THE ANALECTIC ANALECTIC MAGAZINE. MAY, 1819. ART. I.-York Springs, Adams County, Pennsylvania. THE variety of medicinal fountains, scattered over our extensive country, which have laid claim to the public attention, has made it desirable to have their qualities and merits carefully inquired into, and judiciously compared. That beneficent Providence which doth nothing in vain, seems as it were expressly to have placed at convenient distances, springs that prove antidotes to the autumnal diseases of our tide-waters; whilst others are within reach of those who may be afflicted by the complaints more common in the interior. An impartial account of the principal mineral waters, with a correct analysis of each, accompanied by a well authenticated relation of the cures effected by them, as well as their probable efficacy in various diseases; with the nature of the country and climate in which they are situated, would, therefore, be received with infinite approbation, and very essential service which might thus be rendered to many unfortunate individuals in search of health. Indeed, it is a matter of some surprise, that this interesting subject has not already exercised the pen 'of some one, ambitious of literary reputation. At the same time the opinion may be hazarded, that whoever shall undertake to discuss it, should be well skilled in the treatment of diseases in general; conversant with the phenomena of natural philosophy; and a chemist of no mean acquirements: qualifications which ought to be united, although not always found in the character of the physician. There is little doubt that the result of well-directed inquiry on this matter, would prove a source of distinction, as well as profit to him that will execute it with ability. As yet, the public is in possession of no standard of utility by which the resorts to watering places might, in some measure, be regulated. The faculty themselves appear to be frequently at a loss, to which they ought to send their valetudinary patients. In England, the mineral springs are steadily and regularly frequented, There the season commences early, and continues late; for experience has proved that all mineral waters act slowly and gradually on the human constitution, and that it is to perseverance in their use, the invalid must look for ultimate and permanent relief. In this country, on the contrary, miracles are too often expected; and if by a week's trial, a cure is not effected, the restlessness of indisposition takes the patient to another place, where he is equally unsuccessful. This uncertainty, arising, perhaps, from the indecision of the very physician who may recommend the trial of the water, can only be remedied by a better knowledge on his part, and a consequently more positive instruction to the patient. These circumstances, joined to the fickleness of fashion, are probably the causes why those who have embarked their capital in the establish*ment of watering places, have hitherto met with very inadequate compensation. But we would fain console them with the anticipation of better times, when the utility of such of these places as stand the ordeal of investigation, comes to be better understood. Such springs are not sufficiently numerous in the United States to receive the crowds, that in the course of time must, with the increasing wealth and population of the country, augment upon them: nor, we will venture to predict, will any contributions be necessary, as in Germany, to prevent the casual diminution of visitors from proving ruinous to the proprietors. In the list of watering places, Ballston and Saratoga, in the state of New York, are at present in most favour. Independent of the intrinsic merits of their waters, the delightful tour up the North river, with the contiguity to the enchantment of lake scenery, must always attract to them a crowd of invalids, as well as an overflow of gay visitors. We know of no mineral springs to the southwest of Ballston and Saratoga, until we enter Pennsylvania, when Bristol, distant twenty miles, and the Yellow Springs thirty miles from Philadelphia, both chalybeates, present themselves. The waters of these springs, probably, do not possess qualities so extensively applicable to the diseases of our climate, as to lay the foundation of a certain resort of company. There is at the Yellow Springs, a remarkably cold bath, fed by the spring. But both Bristol and this place have dwindled into the second or third rank of watering places; aided, no doubt, in their decline, by the superior attraction of the sea bathing on the shores of Jersey, and the greater and cheaper facility of going thither, afforded by the steam boat navigation. Advancing to the west, we approach the south spur of the Alleghany, and on the edge of what geologists call the first primitive stratum of formation, we find the York Springs, the subject of the present essay. At no place of the kind in the United States, is the instability of resort more exemplified than there, for it is sometimes crowded to excess, as whim may excite; at other times, almost deserted, as the public taste may have been biassed by the unceasing boasts of more novel and more active interest. To the southwest of the York Springs, at a point where the states. of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, may be simultaneously beheld, is Berkely, or Bath, in Virginia. Bath is the most appropriate appellation; the water flowing so abundantly from the foot of the mountain, as to form superb baths of a pleasant temperature. The water is very light; contains some magnesia; and is said to possess a diuretic quality. Berkely is much frequented by the Virginians, and being convenient to the route to Bedford, presents a kind of stopping place to those who may have visited that place. Beyond the second range of the Alleghany ridge, on the great Pennsylvania turnpike, is situated the recently discovered spring at Bedford; of which we have seen no perfect analysis. The rage for novelty has attracted uncommon numbers to the Bedford spring, and its success has been promoted by the mountain scenery, as well as the unusual exertions made to attract public attention. The water acts powerfully as a cathartic and diuretic. Of the various mineral waters, situated along the same range of mountains, and in Virginia, little is known, except that they are greatly resorted to by the inhabitants of the southern states. Seven miles from Trent, or Mount Holly Gap, in the south mountain, and on the turnpike road, leading from Baltimore to Carlisle, distant from the former 57, and from the latter, 15 miles, are situated the York springs, some account of which, is the purpose of the following dissertation. The York springs, were so named, from having been situated in what was originally a part of York county; but they now lie in Adams county, which was taken from York and made into a separate county, in the year 1800. The northern line of Adams ranges along the foot of the south mountain; which, after traversing Virginia, Maryland, and west of Pennsylvania, loses itself in York county as it approaches the Susquehanna. This range of mountain furnishes ample food for research to the botanist, the mineralogist, and the natural philosopher; and on no part of it more than in the neighbourhood of the York springs. At the distance of twenty miles, the Antitim river, a considerable branch of the Potomac, rushes from a cleft in the mountain, forming at its source, and for several miles down, an unequalled trout stream. Several smaller creeks, such as the Yellow-Breeches, the Mountain-creek, Bermudian, Latimor, and Conewago, afford excellent trout and other fishing. The mountain abounds with deer and smaller game, and the lower grounds with pheasants, partridge, and woodcock. When to these attractions it is added, that fevers and agues are entire strangers to the York springs and its neighbourhood, and that the invalid can resort to them in safety, and use the water with equal efficacy at all seasons of the year, it is believed that it is saying more than can be urged in favour of any other watering place in the United States. Philadelphia is distant about 106 miles east by south of the York springs. The route is through the fine counties of Chester, Lancaster and York; a range of cultivated country, not exceeded for wealth or beauty in our land. In another year, the turnpike now |