(Second Pilgrimage.)

CHEMIN DE MER—CHEMIN DE FER.

A short run of fourteen hours from the Tower, on a road as smooth as that of the Great Western Railway, deposited us safely at Ostende—a kind of flat and fortified Gravesend, where John Bull, as far as tongue and table are concerned, is as much at home as if he were in Deptford or Greenwich. At six in the morning, every thing is bustle among the baggage, and it requires half a dozen omnibuses to convey travellers, trunks, clothes-bags and band-boxes from the hotels to the station. And here I would advise every passenger to mark the destination on every package, and take care of the receipt ticket, otherwise he may find, on his arrival at Brussels, Liege, or Antwerp, that his luggage has travelled to quite a different quarter, requiring a “reclamation” to be sent along the lines, and perhaps two or three days’ delay! One of my trunks, and that too, the one containing the “sinews of war,” was “absent without leave,” when I reached Brussels, and was afterwards found lying in the office at Ghent!

Short as was our passage to the Station by the omnibus, it gave rise to a warm discussion respecting this very convenient and economical vehicle, which was considered by one of the party as a great recent improvement on hackneys, cabs, and stage-coaches. An Irish Tutor, however, who was one of the company, maintained that the omnibus was in common use more than two thousand years ago, in every country between the banks of the Ganges and the pillars of Hercules. This was so startling an assertion that the gentleman was called on for proof. “That I will give,” said he, “from the tenth Satire of Juvenal, which commences thus:”—

The cockneys stared at each other, and one or two gentlemen laughed most immoderately. The Domine proceeded to translate the passage for the benefit of the ladies, and others who might not possess a knowledge of the dead languages.

“Omnibus in terris” there are OMNIBUSES in all countries, “quæ sunt,” that lie, “a gadibus,” between Cadiz, “auroram et gangem” and the banks of the Ganges.

This ingenious distortion of the celebrated passage in Juvenal, was delivered with such assumed gravity and apparent honesty, that it carried conviction to nine-tenths of the passengers, and those few who detected the sophistry, were so much pleased with the joke, that they applauded the learning of the Theban. Nor would it have been very easy to prove that he was literally wrong. “Omnibus” was in use wherever the latin language prevailed; and though not specifically designed as a vehicle for passengers and luggage, it was employed to carry all kinds of things—hence the application of it to the modern and very useful Noah’s Ark on four wheels.

A good deal of scepticism has been expressed respecting the “flying Dutchman” of the novelist and others. But I do not see why we should not have a “flying Dutchman,” seeing that we have “flying Belgians.” If, in the good old times of Marlbro’, Napoleon, and Wellington, a train of artillery moving at the rate of ten or twelve miles an hour, was called a “flying” train, surely a train going at the rate of twenty-five or thirty miles an hour, and carrying a small army with its baggage on its back, deserves the epithet of a “flying train.” Never was country better calculated for rail-roads than a great portion of Holland and Belgium. You have only to lay down sleepers and rails in any direction, and all is ready for the engine. Nor is there any extra expence required for guarding man or beast against accidents. The train brushes along the sides or gable of a cottage—dashes through the centre of a village—plunges through the suburbs of a city—skips over a public road without disturbing a stone of the pavé—darts over a canal—and all with scarcely a rail or fence to prevent intrusion on the lines. The Belgians are either very cautious, or very reckless of life. You will see men, women, and children standing or sitting within six feet of the trains; but no accident seems ever to occur. As for cattle straying on the rail-roads, there is little danger of that; for you may travel from Ostende to Liege, without seeing ox or ass, cow or calf, sheep or goat—or anything with four legs—except in the towns. All is corn, hay, potatoes, and clover—or clover, potatoes, hay and corn—or some combination of these four staple articles.

But neither rail-roads nor love are found to run always smooth. As we approach Liege the ground becomes so rugged, and the hills so steep, that tunnels of prodigious length and depth are necessary to complete the line to Liege, Aix, and Cologne. It is said the Americans contemplate a perforation of the Allighany Mountains, in order that rail-roads may be extended to Kentucky. The task will not be much less difficult to connect Ostende with the Rhine. But the persevering industry of Germans—the “improbus labor”—will conquer all obstructions.

ANTWERP ROUTE.

While the train is flying along between Brussels and Liege, let us glance at the Antwerp route. It is generally preferred to that of Ostende—though for what good reason I am ignorant. The land is surely more natural to man than the water. True the difference between the two routes consists chiefly in the length of the river voyage; but, of all the navigations which I have ever experienced round this globe, the “Navigation of the Scheldt,” is amongst the most insipid and monotonous. To me, too, it recalled scenes the most triste, and reminiscences the most dolorous. The very lapse of time itself (31 years) since I first anathematized its malodorous and malarious banks, is not a very pleasing retrospect. But the recollection of what passed there in 1809, can never be called up without pain and mortification!

While the steamer was ploughing her weary way between Flushing and Cadsand, Memory, that mysterious power, quickly reproduced the drama, on which the curtain had fallen for more than thirty years! The hundred pendants floating in the air—the masses of troops, whose polished arms gleamed in the sun—the frowning and hostile ramparts and batteries on each side of the pass covered with thousands of soldiers and citizens—the daring rush of three men-of-war (in one of which, the Valiant of seventy-four guns, I then was,) into the Scheldt, while shells were bursting over us, and the heavy shot whistling through our rigging—the debarkation of the British troops—the bombarding and battering of Flushing—the conflagration of the town—the sorties of the garrison, repulsed, scattered, and driven back by British bayonets, as quickly and certainly as the Ocean’s surge is shivered into foam by the perpendicular rocks—the devastation of the ramparts by the showers of shot and shells for ever thundering against them—the awful preparation for storm—the capitulation of the garrison;—all these and many other scenes rose on the intellectual mirror, and flitted round the mental diorama, as fresh as when they were first spread before the material eye.

Then came the still darker side of the drama, on which Memory, even yet shudders to dwell! Our hopes and expectations scattered on the winds—the great object of the Expedition (French fleet) secured beyond our reach, though before our eyes—while our luxurious commander was employed in eating turtle and throwing the shells at the enemy.

The stimulus of action, the expectation of booty, and the prospect of battle being withdrawn, vexation and disappointment prepared the way for the deadly poison of malaria. Now came the “foul fiend of the fens” in a hundred horrid forms; and, like a destroying angel, mowed down the ranks of our legions, lingering on these pestiferous plains in disgust or despair! Happy were they who fell victims, at once, to the destructive agent. Many of those who survived the endemic, were harassed to their dying days by repeated attacks of the Walcheren malady.

Yet, on both sides of the river, the country is a luxurious garden,—teeming, equally, with the necessaries of life and the seeds of death.

The city of Antwerp itself is worthy of a visit, there being numerous paintings by the Flemish masters of the art, while the citadel calls forth exciting recollections of valiant assaults, and equally gallant defences.

LIEGE.

Liege is quite metamorphosed—revolutionised—or, more properly speaking, Cockrellized—within the last twenty years. In times of war, it presented a picture of peace—and now, in times of peace, it exhibits the bustle of war. It is no longer the quiet abode of burghers, as in the days of Quentin Durward! In every direction you observe tall chimnies belching forth volumes of dense smoke—forges roaring—steam-engines sobbing hammers clattering—and files grating—all in the preparation and construction of various kinds of destructive weapons, from a 42-pounder to a pitchfork! Liege, in fact, is now the Brumagem of Belgium, and can rival the great British manufactory of metals in no small degree. Musket-barrels can be procured at Liege for three shillings each! Let England look to her corn-laws! The “factory system” has not greatly improved the manners, habits, or morals of Liege. Those who have not visited this place for ten or fifteen years are astonished at the difference among the lower order of the people.

The country around Liege, and between that city and Aix and Spa, is magnificent—equal in beauty, cultivation, and fertility, to the finest parts of Devonshire—or indeed of any other shire in England. Unlike France and many parts of the Continent, the country here is spangled with handsome villas and neat cottages in every direction.

CHAUDE FONTAINE.

About six miles from Liege, on the road to Spa, most beautifully situate, lies the little warm spring of the above name. The waters are limpid, inodorous, and tasteless. The temperature is 90½° of Fahrenheit. The specific gravity is that of common water. It contains small quantities of carbonic, sulphuric, and muriatic acid, and also some lime. One hundred pints of this spring yielded 240 grains of saline matters—of which 88 were common salt—91 carbonate of lime—14 sulphate of lime—15 muriate of magnesia—12 alumine—and 15 silice. They are, therefore, very analogous to the waters of Pfeffers, Wildbad, and Schlangenbad—and may be used for the same purposes as their more celebrated contemporaries. They may be reached in nine or ten hours from Ostende, by the rail-road. A young lady from England, who bathed in these waters once, and sometimes twice a day, remarked that she always “felt like eel” after leaving them, and throughout the same day. I do not exactly know what the “eel-feel” is, but I can easily believe that it is not precisely that which the eel itself experiences when it changes its mud-bath for the hands of the cook.

SPA.

Thirty miles South of Aix-la-Chapelle, and twenty-four South-east of Liege, embosomed in a sombre but rather romantic valley of the Ardennes, lies Spa, formerly one of the most aristocratic and celebrated chalybeates of Europe.

We proceed from Liege to Spa along the valley of the Vesdre, and a more beautiful drive can hardly be met with. I do not think it inferior to the banks of the Meuse, and it certainly is much more beautiful than many parts of the Rhine. The sides of the valley are clothed with wood, or cultivated carefully, from their very summits, and studded with beautiful villas, cottages, and hamlets, in all directions. At every winding, we see hundreds of men at work, carrying the new rail-road over rivers and through the solid rock.

“Cette route charmante decouvre à chaque detour de ravissants vallons qui laissant aperçevoir au loin des maisons de plaisance, de vieux chateaux, et de riants villages. Les cotes escarpées des montagnes qui en dessinent les sinuositées parsemées d’arbres, de rochers, et de precipices.”

At the village of Pepinsterre, about sixteen miles from Liege, we quit the Aix-la-Chapelle road, and turn up to the right. The whole way from this to Spa is a constant ascent, the air becoming more bracing, and the scenery more wild, or of the Ardennes-forest character, till we approach the town through a triple avenue, the centre one a pavé, and the side ones for walking or riding. Spa itself lies in a very picturesque dell, the eastern side of which is very abrupt, and covered with wood. The houses are all white and clean, and the locale, altogether, pleased me more than almost any spa I had previously visited.

