CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 121 



lying upon a bed of sand. The mass looked moist, and had an in- 

 tense as well as most beautiful jet-black colour. Throughout it are 

 found some curiously stratified thin plates of iron pyrites ; some of 

 these are nearly a foot square, and upon one surface only, the other 

 being smooth, they have depositions resembling fossil plants of the 

 Reed and Broom genus, in high relief: the whole is very hard and 

 difficult of fracture. These masses are found, at all depths, in the 

 stratum of the peat or bog-earth, and at various angles of the horizon. 

 After exposure to the air for a few days their upper surface appears 

 covered with a yellowish-green efflorescence, which, when tasted, im- 

 parts to the tongue the sharp sensation produced by sulphuric acid ; 

 its smell also resembles that of the sulphurous acid gas. When test- 

 ed with litmus-paper, the colour of this substance is instantly and 

 deeply reddened. This bog-earth, being brought to the bathing es- 

 tablishment, is thrown into two very large wooden vats standing un- 

 der cover, at the height of four feet from the ground ; and the earth 

 being diluted there with mineral water, steam is made to pass through 

 the mixture, which is stirred up constantly, until a proper degree of 

 heat as well as consistency is obtained. Each bathing-tap being then 

 pushed under one of the vats, the contents of this are allowed to es- 

 cape through an opening until the tub is nearly filled, when it is 

 wheeled into an apartment and used. At first the temperature is very 

 high, but it is allowed to cool down to 80°, F., the degree of heat at 

 which the mud-bath may be taken without causing excessive irrita- 

 tion. This kind of bath has the consistence and appearance of a 

 semi-fluid poultice of bread-crumb coloured with the blackest ink ; 

 and it exhales a smell not unlike that of pyrohgneous acid, the taste 

 of which, also, is retained for many hours by the bather's skin. On 

 coming out of the bath, and having the mud washed off with warm 

 mineral water, the surface of the body feels soft, and looks almost like 

 satin. 



The mud-baths of Franzenbad increase the action of the skin, are 

 solvent as well as emollient, and stimulate the nervous system. These 

 efiFects are attributed to four principal elements found in the composi- 

 tion of the bath — the fatty and peaty matter, the caloric, a highly vo- 

 latile substance, and the metallic and saline ingredients. When the 

 mud is thrown away it soon exhibits superficial strata of sulphate of 

 iron and Glauber salt, with a large quantity of free sulphuric acid. 



So profusely is gas distributed about Franzenbad that one may see 

 it, feel it, and disengage it, in every part of the town and country. 

 There are gas-baths at this place, and these have their supplies from 

 the gas which issues through a tube plunged into the ground within 

 the establishment, at the rate of five thousand seven hundred and 

 sixty cubic feet in an hour. After repeated trials, it is rega)'ded as 

 being nearly pure carbonic acid gas, and its application in the form 

 of a bath has been attended with beneficial results. 



Dr. Granville deals very compendiously with the Spas of Pullna, 

 iSeidschutz, and Seidlitz. The first is a miserable-looking village, 



VOL. VII., NO. XXI. Q 



