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LETTER XXV. 
An Account of an extraordinary Alteration hi the 
Baths of Toplitz in Bohemia, on the firft of No- 
vember 175'f, in a Letter from Father Jofeph 
Steplin to James Short, M.A. F. R. S. Hranfated 
from the Latin. 
Read Feb. 26, 
1756. 
SIR, Prague, January 30, 1756. 
A Report being brought hither, that 
at Toplitz, a village famous for its 
baths, and nine Bohemian miles north-weft from 
Prague, the fource of thefe baths had undergone 
fome change ; in order to know the truth of this, I 
requefted the prehdent of the Supreme Royal Coun- 
cil to fend me an exad; account of it, in anfwer to 
the feveral queftions, which I propofed to him. By 
this means I have procured the following relation of 
thatfadt: That in the year 762 thofe baths were 
difcovered j from which time the principal fpring of 
them had conftantly thrown out the hot waters in 
the fame quantity, and of the fame quality. On the 
firft of November of the laft year I 7 i 5 > between 
eleven and twelve in the morning, the chief fpring 
caft up forth fuch a quantity of water, that in the 
fpace of half an hour all the baths ran over. About 
half an hour before this vaft increafe of the water 
the fpring grew turbid, and flowed muddy ; and, 
having flopped intirely near a minute, broke forth 
again with prodigious violence, driving before it a 
confiderable quantity of a reddifli oker. Crocus Mar- 
tialii. After which it became clear, and flow’d as 
E e € 2 pure 
