P. L. Smedley (Author)
N. S. Robins (Author)
Volume: 375
Pages: 261-267
Publication date: 2013
Language: English
Knowledge of the healing properties of some groundwater sources has been passed down through the generations. A complex array of hydrogeological environments yields a rich and diverse range of chemical compositions, and cures for a variety of ailments were available from some spring waters. Many were sourced with associated religious overtones. It is likely that exposure to clean cold water alleviates the symptoms of leprosy and probable also that it relieves rheumatic pain. However, the only demonstrable medicinal properties of groundwater are its purging effects wherever MgSO4 or Epsom salts prevailed. Clean and potable groundwater is certainly a key to human health and some of the minerals dissolved within it are essential to the human body, although many of these minerals become toxic if present in excess. The modern fashion for bottled groundwater, often perceived to be associated with health-giving and medicinal properties, for the most part, merely offer a safe form of drinking water.
...MoreBook C. J. Duffin; R. T. J. Moody; C. Gardner-Thorpe (2013) A History of Geology and Medicine.
Similar Citations
Book
Michele Savonarola;
Sergio Pasalodos Requejo;
(2022)
De balneis et termis Ytalie
Article
Armel Cornu-Atkins;
(2019)
Appraising Waters — the Assimilation of Chemists into the Trade of Mineral Waters in Eighteenth-Century France
Book
Kosso, Cynthia;
(2009)
The Nature and Function of Water, Baths, Bathing, and Hygiene from Antiquity through the Renaissance
Book
Nelli-Elena Vanzan Marchini;
(2015)
Le terme di Venezia. Ambiente e salute nelle acque (secoli XIV-XXI)
Chapter
Williams, Matt;
(2008)
Of Canals and Quarries: The Bath Geologists
Chapter
J. D. Mather;
(2013)
Britain's Spa Heritage: A Hydrogeological Appraisal
Chapter
C. J. Duffin;
(2013)
Geology as Medicine and Medics as Geologists
Chapter
F. A. Franchini;
L. Lorusso;
B. Falconi;
A. Porro;
(2013)
Geology, Conservation and Dissolution of Corpses by Paolo Gorini (1813-1881)
Chapter
Eddy, Matthew D.;
(2010)
The Sparkling Nectar of Spas; or, Mineral Water as a Medically Commodifiable Material in the Province, 1770--1805
Article
Vogel, Jakob;
(2010)
Locality and Circulation in the Habsburg Empire: Disputing the Carlsbad Medical Salt, 1763--1784
Book
Jennings, Eric Thomas;
(2006)
Curing the Colonizers: Hydrotherapy, Climatology, and French Colonial Spas
Article
Bunn, Stephanie J.;
(2013)
Water as a Vital Substance in Post-Socialist Kyrgyzstan
Article
Berneking, Carolyn Bailey;
(2000)
The Contributions of E. H. S. Bailey to the Development of Pure Food and Water Laws in Kansas
Article
Francesco La Vigna;
Alessio Argentieri;
(2018)
Le sorgenti storiche del litorale di Capo d’Anzio: il “Turco” e lo “Speziale”
Article
Kölbl-Ebert, Martina;
(2009)
How to Find Water: The State of the Art in the Early Seventeenth Century, Deduced from Writings of Martine de Bertereau (1632 and 1640)
Book
Zalasiewicz, Jan;
Williams, Mark;
(2014)
Ocean Worlds: The Story of Seas on Earth and Other Planets
Book
Lamoreaux, Philip E.;
Tanner, Judy T.;
(2001)
Springs and Bottled Waters of the World: Ancient History, Source, Occurrence, Quality and Use
Chapter
Frängsmyr, Tore;
(2007)
Between the Deluge and the Ice Age
Chapter
Mazadiego, L. F.;
Puche, O.;
Hervá, S. A. M.;
(2009)
Water and Inca Cosmogony: Myths, Geology and Engineering in the Peruvian Andes
Book
Rolls, Roger;
(2012)
Diseased, Douched, and Doctored: Thermal Springs, Spa Doctors, and Rheumatic Diseases
Be the first to comment!