MINERAL SPRINGS OF EASTERN FRANCE. 509 



Of course, persons who have traveled for the sake of their health will 

 know the springs of the Pyrenees and of Auvergne, and will have 

 heard of those of Central France and of the Vosges. A brief descrip- 

 tion of the leading springs in this latter group may have a practical 

 interest for some of my readers ; and at least the interest of curiosity 

 for those to whom these healing waters are but the shadow of a name. 



1. Plombieres. These springs are of very ancient fame, though 

 they have become popular only of recent years. They have been 

 known and used since the Roman time, and in the masonry around the 

 deepest spring you are shown mason-work which dates back to the 

 earliest Christian centuries. In 1859 a bronze water-cock and its key, 

 of the Roman time, were unearthed in fairly good order ; on turning 

 the key, the water rushed out in a full stream. The masonry of the 

 sub-works is probably older than this ; and it is probable that bathers 

 were disporting themselves in these vapor-chambers, now far below the 

 level of the ground, at least two thousand years ago. 



A reminder of the ancient liberty of the latter survived, until very 

 recently, at Plombieres, in the custom of men and women bathing to- 

 gether ; this was practiced so lately as 1881, of course under suitable 

 restrictions as to decorum. A sufficient marble partition in the baths 

 separated the men from the women, and strict regulations as to bath- 

 ing-dresses were in force. But the bathers were numerous, and the 

 baths were greatly crowded. In one of the bathing-rooms I was shown 

 four marble bathing-tanks piscines they call them each a circle of 

 about ten feet in diameter, with a dozen single bath-tubs standing near 

 by ; and in these rather narrow receptacles no less than a hundred 

 men and women sometimes bathed at a time. Naturally, they com- 

 plained of the situation. Rules and bathing-dresses are very well, but 

 such propinquity has its inconveniences in spite of rules and bathing- 

 dresses ; and it was finally found desirable to allot separate hours for 

 bathing to the two " sects " (in Georgia phrase) of bathers. The only 

 other place in Eastern France where men and women bathe together is 

 at Vittel ; but at these charming baths, which we shall study a little 

 later, the crowd is not too great, and people can discuss evolution, or 

 the dual nature of the soul, across the marble fender which separates 

 the tanks, with the most perfect sang-froid, especially in the cooler 

 baths. The absolute leisure and unoccupation of the bath, the uncon- 

 ventionality of the costumes, and the interest felt in meeting strangers 

 under such peculiar circumstances, all invite to the consolations of 

 talk ; and many a pleasant acquaintance has had its beginning in the 

 tanks of Plombieres or Yittel, which lend themselves, as the phrase is, 

 most genially to the humaner sympathies. It is no small consolation 

 to some invalids to compare notes respecting their progress ; and it 

 must be remembered that the majority of those who frequent the baths 

 at Plombieres are actual invalids. As to any improprieties under the 

 old system of bathing together, I can not testify : the worst that I 



