enclose the remains of marine animals, no species of which are at this time known to exist: the other division he terms floetz, or flat rocks, because they 232are generally disposed in horizontal or flat strata. Some of the latter contain the fossil remains of marine animals and shells, approaching in character and appearance to the kinds which are now found in the ocean; and others contain shells precisely similar to those now known to exist. These rocks usually occur at the foot of primitive mountains, or in deep valleys.

1. TRANSITION ROCKS.

265. TRANSITION LIMESTONE is distinguished by containing marine petrifactions of corals, and other zoophytes which are supposed no longer to exist. It often contains veins of calcareous spar, and exhibits a variety of colours, which give to it a marbled appearance.

This species of limestone occurs in immense beds, and forms a great portion of the mountainous parts of Derbyshire and Scotland; but it does not rise so high, on the sides of mountains, as primitive rocks (250).

It often contains veins of valuable metallic ores. When cut and polished, many of the varieties of transition limestone are beautiful marbles; some of them have been already described.

266. GREY WACKA is a transition rock, composed of pieces of quartz (76), flinty slate, felspar (110), and clay slate (120), cemented together by a basis of clay slate.

It has various appearances, the pieces being sometimes as large as a hen’s egg, and sometimes so small that they can scarcely be perceived by the naked eye.

When the rocks of grey wacka are not covered by those of any other formation, they form round-backed hills, usually insulated towards the tops, and intersected by deep valleys. They are widely distributed: and are often extremely rich in ores, both in beds and veins. Almost all the mines of copper, lead, and zinc, in the Hartz, are in grey wacka; and, in Transylvania, this species of rock is traversed by numerous small veins of gold.

233 2. FLOETZ, OR FLAT ROCKS.

In several parts of Derbyshire this kind of rock forms the uppermost stratum; and in some places, is known to be 120 yards thick.

What are known by the name of peak millstones are formed of millstone grit. They are chiefly obtained from quarries near Nether Padley, in Hathersede, Derbyshire; a very inaccessible part of the country, but where the stone is of better quality than it can elsewhere be procured. These millstones are made of different dimensions, from two feet in diameter, and eight inches thick, to five feet and half in diameter, and seventeen inches thick.

Some of the beds of millstone grit, which have spherical stains in them, of light red colour, are said to be infusible; and are consequently a valuable stone for lining the hearths of iron and other furnaces, where an intense heat is required. These are called firestones, and Roches quarry, near Upper Town, in Ashover, Derbyshire, is famous for them.

The upper beds of this kind of rock are often thin, and capable of division, so as to make excellent paving stones, or flags. There is a particular bed of it at Stanton, in the Peak of Derbyshire, so porous that it is made into filtering stones for the cleansing of turbid water.

268. THIRD SANDSTONE, GRITSTONE, or FREESTONE, is another kind of floetz or flat rock, formed of very small agglutinated particles of sand. It is opaque, usually of whitish colour, and found in large masses, of various degrees of hardness.

The name of freestone has been given to this kind of rock, from its capability of being broken or hewn, with nearly equal facility, in any direction. Hence, as well 234as from its great durability, it is peculiarly esteemed for buildings. It is also formed into cisterns and troughs of various kinds; into pillars for supporting corn ricks; into rolling stones; and into grinding stones for cutlers, edge-tool makers, and workers in polished steel. Paviors’ flags, or the stones used for the paving of footpaths, yards, kitchens, and out-houses, are generally flat pieces of freestone.

Scythestones, or stones for the sharpening of scythes upon, are made of freestone. Considerable numbers of these are wrought in Derbyshire; and the dexterity that is displayed in cleaving and forming them is somewhat remarkable. The workmen use sharp-pointed picks, several very small wedges, and a hammer. A proper block of stone being selected, two or three of these small wedges are set in a row, by gentle blows of the hammer. These blows are successively repeated till the stone splits. The wedges are then set in a straight line into the face of the piece split off, and the stone is cleft again in that direction. In this manner the sub-divisions are continued, until a piece remains of size to make two scythestones, each an inch and a half square, and about twelve inches long. This the workman holds in his left hand, nearly upright; with the point of his pick he traces a deep nick down the middle of first one side and then the other; and then by a slight blow of his pick he separates it, into two, so dexterously, that not more than three or four in a hundred are broken in the cleaving. Such stones as are intended for round rubbers, are first reduced into an octagonal shape by the point of the pick, and then handed over to women and boys, who grind or rub them in a notch formed in a hard stone, until they are of the requisite shape. The square ones are finished by being ground on a flat stone.

Other rocks, belonging to what is called the floetz, or flat formation, have been already mentioned, under the heads of lime-stone (140), gypsum (192), rock salt (202), chalk (141), and coal (217).

235

III. ALLUVIAL DEPOSITIONS.

They consist of peat, sand, gravel, loam, clay, and other substances.

IV. VOLCANIC ROCKS.

270. Volcanic rocks are composed of such mineral substances as have been ejected from volcanoes, or have been formed by the agency of subterraneous fires, and have undergone certain changes in such fires.

They are of two kinds; the one called pseudo volcanic, such as burnt clay, porcelain jasper, and earth-slag, which have been altered in consequence of the burning of beds of coal in their neighbourhood; and the other, called true volcanic minerals, such as stones, ashes, and lava, which have been thrown out of real volcanoes.

271. It will somewhat tend to illustrate the history of the mineral kingdom, to state, in conclusion, under a tabular form, the relative heights of the principal mountains, or masses of rocks, which occur in the different countries of the world; previously remarking, that the most lofty and magnificent of these, respecting which any account sufficiently authentic has hitherto been obtained, are the mountains of Nepaul and Thibet, in Asia, one of the former being 27,667, and the highest of the latter measuring at least 23,262 feet, or from 4½ miles to 5¼ miles in perpendicular height above the level 236of the sea. Previously to the knowledge that has lately been attained respecting the Asiatic mountains, those of the Andes, on the continent of South America, had been considered by far the highest in the world. One of them, Chimborazo, is 20,900 feet in height. Of the European mountains, the highest is Mont Blanc, in Switzerland, which measures 15,680 feet, or about 2¾ miles. The loftiest summit within the British islands is Ben Nevis, in Inverness-shire, Scotland, which does not exceed 4,380 feet, or somewhat more than three quarters of a mile; and the great pyramid of Egypt, the loftiest work of human art and industry with which we are acquainted, and which will serve as a point in the scale, measures only 477 feet.

