Mineral and Aërated Waters

Abstract

THE author takes us back to the beginnings of the mineral-water industry by interesting descriptions of natural mineral springs, spas, and holy wells; for it was from the first attempts to copy the actual or supposed healing virtues of such waters that the extensive manufacture of mineral waters began, developed, and expanded into the great industry of to-day. The analyses of the more famous natural waters are given in the first part of the volume, devoted to the history of the subject, and perhaps the most striking feature of this history is the changed aspect of current belief in the efficacy of such waters by the known presence of radio-active substances contained in some of them. The chemical constituents being accurately known, a natural water can be produced in the laboratory, but, as is frequently asserted, without the therapeutic action of the natural product. The author states, however, that “recently bottles of special construction, containing artificial radio-active mineral waters, have been put upon the market in Sweden.”

Mineral and Aërated Waters.

By C. Ainsworth Mitchell. Pp. xiii + 227. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd., 1913.) Price 8s. 6d. net.