CHAPTER III.

BATHING LOCALITIES.

In considering the various bathing localities it is only natural that we should begin with London. We have no intention of speaking in detail of the various baths with which private enterprise has provided the inhabitants of London, for such a course would be quite foreign to the intentions of this little work, which is intended merely to furnish the reader with a few general principles which shall be of use to him in selecting a bath. There is no kind of bath which cannot be got in London, and between a dip in the Serpentine and the elaborate process of the Turkish bath the bather has a wide choice. In proportion to its size and the number of its inhabitants, however, the bathing accommodation is very bad. The Thames is still a foul stream, and few care to plunge into the sewage which flows down from Richmond and surges back again from Barking. It is true that we have one large swimming bath floating close to Hungerford Bridge, the water of which is filtered in an ingenious way; but it may safely be said that, were the water of the river cleaner, we should have fifty such baths instead of one. We have often thought that a bathing establishment on a really grand scale would be a success in London, and we hope some day to see baths in our great metropolis, which should remind one of the palatial establishment of Caracalla. A combination of a swimming bath, private baths, Turkish baths, &c., with a first-rate gymnasium, reading-room, lecture hall, and refreshment room, would surely meet with sufficient patronage to pay, and we even believe that the introduction of sea-water for such a purpose (an undertaking which has been started more than once) would be sufficiently appreciated to ensure a dividend to the promoters.

England is naturally very well supplied with sea-bathing resorts, and it is possible to get a sea-bath in our island combined with any variety of climate, from the cold and bracing to the mild and relaxing. Sea-air, the great value of which is well understood as a curative agent, has certain peculiarities. It is necessarily the purest air that can be got, and when the breeze is off the sea the air comes to the shore practically uncontaminated and free from the exhalations of animals or furnaces. It is said to be very rich in ozone, and it certainly contains fine saline particles supplied to it by the sea-spray, and possibly small quantities of iodine, which give to the sea-breeze that peculiar odour which it undoubtedly possesses. Sea-air is dense, and the barometer stands at its maximum at the sea-level. Sea-air is warmer than the air of inland places, and it is more equable in its temperature owing to the comparatively slight changes in temperature which the sea itself undergoes. The effect of sea-air is very stimulating, and sojourners by the sea have their appetites increased and their vital functions quickened. While speaking of sea-air we must remind the reader that the air of the seaside places is often far from good, owing to the defective sanitary arrangements. There are not a few towns on our coasts, the sewers of which are taken out on to the beach where visitors most do congregate, and the smell of sewage at low tide is often far from pleasant. In selecting a sea-bathing place it is of importance to attend, not only to the aspect and general situation of the town, but to inform oneself whether or not it be thoroughly drained, the sewers being carried either inland to a proper sewage farm or far out to sea well beyond low-water mark; whether the water supply for drinking purposes be good and abundant, and whether the general cleanliness of the town is properly attended to. Climate is a very local phenomenon, and it is of as much importance to see that the bedroom and sitting-room which an invalid has to occupy are well ventilated and have a good aspect, as to attend to the latitude and general aspect of the locality chosen. It is of little use to send a patient to the sea if he has to spend the greater part of his time in small rooms made unbearable by gaslights or the defective drainage of the house; and an invalid with delicate lungs will derive but little benefit from a sojourn in the south if his windows face the north and he is afraid to open them.

As to the time of year at which sea-baths should be taken, that of course depends upon the locality visited. On the east coast, in situations which are exposed to winds from the north and east, bathing is only advisable during the three summer months of June, July, and August. On the west coast it is possible to begin a little earlier, and continue a little later; and in some situations in the south, the season may be said to extend from the middle of April to November. In these latter places, the temperature at midsummer is often unpleasantly high, and the bathing season falls into abeyance for a time. There are many considerations which influence people in their choice of a bathing station, such as the size of a town, or whether it be gay or quiet; its distance from London, its accessibility, the accommodation, the expense, &c. A more important point, perhaps, is the nature of the bottom, whether it be sandy or shingly. The great popularity of the bathing resorts on the north coast of France and the Belgian coast is due to the great expanse of fine sand of which the bottom is composed.

In selecting a bathing place it is advisable, if reliable information is not forthcoming from those who know it well, to look at the Ordnance map of the town and district, and learn from an inspection of it, not only the direction in which the locality looks sea-ward, but the nature of the immediate surroundings of it; the position and height of cliffs and hills, and the amount of protection against cold or heat. The nature of the soil should also be ascertained, and the prevailing character of the vegetation, and, if possible, the amount of rainfall and the mean temperature of summer and winter.

