5 i8 TEE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTELT, 



through what a region of pastoral calm, of smiling prairie and waving 

 grain ! Never have I seen such repose and beauty combined with the 

 highest cultivation ; one would call this part of France a garden of 

 Eden, but for the fact that it is grain, not fruit, which is here mainly 

 cultivated, and an apple-orchard is the proper connotation of the gar- 

 den of Eden. On the southward limit of this lovely rolling upland, 

 not yet invaded by the railway, a long ridge of eastward-trending hills 

 arises ; at its foot are the springs, the pretty town of four thousand 

 people, at eight hundred and ninety-two feet above sea-level, and the 

 railroad. On the hill-side are enormous distributing tanks, into which 

 the steaming-hot mineral waters, too hot for use, are pumped up daily 

 to cool under the starlight until they are at a usable temperature for 

 the baths of the following day. 



These waters, again, have been known and used since the Roman 

 time, but especially since the sixteenth century. There are six prin- 

 cipal springs, ranging from 28 to 66 C. (82 to 151 Fahr.) ; the 

 water is limpid, with a slightly saltish taste, and one of the springs, 

 the Source de la Eeine, disengages a gas which has an odor distinctly 

 the converse of attar of roses. These waters contain the chlorides of 

 sodium and of magnesium, with sulphate of soda and a little iron ; and 

 they are used in all the ways known to modern balneology, the new 

 establishment being completely provided with every form of apparatus 

 douches, piscines, vapor-baths, baignoires, and the new treatment by 

 spraying with the " pulverized " or minutely divided water a treat- 

 ment now beginning to come into use at some of the springs in our 

 own country. 



Rheumatism, the scrofulous diathesis, and old wounds, are the ail- 

 ments mainly treated here ; and so efficacious are these waters in the 

 latter class of cases, that the French Government sends many of its 

 wounded officers and soldiers here. Dr. Magnin, the old inspector, 

 and his genial nephew of the same name, and Drs. Cabrol, Bougard, 

 and Causard, are among the excellent physicians of the place. Among 

 the hotels, no more comfortable and quiet place can be found than the 

 Maison Beaurain. M. Beaurain, the most affable of hosts, speaks Eng- 

 lish as well as French, and has a most refined class of guests. 



Bourbonue-les-Bains is a pleasant place, and its waters are valuable 

 and effective. But in deciding upon treatment it is not enough to 

 know that the waters are good and that the place is pleasant. The 

 waters must be adapted to the particular case. The main secret of 

 successful treatment by mineral waters is in their right choice, and 

 as to this I have one word of serious advice. EonH try to choose for 

 yourself. The right prescription and choice among these delicate yet 

 potent remedies can only be made by a physician who understands 

 them, who has seen and studied their action, and who also understands 

 the case for which treatment is required. 



