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SARATOGA WATERS. 
 
SARATOGA   WATERS,
INVALID  AT  SARATOGA
BY  M. L.NORTH,  M.  D.
      A RESIDENT  PHYSICIANi
               NEW YORK.
PUBLISHED  BY  M. W.  DODD.
       Brick Church Chapel, opposite City Hall.
                   1840. 
                         WBT




  Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1840,
by M. L. North, in the (Jink's office of the District Court
of Connecticut.
               V^r^EDICAJ. (.,,>>,
%?ro« d.c,.^-
      Printed by
Case, Tiffany & Biirnham,
  Pearl street, Hartford. 
CONTENTS.
                                                 Page
                    CHAPTER I.
Preliminary Observations,.....9
                   CHAPTER II.
Professional advice before leaving home,     -    -     14

                   CHAPTER III.
The medicinal character of the Saratoga Waters,   -   16
                   CHAPTER IV.
The same subject, continued,     ....     20

                   CHAPTER V.
The comparative advantages of Saratoga Springs as a
     resort for Invalids,   ------   25

                   CHAPTER VI.
The internal use of the Saratoga Waters,    -    -    31

                  CHAPTER VII.
Same subject,.......46
                  CHAPTER VIII.
The external use of the  waters. Baths,    -    -    58
1* 
 
THE
INVALID  AT SARATOGA.
            CHAPTER  I.

          INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

  To the invalid, whom  infirmities  have
depressed, whom pains have harrassed, and
whose hopes of regaining health have hitherto
proved delusive, the enquiry—" Shall I visit
Saratoga?" is  one of no ordinary moment.
Home must be abandoned—toil and exposure
encountered—the supervision of domestic con-
cerns and  of business  suspended—expense
incurred—strange faces and scenes met—new
lodgings, new accommodations, new recipro-
cities established ; and, often, what is most
painful of all, a beloved and  trusted  family-
physician exchanged for a  stranger. 
10
T 11 K  INVALID
   The healthy, the fashionable and the pleas-
 ure seeking cannot appreciate,  at all, the sa-
 crifices and painful efforts thai arc often made
 by those whom  they meet  at the  springs.
 Yet what is  toil, what estrangement  from
 home, what  a few days  of  pain or  trouble
 among strangers,  what  the  loss of  money,
 what a  few  weeks of pilgrimage even;  if
 death can be averted, if pains can be chased
 away, strength, appetite  and  spirits restored,
 and all the delightful sensations of health re-
 visit the  sufferer ?
   That such have  been the happy results of a
 resort to  the Saratoga Fountains, many thou-
 sands can testify.   Indeed they do testify and
 have testified it: and it is through their noise-
 less testimony, which is  spreading from  city
 to city and from state to state, that we see the
 multitudes of pilgrims to this place so rapidly
 increasing.  Yet this  is  not the only report
 that emanates from this valley.  Such are the
 power and efficacy of these waters  and their
influence over the animal economy, that many
who use them  improperly return  to their
friends with increased infirmities and cutting
disappointment.  This is a notorious fact  and
of every  day occurrence, notwithstanding the 
AT  SARATOGA.
11
excellent directions left by the late Dr. Steel.
  It was often, no doubt, his painful lot as it
lias been  that of the writer of these pages,
during the two seasons past, to see  these ex-
cellent medicines which  flow from the hand
of nature  through our valley, so misapplied as
to  become  undeniable  evils.   But,  though
painful, this is not  to the observing physician,
any thing out of the common course of events.
Morphine, quinine, calomel, Epsom salts and
many  other medicinal agents whose effects
are most clearly beneficial, are all liable to
produce disastrous effects when misapplied.
   To  the healthy and well balanced frame,
a tumbler of the sparkling and delicious bev-
erage, although it  contains over 37 grains of
various saline matters, besides the gases, can
do little mischief.   And if  ten or twelve tum-
blers are  taken, the conservative powers  of
such a system will usually manage to evade
the evil.  But, when the patient comes labor-
ing under disease, with the healthy action sus-
pended and the economy in a generally deran-
ged condition, the swallowing  of ten or fifteen
tumblers  of this potent medicine every morn-
ing, is by no means a matter of trifling or im-
punity.   How many, after various repetitions 
12
THE INVALID
of these absurd and ill judged potations, go
home in disgust and despair,  with every in-
flammatory tendency  aggravaled,  and every
irritation increased by the very remedy which
has  restored health to their  neighbors  and
friends.
  This, I say again, is no enigma.  But how
shall this great evil be remedied ?   How shall
this  abuse be suppressed ?  How shall the
valetudinarian—the diseased  wanderer—be
persuaded not to trifle with his life and health
by  an unwarranted and misdirected applica-
tion of these waters?  In these enquiries eve-
ry physician and every chronic patient in the
country are interested.   So is every member
of this community.  Every friend of humani-
ty residing among these Fountains of Health,
cannot but feel a deep and  laudable ambition
that these waters which are healing so many,
and with effects so marked  as to  leave not a
shadow of ambiguity, should never prove  in-
jurious.
  But none,  except the patients and their
friends, can feel so deep and sensible an inter-
est  in the proper application of these remedies,
both  internally and externally, as the physi-
cians who reside permanently at the fountains 
ATSARATOGA.            13
and whose business it is to direct enquirers to
a safe and proper course.   It is this  which
has led the writer to the publication  of this
little Manual.   Having come, himself, to this
place for the establishment of his own  broken
health, and having been unexpectedly induced
to take up his residence here, he must be ex-
cused for saying, that he feels an irrepressible
desire to contribute in spreading as widely as
possible, what he conceives to be correct in-
formation  respecting the nature and  proper
use of the mineral remedies of Saratoga.
   To aid  his professional brethren abroad, he
inserted several communications, a year ago,
in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal,
on the  Saratoga waters, which  were copied
into one or more weekly newspapers.   From
the reports and  conversation of many invalids
last season, he  found that these  papers were
read not only by physicians but by  patients;
and, as they coincide with  the object of the
present publication he has ventured to intro-
duce such parts of them as may be useful and
intelligible to the common reader. 
11
T 11 V.  INVALID
            CHAPTER  II.

  PROFESSIONAL ADVICE BEFORE LEAVING HOME.

  The writer has often thought that if inva-
lids when coming here, would have a thorough
conference with their regular physician previ-
ous to leaving home, they might receive such
directions  as would  be not only useful  but a
matter of economy.   Many  come here with-
out any professional  advice or direction or
preparation.  Having worn  out their physi-
cians, or been the round of the nostrums, they
resolve to  spend  two or  three weeks drinking
and bathing in the pools of Saratoga !  A visit
to the Springs is somehow to cure them.
  Precisely as if they should say in an ordinary
attack of sickness, " I will go to the druggist's
and procure some medicine." " Ah ! but what
medicine ?"   " No matter: medicine is  medi-
cine."  "But how  do you  know  that  your
present disorder will be benefitted by the medi-
cine you  select?"  "No matter: I am sick,
and  there must  be  something on the shelves
of the apothecary, to whom every body resorts,
that will cure me." 
AT  SARATOGA.
15
  In the same manner valetudinarians often
visit mineral springs.   Without knowing at all
whether their diseases be inflammatory or the
reverse—whether they are plethoric or re-
duced—whether  they need the water as  an
alterative, diuretic, cathartic or  tonic—whe-
ther they need the warm, cold or  shower bath,
or neither:—in short, in utter ignorance of the
variety of ways the remedy can  be made to
bear on various disorders in different consti-
tutions and temperaments, they  mostly seem
to come with two simple purposes—to deluge
the  stomach with as much water as they can
swallow, and resort  frequently to  the baths.
In this way the plans of the patient are often
thwarted, his hopes blasted,  and he departs
wondering that such crowds should resort to
a place where he has received  nothing  but
trouble and disappointment.
2 
16
T 111".  INVALID
           CHAPTER  III.

