Bath waters : a rational account of their nature and use, with special reference to gout, rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis / by Preston King ; with a historical sketch by S. Baring-Gould.

  • King, Preston.
Date:
[1900?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Bath waters : a rational account of their nature and use, with special reference to gout, rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis / by Preston King ; with a historical sketch by S. Baring-Gould. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    CHAPTER I. GLIMPSES OF THE PAST. The old order changeth, yielding place to new.—Tennyson. BATH has long been known for her thermal waters, and as a health resort for invalids. Back into the dim past, prior to the year 8i a.d., where we find the earliest written records, tradition tells us of her heahng springs ; and romance and legend have been busy in accounting for her origin in those uncertain days. During the Roman occupation it is probable that the waters were used rather as a convenient means of luxurious bathing than for any medicinal properties that they possessed. What the Romans thought of the lavish gifts that Nature had doled out here may be judged by the magnificence of their ruined baths. These, first discovered in the middle of the eighteenth century, have since, from time to time, been further excavated, until they now present the finest specimens of Roman remains to be found anywhere in the Kingdom. Towards the end of the i6th century Bath, as a health