Contents
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The Medical Context of Spa Water The Medical Context of Spa Water
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Spa Water and Materia Medica Spa Water and Materia Medica
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William Laing: The Authority of a Chemical Commodifier William Laing: The Authority of a Chemical Commodifier
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Material Analysis and Commodification Material Analysis and Commodification
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Laing's Chemical Experiments Laing's Chemical Experiments
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The Therapeutic Power of Materials The Therapeutic Power of Materials
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The Socioeconomic Context of Material Authority The Socioeconomic Context of Material Authority
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The Economics of Peterhead's Water The Economics of Peterhead's Water
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Varieties of Material Knowledge Varieties of Material Knowledge
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Conclusion Conclusion
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8 The Sparkling Nectar of Spas; or, Mineral Water as a Medically Commodifiable Material in the Province, 1770–1805
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Published:April 2010
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Abstract
From the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, spas across Europe offered mineral water to customers as a kind of therapy. Numerous studies have shed light on the links between tourism and commodification, the role of patient authority, and the isolation of chemical substances, but there has been no clear account to explain how the chemical composition of the wells connected with the medical theory that legitimated their commodification and use as a remedy. Using Peterhead Spa in Scotland as a case study, this article examines the therapeutic theories that motivated provincial experts to commodify mineral water at the dawn of the nineteenth century. In particular, it focuses on several authors who wrote about the well, including Rev. Dr. William Laing, an ordained Episcopal priest who argued that mineral water from Peterhead could be used to cure nervous disorders. The article shows that chemical language and experiments played an important role in late-eighteenth-century pamphlets and articles (both popular and academic) that addressed the curative power of mineral water.
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