 THE MEDICINAL CHARACTER OF THE WATERS OF
           THE  SARATOGA SPRINGS.

  There are two methods of testing the nature
of an agent that is to be introduced  into the
materia medica; viz.  by carefully watching
and recording the therapeutical effects of the
article by the bed-side, and by chemical analy-
sis.  The latter criterion is  probably a more
fallacious  guide  than is  generally supposed.
How often has the practitioner been surprised
at the augmented, diminished, or less  irritating
effects of  some  off-hand combination, that
would be wholly unlooked for by estimating
the separate agency of each article.
  So of mineral waters.  Chemical  analysis
cannot decide  the exact medicinal effects of a
new spring, independently of a faithful obser-
vation of its operation.   For,
  1st. Many medicines, such as oxyd of iron,
carbonate of iron, pulverized bark, calomel, the
gum resins, when in pills, capsicum, ginger,
&c. pass through the alimentary passages with
very  little  absorption.   Mineral waters,  on 
AT  SARATOGA.
17
the contrary, as may be inferred from the ex-
periments of Dr. Beaumont, are introduced
into the blood by the absorbents of the stom-
ach, without any previous deposition or diges-
tion, and  thus these mineral agents which, in
their minute proportions, would be very inert
in a state of powder, are admitted to the inner
coat of all the blood-vessels, and to the minutest
branches  of the  secretory apparatus.  How
widely different these two modes of operation
must be, all can readily understand.
   2d.  Chemical  analysis  cannot  appreciate
the qualifying or mutual effects of the ingredi-
ents on each other as above stated.
   3d.  In the language of Dr. James Johnson
of London,  " Mineral waters  contain, in all
probability, many  agents  which we cannot
imitate  by  artificial combinations.   This  is
proved by  every day's observation.  Thus,
the saline, aperient mineral waters will pro-
duce  ten times more effect than the identical
materials artificially dissolved and mixed. The
same is true with  respect to the  chalybeate
springs.   A grain of iron in them is more tonic
than twenty grains exhibited according to the
pharmacopaea."   " It does not follow, howev-
er, that waters contain no active materials 
18
T II K  I N V A L I l>
because chemistry is unable  to detect them.
Powerful  agents  may be diffused in waters,
which  are incapable of analysis or which are
distructible by the process employed for that
purpose.  The only sure test is i:\perience of
their effect on the human body."
  Those patients whose  disorders require a
cathartic,  diuretic or alterative  course, will
resort  to  the  saline springs.   These are the
Old Congress, in the south part of the village;
New Congress, or Putnam's, some twenty rods
north of the former; and the Walton or Iodine
spring  in  the  northeast  part of the village.
The analysis of  one or more of  these springs
will be found  near the  close of the volume.
As  the last mentioned  spring, since its new
construction, has been but one year before the
public,  its character is not  fully established ;
but from  the  numerous and  careful experi-
ments  made and  recorded by invalids during
the past summer, and  the great resort to the
spring during the latter part of  the  season, it
is now fairly before the public,  and promises
to be an exceedingly popular fountain.
   As these springs receive the principal share
of public attention,  I pass by the chalybeate
springs without a particular mention of each. 
AT  SARATOGA.
19
They are more tonic and less aperient than
those already described.   They are used  al-
most wholly as alteratives  and tonics.  The
Flat Rock spring, just east of the Pavilion, is
more resorted to than any other of this class,
although the Hamilton,High-Rock, Columbian
and some others are substantially of the same
character.
2* 
20
THE  INVALID
           CHAPTER  IV.

 THE MEDICINAL NATURE OF SARATOGA WATERS,
                CONTINUED.

  The aperient, diuretic,  deobstruent. and al-
terative effects of the Congress water has been
fully understood, by the  medical faculty and
the public.   But of its powerfully tonic nature
much less has been known.
  The late Dr. Steel had  a full understanding
of this quality,  as appears from his analysis:
and  so have all the  physicians in this vicinity
as far as my knowledge  extends.   These re-
marks apply, not  to the  chalybeate springs,
which are considered by every body to  be
bracing; but particularly to the old Congress,
the Putnam and the Walton fountains.
   Before my residence here, I had been many
years prescribing Congress water in bottles to
 my patients as a pleasant aperient.   I ts bra-
 cing effects I had  never suspected.   In con-
 versation with a professional brother in Hart-
 ford, just before my leaving that city, who has
 a wide and respectable practice, and who is fre-
 quently prescribing Congress water, he seemed 
AT  SARATOGA.
21
almost to have forgotten whether there  was
any iron in the article or not.  This is, doubt-
less, true of many physicians who are constant-
ly directing  the  use of this  beverage.   But,
were   these  gentlemen  stationed here  and
obliged to watch its daily effects,  when taken
liberally from the fountains, on the pulse, color,
tone and movements of the system; and  to
witness the unequivocal aggravation of  local,
inflammatory affections when not counteracted
byappropriate remedies, they would appreciate
the anxiety felt by the writer that the profes-
sion,  generally,  should understand the  exact
nature of the case, and give their patients the
proper directions and preparation when  leav-
ing their homes for  Saratoga.
   If any suppose the physicians of this water-
ing place have misjudged  in  this affair,  or
that the writer is unduly anxious that imflam-
matory affections should be kept down  while
patients are in the  use of these remedies,  let
them examine the history of the various mine-
ral waters of Europe.  There is no exception
to the  fact,  that whether iron be present or
absent,  an internal  use  of  these  remedies is
productive  of stimulating   and tonic effects.
The  Buxton waters in  England, which con- 
oq           Till:  INVALID
tain only 15 grains of saline matter in a gallon,
and 6 cubic inches of gaseous products have
been found, from  a record of 1 1,900 patients,
to be highly stimulating and tonic.   The brac-
ing effects of the waters have proved a con-
stant source of embarrassment to Dr. Robert-
son of the place,  and  require continual coun-
teraction.
   From an extended and careful examination
of the treatment adopted at the various water-
ing places in  Europe and our country, I have
not met with one spring unless such as is sim-
ply sulphureous, that does not need a concom-
itant, reducing treatment  in  invalids laboring
under inflammation or plethora.  The cardi-
nal  importance of a right  understanding of
this topic, as  it goes to obviate almost the only
evil that can result from the use of our waters,
is my apology for these extended remarks.
   Yet, I must not be understood to say that
 all need depletion before  they come or while
 here.   Far from it.   There are  many  who
 come with soft, slow pulse, pale countenance,
 and freedom from inflammatory  tendencies,
 whom  the saline springs exactly suit without
 any previous  medication.   Crowds  of  such
 come and go annually rejoicing in their visit 
AT  SARATOGA.
23
to these fountains.  There are others, too, of
so cold and  torpid a  habit that they need
warming and acrid remedies as auxiliaries to
the water ; and there are some with such ex-
quisitely  irritable nerves as to require—not
depletory measures—but anodynes, such as a
pill every four hours of extract  of hyosciamus,
carbonate of ammonia and camphor.   I have
been pleased to see how visitants of this char-
acter, whose bowels have been thrown into
great pain and distention by a few tumblers
taken in  the  morning, could be made to bear
full and effectual doses of the water by the ad-
dition of such a sedative as the one above men-
tioned.
   Still, there is a wide difference  between  a
patient who  brings a  calm circulation, soft
pulse,  pale tongue  and lips, and exemption
from local obstructions, and one who is florid,
full,  hot,  with white fur on the tongue, hard,
wiry pulse, and all those  symptoms founded
on a sanguine temperament and subacute or
chronic, local inflammation.
  The same disease, according to our imper-
fect  nomenclature,  needs  the  two  opposite
modes  of treatment.  In rheumatism, for ex-
ample, one patient, may have  been long afflict- 
21
T II I"  INVALID
ed  without any active  inflammation.   II i>
joints are stiff', and he feels the regular aug-
mentation of his  troubles from  a  cold, north
east storm.   But,  he is thin, pale, feeble, and
his pulse is  uniformly  soft and  slow.   Such
cases, whether chronic rheumatism, sciatica or
lumbago, will find  most decided relief from
drinking and bathing.
  But if  the disease  be accompanied  with
heat, swelling and pain of joints, aggravated
by  warm applications and  motion, a  white
tongue  and hard pulse,  the  most direct and
positive injury must result from the potations
and  hot bathing, unless the system  be brought
below the grade of inordinate action. 
AT  S ARA TOGA.
25
             CHAPTER V.