272. It has been remarked that the greatest altitude at which bananas and other palm-trees grow in America is about 3280 feet above the level of the sea (Frontispiece, Fig. 48): that in the torrid zone, the superior limits of oaks is about 10,500 feet (49), of pines 12,000 feet (50), and of lichen plants 18,225 feet (51). The American travellers, Messrs. Humboldt and Bonpland, on the twenty-third of June, 1802, ascended the mountain of Chimborazo to the height of 19,400 feet (52). The highest flight that has been remarked of the South American vulture, called the condor, was 21,000 feet (53). M. Lussac, on the 16th of September, 1804, ascended in a balloon from Paris, to the height of 22,900 feet. In Switzerland, the limit of perpetual snow is above the altitude of 9000 feet (54).

237Height of the Principle Mountains.

Frontispiece.

Ft. above

Fig. the sea

British Islands.

Scotland Ben Nevis, Inverness-shire 1 4380

Ben Lawers, Perthshire 2 4051

England Skiddaw, Cumberland 3 3530

Cross Fell, Cumberland 4 3390

Helvellyn, Cumberland 5 3324

Wharnside, Yorkshire 6 2480

Ingleborough, Yorkshire 7 2380

Wales Snowdon, Caernarvonshire 8 3568

Cader Idris, Merionethshire 9 3550

Ireland Macgillicuddy’s Reeks, Kerry 10 3404

Sleibh-Dorin, Londonderry 11 3150

Continent of Europe.

France Mont d’Or, Auvergne 12 6707

Puy de Sausi, Auvergne 13 6700

Pyrenees Mont Perdu, the highest of the Pyrenees 14 11,283

Le Pic Blanc, Spain 15 10,205

Alps Loucira 16 14,451

Loupilon 17 14,144

Switzerland Mont Blanc, highest mountain in Europe 18 15,680

Mont Rosa 19 15,555

Mont St. Gothard 20 10,014

Italy Mont Cimone 21 6401

Vesuvius 22 3900

Germany Ortler-Spitze, Tyrol 23 15,430

Ostelle, Saltzburg 24 12,800

Carpathian Mountains, highest summit 25 8640

Lomnitz Peak 26 8640

Sweden Areskutan, Jempland 27 6180

Islands.

Teneriffe Peak of Teneriffe 28 12,236

Sicily Ætna 29 10,963

Jamaica Blue Mountains 30 7431

Iceland Snæfiel 31 6860

Hecla 32 4900

Asia.

India Dhawalgeri in Nepaul 46 27,667

Mountains of Thibet 47 23,262

Turkey Mount Lebanon, estimated at 33 9520

in Asia Mount Ararat, estimated at 34 9500

Mount Ida 35 4960

America.

Andes, South Chimborazo, Quito 36 20,900

America. Cotopaxi, Quito 37 18,880

Height of Remarkable Lakes, Cities, &c.

Alps Lake of Lausanne 38 8640

Lake of Lanzon, on the mountain of Olan 39 6797

Switzerland Lake of Lucerne 40 1408

South America City of Riobamba, Quito 41 18,800

City of Quito 42 9356

North America City of Mexico 43 7424

Austria Town of Eisenerz 44 2056

Egypt The great Pyramid 45 477

238

WATER IN GENERAL.

273. WATER, generally speaking, is a transparent and nearly incompressible fluid, the component parts of which are two kinds of gas, called hydrogen (45) and oxygen (21).

It is liquid in the common temperature of our atmosphere, assumes a solid state under the denomination of ice, in a cold temperature (32° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer); and, by heat at 212°, is converted into an elastic vapour of almost incredible force, called steam. At any temperature betwixt these two points, it returns, unaltered, to its liquid state. The weight of water is about 816 times greater than that of atmospheric air.

Water abounds in, and may be considered as, a kind of general cement to all solid bodies. It performs the most important functions both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms, and even enters largely into their composition.

A chief part of the nutrition of vegetables is the water which they absorb from the earth through the pores of their roots. The great quantity so absorbed may readily be imagined, when it is stated that the driest and most compact kinds of wood, such as even heart of oak, when converted into charcoal, lose, during the process, full three-fourths of their weight; and that the fluid which escapes is nearly pure water. This fluid is found in the driest of solid bodies, whatever be their description. A piece of hartshorn kept for forty years, and thereby become as hard and dry as metal (so that if struck against a flint it would give sparks of fire), upon being distilled, was found to yield an eighth part of its weight of water.

239Every being with life, in a great degree, lives by it; and whatever grows, through it receives its growth; and wherever it enters, it promotes and sustains life, preserving the whole of created nature in their proper classes of existence. And whether we consider it as productive of health to animals and vegetables, as requisite to the existence and beauty of the earth, or as one of the great powers by which the Almighty works in the support of the world, we cannot but admire and adore the wisdom by which it has been ordained.

In the various kinds of water, even of that which is commonly used in drinking, and for the preparation of food, there is great difference both of taste and appearance. This difference is chiefly occasioned by the foreign matters which they hold in solution or suspension. In some cases the quantity of these is so minute as to have but little influence on the taste; but in others they alter its properties altogether, and render the water noxious, or medicinal, or unfit for the preparation of food.

The chemical analysis of water, for the purpose of ascertaining the different substances which it holds in solution, is one of the most difficult and complicated operations that is known in this branch of science; and one that exercises, in a peculiar degree, both the skill and industry of the operator. The difficulty arises not only from the diversity of the bodies which occur, but from the very minute quantities of some of them.

These bodies are discovered by an addition to the water of certain substances, the consequence of which is some change in its appearance, and this change indicates the presence or absence of the bodies suspected.

The substances thus employed are very numerous, and have the name of tests. The methods of ascertaining the exact proportion of each of these ingredients are much too complicated to require a place in the present work.

240Water cannot be obtained in any state of perfect purity except by the artificial process of distillation.

ORDER I.—COMMON WATER.

