Spa

“ Nearly everyone went, and those who stayed only did so because lodgings were not to be had at Spa. Everybody assured me that this was the case, and many had returned after seeking in vain for a mere garret. I paid no attention to all this, and told the princess that if she would come with me I would find some lodging, were it only in my carriage. We accordingly set out the next day, and got to Spa in good time, our company consisting of the princess, the prothonotary, Roniker, and the Tomatis. Everyone except myself had taken rooms in advance, I alone knew not where to turn. ”

“ The chief hotel, one-sixth of the size of Kindayu's, possessed a bath of its own, in which a dozen persons could bathe, but in all the others the guests paid a small fee to use the public baths, which dignified the single street with all the glory of carven cornice and stained glass. No other Europeans invaded this unfashionable spa, whose boiling springs, pellucid and blue, are credited by the peasantry with marvellous curative virtue. Foreign food is not to be procured, but we supplemented the rice and millet with tinned meat and stewed fruit. ”

“ Circumstances have given me such opportunities—and enjoyed so long—of acquiring a knowledge of Woodhall Spa, and of most matters connected with it, that I am probably stating only the unvarnished truth, when I say that no one else living could bring together the varied details, however inadequately treated, which will here be found. ”

“ As health, after all, is the greatest boon of life, we loitered at Spa a fortnight, endeavouring to while away the time in the best way we could. Short as was our stay, and transient as were the visits, we remained long enough to see that it was an epitome of life. Some intrigued, some played, and some passed the time at prayer. I witnessed trouble in one ménage, saw a parson drunk, and heard much pious discourse from a captain in the navy! ”

“ From a hygienic standpoint a sanitarium without a spa is therefore by no means a Hamlet-drama minus the Prince; the mountain-air of Meran in the Tyrol or the sweet grapes of a Rhenish Trauben-Kur are worth a million sulphur-springs; and, if people knew half the value of up-hill pedestrian exercise, there would be a "Hygienic Home" wherever a steep mountain overlooks a populous plain. ”

“ Another mile or so of good road brought us to Woodhall Spa, where we arrived dripping and jolly, to find a warm welcome at our hotel. I know not how it is,{390} but when one arrives by road one seems always ensured of a hearty welcome.
Woodhall Spa is about as unlike the usual run of fashionable watering-places as one can well imagine. It is a charming health resort, but it happily boasts of nothing to attract the purely pleasure-seeking crowd, and on account of the absence of these attractions it appealed to us. ”

“ Even now there is a house at the corner of Lloyd’s Row and Spa Cottages, the residence of the last proprietor, which recalls the vanished glory of other days by the inscription in capital letters, ‘islington spa, or new tunbridge wells.’ At the back, in the cellar of No. 6, Spa Cottages, I have seen grotto-work with stone pilasters; on each side are steps descending. ”

“ In 1807 much of the town was burned down, while the principal buildings, the Casino and the Pouhon, are quite modern. Spa has not held its own with its many French and German rivals, but it still attracts about 20,000 visitors annually. ”

“ In point of fact, the spa ale sold here seems before the middle of the century to have become famous, when the mineral water was no longer heard of. Spa Fields, which adjoined, were an open waste, a Sunday resort of Londoners of the lower class addicted to rough sports. ”

“ 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. ”

“ But the adventitious attractions of these places had a tendency to obscure their importance as spas. Bagnigge Wells and, to some extent, Islington Spa became after a time little more than tea-gardens. Sadler’s lost sight of its Wells early in the eighteenth century, and relied for profit on the development of the rope-dancing and pantomime in its theatre. The Dog and Duck (St. George’s Spa) became at last a tea-garden and a dancing-saloon which had to be suppressed as the haunt of “the riff-raff and scum of the town.” ”

“ Millions of money have been [Pg 310] expended in beautifying the front of the cliffs adjoining the Spa, which is on the seashore, and to which Scarborough owed its original fame as a watering-place. The springs were discovered in 1620, and by the middle of the last century had become fashionable, but the present ornamental Spa was erected only about forty years ago. ”

“ On looking over the works of spa-doctors, we must come to one or other of the following conclusions, viz. there must either be a universal conspiracy among the faculty of Europe against spas, and in favour of their own monopoly of thinning the ranks of the population by physic—or the world is deaf to the entreaties of the water-doctors, and desire not to be cured—or, what is not quite impossible, the virtues of mineral waters are a little too much extolled by those who have the administration of them. ”

“ De Carro observes, that it is impossible to explain the modus operandi of such simple and minute ingredients on the human organism. “Whoever, he remarks, has experienced a crisis (called also the spa fever—the bad-sturm, &c.) in his own person, will never doubt the power of the Carlsbad waters.” ”

“ I am well aware that the spa-doctors will say—“oh these are critical, or even favourable symptoms, demonstrating the efficiency of the spring.” All I say is—Beware! you are standing on a precipice!
We must now take leave of Ems. It is a very hot place in warm weather, and I must say that the exterior and interior of the houses are not in the most perfect accordance. The fogs are frequent in the mornings, and the heat oppressive in the middle of the day. Few people can sleep without some of the windows being kept open, and the danger of catching colds is not inconsiderable. ”

