5 i4 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Bussang is the headquarters for mountain excursions in the Yosges. 

 The Ballons d' Alsace and Servance, with their wonderful views of the 

 Swiss Alps, are but a few miles away, and Gerardmer, with its mount- 

 ain-lake, is a day's excursion. I mention these local attractions, for 

 at every mineral spring where such charms of mountain scenery exist, 

 they form potent influences among those that are enlisted for the 

 patient's cure. One can not find a more quietly delightful spot than 

 Bussang. 



These waters have been known and used for centuries. They are 

 delicious to the taste, sparkling, cold, and strongly tonic, containing 

 the bicarbonate of iron, manganese, and some arsenic. As in the ex- 

 cellent artificial Hygeia waters, the strong charge of contained car- 

 bonic-acid gas acts most beneficially as a digestive stimulant. They 

 are used only internally as yet, though a bathing establishment is 

 now in construction, which the courteous manager of the springs, 

 M. Zimmermann, told me would be ready for use in the summer 

 of 1886. 



The waters are used for the following therapeutic purposes : 



(a.) They are especially helpful to the digestion. In consequence 

 they cure the anemia of mal-nutrition, and some forms of obstinate 

 chronic diarrhoea. In one case of the latter category which came un- 

 der my knowledge while in Bussang, a cure was wrought after years 

 of suffering and prostration. 



(b.) The waters of Bussang are an efficient tonic for delicate invalids, 

 and especially for persons of the lymphatic constitution. They are 

 exported ; but they throw down a part of their iron after being kept 

 for a time. 



4. Vittel, in the Yosges. Coming out of the mountains to the 

 rolling country at the foot of the Yosges, and entering the valley of the 

 Yair, we find a very interesting and completely appointed establish- 

 ment, mostly of recent date, at Yittel. The springs flow in the middle 

 of a fine park, at an elevation of 1,102 feet above sea-level. They have 

 been known but about twenty-five years, but they attract a multitude 

 of guests. The town has 1,343 inhabitants ; the air is pure, and there 

 is a mild mountain climate. The establishment is under the direction 

 of the brothers Bouloumie, of whom one, the accomplished superin- 

 tending physician, speaks English well. There are a casino and a 

 theatre, as well as every device in the way of bathing and of douches ; 

 and the place is lively, cheerful, and in every way attractive a pleas- 

 ant place of sojourn. 



The waters are cold, and are either predominantly iron or calcic ; 

 they belong by their constitution to a group of neighboring springs, 

 of which Contrexeville and Martigny are the other members. They 

 are very abundant and limpid, with but little taste ; they throw down 

 a red deposit upon the marble tanks and basins. In composition these 

 waters are of the type of the Carlsbad waters ; but they are milder in 



