Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Practical Treatise on the Bath Waters: Tending to Illustrate Their Beneficial Effects in Chronic Diseases, Particularly in Gout, Rheumatism, Paralysis, Lead Colic, Indigestion, Biliary Affections, and Uterine and Cutaneous Diseases; Conformed by Cases; Containing, Likewise a Brief Account of T
IT often happens that efficient remedies within our reach are little estimated, whilst insigni fieant ones, which are attended with trouble and difficulty in procuring, are very highly valued. Thus it is with the Bath Waters; their virtues, heat, and properties, have been so long the subject of our conjectures, and, as it were, interwoven with our ideas, that they have entirely lost their novelty, and we cease to regard them either as one of' the most wonderful phenomena in nature, or as a remedy possessing the power of alleviating some of the most distressing maladies to which mankind are subject. So much for the revolutions of Opinion; and though this is generally considered a wise age, yet it appears to be very much the fashion of the times to neglect the good we possess in pursuit of a phantom, and in grasping at the shadow, lose the substance.[q] The reputation of the Bath Waters has stood on such high ground for a series of ages that it must be painful to the liberal mind to observe the endeavours which are made to lessen their value in the eyes Of the public. To rescue them from unmerited obloquy, and to restore them to that celebrity they have so justly acquired, is the object in obtruding these pages on the public. The benefit derived from the use of the Bath Waters is not a matter of speculative Opinion, but one of practical experience; yet the dogmatical assertions of the sceptics of the day pervert the judgment, and make the worse appear the better reason. Look at our venerable Abbey, and recollect an historical fact connected with it, which ought to be blazoned in letters of gold. This noble Gothic pile for upwards of a century after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII. Presented only bare walls, without windows, pavement, or roof weeds and grass springing up in the centre of it The immense expense attending its completion was too great for any private individual; and it was at length finished by the aid of the Nobility and Gentry who came to Bath for the benefit of the 'waters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