274. RAIN WATER is considered to be next in purity to distilled water, from its having undergone a natural distillation. Its foreign contents vary according to the state of the air through which it falls. Hence, for instance, when it passes through the atmosphere of a smoky town, it becomes impure: and when collected in towns, it frequently acquires a small quantity of sulphat of lime (192), and calcareous matter from the mortar and plaster of the houses.

This water is always very soft; and is, consequently, well calculated for the dissolving of soap, in washing and other processes. It is also peculiarly adapted to the solution of alimentary or colouring matter, in the preparation of food and dyeing, and is accordingly used to great extent for these purposes. By the addition of a small quantity of a solution of barytes (195), it may be rendered sufficiently pure for all chemical uses.

If rain water be long kept, especially in hot climates, it acquires a disagreeable smell, and becomes putrid, and full of animalculæ.

275. ICE and SNOW WATER are equal to rain water in purity; and the air having been expelled from them during the process of freezing, they are consequently devoid of air when first melted.

Ice and snow, in their natural state, are highly important to mankind. It is a general law of nature that all bodies become more dense and heavy by exposure to cold; but the freezing of water is an exception to this law, and for a purpose of extreme benefit to mankind. By this ordination it is that ice always rises to 241the surface of the water, and thus preserves from the effects of the surrounding cold, a vast body of heat in the fluid beneath; and is itself ready to receive its own accustomed quantity upon the first change of the atmosphere. The expansion of water, in freezing, is owing to its assuming a crystallized form; and this expansion is often so great that glass bottles, filled with water, are burst by it.

During the intense cold of winter, snow, which is of a soft and spongy texture, is considered of great utility in preventing the immediate access of the atmospheric air to the ground; it has doubtless been designed by Providence as a garment to protect the incipient vegetation, at that inclement season, from injury.

The inhabitants of all the extreme northern parts of the world use thawed snow for their constant beverage during winter; and the vast masses of ice which float in the polar seas afford an abundant supply of fresh water to the navigators of those dreary regions. Snow water has, however, long lain under the imputation of occasioning those extraordinary swellings in the neck, which deform the inhabitants of some of the alpine valleys of Switzerland; but this opinion is not supported by any well-authenticated facts. Indeed it is rendered quite improbable by the frequency of this disease in the island of Sumatra, where ice and snow are never seen: and by its being quite unknown in Chili and Thibet, though the rivers of these countries are chiefly supplied by the melting of the snows.

276. SPRING WATER is nothing more than rain water, which having gradually filtered through the earth, collects at the bottom of declivities, and there makes its way to the surface.

It is obvious that spring water must be nearly as various in its contents as the substances through which it flows.

Ordinary springs pass insensibly into mineral springs, according as their foreign contents become more abundant; but it has not unfrequently happened that waters have acquired great medical reputation from their 242purity only. Although by far the greater number of springs are cold, some are hot, or at least are of a temperature which, at all times, exceeds that of summer heat: and this warmth is so little influenced by the state of the atmosphere, that it is nearly the same both in summer and winter.

The water of almost every spring is of such nature that it will not dissolve, but curdles, soap; and cannot be used for dressing several kinds of food. Water of this description is denominated hard, a property owing to the great proportion of earthy salts which it holds in solution, and which, at the same time, are not in such abundance as to impair its taste. The most common of these salts is selenite, or sulphat of lime (192), and chalk, or carbonat of lime (140); when it contains only the latter, the water is easily rendered soft by boiling, which expels the excess of carbonic acid (26), and thus causes the chalk to be precipitated. Hence originates the earthy crust or fur in such tea kettles as have had hard water several times boiled in them.

The water of deep wells is for the most part much harder than that of springs which overflow their channels.

277. RIVER WATER is a mixture of spring and rain water, which, from much agitation, and by long exposure to the air, in the course of its channel, becomes, in general, tolerably soft and free from earthy salts.

For washing, and other purposes of domestic economy, river water, from its softness and purity, is not only preferable to spring water, but also serves for many uses to which the latter cannot be at all applied. As a beverage, however, it is in general vapid and unpleasant.

The waters of some rivers, particularly where the beds, over which they flow, are sandy or stony, are remarkably pure. This is the case with several of those in Switzerland, Wales, Scotland, and the northern counties of England. The river Seine has great repute in France on this account: it has been found, on accurate examination, even more pure than Bristol water.

243That of the river Thames, impregnated as it would appear to be with putrid remains, is soft and good, when taken up at low water; and, after rest and filtration, is found to contain but a small portion of any thing either noxious or unpleasant. It is preferred, by mariners, to most other water for sea store; but it soon becomes putrid, and undergoes a remarkable spontaneous change. When, after having been kept a month or two, a cask is opened, a quantity of inflammable air escapes, and the water is black and nauseous. If, in this state, it be racked off into large earthen vessels (oil jars it is said are commonly used for the purpose), and exposed to the air, it gradually deposits a portion of black slimy mud, and becomes perfectly clear, sweet, and fit for use.

278. STAGNANT WATER contains greater impurities than any other. In ponds and marshes particularly, it is filled with the remains of animal and vegetable matters, which are there undergoing a gradual decomposition.

The water of lakes is not, in general, so much contaminated as this; but from the same cause, it frequently has a slimy appearance, a brownish colour, and an unpleasant taste.

From the putrefying contents of stagnant water, nutriment is afforded to various living plants and insects which there supply the place of those that perish. Its taste is vapid, unpleasant, and wholly destitute of that agreeable freshness which is found in spring water. It is, however, generally soft, and, by filtration, it may be freed from many of its impurities.

The air which issues from marshes and stagnant pools is extremely noxious, and is the cause of agues and other distressing complaints, to such persons as reside in the neighbourhood of them or are much exposed to them; and the injurious effects of such air have also been considered to extend to the internal use of these waters.

244

ORDER II.—SEA WATER.

279. SEA WATER is a very heterogeneous compound, not only containing a considerable portion of saline substances, but holding also suspended in it an infinite number of minute animal and vegetable particles, to the gradual putrefaction of which its peculiarly nauseous and bitter taste, at the surface, is in some measure to be attributed.

