Part 5

There are but few _Cold Saline Springs_ in France, viz: those of Andabre or Camares in the department of Aveyron; Jouhe, dep: Jura; Pouillon, dep: Landes; Niederbronn, dep: Lower Rhine. They are employed in diseases which require continued and moderate intestinal evacuations; such as dyspepsia hypochondriasis, chronic hepatitis, jaundice and strumous swellings. They are more grateful to the stomach when carbonic acid gas is also present; and when they contain Iron as in the springs of Camares, their tonic powers combined with their purgative qualities, render them still more useful in dyspeptic complaints and amenorrhoea.

To this class the water of the Ocean belongs. The quantity of saline matter _Sea Water_ contains varies in different latitudes thus, between 10 deg. and 20 deg. it is rather more than 1/24; at the equator it is 1/25; and at 57 deg. north it is only 1/27. The saline ingredients in 10,000 parts of sea water according to the last analysis of Dr. Murray, are, muriate of Soda 220.01; muriate of lime, 7.84; muriate of Magnesia, 42.08; and Sulphate of Soda 33.16. When brought up from a great depth, its taste is purely saline; but when taken from the surface it is disagreeably bitter, owing, perhaps, to the animal and vegetable matters suspended in it. Its specific gravity varies from 1.0269 to 1.0285; and it does not freeze until cooled down to 28.5 deg. Fahrenheit. Its medicinal properties are the same as those of the saline purgative waters, but more powerful; and as a bath, its efficacy is much superior to that of fresh water.

The general effects of mineral waters are modified by temperature, whether they be taken internally, or applied externally.

In some _Warm Saline Springs_ as those of Plombieres, and Bains, in the department of Vosges; Luxeuil, dep. Haute Saone; Bourbon-Lancy, dep. Saone-et-Loire; Bourbonne-les-Bains, dep. Haute-Marne; Chaudes-Aigues, dep. Cantal; Avene, Balaruc, dep. l'Herault; La Motte, dep. l'Isere; Bagnols, dep. l'Orne; Aix-en-Provence; dep. Bouches-du-Rhone; St.-Laurent-Les-Bains, dep. l'Ardeche; Sylvanes, dep. l'Aveyron; Cap-Bern, Bagneres, Bigorre, dep. Upper Pyrenees; Encausse, dep. Haute-Garonne; Neris, dep. l'Allier; their virtues depend principally on the height of temperature. And in others which have been found to contain scarcely any foreign matter, the simple diluent power of the pure water seems to produce the benefit that results from drinking them.

ACIDULOUS. Waters of this class owe their properties chiefly to Carbonic Acid. They sparkle when drawn from the spring, or when poured into a glass; have an acidulous taste, and become vapid when exposed to the air. Besides free carbonic acid, on the presence of which these qualities depend, acidulous waters contain generally carbonates of Soda, of Lime, of Magnesia, and of Iron; and sometimes muriate of Soda.

They may be divided into _thermal_ or _warm acidulous waters_, and _cold acidulous waters_.

The temperature of the former rarely exceeds 72 deg. F. while that of the latter is generally about 55 deg. F. Of the warm acidulous waters are those of Mont-D'or, Saint Nectaire, Clermont-Ferrand, in the department of Puy-de-Dome; Vichy, Bourbon-l'Archambault, dep. l'Allier; Audinac, Ussat, dep. l'Arriege; Chateauneuf, Saint-Mart, Chatel-guion, dep. Puy-de-Dome; Dax, dep. Landes; Saint Alban on the left of the river Loire.

Of the _cold acidulous waters_ there is Pougues in the department of Nievre; Chateldon, Bar, Saint-Myon, Medague, Vic-le-Comte, dep. Puy-de-Dome; Mont-Brison, Saint-Galmier, dep. Loire; Langeac, dep. Haute-Loire. They are tonic and diuretic; and in large doses produce a sensible degree of exhilaration.

They all afford a grateful and moderate stimulus to the stomach, but the _warm acidulous springs_ are to be preferred as there are few of this kind that do not contain a small portion of Iron and a larger portion of carbonic acid gas, and are especially useful in all cases of impaired digestion; while those which contain alkaline carbonates, as Pougues and Saint-Galmier, are more particularly employed as palliatives in calculous affections.

CHALYBEATE. Waters thus named owe their properties to iron in combination generally with carbonic acid; and as the latter is usually in excess, they are often acidulous as well as chalybeate. The metal is found also in the form of a sulphate, but the instances of this are very rare.