Yet the place is comparatively abandoned! We saw very few English there, and up to the 23d July, 1840, only about a thousand names were entered on the books, many, perhaps most, of whom were casual visitors, or merely passengers to other spas! I fear the good citizens of Spa will not erect a statue to Sir Francis Head.

A catalogue of the emperors, kings, queens, princes, and nobility of all grades (laying aside the gentry and bureaucracy) who have lined their ribs with steel, and tanned their slender chylopoietics in the Pouhon or Geronsterre, would fill a volume. Our countrymen bear a conspicuous part in this roll of worthies. Henry the Third, of France, visited Spa in the sixteenth century—in the same, Charles Stuart, having lost his kingdom, repaired to Spa to regain his health. In 1717, Peter the Great drank the waters of the Pouhon and Geronsterre—in one single year, (1783,) the list of princes, dukes, and princesses, alone, amounted to 33, besides the hosts of inferior gentry.

The following history of one of our countrymen, recorded by Henry de Steers, the Sydenham of Spa, is not a little curious:—“In 1620, arrived here a Milord Anglais, accompanied by his medical attendant. The College of Physicians in London, who had been consulted in this case, instead of putting Milord into a strait-waistcoat—or, at all events, under surveillance, recommended him to the care of De Steers, at Spa. This unfortunate gentleman laboured under monomania of three distinct forms, which attacked him periodically, and in succession. During the first ten days of every month, he neither ate, nor drank, nor spoke. He kept to his room all the time. On the eleventh morning he would rise from his bed early, go out a hunting, and come home hungry, eating and drinking enormously. This was his occupation during the second decade of the month. In the third decade, the scene entirely changed. He became passionately fond of music, and squandered hundreds upon the squallini’s of that day. At the end of the month the taciturnity and fasting, &c. returned.”

It is hardly necessary to say that De Steers, being unable to prevail on the monomaniac to drink the Spa waters, the patient returned to England, and became a furious and confirmed maniac.

“As soon,” says Dr. Dordonville, “as the roads to Spa were rendered passable, the English, travellers by disposition, and great admirers of the picturesque, thronged to the fountains, and filled the town by their magnificence. They loved to expend their riches; and those, whose energetic passions threw them into dissipation, introduced a fatal and ruinous luxury.”

Although the caprice of fashion, and the attractions of other watering-places have damaged Spa, it is still resorted to by many people of this country, and great numbers from France, Belgium, and Germany.

POUHON.

This is the most ancient of the springs. It is situated in the middle of the town, surrounded by a marble basin, whence is bottled immense quantities of the waters for France, England, Holland, and Germany. Steers, who practised here for twenty-five years, is not behind his brethren of the spas, in his eulogies of the Pouhon waters. “They have an agreeable tartness, and have worked many miracles. Their effects are all but supernatural, and have excited the curiosity and admiration of physicians and philosophers who have come here from various countries.”

It is very clear when received into a glass, which becomes covered on the sides with bubbles of air, that also rise on the surface. The acidulous and piquant taste is succeeded by a smack of steel. On standing for some time there is a deposition of iron at the bottom of the glass, in consequence of the disengagement of carbonic acid. Peter the Great, who came here exhausted, and menaced with dropsy, completely recovered—and his statue stands over the Pouhon as no mean certificate of the medicinal powers of the spring.

The second source, Sauveniere, is half a league out of the town, and situated in a romantic spot. This spa contains less iron than the Pouhon, and used to precede the others in drinking.

The Geronsterre was known to De Steers. It is to the south of the town, but now of easy access by a beautiful road. This spring disengages some sulphuretted hydrogen gas, which distinguishes it from the others.

The Tonnelet is situated between the Pouhon and Sauveniere, and has three springs, all of the same quality.

Constituents of One Gallon (231 Cubic Inches).

SOURCES. Carb.-Acide Gas. Cub. Inch. Solid Matters. Grains Muriate of Soda. Grains Carbonate of Soda. Grains Carbonate of Lime. Grains Oxide of Iron. Grains Temperature.

Pouhon 262 27 1 2¼ 9 5¼ 50°F.

Geronsterre 168 12½ ½ 1½ 5¼ 1 49°

Sauveniere 241 8½ ¼ ½ 3¾ 2¼ 49°

Tonnelet 280 5½ .. .. 1½ 2¾ 49°

From the above it will be seen that iron and large quantity of carbonic acid gas are the main ingredients in the spa waters—and consequently that they are simple chalybeates—without aperient qualities.

Superb baths have been erected near the Pouhon, for the accommodation of visitors.

MEDICINAL AGENCY.

M. Dordonville is the most recent author on the Spa waters, as he has resided there for many years, on account of his own health. According to him, the first perceptible effect of drinking the Spa waters, especially if taken on an empty stomach, is a slight affection of the head resembling that which results from taking champaign. Four or five glasses suffice to produce this phenomenon, especially at first. As this arises from the carbonic acid gas, it is very transitory. This abundance of gas renders these waters very pleasant to drink, but they are far from agreeable when the gas has escaped—and they are then less easy of digestion. Hence the bottled waters are far less efficacious than at the sources. Since the mania of Broussais, it has not been uncommon for French visitors to take the waters mixed with gum Arabic, by which precious mess the springs were rendered nauseous and indigestible. We may agree with Dr. Dordonville that the action of Spa waters is not confined to the stomach, but extends to various organs with which the stomach is bound in sympathy. This applies to debility of the digestive organs and its consequences; but we must be cautious how we employ this chalybeate where there are any obstructions or engorgements of other viscera, merely because they are diuretic, and promote absorption. Both De Steers of old, and Monsr. Dordonville, of the present day, assure us that these waters require to be taken in large doses, and for a considerable time, otherwise they will do harm instead of good. “Those who cannot take them in this manner ought to desist from taking them at all.” Mons. D. has seen many people who have taken from 300 to 350 ounces of the waters daily. Peter the Great generally took twenty-one glasses (three ounces each) every morning. Dr. D. however, wisely leaves it to the feelings of the patient, how many goblets he daily takes.

These waters have been found very beneficial in chronic diarrhœa, as might indeed be expected; but large quantities of any liquid taken in such cases, are detrimental, especially when conjoined with the pedestrian exercises that are recommended. We can hardly subscribe to the doctrine that these chalybeates are beneficial in obstructions of the liver, and enlargments of the spleen—especially the former, considering that they have no aperient quality. The same observation applies to enlargement of the mesenteric glands.

On the kidneys they have an evident action, and De Steers, the Sydenham of his day, calls them vesical.

“The waters of Spa remove heat of the kidneys and bladder, and expel gravel more effectually than any other remedy.”

One of the most general effects of these waters is an increase of appetite, and most patients acquire flesh as well as strength under their use.

It is, however, to people of pallid complexions—leucophlegmatic constitutions—and general debility, without organic disease, that these waters may be very useful. The pallid female, affected with complaints peculiar to the sex, may expect to acquire a healthy complexion, and general strength from the waters of Spa, assisted by mountain air and daily exercise. Sterility is one of the many maladies for which they are loudly praised by the resident physicians.

The sulphuretted chalybeate of the Geronsterre is recommended by Dr. D. in tuberculous affections of the lungs—a recommendation which needs confirmation, as the Americans say.

REGIMEN.

M. Dordonville remarks that no small portion of those who come to Spa, do so for pleasure, and not for health. These may eat and drink and exercise as they would at home. But the invalid must pursue a systematic regimen. The ancients always recommended aperient medicine previously to taking mineral waters—and even De Steers made a point of giving a gentle purgative to his patients every eight or ten days. The horror of opening medicine entertained by people on the continent, medical men and all, is productive of infinite mischief, when chalybeate waters, and all those not aperient, are used. M. Dordonville cautions the drinkers of Spa very strongly against exposure to cold—a necessary advice in a mountainous region, where vicissitudes of temperature are frequent. The waters are best taken early in the morning fasting; or before meals. Some people drink them at their meals, without injury. Most of the inhabitants of Spa have no other beverage. In affections of the chest they may be mixed with milk—especially those of the Geronsterre. M. Dordonville considers the Spring as the best season for the waters of Spa, and regrets that tyrant fashion prevents invalids from coming to these waters till the middle of Summer, or even till Autumn. From five to fifteen minutes’ interval between the glasses is to be observed, with exercise during that time. He recommends a light breakfast to be taken at the fountains, after the waters, where delicious milk, fresh eggs, good butter, and bread can always be had. From twenty to forty, or even sixty days are necessary for a complete course of the waters. The same physician cautions us against compound dishes or the least approach to repletion while taking the Spa. “The great rock on which patients split is the pleasures of the table.”

The environs of Spa are very picturesque, and even romantic—the rides and promenades being extensive and varied in this mountainous region. The railway from Ostende or Antwerp takes the invalid or visitor to within twenty-four miles of the Spa, and will soon take him within six miles of the town: and therefore the place may be reached on the third day from London.

Springing from my couch at five o’clock, in the morning after my arrival, I first drank a large tumbler of the Pouhon, and started up the mountain for the Geronsterre. The ascent is constant and rather steep; but the mountain air gave me fresh vigour, and I reached the fountain (three miles) without the slightest fatigue. It is prettily situated in a kind of pleasure-ground, with shaded walks and pleasant benches for promenade or repose, while taking the waters. The water itself did not convey to my olfactory nerves that decided odour of sulphuretted hydrogen which Dr. Dordonville maintains it does. It certainly tastes somewhat different from the Pouhon, and they urge you to swallow it quickly, lest the malodorous gas should escape. It was in vain that I told the Nymph of the Spring that I was not sick, but only drinking the waters from curiosity. Still she urged, and so did some of the drinkers, that the most precious ingredient would vanish into air, if I did not gulp it down in an instant: I now took an eastern road over the brow of the mountain, through a wild forest, but along a good road, and reached the Sauveniere, after a long walk of nearly three miles. Here I quaffed at the source whence the Duchess of —— imbibed new life, or at least renovated health, and hung up her votive tablet, in the shape of a dome and colonnade, in gratitude to the fountain and its tutelar saint, Apollo. It tasted to my palate much more inky than its neighbour the Geronsterre, as, indeed, it ought to do, having more than double the quantity of iron, and nearly half as much as the Pouhon.

