234 MINERAL WATERS AND MEDICINAL SPRINGS OF ESSEX.
more nearly to the description given ; and, on the 12th September
1907, we obtained from it some water, which, on analysis,
yielded the following results :—
This is an ordinary water, such as is derived commonly from
the sands wherever in Essex they are overlaid by a little Boulder
Clay. It has no medicinal value.
(18).—The Springfield Spring.—Trinder says126 :—
" This water rises on the sedgy bank of the River Chelmer, about a mile
eastward from Chelmsford. It is clear and inodorous, and it throws up bubbles
and a whitish-coloured sand to the surface of the well ; which is no bad sign of a
perpetual spring."
After detailing the results of the usual experiments, fifteen in
number, he continues127 :—
"From these experiments, I am inclined to think that this water is selenitic
and that it is also, in a very small degree, impregnated with iron and sulphur
and with a little of the nitrum calcareum, or purging salt, of Dr. Rutty. It is
comparatively a light water ; and, if it act as a purgative, it is chiefly because of
its diluent power and its coldness."
Finally, he describes the case of Mrs. Hollingsworth, of
Springfield, who was confined to bed for many months through
extreme debility, accompanied by obstinate costiveness. At
last, being advised by Dr. Menish, of Chelmsford, to drink the
waters of this spring, she did so, and was soon completely cured.
Dr. Menish (who was a friend of Trinder's) was, no doubt, the
discoverer of the spring.
From Trinder's description of the locality of this spring
(which, he says, was "in a field belonging to Mr. Pugh"),it
must have been on or near Barnes Farm. There are, however,
so many springs near the river bank in that vicinity that it is
now impossible to identify the one in question.
As to the site of the spring, Mr. Dalton writes :—" The
Glacial-gravels extending to the edge of the Alluvium of the
126 Medicinal Waters, in Essex, p. 47 (1783).
127 Op. cit., pp. 50-51.