Many watering places possess, in a very restricted area, many climates. Let us look at such a watering place as Bournemouth, and we shall be able to explain what we mean. Bournemouth is a town of some six or seven thousand inhabitants, built on a sandy soil, surrounded by pine woods. It faces the south; the average rainfall is 30 inches per annum; the temperature is equable, and frosts are comparatively rare, the mean night temperature in the month of January being 35·6. The town is built upon two bold cliffs, with a dip between them, and the surface of the soil being very uneven, it is thus possible to get almost any climate. In the dip between the cliffs are situations exposed only to the south, and protected from all cold winds; and others facing only to the north. On the east cliff one may live in a pine-wood, with the advantages of moderate elevation, a southern aspect, and the protection of trees which have the double advantage of being evergreen, and possessing a foliage which does not rot and decompose in autumn. On the west cliff, again, one may live in a house exposed to every wind that blows, in a climate which may very justly be spoken of as bracing.

It seems unnecessary to catalogue the various sea-bathing resorts in Great Britain. They are numberless, and intending visitors are influenced mainly by questions of accessibility and accommodation. Those on the east coast are mostly bracing, those on the west are more relaxing, while those on the southern coast are mostly warm and available during the winter months. We must refer our readers to the various guide-books and gazetteers for detailed information.

We have next to consider the various mineral baths scattered about Europe, and it must be admitted that the arrangements for bathing at the various sources of mineral waters are much better carried out on the Continent than in this country. In any course of treatment bathing is generally only one element of the regimen to which an invalid is directed to submit. Diet, climate, rest, and exercise, and the internal administration of medicine or of mineral water, often are called into requisition to perform their share in the cure; and while a patient is bathing, and by bathing is stimulating or facilitating his animal functions, it is of the greatest importance that he should live the healthiest life imaginable. At most of the German baths a somewhat strict surveillance of the bathers is maintained, and at those which have the greatest reputation, it is almost impossible to get, in the shape of food, anything of which the local physicians would disapprove. It is too often the habit of the Englishman to go to a bath without taking any advice as to his general mode of life while bathing, or even whether he may expect benefit or harm from the treatment he is prescribing for himself. The foreigner, on the other hand, submits in all things to authority, and while “undergoing a cure” he is content to have his time of rising and going to bed, his meals, his exercise, his baths, and other treatment, all accurately regulated for him. It is on this account, no doubt, that the German and French baths have so great a reputation, for while visiting them the guests live by rule just as athletes do in this country when they wish to bring themselves to the highest pitch of health attainable in view of some muscular contest. When the Englishman is told to visit this or that continental spring, he may well ask, as did the captain of the host, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean?” He must remember, however, that, as in Naaman’s case, obedience to the directions of the prophet resulted in a cure, so he must seek out a spring where he will find a prophet; to whose dictation he must be willing for a time in all things to submit.

When people visit a mineral spring they generally do so with the double object of drinking the water and of bathing in it; with the drinking of mineral water we have, in this volume, nothing to do, but merely with bathing, and the reader will have gathered from the previous chapters, that, when bathing only is concerned, the exact composition of the water is not a matter of very great importance; since all baths act in the same way, by stimulating the skin, and the water of the bath is probably _never absorbed_. It is important to insist upon this point, because we find in several bath-puffs the assertion that their effect is due to the absorption through the skin of the material dissolved in the water of the bath. Such an assertion is contrary to the teaching of our leading physiologists. At all sea-bathing places the climate is, in one respect, the amount of barometric pressure, similar. The advantage of mineral baths over sea-baths very greatly lies in the fact that we are not only able to choose our water but also to choose our climate, and to have either a mountain climate with low barometric pressure, or a sea-level climate with a high barometric pressure, or a climate where the barometric pressure is intermediate between these two extremes.

