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 venerable _Hufeland_ published in 1815, a treatise on the chief
medicinal springs in Germany. He recommends the use of the Carlsbad
waters in cases of constipation, tympanites, incipient disorganisation
of the stomach and bowels and other abdominal viscera, more especially
of the liver, of chronic jaundice, of congestion of the mesenteric and
portal veins; also in nervous ailments, as amaurosis, hypochondriasis,
and in various forms of calculous disease. He also strongly recommends
them in most of the forms of gout. The Carlsbad waters, in addition to
their purgative qualities, are possessed of remarkable alterative powers,
so that often they effect quite a change in the state of the blood and
other fluids of the body, depriving them of all acrimonious and hurtful
particles, and restoring them to a condition of health. Hence their
striking utility in numerous cases of cachexia, which are irremediable by
ordinary medical treatment.—HLAWACZEK.
VALETUDINARIUM.
It is often more easy to ascertain the internal condition of the body
through the medium of external phenomena, than that of the mind through
the physiognomy of the countenance. To the experienced observer, the
complexion, the expression, the eye, the gait, the tone of voice, the
figure, the proportion of the different parts of the body, and many other
indications incapable of description, convey very authentic information
respecting the condition of organs and structures that are far removed
from sight. It is in a great SANITARIUM like this, where invalids are
gathered from all quarters of the world, that a young physician, under
the guidance of an old one, might beneficially study the _physiognomy_
of diseases. For, although the greater number of spas have much that is
common, both as respects the waters and the maladies for which they are
taken, yet each spa, or at least, each class of spas, exhibits some
characteristic features among the mass of visitors, indicative of the
maladies which led them to the Hygeian fountains of the place. Thus it
is impossible to stand long at the FONTAINE ELISÉE of Aix-la-Chapelle,
without discerning a large sprinkling of cutaneous complaints, however
carefully they may be concealed by the wearers of them. It is in vain
that—
“Wrapp’d in his robe white LEPRA hides his stains,”
the features of the LEPER disclose the worm that torments him by day
and by night. The French and Germans are universally imbued with the
doctrine that the repression of a certain malady, which has got the
musical soubriquet of “SCOTCH-FIDDLE,” is the cause of half the evils
to which flesh is heir. On this account, the continental folks have a
great longing, or rather a violent _itching_ for sulphureous waters.
The slightest odour of sulphuretted hydrogen gas in a newly-discovered
spring, is a real treasure—and in the old ones, it is sure to preserve
reputation to endless ages!
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