Memoranda on Tours and Touraine Part 6

The season for taking these waters is from May to September, and this place is then much frequented; the accommodations are very good, in the princ.i.p.al street are arcades built by Stanislaus, king of Poland, under which the company promenade.

LUXEUIL.

The great esteem in which these waters were anciently held is attested by the vast ruins and immense number of antiquities which have been found here; at present Luxeuil is a small but agreeable town in the department of the Haute-Saone, twelve leagues from Besancon, situated in a plain, and intersected by a street called the _rue des Romains_. The bathing establishment, which is much admired, was built about the middle of the last century, is adorned with a beautiful garden.

There are five Baths namely the _Bain des Femmes_; the _Bain des Hommes_; the _Bain Neuf_; the _Grand-Bain_; the _Pet.i.t-Bain_.

The a.n.a.lysis of these waters is very incomplete; they are stated to contain muriate of Soda, Lime, sulphate of Potash and a small portion of Iron.

They have proved very beneficial in chronic rheumatism, paralysis, chronic catarrh, alterations in the abdominal viscera, and in some nervous affections. As these waters are less exciting than those of Plombieres, they are more suitable to persons of a feeble and delicate const.i.tution.

The Baths are under the superintendance of a medical pract.i.tioner. A Hotel, called the Lion d'Or, affords ample accommodation for persons who come for the benefit of the waters. This place has been much frequented of late.

BOURBON-LANCY.

The mineral waters of this place, containing a population of 2700, are in the department of Saone-et-Loire, twelve leagues from Autun and eighty from Paris.

Dr de Verchere, a talented and philanthropic man, who long had the establishment under his management, reports numerous cures having been effected by the waters.

Their celebrity is of ancient date, and they have at various times been visited by several kings of France.

The town of Bourbon-Lancy is placed on the side of a hill, and const.i.tutes a striking feature in a beautiful landscape. The air is extremely salubrious, and the place has long been remarkable for its freedom from epidemics.

It abounds in the comforts and luxuries of life, and commodious accommodations are provided for visitors, near the Baths.

The _Bread_ made here is said to be of a very superior quality, which the inhabitants attribute to its being kneaded with the mineral waters.

Numerous kinds of excellent fish are furnished by the Loire.

The mineral waters of Bourbon-Lancy have apparently one common source but appear at the surface of the earth in seven distinct springs. The 1st is called _le Lymbe_, from its great heat, as much as 135 Fah.

2nd The _Fontaine de Saint-Leger_ temperature 100 Fah. 3rd The _Fontaine de la Reine_ temp: 108 Fah. 4th The _Fontaine des Ecures_, which take its name from the person who discovered the spring in 1600.

temp: 140 Fah. 5th The _Bain Royal_, temp: 104 Fah.

Mr Jacquemont's a.n.a.lysis of these waters exhibits the presence of Carbonic Acid, and Muriate of Soda in excess, also the Sulphate of Soda, Carbonate of Lime, Oxide of Iron and Silex.

It is to be regretted that a more minute a.n.a.lysis of the waters has not been effected, for their continual boiling, and the saline efflorescence which forms upon the sides of the pipes, would seem to indicate the prevalence of fixed and volatile principles, the proportions of which it would be important to demonstrate.

Their heat and stimulating qualities peculiarly adapt them for the cure of obstinate chronic rheumatism, diseases of the lymphatics, chlorosis, incipient disorganization of the stomach, bowels, and other abdominal viscera. They have also been found highly beneficial in old gun shot wounds.

The Bourbon waters are administered in different doses, according to the const.i.tution of the patient, and the nature of the disease, it is usual to take several gla.s.ses in the morning at intervals of a quarter of an hour.

The Baths varying in temperature from 90 to 104 Fah. are the most commonly used, and with the greatest success. But the most active baths are those varying from 113 to 122 Fah. but they require great caution in their administration.

There are several kinds of douches at Bourbon as the ascending, descending, fumigating, which are frequently used in torpidity of the intestines and obstinate constipations; resource is also had to them in some affections of the uterus and urinary organs. There are also _mud_ baths at this place.

BAGNOLES.

Bagnoles is a village in the department of l'Orne, the efficacy of the mineral waters at this place, was discovered by the following singular circ.u.mstance. An old horse having a disease of the skin, being covered all over with sores, was about to be delivered up to the knacker when his master calling to mind his good qualities, resolved upon turning him into the _Coppice of Roches-Noires_. Two months after happening to pa.s.s through the end of the valley, he descried an animal which he thought much resembled his own discarded steed. The horse trotted up, approached him familiarly, and though fat and sleek, was speedily recognised by his owner, who wishing to ascertain the cause of such an unexpected and astonishing cure, carefully watched the animal's movements, and presently saw him roll himself with much apparent satisfaction in a neighbouring bog, which upon putting his hand into it, he found to contain much internal heat. This circ.u.mstance occasioned the clearing out of the bog, when the source of a hot spring very limpid and very abundant was discovered.