The average quantity of salt in sea water is estimated to amount to about one-thirtieth part of its weight. It likewise contains a certain portion of muriat of magnesia, sulphat of magnesia or Epsom salts (199), and a small quantity of sulphat of lime (192). Sea water, taken from a great depth, has not the bitterness which the water of the surface has: it is only saline.

No natural waters, if we except certain brine springs and salt lakes, are so saline as those of the ocean; and the latter differ, in this respect, in different parts of the world. At the tropic, the sea is in general more salt than it is at the poles, a wise ordination to preserve it, in those climates, from the great tendency to putrefaction: and, at a considerable depth, it is always found more salt than at the surface. The water of the Baltic is much less salt than that of the Atlantic; and it is a remarkable circumstance, that its saline contents are increased by a west wind, but still more so by a gale from the north west.

Some philosophers have endeavoured, but to little purpose, to account, from second causes, for the saltiness of the ocean. Dr. Halley persuaded himself that it might have been gradually acquired, in very minute portions, by a deposit of salt washed down from the land by rivers, and that, as it could not be carried off by evaporation, instead of being diminished, it must be constantly increasing. But this idea of salting the sea 245with fresh water, is, to say the least of it, somewhat absurd, more particularly as it presumes that the sea was originally unimpregnated with salt. Had this been the case, the putrefaction of the immense mass of animal and vegetable substances which it gradually contained, would, in a short time, have proved fatal to the whole inhabitants of the earth.

The temperature of the sea, although it must necessarily vary in the different seasons, is much more uniform than that of any inland water exposed to the atmosphere. This is, in a great measure, attributable to its vast body of water, and the perpetual agitation to which it is exposed.

Sea water, when congealed by frost, is found to reject all, or nearly all, its saline particles; and consequently, when thawed, its ice yields water so fresh that it may be drunk without unpleasantness. The freezing of sea water is not unfrequently practised in the northern parts of the world, with a view to lessen the trouble and expense of extracting salt from it, for domestic and other uses (202). Salt water may likewise be rendered fresh and palatable by distillation, a mode which is now very generally practised at sea.

The sea shore has of late become so much frequented by invalids, for the purpose of bathing, that there is scarcely a fishing village, on the whole extent of our coast, but which is provided with some accommodation for bathers. As a cold bath, sea water is employed, with advantage, in all those cases of debility for which cold bathing has, in general, been recommended. It is also used as an external application in tumours and some other complaints; and, taken internally, as a remedy in various disorders.

It is to sea water that we are chiefly indebted for the salt which we use at table, and for all the purposes of domestic economy (202). From this water is also obtained those salts used in medicine, called Glauber’s (203) and Epsom salts (199).

246

ORDER III.—MINERAL WATERS.

1. THE MORE SIMPLE COLD WATERS.

280. MALVERN WATER is a simple cold water, perfectly bright and pellucid: it has an agreeable, and somewhat pungent flavour; but, in other respects, it does not differ in taste from pure and good soft water.

It contains carbonic acid (26), and a very small portion of earth, either lime or magnesia; but, the carbonic acid perhaps excepted, the foreign bodies are less in quantity than those even of our common spring water.

The spring from which this water principally issues is denominated the Holy Well: and is situated high up the hill, about midway between the villages of Great and Little Malvern, in Worcestershire.

Both as an external and internal application, the waters of Malvern have been considered beneficial in many obstinate complaints. It is a singular circumstance respecting them that, notwithstanding their apparent purity, if they be exposed to the air in an open vessel, they will soon acquire a fetid and unpleasant smell.

Malvern is principally frequented during the summer season.^[5]

2. THE MORE SIMPLE WARM WATERS.

281. BRISTOL HOT-WELL WATER is pure, warm, and slightly acidulated, clear, sparkling, and agreeable to the palate, but without any very decided taste. It is also destitute of smell. When poured into a glass it sends forth numerous air-bubbles. The heat of this spring is very moderate, the average 247being about 74° of Fahrenheit’s thermometer; and this heat does not sensibly vary during summer or winter.

The foreign contents of the hot-well water are muriat of magnesia, common salt, Glauber’s salt, sulphat of lime (192), and chalk: but these are in extremely small quantity. It also contains at the rate of about thirty cubic inches of carbonic acid gas, or fixed air (26), in every gallon.

This water springs from the bottom of the southern extremity of St. Vincent’s rock, a lofty cliff of limestone situated on the north bank of the river Avon, and about a mile below the city of Bristol. And, although it is considerably higher than the river, it is so far affected by the spring tides as to become, thereby, in some degree turbid. The discharge of water amounts to about forty gallons in a minute.

There is another spring at Clifton, on the summit of the same hill, from the bottom of which the waters of the hot-well issues. This is called the Sion spring, and is one or two degrees colder, but, in other respects, it very nearly resembles the water of the hot-well.

Its discovery was somewhat remarkable. A Mr. Morgan, an attorney of Bristol, having erected a house near the spot, sunk a well for the supply of his family with water. The workmen had proceeded to the depth of nearly 240 feet without success, when they were suddenly alarmed by the gushing forth of such an abundance of water that they were compelled to retreat with precipitation. The proprietor was so far disappointed of his hopes as to find that this was a spring of warm instead of cold water. But the circumstance induced him to erect an engine to raise the water for medicinal purposes; and, since that period, a pump room and bathing houses have been prepared for the accommodation of visitors.

The water of each of these springs, besides being used medicinally in pulmonary consumptions and other complaints, is employed very extensively at table, and for all domestic purposes. It is remarkable for softness and purity; and, from its quality of continuing untainted 248for a great length of time, even in hot climates, is a valuable water for long voyages, and is accordingly exported in considerable quantities to distant parts.

The season of general resort to Clifton and the hot-wells is from about the middle of April to the end of October.

282. MATLOCK WATER is a simple warm water, which, in its sensible properties, exclusive of its temperature, which is only about 66° of Fahrenheit, is scarcely different from good spring water. It is beautifully clear, and exhales no steam, except in very cold weather.

The medicinal virtues of this water have chiefly been ascribed to its temperature. Its supply is very copious, and from several different sources. Though recommended in some internal complaints, it is principally employed as a bath; and, in this respect, it forms a medium betwixt the waters of Bath or Buxton and those of the generality of cold baths.