We must, in order to bring the effects of mountain climates vividly before the mind of the reader, refer again to the comparison which we have made elsewhere between the burning of fuel in a furnace, and the combustion which is constantly going on in our bodies. Experiments made by Professors Tyndall and Frankland on the combustion of candles at different altitudes, seem to give the clue to the explanation of the effects of mountain air upon our bodies. These gentlemen burnt candles of equal weight, and under similar conditions at Chamouni, and also on the top of Mont Blanc, which is 12,000 feet higher. They found that the amount of candle consumed in equal periods of time was the same in both situations, but that on the top of the mountain the candle gave out considerably _less light_ than it did in the valley. The diminution of the light was attributed with justice to the _completeness_ of the combustion, for the light emitted by a flame is mainly due to the unconsumed particles of carbon in a state of incandescence. Mountain air, being much more rarified than the air of low-lying valleys, contains much less oxygen in proportion to volume, but its lesser density seems to enable the oxygen to assume, as it were, a greater activity.

It has also been found that bodies lose heat less rapidly in rarified atmospheres, so that presumably there is less need for heat-production on the mountain than on the plain; so that in mountain climates the body is saved a certain proportion of the combustion necessary for the generation of heat.

Mountain air is pure, and removed from miasmata and exhalations, whether from marshes or (being usually sparsely inhabited) men. It is usually still and seldom foggy. The variations of temperature are very great and very rapid, the visitor having often to undergo, within a few hours, a tropical and an arctic climate. These rapid variations serve probably to stimulate vital processes, and there can be little doubt that they are important factors in the general effect produced by mountain climates.

The following notes made during a sojourn at Davos in Switzerland may serve to bring some of the above facts in a more concrete form before the reader. “The height above sea-level is between 5000 and 6000 feet, and the barometer stands at about an average of 620 millimètres, instead of 760, which is its average height at the sea-level, so that the weight of the atmosphere is only 620/760, or rather more than three-fourths of what to most of us is its normal weight. The result of this is that under the influence of the sun’s rays evaporation is marvellously rapid. The dew is gone in an instant, and the vapours of the early morning seem to vanish at the first touch of the solar heat. Thus it follows that although the rainfall is considerable, the dryness of the air is, during the main part of the day, nearly absolute. The range of temperature is apt to be very great, and the thermometer, even in the height of summer, is frequently below freezing point in the early morning and in the shade, while in the sunshine, towards midday, the heat is simply scorching. For the most part, however, the temperature is very pleasant in summer; and even invalids, if properly provided with wraps, may spend almost all the hours of daylight out of doors. The obvious results on a healthy person of living in such a climate are (1) a slight increase in the rate of pulse and respiration; (2) a craving for and an ease in performing muscular exercise; and (3) a marked increase of the appetite, with a general feeling of exhilaration. The air acts, in fact, as a powerful stimulant. Ladies, and those who are not able to take much exercise, often have a difficulty in sleeping, but this is never of long continuance. Owing, it is said, to the diminished atmospheric pressure, the cutaneous blood-vessels dilate, and the complexion becomes (with the help of the sun) exceedingly ruddy, a fact which is particularly noticeable in the inhabitants, whose red cheeks strike a stranger with astonishment.”

There are of course many things to be considered in making selection of a bath besides the height above sea-level. Attention must be paid to the local configuration of the district, and the sanitary condition of the town or village in which the healing spring is situated. It is manifestly unadvisable for an invalid who has been sent to the Alps for the benefit of a mountain climate to settle down in some narrow gorge, exposed perhaps, only to one wind, into which the sun only peeps at midday, where the climate knows no medium between the two extremes of heat and cold, where the river perhaps has been converted into an open sewer by the inhabitants, and where the population is a mixture of the Goitrous and the Cretinous. Such localities are to be found, and it may well happen that the invalid may go to the bath to be cured of his gout, and return with typhoid or ague. Some few years back the writer was travelling in the Vosges mountains, and stopped a night at a well-known watering-place, taking up his abode in the Bad-haus. The situation of the town was extremely picturesque; the valley in which it lay was verdant, the hills were well clothed with foliage, and the mineral springs of the district were such as might well be recommended to many patients. The inhabitants, however, had seen fit to turn the lovely stream which meandered through the valley into a sewer. Into it abominations of every kind were thrown, and its pebbly bottom had become obscured by broken crockery, old tin pots, old boots and shoes, and other refuse. The swine were driven into it every morning as if on purpose to defile it, and what should have been one of the chief attractions of the district had become a pestilential nuisance, exhaling filthy odours, and fit only to be bridged over and hidden absolutely from the light. It is not sufficient in making choice of a bathing place to consider only those dry facts which are capable of being stated in figures, but the intending bather should seek reliable information as to the sanitary condition of the town, as well as of the hotel or lodging-house which he proposes to inhabit. This information is only to be got from disinterested patients who have made a sojourn in the locality. Guide books are seldom to be trusted, and special treatises on the virtues of this or that bath are to be regarded as the works of a fervid imagination in the absence of confirmatory evidence. The most potent cause in establishing the popularity of this or that bathing place has been the heat of the water, and there is perhaps no hot spring in Europe which was not used for bathing by the Romans, or which has not been used from times of remote antiquity by the inhabitants of the district. It is so convenient and so cheap to have hot water ready to hand without the necessity of huge furnaces, enormous chimneys, expensive boilers, and endless pipes, that it is not surprising that such a valuable natural gift should be appreciated.