This cure, originated the idea of forming the present establishment which since 1812 has been rapidly increasing in reputation. It stands at the foot of a mountain between two rocky escarpments, in one of the most beautiful and picturesque vallies in France.

Through this, winds the little river _la Vee_, the banks of which, adjacent to the Baths, are prettily planted, and intersected with numerous gravel walks, forming shady and agreeable promenades. The luxuriance of the trees and meadows which adorn this fertile valley, contrasted with the savage aspect of the vast rugged rocks by which it is bordered, together with the pretty scattered villas, and the salubrity of the air form a _tout ensemble_ rarely to be witnessed, and which contributes not a little to the recovery of the numerous visitors who resort to this fine establishment.

The mineral springs are received into a square cistern from whence they are conducted into the bathing rooms; they are extremely clear, unctuous to the touch, taste slightly acid, and emit a sulphureted hydrogen odour: air bubbles continually ascend with the water, and break as they reach the surface. The waters are found on a.n.a.lysis to contain carbonic acid, and muriate of Soda, in excess; a very small quant.i.ty of sulphate and muriate of lime, and muriate of Barytes. The sediment of the general receptacle contains some sulphur and Iron.

The Bagnoles waters are at once tonic and purgative; they excite the appet.i.te, giving more activity to the digestive system, and have a general tendency favourable to the promotion of healthy secretions and excretions; particularly of the skin kidneys and glandular organs generally.

Administered as Baths, they have a very salutary action upon the skin, imparting to it a remarkable flexibility and softness.

M. Piette, who was forty years physician to this establishment, published a report upon the efficacy of these waters, in obstinate rheumatism, chronic catarrh, paralysis, chlorosis, leucorrhoea, chronic gastritis, etc. After enumerating their other virtues he says: On lit dans les vieilles chroniques que les dames de la Normandie allaient autrefois a Bagnoles pour porter remede a leur sterilite.

From three to six gla.s.ses const.i.tute a dose of the waters, they are taken in the morning.

The Bath rooms and appendages are judiciously arranged; when the natural heat of the water--(from 82 to 90 Fah.) is deemed insufficient by the physician, it can easily be increased by the aid of artificial heat, without materially deteriorating the medicinal virtues of the water.

Many Spa Doctors however a.s.sert (Dr Granville amongst the number) that the _caloric_ of mineral waters is of a _specific_ kind, a.n.a.logous to the heat of the body. A heat incorporated with the water by a chemico-vital process. And as no external warmth can supply the body with _vital_ heat, so no artificially created temperature can be a real subst.i.tute for the natural heat of thermal springs.

The temperature of the water of Bagnoles being about that of the blood--98 Fah. immersion in it produces but a slight sensation of heat; the temperature of our bodies being below that of our blood. The sensation is that of comfort.

Bagnoles is sixty leagues from Paris, and one league from the high road leading from Alencon to Domfront, lying nearly on the route from Havre to Tours.

CHAUDES-AIGUES.

This is a small town in the department of Cantal, six leagues from Saint-Flour, on the road between Clermont and Toulouse, and derives its name from its thermal waters, which were much resorted to in the fifteenth century, and then called _Calentes Baiae_.

The temperature of the springs vary from 167 to 189 Fah. The resident poor turn this high temperature to many economical purposes, frequently cooking their entire meals by the natural heat of the waters; an egg is boiled hard by five minutes immersion.

The waters are extensively used by Curriers, Tanners, stuff and Flannel manufacturers, etc, their alkaline principles being found peculiarly adapted to many essential processes in these respective trades; to coloured articles, they are considered to give brilliancy and permanence to the dyes.

The _Belle Fontaine du Parc_, the highest in temperature of the spring, contains muriate of Soda, carbonate of lime; carbonate of Iron, and Silex.

These waters were held in high repute by the Romans and are particularly mentioned by one of their historians; Calentes nunc te Baiae, et scabris cavernatim ructata pumicibus aqua sulfuris atque jecorosis ac phthisiscentibus languidis medicabilis piscina delectat.

They have an _alterative_ or _deobstruent_ action, are therefore applicable to a long catalogue of maladies arising from congestion and obstructions of the abdominal viscera.

WARM ACIDULOUS AND GASEOUS WATERS,

VICHY.

Vichy is situated in the department of the Allier, 87 leagues from Paris, fifteen from Moulins and thirty two from Lyon, in a valley surrounded by beautiful and fertile hills. The excellent roads which lead to this town, the purity of the air, the comfort and amus.e.m.e.nt which may be found in it combine to render it one of the most frequented watering places in France.