Schlangenbad

“ But there are generally some Princes here to take the Waters, who make Entertainments for the Gentry.
Schlangenbadt, which is a League from Schwalbach, is a Place that consists properly of two great Houses, one belonging to the Elector of Mentz, and the other to the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt. Here they use the Hot Baths, which are extremely wholesome for relaxing the Nerves, and for the Stone. Barren Women also frequent this Place; but if they don’t take very great Care of themselves, they generally return pregnant. ”

“ Its upper 59reach, which makes the eastern boundary of the Schwaben, is as ghastly a scene of smash as the world can show. It is nothing but a collection of irregular pools dug by big shells during months of battle. The pools are long enough and deep enough to dive into, and full to overflowing with filthy water. Sometimes the pressure of the water bursts the mud banks of one of these pools and a rush of water comes, and the pools below it overflow, and a noise of water rises in that solitude which is like the mud and water of the beginning of the world before any green thing appeared. ”

“ Wili gazed thoughtfully over the edge of the tub, and said, "If it gets much deeper we shall be drowned."
And it went on getting deeper and deeper.
Pretty soon Schnurri grew restless, and sprang up, making the tub roll so frightfully as almost to upset it. The water was now so deep that the children could not get out without danger, and they became dreadfully frightened, and began to cry out as loud as they could,
"We are drowning! Mamma! Battiste! Trine! We are drowning!" Then they no longer used any words, but simply screamed, quite beside themselves with terror. ”

“ The very name carries its own explanation, for it is the natural mineral baths that have made the fame of Baden, though it must not be confused with the greater Baden-Baden in Germany. The only drawback to the place is its excessive popularity, which causes it to be submerged beneath waves of trippers at holiday times. The hot sulphur baths are equal to any in existence, and the music and dancing and entertainments of all kinds draw many who have no desire to improve their health to the gay watering place. ”

“ The baths of Marienbad are on a splendid scale—including the mineral water—the gas—and the mud baths. The grand source of the waters for bathing is the Marienbrunn, which furnishes 5280 cubic feet of water in 24 hours. The basin is large and capacious—entirely covered over—and the carbonic acid gas boils up in all directions, and in globes and globules of all sizes, with astonishing vehemence and agitation. The disengagement of gas here is, in my opinion, much more striking and wonderful than at the Cold Sprudel and its neighbour at Franzensbad. ”

“ There are several hot springs there, and during two thousand years they have poured forth a never diminishing abundance of the healing water. This water is conducted in pipes to the numerous bath houses, and is reduced to an endurable temperature by the addition of cold water. The new Friēderichsbad is a very large and beautiful building, and in it one may have any sort of bath that has ever been invented, and with all the additions of herbs and drugs that his ailment may need or that the physician of the establishment may consider a useful thing to put into the water. ”

“ One hears much of mud-baths at different spas of Germany: but a genuine Schlammbad is seen only in Bohemia, and especially at Franzensbad.
The mud is obtained, as you are undoubtedly aware, from a large bog or moor, situated at the back of the Louisen and Caltsprudel wells, which, according to Dr. Kœstler, who accompanied me to examine it, is nine miles by three in extent; and he tells me also that the same schlamm extends to a depth of 20 feet. Indeed the whole village may be said to be resting on this peat-earth; for you cannot dig up the soil to any depth without discovering it. ”

“ It is unnecessary to multiply the virtues of mud-baths. Those who desire ocular proofs must repair to Franzensbad in Bohemia, where they will see—not mud but bog-baths in perfection; though they are now also got up very well in Marienbad, Carlsbad, Teplitz, and other fashionable spas. ”

“ Amusements of all kinds, gambling, drinking, flirting, and love intrigues made public bathing a rather costly pastime. At most places there was common bathing of men and women. The most famous water resorts were the Wildbad in the Black Forest, Baden in the Breisgau, and Baden in Aargau. There is gathered all the wealth of the surrounding country. Princes and knights, highborn ladies, rich merchants, prelates, and abbesses bathed, jested, and led a gay life. ”

