MINERAL SPRINGS OF EASTERN FRANCE. 515 



their action. They do not purge by indigestion, as those of Contrex6- 

 ville are believed to do. 



Their use is in curing 



(a.) Gravel, when caused by uric acid. 



(b.) Chronic ailments of the liver and hepatic colic. 



(c.) The gout of the anaemic. 



(d.) Vesical catarrh. 



(e.) Enlargement of the prostate gland. 



It may be added that many cases of anaemia and chlorosis find their 

 cure at these excellent springs. 



5. Contrexeville, in the Vosges. This is another little town in 

 the valley of the Vair, a pleasant drive from Yittel, among rolling fields 

 of wheat. The valley is small and narrow, cutting off the breeze in 

 summer, so that the place is hot, according to French standards, though 

 its temperatures never approach the fervors of our own summers. Less 

 than a thousand people are included in the census of the place ; but 

 the summer visitors count by thousands, and among them you will 

 find now and then an American ; though the great majority of the vis- 

 itors here, as at all other French spas, except perhaps Vichy, are French. 

 The park and gardens offer a lively spectacle during the season ; they 

 are planted with fine old trees, and the usual good band of music 

 may be heard. The establishment is built upon a peninsula formed by 

 a loop of the stream ; there are parlors for reading, for conversation, 

 for games, and a fine casino. Contrexeville has not at all an ascetic 

 reputation, and one of the attractions claimed for the place is that 

 you get a better dinner here than even in Paris. Situated as it is in 

 the midst of a fertile country, rich in almost every edible product of 

 France, there is good ground for the claim of a superior cuisine one, 

 by-the-way, that is made for the city of Bordeaux, where they claim to 

 give the best and the best-cooked breakfasts in Europe. Certainly, 

 the breakfast of the Bordeaux restaurants would be hard to beat in any 

 of the various quarters of the world. 



The waters of Contrexeville are cold, limpid, colorless, with a 

 slightly ferruginous taste and smell. On standing in contact with the 

 air they form upon their surface the filmiest film of an iris-colored 

 pellicle that one can imagine, and the water stains the cups and glasses 

 in which it is used. There are four springs, all belonging to the class 

 of calcic waters. Their action is diuretic, producing a strong effect 

 upon the kidneys ; and after the fourth day there is generally a laxa- 

 tive effect, which continues throughout the time of treatment. The 

 secretory functions of the skin are sometimes increased effects which 

 are attributed to the indigestion of the mineral water. However this 

 may be, some of those who take the treatment are purged by seven or 

 eight glasses of the waters, while others bear twenty or thirty easily. 

 The waters are cold. 



Their special curative values are 



