The antiquarian may take his stand upon Mam-Tor, the mother rock, when the moon sheds her silvery light o’er Loosehill Mount, and, carrying his mind back into the past some 230 years, hear the bugle’s note as it sweeps through the Wynnats Pass, and is taken up by the Peverel Castle and transmitted onwards through the Vale of Hope, calling the hardy dalesmen to their midnight rendezvous, there to be instructed in the science of war, so as to enable them to protect their homes and families
against the marauding myrmidons of a cruel, heartless, and unreliable king; or if the antiquarian seeketh a knowledge of the High Peak folk-lore, and feareth neither pixie or graymarie, he can, on a spring night, just as the moon has entered her last quarter, and the first note from the belfry of the chapel in the frith has proclaimed the arrival of midnight, take his stand upon Blentford’s Bluff and peer into the dark and sombre depths of Kinder, when he will hear the hooting of the barn owl on Anna rocks, the unearthly screech of the landrail as he ploughs his way through the unmown grass in search of his mate, the scream of the curlew and chatter of the red grouse as they take their flight from peak to peak, and see the fairy queen come forth from the mermaid’s cave in a shimmering light, followed by her maids, who dance a quadrille to the music of the spheres, and hear the wild blast of the hunter’s horn heralding the approach of the Gabriel hounds as they take their rapid course across the murky sky, and become lost in the unfathomable depths beyond the Scout.
CHAPTER II.
the medicinal waters and their action.
Physiological Functions in Healthy Individuals—Performance of the Physiological Functions in Health and Disease—Action of Oxygen upon the Nitrogenous and Non-nitrogenous Compounds—Origin of Calculi, Nodosities, and Tophi—Action of the Thermal Water upon the Great Emunctories—Chalybeate Water when used as a Douche, or Taken Internally—Analyses of the Waters—Selection of Buxton by the Romans—First Treatise upon the Buxton Spa, written by Dr. Jones in 1572—Source and Nature of the Waters.
In a healthy individual, where the physiological functions are performed with exactitude and regularity, the elimination of the various effete matters, the result of waste of tissue, is uniform, and easily carried off out of the system by the skin, the kidneys, lungs, and bowels. The nitrogenous components become oxidised, and urea ultimately formed, which being very soluble is freely excreted by the sudorific glands
in the perspiration, and by the kidneys in the urine. The non-nitrogenous compounds are also changed by the action of oxygen into carbonic acid, which is expelled from the system by the lungs. If the natural functions are not perfectly and with regularity performed, the balance of power must of necessity be lost, and disease engendered. The system then becomes charged with uric acid, which has a strong affinity for certain bases in the human organism, and forms salts either insoluble or only slightly so, which are with difficulty eliminated either by the skin or kidneys, and hence we have the formation of calculi in the bladder, nodosities on the joints, and tophi in the ears, indicating the uric acid diathesis.
The action of the Buxton nitrogenous thermal waters being solvent, stimulant, antacid, chologoge, diuretic, diaphoretic, and slightly purgative, restores the balance of power, not only by stimulating the gastric and hepatic organs to a correct performance of their normal functions, thus in conjunction with a strictly regulated diet (essential in all cases) cutting off the very
source of the materies morbi, but also (when there) by eliminating it from the system by the great emunctories, viz., the skin, kidneys, lungs, and bowels. As the large proportion of invalid visitors to Buxton consist of those suffering from the uric acid or gouty diathesis, and rheumatism, and seek relief from the excruciating pains and cripplement incident to such diseases, the great attraction must of necessity be the medicinal waters, of which there are two kinds—the cold chalybeate or iron spring, and the natural thermal water. Of the former there are numerous springs in the neighbourhood of Buxton, but the only one now resorted to has been conveyed through pipes from a distance to a room adjoining the natural baths, and is used with much benefit in many forms of uterine disease as a douche. As such also it is prescribed in cases where the conjunctivæ are in a relaxed condition, consequent either upon rheumatic inflammation or local injuries. It should on no account be applied to the eyes until the inflammatory action has entirely subsided.
When drunk, one tumbler (twice or thrice daily after meals) may be taken by an adult with much advantage when suffering from anæmia, chlorosis, amenorrhœa, dysmenorrhœa, diabetes connected with the gouty diathesis, chronic cystitis, or general debility.
Although it may be classed as a mild chalybeate, I have frequently seen great benefit derived from its internal use (partly, no doubt, owing to the presence of sulphate of lime), especially in children of an undoubtedly strumous habit, where glandular swellings presented themselves in the neck, and the mesenteric glands were enlarged. In such cases, when taken regularly for some weeks (half a tumbler thrice daily after meals), the appetite returns, the digestive functions are improved, the glandular swellings subside, and the whole system becomes reinvigorated, so as to restore bloom to the cheek, brilliancy to the eyes, vigour to the limbs, and the natural buoyancy of spirit to childhood.