MINERAL WATERS. 



597 



nerve-centers. Brine-vapor baths promote ex- 

 pectoration. 



The saline waters often contain other chlo- 

 rides, as well as sulphates and carbonic-acid 

 gas, and it is in these waters that the iodide 

 and bromide of sodium are oftenest found. 

 These elements give to saline waters their es- 

 pecial value in the treatment of scrofulous 

 affections. According to their other constitu- 

 ents, they are also useful in chronic rheuma- 

 tism and gout. The alkaline - saline waters, 

 containing carbonic-acid gas, as those of Sara- 

 toga, are often beneficial in dyspepsia. 



Among the most noticeable saline springs 

 are the following : 



Baden-Baden, in Hesse-Hombourg, was for- 

 merly a famous gambling - place, and is still 

 much frequented for its waters, which are 

 thermal and slightly saline. They are chiefly 

 used for bathing; there are twelve springs, 

 ranging in temperature from 117" to 156 

 Fahr. The place itself is attractive, and is 

 beautifully situated in a valley at the entrance 

 of the Black Forest. 



Ballston Spa, Saratoga county, 1ST. Y. These 

 waters, like those of the St. Louis Spring, 

 were discovered by boring, an artesian well 

 having been sunk to the depth of 671 feet in 

 the unsuccessful search for oil. The waters are 

 similar to those of Saratoga, but much more 

 strongly saline, and richer in other mineral 

 constituents. Four springs have been ana- 

 lyzed; the Lithia well contains 94 grains of 

 salt to the pint, and 40 grains of other mat- 

 ters. Ballston is a quiet and pleasant town. 



Bourbon-Lancy, in the Saone-et-Loire, east- 

 ern France, is a town of 3,200 inhabitants and 

 pleasantly situated upon a hill-side. The cli- 

 mate of the place is mild and uniform. There 

 are six principal springs, five of them thermal. 

 The water is limpid and inodorous, with a salt- 

 ish taste. Rheumatism in every form is suc- 

 cessfully treated at Bourbon-Lancy ; and scrofu- 

 lous affections are also cured by the waters, 

 which are used both internally and as baths, 

 and have a reputation for the cure of sterility. 

 There are good hotels and boarding-houses, 

 and the place, like all of the less crowded 

 Frenjch mineral springs, is inexpensive. 



Bourbon-L'Archambault, a town of 3,800 

 inhabitants, is situated on the river Burge, at 

 an elevation of 760 feet above the sea, among 

 hills. There are two salino springs, both warm ; 

 the water is used internally, and in baths and 

 douches of every description. Chronic rheu- 

 matism, scrofula, neuralgia, and hysteric pa- 

 ralysis, are here treated with success. 



Bourbonne, in the department of the Haute- 

 Marne, is a town of 4,100 inhabitants; its wa- 

 ters have been known since the time of the Ro- 

 mans. They are thermal, and have, like those 

 ' of Wiesbaden, which they much resemble, some- 

 thing of the taste of broth. The bathing estab- 

 lishments are ample and very attractive. So 

 ; efficacious are the waters in the cure of chronic 

 r rheumatism and scrofulous affections, that a 



military hospital has been maintained on the 

 spot since the year 1735. During the season, 

 from the middle of May to the middle of Sep- 

 tember, about eight hundred patients are yearly 

 treated at this hospital. 



Hombourg, formerly famous as a gambling- 

 place, has the finest Kursaal in Germany. There 

 are four springs ; the water is strongly saline, 

 with some iron, and is charged with carbonic- 

 acid gas. Their temperatures are from 50 to 

 52 Fahr. They are especially useful in bron- 

 chial chronic catarrh, when tubercles do not 

 exist; in abdominal plethora, in atony of the 

 digestive tract with constipation, and in mala- 

 rial engorgements of the spleen and liver. The 

 weak and delicate are little likely to be bene- 

 fited by these waters ; but stronger constitu- 

 tions will find relief from the maladies just 

 enumerated. 



Kissingen, Bavaria, has six springs, of tem- 

 peratures ranging from 52 to 67 Fahr. They 

 are employed internally and in baths, douches, 

 vapor-baths, and mud-baths of many descrip- 

 tions. They are purgative, diuretic, and su- 

 dorific ; and in their effects as well as in their 

 chemical constitution they resemble the waters 

 of Hombourg, but have more variety than those, 

 and furnish a wider range of employment. The 

 bitter waters of Rakoczy are in favor for the 

 treatment of engorgement of the liver. A 

 whey-cure is also established at Kissingen. 

 The waters are exported in large quantity. 



Luxeuil is a town of 3,800 inhabitants, 

 charmingly situated among the hills of the 

 Haute-Saone, in eastern France, at an eleva- 

 tion of 1,340 feet above the sea, and pro- 

 tected by a wooded slope from the northerly 

 winds. The springs have been used since the 

 time of the Romans; they are thermal, fifteen 

 in number, and range from 94 to 124 Fahr. 

 They are used both internally and externally ; 

 and the bathing establishment is one of the 

 finest in France. The waters are mildly sa- 

 line ; at first a gentle excitant, they afterward 

 have a tonic and soothing effect on the nerv- 

 ous system, and are among the very few saline 

 waters that can be used with advantage by 

 delicate and nervous invalids. They are al- 

 most the only saline thermal waters in Europe 

 that contain iron and manganese. They are 

 much frequented for the relief or cure of nerv- 

 ous weakness, anemia, dyspepsia, and uterine 

 derangements. The place is one of great com- 

 fort and attractiveness, and is not expensive. 



Roy at stands 1,500 feet above sea-level, io a 

 gorge between two mountains of basalt, near 

 Clermont-Ferrand, in the Puy de D6me, in 

 central southern France. There are four ther- 

 mal springs, ranging from 68 to 95 Fahr. 

 The waters are diuretic and gently laxative, 

 but as they contain some iron and arsenic they 

 have also a tonic effect, which is aided by the 

 mountain climate. Muscular and nervous rheu- 

 matism, even when subacute, chlorosis, catarrh 

 of the bladder, anemia, dysmenorrhcen, amen- 

 orrhcea, and nervous cardiac troubles, are re- 



