204 MINERAL WATERS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX.
Nephriticum, a faint dull reddish. I judged this to have more of the nature of
the salt of common water and that the spirit of this water to be a little finer than
the other sort [viz., that at Leez], which give a direct black with gall, because
distill'd acids give this red. The red that alkalys give turns greenish upon
standing. These waters are all inclin'd to the same."
Evidently, however, Allen did not think much of the curative
value of this water ; for, from his second book, published in 1711,
he omits his detailed account of it, because, he says,37 such
small springs are endless in number. At this time, indeed, the
well had fallen into disrepute, from which it did not recover till
about a quarter of a century later, when a new well was dug and
Dr. James Taverner, physician, of Witham, published a detailed
account of it. Taverner says38 :—
" The spring was first discovered about forty years ago [say, in 1695]. But, by
digging the well too near the verge of the mineral stratum, and where it was
extremely thin ; by making the reservoir too large; and by admitting into it,
through inadvertence, a spring of common fresh water, the spa soon lost its
reputation (for it had been much esteemed, even before it was formed into a
regular well) and by degrees grew into disrepute. It had been, for several
years, entirely neglected ; but, in the year 1736, was again revived; and, by
carefully avoiding those mistakes which evidently occasioned the ruin of the
former well, it is now fixed to a much better advantage."
Continuing as to the history of the well, Taverner says39 :—
" The spring-head lies near twelve feet lower than the surface of the ground
that immediately surrounds it. . . .
" In digging for this mineral spring [? in 1736], the following strata of the
earth were observable:—First, the common earth or corn-mould ; next, a strong
loam, about four feet in thickness ; then, the same loam, mixt with gravel, about
three feet ; after this, common gravel, likewise about three feet deep ; then, a
thin tough variegated stratum, composed of several lamellae of different colours,
as brown, reddish-brown, yellow, blue. This stratum, when first taken up,
emits an exceeding strong and stinking smell of sulphur and iron ; and, when
fresh, being infused in common water, communicates to it a ferruineous taste and
smell, as, likewise, the power of tinging with galls ; but the stratum, in less than
twenty-four hours, loses its sulphurous smell, as well as its power of imparting
its chalybeate properties to common water. This stratum is about two inches
in thickness and separates the common gravel from that wherein the spring
rises, which is a blueish gravel, mixed with sand and an infinite number of small
white stones. This last gravelly stratum likewise smells strongly of sulphur and
iron, and is of an uncertain thickness. In digging the last mineral well, it was
penetrated above four feet, but the bottom of it was not found. . .
" The two most remarkable substances amongst which the mineral water
arises are the iron-stones, found in great plenty amongst the gravel where the
spring first shows itself, and the thin variegated stratum before spoken of.
37 Mineral Waters, Epistle Prefatory, fo. c4, obv. (1711).
38 Essay on Witham Spa, p. 3 (1737).
39 Op. cit., pp. 3-6.