Chalybeate waters have a styptic or inky taste: they are, when fresh drawn, transparent, but become black when mixed with tincture of nut-galls; but an ochery sediment soon falls, and the water loses its taste. If the iron be in the state of sulphate, however, no sediment falls; and the black colour is produced by the above test, even after the water has been boiled and filtered. Chalybeate springs are very numerous in France, some of the following are much frequented: Rennes-Les-bains, in the department of l'Aude; Saint-Honore, Passy, near Paris; Forges, Aumale, Rouen, dep. Seine-inferieure; Contrexeville, dep. Vosges; Bussang, Provins, dep. Seine-et-Marne; La Chapelle-Godefroi, dep. of l'Aube; Saint-Gondon, Noyers, dep. Loiret; Fontenelle, dep. Vendee; Watweiler, Upper-Rhine; Cransac, dep. l'Aveyron; Sainte-Marie, dep. Cantal; Sermaise, dep. Marne; Ferrieres, Segray, dep. Loiret; Alais, dep. Gard; Boulogne-sur-Mer, dep. Pas-de-Calais; Vals, dep. l'Ardeche.

Chalybeate waters are powerful tonics, and are employed in dyspepsia, scrofulous affections, cancer, amenorrhoea, chlorosis, and other diseases of debility for which the artificial preparations of iron are used. Much of the benefit derived from the use of chalybeate waters depends on the extreme division of the metalic salts they contain, as well as the vehicle in which it is held in solution; while at the same time their operation is much modified by the carbonic acid gas by which the iron is suspended. When the water is a carbonated chalybeate, it should be drunk the moment it is drawn from the spring; but the same precaution is not necessary with a water containing sulphate of iron.

SULPHUREOUS. Waters classed under this head derive their character chiefly from sulphureted hydrogen gas; which in some of them is uncombined, while in others it is united with lime or an alkali. They are transparent when newly drawn from the spring, and have a foetid odour which is gradually lost from exposure to the air, and the water becomes turbid. When they are strongly impregnated with the gas, they redden infusion of litmus, and exhibit some other of the characteristics of acids; and, even in a weak state, they blacken silver and lead.

Besides containing sulphureted hydrogen gas, they are not unfrequently, also, impregnated with carbonic acid. They generally contain muriate of Magnesia or other saline matters, which modify their powers as a remedy.

The _warm sulphureous springs_ in France are those of Bareges, Saint-Sauveur, dep. Upper Pyrenees; Cauterets, Bonnes, Cambo, dep. Lower Pyrenees; Bagneres-de-Luchon, dep. Haute-Garonne; Ax, dep. l'Arriege; Greoult, Digne, dep. Lower Alpes; Castera-Verduzan, dep. Gers; Bagnols, dep. Lozere; Evaux, dep. Creuse; Saint-Amand, dep. Nord; Loeche, right of the Rhone; Aix-la-Chapelle. The _cold sulphureous waters_ are those of Enghien-les-Bains, in the department of Seine-et-Oise; La Roche-Posay, dep. Vienne; Uriage, near Grenoble.

These waters are resorted to chiefly by patients who labour under cutaneous affections and are applied locally as well as drunk.

They are slightly sudorific and diuretic, and apt to occasion in some patients headache of short duration, directly after they are taken.

They are also employed for curing visceral and scrofulous obstructions, torpor of the intestines, chronic engorgements of the joints: sprains of long standing, obstinate catarrhs, rheumatism, etc, and in some dyspeptic and hypochondriacal cases.

The _warm_ sulphureous waters are to be preferred; attention however should be paid to the state of the bowels during their course which ought to be kept free from any accumulation by the aid of some mild aperient medicine; Spa Doctors trust almost entirely to the aperient operation of the waters and doubtless, the crises, spa-fevers, and re-actions described by foreign writers on the spas are often attributable to the want of combining some mild mercurial alterative and aperient with the use of the waters, and that many cures are prevented or rendered ineffectual by the dread of mercury entertained by continental Physicians. The following what Dr. Johnson terms the _Auxilio-Preservative_ will be found of essential service taken every night before drinking the morning waters.

R,

Ext: Col: Co:

Pil: Rhei: Co: a a gr. XL

Pil: Hydrarg: -- gr. X

Ol: Caryoph: -- gr. VI

ft. pil: XX capt. 1 vel: ij hora somni.