“ This little goblin page, the whipper-in, attendant, or aid-de-camp of the old pig-driver, facetiously called, at Langen-Schwalbach, the “Schwein-General,” is a being no one looks at, and who looks at nobody. Whether the hofs of Schwalbach are full of strangers, or empty—whether the promenades are occupied by princes or peasants—whether the weather be good or bad, hot or rainy, she apparently never stops to consider; upon these insignificant subjects it is evident she never for a moment has reflected. ”

“ Every house owner is provided with a bathing-room, a bathing-tub, and buckets to carry the water.
According to comparative experiments made last year by Dr. Romberg of Berlin and myself, in order to ascertain a point contested by many, the Sprudel water lost 211⁄2° R., and common water, artificially heated, 33° R, in half an hour.
The advantages of steam-baths had long been praised, and patients at Carlsbad had now and then imagined some imperfect mode of applying vapour in various ailments, rheumatism, gout, contractions of limbs, but without any methodical principles. ”

“ There was one drawback on the mud-bath, or peat-poultice. We cannot roll about, like a porpoise or whale, as in the water-bath, without considerable effort, so dense is the medium in which we lie; but I found that I could use friction to all parts of the body, with great ease, in consequence of the unctuous and lubricating quality of the bath. After twenty minutes’ immersion, I felt an excitement of the surface, quite different from that of the common mineral warm baths—even of those of Wisbaden, Kissengen, or Schwalbach—attended, as I fancied, by elevation of spirits. ”

“ The yellow chignon has vanished round a corner and the energetic old woman has drawn her ex-adorer down on a bench in the meagre shade of a watering-place promenade, upon a grass-green bench under gray-brown trees.
It is in Franzensbad in July; afternoon; around them the sleepy stillness of a place where there is nothing to do and one cannot amuse one's self.
Some ladies, pale, sickly, dressed with the grotesque elegance which is permissible in a watering-place, pass, some with arms bare to the elbow, others with pearls round their necks, still others with floating hair. ”

“ The quantity of these reptiles, or Schlangen, that exist in the woods surrounding the spring is very great; and they of course have given their name to the place. When full grown they are about five feet long, and in hot weather are constantly seen gliding across the paths, or rustling under the dead leaves of the forest.
As soon as the lady had shown me the whole establishment, she strongly recommended me to take up my abode in the old “Bad-Haus;” ”

“ The pillar of the Synagogue felt as if his paunch were shrinking.
"But the others—" he murmured deprecatingly. "I have not shed their blood—have I not given freely of my hard-earned gold?"
"For your own diversion," retorted the Schnorrer implacably. "But what says the Midrash? There is a wheel rolling in the world—not he who is rich to-day is rich to-morrow, but this one He brings up, and this one He brings down, as is said in the seventy-fifth Psalm. Therefore, lift not up your horn on high, nor speak with a stiff neck." ”

“ The purity or foulness of the air in the hot rooms forms all the difference between a good bath and a bad one, which latter is infinitely worse than no bath at all. There exist, at the present time, scores of baths where the odours of the sudatory chambers are nauseating. Such foulness arises from stagnation of the air. There is no continuous flow, and the respirations and exhalations of the bathers are not removed. A system of ventilation may be pointed out, but it is on the wrong principle, and does not act. There is no change of air. The atmosphere of such places becomes pestilential. ”

“ The doctors have firmly asserted, and the patients have willingly believed the “flattering tale.” As the gas-baths are seldom trusted to alone, it is impossible to say with accuracy, what share they have in the general restoration of health, and the consequent invigoration of the constitution. Upon the whole, I left Marienbad with the strong [206] conviction on my mind, that its waters and baths were among the most efficient in the list of the German spas.
The valley of Marienbad is well sheltered, and surrounded by pines in the immediate neighbourhood of the spa ”

