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The water has the pleasant flavor of a half-boiled, half-spoiled egg, is very clear and not cold enough to please the taste of a Philadelphia cockney. The spring is covered with a handsome dome supported on columns, and is contained in an octagonal marble case about seven feet long, five feet wide, and four and a half feet deep, the bottom being formed of the rock from which the water gushes. It is very beautiful and tempting, and cures the following diseases, according to popular belief: Yellow Jaundice, White Swelling, Blue Devils and Black Plague; Scarlet Fever, Yellow Fever, Spotted Fever, and fever of every kind and color; Hydrocephalas, Hydrothorax, Hydrocele and Hydrophobia; Hypochondria and Hypocrisy; Despepsia [sic]; Diarrhoea, Diabetes, and die-of-anything; Gout, Gormandising and Grogging; Liver Complaint, Colic, Stone, Gravel and all other diseases and bad habits, except chewing, smoking, spitting, and swearing.

Source: “Peregrine Prolix” (Philip Holbrook Nicklin), Letters Descriptive of the Virginia Springs, 1837.