It is however absolutely necessary on patients arriving at any spa, to consult the resident Physician.

With respect to the use of mineral waters in general, we consider them as most important, and extremely beneficial in the treatment of disease; some of the good effects of all of them however, must be allowed to proceed from change of air and scene; relaxation from business, amusement, temperance, and regular hours, and under these circumstances the drinking the waters at the springs possesses advantages which cannot be obtained from artificial waters, however excellent the imitations may be, nor even from the natural water, when bottled and conveyed to a distance from the springs.

SPAS

OF

CENTRAL FRANCE.

THERMAL SALINE WATERS,

PLOMBIERES.

_Plombiers_, a small town in the department of Vosges, twenty-four leagues from Nancy, is situated between mountains in a deep narrow valley watered by the Augrome.

According to a careful analysis made by M. Vauquelin, these waters contain Subcarbonate of Soda, Sulphate of Soda, Chloride of Sodium, Subcarbonate of Lime, and Silex. He affirms that they also contain an animal matter greatly resembling gelatine, which performs an important part in their action upon the animal economy; to this ingredient he attributes the fetid odour which occasionally arises from the waters.

The thermal waters of Plombieres, are classed as follows:--1st The _Bain des Dames_; having a heat of 126 deg. Fahr 2nd--The _Source du Chene_, or _du Crucifix_; this is the only one of the waters not used for bathing, but solely for drinking. 3d--The _source du Grand-Bain_ or _du milieu_, the temperature of the former is 130 deg.: and of the latter 142 deg. Fah. The _Grand Bain_ is called the _Bain des pauvres_. 4th--The _Bain-tempere_, which is supplied by two sources; one at 90 deg. and the other at 113 deg. Fah. 5th--The _Petit-Bain_ or _Capucins_, is 113 deg. Fah. Its basin is divided into two parts, the temperature of the water there being 95 deg. to 97 deg. Fah. 6th--The _Bain-Neuf_ or _Royal_, has a square basin which receives the waters from a source formerly called _l'enfer_, and had originally, a temperature of 153 deg. Fah. being the hottest of the number. 7th--There is another source, called the source _de Bassompierre_, situated at the upper part of the town.

These waters are stimulant, giving increased activity to the circulation, and in great reputation for the cure of Chlorosis (green sickness) chronic enteritis, neuralgia, scrofula, and in the chronic and painful stages of gout and rhumatism. Although rarely beneficial in severe cutaneous diseases they are in much esteem for their unctuous qualities, which impart softness to the skin and allay superficial irritations.

The season for taking these waters is from May to September, and this place is then much frequented; the accommodations are very good, in the principal street are arcades built by Stanislaus, king of Poland, under which the company promenade.

LUXEUIL.

The great esteem in which these waters were anciently held is attested by the vast ruins and immense number of antiquities which have been found here; at present Luxeuil is a small but agreeable town in the department of the Haute-Saone, twelve leagues from Besancon, situated in a plain, and intersected by a street called the _rue des Romains_. The bathing establishment, which is much admired, was built about the middle of the last century, is adorned with a beautiful garden.

There are five Baths namely the _Bain des Femmes_; the _Bain des Hommes_; the _Bain Neuf_; the _Grand-Bain_; the _Petit-Bain_.

The analysis of these waters is very incomplete; they are stated to contain muriate of Soda, Lime, sulphate of Potash and a small portion of Iron.

They have proved very beneficial in chronic rheumatism, paralysis, chronic catarrh, alterations in the abdominal viscera, and in some nervous affections. As these waters are less exciting than those of Plombieres, they are more suitable to persons of a feeble and delicate constitution.

The Baths are under the superintendance of a medical practitioner. A Hotel, called the Lion d'Or, affords ample accommodation for persons who come for the benefit of the waters. This place has been much frequented of late.

BOURBON-LANCY.

The mineral waters of this place, containing a population of 2700, are in the department of Saone-et-Loire, twelve leagues from Autun and eighty from Paris.

Dr de Verchere, a talented and philanthropic man, who long had the establishment under his management, reports numerous cures having been effected by the waters.

Their celebrity is of ancient date, and they have at various times been visited by several kings of France.

The town of Bourbon-Lancy is placed on the side of a hill, and constitutes a striking feature in a beautiful landscape. The air is extremely salubrious, and the place has long been remarkable for its freedom from epidemics.

It abounds in the comforts and luxuries of life, and commodious accommodations are provided for visitors, near the Baths.