  THE  COMPARATIVE  ADVANTAGES  OF SARATOGA
      SPRINGS AS A RESORT FOR INVALIDS.

  The first topic to which the attention of the
reader is called in considering the peculiarities
of Saratoga as a watering place,  is the condi-
tion of the atmosphere of this place.  It would
be idle to attempt to prove to my readers that
a " change of air" simply, is often and une-
quivocally  a curative  remedy.   The profes-
sion, generally, are now united in the acknowl-
edged  benefits  resulting from  change of at-
mosphere.   The  plains of Saratoga  are  re-
markable for an arid  surface and a dry  air.
The  soil  here, being  alluvial and sandy,  the
atmosphere contains  a  very  small share of
moisture ; so small, indeed, that I have never
discovered any appearance  of mould on  my
books or shoes; and  intelligent  people who
have resided in the  north part  of the village
many years, say they have never  seen such
an occurrence.
  Add to the dry and bracing  nature of this
atmosphere, the highly balsamic or rather tur-
pentine qualities with which it is impregnated, 
2G
T II E  INVALID
by the numerous pines and other forest trees
that have been  wisely  allowed to  remain in
and around this beautiful village, and you will
perceive at once that these considerations are
by no  means  to be  overlooked by  invalids
who are projecting the means of gaining health
abroad.  They especially concern those who
reside on our sea-board, on the banks of rivers,
and in low,  clayey soils.  Independently of
the other powerful attractions for invalids at
Saratoga, the pure  and balsamic atmosphere
should, of itself, induce many to make trial of
the location.
  Another topic to which I wish to  call the
attention of the reader is, the agreeable and
delicious qualities of the waters of Saratoga.
I have studied minutely various authors on the
mineral waters of Europe and America, since
my residence here ; but I truly do not find in
nature so admirable a  combination for chronic
diseases as is to be found in the various springs
scattered along this valley.   I need  not  tell
my readers that a course of well selected lax-
atives is, of itself, sufficient i<» remove  a multi-
tude of chronic complaints.   This is  univer-
sally understood.   What,  then, should we not
expect from daily, periodical evacuatious by a 
AT  SARATOGA.
27
medicine, delicious, cool, exhilarating, full of
agreeable, enlivening qualities and containing
salts,  antacids, lime, iron and  even  iodine ?
These  remarks  apply only  to  the saline
springs, or those which contain the least pro-
portion of iron, and without alluding to  the
various methods of internal and external ad-
ministration of all these waters.
   The  efficacy of our springs, upon many of
the unprecedented throng of  1839, was, in-
deed, most gratifying.  Many  more  recove-
ries took place in  this than in the preceding
summer.   Some cases of recovery occurred
in patients who had tried the excellent springs
of Virginia in vain.
   In  an excursion last autumn, in some of our
cities, I met with many who volunteered the
expression of their gratitude for having visited
Saratoga, and recovered their former health.
   Similar testimonies appeared in the public
prints during the summer  and autumn.  A
single one I beg leave to introduce.

          " Steam Boat Erie, North River Aug. 26, 1839.
   11 Mr. Editor—I am  now  on my return
from  Saratoga Springs, where  I have spent
three weeks greatly to the benefit of my health.
          3 
 2$            THE  IN V A L I D
 When I arrived there it was with some diffi-
 culty that I walked from the car house to the
 Temperance House.   1 can now walk two or
 three miles without much fatigue.   The effect
 of the mineral waters on my system has been
 most salutary.   The same is true of many of
 my old acquaintances.  Many seem to think
 that these waters are the " Matchless Sana-
 tive" for almost every disease that affects the
 human race.   Their medicinal properties  are
 indeed  wonderful,  and  many of the cures
 which they effect border nearly on the mirac-
 ulous.  If their  regenerating effect on the in-
 ner man were as great as it generally is on
 the outer man, the pleasant village of  Sarato-
 ga might indeed  be a garden of Paradise."
                              R. G. W.

  But on this subject  I must not  enlarge.
 " Selfishness," " village  interest,"  " private
 emolument"—may have already flitted through
the mind of the reader.   Well,  let that pass.
Whatever motives may have contributed to
this publication and the present remarks, the
invalid has only to consult his own interest in
weighing the  above and  many  other  similar
testimonies that might be adduced :  the writer 
AT  SARATOGA.
29
only claiming  that  common  humanity and
sympathy  for  his fellow  sufferers  through
which every one* who has  been rescued from
disease himself or has had  his friends so res-
cued, is prone to recommend  the remedy to
his acquaintances.  This license, I claim, wit-
nessing what I have  on this post of  observa-
tion ; and feel that I should be recreant to the
professional responsibility  I  owe my  fellow
men, did I not contribute my humble effort to
diffuse widely  the information of the healing
influences of these waters.
  3. Another topic which should not pass un-
noticed, is a proper attention to diet and regi-
men.  Saratoga is proverbially a hungry place.
A powerful appetite is produced by the waters.
It is the interest of the boarding houses to pro-
vide an inviting table.  What, then, shall guard
the craving stomach of the valetudinarian from
nullifying all the expected benefits of his visit ?
The family physician may do much before the
patient leaves  home.   A watchful  self-denial
of the invalid, himself, can do more.  As he
convalesces, however, it is  not only allowable
but proper that he should gradually,  but  cau-
tiously, enlarge his diet so as  to give full em-
ployment to the stomach  as it  regains its
powers. 
30
T 11 F.  INVALID
  Lastly,  the  family physician  should  state
fully and honestly to the  patient the absolute
necessity of a thorough and extended trial of
the  waters.  Experienced practitioners know
very well  that a complex medicine which can,
by internal and external exhibition,  be made
to operate as an alterative, dcobstruent, anta-
cid, aperient, diuretic and tonic, should not be
abandoned on a slight trial.  They know, too,
what their patients cannot appreciate, the in-
dispensable  necessity of  some extent of  time
in removing deep seated  and  long continued
maladies.   How  preposterous, then, for in-
valids who have been laboring under the influ-
ence of established disease for months or years,
to hope  they can eradicate and banish these
diseased processes in one or two weeks!
  The physicians  here,  and the  keepers of
boarding houses know this full well: but how
can they retain invalids  whose  own family
physician has not urged  to a  faithful trial of
the remedy ? 
AT  S A R AT O G A.
31
             CHAPTER  VI.
  THE INTERNAL USE OF THE  SARATOGA WATERS.

