NATURAL MINERAL WATERS IN THE LIGHT OF MODERN RESEARCH

Abstract

This paper deals chiefly with a report of chemical and physicochemical observations on mineral springs. We shall attempt to demonstrate that, through the discovery of new methods, the study of mineral springs has entered a new epoch. Long before the development of quantitative chemical analysis, mineral springs were empirically employed, with good results, in the treatment of many diseases. New aspects manifested themselves, however, when the chemist began to analyze the springs and to establish the nature and quantity of the salts contained in them. At first, naturally, chemical analysis was not well developed, and it was difficult, therefore, to demonstrate with certainty the presence of minute traces of elements. In this connection it is of interest to note that salt springs in Austria, which were traditionally known as goiter-waters, appeared to contain only common salt until modern analytic chemistry showed that they also contained the therapeutically active iodine. There