Matlock, which is a beautifully romantic village, situated in a hilly part of Derbyshire, and at the distance of 143 miles north of London, was first brought into public notice about the year 1698, shortly after which period the first bath was erected. It is chiefly frequented from the month of May to that of October; or, if the weather continue fine, till near the beginning of November.

283. BUXTON WATER is a simple warm water, which contains so little foreign matter, as scarcely to be distinguishable from common spring water heated to the same temperature. It has neither smell nor taste; and, though it sparkles a little in the glass, when first drawn, this is not apparently more than what is observable in the water of many common springs.

Its temperature, in the bath called the Gentleman’s bath, is invariably 82°.

Buxton has been celebrated, for its warm springs, nearly two centuries and a half. As early as the year 1572 a treatise on their virtues was published: this states them to have been at that time much resorted to 249by persons from all the adjacent counties. The water is employed both externally and internally, and to great extent. Its principal value, as a bath, arises from its very copious supply, its purity, and its high temperature. The sensation which is felt from bathing in it is considered to be such as would be experienced from any bath heated to the highest temperature which is compatible with giving some sensation of cold when the body is first plunged into it. This water is also used as an internal medicine; and is frequently used by the inhabitants as their common beverage, and for such domestic purposes as its hardness will admit.

There are several springs and several distinct baths; but the original and most ancient of them is called St. Ann’s Well, and is enclosed in an elegant stone building. These waters are frequented by persons afflicted with the rheumatism, gout, diseases of the alimentary organs, and kidneys, and various other complaints: and the chief influx of company is during the summer and autumnal months.

The situation of Buxton is in a narrow and funnel-shaped valley, surrounded by wild, bleak, and dreary mountains, in the midst of the county of Derby, and about 160 miles north of London.

3. HOT CARBONATED CHALYBEATE WATER.

284. BATH WATER is a hot carbonated chalybeate. When first drawn, it appears clear and colourless, nor does it afford any signs of briskness or effervescence. The temperature of the water drawn from the King’s Bath, which is that usually employed for drinking, is 116° of Fahrenheit, and that of the Cross Bath is 112°. No odour whatever is perceptible from a glass of fresh water; but from a large body of it the nose is affected by a slight degree of pungency. When the water is hot from the pump, it fills the mouth with a strong chalybeate impression without any pungency, and accompanied with scarcely any kind of saline taste; and, what is remarkable, as soon as the water cools, the chalybeate taste is entirely lost, and nothing but an extremely slight saline sensation remains upon the palate.

The foreign contents of Bath water are sulphat of lime (192), 250chalk, Glauber’s salt (203), and common salt; together with a very small portion of oxide of iron (21), yet sufficient to give iron mould stains to the linen of the bathers. The water curdles soap, and is so hard as to be unfit for many domestic purposes.

The city of Bath has been celebrated for its hot springs even from the time of the Romans. These are of higher temperature than any within the British dominions; and indeed are the only natural waters which we possess that are at all hot to the touch, the other thermal waters being of heat below the animal temperature.

There are three principal sources of these waters, called the King’s Bath, the Cross Bath, and the Hot Bath; and they differ slightly in their properties. The springs arise within a short distance of each other, at the lower part of the city; and yield so copious a supply that all the large reservoirs used for bathing are filled every evening with water fresh from their respective fountains.

The application of the water externally is either general or local. The latter consists in pumping it for a considerable time on the part affected. This is called dry pumping, because in it only one part of the body is wetted, whilst the rest is kept dry; and in many cases, it is found an excellent remedy.

The diseases for which these waters are resorted to are very numerous, and are amongst the most important and difficult to be cured that come under medical treatment.

4. HOT ALKALINE SULPHUREOUS WATER.

It contains a small quantity of chalk, common salt, and carbonat of soda (201), the latter of which renders it soapy to the touch. But the most striking feature in this water is 251the unusual quantity of sulphur which it contains; and which is so extremely volatile on the application of heat, that none of it is left in the residuum after evaporation. In this water there is also a considerable portion of carbonic acid.

The city of Aix-la-Chapelle is in the circle of Westphalia, betwixt the rivers Meuse and Rhine, about seventy miles east of Brussels, and in a rich and fertile country. Its waters have been in great medical repute, and have attracted a numerous concourse of visitants for many centuries past. Their reputation was so well established, even in the time of Charlemagne, that he frequently resided at Aix: and he is said to have been so much delighted in the use of the waters as to have sometimes even held his levee at the baths.

In this city, and in the small territory that belongs to it, there are several sources of hot water. Of these the principal spring is enclosed in a stone cistern, which is vaulted and almost conical at the top, and the parts of which are connected with the utmost care, to prevent the vapour from escaping. From this spring the water flows, in a copious stream, into several spacious and elegant baths, in the different parts of the city, distinguished by the names of the Emperor’s Bath, the Nobles’ Bath, the Poor’s Bath, and other appellations. In most of these there is every necessary apparatus for bathing by immersion, for vapour bathing, and for pumping on any particular parts of the body.

The water rises, with great quickness, from the springs, and sends forth bubbles of air, which burst with a slight noise when they reach the surface. It is at first perfectly colourless and pellucid, and emits a large portion of steam, and with it a strong sulphureous smell, which is perceptible at a great distance.

Its temperature is so high, that, in the large baths, it requires to stand from fifteen to eighteen hours before it is sufficiently cooled for tepid bathing; and it is one of the few natural springs which are hot enough to be employed as a vapour bath without the addition of artificial heat. On standing to cool, it gradually loses 252its clearness, acquires a milky hue, and deposits an earthy sediment, which is entirely calcareous. At the same time it loses its offensive smell, and, when cold, has scarcely any odour.

Wherever a large quantity of this water passes hot from the spring through a confined place, the upper covering becomes encrusted with sulphur. This is particularly the case with respect to the dome of the vault that encloses the great source which supplies the Emperor’s bath, and which is opened, from time to time, for the purpose of having the sulphur brushed off.

From the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle, though only internally used, the body acquires a sulphureous smell; and even silver worn in the pocket becomes tarnished.

286. BORSET WATER is of two kinds. One of these resembles the water of Aix in every respect, except as to the impregnation of sulphur, which is much weaker: its temperature is 132°. The other contains no sulphur: it is, however, equally alkaline, and the heat is as high as 152°, which much exceeds the hottest of the waters of Aix.