The best known hot bath in this country is the one at _Bath_, in Somersetshire, the water of which proved so attractive to the Romans that they founded the city of _Aquæ Solis_ here, in the 1st century of the Christian era. It is needless for us to dwell upon the popularity of Bath. There are four hot springs here which vary in temperature between 120° Fahr. and 104° Fahr. The supply of water is ample and abundant, and the accommodation for guests such as can hardly be surpassed. The corporation of the city have lately erected a magnificent suite of baths, and if they will but turn their attention to the condition of the river Avon, and rigidly enforce the provisions of the Pollution of Rivers Act, Bath may again become as popular as it was in the days of Beau Nash. The elevation of Bath above the sea-level is only about 100 feet. The constituents of the Bath water are chiefly sulphate of lime with a little carbonate of iron, together with some free carbonic acid and nitrogen. It has been called an earthy water, but perhaps it is better to regard it as a simple hot water, the chief virtue of which is its warmth.

_Buxton_, in Derbyshire, is situated nearly 1000 feet above the sea-level in an open hollow surrounded by hills. There is good reason to believe that the water of Buxton was known to the Romans. The temperature of the Buxton water is 82° Fahr. The amount of saline ingredients is but small. The water is, however, impregnated with a large quantity both of carbonic acid and nitrogen gas. The town is amply provided with accommodation both for bathing and lodging.

At _Clifton_, near Bristol, there are springs having a temperature of 74° Fahr., and at _Mallow_, in Ireland, is a spring having a temperature of about 70° Fahr., and containing, like the water of Buxton, a large quantity of free nitrogen gas. A great deal has been written about the virtues of free nitrogen in water, but without, as it seems to us, sufficient evidence.

There are many hot springs in Europe which are very largely frequented by invalids. We can, however, do little more than tabulate the chief, indifferent, and earthy thermal springs, giving the chief facts concerning each.

At _Leuk_, in Switzerland, situated at the foot of the Gemmi Pass, we find a water possessing a natural temperature of 102° Fahr. to 120° Fahr., situated 4600 feet above the sea-level. The water is indifferent, and it is the custom here for bathers to remain many hours consecutively in the water. Ladies and gentlemen bathe in the same bath, and it is no uncommon thing for the bathers to be seen taking their luncheon or playing dominoes upon floating tables.

At _Pfaffers_ and _Ragatz_, near the town of Coire, in Switzerland, are found indifferent springs, situated between 1500 and 2000 feet above the sea-level, and having a temperature of 100° Fahr.

_Gastein_ is a much frequented and very fashionable bath in the Austrian Salzkammergut, some twelve or thirteen hours’ drive from Salzburg. The height above sea-level is 3300 feet, and the temperature of the water varies from 96° Fahr. to 114° Fahr.

_Bormio_, at the foot of the Stelvio Pass, on the southern slope of the Alps, has an altitude of over 4000 feet, and water of a temperature of 104° Fahr.

_Wildbad_, in the Black Forest, has been for many years a favourite bath with the English. The elevation is 1300 feet, and the temperature of the water a little over 100° Fahr.

_Wiesbaden_, the capital of Nassau, possesses both hot and cold springs. The former have a temperature of 160° Fahr., and contain a fair amount of chlorides. The town is beautifully situated among the Taunus Hills, and has an elevation of 300 feet above the sea-level.

_Teplitz_, in Bohemia, is a fashionable bathing resort. The town is well ordered, and healthfully situated, being 600 feet above the sea-level, and supplied with natural thermal springs, having a temperature ranging from 78° Fahr. to 120° Fahr.