   We now proceed to  offer some plain direc-
 tions for the use of visitants, on their arrival
 at the springs.
   The first enquiry made by the invalid after
 suitable lodgings are procured is,  of course,
 " how shall I  take the waters ?"  " When be-
gin ?"  " What springs ?"   " In what quanti-
 ties and at what hours ?"  These  questions
 can be solved at every corner.  In  the lan-
 guage of the late Dr. Steel,  " there are numer-
 ous persons who flock about the springs during
 the drinking season, without any knowledge
 of the composition of the waters, and little or
none of  their effects, who  contrive to dispose
of their directions to the ignorant and unwary,
with no other  effect than to injure  the reputa-
tion of the water and destroy the prospects of
the diseased."—Steele's Analysis, p. 184.
  In one thing almost all visitants are agreed:
to make their first resort to the Old Congress
spring.  The long tried  efficacy of this cele-
brated fountain  is too  well known,  to need
any encomiums  in this  place.  I had occa-
           3* 
32
THE  INVALID
sion  to  pass down  Broadway  many  times
last season  during the hour of  the morning
potations ; and such were the throngs in wait-
ing, that it really seemed impossible that they
should all be supplied from one small fountain.
  When it  is  considered that a great part of
the civilized world is sending its delegates here
to drink—or its orders for bottling and  send-
ing abroad  the water—we  see at  once the
responsible and important relation held by Dr.
Clark, the owner, to the public.  We see, too,
the great necessity both to the public and to
the prosperity of the  village, that other foun-
tains  of different composition  and qualities
should,  if  possible,  be  discovered ; and it
should be a  matter of common congratulation
here and elsewhere, that the persevering and
expensive efforts of several gentlemen in  this
place for the establishment  of other mineral
springs, bid  fair to be crowned not only with
remuneration but with public benefit.
   There should not be  a city nor village of
any  size in  America,  that is not furnished an-
nually with  a  full supply  of  the health-giving
waters of Saratoga.
   But, to return to the subject.   A great pro-
portion of valetudinarians may commence at 
AT SARATOGA.
33
once the internal use of the Congress or of the
Iodine  or Walton  spring which is situated in
the  northeast part of the village.  I might,
probably, with safety include the  New Con-
gress in the above specification; but  as Mr.
Putnam has never furnished the public with
an authentic analysis, nor with any well attes-
ted series of experiments on the internal use
of the water, I decline taking any responsibility
except to say that the water is highly pungent
and agreeable, and is certainly diuretic as well
as  aperient.  I have known, too, many in-
telligent and observing visitors who attributed
to this spring, solely, their convalescence from
disease.
  The proper time to take these waters, as a
cathartic, is in the morning and in the morning
only.  The reasons appear to me to be obvi-
ous.  There has  a period of sixteen hours
elapsed since the principal meal of the prece-
ding day,  and  eleven  hours from the slight
repast of the evening.  In people of weak or
irritable stomachs, this is the only time in the
24 hours in which the digestive organs are not
engaged in the solution and absorption of ali-
ment.   This, then, is the precise occasion to
interpose a mild, exhilarating and efficient ca-
thartic ; and this should be taken so early and 
31
T 11 1.  I N VALID
 in such quantities, as thoroughly to evacuate
 all the remains of the preceding day's digestion,
 and to make so much impression on the mu-
 cous membranes of the alimentary canal as to
 rectify the process of secretion itself.
   This is the true  Abernethean road to health
 to multitudes of bilious and dyspeptic invalids;
 and will stand the most approved  method of
 medication, notwithstanding the numerous and
 laudable efforts that are made by the fraternity
 to discover a better way.
   From one pint to three pints is the quantity
 prescribed by Dr.  Steel, and the prescription
 is right.   The earlier in the morning  the bet-
 ter.  Whatever be  the quantity that  is ulti-
 mately  found necessary  by each  person, it
 should be taken in  three portions and with
 short intervals between, occupying 30 or 40
 minutes in all.   Brisk exercise  by walking or
 otherwise is desirable during this time and for
 a short period afterwards.  And it is proper
 that at least an hour, and, better, an hour and
 a half should  elapse between the last potation
 and breakfast.
  I knew an intelligent gentleman in the spring
 of 1839, when the mornings were quite cold,
dress at four, walk nearly half a mile to  the 
AT  SARATOGA.
35
spring, finish drinking, and return to his bed,
where he  became thoroughly warm in season
to allow him a walk after the sun was up and
before breakfast.
   To patients of feeble stomach and low tem-
perature,  the contents of a well corked bottle
which has stood in the lodging room over night,
can  be taken during  the process of dressing,
after which the walk to the  spring will prepare
them for  the remaining portion.  Or, the re-
quisite quantity can be brought from the spring
in the morning, and the bottles immersed in a
kettle of warm water a few minutes previous
to drinking.   Although a considerable quantity
of the carbonic acid escapes, the  water tastes
much better than  one would expect who has
not tried it.
   Yet the invalid should never be deterred by
indolence, irresolution or imaginary fears from
going to  the spring; as it  is incomparably
better to take the beverage from the fountain
in the midst of the absorbing and  even pic-
turesque scenes of the " dipping-room," and to
take it fresh, too, from the bosom of the earth.
The  apprehension  that  valuable elementary
principles may possibly escape from the bottle
and that there are ingredients in mineral wa- 
::6
T 11 F.  I N V A L I I)
ters that the present chemical processes have
never appreciated, will appear less absurd the
more it is reflected upon.
  Intelligent individuals have recovered here
in three or four weeks while drinking at the
springs,  who during  the  preceding months
have been able  just  to hold  their disease at
bay by a free use of the Congress water in
bottles at home.  I  have a number of such
cases  on record,  and would  introduce them
did my prescribed limits permit.   Now  is it
supposablc  that  the  air and  amusements of
Saratoga could  make this striking difference '.
or is there an energy and a health-giving power
in the  medicine  in the exact  constitution and
locality which nature  assigns it,  that are not
to be found when it has been  sometime sepa-
rated from the place of its original formation ?
  It is a matter of every day's discussion among
the visitants here, whether the  Congress spring
has not lost its  strength ?   If, by strength, is
meant  pungency or  smartness of taste,  it  is
undoubtedly true  that  this water  both  loses
and gains strength daily.   For this pungency
is dependent, greatly, on the carbonic acid gas
with which the fluid is impregnated ; and this
gas, as  shown by numerous experiments, varies 
AT  SARATOGA.
37
in quantity continually.  Yet " as the water
appears always  to retain in combination con-
siderably more than its bulk, besides a consid-
erable quantity of disengaged or free carbonic
acid,"  (Steel's Analysis p. 99,) the presence or
absence of this uncombined acid  has  little to
do with a single  one of the various therapeutic
effects that are sought in the use of this beve-
rage.
   The loss of  this  superfluous acid  cannot
occasion the deposition of any of the known,
solid constituents.  Besides, the gustatory or-
gans—the nerves of  the palate and tongue—
are so  much affected by the morbid secretions
of the mouth and stomach and by the lapse of
years,  that  the  sensations produced by swal-
lowing the water are extremely deceptive.  I
have purposely interrogated several intelligent
persons who  have made their morning visits
to the spring within a  few minutes of each
other,  whose  accounts  of  the  comparative
smartness of the water were totally at vari-
ance.
  One has been  found to pronounce the water
flat and insipid, while another has never known
it more lively and pungent.   This discrepancy
of testimony between those who drink at the 
3ti
THE  INVALID
same time, can manifestly arise from nothing
else than the varying sensibility of the nerves
of taste:  and the accuracy of these nerves is
in no case more at fault than in appreciating
articles of a subacid nature.
  But what proof can there be that the saline
