WITH OBSERVATIONS ON ITS GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, GEOLOGICAL FORMATION, AND MEDICINAL AND DIETETIC PROPERTIES. BY EVAN MARLETT BODDY, F.R.C.S., F.S.S., LICENTIATE OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF PHYSICIANS; LICENTIATE IN MIDWIFERY; ETC., ETC., ETC. “Salt is good.” LONDON: BAILLIÈRE, TINDALL, AND COX, 20, KING WILLIAM STREET, STRAND. 1881. [ All Rights Reserved. ] To WILLIAM BARNARD BODDY ESQ., Formerly R.N., SURGEON ; THIS TREATISE IS Affectionately Dedicated BY HIS SON, EVAN MARLETT BODDY...

INTRODUCTION. How frequently it happens that those natural productions with which we are to a certain extent superficially familiar, are to a great many not only uninteresting, but are regarded as subjects more or less beneath their notice; and by others as deleterious to the human race, and therefore to be cautiously used or scrupulously avoided. Another peculiarity is, that the more we are accustomed to them, the more our interest wanes, and probably at last degenerates into apathetic indiffer

HISTORY OF SALT. I am approaching a subject somewhat novel and indeed difficult, and very probably it may be regarded by some as one far from being profitable or interesting; therefore I shall endeavour, though with some degree of diffidence, to consider it not only from a medical point of view, but to glance at some facts, both historical, geographical, and geological. By so doing, we shall be touching upon other matters not only pleasing but instructive, and which to a great many are but indif

SALT AS A CHEMICAL, THERAPEUTICAL, AND TOXICOLOGICAL AGENT. As a chemical agent, and from the manufacturing uses to which it is now put, salt is a most invaluable article from a scientific as well as from a commercial point of view. I will therefore draw the attention of my reader to its chemical properties; I will then allude to a few drugs which are partially derived from salt or the chloride of sodium; and will cursorily notice one great staple of commerce which owes the rapidity of manufactu

GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Salt , fortunately for us, is a commodity remarkably easy to obtain; almost everyone knows it is in great abundance in the ocean, 30 and there are inexhaustible supplies of it in the earth; it is also present in some rivers, and in no inconsiderable quantity. Mr. John Ashley, in the Quarterly Journal of the Chemical Society , in his “Analysis of Thames Water,” tells us the exact amount: Composition of Thames Water at London Bridge in grains per gallon of 70,000 grains.

GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF SALT. Sir Isaac Newton , in his incomparable work upon Optics, likens a particle of salt to a chaos, because of its “being dense, hard, dry, earthy in the centre; and rare, soft and moist in the circumference.” This ingenious definition is what one would expect from such an observant and profound investigator; and I do not think that we shall be able to find a better description of a salt-crystal than that which this great philosopher has bequeathed us. Regarding the orig

EFFECTS ON ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE LIFE. As salt is one of the principal constituents of the blood, and as it is present in the various tissues of the body, and as its ingestion is necessary for the animal economy, for the maintenance of its health, and consequently for the due development of the several organs, and the invigorating effects it exerts over their functional activity, we will now consider it in the relation it holds to animal and vegetable life. By the great majority of land animals s

MEDICINAL AND DIETETIC PROPERTIES. Salt , except by the ignorant, is generally acknowledged to be a condiment, not only requisite as an adjunct to food, but also for the animal economy; this fact is not to be lost sight of, and therefore I lay much stress on it, and in the next chapter we shall see that physiologically it holds no mean position amongst those other substances which are found in the human body. There are a number of facts of physiological import, at which it is necessary to glance

PHYSIOLOGICAL PROPERTIES. Prejudice is the daughter of ignorance; and nothing exemplifies the truth of this more thoroughly than the senseless repugnance to salt which is now so remarkably prevalent. Ask these persons for their reasons, if we can dignify them as such, for disliking salt; their answers, as a rule, will be trifling platitudes, altogether unworthy of refutation, or even of moderate attention. Objections founded on imperfect, or an affectation of knowledge, are not worth the trouble

CONCLUSION. It is invariably a relief when one’s task is completed, and more so when it is self-imposed. Putting our thoughts and opinions upon paper for others to peruse and to criticise, is pleasure combined with not a little anxiety; for one cannot with any degree of certainty predict what kind of reception one’s efforts may have from the public, who are frequently led to a choice of books on the recommendation of critics and reviewers; so that an unknown author is placed at a great disadvant

A., page 38 . “Occasionally lakes are found which have streams flowing into them, but none flowing out . Such lakes are usually salt. The Caspian Sea in Asia is an example. It is called a sea from its great extent, but it is in reality an inland lake of salt water.” B., page 80 . Mr. William Barnard Boddy on “Diet and Cholera”: “The nourishment we derive from the flesh of some animals is not so compatible with the well-being of our constitutional wants as others, particularly the swine, which wa