The Memory of Water

Have you ever wondered, as you sip your mineral water in a pub garden on a warm summer’s evening, who first thought that it would be a good idea to start drinking the stuff that flows down mountain streams? Well, possibly not. If you are anything like me, you are more likely to be wondering why you have just paid the best part of two quid for a glass of water!

 

With this in mind, I resolved to go in search of the culprit responsible for relieving me of my hard earned readies. As seems to be the case with most of these things, it soon became apparent that our penchant for mountain springs is the result of an accumulation of factors, rather than any single identifiable eureka moment. Certainly, to point the finger of blame in any one direction would be a little unfair, but the earliest perpetrator in this case of global mugging, appears to have been a grumpy, iconoclastic medical reformer, who went by the name of Paracelsus.

 

Paracelsus was born Phillip von Hohenheim in Switzerland in 1493, but modestly re-branded himself Paracelsus, meaning ‘greater than Celsus’( a first century Roman encyclopaedist). Paracelsus appears to have been the first person to reject the medical theories of the ancients; the notion that health was maintained by a careful balancing of the four bodily humours. According to the ancient Greek Hippocrates and his Roman counterpart Galen, if you were ill it was because you were too hot, cold, wet or dry! It was the job of the learned physician to re-balance the humours and so restore health.

 

Instead, Paracelsus resolutely believed that diseases were caused by external factors, such as poisons emitted by stars or minerals in the earth. To treat such maladies, he prescribed chemical remedies derived from the very rocks and minerals that he thought responsible for the ailment. His ideas were firmly rejected by the traditionally educated medical elite of the day, who relied instead on the panacea of bloodletting, or on herbal remedies that caused patients to purge or vomit, as preferred treatments for humoraly imbalanced individuals.

 

As an itinerant medial practitioner, Paracelsus travelled extensively, and seems to have found himself in trouble with authority wherever he went. He was widely regarded by the medical profession as an alchemist and a mountebank; one who peddled untested remedies from the roadside. Whilst this may give the impression of a lonely wanderer at odds with the world, as his nomenclature suggests, he was no wallflower, and certainly did not lack confidence. From his selected writings we are informed thus: “Let me tell you this; every little hair on my neck knows more than you and all your scribes”. He was also boastful with regard to his ‘experienced’ beard, although paradoxically, he appears clean shaven in portraits. A hypothetical beard perhaps!

 

Paracelsian medicine flourished after his death in 1541, but ultimately failed to unseat humoral theory as the basis of accepted medical practice. However, his legacy was that his mineral based remedies were eventually incorporated into the pharmacopoeia of traditional medicine. He also helped to pave the way for subsequent generations of chemists, who were able to flourish because time had shown that his chemical treatments were actually beneficial, and not just the useless products of a cantankerous fool.

 

“All very interesting”, you might, or might not say. “But what has all this got to do with my glass of spring water?” Well, it was Paracelsus’ use of chemical remedies, that led to a more scientific approach to medicine in general (known as the iatrochemical revolution, in case you were wondering). During the course of the sixteenth century, physicians and natural philosophers (the term scientist was still a long way off), began collating information on the properties of water from locations across Europe. The Italian physician Andrea Bacci and the Swiss botanist Conrad Gesner, both undertook wide ranging studies of the natural environment, and quickly realised that water from different locations contained different properties. Water could thus be used in the treatment of various ailments, depending on the constitution of metals or minerals contained therein.

 

Conrad Gesner (1516-1565)

 

Towards the end of the sixteenth century, physicians began prescribing mineral water to be either drunk or bathed in, as a means of rebalancing the humours. It was not long before the commercial potential of the seemingly limitless supply was realised. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, spa towns sprung up all over Europe, and their water was bottled and sold for considerable profit. Those wealthy enough, could travel to such fashionable resorts as Spa in modern day Belgium, Vichy in France or, Bath in England, and could drink and bathe with impunity.

 

Those unable to travel to such places due to poverty or frailty, could still partake of the waters, thanks to the selfless entrepreneurs prepared to bottle, transport and sell the water for as much as they felt able to charge. Not only were such sources exploited for profit, but more shocking even that that, counterfeiters moved in on the trade. It seems as though Peckham Spring Water was but a relatively recent addition to a long established tradition!

 

Paracelsus (1493-1541)

 

Today the subject of commercial rights to naturally occurring mineral water remains a controversial topic, and many mineral waters are now even prepared synthetically, with the mineral content being added to ordinary water! But, by and large it seems as though it is really only a minority of miserable whingers like myself, who still complain about paying excessive amounts of money for H2O + a bit of rock. It seems we buy the bottled stuff in unbelievable volumes; over 288 billion litres* was sold globally in 2012. So, as you sip your glass of mineral water, spare a thought for the man who inadvertently pioneered a multi-billion pound industry, and raise your glass in a toast. To Paracelsus!

Source:

* The Statistics Portal