Probably there is no other function of waters so generally misunderstood as that which has to do with their medicinal qualities. Nearly all diseases to which flesh is heir yield, according to the claims of the advertisers, to the virtues of this or that water. "Taking the waters" is not only fashionable, but by large numbers of people deemed almost necessary. I have observed the habits of those who go to celebrated watering places to secure the benefits of the waters. That they are benefited by their journey and by their stay, as a rule there can be but little doubt. There are many other factors besides the waters which must be taken into consideration.

Most of those who take the waters are well-to-do people, who have lived on a too generous diet. On reaching the watering place they are placed at once upon a simple and restricted diet, which fact alone helps greatly toward a restoration of health. Their habits of life are also regulated by the rules of the cure, so that they go to bed early and get up early and do not indulge in any excesses of any kind. The complete change of life which they adopt, together with freedom from worry and confinement of business, are all prominent and active factors in the restoration of health. Probably the water itself has little to do with the case.