ingredients of this spring have undergone any
change ?   If not, the strength of the medicine
is substantially the same.  No great alteration
has ever  been detected by the  frequent ex-
aminations of the late Dr. Steel, which were
carried on for a series of years.  Suppose,
however, that changes in the solid constituents
were known to be taking  place  from  time to
time.  Would  it not be exactly as probable
that the  medicinal properties would  be im-
proved by the alteration as deteriorated ?
   There is, however, another method of test-
ing the strength of the water, which T have
ever considered paramount to that of chemical
analysis.   So much was said on this subject,
both here and abroad, in the summer of 1838,
that,  during the following winter, I took  an
opportunity to  enquire  of a number  of the
oldest and most trusty of our  citizens, how
many more tumblers of the Congress water it
 required  now  to produce a  given cathartic
 effect than it did 10,  15 or 20 years since. 
AT  SARATOGA.
39
   The reader may, if he chooses,  discard the
 testimony of these individuals, because they
 may possibly have had some  interest in the
 prosperity of the village.   Every man  is at
 liberty to prescribe his own rules of scanning
 the sources of his information.  But to myself,
 the fact that not one of these persons had any
 direct interest in the spring,  and that  their
 testimony to the unaltered effect of the water,
 both  as  a cathartic,  diuretic and  stimulant,
 was uniform without one exception, was wholly
 conclusive.
   Moreover, there is occasionally an invalid
 from  abroad  who spends the whole winter
 here, who breaks  his path through the  snow
 to the spring in the morning, and finds no va-
 riation in the medicinal power of the water
 during the year.
   I have, myself, in the middle of winter, often
 been the first at the spring in the morning in
 quest of my  favorite beverage,  and never
 could discover, either in  its taste or effects,
 any essential variation.   And it ought  to be
 known to invalids abroad, that chronic dis-
 eases improve as rapidly from the internal use
of these waters in winter as in  summer:  and,
although  the beverage taken  from the fountain
             4 
40
THE  INVALID
in a summer's morning, seems cold and chill-
ing,—absurd as it may appear—it is positively
warming and exhilarating during the cold of
winter.
  But enough has  been said—perhaps quite
too much—on the comparative strength of the
Congress water.  Judging from the concourse
of strangers here during the two  past seasons,
particularly the last, these speculations which
have been bandied about cannot seriously have
misled  the public, or deterred invalids from
seeking their true interests.
  To those who resort to Putnam's new Con-
gress spring and take it principally as a ca-
thartic,  the same rules  apply.   It should be
taken, for this  purpose, only in  the morning,
and  from six to ten  tumblers.   Several visit-
ants have  informed me that the evacuations
from the bowels procured by this spring, were
less  watery than by the old  Congress, while
at the same  time it operated  more on the
kidneys.
  The Iodine  spring elicited much  enquiry
and  many comparisons during the summer of
1839.   As the  old Congress contains nearly
twice as  much saline matter,  according to
chemical analysis, as the  Iodine fountain, it 
AT  SARATOGA.
41
was  supposed that its cathartic effects  must
be proportionate.  But, the great difference of
weight exists principally in the different amount
of muriate of  soda—common table salt—and
carbonate of lime, or chalk.   There are 200
grains more of  table salt in one gallon of the
Congress than in  the Iodine, and four  times
the amount of chalk.
   Whether the purgative properties of the
Congress water are  increased at all by the
great predominance of these articles is doubt-
ful.   The carbonate of magnesia, on the con-
trary, which  is the most  decidedly aperient
agent in the whole composition, is in the pro-
portion of 75 grains in the  Iodine to 95 in the
Congress.   We should be unable, therefore,
to predict with certainty which of the two
springs would  prove most active as a cathartic.
   To test this point, several accurate observ-
ers in 1839  tried one spring  for two or three
mornings,  and then the other for the  same
time  and in the  same quantities.  I should
think there may have been thirty individuals
who made these experiments, and, among them,
several physicians.  From the results of the
whole of these  observations, there appeared
but little difference in the  laxative properties 
42
THE  INVALID
of the two fountains.  If there was any, it
was in favor of  the  Congress.   Further ex-
periments will soon be so multiplied as to lead
to conclusions sufficiently definite for all useful
purposes.
   In comparing these two springs, it should
be remembered that they produce various oth-
er medicinal effects in the system than the one
just considered.   If the analyses of Prof. Em-
mons of Albany,  and of  Dr. Chilton of New
York, are correct, the Walton or Iodine spring
contains  only about one  fifth  the  amount of
iron  there is  in the Congress.  This circum-
stance, so far as chemistry is a guide, would
lead us to prefer the Iodine spring  in all cases
in which an inflammatory condition of the pa-
tient, as indicated by hard pulse, florid counte-
nance or local pain and tenderness on pressure,
would  lead us to fear the stimulating  effects
that result from mineral waters in general.
  Professor Emmons remarks, " the freedom
of this water from  iron is truly remarkable,
and supplies  a desideratum which has  long
been wanting, viz. a water which maybe drank
by a certain class of invalids with whom iron
proves a decided injury."   Yet I would rather
settle even this point by careful and multiplied 
AT SARATOGA.
43
observations of the medicinal effects than by
the most elaborate analysis.
  Although the positive amount of hydriodate
of soda  is precisely the same in both  these
fountains, yet the relative amount is largest in
the Iodine spring; hence, probably, the name
which the owners have given it.   So far as
this operates, it gives this the preference in all
the varieties of scrofula, goitre, &c.
  As the quantity of table  salt is  so small,
comparatively, in the Iodine  spring,  this water
should never be drank in open vessels at  the
boarding houses ; for when the superabundant
carbonic acid has escaped, the water is much
less pungent and lively than when swallowed
at the dipping room: the absence of the salt
rendering it somewhat flat  and insipid.  At
the fountain, no water in the world can be
more palatable.  Its amount of carbonic acid,
according to Professor Emmons, is unparal-
leled ; containing fifteen cubic  inches in the
gallon more than the Congress spring.
  It is probably owing to this superabundance
of gas, as well as to  the small  proportion of
table salt, that the water proves  so light  to
the stomach, and that it so seldom (according
to the reports thus far) produces pain of stom-
                4* 
44
THE  INVALID
ach, flatulence and distention, even when taken
in unreasonably large quantities.
   The new fountain of Mr. Benjamin Hall, a
few rods east of the Pavilion garden, has yet
had no analysis ; nor have sufficient observa-
tions been made to establish a definite charac-
ter. It is, no doubt, an excellent water, and
certainly very agreeable to the  taste.   In any
other part of the world—with any other com-
petition than what is encountered in this won-
derful  locality—this  single  spring  would  be
deemed invaluable.
   In concluding the  subject of the cathartic
effects of these  waters it should be added, that
in case six or eight tumblers in the morning
prove  inadequate  to produce the desired ob-
ject, instead of adding to the quantity during
the day, the attempt  should be wholly relin-
quished till the following morning.   It will not
then be expedient to increase the quantity of
water, but to aid  its operation  by some thor-
ough, cathartic  medicine.   If the patient be of
full habit, blue  pills taken several evenings on
going  to  bed, may  be  suitable;  or active
doses of calomel,  two or three times at the
same hour.   A table-spoonfull of Epsom salts,
or a dose of calcined magnesia, may be taken 
             AT SARATOGA.           45
at bedtime or with the first tumbler  in the
morning.
  In  feeble habits, some  of the compound,
gum-resinous pills, or a few grains of rhubarb
may be preferable.  Whatever article is se-
lected as an auxiliary remedy, enough  should
be taken to ensure thorough operations, after
which in general the water alone will be pre-
ferable. 
46
T 11 E  INVALID
           CHAPTER  VII.

