‹‹‹ Vitr. 8.3.3 | Table of Contents | Vitr. 8.3.5 ›››
4All hot springs are, therefore, medicinal; because boiling in the soils through which they pass, they acquire many virtues. Thus sulphureous waters restore, by their heat, those suffering under nervous complaints, by warming and extracting the vitious humours of the body. If any member of the body, either from paralysis or other malady, become useless, aluminous waters warm it, and introducing, through the open pores, the opposing power of heat, restore it, and thus it immediately regains its former strength. Bituminous waters, taken inwardly, act as purgatives, and are excellent for the cure of inward complaints.
4Every hot spring has healing properties because it has been boiled with foreign substances, and thus acquires a new useful quality. For example, sulphur springs cure pains in the sinews, by warming up and burning out the corrupt humours of the body by their heat. Aluminous springs, used in the treatment of the limbs when enfeebled by paralysis or the stroke of any such malady, introduce warmth through the open pores, counteracting the chill by the opposite effect of their heat, and thus equably restoring the limbs to their former condition. Asphaltic springs, taken as purges, cure internal maladies.