Rice Charleton

Rice Charleton (1710–1789) was an English physician, medical researcher, and Fellow of the Royal Society.

[1] Charleton wrote on the chemistry of mineral waters, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society on 3 November 1747.

The book describes a series of experiments to determine the mineral constituents of the thermal springs at Bath.

He published a second tract An Inquiry into the Efficacy of Bath Waters in Palsies, and reprinted it in 1774, with his first publication and Tract the Third, containing Cases of Patients admitted into the Hospital at Bath under the care of the late Mr. Oliver, with some additional Cases and Notes.

It contains case histories, and argues that part of the reputation of the Bath waters as a cure for palsy was due to the large number of cases of paralysis from lead poisoning who arrived with useless limbs; and were cured by abstinence from cider having lead in solution, and by frequent bathing.