From thence I turned down a narrow road to the Tonnelet, about a mile distant from the Sauveniere. It was the briskest of them all, to my palate, containing more carbonic acid gas than even the Pouhon. The chalybeate taste was very marked, and the water, upon the whole, very pleasant. By this time I had swallowed four large tumblers of mineral water, and walked seven miles before breakfast, which was very well for the first morning. I experienced no sensation whatever about my head, nor any other than a sense of fulness in the stomach, and very little appetite. Another walk of more than a mile to the town, dissipated the sense of fulness and brought me an excellent appetite, which was again removed by eggs, coutelets, potatoes, and coffee, at the hotel de Pays Bas. After breakfast, the pedestrian exercise was again resumed, and the heights to the eastward of the town, with all their devious and intricate paths, were carefully explored. The views from these heights are various and beautiful—the air delicate and exhilarating. Descending to the town, and resting half an hour, I repaired to the bathing establishment, close to the Pouhon, and ordered a mineral water bath, at a temperature of 98°. I found that the bath-master trusted entirely to his hand, for the regulation of temperature, and on testing this “rule of thumb” by the thermometer, he had only made a mistake of six degrees, the instrument exhibiting 104°, instead of 98°. This, however, is very common at all bathing places. The chalybeate bath produced in me no other sensations than those arising from saline or plain baths elsewhere. The carbonic acid was all gone, and the water tasted merely mawkish. It has very little of the stimulating effects of the Wisbaden or other potent waters. Although I did not rise from the bath “rajeuné comme un Phœnix,” I experienced great refreshment after twelve miles’ walking-exercise, and repaired to the three o’clock table-d’hôte in the Pays Bas, with more natural appetite than I had felt since leaving Modern Babylon. A siesta of an hour after dinner was equally pleasant and salubrious. After some ramblings about the town, a visit to the Redout finished the day’s work.

The magnificent “grande salle” in this splendid edifice, was occupied with the ball, while the “Dæmon-robber bands” were plying their vocation at the end of the room. The play, however, seemed to go on languidly; and the waltz appeared to have more attractions for the company than the roulette. The dancers and spectators were by no means distinguée. There was not one fine woman in the room. We did not distinguish more than half a dozen English in the whole assembly. They were almost all French, Flemish, and a few Germans.

Thus ended a Spa-day in the Ardennes. I do not recommend an imitation of it to all those who go to Spa for health. But if the pedestrian exercise were superseded by equestrian or carriage exercise, I think a more effectual plan for the recovery of health could hardly be devised. To those who are very delicate, the paths that are cut along the face of the wooded precipices overhanging the town, afford most beautiful walks, sheltered from the winds, and commanding pleasing prospects of Ardennes scenery. The air there is bracing and elastic.

It is not likely that such a “Haven of Health” as this is, should be without its Cursaal, or gambling-table. The two grand hells are the Redout and the Vauxhall. A few years before the Revolution the Church sustained some damage in slander by these mansions of morality. It appears that the Bishop of Liege, who united a temporal with an eternal concern for the souls of the good citizens, had granted a monopoly of fifty years gambling to the proprietors of the Redout—of course without any other consideration than the advancement of religion and the good of the people. But a rival establishment (Vauxhall) having been started, the Bishop issued an ordonnance against the new tables, as not being orthodox. An appeal was made to the legislature, and the holy canon was reversed, on the principle that, as in a free state like that of Liege, “every man had a right to do as he liked with his own”—and as gambling was not contrary to law, so the Bishop had no right to grant a monopoly to gamblers. This was an awkward affair; but an amicable arrangement was soon made between the Bishop and the proprietors of the two hells, by which the man of God modestly declined a tenth of the spoil, and only accepted a third of the profits of the tables at the end of each season! “Le Prince Eveque recevra le tiers des Benefices que se feront dans ces deux maisons sur les jeux, apres la saison des Eaux.”

In this way things went on smoothly for a while; when lo! a third Cursaal raised its lofty head to share the spoils of hazard with the noble firm of “Bishop, Redout, and Vauxhall.” This was too much for the conscience of M. L’Eveque. He justly considered that two royal roads to the regions of his “friend in black” were amply sufficient—and that to open a third would only be adding another facility to the already “faciles descensus Averni.” He therefore sent a file of “gens-d’armes” to turn the tables on these scoffers at the holy command of their Bishop, which led to wars and bloodshed. The Bishop, finding his palace of Liege rather warm for him, appealed to the Emperor of Germany—or rather to Prince Metternich, then at Coblentz. Metternich decided in favour of the original hells, as being under the benediction of the Bishop, or perhaps of the Pope—and therefore incapable of doing any thing inconsistent with the orthodox religion! Soon after this, Metternich and his master had more important games to play in the French Revolution, and how Mons. Levoz, the unfortunate proprietor of the new Cursaal fared, this deponent knoweth not.

Spas are under the dominion of more influences than fashion. Who could have supposed that the medicinal virtues of mineral waters should be deteriorated or even destroyed by politics. Yet such is the case. While Holland and Belgium were under one crown, the Dutch dolls flocked annually in great numbers to paint their cheeks in the Pouhon or Geronsterre, returning to their dykes with a cargo of steel that secured them, for ten months, against the damps and debilities of their vapoury atmosphere. But no sooner had the “Braves Belges” revolted, than the chalybeates of Spa lost all their efficacy, and grass is now likely to grow, and water to run in the streets of this celebrated place! The Dutch and most of the English at present resort to the Brunnens of Nassau—the chalybeates of Brucknau—or the boiling Sprudel, for that health and renovation which they used to seek and obtain in the forest of the Ardennes!

It would be equally useless and impertinent in me to attempt a revulsion in the tide of spa-goers; yet, when I reflect on the locality of Spa—its facility of access (forty-eight hours from London)—the efficacy of its waters—the salubrity of its air—the variety of its promenades and drives—the excellence of its hotels—the cheapness of living—and the seclusion which is attainable by all—I cannot help regretting that fashion, caprice, or some inexplicable spell should turn the tide of British invalids so completely from Spa, and impel it with irresistible impetus towards the Brunnens of Germany.

AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.

Antiquity is to a city what noble blood is to an individual. The former may fall into decay, and the latter into poverty; but the pride of ancestry supports them both in their fallen greatness. The Romans had excellent olfactories, and a keen scent for steam or sulphuretted hydrogen gas, wherever these issued through cracks or fissures of the earth, in their wide domains. They were very fond of warm baths—and very wisely made frequent use of them with no small advantage, considering that these Lords of the Creation had no linen shirts, and wore thick woollen, and probably somewhat greasy garments next the skin. The boiling cauldron under Aix poured forth its nauseous and malodorous broth as freely when Cæsar was mustering his legions on the banks of the Rhine, or when Charlemagne, many a century afterwards, was uniting his Franco-German subjects in the same place, as now, when the “Dampschippe” and “Chemin de Fer” are daily bringing hundreds of customers and guests from the distant shores of Albion and Erin. Innumerable Roman relics are here found—and actual baths were discovered, where the brother of Nero probably bathed.

Aix is situated in latitude 50° in the midst of a gentle valley, environed, at some distance, by well-wooded hills. The substratum is calcareous, but there are unequivocal marks of volcanic agency in the neighbourhood. The town, like London, presents an old city environed by a new one—especially towards the Borcette. The old town, in which almost all the hotels, and indeed the baths are situated, is very irregular, and cedes to few continental cities in the roughness of its pavements.

The Fontaine Elisée, the chief or only place for drinking the waters, is situated exactly between the old and new towns, close to the theatre, and is one of the handsomest places of the kind amongst the spas of Germany—forming a remarkable contrast with the Hygeian fonts of Ems, Wisbaden, and Baden-Baden. In the midst of the façade, 270 feet in length, rises the rotunda (resembling the Temple of Vesta at Rome) nearly fifty feet in height, supported by columns, flanked by two open colonnades ending in cafées, and fronted by a promenade among trees. The fountain, from which issue two streams, is situated ten or twelve feet below the colonnade, at the bottom of two flights of marble steps—one for descending to the font, and the other for ascending from it. There is ample space in front of the fountain for slowly bibbing the fervid spring. The whole is surmounted by a marble bust of Hygeia—taken from a German Princess—and certainly exhibiting more benignity of mein than beauty of feature. The two High Priests who fill the glasses from the two streams, have no sinecure of it from six till eight o’clock every morning. I counted 300 drinkers the first morning—and then, being tired, I counted no more. It must be the reputation, and not the taste or flavour of these waters, that draws such multitudes of invalids to them every year. The odour of sulphur is exceedingly strong—the temperature 129° Fahrenheit—the taste most nauseous—exactly resembling the washings of a gun-barrel, with a dash of rotten eggs. It is astonishing how soon the palate and olfactories get reconciled to these and other malodorous waters. On the second morning I felt little or no repugnance to them. They are clear as crystal.

The best baths are at the Hotel de l’Empereur (where the superior and hottest source is found), and which is also a very good hotel. The maitre (Mr. Nuellens) is a pleasant fellow, who speaks English, and is very attentive to his guests.

As Aix-la-Chapelle is not a place of resort for those who seek pleasure only, the great body of the real visitors are really invalids, or think themselves such. The few attendants on sick friends are seldom seen taking either the waters or baths.

At such a place the experienced eye of the physician can detect, with a tolerable approach to accuracy, the prevailing maladies for the removal of which these waters are employed. The drinkers can readily be divided into three, if not four classes. 1st. I observed a certain proportion, chiefly females—perhaps a twentieth or thirtieth part of the whole,—who were clearly “malades imaginaires”—and whose complexions, features, gait, voices, and condition of body, evinced the absence of all organic disease, or even functional disorder, of any consequence. They appeared, however, to be full as anxious to imbibe the prescribed quantity of this terrible compound of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, muriate of soda and a few other salts, as any of their neighbours, who shewed too evident marks of corporeal sufferings.

