[p. 87]
then, as they are nursed, they oecome emaciated
and miserable. The discharge after childbirth is
bad. Children are very subject to hernia and men
to enlarged veins and to ulcers on the legs, so that
such constitutions cannot be long-lived but must
grow prematurely old. Moreover, the women appear
to be with child, yet, when the time of delivery
comes, the fullness of the womb disappears, this
being caused by dropsy in that organ. Such waters
I hold to be absolutely bad. The next worst will be
those whose springs are from rocks--for they must
be hard--or from earth where there are hot waters,
or iron is to be found, or copper, or silver, or gold,
or sulphur, or alum, or bitumen, or soda. For all
these result from the violence of the heat. So from
such earth good waters cannot come, but hard, heating
waters, difficult to pass and causing constipation.
The best are those that flow from high places and
earthy hills. By themselves they are sweet and clear,
and the wine they can stand is but little. In winter
they are warm, in summer cold. They would naturally
be so, coming from very deep springs. I commend
especially those whose flow breaks forth towards the
rising--by preference the summer rising--of the
sun. For they must be brighter, sweet-smelling
and light ; while all that are salt, harsh and hard
are not good to drink, though there are some constitutions
and some diseases which are benefited by
drinking such waters, concerning which I will speak
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