Both these waters are used by fullers and cloth-workers, on account of the convenience they afford, without expense, of a sufficiency of hot and somewhat alkaline fluid which is well adapted for the cleansing of woollen cloth.

In the latter of the above-mentioned springs a large portion of earth is suspended. This, as the water cools, is deposited, and forms hard incrustations of considerable thickness round every substance with which it comes in contact. It is not, however, on this account found less useful for the scouring of cloth, boiling of vegetables for the table, or any of those domestic purposes for which soft water is required.

In this spring there is a considerable portion of carbonic acid gas, or fixed air (26), which is continually escaping from the fresh water, and is in sufficient quantity to corrode, in a short time, the leaden covering that is used for the vapour baths, and any iron within its reach.

253After having supplied several baths, the stream flows into a large fish pond, where it is still of blood heat. In this pond we are informed that carp and tench multiply very fast, and grow to an enormous size; but that their flesh is soft and without flavour, until they have been removed, for about six months, into a pond of cold water, where they become perfectly firm and good for the table.

In their medicinal application these waters are chiefly employed externally, and their great heat allows of every convenience for vapour, hot, warm, and tepid bathing. The village of Borset, or Bordscheit, in which they are found, is situated about a quarter of a mile south of Aix-la-Chapelle (285).

5. HOT, SALINE, HIGHLY CARBONATED CHALYBEATE WATER.

287. THE VICHY WATERS are hot, saline, and chalybeate. They vary in some degree in the different springs, have a salt and somewhat bitter taste, and a considerable pungency of smell. They are alkaline, and about the temperature of 120°.

There are, at Vichy, a small town on the banks of the river Allier, about 180 miles south-east of Paris, no fewer than six different springs of hot water, which vary somewhat in their temperature, and in the proportion of their foreign contents. The valley in which this town is situated is highly fertile and beautiful, and abounds in vineyards and fruit-trees.

It is remarkable that sheep, cows, and other animals, crowd to drink this water with great eagerness, and even to lick the stones and sides of the channel through which it flows. Their partiality for it is so great that, at certain times, they are known to swim across the river Allier, in considerable numbers together, without even tasting of that water, and to proceed, without interruption onward, until they reach this their favourite beverage.

254288. CARLSBAD WATER is hot, saline, and chalybeate, having an unpleasant alkaline and bitter taste, though scarcely any smell. Its constant temperature is 165°. It contains chalk, Glauber’s salt (203), common salt, and carbonat of soda (201), together with a small portion of iron; and carbonic acid gas, or fixed air (26), in considerable quantity.

The town of Carlsbad, situated on the river Eger, in Bohemia, and its springs (which have the name of Caroline baths), received their appellation from the Emperor Charles the Fourth, who is said to have himself discovered the latter, in the year 1370, whilst hunting; and, since that period, few waters have more engaged the attention of chemists and physicians than these. Carlsbad is now much frequented during the summer months, and has good accommodations as a watering place. Its water is remarkable for a rapid and copious deposition of calcareous earth, which takes place always on cooling, and forms a very hard and beautiful crust on the inner surface or tube of any channel through which it flows; and forms petrifactions round moss, pieces of straw, or other extraneous substances which are put into the stream, even for so short a time as twenty-four hours. All the iron which the fresh water contains is also precipitated by cooling, and rather sooner than the calcareous earth. A very fine laminated calcareous stone in variegated colours is thus formed in large masses around the channel of the stream, which, when polished, is almost equal in beauty to jasper.

Of the hot springs of this neighbourhood the principal is called the Sprudel. It boils up, with great violence, and discharges about 352 cubic feet of water hourly, through a curious natural vault or incrustation which it has gradually formed. This water supplies the greater number of the baths. The other springs are, in general, of much lower temperature: they do not exceed from 114° to 125°, and they differ somewhat from each other in their chemical properties. They all contain 255a large portion of carbonic acid gas, or fixed air, and this is given out in such quantity by the water, that it fills several caverns, in the rocks adjoining to the springs, rendering them fatal to all animals which incautiously enter them.

The waters of Carlsbad are used for the removal of a great variety of disorders, but particularly such as are connected with indigestion. They are likewise used in obstructions of the bowels, and diseases of the kidneys. About five pints, divided into fourteen portions, are, on an average, drunk by each individual every day.

The Sprudel spring is better than that of any mineral waters which are employed medicinally. It requires to be considerably cooled before it can either be used as a bath, or drunk. Its heat is such that it is occasionally employed, in place of water artificially heated, for several domestic purposes, such as the scalding of fowls and hogs, the feathers and hair of which it immediately loosens.

Several hundred pounds weight of Glauber’s salt are annually prepared from this water.

6. SIMPLE SALINE WATERS.

The spring for which the village of Sedlitz, in Bohemia, has long been celebrated, was, for many years, wholly neglected by the inhabitants, on account of the bitter and nauseous taste of its water, which rendered it unfit for nearly all domestic purposes. Its virtues, as a medicine, were first brought into notice about the year 1721, by Hoffman, the celebrated Prussian physician.

This water is considered a valuable remedy in cases of indigestion, for removing scorbutic humours, and in several other complaints.

This water contains sulphat of magnesia, or Epsom salt (199), selenite, and a small portion of chalk.

Although the Epsom waters, on account of their deficiency of strength, are now scarcely ever employed in medicine, yet they were among the first saline cathartic springs which were brought into use in this country. The salt to which they owe their property, and which is known throughout Europe by the name of Epsom salt, was, for many years, prepared almost exclusively from them and from Sedlitz water. But the quantity which they supplied was found so very inadequate to the increasing demands for this salt in medicine, that Epsom Salt has, for some time past, been manufactured from sea water.

Epsom water, if closely corked, may be kept for several months without injury: but, otherwise, it soon becomes putrid. The spring from which it issues is situated about half a mile from the town of Epsom in Surrey, sixteen miles south of London.

There are, in the neighbourhood of London, many springs of similar quality to this of Epsom: of these the principal are at Acton, Kilburne, Bagnigge Wells, and formerly the Dog and Duck in St. George’s Fields; but they are, in general, so weak as to render very large quantities of the water necessary to produce any sufficient medical effect.