The second class—and by far the most numerous—were those whose countenances and tout-ensemble indicated the presence of various functional disorders—more especially stomach complaints, biliary obstructions, cutaneous affections, and uterine derangements. A large proportion of these were likely to benefit from the sulphur salines of Aix. The third class could not be mistaken. The melancholy sequences of apoplectic attacks (paralysis)—swelled limbs—dropsical effusions of the body—jaundice,—enlarged livers and spleens—diseases of the heart—last stages of indigestion—kidney diseases—panting asthma—hectic cough—in short, the long black catalogue of organic diseases, which no waters but those of oblivion could ever wash away.

Yet hope, which clings to the human heart, had collected this unfortunate class—and not in very small numbers—round the fountain and the baths—to return to their homes with blighted expectations, there to linger out a wretched existence!

The German physicians appear to be convinced that mineral springs are not merely waters impregnated with various mineral and gaseous matters, with or without increase of temperature; but that they are possessed of vitality—living beings, in fact, whose life is transfused into the human organism, thereby communicating energy to the solids and purity to the fluids of our bodies—in other words, correcting and expelling disease and restoring health! Even the venerable Alibert was smitten with this German transcendentalism, and he observes of the Aix waters—“these springs, under the empire of Nature, most undoubtedly enjoy a species of vitality (une sorte de vitalité) in common with other living bodies on this globe. They are animated by a multitude of principles, which will long, perhaps for ever, elude the most laborious researches of chemistry. The waters of Aix-la-Chapelle, whether used internally or in baths, act as potent restorers of vital energies. Their constituents are powerfully aided in efficacy by the high temperature and the impregnation of divers gases. Taken internally they excite the action of the abdominal viscera—detach mucosities and other morbid secretions, and evacuate them by the bowels, kidneys, and skin. The inhalation of the vapour rising from these waters has been very serviceable in many cases of pulmonary affections.”

This vitality hypothesis did not escape the notice of my friend Dr. Granville, who appears, however, to have thought it rather too large for John Bull to swallow, without some qualification. He therefore substituted “caloricity” for “vitality,” in order that so good an idea might not be lost—and that some mysterious agency might aid the natural operation of the German spas. This mode of explaining the ignotum by the ignotius is, no doubt, very ingenious; but, for my own part, I shall at once acknowledge my ignorance, not only of the manner in which mineral waters are formed in the bowels of the earth, but of their specific action (if any) on the human frame.

The spa doctors candidly allow that the waters of Aix, “if taken too hot and in quantities too large, may produce irritation, and even purgation. But the latter is not a very common effect of these waters. In small doses they are favourable to digestion; and, taken in moderation, they are not calculated to weaken.” As baths, these waters act on the surface, and, by sympathy, on the internal organs, exciting the nervous, secreting, and circulating organs. The temperature of the blood (98°) is considered the best for the bath. “If taken at a higher degree, or too often, they are dangerous.”

Let us now advert to the bill of fare which Alibert, Monheim, Zillerland, Dordonville, Reumont, and others, have spread before the invalids resorting to Aix-la-Chapelle. I shall endeavour, here and elsewhere, to form some scale or estimate of the probable, doubtful, and dangerous agency of the waters and baths.

1. Probable.—2. Doubtful.—3. Dangerous.

Difficult digestion, without organic disease (1)—Acidities in the stomach and bowels (1)—Cramps in the stomach (1)—Coliques (1)—Worms (1)—Constipation (2)—Mesenteric obstruction (1)—Obstruction of liver (1)—Of Spleen (1)—Of Kidneys (2)—Hypochondriasis (2)—Hysteria (1)—Hæmorrhoids (1)—Want of sleep (2)—Jaundice (1)—Dropsy (2)—Derangement of monthly health (1)—Sterility (2)—Diarrhœa (2)—Chronic dysentery (2)—Chronic catarrh (2)—Renal and vesical calculi (2)—Glandular enlargements (1)—Scrofula (1)—Tubercles of the liver (2)—Rheumatism, fixed or wandering (1)—Gout, if perfectly chronic (1)—Cutaneous eruptions, chronic and not inflammatory (1)—Morbid effects of mercury (1)—Effects of mineral poisons, as of lead (1)—Deafness (2)—Loss of voice (2)—Weak vision (2).—These waters are contra-indicated in hæmorrhages—tendency to apoplexy—(though they are said to be sometimes useful in the paralysis following apoplexy.)

The foregoing is a tolerably copious list of maladies which may be benefitted by the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle—and from their sensible qualities and long-established reputation, there is little doubt but that fashion has drawn away from them to other more favoured places, many who would have derived great advantage from their use. The remarks on drinking, bathing, and preparatory measures, will be found under the head of Ems, to prevent repetition.

Borcette.

About a mile and a half from the “Fontaine Elisée,” in a romantic little dell, over which the rail-road will soon pass, lies Borcette. The waters resemble those of Aix-la-Chapelle, but they are (one of the sources) entirely devoid of the sulphuretted hydrogen gas. The temperature is about 150° Fahr. The water is clear, and has an acidulous taste. There is one source where the waters are sulphurous. Latterly a chalybeate spring has been discovered here. Borcette is more quiet, and the air fresher than in the town, and the baths are a good deal frequented. The new town, from the Fontaine Elisée to Borcette, is very handsome, and the theatre is a most beautiful building.

Aix-la-Chapelle

Presents more Lions than the “Vitalised Waters” of Alibert. Within its cathedral are preserved some of the most venerable relics that ever pious Catholic bowed to in adoration—relics—

trophies over time, which might make St. Januarius blush, and give the head of the church a fit of the jaundice! A tithe of these cannot be noticed. 1. The robe of the Virgin Mary which she wore at the nativity. It is made of cotton, and is five feet and a half in length.—2. A nail from the holy cross.—3. The head of St. Anastasius.—4. One link of the chain which bound St. Peter in prison.—5. Some of the oil which flows from the tomb of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, and which is possessed of miraculous powers in curing various diseases!—6. Several fragments of the rod of Aaron.

Who would believe that this rod of Aaron has never once scourged the Demon of Play and his disciples, who carry on their diabolical works in the depth of night, under the very nose of Charlemagne, surrounded as he is by such stupendous relics, and aided by the prohibition of the Prussian government?[48]

EMS.

No German spa is better known to the English than Ems, lying in a narrow valley of the Lahn river, only six miles from Coblentz, in the Duchy of Nassau. The town is built on the right bank of the little river, and the slate hills rise almost perpendicularly behind it. The sun’s beams are collected into a focus there, during a great part of the day, and the air is hot and sultry. These hills, on both sides, are covered with vines, trees, or cultivation. The walks about Ems are not so well shaded as at Wisbaden and some other watering-places in Nassau; but there are plenty of donkeys and guides to take the invalids up to the higher grounds for pure air. The environs are very pretty, especially the road to Nassau, about five miles from Ems.[49]

These waters did not escape the notice of the Romans, whose coins and other vestiges have been found there. The waters issue from the foot of the eastern slate mountain (Mont de Bains) and their sources are hidden from human eye and investigations.[50] They are clear and transparent as crystal, when first drawn in a clean glass. The chief fountains are the Kesselbrunnen and the Krachenchen—the first has a temperature of 115° of Fahrenheit—the latter, only 83°. These are the drinking springs. There are several others, varying in temperature from 80° to 124°, and used as baths. Some of them are about the temperature of the blood, and fit for general bathing, without increase or reduction. They have the taste of chicken-broth, with a slight smack of iron. They preserve their physical qualities (excepting temperature) for forty-eight hours, uncorked—when corked and sealed, they are said to keep good for several months. They are light and easy of digestion.

The Ems waters are eminently alkaline. A pint (of the Kesselbrunnen) contains 20 grains of bicarbonate of soda—two of carbonate of the same—two of carbonate of magnesia—one of sulphate of soda—one of common salt (muriate of soda)—and a very minute trace of iron. All the springs contain nearly the same ingredients—but the Krachenchen shews much more carbonic acid gas than the Kesselbrunnen, on account of its lower temperature.

Thilenius (the elder and younger) the Nestors of Ems, make the following observations on the waters.

“They operate on the human constitution mildly but efficiently, with little disturbance to the functions of the body. On this account they agree well with delicate persons, whose nerves are morbidly sensitive,—the sad effects of mental emotions, civilized life, and other debilitating causes. They are, therefore, peculiarly suited to the female constitution.—They may be employed, too, in advanced stages of disease, where other mineral waters of more exciting qualities, would be inadmissible. Their alkaline properties enable them to resolve obstructions, and free the functions of the kidneys, skin, liver, and various other secreting organs—especially the uterine vessels. They correct tenacious and morbid bile, as well as acidities—and thus prove aperient in a mild degree. Their intimate connexion with carbonic and sulphuretted hydrogen gas enables them to give activity to the secreting vessels, and evacuate unhealthy humours, while they give vigour to the whole organism, oppressed by chronic diseases. They have, at the same time, a soothing and tranquillizing effect on the nervous system. No waters, with the exception of Schlangenbad, produce such a pleasing and salutary operation on the skin, which they cleanse, soften, and leave in a sattiny state, thus improving the complexion, and clearing the pores. They are potent in discussing glandular swellings, and promoting absorption of abnormal deposits.”

The foregoing exposition of the general effects of the Ems waters is more rational, modest, and just, than we shall usually find in the eloges of most other spa doctors. We shall now give a catalogue of the particular maladies for which these waters are specially recommended—marking, as usual, the probable, the doubtful, and the dangerous, with the numbers 1, 2, and 3.

[1. Probable. 2. Doubtful. 3. Dangerous.]

They are represented as prompt and efficacious in all complaints dependent on acidities (1)—Glairy accumulations in the bowels (1)—Foul humours in the blood (1)—Spasms of the stomach (2)—Colics and vomitings (2)—Indigestion (1)—Irregularity of bowels (1)—Flatulence (2)—Loss of appetite (1)—Sense of distention and malaise after food (1)—Embarrassments of the chest (2)—Neglected catarrhs (1)—Inveterate coughs (1)—Asthma (2)—Hæmorrhage from the lungs (2)—Hooping-cough (1)—Loss of voice (1)—Obstinate jaundice (1)—Gall-stones (1)—Gravel (1)—Hypochondriasis (1)—Rheumatism and gout (1)—Spleen (2)—Hysteria (2)—Chorea (2)—Epilepsy (2)—Chlorosis or green sickness (1)—Uterine obstructions and irregularities (1)—Painful periods (1)—Leucorrhœa (1)—Swellings of the limbs (1)—Induration and enlargement of glands (1)—Sterility (2)—Paralysis (1)—Nervous and intermittent fevers of long standing (2)—Lameness (1)—Commotions of the brain or spinal marrow (2)—(the baths in such cases might be dangerous)—Neglected syphilitic affections (1)—Morbid effects of mercury injudiciously administered (1)—Ascites otherwise incurable (2)—Diseases of the skin (1)—Fistulæ (2)—Goitre (1)—Dropsy (2)—Inveterate inflammation of the Eyes (2)—Rickets of children (2)—Curvature of spine (2)—Scald-head (1).

