In comparing Dr. Thresh’s analysis with those previously made by Drs. Pearson, Muspratt, Sir Charles Scudamore, and Sir Lyon Playfair, it will be seen that a new constituent appears in the form of molybdinum, which, as mentioned above, was detected in the mud deposit at the bottom of the tanks into which the water is conveyed, as it issues directly from the springs. In other respects the analyses differ but slightly, nor does the efficacy of the water appear to have become less potent in alleviating or curing those diseases for which it is so deservedly celebrated.
The Romans, ever luxurious in their use of hot and tepid baths, doubtless selected the Buxton basin as a station, not merely from a military point of view, but on account of the thermal springs, the curative effects of which
they would readily discover by receiving fresh energy to their wearied bodies, from the stimulating action of the water immediately upon taking a bath, as well as relief from many diseases, especially of a rheumatic character, to which their life of hardship and exposure rendered them so liable.
From the Roman period until about the year 1572 there is little or no recorded history of Buxton. About that time, however, a Dr. Jones wrote a treatise on the Buxton Spa, advocating its claims so forcibly to those afflicted with gout or rheumatism that ere long it became the resort of the elite in the fashionable world as well as the poor.
Dr. Jones mentions in his very interesting treatise that in his time Buxton was resorted to by large numbers of the poor and afflicted people from the surrounding districts. The indigence and deplorable condition of some of these people were so extreme and their numbers so great that to supply their necessities the whole of the “treasury of the bath fund was consumed, part of which the people of the adjoining chapelry of Fairfield claimed for the
purpose of paying the stipend of their chaplain.” So great indeed became the grievance that they by petition sought the protection of Queen Elizabeth in the matter.
Dr. Jones, in his quaint and forcible way, writes in reference to the “treasury of the bath” fund: “If any think this magisterial imposing on people’s pockets let them consider their abilities and the sick poor’s necessities, and think whether they do not in idle pastimes throw away in vain twice as much yearly. It may entail the blessings of them who are ready to perish upon you, and will afford a pleasant after-reflection. God has given you physic for nothing; let the poor and afflicted (it may be members of Christ) have a little of your money, it may be better for your own health. Heaven might have put them in your room, and you in theirs, then a supply would have been acceptable to you.”
As the thermal water issues from the various fissures in the limestone rock, it is slightly alkaline, bright, sparkling, of a blueish tint, especially when collected in bulk, and soft and rather insipid in taste.
CHAPTER III.
the baths and mode of application.
Kinds of Baths—Natural and Hot—Action of Thermal Water upon the Skin—Natural Baths—Swimming and Plunge for Males and Females—Necessity of Caution in their Use—Importance of Time and Frequency in Taking the Baths—Directions During and After Bathing—Most Favourable Time for Taking Warm or Hot Baths—Directions for the Use of Half, Three-quarters, and Full Baths—Drowsiness after Bathing—Massage, When and How Used—When Baths Inadmissible—Hours for Drinking the Medicinal Waters—Diseases in which the Thermal Water should Not be Drunk.