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Half tickets for 10 baths are sold in all the bathhouses, and quarter tickets for 5 baths are sold in many of the bathhouses, at one-half and one-fourth, respectively, of the rates shown above. Also, in addition to the rates shown, there is a uniform attendants' fee, approved by the Secretary of the Interior, of 15 cents for a single bath, and $3 per course of 21 baths, which fee is collected by the bathhouse manager and by him accounted for to the attendant.

There are at the present time 26 leases of hot-water and ground privileges, and two have been discontinued, as shown in the following table:

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1 Water used in private bathrooms in portion of tubs leased.

2 Completed and opened for business Mar. 1, 1915, replacing Palace bathhouse.

Lease expired and bathhouse closed May 15, 1915.

4 Remodeled and opened for business Jan. 1, 1915.

Knights of Pythias (colored).

10

Dec. 16, 1914

Dec. 15, 1924

12

Apr. 16, 1904

Apr. 15, 1914

Mahala J. Rockafellow,

18

July 1, 1901

June 30, 1916

10

Feb. 1,1914

Jan. 31, 1924

Robt. Proctor and R. A. Simpson...

16

Sept. 15, 1896

Sept. 14,1906

New Waverly Hotel Co.

20

Mar. 24, 1893

Mar. 23, 1913

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Oct. 17,1917

Arlington Hotel Co..

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Hot Springs Mountain Observatory

Sept. 1,1913

Sept, 1, 1923

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10 Completed and opened for business Dec. 16, 1914, replacing Crystal bathhouse.

11 Closed for repairs June 30, 1915.

12 Negotiations now pending for issuance of new lease to Superior Bathhouse Co.; bathhouse closed Mar.

31, 1911.

13 Destroyed by fire Jan. 23, 1910.

14 Water sufficient to supply 2 tubs.

Bathhouse.

Whole Half Quarter Single Baths Baths re- Net paid
tickets. tickets. tickets. baths. sold. deemed. baths.

Business of bathhouses for fiscal year ended June 30, 1915.

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Total receipts, less redemptions, of bathhouses, by months, for fiscal year ended June 30, 1915.

Bathhouse.

July.

August. September. October. November. December. January. February. March. April.

May.

June. Total.

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Total..

16, 460. 71 17, 147.84

12,065.82 10, 621.58

12,085. 22

11,011.94 20, 622. 21 26, 098. 54 28, 669.38 18,653. 27 14,975.96 12,216.74 200, 629.21

Fees received by bath attendants in the bathhouses during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1915.

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RADIOACTIVITY OF THE WATERS.

In 1904 the Secretary of the Interior authorized Dr. Bertram B. Boltwood, of Yale University, to report on the radioactivity of the waters. The following résumé of Dr. Boltwood's conclusions appeared in the Annual Report of the Secretary of the Interior for

1904:

* * * The results of the electroscopic tests of the gases obtained by boiling the waters were very satisfactory, as they showed that the waters at Hot Springs are radioactive to a marked degree; and from other tests, taken to determine the properties of the emanation from the waters, it was found that the properties of these radioactive gases were identical with those of the radium emanation.

On the other hand, when water from which the gas had once been taken was boiled a second time, after being allowed to stand, no radioactivity was detected in the gas obtained from the second boiling, and it was therefore concluded that little or no radium salts existed in the waters. This conclusion was strengthened by the fact that a test of the residue of the waters which had been left by evaporation also failed to disclose any sign of radioactivity of this solid substance. A sample from the tufa deposit, formed by some of the springs on issuing from the ground, was also tested, and it was found that the amount of radium contained in 100 grams of tufa was less than one one-millionth of the quantity of radium, associated with an equal weight of uranium in pitchblende. Samples of the gas which arose from the springs were also tested, and its radioactivity was found to be less than of an equal volume of gas obtained by boiling the waters from the springs. The following conclusions are reached by Dr. Boltwood as to the result of his investigations:

1. The waters of the springs on the Hot Springs Reservation are all radioactive to a marked degree.

2. The radioactivity of the waters is due to dissolved radium emanation (a gas), and not to the presence of salts of radium or other radioactive solids.

PHYSIOLOGICAL TESTS OF THE WATER.

The pronounced benefits, in certain conditions, derived from the proper use of the Hot Springs water have been fully recognized both by the medical men and the laity. The therapeutic value of these waters in certain diseases appears to be well established by the concensus of opinion of the many bathers who have been benefited

and by physicians who have had an opportunity to observe the effects of the use of these waters.

The department has during the past caused to be made an analysis of the chemical contents of these waters, but the physiological action has never been scientifically determined with reference to the effects of the baths on either the normal or diseased subject. The baths have been given emperically for such ailments as they seem to benefit, based on the clinical experience of physicians who have prescribed the waters and observed in this way the results. No physician who is thorough and looks for the best results from the medicines he gives would think of prescribing a drug whose physiological effects and therapeutic value had not been scientifically proven and described. So a large number of physicians throughout the country hesitate to send their patients to this resort, believing, without an authentic physiological report, these waters to be of no more value than ordinary hot water.

Suitable investigation by the department, reported by the department as authentic, would change this attitude. I believe that an exhaustive experimentation should be made along the following lines:

1. To test elimination, it should be made before the subject takes the baths, using perfectly healthy subjects to get the true physiological effect, the total solids eliminated by the kidneys within twenty-four hours, this to be done on several subjects and successive days. Then these subjects should be given the baths and the total urínary solids determined each day; also an estimate by weighing the subject before and after the sweat, of the solids eliminated through the skin (the specific gravity of the sweat to be used in making this test), and added to the total urinary solids eliminated. This has not been done and can not be done without great trouble and expense, as healthy subjects would have to be employed.

2. To test the constructive effect of the increased cell activity of the blood-making system, anemic subjects should be selected and a hæmoglobin percentage and a white and red cell count made before beginning the baths and again after every few baths, say, every third, fifth, or seventh day. In the meantime a regular diet should be observed and no medicines be given which would affect the hæmoglobin or the blood-cell count.

This briefly outlines the first steps that would be taken in case a physiological test should be made, and it is estimated that approximately two years would be required to complete the work.

In view of the many thousands of people who visit Hot Springs annually for the benefit of the baths, and for the information it would give the physician who could prescribe more rationally and not empirically, I am decidedly of the opinion that an investigation should be undertaken and conducted completely with the object of ascertaining what definite and demonstrable physiological effects the water is capable of producing.

RECOMMENDATIONS.

As the result of my observations and information gathered during my administration of the affairs of the Hot Springs Reservation for nearly a year past, I am firmly convinced that this is the most valuable holding in the possession of the General Government on account of its

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