Mineral Springs. -- mineral springs, notwithstanding they are much used for drinking, are properly medicinal agents. They comprise all those waters which contain sufficient quantities of dissolved matters, such for example, as iron or sulfur, as to produce thereby a positive effect upon the systems of persons for taking of them. The mineral springs of this country are frequently valuable remedial agents and some chronic diseases.

In this section they do kind of tell you something about the category and that this type of water has minerals or other matter that is dissolved in the water. It doesn't happen to mention how those minerals may have a come to be there, such as those that are mingled with water by the Earth itself as opposed to water that is polluted by a person. In some regards I believe the author has at this point, deemed the actual term of mineral springs, to be a term that would be widely recognized by people and the author thereby hopes that the categorization of this type of water will take place in the readers mind such that the author or editor does not actually have to spell out why something is in a category at all. It's a little backwards but almost like a person might expect that a living creature wearing baby clothes should be a baby as opposed to a dog dressed up in baby clothes. The assumption is that the object associated with something that is commonly known should lead the reader to accept categorization automatically. Again this is not terribly scientific and creates the imperative for an assumption, which might lead us to assume, that the author has not learned the lesson of making an ass out of you and me.

Additional Articles from the Book of Medicine:

• The Mosquito
  
  

  The Mosquito.-the mosquito is a common carrier of yellow fever and malaria or “chills and fever” as it is sometime spoken of by the public.  Malaria is caused by a tiny parasite which can only be seen by the microscope in the blood of man and the mosquito.  It lives and multiplies in the blood of an individual suffering from the disease.

  It definitely is interesting to see that they do have a pretty good understanding of what malaria was even though the microscope was still relatively new back at time of publication of this book.  Just a short description of the potential of this little insect that causes people so many problems.  Malaria medicine and running water have helped people get away from these critters.  Many colonial settlers  in Africa tended to locate themselves close to rivers and streams to be close to running water.  This was a formula that worked in colder climates where mosquitos were not as dangerous, but in the tropics this put them in the danger zone for malaria.  They literally settled in the mosquito breeding areas.

  Well and running water deliver waters into the homes around the world from the ground to the faucet helped people move away from the proximity of these danger areas, but there are still many people stuck in the original settled areas.

• Fever Germs in Ice
  
  

  Fever Germs in Ice.  — in Connecticut, the Board of Health informs us that, in several instances, attention has been drawn to sewage contaminated ponds with ice houses upon their borders, and that several isolated cases of typhoid fever, and one death, from the free use of the ice blue by sewage, have been recorded in that state.  The curious natural experiment of the United States steamship limit, elsewhere detailed, shows conclusively that fever germs are not infallibly destroyed by a freezing, probably not by a zero temperature, and contributes its share of proof that impure eyes, especially when gathered from ponds polluted by sewage, they constitute a prolific cause of disease.

• Bony Frame of the Hand – Palm of the Hand
  
  

  Bony Frame of the Hand. – on turning over this flap we behold the bony framework of this wonderful organ. This seemed to consist of a number of bones, so exquisitely arranged as to combine the greatest possible degree of flexibility and strength.

  Palm of the Hand. – below this is given an elegant, and the same time a true and correct view of the muscular arrangement of the palm of the hand and fingers. Over the wrist to see me annular ligament, that then, tough, strong sheet, which binds the muscular courts and holds them firmly in place us in these anatomical charts have we depicted the perfection of the human hand.

  Sometimes you definitely do get the impression that the author is talking much more about the book they are writing, the pictures in the book and absolutely nothing at all related to the topic.  The author could be talking about acne treatment and it would be more relevant than talking about these charts and the ‘perfection of the human hand’.

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