The _Bread_ made here is said to be of a very superior quality, which the inhabitants attribute to its being kneaded with the mineral waters.

Numerous kinds of excellent fish are furnished by the Loire.

The mineral waters of Bourbon-Lancy have apparently one common source but appear at the surface of the earth in seven distinct springs. The 1st is called _le Lymbe_, from its great heat, as much as 135 deg. Fah. 2nd The _Fontaine de Saint-Leger_ temperature 100 deg. Fah. 3rd The _Fontaine de la Reine_ temp: 108 deg. Fah. 4th The _Fontaine des Ecures_, which take its name from the person who discovered the spring in 1600. temp: 140 deg. Fah. 5th The _Bain Royal_, temp: 104 deg. Fah.

Mr Jacquemont's analysis of these waters exhibits the presence of Carbonic Acid, and Muriate of Soda in excess, also the Sulphate of Soda, Carbonate of Lime, Oxide of Iron and Silex.

It is to be regretted that a more minute analysis of the waters has not been effected, for their continual boiling, and the saline efflorescence which forms upon the sides of the pipes, would seem to indicate the prevalence of fixed and volatile principles, the proportions of which it would be important to demonstrate.

Their heat and stimulating qualities peculiarly adapt them for the cure of obstinate chronic rheumatism, diseases of the lymphatics, chlorosis, incipient disorganization of the stomach, bowels, and other abdominal viscera. They have also been found highly beneficial in old gun shot wounds.

The Bourbon waters are administered in different doses, according to the constitution of the patient, and the nature of the disease, it is usual to take several glasses in the morning at intervals of a quarter of an hour.

The Baths varying in temperature from 90 deg. to 104 deg. Fah. are the most commonly used, and with the greatest success. But the most active baths are those varying from 113 deg. to 122 deg. Fah. but they require great caution in their administration.

There are several kinds of douches at Bourbon as the ascending, descending, fumigating, which are frequently used in torpidity of the intestines and obstinate constipations; resource is also had to them in some affections of the uterus and urinary organs. There are also _mud_ baths at this place.

BAGNOLES.

Bagnoles is a village in the department of l'Orne, the efficacy of the mineral waters at this place, was discovered by the following singular circumstance. An old horse having a disease of the skin, being covered all over with sores, was about to be delivered up to the knacker when his master calling to mind his good qualities, resolved upon turning him into the _Coppice of Roches-Noires_. Two months after happening to pass through the end of the valley, he descried an animal which he thought much resembled his own discarded steed. The horse trotted up, approached him familiarly, and though fat and sleek, was speedily recognised by his owner, who wishing to ascertain the cause of such an unexpected and astonishing cure, carefully watched the animal's movements, and presently saw him roll himself with much apparent satisfaction in a neighbouring bog, which upon putting his hand into it, he found to contain much internal heat. This circumstance occasioned the clearing out of the bog, when the source of a hot spring very limpid and very abundant was discovered.

This cure, originated the idea of forming the present establishment which since 1812 has been rapidly increasing in reputation. It stands at the foot of a mountain between two rocky escarpments, in one of the most beautiful and picturesque vallies in France.

Through this, winds the little river _la Vee_, the banks of which, adjacent to the Baths, are prettily planted, and intersected with numerous gravel walks, forming shady and agreeable promenades. The luxuriance of the trees and meadows which adorn this fertile valley, contrasted with the savage aspect of the vast rugged rocks by which it is bordered, together with the pretty scattered villas, and the salubrity of the air form a _tout ensemble_ rarely to be witnessed, and which contributes not a little to the recovery of the numerous visitors who resort to this fine establishment.

The mineral springs are received into a square cistern from whence they are conducted into the bathing rooms; they are extremely clear, unctuous to the touch, taste slightly acid, and emit a sulphureted hydrogen odour: air bubbles continually ascend with the water, and break as they reach the surface. The waters are found on analysis to contain carbonic acid, and muriate of Soda, in excess; a very small quantity of sulphate and muriate of lime, and muriate of Barytes. The sediment of the general receptacle contains some sulphur and Iron.

The Bagnoles waters are at once tonic and purgative; they excite the appetite, giving more activity to the digestive system, and have a general tendency favourable to the promotion of healthy secretions and excretions; particularly of the skin kidneys and glandular organs generally.

Administered as Baths, they have a very salutary action upon the skin, imparting to it a remarkable flexibility and softness.

