Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-07-20
GETTYSBURG SPRING.
An Englishman's Prediction About
the Spring Being Fulfilled.
The Gettysburg water n CathOIicOn
or Universal Remedy-The Get
81, tysburg Spring Belongs so
a Class not set DOwn
in the Books.

a class that is not set down in the books
and not recognized by popular opinion,
but which nevertheless appears to supply
the long.sought catholicon or universal
remedy, the speculations of the English
man. Dr. Tompkins, who visited the
Gettysburg battlefield aAd spring, some
years since, become interesting, especiy
ally as the waters of this spring had not
at that time wrought those curative
miracles which hayeo astonished.
and are astonishing, the world The
Doctor, in his memorable battle field
letter to an English newspaper, thus re.
fers to this then but recently discovered
spring: ,.lria,
:" The unique and extraordinary char.
acteristics of this spring have attracted
much attention. But without sufficient
reason, as most mineral springs possess
distinctive curative and other properties.
Thus. for example, the Bath waters have
been famed since the mythic days of the
dim gray past, when the swine were seen
to souse themselves in it, and when that
mythic parsonage, King Bladud, who
has given his name to so fine part OF
the city, was cured Of his scroiula, as a
specific for the cure Of cutaneous dis
eases. Nature seems to have been won
drous kind in the provision she has made
for both food and medicine for man:
The Divine hand is ever opened to fill
all creatures, but especially man, with
good. knowledge and experience, in
deed, seem to demonstrate that this
means food suitable to all the human and
brute kind, inhabiting any distinct spei
cifc region, and, also, suitable medicine
for their several ailments. Upon refiec-
ton, it would seem that this must be the
correct theory. Thus in Nova Scotia,
where the inhabitants live upon salted
flesh and salted fish, and consume much
adipose matter, and where, in conse
quence, they become afflicted with salt
rheum and similar complaints, Dame
Nature has given the Wilmot Mineral
Springs, in Annapolis, the waters OF
which seem to be specific for this one
class of diseases. AT Wiesbaden and at
Baden Baden, in a region where the chill
winds produce rheumatics as they bear
the fierce blasts Of the icy Alps through
the gorges Of the mountains. mineral
water is given evidently designed for a
stimulating warm bath, whose tempera-
ture, moreover, is retained at high reg,
lister during period of twenty-four
hours, after removal from its source, in
accordance with some laws Of nature
quite occult. The peculiarities Of the
Gettysburg spring differ from all these,
in that it is pre- eminently catholicon,
or mineral water, fitted TO almost every
class of complaints. Whilst this is one Of
its marked features it is a most remark
able fact that this water is not vitiated by
removal from its source nor by exposure
to the atmosphere II is well known
that, as the rule, exposure to the atmos-
phere, light and especially the solar rays,
produce radical changes, both in colors,
medicines, medicinal waters and chemi-
cal combinations; hence certain physi-
clans often request that their medicines
should be kept closely eorked or stopped,
in order to exclude the atmosphere and
also that they should be placed quite
removed from the light For what rea-
son, it might be asked, has this quality of
preservation been impressed upon the
waters of this spring? What is intended
when we find that so powerful an agent
for the restoration Of health should pos
sess that quality that renders it capable
Of being carried from place to place with
out becoming vitiated2 Now it seems to
me that, admitting its powerful medical
properties, which no one upon the testi
mony adduced can deny, it Is possible
that this remedy may become medicine,
and as it were, healing balm for the
people. The great dramatist speaks OF
sermons in stones, books in the running
brooks, and good in everything. These
words are philosophically true as they
are poetically beautiful. The silent,
peaceful stream at Gettysburg, TO the
thoughtful and attentive, becomes
sweetly vocal as the music Of the
spheres. 1t has language natural and
beautiful, but all its own. 1t tells of
universal healing and widespread bless
ings to mankind. 1t is, in word, like |
the air we breathe And so, by purity |
of reasoning, the changeable character
OF all other mineral waters, except that
derived from the springs at Gettysburg, |
indicates that the former must be Rsed |
as medicine at the spring, and on the
spot whence they are drawn; that they |
must uOt Ut oNoy w my kFCdb
distance from their rural bubbling birth
places. Now does it not seem that the
Divine Goodness has thus impressed
this mineral fluid, and endowed it with |
the principle of selfpreseryation, and
has further stamped it with a curative
power over nearly all diseases, that it
may become very water Of life to all |
regions, and source of reliet to my 4
riads Of human sufferers? The self
power of this water is in
deed a remarkable fact. Couple this
with its power TO prevent disease by in
the system, and to alleviate
or cure, and it at once becomes evident
that no such a mineral water has ever
been offered to the public. The thers-
peutic virtues of other springs are exhib-
tied in their power to subdue only GER
tain classes OF disease. Each spring con
tains the charm which binds aud tanes
the dangerous creatures which pounce
and prey upon human happiness and
human life. One cures rheumatism and
go1t; another checks diseases of the kid
neJs and the parts related to this vital ]