The principal health-resorts of Europe and Africa for the treatment of chronic diseases / by Thomas More Madden.

  • Madden, Thomas More, 1838-1902.
Date:
1876
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principal health-resorts of Europe and Africa for the treatment of chronic diseases / by Thomas More Madden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    CHAPTEE XLVIII. THE SPAS OF ITALY. Few countries are so rich in mineral and thermal springs as Italy. Almqst all the Italian spas are situated in the valleys at the foot of the mountain chains which intersect that country. Many years since, Dr Gairdner remarked that, in the prolongation, southwards of the Italian peninsula, all its mineral waters are met with on the Mediterranean side of the Apennines, and none on the Adriatic.* The explanation of this curious fact is to he found, as I have shown in the intro- ductory chapter on mineral and thermal springs, in the position of the volcanoes, and other evidences of subterranean igneous action in that part of Italy. Commencing our tour through the Italian watering-places in Lombardy, the first of these spas that we meet with is Acqui, a very ancient town of 9000 inhabitants, in a moun- tainous district, about thirty miles from Genoa, and a drive of an hour and a half by railway from Alessandria. The mineral springs originate in limestone rock, and are divided into cold and thermal sources. They are mildly sulphurous; but are so slightly charged with chemical- ingredients, that, diluted with half their quantity of ordinary water, they are employed by the housewives of Acqui for all domestic and culinary purposes. The warmest source in the town has * Essay on Mineral and Thermal Springs, by Meredith Gairdner, M.D., p. 141.