M. Piette, who was forty years physician to this establishment, published a report upon the efficacy of these waters, in obstinate rheumatism, chronic catarrh, paralysis, chlorosis, leucorrhoea, chronic gastritis, etc. After enumerating their other virtues he says: "On lit dans les vieilles chroniques que les dames de la Normandie allaient autrefois a Bagnoles pour porter remede a leur sterilite."

From three to six glasses constitute a dose of the waters, they are taken in the morning.

The Bath rooms and appendages are judiciously arranged; when the natural heat of the water--(from 82 deg. to 90 deg. Fah.) is deemed insufficient by the physician, it can easily be increased by the aid of artificial heat, without materially deteriorating the medicinal virtues of the water.

Many Spa Doctors however assert (Dr Granville amongst the number) "that the _caloric_ of mineral waters is of a _specific_ kind, analogous to the heat of the body." A heat incorporated with the water by a chemico-vital process. And as no external warmth can supply the body with _vital_ heat, so no artificially created temperature can be a real substitute for the natural heat of thermal springs.

The temperature of the water of Bagnoles being about that of the blood--98 deg. Fah. immersion in it produces but a slight sensation of heat; the temperature of our bodies being below that of our blood. The sensation is that of comfort.

Bagnoles is sixty leagues from Paris, and one league from the high road leading from Alencon to Domfront, lying nearly on the route from Havre to Tours.

CHAUDES-AIGUES.

This is a small town in the department of Cantal, six leagues from Saint-Flour, on the road between Clermont and Toulouse, and derives its name from its thermal waters, which were much resorted to in the fifteenth century, and then called _Calentes Baiae_.

The temperature of the springs vary from 167 deg. to 189 deg. Fah. The resident poor turn this high temperature to many economical purposes, frequently cooking their entire meals by the natural heat of the waters; an egg is boiled hard by five minutes immersion.

The waters are extensively used by Curriers, Tanners, stuff and Flannel manufacturers, etc, their alkaline principles being found peculiarly adapted to many essential processes in these respective trades; to coloured articles, they are considered to give brilliancy and permanence to the dyes.

The _Belle Fontaine du Parc_, the highest in temperature of the spring, contains muriate of Soda, carbonate of lime; carbonate of Iron, and Silex.

These waters were held in high repute by the Romans and are particularly mentioned by one of their historians; "Calentes nunc te Baiae, et scabris cavernatim ructata pumicibus aqua sulfuris atque jecorosis ac phthisiscentibus languidis medicabilis piscina delectat."

They have an _alterative_ or _deobstruent_ action, are therefore applicable to a long catalogue of maladies arising from congestion and obstructions of the abdominal viscera.

WARM ACIDULOUS AND GASEOUS WATERS,

VICHY.

Vichy is situated in the department of the Allier, 87 leagues from Paris, fifteen from Moulins and thirty two from Lyon, in a valley surrounded by beautiful and fertile hills. The excellent roads which lead to this town, the purity of the air, the comfort and amusement which may be found in it combine to render it one of the most frequented watering places in France.

Its mineral waters were known to the Romans, and vestiges of ancient baths, coins etc. have frequently been found here. In the 14th century a monastery of the order of Celestins was founded at Vichy by Louis 2nd Duke of Bourbon, and in the following century, during the wars of the Praguerie this town was beseiged by Charles the 7th, and although fortified, taken by him in 1440.

Both Madame de Sevigne and the famous Flechier speak in the highest terms of the charms of this delightful place and vie with each other in its praise. It was visited in 1814 by the duchess of Angouleme, since which it has rapidly risen into notice, and owing to the exertions of the inhabitants to accommodate the numbers who now flock to these justly celebrated waters, few towns offer more resources to the invalid than Vichy.

The names of the principal Baths are,

1st--The _Grande-Grille_, temperature 104 deg. to 108 deg. Fah:

2nd--The _Petit-Puits carre_, temp. 113 deg. Fah:

3rd--The _Grande-Puits carre_, 113 deg. Fah: which supplies the Baths. These three springs are in the Bath house, under the gallery where persons taking the waters promenade.

4th--The _Petit-Boulet_, temp. 95 deg. Fah:

5th--The _Gros-Boulet_ or the _Hopital_, temp. 99 deg. Fah:

6th--The _source Lucas_, temp. 97 deg.

7th--The _Fontaine des Celestins_, temp. 74 deg. Fah:

All situated in a neat building near the Allier, and at the foot of a mountain.