“ Carlsbad or Kaiser-bad (the bath-town of the Emperor Charles IV. of Bohemia) ; Marien-bad, Lat. Balneum Mariæ (the bath-town of the Virgin Mary) ; Wiesbaden, anc. Fontes-Mattiaci (the baths or springs of the Mattiaci, dwellers on the meadow) —v. WIESE; Badborn (bath well) ; Wildbad (wild bath, i.e. not prepared by art) , in the Black Forest; Slangenbad (the bath of snakes) , so called from the number of snakes found in the mineral springs; Badsdorf (bath village) , Bohemia. The Celtic name of the English city Bath was Caer-badon, or Bathan-ceaster (bath city or fortress) ”

“ To resist this is of the utmost consequence.” “The operation of bathing in water endowed with much power, from heat and other circumstances, is not to be viewed lightly. Much mischief has arisen—nay, fatal results have followed, from its indiscriminate adoption. A rich merchant, who, but a few hours before, had been noticed on the public promenade after dinner, on the day after our arrival, was found dead in a bath at 8 o’clock of the same evening. A lady was pointed out to me, who had lost the use of her limbs after using three hot baths.” ”

“ If a patient die at home, it is because he did not visit Carlsbad—if at Carlsbad, because he came too late.
The waters of Carlsbad were formerly used almost entirely as baths—but now it is just the reverse—they are chiefly taken internally. In former times the bathers passed eight or ten hours in the baths, as they now do at Leuk, Baden, and Pfeffers. My friend De Carro thinks that, formerly, cutaneous complaints were more rife—and now, that liver and stomach affections are the prevailing maladies—hence the change from bathing to drinking at this celebrated spa. ”

“ A hot sun beat down on and was gradually dispelling a thin morning [129] haze. It gilded palely the gaunt, harsh lines of the station that generations of weathering could never make beautiful.
The Speaker, still resolutely silent, led the way inside, where their steps echoed hollowly in the empty hall. But the echoes were suddenly disturbed by another sound; and, as they turned a corner Jeremy was enchanted to see a long train crawling slowly into the platform. It slackened speed, blew off steam with appalling abruptness and force, and came to a standstill before it had completely pulled in. ”

“ These are circumstances which ought to be pointed out to our countrymen and women, who are too often led to distant mineral waters and baths by flowery descriptions and miraculous cures, without any warning as to the consequences that may ensue—whether salutary or dangerous. The concealment of this spa or bath fever, is any thing but beneficial either to the waters or the water-drinkers. It deceives the one, and injures the reputation of the other. ”

“ This is compensated by the increased buoyancy of a human body when immersed, or partially immersed, in water. The steps have, on the contrary, a shallower rise and a wider tread when they approach the top. The next notable point is the formation of the tread of the upper flooded step. This is grooved by a somewhat circular sinking, from 4 to 5in. wide, immediately against the riser of the topmost step. Everyone frequenting a public bath must have noticed the dashing of the water against the wall or upper step, and the nuisance created from the breaking of the water against it. ”

“ I believe I have already told the reader that, beside myself, there were about 1200 strangers in the little village of Langen-Schwalbach. Of course every hof was fully inhabited, and, as soon as darkness prevailed, the effect produced by each house being suddenly and almost simultaneously lighted up, was really quite romantic. In every direction, sometimes at the top of one hof, then at the bottom of another, lights burst into existence—the eye attracted, eagerly flew from one to another, until, from the number which burst into life, it became quite impossible to attend to each. ”

“ It will be seen that the stigma of No. 3 (dangerous) has been affixed in no instance to the Ems waters; but this applies to drinking them and not to bathing. I cannot too often repeat my conviction that there is far more mischief produced by spa-bathing than by spa-bibbing—especially [158] in the case of the Ems waters, which are by no means of such an exciting nature as those of Wisbaden and several other warm springs. In every case where there is either local inflammation or constitutional excitement, these and other thermal waters are dangerous as baths. ”