OUR THERMAL WATERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18089, 13 May 1922, Page 1 (Supplement)

OUR THERMAL WATERS.

THEIR CURATIVE PROPERTIES.

An exhaustive work on tho hot springs of New Zealand and their curative properties, by Dr. A. S. Herbert, late Government balneologist, has just been published in England.* " Tho object of this book," remarks the author in bis prefacej " is to bring before the notice of the medical profession the valuo of the mineral waters of New Zealand." No man is better qualified to write authoritatively upon this subject, and the medical profession of England will doubtless welcome a work of such a comprehensive nature. But Dr. Herbert has done more than supply information for tho benefit of practitioners. He has supplied a vast amount of information about tho Dominion generally and the health resorts in particular, which health-seekers should know„ and the 84 pages of splendid photographs could not be excelled as a tourist agent. "It is with no thought of belittling the springs and spas of tho British Isles that tho merits.of those so far afield are thus brought forward," remarks the author. "No one is more fully impressed with their value, but all of us must also admit their limitations. Tho British Isles are deficient in certain waters, and for that reason great crowds of patients every year flocked to foreign spas. Many of these spas are now, and perhaps will bo for many years to come, practically closed to Britisli visitors, and it behoves us to see whether, within the confines of our own dominions, wo cannot fill the deficiency. With the exception of purgative waters, the missing springs can certainly bo supplied in New Zealand, and there are certain waters, such as tho nascent sulphuric acid waters at Rotorua, which are of a potency and therapeutic value undreamed of in England, and which are wholly unrepresented in Europe.

Change of Environment. M Change of environment," he adds, "is ono of the most potent weapons in our armamentarium j and the change of scene from, say, an; English town to tho thermal district of New Zealand, with all its wealth of weird and wonderful sights, its beautiful lakes, rivers, mountains, and forests, its geysers, boiling springs, and mud volcanoes, its Maori villages with their picturesque inhabitants, the cottages crazily and precariously perched on tho brink of boiling destruction, the washing clothes in a hot spring, or oooking the dinner in a steam-hole —all these things provide more change of scene than a mere trip to a cosmopolitan Continental spa." He refers to the development of Rotorua, where a patient will find the balneological amenities to which he has been accustomed nearer home, but speaks of the " unwonted charm" of tho lesser spas. Reviewing the mineral water of the various spas, ho classifies them in the following groups:—Sulphur waters: Rotorua, Hanmer, Tanpo, Wairakei, and Wai-9-tapu. Alkaline waters: Te Aroha. Saline waters: Helensville, Waiwera, and Tarawera- lodine waters: Morere and Te Puia. C:\lriun> carbonated waters: Kamo. Simple thermal waters: Okoroire and the Waikato Springs

Cases o! Botorua. In a chapter on the sulphur spas, Dr. Herbert pays a great tribute to the climate of Rotorua, and shows that both Rotorua and Hanmer have a great deal more sunshine than the famous health resorts of Britain. Cases suitable for treatment at Rotorua are given as follows.—All those cases vaguely classed as rheumatic or gouty, and more especially those requiring \ somewhat tonic line of treatment; cases of sciatica, lumbago, and fibrositisj sub-acute and chronic neuritis; cases of quiescent organic central nerve lesions requiring re-educative exercises ; stiff joints and wasted muscles from traumatic or other causes—in fact, practically all cases requiring physical treatment: neurasthenics; cases of high-blood pressure ; gouty glycosurics; and cases of chronic skin disease. " The mineral waters of Rotorua," says Dr. Herbert, " while of endless variety as regards minor differences of analysis, are of two main types, the alkaline and the acid, and it is to the latter that Rotorua owes its pre-eminence as a spa, and as a spa, more especially for baths. In this direction it claims a foremost position- among the health resorts of the world, though in the matter of drinking waters it is. comparatively poor." This reference, of course, is not to the ordinary water, of which he says " no more palatable and pure drinking water exists. '

TeAroha Water. The' Te Aroha water, states the author, is chiefly for drinking. The majority of the springs, he says, are alkaline, resembling the waters of Vichy in France, but containing a. very much larger percentage of sodium bicarbonate, and ranking as one of the strongest, and, with the exception of certain American waters, probably the actual strongest alkaline thermal waters in therapeutic use. The presence in Te Aroha water of common salt and of carbonic acid, both of which are stimulants to the gastric mucous membrane, must at any rate diminish any inhibitory power that sodium bicarbonate may possess. The saline waters of Waiwera are recommended for many forms of dyspepsia, especially if associated with hypo-acidity. Convalescents and cases of chlorosis should take tho waters combined, during most of the year, with sea bathing. The climate being mild the waters are also suitable for chronic bronchitis. The Helensville and Tarawera waters arc recommended for cases of chronic dyspepsia, and their use both for bathing and drinking in chronic gouty and rheumatic conditions and in somo bronchial cases. Exact records in regard to the iodine waters of Morero, north of Napier, and at Te Puia, north of Gisborne, are wanting owing to the small use made of them, but it is stated that at Krenznach, which has somewhat, similar waters, such diseases as scrofula and rickets and catarrh of tho respiratory passages and also chronic skin diseases are treated.

Kamo'g Undeserved Obscurity. Healing with Kamo, Dr. Herbert says that as a Spa it is suffering from a wljolly undeserved obscurity, and declares that when its merits become better known it. will some day be famous. The waters of the calcic carbonated type resemble iii many respects the famous waters of Contrexeville and are useful in many forms of indigestion. Cases of chlorosis and anaemia following loss of blood or delayed convalescence do well. " When tlio baths have been arranged on a safer basis," remarks the author,. " they should be invaluable in the treatment of many heart conditions and will, I believe, even surpass their celebrated prototype at Nauheim. In the meantime, if taken with due precautions they are splendid tonics in cases of ordinary debility." The Inst quarter of the book is devoted to the purely scientific side and is chiefly of value to tho practitioner. Dr. Herbert gives to the reader tho benefit of his own observations and sets out at some length the class of spa to which he would send patients in particular cases. In conclusion he emphasises the value of change of scone and of climate in treatment and, meeting the criticism that suggestion alono is the curative agent in spa treatment, says that doubtless tho spa physician finds his environment facilitates the use of suggestive treatment but, ho adds, there is no medical man who does not consciously or unconsciously use suggestion every day of his life.

*" The Hot SpriiiKS of New Zealand " by Arthur Stanley Herbert. H. £. Lewis and Co-. Ltd.. London.