 THE INTERNAL USE OF THE SARATOGA WATERS,
                 CONTINUED.

  So great a majority of the complaints that
appear at these springs require a free and co-
pious use of the water in the morning, that the
possibility of their being so taken as to prove
directly alterative and tonic, without  their
ordinary cathartic effects, may be wholly un-
known to  many of the visitants.  The late
Dr. Steel used  to direct some of his patients
to take of the Congress in the morning  as a
laxative,  and  a  tumbler of the  chalybeate
springs two or three times  during  the middle
and latter part of the day.   There are habits
in which this course proves exactly right, as I
have myself repeatedly witnessed.
  But  the thought that the  Congress water
could be taken from one to two tumblers be-
fore each meal and at the hour of rest—not as
a purgative—but expressly to be retained as
long as possible in the circulating mass, and in
this way gradually to produce a new condition
of the solids and fluids, improving the strength,
appetite and color, regulating the  secretions 
AT  SARATOGA.
47
of the stomach, bowels, liver, kidneys &c. and
proving rapidly tonic and deobstruent—never
occurred  to me till  I found one of the most
intelligent and popular physicians in New York
city taking the Congress in this manner in the
early part of the season of'38.
   This gentleman had been repeatedly to the
Virginia springs: and, after much reflection,
had concluded that the best manner in which
he could  take the water during the few days
his  pressing engagements at  home  allowed
him to spend  in  Saratoga,  would be in that
above described.
   To the  long continued  invalid who has pain-
fully learned the difficulty of escaping  from
under the hands of disease, this mode of med-
ication will  seem  at first view as consistent
and  rational.   He has abandoned all  hope of
being cured by a few powerful doses of any
medicine.   His thoughts  are upon a gradual
removal of diseased processes and restoration
of healthy ones ;  and, if he is true to  his own
interests, he has come to a settled conviction,
that  time  is a necessary ingredient in his re-
covery, and to an equally settled determina-
tion, that, if a few weeks of hopeful amendment
do not establish his health, he will spend months
or years in its attainment. 
48
THE  INVALID
  Within  three  days of writing these para-
graphs, I have received a communication from
a gentleman in one of our cities, who for ten
or fifteen years has had so much disease of the
digestive and biliary apparatus  as  to compel
him to abandon all the pleasures of eating, and
to live wholly on unbolted wheat bread  and
vegetables, not even allowing himself butter.
But when we consider his infirmities, his fluc-
tuations of strength  and spirits, his constant
liability to be thwarted in any proposed plan
of usefulness or profit, his embarrassments
from change of diet while journeying, and his
great deprivation of  what others deem essen-
tial comforts, I ask what is  life to him ?
   I ask,  too, whither he would not migrate,
what employment he would not pursue, what
vocation not follow, what voyages and climates
not encounter,—could he enjoy  those physical
sensations, those buoyant feelings,  that free-
dom from pain,  irritation and lassitude which
are found in the comprehension of that de-
lightful little word—Health ?
   Shall I be credited  when I say that this
gentleman is of  easy fortune, of small family,
under no necessity to labor, has been to these
fountains repeatedly  and always with marked 
AT  SARATOGA.
49
benefit: nay,  that he  admits to me  his full
belief that a continuance, here of one or two
years would result in the entire establishment
of his health:—I repeat, shall  I be credited
when I say that  he is yet hesitating whether
to transfer his family to  this village as many
others have  done and are now doing ?
   Here is an  enigma which I confess myself
unable to solve.   I  know somewhat of the
comforts of home, of neighborhood,of congenial
institutions.  I have the  happiness to  know,
too,  from many  years' trial, the  social and
intellectual  attractions, the  religious  order,
and the unpretending, but real and solid friend-
ship of the inhabitants of one of our New Eng-
land cities;  yet what are all these to health ?
Besides, the men whose diseases have led them
to cast anchor by the side of these fountains,
have not  expatriated themselves.   We have
churches,  schools, delightful walks which are
comfortably dry from early spring, a dry and
bracing atmosphere, village papers, mails, rail-
road conveyances, and abundance of the con-
veniences and comforts of life.
   Even in winter, this is  a lively, bustling vil-
lage.  Instead of the  dullness,  insipidity and
intellectual stagnation which are uniformlysup- 
50
THE  INVALID
posed to exist here in the winter, there are life,
intercourse, friendship, business, action, litera-
ture and social circles:  and although the ther-
mometer marks a very low temperature, yet
such is the bracing and buoyant quality of the
air that nobody seems to regard it.   The Bos-
tonian or  New Yorker, who quails under the
riddling and penetrating North Easter when
the thermometer is at freezing point, would
experience  not  a whit more  suffering here
with the wind in  the  same quarter  and the
thermometer at zero.
   Citizens, here, in ordinary health, instead of
dreading, enjoy the long season  of sleighing as
well as the early settling of  the ground  and
dry walking, which  the  continued covering of
snow secures in the spring.
   But I must not prolong this sketch of Sara-
toga, imperfect as  it  is.  I  must  not dwell
at all on the brilliant and fascinating scenes of
Saratoga  in the summer.   Only one thing I
must beg  pardon for saying.  The single cir-
cumstance which I consider more than any
other fascinates the  inhabitants and fixes them
here, is the multiplex  yet select nature of the
thousands  of  the visitants resorting to  the
place. 
AT  SARATOGA.
51
  I have been in the large houses and among
the throngs of the city.  But life there is real
monotony in comparison with the ever varying
and brilliant groups that are seen in the streets
and in the saloons of our large  houses.  Al-
though there may be individuals of little worth
in these  establishments, yet  in general they
contain the elite of the country;  and the man
who gains access to them has obtained a po-
sition for studying human character and gain-
ing general  information, which, I must be al-
lowed to  say, I do not believe is elsewhere
found in America,  unless at the seat of our
national  government.
   But to return to the consideration of a per-
severing use of the  Saratoga waters, and par-
ticularly as  an alterative.   This  manner  of
using them consists in taking them in the quan-
tity, ordinarily, of one tumbler and a half, half
an hour before, or just after each meal, and at
the hour of rest.   Two tumblers are not too
much for an adult, provided they do not prove
decidedly cathartic. The object is that the thir-
ty-seven grains of saline matter in each tumbler
should remain in the circulating fluids as long
as  possible.   This  method might be useful to
very many: but the cases in  which it has
                 5 
52
THE  INVALID
proved, under my prescription during the two
seasons past, most happy, are those where the
disease is of long standing and where the sys-
tem requires a tonic and invigorating course.
  From the reports of others, it appears highly
probable that this same method of taking what
are called the iron or chalybeate fountains,
has operated very much in the way above
pointed out.  But I have confined my patients,
hitherto, to the waters of the Congress, Iodine
and Putnam's springs;  and it is only because
the effects have been so  decidedly favorable
in using these, that I am proposing their con-
tinued employment.  It  is impossible that I
should describe minutely  all the  shades of dis-
ease in which this  course  is likely to prove
beneficial:  but the plan may be illustrated by
a brief narration of two or three cases in which
this treatment was adopted.

                 CASE  I.
  J. R., an interesting  boy of about 11 years
of age, from one  of the western cities of this
state, was left here in June '39, with enlarged
tonsils.  This disease  is now so prevalent
that many know its symptoms, and all know
that the operation of cutting off the glands is 
AT  SARATOGA.
53
quite  common.  But the excision of these en-
larged glands by a surgical operation removes
only one of the annoying effects  of a general
disorder.  The process had been tried in his
case ;  yet when he came under my care his
tonsils were very large, there was great irrita-
tion about the throat, as evinced by a constant
and distressing hawking;  he had a  pale,
doughy face  and poor appetite, with general
languor and debility.
  A tumbler and a half of the Congress water,
taken from the spring, was prescribed three or
four times a day, and the cold, mineral shower
bath every second day.   It was not one week
before his appetite was greatly improved and
thenceforward he ate very freely and relished
and digested every thing.  He attended  Mr.
Bangs's academy steadily.  After staying be-
tween two and three months,  he returned to
his  parents  in the following condition.  He
has scarcely  any trouble from  thick,  viscid
phlegm in his throat.   He sleeps  well, the
glands are nearly natural, a healthy color has
supplanted the dark dingy hue of his  cheek,
he has great vivacity, his movements are  vig-
orous,  his limbs plump ; in short, he has entire
health.  During the last half of the course he 
54
THE  INVALID
left the Congress  and took the Iodine spring.
I could  perceive no difference in the rapidity
of his convalescence.   The cure of this deep
seated disease demonstrates the  power of
these waters when taken as an alterative or
tonic.

                 CASE  II.

SCROFULA,  WITH  STRONG TENDENCY TO PUL-
           MONARY CONSUMPTION.