7. HIGHLY CARBONATED ALKALINE WATER.

291. SELTZER WATER is an highly carbonated alkaline water. When fresh, or well preserved, it is perfectly clear, and sparkles much when poured into a glass. It is somewhat pungent, slightly saline, and a little alkaline to the taste.

It contains chalk, carbonat of magnesia, carbonat of soda (201), and common salt; and more carbonic acid gas, or fixed

257air (26), than any water hitherto known. It is hard, and curdles with soap.

The spring which supplies this water is situated in Nieder Seltzer, a village in a fine woody country, within the bishopric of Treves; and there are few mineral springs which have acquired so much celebrity for medical virtues as this. The diseases, for the removal of which it has been successfully applied, are too numerous to be here particularized.

To the taste it is very agreeable, and when drunk in moderate quantity, it exhilarates the spirits, increases the appetite, and produces no particular determination to the bowels. It is to the strong impregnation with carbonic acid, and the small proportion of soda which it contains, that its most important benefits are owing.

If it be closely corked and sealed, Seltzer water may be kept without injury, or even alteration, for a very considerable time; but, if exposed to the air, it soon becomes fetid. It is used as a common drink at table in many parts of Germany and Holland, and is even brought into England in stone bottles, each containing about three pints. A large proportion of Seltzer water, either genuine or artificial, is consumed in this country.

8. CHALYBEATE WATERS.

292. Are such as contain a portion of iron. This is easily detected by the property which it has of striking a black colour with tincture of nutgalls.

293. TUNBRIDGE WATER is a carbonated chalybeate, the small portion of iron which it contains being held in solution by carbonic acid (26). It is, however, neither brisk nor acidulous. To the taste it is simply chalybeate; and that only in a slight degree.

Its foreign contents are oxide of iron (21), a small portion of common salt, muriat of magnesia, and sulphat of lime (192), carbonic acid gas or fixed air (26), and other gases, but these only in small quantity.

258Tunbridge Wells is a populous village, situated in a sandy but romantic valley in the county of Kent, about five miles from the town of Tunbridge, and thirty-six miles south of London. There are, at this place, many chalybeate springs, all of which nearly resemble each other in their chemical properties. Two of them, however, are chiefly used, each of which yields about a gallon of water in a minute.

When first taken from the stone basin into which it flows, the water is perfectly clear and bright, and exhales no particular smell. It does not sparkle in the glass, but a few bubbles slowly separate, and adhere to the sides of the vessel. When it has stood for some hours exposed to the air, it becomes turbid, and otherwise undergoes a very material change. As it does not properly curdle soap, it may be denominated a soft water.

The original discovery of this water, as to its medical properties, is usually considered to have been in the reign of James the First. The season for drinking it commences as early as March or April, and continues till November.

294. SPA WATER, the celebrity of which has given a general appellation to most other mineral springs, is a highly carbonated chalybeate water, which contains a great proportion of carbonic acid (26). It has an agreeable acidulous taste, mixed with a strong impression of chalybeate, which remains on the palate for a considerable time after it has been drunk.

It contains oxide of iron (21), chalk, carbonat of magnesia, carbonat of soda (201), and common salt, together with about forty-five parts in a hundred of carbonic acid gas or fixed air (26); and is sufficiently soft to mix both with milk and soap without curdling.

Spa is a small but celebrated town in the Netherlands. It is situated on the little river Weze, about twenty miles south-east of Liege, and seven miles south-west of Linsburg; and is surrounded by rude and uncultivated 259mountains, many of which are covered with wood, and others with heath or morasses. In its neighbourhood there are no fewer than sixteen mineral springs, five of which are more celebrated than the others. The most copious and most frequented of the whole is the Pouhon spring, in the market-place of Spa. This is a large, slow, and deep spring, the descent to which is by several steps. In cold dry weather the water, when first taken up, appears colourless and perfectly transparent: it scarcely sparkles, but it soon covers the inside of the glass with small air-bubbles, which it also emits very copiously when shaken. During moist weather the surface of the well appears somewhat turbid: and, on the approach of rain, a whistling or humming noise is heard, which is called by the country people the music of the spring.

If this water be bottled, and then set in a warm place, it will generally force out the cork, with a loud explosive noise. In preserving it for exportation, it is consequently necessary to wire the corks firmly down. In this state, if well cemented, it may be kept perfectly good for more than two years.

It is somewhat remarkable, respecting this water, that if it be taken in a full draught, particularly in hot weather, or upon an empty stomach, it produces a swimming in the head, and a degree of intoxication, which frequently continues for half an hour or upwards, and is very similar to that which arises from the drinking of spirituous liquor, but it does not leave the same debility.

295. PYRMONT WATER is a highly carbonated chalybeate. When recently taken from the spring, it is clear and pellucid, and sends forth a copious stream of bubbles for a considerable time. In this respect it far exceeds any of the mineral waters with which we are acquainted. Its taste is pleasant, being strongly acidulated, and having a pungency not unlike that of brisk Champagne wine; but it is at the same time strongly chalybeate, and a little bitterish.

260It chiefly contains oxide of iron (21), chalk, carbonat of magnesia, Epsom salt (199), sulphat of lime (193), and common salt, and a great proportion of carbonic acid gas, or fixed air. It is very hard.

Pyrmont is a town of Westphalia, and about thirty-eight miles south-west of Hanover. It is the capital of a county, has a strong fort, and is well known on account of its mineral springs.

The water which issues from these springs constantly emits so large a quantity of gas as to have a sensible pungency of smell to those who stand around, and even to make the water-servers giddy. It forms an atmosphere over the surface of the well which proves fatal to ducks and small birds that attempt to swim across. The gas contained in the water is estimated to be nearly equal in bulk to the water. It is owing to this, that Pyrmont water, if bottled and well corked, and afterwards removed into a warm place, will frequently burst the bottles.

When drawn fresh from the spring and drunk copiously, it produces a temporary kind of intoxication. It also enlivens the spirits and increases the appetite. This water is sent in bottles, by the Weser, to Bremen, whence it is exported to various parts of the world.

296. CHELTENHAM WATER is a saline, carbonated, chalybeate, which has a slight sulphureous smell, and a brackish, somewhat bitter, and chalybeate taste, but no briskness nor pungency.

