[68] _Note from Mr. Spitta to Dr. Johnson._ The ancient history of _Carlsbad_ is interesting: it shews the powers of mendacious tradition. There is a certain mountain on the left bank of the Teple, termed _Hirschensprung_ [Spring of the stag], which carries in its very name a wondrous tale. As early as the middle of the fourteenth century, Charles IV. Emperor of Germany, and King of Bohemia, was pursuing a stag, and the animal, pressed closely by the hounds, ascended that lofty mountain. The huntsmen, unable to follow, on account of the steepness of the ascent, were returning by the bank of the river, supposing they had lost their game, when—imagine their surprise—they heard the cries of the scalded animal on the opposite side. The cause was easily explained. In the last despairing hope of escape, the animal had made a leap, from the top of the Hirschensprung, over the Teple; and had fallen, quite accidentally, into the boiling, bubbling Sprudel. The distance, as the crow flies, may be a mile, perhaps a mile and a half (more or less), a difference in tradition’s eye, of no importance. Thus the stag was found, and the Sprudel discovered, simultaneously. Tradition’s stories are always complete. King Charles happened to have a bad leg, for which (of course) the exercise of hunting was beneficial; he happened to try the waters, and happened to get well. The place henceforth assumed his name, Carlsbad (Charles’ bath), and rose by degrees to the importance it now possesses. [69] Although the proportion of iodine and other materials, appears small to the ALLOPATH, it is reckoned prodigious by the HOMŒOPATH, who indeed, considers that the surplus waters which flow from the Sprudel into the Teple, are quite sufficient to impregnate the stream of the Elbe at Hamburgh abundantly for all medicinal purposes. M. Creutzburg calculates that, in the course of a season at Carlsbad, during which he drank 404 goblets of the waters, there were 3¼ grains of hydriodate of soda, in that quantity. The quantity of carbonic acid gas in the pint is about 12 cubic inches. [70] There is another spring, the Bernard’s Brunnen, near the New Brunnen, which has a temperature as high as that of the Sprudel; but I believe it is seldom used. The Schlossbrunnen, much higher up the hill, is the least hot of all—and the Marktbrunnen, near the Muhlbrunn, is next to it in temperature. It exhales some odour of sulphur. [71] _Note from Mr. Spitta._