_Schlangenbad_, among the Taunus Hills, is a quiet bathing-place, with a natural tepid water having a temperature ranging between 80° and 90° Fahr. The Schlangenbad water only contains 2-1/2 grains of solids to the pint, so that it may safely be regarded as an “indifferent” spring. Sir Francis Head, the author of the ‘Bubbles from the Brunnens of Nassau,’ visited Schlangenbad in 1836, and we feel constrained to make the following extract from his work, as typically illustrating the kind of belief which gathers round a natural spring:--

“In the history of the little Duchy of Nassau, the discovery of this spring forms a story full of innocence and simplicity. Once upon a time there was a heifer, with which everything in nature seemed to disagree. The more she ate the thinner she grew; the more her mother licked her hide, the rougher and the more staring was her coat. Not a fly in the forest would bite her; never was she seen to chew the cud, but, hidebound and melancholy, her hips seemed actually to be protruding from her skin. What was the matter with her no one knew; what could cure her no one could divine. In short, deserted by her master and her species, she was, as the faculty would term it, ‘given over.’ In a few weeks, however, she suddenly reappeared among the herd, with ribs covered with flesh, eyes like a deer, and skin sleek as a mole’s; breath sweetly smelling of milk, saliva hanging in ringlets from her jaw! Every day seemed to re-establish her health, and the phenomenon was so striking that the herdsman, feeling induced to watch her, discovered that regularly every evening she wormed her way in secret into the forest, until she reached an unknown spring of water, from which, having refreshed herself, she quietly returned to the valley. This trifling circumstance, scarcely known, was almost forgotten by the peasant, when a young Nassau lady began to show exactly the same incomprehensible symptoms as the heifer. Mother, sisters, friends, father, all tried to cure her, but in vain, and the physician had actually

‘Taken his leave with sighs and sorrow, Despairing of his fee to-morrow,’

when the herdsman, happening to hear of her case, prevailed upon her at last to try the heifer’s secret remedy. She did so, and in a very short time, to the utter astonishment of her friends, she became one of the stoutest and roundest young women in the duchy.” Sir Francis Head goes on to describe how he was conducted along subterranean passages to the source of the baths, and was astonished to find serpents swimming in the water, and still more astonished to hear his cicerone declare, “_C’est ce qui donne la qualité à ces eaux!_” Schlangen, or serpents, are very common in this part of the duchy of Nassau, and hence the name Schlangenbad.

_Baden-Baden_ is at once one of the most frequented and most picturesque baths in Europe. The temperature of the water varies from 115° Fahr. to 144° Fahr, and the elevation above the sea-level is 616 feet. The waters contain only 22 grains of solid ingredients to the pint, the chief of which is common salt (16-1/2 grains).

The celebrated hot purgative water of _Carlsbad_, although formerly used for bathing, is now chiefly employed for drinking.

Bathing is carried on to a very large extent at _Vichy_ (in the Department of Allier, in France), although these waters are chiefly used as internal remedies.

_Plombières_, among the Vosges Mountains, has an elevation of 1310 feet. The water contains only 2 grains of solid ingredients to the pint, but the temperature is high, varying from 80° Fahr. to 160° Fahr.

Some of the hot springs at _Ems_, such as the Fürstenbrunnen, with a temperature of 95° Fahr., and the Neuequelle, with a temperature of 117° Fahr., are used for bathing.

At _Aix-les-Bains_, in Savoy, 768 feet above the sea-level, will be found two hot springs, varying in temperature from 106° Fahr. to 116° Fahr. These waters contain less than 4 grains of solid ingredients to the pint, but one of them, containing an appreciable amount of sulphuretted hydrogen, is known as the sulphur spring. Aix was known to the Romans, and in the modern town will be found every bathing appliance which art can contrive.

At _Mont Doré_ and at _Bourboule_, in the department of Puy de Dôme, in France, at an elevation of 3400 feet above the sea, are thermal springs having a temperature of 104° Fahr. to 114° Fahr.

Having enumerated the chief warm baths in Europe, we will proceed to catalogue some of the best known of the salt baths.

_Droitwich_, in Worcestershire, is perhaps the only place in England where concentrated salt baths can be obtained. The brine of Droitwich is said to contain as much as 2760 grains to the pint. The town is uninteresting.

At _Ischl_, in the Salzkammergut, is a concentrated brine containing 1900 grains to the pint. It is 2000 feet above the sea-level, and the country is charmingly picturesque.

