★★★★★
Okey Dokey, gather round whilst I pretend to be a chemist and attempt to spell some names I have never written before! Maybe we will discover a brand new element here! You heard it first from me naturally!
Down here in Middle Earth there exist quite a few thermal regions spread out across the Country alongside our daily diet of earthquakes: think Yellowstone perhaps?
One of them I am thinking of may possess a distinct menu of ingredients but like the others contains water and MUD, HOT, VERY hot, actually! Temps. have been recorded as high as the high forties degrees Celsius/Centigrade (111+F??). This brand of mud contains Sulphur, Magnesium, Boron (one of my favourites), Boric Acid, Calcium Chloride, CO2, Silica, Iodine, Fluoride, Potassium and many others such as Mercury, Lithium, Caesium and Rubidium etc. etc. There is Hydrogen Sulphide and Carbon Dioxide gas present. Apparently, when the hot water reaches the surface, the pressure (from under Middle Earth) reduces and the gas escapes out of the solution.
O.K. so many of us know that there is often little gain without much pain so how do you feel about a series of hour-long soaks in such mud and water with Magnesium and Sulphur included? I vaguely recall trying out one of these pools, which was about 42 degrees Centigrade on that particular day! The several pools vary in temp. between themselves and on different days, so you need to remember to check the black-board each time you go in case there has been a change (adds that little bit of extra ZEST to life eh?). You can "work your way up" of course but you get extra "bragging rights" if you score the hotter ones naturally.
Articulate persons have waxed eloquently regarding the health benefits from becoming a regular attendee. From Arthritis to Post-Parturition Pains, patrons have extoled the virtues of a good SOAK. And RELAXING! It is NOT advisable to put your head under though. If you are especially unlucky, in some other pools in other areas, there has in the past, been a tiny worm that can enter your skull and drill a hole in your brain! Not pleasant! If you have a memory like a sieve, you wont be wanting any more holes in there will you?
This extra long rumination was caused by reading a recent post by MTM who was pondering the effects of Sulphur (Sulfur) and Magnesium and it got me wondering if the "Answer Lies in the Mud" instead of the Soil. So, there you go.
I hope there is a hot thermal pool near you in Tennessee or elsewhere to try out?
Take care out there. Watch out for marauding worms!
Cheers, Michael