From this ample carte des maladies (and I have omitted several which will not bear publication in this country) the valetudinarian will be able to select the dish that suits his taste—or rather the evil which he wishes to discharge. I have endeavoured to estimate the value of the remedy. Thilenius, indeed, expresses an apprehension that readers may be sceptical as to the power of one remedy curing so many and such different diseases. But he says—“let the sceptic come and see.” Who can combat the following argument?—“The result of our most profound researches is the firm persuasion that mineral waters are the gifts of Divine mercy to suffering humanity.” The same might be said of every medicine; but medicines often do harm, and so do mineral waters, unless administered with prudence. It will be seen that the stigma of No. 3 (dangerous) has been affixed in no instance to the Ems waters; but this applies to drinking them and not to bathing. I cannot too often repeat my conviction that there is far more mischief produced by spa-bathing than by spa-bibbing—especially in the case of the Ems waters, which are by no means of such an exciting nature as those of Wisbaden and several other warm springs. In every case where there is either local inflammation or constitutional excitement, these and other thermal waters are dangerous as baths. Thilenius himself remarks as follows:

“The condition of the body, when these waters are used, may be compared to that in which a kind of fever exists. It includes a period of four or six weeks, or even longer, in inveterate maladies. In this period, the waters exert their influence for the removal of the disease. This influence is felt, sooner or later. It is more or less distinctly perceptible, according to the nature of the complaint. It manifests itself, generally, by a kind of languor, in which the patient expresses himself as being ‘affected by the waters.’”

The waters of Ems have had greater reputation in affections of the chest than most other mineral springs, in consequence of the strong recommendation of Hufeland, who observes:—“We know how few mineral springs there are that can be used with safety in diseases of the lungs. Patients with such affections are commonly prohibited from visiting a mineral spring. Here the reverse is the case; and, in my opinion, Ems stands alone, with Selters, in this respect.”

It is quite evident, however, that it is in the more incipient cases of pulmonary diseases only, that Ems could be of any service—namely, where the tubercles are few in number, and in an unexcited condition—where the cough is slight, and the expectoration merely mucous, without fever or emaciation. In affections of the trachea, however, dependent on chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane, the waters and locality of Ems have been found highly beneficial, as the crowds of people from all parts of Germany can testify. It really would be well worth trying Ems, in such cases, before undertaking a long journey to Pisa or Rome.

Since the above was written, and while staying at Ems, in July, 1840, I met with a recent work by Dr. Doring, bath physician at Ems, from which I think it proper to make some extracts.

“Among all the maladies which are alleviated or cured by the waters of Ems, the affections of the chest are of the first consideration.

1. Pulmonary Complaints having their origin in other parts of the body.—Where these result from congestion or engorgement of the viscera of the abdomen, connected with gout.

2. Loss of voice, hoarseness, &c.

3. Chronic inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx, trachea, and bronchia.—When this affection has attained the name and nature of pituitary phthisis, the waters of Ems work wonders, especially where this state depends on latent gout, rheumatism, or repelled cutaneous complaints. The Kesselbrunnen is very efficacious in such conditions of the mucous membrane. If the malady has not advanced beyond the limits of curability, the warm baths prove auxiliary to the internal use of the water.

4. Chronic inflammation of the substance of the lungs themselves.

5. Debility of the chest.—However vague and inexact this term, there is a disposition to pulmonary disease to which it may be applied, and which it is of great importance to recognize. One of the chief symptoms is a susceptibility to colds, or irritability of the mucous membrane of the chest, accompanied by oppression, weight, and hacking cough. If this be neglected, it may lead to serious disease. A protracted course of the Kesselbrunnen, repeated for several seasons, has been found very efficacious in such states of the respiratory apparatus.

6. Tubercles of the lungs; or pulmonary consumption.—This dreadful malady, which cuts off such prodigious numbers of the human race, is more frequently arrested in its progress by the Kesselbrunnen, than by any other remedy. At the same time it is proper to remark that neither this nor any other remedy will prove efficacious, if the disease be confirmed. It is where the tubercles are in a nascent or latent state, that the Ems waters tend to purify the blood, and prevent further deposition of tuberculous matter in the air-cells. Perhaps, too, they may cause absorption of those already deposited. It need hardly be urged that the earlier the waters are used the better.

7. In obstinate and neglected catarrhs of the mucous membrane of the trachea and larynx, the Kesselbrunnen has produced the most beneficial effects.

8. Spitting of blood.—If this proceeds from irritability of the lungs themselves—from active congestion—or general plethora, the Ems waters will be absolutely injurious. But if the hæmorrhage be symptomatic of disordered conditions of the liver and other abdominal organs, then, the Ems waters taken internally, but not as baths, may prove serviceable. The same reasoning will apply to asthma.

9. Scrofula.—Daily experience has proved the efficacy of the alkaline waters of Ems in scrofulous affections generally.

10. Nervous disorders.—The waters of this spa have a singularly soothing and tranquillizing effect on the nervous system, as great numbers of patients can annually testify. Hence they are much used in hypochondriasis, neuralgia, tic douloureux, periodical head-aches, chorea, &c.

11. Congestions of the liver and abdominal organs generally—hæmorrhoids—jaundice—engorgements and indurations of the uterus, ovaries, &c.—colics, cramps, and epigastric pains—heart-burns—vomitings, &c. These are all ameliorated or cured by the waters of Ems.

12. Gout.—The action of the Ems waters on the constitution is to throw out the morbid matter from the blood—the cause of this painful malady in all the normal and irregular forms. At the same time, if the malady be of long standing, and the individual of weakly constitution, the waters of Wisbaden or Carlsbad will be more efficacious than those of Ems.

13. Rheumatism.—The same observations will apply to this as to gout.

14. Chronic eruptions and ulcerations of the skin are greatly benefitted by this spa.

15. Disorders of the urinary organs.—In no class of disorders have the Ems waters gained more reputation than in this, including catarrh of the bladder, gravel, stone, diabetes, &c.

16. Catamenial irregularities.—Females from all parts of Europe resort to the waters of Ems for the cure of these troublesome complaints, including sterility, chlorosis, &c.”[51]

I have introduced this quotation from one of the most recent writers on the waters of Ems, and himself a practitioner there, of considerable repute; but do not, and cannot vouch for the strict accuracy of all the observations contained in it. As in most of the writings of spa doctors, it must be taken “cum grano salis.”

COUNTERINDICATIONS.

According to Dr. Doring, these are as follow:—

1. The Ems waters are hurtful in all acute or subacute inflammations of any organ or structure whatever.

2. In people of florid complexions or plethoric constitutions, especially if there be any disposition to hæmorrhages, or determination to the head.

3. In dropsical effusions of chest, abdomen, or cellular membrane.

4. In organic diseases of heart or great vessels.

5. In confirmed consumption, and in marasmus from whatever cause.

POINT OF SATURATION, OR CRISIS.

The Crises produced by the waters of Ems are not so distinct and frequent as those resulting from some of the more potent spas. They act more gently and more slowly than the generality of mineral waters. Nevertheless, the following observations of Dr. Doring are to be carefully attended to.

“There are certain cases, constitutions, and forms of disease, in which it would be unsafe to continue the Ems waters up to the point of saturation. Thus if, after two or three weeks’ course, there occur little indispositions or discomforts—feelings of debility—a sense of prostration—a change of usual temper—an increase of sensibility; or even an irritability or moroseness—an unusual propensity to sleep, with agitating dreams—a loss of appetite—or, on the contrary, a thirsty white tongue, bitter taste in the mouth, oppression and distention of stomach, derangement of bowels and kidneys, and acceleration of pulse—it is then time to lessen the quantity of the waters, or entirely to stop them for some days. The foregoing are indications of over-drinking, or over-bathing, to which the term ueberbaden is given, and should never be neglected.”

As at Wisbaden, there is occasionally an eruption on the skin, after a few baths, and this is considered to be critical.

Thilenius, contrary to the custom of most of the spa doctors, admits that, although the waters alone cure many disorders, yet, in a great many cases, appropriate medicines are absolutely necessary. He contends, however, and I believe with justice, that many diseases give way to the combination of the waters and medicine, which resist the latter, if unaided by the former.

The preparation for the waters of Ems, as of all other mineral springs, is of the greatest importance, and is but too little attended to. Many patients repair to these sources, either exhausted by long-continued illness and the fatigues of the journey, or in a state of excitability from tonics and other medicines. In the one case some restorative remedies are to be exhibited, and in the other, quietude and saline aperients are necessary before the waters are used, internally or externally. Temperance is indispensible both before and during the use of the waters.

GENERAL RULES FOR TAKING THE WATERS AND BATHS.

The best season is between the beginning of May and the end of September. The waters are taken early in the morning. Weakly persons should begin with small portions, till they are accustomed to the springs. The morning is also considered the best time for bathing. The patient should immerse himself slowly—first to the knees—and afterwards the whole body, having first sponged the face and neck. Those who are subject to determinations of blood to the head should keep a handkerchief moistened with cold water to the head during the bath. A bladder of cold water is still better. The individual should not lie quiet in the bath, and much less should he go to sleep. He should keep constantly rubbing or sponging the body or limbs—and if not able to do this, a servant should do it for him. He should not remain more than ten minutes in the water, at first—and he should gradually increase the time to half an hour or more. Those whose skins are very sensitive ought to bathe in a flannel dress. The temperature should be from 94° to 98° of Fahrenheit. On leaving the bath, the individual ought to wrap himself up in a warm sheet, and when dry to dress himself. It is recommended then to retire to his bed-room and remain lying on the bed for a quarter or half an hour, but without sleeping. Those who are aged, weakly, or nervous, may take a glass of milk or a cup of coffee, after the bath. Most people can take a glass of milk and Ems waters mixed. The latest time for bathing is two hours before dinner. One bath in the day is quite sufficient.[52]

The waters are drunk, sometimes before, sometimes after bathing. They should be sipped warm at the source, otherwise some of their volatile qualities are lost. The quantity taken, like that of food, must be regulated by the power of digestion. Too much water, like too much food, will produce the same distention and discomfort of stomach. The same temperance and frugality is necessary in both cases. From two to three wine-glassfuls of the waters taken twice, thrice, or four times, at intervals of a quarter of an hour, will in general be sufficient. Some cow’s or goat’s milk may be mixed with the waters. Gentle exercise, between the doses of water, is essentially necessary. In some cases it may be proper to take a few glasses of the waters two or three hours after dinner—not sooner.