“ Spa Doctors trust almost entirely to the aperient operation of the waters and doubtless, the crises, spa-fevers, and re-actions described by foreign writers on the spas are often attributable to the want of combining some mild mercurial alterative and aperient with the use of the waters, and that many cures are prevented or rendered ineffectual by the dread of mercury entertained by continental Physicians. ”

“ WISBADEN.
This is one of the most celebrated spas in Germany—and more frequented, as a medicinal spa, than any other by our countrymen and women. It is only four miles from Biberich, near Mayence, and is very pleasantly situated, with a ridge of the Taunus to the north-east, while the country is open between it and the Rhine, in the opposite quarter. It is a very handsome town, of seven or eight thousand souls, and the capital of the duchy of Nassau. It is, itself, in a slight depression of the ground, but [50] not so much as to impede a free circulation of air. ”

“ Of the Spa restaurants as they exist to-day, there is little to be said and less to be praised. To tell the truth, there is not a really first-class restaurant in the place. To nearly all the springs, which are located in easy proximity to the town, so-called restaurants are attached, but the patronage being intermittent and uncertain, the choice of plats is limited, and the service is slow and bad. The Sauvenière Spring is nearest to the town, but the drive there is all up-hill, monotonous, and dusty. ”

“ SWIMMING POOL; SPA.— The term `swimming pool ́ or `spa ́ means any outdoor or indoor structure intended for swimming or recreational bathing, including in-ground and above-ground structures, and includes hot tubs, spas, portable spas, and non-portable wading pools. (7) UNBLOCKABLE DRAIN.— The term `unblockable drain ́ means a drain of any size and shape that a human body cannot sufficiently block to create a suction entrapment hazard. ”

“ The spa doctors candidly allow that the waters of Aix, “if taken too hot and in quantities too large, may produce irritation, and even purgation. But the latter is not a very common effect of these waters. In small doses they are favourable to digestion; and, taken in moderation, they are not calculated to weaken.” As baths, these waters act on the surface, and, by sympathy, on the internal organs, exciting the nervous, secreting, and circulating organs. The temperature of the blood (98°) is considered the best for the bath. “If taken at a higher degree, or too often, they are dangerous.” ”

“ Nearly every house in Spa is to be had in this manner, fitted for the reception of guests, the proprietor occupying a small building adjoining, and usually keeping a shop, where wine and groceries may be had. Servants can be engaged at any moment, and one is thus enabled to set up his own ménage at an hour's notice. This mode is more economical for a large family, than living at an hotel, vastly more comfortable, and more respectable. Dinners can be had from the taverns, if desired. François being something of a cook, with the aid of the Spa assistant, we lived entirely within ourselves. ”

“ Spa doctors become unintentionally prejudiced—and spa tourists are often credulous—while patients themselves are often deceived—attributing virtues to the waters which sprang from various other causes that received no credit at the time. ”

“ I have already stated that some of the philosophic spa doctors have broached the doctrine, that mineral waters are merely secretions from one great watery being residing deep in the bowels of the earth! ”

“ There are a few honest people who go for amusement, and a few for rest and relaxation after the toils of business.
Living is cheap enough at Spa. The table d’hote is excellent, and only costs a small French crown, and one can get good lodging for the like sum.
I came home at noon having won a score of louis. I went into the shop, intending to go to my room, but I was stopped short by seeing a handsome brunette, of nineteen or twenty, with great black eyes, voluptuous lips, and shining teeth, measuring out ribbon on the counter. This, then, was the niece, whom I had imagined as so ugly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ There is another class who experience no uncomfortable symptoms during the use of the waters, which operate by the skin, the kidneys, and the bowels—and these proceed quickly and favourably to a restoration of health.
There is still a third class who experience no relief from the waters, but rather an exasperation of all their maladies. The spa doctors give them this consolation, that, long after their return to their homes, they will probably get much better—or quite well! ”

“ A course of such experiments could scarce fail to furnish with agreeable occupation some of the numerous annual visitants of the Spa, who have to linger long, with but little to engage them, waiting for what, if it once fairly leave a man, returns slowly, when it returns at all. ”

“ There were some very great people at that time in Spa; for want of something to do they came to our little entertainments. The favour with which they received and spoke of me was something very promising, and made me more and more valued by my chief. On the whole, life was very good and pleasant to me at that time, and many whose words were of weight said that I should become with time and practice one of the best comedians of the country.
That night she pleaded that she was not quite well—she had a headache from the heat of the past day, and feared the suffocating atmosphere of the theatre. ”

“ They often continue for a long time, and complete the cure which was left incomplete at the spa. It but too frequently happens that, when patients experience no relief at medicinal spas, they are told to hope for a cure from the consecutive effects of [177] the waters. They are often disappointed. In respect to the Kissengen springs, we are informed by Dr. Balling, that unless they produce the reaction already described, during the time the patient is using them, no consecutive effects are to be expected. ”

“ P.S.—On visiting these waters in August, 1840, I found that the number of English invalids had somewhat decreased during that season. The reputation of the waters, however, is evidently on the increase. I saw several English who had experienced considerable benefit in stomach complaints; whilst others complained much of the bad effects of the waters on the head and nervous system. They are powerful waters, and require attention. The spa doctors of Kissengen now enjoin a most rigid system of diet, which greatly aids the medicinal effects of the waters. No wine is allowed. ”