Its temperature, in the bath called the Gentleman’s bath, is invariably 82°.
Buxton has been celebrated, for its warm springs, nearly two centuries and a half. As early as the year 1572 a treatise on their virtues was published: this states them to have been at that time much resorted to by persons from all the adjacent counties. The water is employed both externally and internally, and to great extent. Its principal value, as a bath, arises from its very copious supply, its purity, and its high temperature. The sensation which is felt from bathing in it is considered to be such as would be experienced from any bath heated to the highest temperature which is compatible with giving some sensation of cold when the body is first plunged into it. This water is also used as an internal medicine; and is frequently used by the inhabitants as their common beverage, and for such domestic purposes as its hardness will admit.
There are several springs and several distinct baths; but the original and most ancient of them is called St. Ann’s Well, and is enclosed in an elegant stone building. These waters are frequented by persons afflicted with the rheumatism, gout, diseases of the alimentary organs, and kidneys, and various other complaints: and the chief influx of company is during the summer and autumnal months.
The situation of Buxton is in a narrow and funnel-shaped valley, surrounded by wild, bleak, and dreary mountains, in the midst of the county of Derby, and about 160 miles north of London.
3. HOT CARBONATED CHALYBEATE WATER.
284. BATH WATER is a hot carbonated chalybeate. When first drawn, it appears clear and colourless, nor does it afford any signs of briskness or effervescence. The temperature of the water drawn from the King’s Bath, which is that usually employed for drinking, is 116° of Fahrenheit, and that of the Cross Bath is 112°. No odour whatever is perceptible from a glass of fresh water; but from a large body of it the nose is affected by a slight degree of pungency. When the water is hot from the pump, it fills the mouth with a strong chalybeate impression without any pungency, and accompanied with scarcely any kind of saline taste; and, what is remarkable, as soon as the water cools, the chalybeate taste is entirely lost, and nothing but an extremely slight saline sensation remains upon the palate.
The foreign contents of Bath water are sulphat of lime ([192]), chalk, Glauber’s salt ([203]), and common salt; together with a very small portion of oxide of iron ([21]), yet sufficient to give iron mould stains to the linen of the bathers. The water curdles soap, and is so hard as to be unfit for many domestic purposes.
The city of Bath has been celebrated for its hot springs even from the time of the Romans. These are of higher temperature than any within the British dominions; and indeed are the only natural waters which we possess that are at all hot to the touch, the other thermal waters being of heat below the animal temperature.
There are three principal sources of these waters, called the King’s Bath, the Cross Bath, and the Hot Bath; and they differ slightly in their properties. The springs arise within a short distance of each other, at the lower part of the city; and yield so copious a supply that all the large reservoirs used for bathing are filled every evening with water fresh from their respective fountains.
The application of the water externally is either general or local. The latter consists in pumping it for a considerable time on the part affected. This is called dry pumping, because in it only one part of the body is wetted, whilst the rest is kept dry; and in many cases, it is found an excellent remedy.