Asthmatic people, and those labouring under serious maladies of vital organs, are recommended to take a few glasses of the waters in their beds, early in the morning—but never to exceed a pint in this way.

A light breakfast may be allowed in half an hour or an hour after the last tumbler of water at the springs. It is fortunate that near this, as near most alterative waters, there is a chalybeate—viz. Schwalbach—where the patient may be very conveniently sent, when no farther progress is likely to be made at Ems; or where a tonic is necessary after the debilitating effects of the latter have taken place. Those who cannot visit Ems may take the bottled waters at a distance, with very little loss of virtue. They will keep for several months. They are used with considerable benefit en lavement. Of the douches or local application of the waters to the ailing region, I need not speak.

The regimen, while taking these and other waters, is of some consequence. Coffee or chocolate half an hour after the last glass, with bread but no butter, is the rule of the day at Ems. Tea is prohibited, as too much favouring perspiration—a rather unnecessary precaution I imagine. A liquid preparation of rice (called content) with some spice, is recommended to those of very nervous temperaments for breakfast. Between breakfast and dinner, some light avocation, conversation, or reading—after which a promenade. Temperance is essentially necessary at these waters, as they generally excite the appetite. The dinner hour of one o’clock at the table-d’hôtes is a great bore to all who are not downright ill—and these had better dine at home. The siesta is condemned in strong terms by Thilenius, if there be any fulness about the head, or if the individual be plethoric; but to the weakly this indulgence is allowed. The early dinner draws after it, as a necessary consequence, some supper—so that, upon the whole, the four o’clock dinner, without supper, will be found the most convenient and salutary.

Of the gambling-tables I shall take another opportunity to speak: mean time the following remark of Thilenius will not be inappropriate here.

“He who cannot gamble without losing his temper, should avoid the hazard-tables.” This is easy morality! The physical effects of passion and all the horrible emotions of mind at roulette, are merely considered as hurtful to the body of the bather; but no idea appears to be entertained that these are detrimental to the soul as well as to the body. The fact is, however, that none but gamblers by profession, and not all of them, can win or lose money without passion, although they may contrive not to shew it strongly in their countenances. In every point of view, therefore, moral and physical, these hells on earth ought to be shunned as eagerly as those of the nether regions.

I may now make a few cautionary remarks on the dangers of bathing and drinking the waters of Ems, and indeed of mineral waters (thermal) in general—a subject little touched upon by writers at the spas themselves. I cannot too often or too strongly warn every one against warm baths, who has the slightest degree of local chronic inflammation going on in any of the organs of the body, as evinced by white tongue, dryness of skin, accelerated pulse, evening thirst, or scanty action of the kidneys. The exciting mineral waters, taken internally or externally, will be almost certain to raise the chronic into a subacute, or even acute, inflammation, with a corresponding grade of constitutional irritation. Of this I have seen many instances, both at home and abroad. The existence of such conditions should be carefully ascertained before the spa is introduced: and proper means taken to remove all traces of inflammation. But even where there is no proof of any inflammatory action, the state of plethora or general fulness of the vessels renders warm bathing hazardous. In all, or almost all organic diseases of internal parts, especially of the heart, brain, or lungs, the warm bath is to be eschewed. The tide of the circulation carried to the surface by the hot bath, must have a subsequent recoil, and then the weakened organ may suffer. Besides, the warm and, still more, the hot bath excites the heart and great vessels into increased activity for the time, and the blood is carried with greater force towards the brain, endangering congestion there. But what are the admonitory symptoms or phenomena by which the patient may judge, when danger is approaching? The spa doctor is not always at hand, in these emergencies. He is often too much employed at such times. When giddiness, sleepiness, chilliness, confusion of thought, weariness, head-ache, pains in the limbs, unusual sounds in the ears, sparks before the eyes, loss of appetite, oppression after food, feverishness, thirst, languor, depression of spirits, inability to sleep at the usual hour, malaise or, in fact, any uncomfortable feeling, not previously felt, occurs soon after drinking the waters, and especially after bathing, and if these, or any of these recur after the second or third day, let the waters be suspended till advice is taken. I am well aware that the spa-doctors will say—“oh these are critical, or even favourable symptoms, demonstrating the efficiency of the spring.” All I say is—Beware! you are standing on a precipice!

We must now take leave of Ems. It is a very hot place in warm weather, and I must say that the exterior and interior of the houses are not in the most perfect accordance. The fogs are frequent in the mornings, and the heat oppressive in the middle of the day. Few people can sleep without some of the windows being kept open, and the danger of catching colds is not inconsiderable. The reputation of the waters is very extended. The Empress of Russia and her daughter were swallowing them freely while we were there (1840), and seemed to require them or some other restoratives, as they exhibited any thing but hyperborean complexions. Several physicians have recommended a residence at this spa during the Winter; and I am inclined to think that it would not be a bad sejour for people with tracheal affections, or irritable conditions of the mucous membrane of the lungs.

FRANKFORT.

This celebrated city has changed its nature, but not its name—the latter being now more appropriate than ever. It is a free-fort, that is, it is free from fort or citadel—rampart or fosse—glacis or sallyport—cannon or mortar—shot or shells! All these have been converted into much better things—gardens, shrubberies, and promenades. Frankfort, I apprehend, has more of nominal freedom than real liberty. The protection of the German potentates is stronger, no doubt, than her ancient walls; but she is as much under the surveillance and control of these “high mightinesses,” as ever she was under that of her military commandants, when a first rate fortress. Be that as it may, Frankfort is now a great emporium or re-union of commerce and carriages—of Jews and of Gentiles—of bankers and of brokers—of lenders and of venders—of consuls and of caléches—of voitures and of retours—of envoyés and employés—in fine, it is a large “normal school” for studying the first lines of diplomacy, trickery, traffic, and stock-jobbery.

The old and the new portions of the city present a curious contrast—youth and beauty united to age and ugliness!

One of the great lions of Frankfort is the cemetery, a few miles out of town. It is a huge “painted sepulchre,” marble without, and mummy within. This “city of the dead,” is not much smaller than its neighbour of the living. True, the mansions are on a smaller scale, and the chambers are low, dark, and unventilated; yet their inhabitants—

shew no symptoms of discontent, feuds, or family quarrels. They sleep without dreams, unagitated by the habitual passions which invade the bosoms of those whom they have left in the busy city on the banks of the Main. If the rage for cemetrical building goes on at the present rate of impulse, a time must come, when the cities of the dead will equal, both in number and extent, those of the living—and necessity will then compel the latter to have recourse to the ancient mode of sepulture—incineration. A small urn, instead of a costly tomb, will then hold the ashes of our friends and ourselves, without any encroachment on the soil that supplies us with food, fuel, and raiment. And, after all, this seems a less revolting process of preserving some frail memorial of those we loved and honoured, than that of committing them to the earth, there to “lie in cold obstruction, and to rot,” the prey of worms, and all crawling things!

I believe there are few people, of reflective minds, who can wander round the splendid cemetery or lonely churchyard, perusing the brief memoirs of the silent inhabitants below, without feeling some of those sentiments and emotions, which Hervey cloathed in language. These records of the dead, short as they are, will be found, each, to contain at least two facts or truths—the birth and death of the individual. I wish as much could be always said for the lengthy biographies of the living! These authentic documents—these “bills of mortality”—teach us one important truth, viz.—that life is a loan, and not a gift, granted to a piece of clay, without interest indeed, but with the power of resumption at the pleasure of the lender, with or without notice. Death, again, is nothing more than the payment of a debt—the surrender of a policy. Has man any just cause to murmur at the shortness or uncertainty of life, because the vital spark animates, without solicitation, his atom of earth—sparkles for a few moments—is extinguished by the same invisible hand—and is reduced again to dust? If this be all, if the brief existence of man be “rounded by a sleep,” he has little cause to be proud of the intelligence which distinguishes him from the inferior animals. He alone, of all created beings, knows that he must die—a bitter thought at all times—and cruelly bestowed, if death be annihilation! As we see no proofs of injustice in the other works of the Creator, it is fair to presume that there is none here, and that the fore-knowledge of death in this world is indicative of life in another.

If an inhabitant of another planet were to visit our cemeteries, graveyards and churches, perusing the necrological literature of those localities, he would soon come to the conclusion that this our little Globe was a perfect Paradise, inhabited by the most amiable of all God’s finite creatures. Every stone would present him authentic proofs that the whole community consisted of affectionate fathers, loving husbands, virtuous wives, indulgent parents, dutiful children, and sincere friends! What would be his astonishment when, on mixing in the busy haunts of men, he found them everywhere engaged in public wars or private quarrels—in litigations, persecutions, robberies, and assassinations—torn with all the vile passions of envy, hatred, malice, jealousy, and malevolence—distorting the good actions of their neighbours, and exaggerating their failings—violating the laws of Nature, and evading the laws of man—in fine, exhibiting a picture the very reverse of that which he found delineated on the tablets of the departed!

In this perplexity, he would fly back to his native planet, and report that the inhabitants of Terra were a race of beings inexplicable in their character—the dead all angels—the living all devils! And yet nothing would be more erroneous than such a report. The haunts of the living and the habitats of the dead—the city and the cemetery—the cheerful village and the country church-yard, being found to contain the same relative proportion of good and evil spirits. The reason of the discrepancy above alluded to, has been appreciated in all ages—“de mortuis nil nisi bonum.” The shroud is our last and kindest mantle. Its texture is so close as to conceal all our vices—but at the same time so transparent as to reveal all our virtues. It is not then on tombstones that we are to seek for truth!