_Kreuznach_, not far from Bingen on the Rhine, has a strong salt spring, and is much resorted to by scrofulous patients. The mother-lye of Kreuznach is said to contain 2400 grains to the pint. These strong brines are only used after proper dilution.

The water of _Soden_, in the Taunus hills, contains 160 grains to the pint; and at _Homburg_ are found several springs which have about 90 grains to the pint.

_Kissingen_ is a fashionable watering place in the north of Bavaria, with an elevation of about 800 feet above the sea-level. Here will be found all the accessories of bath life. The water contains about 60 grains of solid ingredients to the pint.

The _Wood Hall Spa_, near Lincoln, is a salt spring containing as much as 160 grains to the pint.

_Rehme_, in Westphalia, is situated on the Cologne and Minden railway. The water has nearly 250 grains of salt to the pint, and is very highly charged with carbonic acid. The natural temperature of the water is 92° Fahr. There is every facility at Rehme for administering baths of all kinds and of all degrees of concentration.

_Nauheim_ is not far from Homburg, among the Taunus hills, and possesses a water very similar to that of Rehme, having from 170 to 291 grains to the pint, being highly charged with carbonic acid, and having a temperature of from 80° Fahr. to 94° Fahr. The elevation of Nauheim above the sea-level is 450 feet. The salt baths of Rehme and Nauheim enjoy a very wide reputation.

Although sulphur waters are not so much used for bathing as formerly was the case, this little book would not be complete without some notice of the chief sulphur springs.

_Harrogate_, in Yorkshire, has been well known for more than three centuries, and although the sulphuretted hydrogen, by its predominant smell, gives the chief character to the Harrogate springs, they have an equal claim to be called saline or chalybeate, for they are strongly impregnated with salt and with iron, so that the taste has been compared to a mixture of rotten eggs and the scourings of a gun. The old sulphur spring contains 137 grains of solid contents to the pint, and is strongly impregnated with carbonic acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. Harrogate is now a fashionable watering place, with every accommodation for visitors. The situation of the town is open and airy, and the climate is decidedly bracing.

_Gilsland_, in Cumberland, has a sulphur spring of some repute.

The Pyrenees is the district _par excellence_ of sulphur springs. _Baréges_ is the most famous of the Pyrenean baths, situated 4000 feet above the level of the sea. Its water, which has a natural temperature of 86° Fahr. to 111° Fahr., contains only 1·657 grains to the pint, of which ·360 grain is sodium sulphide. This becoming decomposed on exposure, forms the sulphuretted hydrogen which gives the character to the spring. These sulphur waters contain a peculiar gelatinous organic substance which has been called barégine, and which has been supposed by some authorities, but on insufficient grounds, to give the peculiar virtue to the water.

_Cauterets_, in the Pyrenees, 3000 feet above sea-level, with a sulphur water having a natural temperature of 98° Fahr. to 130° Fahr.

_Bagnères de Luchon_, 2000 feet above sea-level, with a natural hot sulphurous water.

_Eaux Bonnes_ and _Eaux Chaudes_, 2000 feet above the sea.

At _Aix-les-Bains_, in Savoy, one of the springs is strongly impregnated with sulphur.

_Aix-la-Chapelle_, in Rhenish Prussia, is 450 feet above the sea. The water contains about 30 grains of solid contents to the pint, and is strongly impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen.

Any water may be used for bathing purposes, and it is almost always the custom for visitors who go to a spring for the purpose of _drinking_ the water, to take some _baths_ as well, the baths often being composed of the same water as that used for drinking. It is not generally believed that there is any particular virtue in baths composed of alkaline waters, such as those to be found at Vichy, nor in purgative waters, like those at Carlsbad, nor in iron waters like those at Tunbridge Wells, Spa or Schwalbach. Hot bathing, however, may be expected to help the effect which it is sought to bring about by taking the water internally, and it has not unfrequently been the case that the effect of drinking has been attributed to the bathing.

It is worthy of remark that, at some places where miracles are claimed to be wrought by the effect of water (as, for example, at Malvern), the water used is remarkable merely for its great purity and almost absolute freedom from mineral ingredients.

It is not a little remarkable that some waters, which were formerly used almost exclusively for _bathing_, are now used almost as exclusively for drinking. Carlsbad affords an instance of this. The word _bad_, when used as an affix, generally indicates that the water is or has been used mainly for bathing. The word _brunn_, or _brunnen_, however, usually implies that the spring has been mainly employed for drinking purposes.