CHALYBEATE, ka-lib'e-at, WATERS, those which contain salts of iron in sufficient quantity to give them a special value in the treatment of cases of anaemia, etc. Iron or steel waters are not the only mineral waters in which some form of iron is found. Indeed in nearly all this ingredient exists, but in very many in such small quantity, while other in gredients are so conspicuous, that the character of the water can hardly be supposed to be af fected by that metal. Those springs most suc cessfully resorted to contain from one-third to nine-tenths of a grain of iron, in the form of carbonate, in 16 ounces. Some springs are classed as iron springs which contain barely one-fifth of a grain in 16 ounces of water. What are called pure iron springs are those which contain but a few grains of dissolved solids, a salt of iron existing to some appreciable amount; compound iron springs contain mod erate quantities of other salts, such as Epsom and Glauber's salts, common salt, sulphate of lime, besides being rich in carbonic acid gas. The reason for the use of iron waters is that iron is a necessary ingredient of the blood, and in certain conditions promotes the formation of blood. Small doses only should be employed, as excess may irritate the stomach and bowels and produce constipation. It has been found that iron springs are most useful in cases of poverty of blood quickly produced, for ex ample, by loss of blood by bleeding from the nose, or from wounds; by drain occurring from the blood, owing to diarrhcea, suppuration and other profuse discharges; in cases of chlorosis in young girls; and in poverty of blood depend ent on acute disease, in which cases they ma terially promote convalescence. Iron springs are also used in disorders of menstruation, espe cially in its suppression; in malarious conditions and poverty of blood due to residence in tropi cal countries; and in neuralgia, sterility and impotency due to enfeebled conditions of gen eral health. In such cases as these last the
improvement is not so rapid, and is often best promoted by waters which, besides' the iron, contain marked quantities of other ingredients, like common salt. It is chiefly in the form of carbonate that the iron exists, and this is the best form for administration. The presence of carbonic acid gas in the water keeps the car bonate of iron in solution, and when the water stands a yellowish rust is deposited. Iron springs are used for bathing, but it is not now believed that the iron produces any effect on the skin or is absorbed from the bath. Among the chief chalybeate springs are those at Sara toga, N. Y.; two at Harrogate, England, called the Muspratt and the Tewitt, the latter pure; a pure one at Tunbridge Wells; several at Bath; one at Bocklet, near the salt spring of Kis singen, containing much common salt and car bonic acid gas; those of Antogast, Freiersbach, Griesbach, Petersthal and Rippoldsau, in the Black Forest region, at altitudes of from 1,280 to 1,886 feet; one at Orrezza, in Corsica, with much carbon dioxide and traces of arsenic; many at Spa; one at Saint Moritz, Switzerland, situated at an elevation of 5,710 feet; one at Santa Catarina, Italy, three miles from Bormio, at a height of 5,600 feet; several very popular pure ones at Schwalbach in Nassau; one at Pyrmont, Waldeck; and one at Cheltenham, with a very high proportion of iron carbonate.