Volume 5

56                                                       AN   ACCOUNT                       [Ch. II.�Dumfries-shire.
Mineral waters abound in Dumfriesshire. The Moffat well has long been
celebrated for its health-giving qualities. Matthew Mackaile published an
analysis of the Moffat waters as early as the year 1659 (y); and these
waters have since been analysed by more skilful naturalists (i).
Four miles from Moffat rises the Hartfell-spaw, near the southern base of
the Hartfell mountain. In 1748, it was discovered by John Williamson,
who gave his name to the water, and to whose memory a monument was
erected by Sir Charles Maxwell in Moffat church-yard (j). This chalybeate
spring was analysed in 1750 by Doctor Horsburgh (k). At the bridge of
Annan, there is a chalybeate spring found in Kirkmichael parish, and in the
moor of Torthorwald there are mineral waters of the chalybeate kind,
which have not been yet much used in the healing art (l). At Brow, near
the influx of the Lochar into the Solway, there is within the tide-mark a
chalybeate spring, whose waters are light and invigorate the stomach. Brow
is much resorted to in the summer season, both for drinking this chalybeate
water and for bathing in the Solway; and Brow has thus in the progress
of manners, become one of the fashionable watering places of Dumfries-
shire (m). In a country which so much abounds with minerals of almost
every sort, we might easily suppose there must be petrifying waters. In
Eskdale, near Tarras water, there is a petrifying spring, the petrifactions
whereof, along the course of the rill, when collected into quantities and
(h) His account of Moffat well was first published in Latin in 1659, under the title of
''Fans Moffetensis.'' He published in 1664 "Moffet-well: or a Topographico-Spagyricall Description
of the Mineral Wells at Moffet, translated and much, enlarged by the Author, Matthew
Mackaile."
(i) Mr. Milligan, a surgeon in Moffat, and Dr. Plummer, have each analysed the Moffat waters,
which are similar to the sulphureous waters of Harrogate, but not quite so strong. This sulphureous
spring oozes out of a rock. Stat. Acco., ii. 296 ; Mr. Milligan's account of Moffat well was published
in the Edinburgh Medical Essays.
(j) Stat. Acco., ii. 296.
(k) He published at Edinburgh in 1754 his "Experiments on the Hartfell Spaw, with an Account
of its medicinial Virtues," which were printed in the Essays of the Philosophical Society of Edin-
burgh, 1754.
(l) In St. Mungo parish there is a mineral spring which has not yet acquired any medical
fame.
 (m) Stat. Acco., x. 223. On the shore of the Solway, in Gretna parish, there are some mineral
springs which are constantly involved in the flux of the tide. Ib. xiv. 411. On the Kirtle water
there are three chalybeate springs and one sulphureous spring, of various powers, which are applied
with different effects. Ib. xiii. 269-70. Spring-kell water, which has given rise to the name of an
estate, is more remarkable for its copious flow than its healing qualities.