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A HISTORY OF THE MINERAL WATERS
AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX.
By MILLER CHRISTY, F.L.S., and Miss MAY THRESH.
[Read November 20th, 1907.]
Synopsis. Page.
I.—Introductory Remarks .. .. .. .. .. 185
II.—A Bibliography (arranged chronologically) of the more
important Works treating of Essex Mineral Springs .. 190
III.—Particulars as to each Essex Mineral Spring .. .. 194
IV.—General Remarks on the Mineral Springs of Essex from the
Geological point of view . .. .. .. 248
V. —General Remarks on the Mineral Springs of Essex from the
Chemical point of view .. .. .. .. 250
I.—INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
From very early times, the waters of those natural springs
which happen to be impregnated with various salts have been
used for medicinal purposes and often valued very highly.
Such is the case, to a certain extent, even in the present day.
The waters of Harrogate, Bath, Tunbridge Wells, Matlock,
Cheltenham, and other places in this country are still drunk
regularly ; as are those of Homburg, Carlsbad, Marienbad,
Wiesbaden, Kissingen, and many other places on the Continent
of Europa. It must be confessed, however, that most of those
who visit these places derive quite as much benefit from the
change, the rest, and the quiet plain living in hotels or hydro-
pathic establishments, under the personal supervision of a
medical man, as they do from actually "taking the waters."
The dictates of fashion often have, too, much more to do with
the vogue of a particular spring than its curative value.
Our English Mineral Springs have been valued, as stated
already, from early times ; but their recorded history can
scarcely be said to have commenced before the Seventeenth
Century, during which various treatises on particular wells were
published. Among the earlier was that of Dr. Edmund Deane,
of York, on the Harrogate Springs (1626). Another work on
the same springs, by Dr. John French, of London, appeared a
quarter of a century later (1652). Soon after, Dr. Robert Wittie,
of York, published a work on the Scarborough Spa (1660);
while other writers described the springs at Bath, Cheltenham,
and elsewhere.