Medicinal Value of the Saratoga Waters.

By L. O. GOETCHIMS, M. D., Saratoga Springs, N. Y.

The medicinal value of the Saratoga waters has never been given with accuracy. The most learned people of the world visit Saratoga Springs to drink and bathe from the great health giving fountains, but fail to comprehend the magnitude of the underlying strata, the force and the power of the gases, or the direct source from whence they come. The new Springs discovered by deep boring and new in locations, have changed and contradicted most of the former theories in regard to the source and supply. The new spring waters contain more gas and mineral substance than the old, showing an inexhaustible supply. With the old and present unsystematical manner of drinking and bathing at Saratoga Springs it would be impossible to estimate the medicinal value of so many different fountains. The immense quantities of water flowing from over forty springs, varying in size and depth, from near the surface to five hundred feet, charged with various proportions of mineral and carbonic acid gas; each one a grand study of itself. (The student becomes amazed at nature's incomprehensible laboratory.)

Therefore, I consider the great health-giving medicinal waters of Saratoga Springs inestimable until some more accurate way of using the waters becomes established. The money value reaches into millions of dollars. That a judicious use of the waters has cured or alleviated many diseases is proven beyond question. The general medicinal effects of the waters are diuretic, laxative, cathartic, diaphoretic, and somewhat sedative. A grateful drink for febrile patients. Antiseptic and detergent for bathing.

Transactions of the National Eclectic Medical Association, Vol. XXIII, 1895-96, edited by W. E. Kinnett.