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nr o T E s. 



f 1 ) Wenxel (Venceslas) Payer or Bayer, of Ell- 

 bogen , born in the year 1488 , studied at Leipxic, 

 and took his degrees in 1507. Highly protected by 

 the counts Schlick , to whom the greatest part of the 

 royal domain of Ellbogen , and even Carlsbad, was 

 mortgaged for the money they often lent to the kings 

 of Bohemia , those rich and mighty noblemen sent 

 Payer to Italy at their own expense. Inflammed by 

 the sight of the remains of ancient baths and of some 

 modern bathing establishments, he paid, on his re- 

 turn home, a particular attention to the hot springs 

 of Carlsbad , where he first recommanded their in- 

 ternal use and the douche , so much employed then 

 in Italy. The title of his work is: Wenceslai Payer 

 de Cubitu Tractatus de Thermis Carol! IV Impera- 

 toris prope Ellbogen sitis. Lipsiae , 1521 ; 2. edi- 

 tion, 1614. He died on the llth December 1526, 

 thirty -eight years of age. The mode of his death is 

 uncertain; but he died gloriously, as proved by two 

 silver medals, coined by order of the counts Schlick, 

 proprietors of the celebrated silver mines and of the 

 mint of Joachimsthal, near Carlsbad, with Payer's 

 effigy and the honourable inscription: Cum pariter 

 omnibus moriendum, non tarde sed clare mori optan- 

 dum. Those medals are at Vienna in the imperial 

 numismatic Museum. Payer being represented as 

 Curtius , precipitating himself into an abyss , it is 

 highly probable that he died victim of his scientific 