KISSENGEN.

This is comparatively a young cub amongst the great spa-lions of the Continent; but it is one that is likely to attain an immense size. Dr. Balling, resident physician at this spa, and, still later, Dr. Welsch, son-in-law of Dr. Maas, have published on these waters.

Kissengen is situated almost in the heart of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, and can be reached in two or three days from Frankfort. The waters issue from the earth in a valley stretching from north to south—the surrounding heights, covered with woods, and not averaging more than 600 feet in altitude. The valley itself is fertile in corn, wine, and fruits. The little river Saale runs through the centre of it. Kissengen is nearly equidistant from Wurtsburg, Bamberg, Meiningen, and Fulda. Its latitude is 49° 50´, north—and it is not more than 600 feet above the level of the sea.[53] The temperature, from April till October, is moderately warm. In consequence of the great evaporation of saline water at the salt springs, the atmosphere is a good deal impregnated with saline principles, and is similar to sea-air. It is considered beneficial in all scrofulous affections.

There are a great many mineral springs here, but it will only be necessary to notice the Maxbrunnen—Ragotzy—Pandur—Soolensprudel—and Theresienbrunnen.

1. Maxbrunnen.—This rises near the Cursaal and Conversation-house, with a bubbling or boiling noise—clear as crystal, and exhaling its gaseous pearls with great rapidity. The carbonic acid gas adheres to the sides of a glass and gives the water a milky appearance. All the springs of Kissengen abound in this gas. The temperature is 52° Summer and Winter. The taste is acidulous and refreshing. According to Kastner (1833) a pint of this spring contains nearly 30½ grains of solid matters, and 31 inches of carbonic acid gas. The principal ingredients are 18½ grains of muriate of soda—1 grain ditto of potash—3 grains muriate of magnesia—2½ grains of carbonate of lime—1½ grains of sulphate of soda—1 grain sulphate of lime. This spring contains no trace of iron.

2. Ragoczy, or Ragotzy.—At the southern extremity of the colonnade is seen this spring, together with that of the Pandur. The Ragoczy rises with considerable noise, discharging air-bubbles freely. The water is not so clear as that of the Maxbrunnen—having a blueish cast. The temperature is nearly the same as the other. The taste is salt and bitter, with a degree of astringency. But the taste varies very much from day to day—at one time the salt, at another the bitter, predominates, with, occasionally, a ferruginous savour. It requires four large pumps to exhaust the spring.

The pint contains 85 grains of solid matters, and 26 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas. Of these 85 grains, 62 are common salt—6 muriate of magnesia—3 carbonate of lime—2 carb. magnesia—2 sulphate of soda—2 sulphate of lime—2 silex. The other six grains are immaterial, except the subcarbonate of iron, of which there are three-quarters of a grain in each pint.

3. The Pandur.—Only 34 feet distant from the Ragoczy, the Pandur springs to light, with great noise and bubbling. Its taste is more salt, bitter, pure, and piquant than that of the Ragoczy—“and is much more relished by the ladies.” It is so plentiful that it can furnish from eight hundred to a thousand baths daily. The pint contains 76 grains of solids—of which, 57 are muriate of soda—5 muriate of magnesia—5 carbonate of lime—2 carb. of magnesia—about half a grain of subcarbonate of iron—1¾ grs. of sulphate of soda—28 cubic inches of carbonic acid gas.

4. Soolensprudel.—About a mile from the foregoing springs, and in the middle of the valley, near the bank of the river, this remarkable spring was discovered by boring 311 feet through the earth. It does not flow in an even uninterrupted stream, but rises and falls at irregular periods—often with a noise resembling cannon. It generally ebbs and flows eight or nine times in the twenty-four hours. When the water is at its greatest height, it boils, and roars, and foams at a great rate. This spring rises through a salt-water mine, if the expression can be used. Its solid contents are enormous, namely 172 grains in the pint! Of these, common salt alone amounts to 107½ grains—muriate of magnesia 24½ grains—muriate of lime 4 grains—sulphate of soda 25 grains—carbonate of magnesia 6½ grains—carbonate of lime 1½ grains—subcarbonate of iron not quite half a grain—carbonic acid gas 30½ cubic inches. From this it will be seen that, in solid ingredients, the Soolensprudel outstrips all the other springs. In temperature too, it differs from the others, being 66°, or as nearly as possible that of the sea.

5. Theresienbrunnen.—This springs from a depth of 140 feet, and discharges itself with a bubbling noise like the others. The water is clear as crystal, and whitens the sides of the glass with the carbonic acid gas. The temperature is 52 or 3°. The taste is tart, saltish, agreeably pleasant and refreshing. The quantity furnished is abundant. There are 29½ grains of saline matters in the pint, with 28½ cubic inches of carbonic acid gas. Of these, 18½ grains are muriate of soda—2¾ muriate of magnesia—2½ carb. magnesia—2 carb. lime—1½ sulphate of soda, with some slight quantities of minor ingredients.

Between this spring and the Maxbrunnen there is a considerable affinity; but the Theresienbrunnen has the advantage, in possessing a greater proportion of carbonic acid gas, by which the saline matters are held in more complete solution.

MEDICINAL EFFECTS AND PROPERTIES OF THE KISSENGEN WATERS.

The various springs, in their physical and chemical properties, have one common and characteristic physiognomy. They rise from mountains of the same formation, and with more or less identity of force. They all contain abundance of muriate of soda and carbonic acid gas. “Mineral waters, however, cannot be estimated merely by their physical and chemical qualities. Each spring is an organic whole (ensemble organique), and possesses its peculiar mode of existence—‘et a sa propre maniere d’etre.’”[54] “In general, the springs of Kissengen, when taken internally, excite the nutritive functions of the body—alter them—promote the various secretions and excretions—and thus resolve, purify, and re-organise the animal machine.”[55] In addition to these effects (which an ordinary mortal might be content with), the springs of Ragoczy and Pandur possess a strengthening and tonic quality, in consequence of the iron which they contain. The Soolensprudel, whether taken alone, or mixed with the Ragoczy, acts briskly as an aperient. “In this combination of tonic with alterative properties, the Kissengen waters (Ragoczy and Pandur), have no equals in the spas of Germany.” “In all the other spas it is the solvent principle (principe resolutif) which predominates—in these, the various principles are united harmoniously.” The efficacy of these waters is greatly increased by a series of baths of the same. The order of these baths is ranged as follows:—the Maxbrunnen is gently exciting, and at the same time tranquillizing—the Pandur is solvent and promotes the secretions—the Ragoczy, alterative and tonic—the Soolensprudel profoundly penetrating and strongly solvent. The sensible effects of these baths are of a refreshing, animating nature—altering and bringing the functions of the skin into a normal or healthy condition, and establishing the harmony between the cutaneous surface, and the various organs and membranes of the interior—thereby dispersing disorders of those parts. To these effects Dr. Balling adds those which result from the absorption of the finer and more soluble ingredients of the waters, which pervade all the organs and tissues through the medium of the circulation. The doctor asks, where are to be found such baths as these, containing such various minerals, and so easy of combination, as to meet every variety of malady?

“These mineral waters (internally and externally) applied to the surface—taken into the circulation—or digested in the stomach or duodenum, oppose themselves, in the living organism, to morbific matters—afterwards exciting and assisting nature to expel these morbid principles from the body. In this case an irritation, a re-action is established throughout the whole constitution, converting chronic diseases into those of a greater or less degree of acuteness, accompanied by febrile symptoms. This fever assumes a septenary type, lasting, sometimes one week, sometimes two. In this stage it requires the greatest care on the part of the patient, and the greatest vigilance and skill on the part of the physician, to manage this febrile period, so as not to let it run too high, nor yet to fall short of the salutary range. It is only in this stage, that the diseased organism perceives its malady—and it is absolutely necessary that the patient should feel ill, if he hopes to recover his health.”[56]

Dr. Balling is perfectly right when he says that this febrile re-action requires the greatest skill and care. But is it not evident that among the shoals of patients who take the waters of Kissengen, or any other waters of the kind, several must experience danger, and some even fatal effects, from this re-action? We may be sure that the late Duke of Nassau had the best advice at Kissengen, and yet he lost his life by the warm bath there!

The waters of Kissengen are recommended by our author with dietetic and prophylactic intentions, to prevent diseases and correct a disposition to them, as well as to remove them when fully developed.

The waters of Maxbrunnen are excellent means for preserving the constitution from dispositions, or, as they are termed, predispositions to diseases, arising from original taint, or following attacks of acute inflammatory complaints.

The waters of the Maxbrunnen internally, and of the Pandur in baths, have been used for many years dietetically as preventive of scrofula, in those whose parents had been strumous, or who themselves shewed a tendency to it—and also of affections of the mucous membrane of the chest, and also of the abdomen. They are used habitually against disposition to venous congestion of the abdominal viscera, the prolific source of gout, hypochondriasis, hæmorrhoids, cutaneous eruptions. Among the chief symptoms of the abdominal plethora, Dr. B. adduces acidity, disagreeable taste in the mouth, uneasy digestion, tension and fulness of the hypochondria, sense of oppression at the chest, turbid urine, irregular bowels, constipation, dry skin, or malodorous perspirations, eruptions on the surface, &c. For these symptoms the Ragoczy and Pandur are reckoned heroic remedies.

Among the maladies actually developed, or developing themselves, Dr. B. has arranged the following, with short remarks on each, as being peculiarly under the influence of the waters of Kissengen.

1. Catarrhal affections of the mucous membrane of the chest, so far advanced as to be threatening phthisis, have been cured or greatly benefitted by the waters of this spa. They are said to be equally efficacious in affections of the mucous membrane of the kidneys, bladder, and uterine system, as well as of the alimentary canal.

2. Rheumatic complaints.—Great numbers of patients afflicted with the large tribe of rheumatic affections, resort annually to Kissengen for relief, and, as is asserted, with remarkable success.

