2. Muriate of Soda and Magnesia.
3. Sulphate of Magnesia.
4. Alkaline Carbonates, particularly Carbonate of Soda.
They are mostly purgative, the powers of the salts they contain being very much increased by the large proportion of water in which they are exhibited.
There are but few Cold Saline Springs in France, viz: those of Andabre or Camares in the department of Aveyron; Jouhe, dep: Jura; Pouillon, dep: Landes; Niederbronn, dep: Lower Rhine. They are employed in diseases which require continued and moderate intestinal evacuations; such as dyspepsia hypochondriasis, chronic hepatitis, jaundice and strumous swellings. They are more grateful to the stomach when carbonic acid gas is also present; and when they contain Iron as in the springs of Camarès, their tonic powers combined with their purgative qualities, render them still more useful in dyspeptic complaints and amenorrhœa.
To this class the water of the Ocean belongs. The quantity of saline matter Sea Water contains varies in different latitudes thus, between 10° and 20° it is rather more than 1/24; at the equator it is 1/25; and at 57° north it is only 1/27. The saline ingredients in 10,000 parts of sea water according to the last analysis of Dr. Murray, are, muriate of Soda 220.01; muriate of lime, 7.84; muriate of Magnesia, 42.08; and Sulphate of Soda 33.16. When brought up from a great depth, its taste is purely saline; but when taken from the surface it is disagreeably bitter, owing, perhaps, to the animal and vegetable matters suspended in it. Its specific gravity varies from 1.0269 to 1.0285; and it does not freeze until cooled down to 28.5° Fahrenheit. Its medicinal properties are the same as those of the saline purgative waters, but more powerful; and as a bath, its efficacy is much superior to that of fresh water.
The general effects of mineral waters are modified by temperature, whether they be taken internally, or applied externally.
In some Warm Saline Springs as those of Plombières, and Bains, in the department of Vosges; Luxeuil, dep. Haute Saône; Bourbon-Lancy, dep. Saône-et-Loire; Bourbonne-les-Bains, dep. Haute-Marne; Chaudes-Aigues, dep. Cantal; Avène, Balaruc, dep. l'Hérault; La Motte, dep. l'Isère; Bagnols, dep. l'Orne; Aix-en-Provence; dep. Bouches-du-Rhône; St.-Laurent-Les-Bains, dep. l'Ardèche; Sylvanès, dep. l'Aveyron; Cap-Bern, Bagnères, Bigorre, dep. Upper Pyrénées; Encausse, dep. Haute-Garonne; Néris, dep. l'Allier; their virtues depend principally on the height of temperature. And in others which have been found to contain scarcely any foreign matter, the simple diluent power of the pure water seems to produce the benefit that results from drinking them.
Acidulous. Waters of this class owe their properties chiefly to Carbonic Acid. They sparkle when drawn from the spring, or when poured into a glass; have an acidulous taste, and become vapid when exposed to the air. Besides free carbonic acid, on the presence of which these qualities depend, acidulous waters contain generally carbonates of Soda, of Lime, of Magnesia, and of Iron; and sometimes muriate of Soda.
They may be divided into thermal or warm acidulous waters, and cold acidulous waters.