A letter to Dr. Lyon Playfair, C.B. F.R.S., being a medical commentary on the results of the recent analysis of the Buxton tepid water : to which are appended a statement of the improvements now in progress at Buxton and Dr. Playfair's analytical report / by William Henry Robertson.

Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to Dr. Lyon Playfair, C.B. F.R.S., being a medical commentary on the results of the recent analysis of the Buxton tepid water : to which are appended a statement of the improvements now in progress at Buxton and Dr. Playfair's analytical report / by William Henry Robertson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    6/20 (page 6)
    bubbles, giving to water freshly collected in glass vessels, all the appearance of soda water. The water is clear, sparkling, inodorous, and when cool is almost tasteless. Its temperature is 82° Fahrenheit, and its specific gravity 1'0003. Two points had specially to be attended to in the analysis of the waters,—firstly, to ascertain the nature and quantities of the ingredients in solution, and, secondly, the character and composition of the gas accompanying them. In order to be sure that every ingredient came under my observation, I caused 100 gallons of the water to be evaporated down to about half a gallon, and examined the deposit and residual solution for bodies which might be present in such small quantity as to escape detection in the unconcentrated water. The precaution was found to have been necessary, for, in addition to the ordinary con- stituents of the waters, two more rarely occurring bodies —viz. fluorine and phosphoric acid—were found to be present, although only in minute quantity. The amount of fluorine was, however, sufficient to etch glass when applied with proper precautions. Neither iodine nor bromine could be detected. The following analysis gives the amount and nature of the solid ingredients in one imperial gallon of the water at 60°:— Grains. Silica 0-666 Oxide of iron and alumina 0-240 Carbonate of lime 7'773 Sulphate of lime 2-323 Carbonate of magnesia . 4-543 Chloride of magnesium 0-114 Chloride of sodium 2-420 Chloride of potassium 2500 Fluorine (as fluoride of calcium) trace Phosphoric acid (as phosphate of lime) . . . • trace 20-579