1794 - Medicine

Medicine

English industrialist Matthew Boulton writes to philosopher Erasmus Darwin, "J. Schweppe prepares his [carbonated] mineral waters of three sorts. No. 1 is for common drinking with your dinner. No. 2 is for nephritick patients and No. 3 contains the most alkali given only in more violent cases" (see food, 1790). No conclusive evidence will be produced to show that carbonated beverages (soft drinks) have any direct medical value, but they will be used after surgical procedures to alleviate nausea when no other food can be tolerated.