   July 19,1839, J. W., a single lady from C.;
pulse 66 and soft; skin cool and moist; coun-
tenance bilious.   Has  lost six  brothers and
sisters by  consumption.   Tumours nearly as
large as marbles beneath the skin.  Chest nar-
row.  Breath scanty.   Habit  always spare.
Generally  feeble.  Appetite  absolutely gone.
Sour stomach ;  eructations;  frequent head
ache.   She  remained till Sept.  11th.  She
took two tumblers of the Congress three times
daily, half an hour before her  meals.   This
quantity proved  agreeably  laxative,  though
not cathartic.  The last half of the time she
chose the Walton or Iodine spring, on account
of the taste, and  she discoveredno difference 
AT  SARATOGA.
55
in the  medicinal effects.  She  went  to the
spring  for every potation, rain or shine.  She
also took a hot bath  every second day, at a
temperature from 105° to  110°.
   She  leaves us with strong, uniform appe-
tite, eating substantial food without trouble,
her strength much increased, her countenance
clear and bright, and with every proof of ren-
ovated health.
   January 25th, 1840.  Miss W. is as well in
all respects  at  least,  as  when she left the
springs.

                CASE III.

  SCROFULOUS  ENLARGEMENT OF ALL  THE
       JOINTS, EMACIATION, PAIN,  &C.

   June 26, 1839.  E. K. aged 7 years ; from
Vermont.  Has been sick  three years.  Her
joints greatly enlarged. Limbs and body al-
most  literally destitute of flesh.   Skin waxy
and transparent.  Action of the heart tumult-
uous.  Pulse 84 and soft.   Tongue red.  Ap-
petite  and bowels tolerable.   Cannot walk.
Has constant pain, and must be turned in bed
many  times a night on this account.  Counte-
5* 
as
THE  INVALID
nance extremely sallow and cadaverous.  Has
been bled and taken many medicines.
  After taking anodynes and active cathartics
a few days, she was put upon one tumbler of
the Congress  water three or four times daily,
and  a  bath of mineral  water every second
day at 95°, accompanied,  while in the bath,
by frictions to her joints and limbs with a ball
made of sulphur enclosed in a piece  of crash
towel.   In two or three weeks she  took two
tumblers before each  meal with great relish,
and without any unpleasant cathartic effect.
  Her parents were very reluctantly compel-
led to return  to  Vermont July 29th.  Her
improvement to that time was truly wonder-
ful.  She is very hungry.  The aspect of her
skin is wholly changed.   She sleeps all night,
has a decided increase of strength,  flesh and
spirits ; and every thing indicates that should
this poor, emaciated cripple remain here  from
six to twelve months,  pursuing  this   same
course, she would undergo an entire revolution
and recovery.
   I have on record a number of cases equally
confirmatory of this method of taking the wa-
ters ; but the limits I  have prescribed myself
forbid their insertion.  Enough has  been ad- 
AT  SARATOGA.
57
duced to show the power of this remedy when
taken in this gradual manner;  and to  induce
public attention to a method of administration
that  demands a more extended trial and ob-
servation. 
58
THE  INVALID
           CHAPTER VIIT

  THE EXTERNAL USE OF THE WATERS.  BATHS.

