THE DOCTOE'S BATH ESTABLISHMENT. 239 



long frame-building, divided into numerous small 

 rooms, all opening on a kind of platform that 

 extended the entire length of the building; 

 and sheltered overhead by a rough kind of 

 verandah. A camp-bed, wash-basin, and stool 

 constituted the furniture of each apartment. 

 Four sickly-looking men were walking feebly 

 up and down the platform. These, the Doctor 

 assured me, were giants now as compared to 

 what they had been ere they stumbled on the 

 Tuscan Springs and his water-cure. 



The springs are about ten in number, but not 

 all alike. In some of them, the water rises at 

 a temperature near to boiling, and densely im- 

 pregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen-gas, per- 

 fectly poisoning the air with a most insufferable 

 stench. In others, again, the waters bubble up 

 tepid, but bitter and saline. From two of them, 

 that widen into pools, gas (I imagine some com- 

 pound of hydrogen) rises constantly to the sur- 

 face ; and when I applied a match to the water, a 

 sudden flash lighted up the pool for a second or 

 two, and this could be repeated at intervals of 

 three or four minutes. This gas, by a simple 

 contrivance, is collected and conveyed into a 

 small shanty, dignified with the name of ' Steam 

 Bath,' the gas being used to heat the water 



