Pilgrimages to the Spas in Pursuit of Health and Recreation: With an inquiry into the comparative merits of different mineral waters: the maladies to which they are applicable, and those in which they are injuriousJohnson, James
Science
Pilgrimages to the Spas in Pursuit of Health and Recreation: With an inquiry into the comparative merits of different mineral waters: the maladies to which they are applicable, and those in which they are injurious
Johnson, James
Balneology; Health resorts; Mineral waters
The visitors of Carlsbad and Kissengen, are all radical reformers,
tearing up by the roots the numerous vices and abuses that have crept
into their constitutions;—but at Bocklet and Bruckenau, they become
eminently conservative—carefully rebuilding the various dilapidated
portions of the body corporate in the firmest manner, and on the most
durable foundations.
Bocklet is only half-a-dozen miles from Kissengen, and the waters contain
little more than two-thirds of a grain of iron to the pint; but then
there are 31 cubic inches of free carbonic acid gas, which confer on
the iron the greatest possible state of solution, and consequently the
greatest degree of energetic action on the human frame. In the pint of
this water, also, there are 27 grains of muriate of soda—six grains of
sulphate of soda—seven grains of carbonate of lime—nearly two grains
of carbonate of magnesia, with some slight saline impregnations, of no
great importance. The whole of the solid contents are between 40 and 50
grains in the pint. These ingredients, however, gently modify the action
of the iron, and render the water much safer, in many complaints and
constitutions, than the purer chalybeates (as for instance Bruckenau)
where the astringency and stimulation of the steel are unmitigated by
saline counter-poises. Dr. Hans, the Apollo of Bocklet, is loud in
the praises of these waters, taken internally and used as baths—and
indeed, from their composition and their physiological action, I think
it probable that they are of greater utility, and applicable to a wider
range of diseases than any other chalybeate in Germany, or perhaps in
Europe.
At no spa do the applicants live more completely _en famille_ than
here—all dining, drinking, and promenading together, sans ceremonie.
The cuisine at Bocklet appears to be under the superintendence of the
doctor. We dined at the one o’clock table-d’hôte, and had nothing but
soup—some bouilli—and roast chicken, instead of the endless courses
at other table-d’hôtes. The whole, with a pint bottle of wine, cost
about eighteen-pence for each person! Bocklet, however, seems but
little frequented, compared with Bruckenau, though its waters are of an
excellent quality. The drive from Kissengen along the side of the Saal,
is very pleasant, and passes the Soolensprudel and salt works, which we
stopped to examine. The Soolensprudel was in high feather, foaming and
boiling over into conduits that conveyed it to the baths. It is well
worth seeing.
There are some pleasant excursions in the neighbourhood, where time may
be killed, and health promoted by the same process.
The air for a mile or two around the salines strongly resembles sea
air, where there is much sea-weed on the shore. It is very grateful and
refreshing.
BRUCKENAU.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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