       Cold Bath  from 32° to  65°.
       Tepid  Bath from 65° to  85°.
       Warm Bath from 85° to  97°.
       Hot Bath upwards of     97°.
  A bath at about 90° Fahrenheit, whether of
mineral  or  simple  water,  is   a   pleasant
thing.  It is cleanly, refreshing and soothing ;
and, like  a pleasant ride,  or  the  society of a
long absent friend, is  auxiliary to health.
But it is not strictly a medicinal agent at this
temperature.  Chronic maladies are cured by
" instituting states or "conditions incompatible
with morbid action."  But this bath makes no
appreciable inroad  on morbid action.  The
patient is conscious  of no shock, no impres-
sion, no inconvenience, no perceptible change.
It is a capital indulgence, and every  way de-
sirable in point of health and comfort; though,
at this temperature, a doubtful remedy.
  But  the  invalid who has been  forced from
his  home  and obliged to undergo the incon-
veniences of  this  thronged  place, does not
come hither to be amused with remedies.  He 
AT  S A R AT O G A.
59
wants  every prescribed  agent  to  tell on  his
disease.  He knows that all necessary pre-
scriptions from physicians, and  all necessary
medicines are  a  matter of economy to  one
who has already sacrificed so much in coming.
But it is nonsense to be wasting his time with
ambiguous remedies.
   What  then are the principles which should
guide the invalid or his physician in the  em-
ployment of baths ?  Will it be  deemed a gra-
tuitous or unfounded acknowledgment to say
that the application of baths to the removal of
diseases, is, among the faculty in general, one
of the  most vague and unsettled subjects ?
There are fixed notions  about the use of  the
lancet, emetics, cathartics, blisters, anodynes
and tonics.  But select a given patient and
summon a  dozen physicians in  consultation
any where, and let them decide.  And if there
is a majority in favor  of the  bath,  let each
assign the  exact temperature, the length of
time and frequency of repetition, and see if the
above position is not confirmed.
   Perhaps this discrepancy of opinion is only
imaginary on  the part  of  the writer.  If so,
he begs the pardon of his brethren.  Yet it is
his honest and full  belief, that  if they would 
fiO
T H F.  INVALID
express their exact sentiments on this point,
they would universally concur with him.  This
vagueness of the principles of baths is by no
means confined to the  profession.   Every
man has a creed.  The invalid has one,—the
keeper of the boarding house  has one,—and
the owners and attendants of the  baths  have
theirs.
  Let a physician here furnish an invalid with
directions to take a bath of such  high or low
temperature and of such duration that it shall
give a decisive blow  to the disease, and the
directions will, very  possibly,  meet  with  a
dozen comments  and condemnations before
they  reach the bath house.  At that place
great firmness and decision may be  needed
on the part of the patient, as well as unshaken
confidence in the prudence and discrimination
of his medical adviser ;  else these well mean-
ing and otherwise judicious attendants  may
overrule and modify the whole procedure.  It
may be necessary, too,  for the patient or his
friends  to see  with their own eyes that the
thermometer stands at  the point prescribed.
Did not some professional experience lead to
these intimations they would not meet the eye
of the invalid. 
AT  SARATOGA.
61
  My limits forbid the attempt to describe
fully the popular notions about baths.   One
sentiment is almost universal, viz. that if a pa-
tient, whether feeble or stout—spare or pleth-
oric—feels a glow  after the cold or shower
bath, it is the proper remedy.   The mechani-
cal effect of cold in contracting the muscular
fibres and the sensation of warmth—although
the animal heat is a long time actually lower
than  before the shock—are proof enough that
the whole effect is not only invigorating but
subversive of disease.
  There is a similar agreement about the hot
bath.  If the person feels faint and feeble 30
or 60 minutes after leaving  it  and while  in it,
the measure is condemned—although for hours
the skin and cellular substance may contain
two or three pounds of extra blood, to the great
relief of the internal organs—profuse and gen-
eral perspiration continue equally  long—the
lips and countenance change from a pale to a
florid aspect, the joints become flexible and all
the sensations, after a few hours, become de-
cidedly improved.
  At these fountains, where the application of
a stimulating, saline  and gaseous liquid to the
whole external surface is often performed or\ 
62
THE  INVALID
from fifty to one hundred individuals daily, the
responsibility of prescribing baths becomes a
matter  of  serious import, and demands the
anxious consideration  of every practitioner
here.
  Very early in the season of '38, P. C. Esq.
from Massachusetts, had been under my care
about two weeks for rheumatism of long stand-
ing, and had been rapidly improving under the
combined influence of Congress  water  and
active depletion.  At that time he  took, with
my consent,  a  bath at 100°.   The effect was
most unhappy.  All the original stiffness and
pain of joints, feverishness, hard pulse and feel-
ing of stricture  around the abdomen returned,
and it required several days  of the previous
course to restore  him  to the same  condition
as before the bath.
  This painful and mortifying incident led me
to an  earnest investigation of the principles of
baths, and of all the authors within my reach.
Yet the treatise on Baths and Mineral Waters,
by Dr. Bell, of Philadelphia, was worth more
than all the rest to me; and  1 do most cor-
dially urge its  perusal upon all who desire to
possess accurate notions on bathing.
  In  that  book I found  a  criterion which  I 
AT  SARATOGA.
63
 looked for in  vain in Currie, Jackson, Scuda-
 more and other distinguished writers on this
 subject—a criterion which has, in no one in-
 stance, to my knowledge, during two seasons,
 led me astray in its application to the diversi-
 fied phases of disease—and one  which I can
 most honestly, perhaps too credulously, recom-
 mend to the adoption of my fellow practition-
 ers here and throughout the country, as a safe
 and intelligible guide.
   The principle is simply this:—that  in  all
febrile  and  inflammatory diseases,  whether
 acute or chronic, in short, in all  diseases—
 wherever  the lancet is  called for, there  also
 will the cold and shower bath be suitable;  and
 where the lancet would  be  injurious,  there
 should the hot bath be used.  The simplicity of
 this rule will probably startle some.   It may
 be enquired, "would you not take into the
 account such circumstances as plethoric habit,
 florid  face, red tongue, the previous effect of
 warm and cold applications and of  tonic or
 debilitating remedies ?"  Certainly. But I say
 most decidedly and from many trials, that by
 throwing  one's  whole responsibility upon the
 exact condition of the pulse,  and making this
 paramount to all other diagnostic symptoms,
                6 
64
THE  INVALID
though not rejecting them as auxiliary guides,
a physician will most effectually and infallibly
bestow upon baths their powerful and just in-
strumentality in the removal of disease.
  Let  us apply this principle to  some  well
known disease, for example, rheumatism.  It
is well understood at watering places,  that
baths of the same temperature sometimes in-
jure and sometimes  benefit this class of pa-
tients.   The cold bath has, in many instances,
rapidly removed powerful attacks of rheuma-
tism.
  Some  winters  ago, Mr. A. H. A., of this
village, had been a considerable time under
the  anxious  attendance  of Dr. Steel, for  a
severe attack of acute rheumatism.  At length,
at the urgent solicitation of the patient, he was
taken from his bed by several men,  placed in
a large tub and two pailfulls of cold, mineral
water  poured on  him through a  sieve.   He
was then rubbed  dry and placed  in bed be-
tween two warm blankets.   This process was
subsequently repeated ; and in one or two
weeks the patient was below stairs and walk-
ing  the streets.   lie speedily recovered per-
fectly.  Dr. Clark, the owner of the Congress
spring, knew the circumstances, and told me 
AT  SARATOGA.
65
he could refer me  to a number of similar ca-
ses in this vicinity.
  A member of Clark's  Expedition  beyond
the Rocky Mountains, was cured of an obsti-
nate rheumatism, while remote from profes-
sional aid,  by twenty-five immersions in as
many days, in the  river through a hole cut in
the ice.   Each immersion was accompanied
with shampooing by the Indian Doctor while
in the water, and followed by frictions before
a warm fire.
  A Mr. E. W. of Rome, N. Y., having lost
all hope of recovery, crawled to a river whose
borders were covered  with ice, and lay in the
water as a bath.   The disorder received  such
an impression that he was speedily restored to
health.  Mr. N. of New York city, was acci-
dentally thrown into the  sea, in winter,  near
Stratford Point, and cured of rheumatism.
   I must not be more particular.  Every man
of extensive  practice  could easily add to the
above list.   My own case book would afford
a number of instances in which baths at 75° to
80° were strikingly useful.
   The hot bath, on the contrary, every body
knows to have  been wonderfully useful in
rheumatic complaints.   Yet  what numbers 
<■-(*>
THE  INVALID
have been greatly and  fatally injured  in this
same disease and  by the same remedy, the
hot bath.  I could adduce abundant proofs of
this from authors, from the history of watering
places and from my own journal.  Who then
shall draw  the line, and what shall it be ?   I
answer, Dr. Bell, above mentioned, has drawn
it precisely  and intelligibly.
  I had a patient in August '39, Gen. J. A. N.
of New York state, of florid countenance, short
neck, full habit, weight 186 lbs.—fat and mus-
cular—yet  whose pulse was only 70, soft and
perfectly compressible.   Here, thought I,  as
he  hobbled into  my office,  and stated his
disease, is the man whom  a hot bath would
utterly upset or destroy. Yet on a thorough
examination, relying more  on his soft pulse
than on all  other symptoms, I ordered  him, in
addition to  the internal  use of  the water, to
take baths  of  mineral  water fifteen minutes
daily of 106°.  To say his recovery was rapid,
does not convey the meaning.  He was well
in two weeks, not a vestige of the rheumatism
remaining.
   The illustration of this principle in the treat-
ment of rheumatism, must suffice for all dis-
eases.   Disorders of tho same name require. 
AT  SARATOGA.
67
 in different instances, the adoption of different
 remedies.  As far as baths  are  concerned, a
 most scrupulous  investigation of the pulse—
 carefully distinguishing when it is hard and
 wiry and when  soft and compressible—will
 form a safe guide in all ordinary  cases.  It
 should not be forgotten, however, that the
 daily use  of hot baths may prove so stimula-
 ting as to be  inadmissible  when  the patient
 recovers a certain  degree  of tone ; nor that
 the cold bath may be so sedative as to require
 to be discontinued.
   I  close this  discussion by transcribing an
 entry in my journal towards the close of the
 season of  1839.  " I  have been prescribing
 mineral baths, many, daily, for weeks.   If the
 pulse is hard—demanding  calomel, Epsom
 salts, antimonials or bleeding—whatever be
 the color or heat of the skin or the muscular
 strength—I prescribed a bath from 75° to 85°,
 or cold shower, and have thus far had no rea-
 son for regret or mortification.
  On the contrary,  if the  pulse is  soft and
 slow, I have without hesitation prescribed the
hot bath from  105° to 110°, and even to 112°,
without any untoward result, although  great
languor may have been experienced while in
                       6* 
68           T II E  I N V \ L I D
the baths.   If the patient had cool, perspirable
skin, pale face, pale lips and  tongue, the hot
bath seemed  still more clearly indicated."
  Whatever  may be the result of future ob-
servations, I can truly say, that, thus far, since
adopting this  simple criterion, the ordering of
baths has ceased to be a matter of painful un-
certainty and doubt; and, moreover, that I
have experienced extreme gratification in find-
ing that when an  accurate discrimination is
made, and the remedy is boldly applied from
a low temperature up to 110° and  112°,  ac-
cording to the nature  of each case, it has be-
come a much more efficient auxiliary, and in
many cases, the leading measure in producing
rapid convalescence. 
AT  SARATOGA.
69
       CONGRESS  SPRING.

              Analysis by Dr. Steel.

  One gallon, or 231 cubic inches, contains
the following substances, viz.
Chloride of Sodium, (sea salt,)    385.0
Hydriodate of Soda,              3.5
Bicarbonate of Soda,             8.982
Bicarbonate of Magnesia,        95.788
Carbonate of Lime,             98.098
Carbonate of Iron,               5.075
Silex,                             1.5
Hydro-bromate of potash, a trace;
597.943 grs.
Carbonic acid gas,     311
Atmospheric air,         7
Gaseous contents,        318 cubic inches. 
70    THE  INVALID  AT  SARATOGA.
WALTON or IODINE SPRING
Analysis by Prof. Emmons.
One gallon contains of		
Muriate of Soda,		187
Carbonate of Magnesia,		75
Carbonate of Lime,		26
Carbonate of Soda,		2
Carbonate of Iron,		1
Hydriodate of Soda,		3.5
		294.5 grs
Carbonic acid gas,	326	
Air,	4	
Gaseous contents,
330 cubic inches. 
 
 
 
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