3. Scrofula, developed, as well as brooding in the constitution—now so universally diffused among society—has, in the waters of Kissengen, a powerful remedy—more especially enlargement of the mesenteric glands, tubercles of the lungs, &c. Many unmarried females present a complication of scrofulous and nervous symptoms, indicated by enlargement of the mesenteric glands, pains and tenderness of the abdomen, hysteria, irregular menstruation, and numerous symptoms of disordered digestion. These are much benefitted, if not cured, by the Kissengen waters.

4. Hæmorrhoidal affections.—The Ragoczy and Pandur are famous in these complaints, so prevalent on the Continent, and regarded with so much importance there. It will be a sufficient specimen of German pathology on this point, to remark that the very enlightened physician whose work I am quoting, looks upon latent piles as indicated by the following symptoms: viz.—head-aches—perspirations—pain in the spleen—cutaneous eruptions—vertigo—diarrhœa—asthma—blennorhagia—ovarian tumors—weakness of sight—spectral images before the eyes—vomiting of blood—swellings of the liver, uterus, &c.—discharges of blood from the kidneys, bowels, &c. “In all these masked forms of hæmorrhoids, the waters of Kissengen are more or less beneficial.” p. 49.

5. Gouty affections.—Where gout wanders about, and annoys the internal organs, the waters of this spa are asserted to be of great efficacy.

6. Cutaneous eruptions.—These are looked upon as only external signs of internal affections—especially of disorder in the abdominal viscera, for which the Kissengen spas are almost specific.

7. Hypochondriasis.—The vast number of hypochondriacs who annually resort to Kissengen, are, Dr. B. thinks, incontestible proofs of the good effects of the waters. Considering that hypochondriacs run every where, and seldom get cured, this proof is rather equivocal.

8. Hysteria, in all its various forms.—9. Melancholia.—10. Asthma—when dependent on abdominal affections.

11. Stomach complaints.—12. Affections of the bowels.—13. Ovarian and uterine diseases.—14. Neuralgic affections, tic douloureux, &c.—15. Debility.—16. Various complaints following acute diseases, as fevers, inflammations, &c.

PHYSICAL EFFECTS AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF THE DIFFERENT SPRINGS.

1. Maxbrunnen.—This water, when taken early in the morning, causes a certain degree of irritation in the fauces and nose, that leads to slight cough or sneezing, succeeded by a sensation of heat in the stomach, and not unfrequently by some confusion or giddiness in the head, as if from wine. These phenomena are speedily followed by a comfortable feeling, refreshment, and agility. After a few glasses of the water are drunk, the secretion from the kidneys is augmented considerably, followed by perspiration—and ultimately by some action on the bowels. This last effect, however, does not generally take place till after the waters have been used for a few days. The mucous secretion, however, both from the bowels and air-tubes is always increased—especially if there had been previously any tracheal or bronchial affection. This spring is found to be most beneficial to people of bilious, phlegmatic, and plethoric temperaments. People who shew a decided disposition to catarrhal affections, or inflammation of the mucous membrane of the lungs, will do well to mix the Maxbrunnen water with an equal quantity of whey. Scrofula, chronic bronchitis, indigestion, and other affections, are benefitted by these waters.

2. Ragoczy.—A glass of this water taken fasting, causes a refreshing warmth in the stomach, followed by some degree of distention, with slight eructations of gas. The head next becomes affected, with a sense of pressure in the front, and even some degree of giddiness. If sufficient exercise be taken between each glass, a gentle perspiration occurs—the kidneys act more freely—and phlegm is expectorated from the mucous membrane of the air-passages. All these symptoms are generally followed by two or three actions on the bowels. This cycle of phenomena occupies from two to four hours, when the symptoms all subside, and the patient feels comfortable during the remainder of the day. These phenomena continue for some days—and as the appetite augments, it is too often indulged freely, with inconvenience. At the end of a few days, all the functions of the body, but especially the mucous secretions, take on a considerable degree of activity—and the secretions themselves become changed in quality as well as quantity. From the end of the first week till the end of the second, the general state of health is much altered, in consequence of the excited condition of the whole organism, which is now roused into action against the malady. “The patient becomes irascible, capricious, discontented;—the waters no longer render him comfortable, brisk, or increase his appetite:—on the contrary, the tongue begins to be furred, the appetite to fail, the secretions to become irregular and morbid, not only from the bowels, but from the other mucous membranes, and even the skin, which often exhales a peculiar acidulous odour.” The urinary secretion gets thick and sedimentary, with a predominance of acid or alkali, and a scum over its surface. If the liver or spleen were affected, they now become softer, and the abdomen is sensible to pressure. The same is observed in the other abdominal and pelvic organs when previously affected. In short, when the patient begins to think that the waters are disagreeing with him, and making him ill, the Doctor is of a very different opinion, viewing this re-action as a salutary effort of Nature, assisted by the waters, to expel the morbific matter or cause of disease from the system.[57]

3. The Pandur.—The physical effects of this spring are nearly the same as those of the Ragoczy. It acts a little more strongly on the kidneys, skin, and bowels. On this last account it is a most useful spring in all abdominal congestions, torpid bowels, and sluggish liver. On the same account also (its aperient qualities) it causes less of the re-action described above, affects the head much less than the Ragoczy, and also the chest. The effects of the Pandur, when taken in the evening, are worthy of notice. If two or three glasses are taken in the evening, it has a calming, tranquillizing effect on the whole system—promotes sleep—or produces it if the individual were previously wakeful. At the same time it promotes perspiration, and secretion from the kidneys; but does not act on the bowels—unless a large quantity be taken. About eight or nine in the morning, however, it opens the bowels comfortably, especially if assisted by a few morning glasses of the same water. In this respect it differs greatly from the Ragoczy—which cannot be taken in the evening. It is also an important auxiliary to the Ragoczy. The Pandur is preferable to the Ragoczy in all cases where an alterative, solvent, and aperient effect is more desirable than a tonic. It is fitter for young females affected with abdominal and uterine plethora—or indeed plethora of any part, than the neighbouring spring. It is also more profitable in nervous, irritable habits than the other. Where constipation obtains, it is peculiarly useful.

4. Soolensprudel.—It is only about two years (before March 1839) that this water has been used internally. It is strongly purgative and solvent. Two or three glasses taken fasting, are sure to produce one, or even several evacuations from the bowels, without griping or inconvenience. Although there is a very small quantity of iron in the Soolensprudel, yet, in combination with the carbonic acid gas, it does not weaken the digestive organs, so much as some other waters of the saline kind. It may be given, as an aperient, in all cases where the Ragoczy and Pandur are proper.

THE BATHS.

The effects of all the Kissengen waters, when used as baths, have a considerable resemblance to each other. The plus or minus of carbonic acid gas, and of iron, make the chief differences. As the baths have hardly ever been employed without the internal use of the waters, their effects cannot be positively ascertained as under other circumstances. The general phenomena, however, may be stated as follows:—

The patient feels soothed, refreshed, and even strengthened, by the first few baths; but about the seventh day, the symptoms of re-action commence, and then the pleasing sensations of the bath disappear—and he feels enfeebled and uncomfortable after leaving the water. These phenomena increase. The skin becomes relaxed—slightly reddened, and copious perspirations break out—or if not, the kidneys act vigorously. If there be any cutaneous eruptions, they increase, become inflamed, and discharge freely. Rheumatic and gouty pains are exasperated, and sometimes carried into a state of acute inflammation, with fever, which lasts three or four days, and then disappears. In such cases, the baths must be discontinued for a short time. In general, most of the diseases which are ultimately cured by the baths and waters, are, for a certain period, rendered worse. In the course, or rather towards the end of this re-action, certain critical evacuations take place, more especially from the skin, accompanied by a peculiar odour—or boils or other eruptions break forth—or depositions take place in the urine, sometimes even of blood—or by the bowels. This crisis past, a state of amelioration takes place, and now the baths should be discontinued, not at once, but gradually.

The morbid conditions which require the baths more than the drinking of the waters are—chronic affections of the skin—rheumatic and gouty complaints, whether external or internal—neuralgic affections—complaints driven from the surface to the interior.

We need not dwell on the slight differences which take place in the use of the baths of the Maxbrunnen, Pandur, and Ragoczy. The baths of the Soolensprudel deserve a remark or two. The baths of this source are more powerful than those of the others, often producing considerable heat and irritation of the skin, accompanied by corresponding re-action of the system generally—even to fever, which requires marked and vigilant attention, otherwise very serious consequences may result. At the same time, it may be observed that the baths of the Soolensprudel are less disposed to affect the head and the chest, than other baths of weaker powers, if used with caution. They have hitherto been chiefly employed in cases of confirmed scrofula, both external and internal—in uterine and ovarian affections—in inveterate rheumatic and gouty complaints.

In the after-cure, the waters of Bocklet and Bruckenau, chalybeates both, are almost essential, to restore the strength, after the alterative and aperient waters of Kissengen, and after the struggle which the constitution has had with the malady.

1. Season.—Dr. Balling conceives that different complaints require different periods of the season for their removal by the waters of Kissengen. In general, however, the time is from the middle of Spring till the end of Autumn.

2. Preparation.—Dr. B. gives us some advice on this point, which we can seldom follow—namely, to dismiss all care, before we visit Kissengen!—to bring with us a statement of our case from the physician in ordinary—to bring warm clothing, adapted to Winter as well as Summer—not to bring unnecessary family and servants—to travel leisurely from home to Kissengen—to rest a few days after the journey, before the waters or baths are taken, and consult with the physician of the place.

3. Mode of taking the waters.—The time is from six till eight o’clock in the morning. The quantity of the waters taken must depend on the capability of the stomach to digest them. As there is much carbonic acid gas in the waters, they ought to be drunk quickly, each portion. The Ragoczy and Pandur are generally taken cold; but, in particular cases, the chill may be taken off them. Ten or twelve minutes should intervene between each goblet of the waters. The first glasses are more easily digested than the later ones. Easy walking between the glasses is beneficial. All persons disposed to congestions about the head or chest, as evinced by giddiness, or oppression in the act of breathing, should be very cautious and moderate in the use of these waters. In the period of re-action, the symptoms should be marked by the patient and communicated to the physician. Breakfast may be taken in half an hour after the last goblet of water. If the waters are taken in the evening, it should be four or five hours after dinner. These regulations apply chiefly to the Ragoczy and Pandur. The Maxbrunnen spring is generally drunk with a moderate proportion of whey or milk.