Observations on the medicinal springs of Harrogate / by George Kennion.

  • Kennion, George, 1814-1868.
Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the medicinal springs of Harrogate / by George Kennion. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    powerfully upon the secretions and excretions, purifying the blood, as they thus do, from so much that contaminates it, renovating the powers of the digestive organs by removing those local congestions which interfere with the healthy dis- charge of their functions, we should naturally expect, ^hat we actually find, that their efficacy in these cases is immense; and when we bear in mind how large a proportion of chronic fxmctional disorders have, as their basis, a foundation of gout, we cannot fail to remark how wide a field of successful prac- tice is here opened to us. In one form, indeed, both of gout and of rheumatism, viz., where the effusions round or within the joints have become hard and concrete, we must, I fear, in all fairness, concede the palm to Buxton. I do not mean to imply that such cases are not cured here (the contrary, indeed, is the case), but I must frankly admit that Buxton does more good in these cases than Harrogate can efiect. I believe, however, that much benefit accrues even to such cases as these, if they come here and drink the sulphur water before they go to Buxton. The reverse plan is often tried, but with much less advantage to the patient. I am happy in being corroborated in this opinion by my friend, Dr. Robertson, of Buxton, whose ample experience in all that relates to that important place is so well known. In reference to this class of cases I have been in the habit of observing that while Buxton deals with the past, Harrogate deals with the present and the future. Connected as such cases are with a gouty diathesis, I may here remark upon the great relief which patients experience here who are afflicted with gravel. The thorough washing through which the tubes of the kidneys undergo during a course of these waters, mechanically clears away any sandy deposit which may have lodged in them. If this deposit has gone on to the extent of forming a small cal- culus, their efiect is to dislodge it before it is too large to
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