Its foreign contents are Glauber’s salts (203), muriat and carbonat of magnesia, common salt, and oxide of iron, together with a portion of carbonic acid gas, and some other kinds of gas.

The original discovery of the mineral spring at Cheltenham was about the year 1716. The water of this spring issues slowly, and in a scanty stream of not more than 35 pints in an hour, from a bed of sand intermixed with blue clay. The well is sunk to the depth of six feet, and is excluded from communication 261with the external air. This spring is denominated the Old Spa.

In the year 1788, on digging a well for a private house, another spring was accidentally discovered, which is of nearly the same nature as this, and produces a much more abundant supply of water. It is about a hundred yards distant from it, is upwards of forty feet deep, and is drawn by a pump.

When Cheltenham water is fresh drawn, it appears tolerably clear, though not perfectly transparent. After standing some time, it becomes more turbid, and air-bubbles, in small quantity, rise from it. It contains more salt than perhaps any other waters, except those of the sea and some brine springs; and by far the greatest part of the salts are of a purgative kind. It is also a very strong chalybeate, and has a slight impregnation of sulphur.

This water cannot long be kept, nor can it be transported to any distance without being materially altered. In order, however, to reduce its valuable parts to a more convenient form, for carriage and keeping, the salts are extracted from it on the spot, by evaporation, and crystallizing the residuum. These salts are much used, in addition to the fresh water, for the purpose of increasing its operation on the bowels.

Cheltenham is a small town in the county of Gloucester. It is about ninety-five miles north-west of London, situated in a sandy vale, surrounded with hills of moderate height, and in the midst of a fertile and well cultivated country.

297. BRIGHTON CHALYBEATE WATER is a vitriolated chalybeate, which, when fresh, has a peculiar and faint smell not uncommon in ferruginous waters, and a strong though not unpleasant chalybeate taste.

It contains sulphat of iron or vitriol (208), sulphat of lime (182), common salt, muriat of magnesia, siliceous earth, and a certain portion of carbonic acid gas (26).

262Brighton is a well-known market-town, situated on the coast of Sussex, and about fifty-four miles south of London. The chalybeate spring is at Wick, on the declivity of a small eminence nearly a mile west of the town, and a quarter of a mile from the sea. A small but neat building has been erected immediately over the spot from which the water issues, and where it is received, a few feet under ground, into a basin of Portland stone. This reservoir contains only a few gallons of water, but it fills again almost as soon as it is emptied.

The water is so hard as instantly to curdle soap. It is considered useful in cases of debility, indigestion, and such diseases for which chalybeate and tonic remedies are required. The sea-bathing at Brighton is, in many cases, an additional and important advantage to those persons who use the chalybeate water.

9. COLD SULPHUREOUS WATERS.

298. HEPATIC, or SULPHUREOUS WATERS, are so strongly impregnated with sulphur, united either to hydrogen (45), or to an alkali, or both, as thereby to acquire a very sensible smell and taste. They have the property of blacking silver and lead; and are immediately known by the smell, which is very fetid, and like that which arises from the scouring of a foul gun-barrel, or, as some persons suppose, like the smell of rotten eggs.

The taste of these waters is peculiar, and rather sweetish. They constitute a drink which, at first, is very unpalatable, but which, by habit, is soon reconciled to the drinker. None of them will bear carriage to any distance.

Its foreign contents are common salt, muriat of lime, muriat of magnesia, chalk, carbonat of magnesia, Epsom salt (199), carbonic acid gas, or fixed air (26), azotic gas, and sulphureted hydrogen gas.

263There are, at Harrowgate, four distinct sulphureous springs, which appear to have their rise in a large bog, at a small distance from the wells. The water of all these springs is similar in its properties and its distinguishing characters, but as one of them is more strongly impregnated with sulphur than the others, this alone is used for drinking, whilst the other three are employed to supply the baths.

When the water of the former of these springs is first taken up, it is perfectly clear and transparent; and sends forth a few air-bubbles. Notwithstanding both its nauseous smell and taste, such is the power of habit in reconciling it to the palate, that, after a little while, nearly all persons who drink this water do it without disgust.

When exposed to the air it loses its transparency, and assumes a somewhat greenish colour: the sulphureous odour abates; and, at last, the sulphur is deposited on the bottom and sides of the vessel in which it is kept.

Such is the nature of Harrowgate water that a secret correspondence has often been carried on by means of it. A letter written with solution of sugar of lead is illegible; but if dipped into this water the writing will not merely become visible, but, in a short time, will appear almost black. Hydrogen has the property of reviving the metallic oxides: hence also it is that ladies who have used metallic cosmetics have become of a dark tawny colour by bathing in these waters.

Harrowgate has long been celebrated for its sulphureous waters. It has also two very valuable chalybeate springs, called the Old Spa, and the Tewit Well, the water of which was formerly used internally, whilst the other water was confined to external use. But, at present, the latter is employed to very great extent as an internal medicine.

The two villages of High and Low Harrowgate are situated in a pleasant open country, in the centre of 264the county of York, near the town of Knaresborough, and about 212 miles north of London.

Its foreign contents are common salt, together with carbonic acid gas, azotic gas, and sulphureted hydrogen gas. It is consequently very simple in its composition.

Moffat is a village situated, at the head of a valley, on the banks of the river Annan, and about fifty-six miles south-west of Edinburgh. It is surrounded by hills, some of which are very lofty. This village has obtained so much celebrity, on account of its waters, as to be considered the Harrowgate of North Britain. These issue from a rock which is at a little distance below a bog, whence, probably, they derive their sulphureous ingredients. The principal spring is contained within a stone building, and affords a sufficient quantity of water to supply every demand. It is drawn by a pump.

When the water is first taken from the well it appears somewhat milky and bluish. It sparkles a little; but, on being exposed to the air, it becomes turbid, and throws up a thin film, which, on examination, will be found pure sulphur. This change takes place even in close vessels, so that it cannot be sent to any distance with advantage.

The common people so much esteem this water that many of them drink at the rate of from six to ten quarts of it in a morning, and one instance has been stated of a person drinking thirty-two quarts of it in eight hours.

265