THE  ADELHEID  SPRING. 
459 
belonged,  by  the  Hungarians  in  935.  A  century  later  (1059) 
the  monks  made  some  excavations,  and  the  source  of  the  spring 
was  discovered  at  a  depth  of  four  fathoms.  At  the  same  time 
a  fire  burst  forth  over  it,  which  occasioned  the  belief  that  the 
spring  itself  was  produced  by  a  miracle. 
In  1659,  the  Princess  Adelheid,  the  Elector  Ferdinand's  wife, 
who,  after  being  married  eight  years,  was  without  children,  re- 
sorted hither,  and  in  a  year  afterwards  bore  a  daughter,  and 
subsequently  other  children.  It  is  from  this  circumstance  that 
the  spring  has  acquired  the  name  of  Adelheid's  Quelle,  bestowed 
upon  it  by  the  present  abdicated  King  Louis  of  Bavaria.  Though 
this  cure  brought  the  spring  into  greater  reputation,  it  was 
allowed  nevertheless  to  fall  into  neglect  and  disrepair  by  the 
monastic  authorities,  and  it  was  only  used  for  a  long  time  by 
the  country  people  for  the  cure  of  scrofulous  and  other  diseases, 
and  by  the  villagers  for  mixing  their  bread,  from  finding  less 
salt  thereby  required. 
The  reputation  of  the  spring  for  the  cure  of  scrofula,  caused 
Dr.  A.  Vogel,  of  Munich,  to  investigate  it  in  1825  for  iodine, 
which  he  found  it  to  contain  in  important  quantity,  and  on  this 
its  use  came  to  be  prescribed  by  the  physicians  of  Munich  and 
Augsburg. 
In  the  course  of  the  alterations  and  deepening  of  the  spring, 
which  this  more  extensive  use  required,  a  candle  having  been 
brought  near  the  surface,  the  gas  escaping  from  the  bubbles  took 
fire,  and  it  was  only  after  some  pains  that  the  flame  was  put  out ; 
thus  was  the  miracle  of  1059  explained.  In  fact,  a  considerable 
covering  of  carburetted  hydrogen  floats  over  the  mirror  of  the 
spring,  which  will  inflame  with  a  sharp  crack.  At  this  period 
the  water  began  to  be  bottled  and  exported,  and  this  is  con- 
tinued to  the  present  day  to  a  large  and  lucrative  extent.  Its 
reputation  and  interest  has  led  within  the  last  25  years  to  its 
analysis  by  the  following  eight  distinguished  chemists :  by 
Vogel,  in  1825;  Dengler,  1826  ;  Fuchs,  1833;  Barruell,  1835; 
Bauer,  1841;  A.  Buchner,  jun.,  twice,  1842;  Pettenkofer, 
1849. 
According  to  the  latest  analysis  by  the  University  Professor, 
Dr.  Pettenkofer,  of  Munich,  with  all  the  required  exactness  of 
27 
