Austrian Health Resorts and the bitter waters of Hungary ... Reprinted ... from 'The Times,' with large additions

Preface

TO THE SECOND EDITION. Chapters XIV. and XV. in this Edition have been added in place of the Chapter in the first on " The Bitter Waters of Hungary." Thus the present Edition of this book treats exclusively of noteworthy places in the Empire of Austria, many of which are seldom visited by Englishmen or Americans, and are scarcely known to them even by repute. Yet each deserves to be visited by those who journey iu quest of health or variety. An invalid requiring a course of mineral waters may go to Carlsbad, Franzensbad, Marienbad, or some other Austrian Health Resort in the spring, summer, or autumn ; another, to whom the grape "cure" is prescribed, may visit Voslau or Meran in the autumn ; the invalid who desires sea bathing in perfection can enjoy it for several months out of the twelve at Abbazia ; while any one who is in quest of a mild and pleasant winter climate may find it at Meran, or Arco, Abbazia, or Gorizia.

I may add, with confi dence and perfect truth, that the geniality of the people lends an additional charm to all the Health Resorts in the Empire of Austria. Note. — In the first paragraph of the Introduction, " Tepitz " shonld read Teplitz, and in the third, "Rocegno" should read Roncegno.

Introduction

. Much of the first chapter in this work appeared in an article on Carlsbad which was published in The Nineteenth Century for November, 1884, and in another in The Times for the 22nd of August, 1885. Having revisited Carlsbad since these articles ap peared, I have embodied the results of my further experience in that chapter. It is so much changed, as well as enlarged, as to be new in form, though not in subject. In it, as in the chapters treating of Franzensbad and Marienbad, details are set forth concerning Goethe's visits which are not to be found in the late G. H. Lewes's " Life " of that extraordinary man. The particulars given with regard to Peter the Great's sojourn at Carlsbad and Tepitz are not to be met with in the recent and elaborate work on him from the pen of Mr. Eugene Schuyler. The chapter on Konigswart is new, and many other chapters are greatly altered and enlarged. I have revisited several of the places described since

INTRODUCTION.

. VIII first writing about them, and it was fitting that I should treat them in this work from the point of view from which I last saw them. Moreover, the articles written for the reader who has not more than a day in which to peruse them ought to be cast in a somewhat different mould when they are prepared for publication in book form. This book is not intended to come into competition with preceding ones on Health Resorts in Austria and Hungary. Most of those works which enjoy the patronage and merit the admiration of the public have been compiled by medical men, and they con tain information of a purely professional kind, whilst they may be lacking in other information which, though less technical, is better adapted to please and instruct the general reader — a personage more indolent than any reviewer, and one who likes the path to be made very smooth.

To such a reader the most careful and trustworthy analysis of a mineral water may not convey many clear ideas. Probably he or she does not care to peruse the lists of ingredients in a mineral spring. Even the reader who has a smattering of chemical knowledge may be unable to understand scientific terminology which is often foreign in character, and which is some times old-fashioned and obsolete. In one case only have I departed from my rule not to fill pages with tables of analyses, which would not be understood by ordinary readers, and which might be deemed

INTRODUCTION.

. IX surplusage by others. The exception is the analysis of the water which is found at Rocegno. In none of the English works which I have consulted is any account given of this notable arsenical-ferruginous water. In reproducing an analysis of it I may render a service to those who are curious to have these particulars and may not know where to find them. Whilst purposely omitting details which might not have any interest outside of a limited circle of possible readers, I have endeavoured to furnish those which may attract and instruct the reader who intends to visit the Health Resorts named in this work, and the readers who may wish to know something about them without leaving home. It is for the benefit of the latter that not only are the places described as they now are, but that historical facts are given concerning their rise and jDrogress.

For instance, no account is given in any English work, so far as I know, of the valley of Gastein in the days when it was the El Dorado of Europe, and when it was as much valued as a place rich in the precious metals as California and Australia are at the present day. Moreover, none of the writers about it have thought fit to reproduce some interesting facts which the famous William von Humboldt has left on record of his personal experiences there sixty years ago. Some professional men may consider particulars such as these unworthy of their notice. Unless I greatly err, the reading public will accept them with gratitude.

INTRODUCTION.

. X Whilst several of the places described in this work are well known by name, others are not more familiar to the ordinary reader than the chief places of note in the heart of Central Africa or on the shores of Hudson Bay. For my own part, I was surprised to find in the Austrian Tyrol three Health Resorts of which the names had seldom appeared in an English book, yet which were quite as note worthy as some of the most frequented watering-places in the Pyrenees, and the most fashionable spots on the Riviera. I have set forth their attractions with entire impartiality, yet not without a feeling of regret that these beautiful places will some day be over crowded and will then be less enjoyable. Amongst the many mineral springs in Austria and Hungary there may be several quite as noteworthy as those which are described in this work.

I have pur posely chosen a few which, though in high repute for many years, and even for centuries, are not yet familiar to all the English and American seekers after pleasant and health-restoring places of sojourn. There was a time in the history of the oldest spring when its virtues were supposed to be almost miraculous. No one could tell why those who drank or bathed in it were healed of their infirmities. The mystery is not yet wholly removed ; yet the knowledge of every spring has been increased an hundredfold. The analytic chemist can determine their contents, and the skilled physician now can form an approximate

INTRODUCTION.

. XI guess as to the way in which the waters act, and as to the best way in which they should be used. I do not believe that the veil has been entirely with drawn, or that the spirit of the spring has been disclosed to full view. In the days of antiquity a god was believed to preside over every spring. Sir Walter Scott may have had such a notion in his mind when he depicted, with less than his usual success, the White Lady of Avenel in "The Monastery." He gave expression to a similar view when he made Mrs. Meg Dods say, in another novel, that the medicinal virtue of St. Ronan's Well was due to the Saint having ducked the Devil in it and thereby imparted a sulphurous character to the water. The Spanish adventurers who first explored the New World had a firm ex pectation of finding not only precious metals there, but a Fountain of Youth more precious still.

When Juan Ponce de Leon headed an expedition to Florida, he and his companions eagerly drank of every spring of living water, in the hope that they might gain perpetual youth. They were less fortunate than the old Indian of whom Peter Martyr writes that the Indian, being " grievously oppressed with old age, moved with the fame of that fountain, and allured by the love longer of life, went from his native island unto the country of Florida to drink of the desired fountain . . . and having well drunk and washed himself for many days with the appointed remedies,

INTRODUCTION.

. by them who kept the bath, he is reported to have brought home a manly strength, and to have used all manly exercises, and that he married again and begat children." Though science has disclosed the chief secrets of mineral springs, there are yet some hidden mysteries to be divulged. I have shown in the chapter on Gastein how divergent are the views taken of the reasons why the mineral water there should be so powerful in its action. I have read many tales about the effects of other mineral springs which are hardly less strange than the fabulous tale about the old Indian in Florida. Instead, however, of filling pages with these stories of natural magic, I have striven to ascertain and set forth actual facts ; and in not a few cases the facts are nearly as extraordinary as any fictions. Nothing is more striking at the principal Austrian Health Resorts than the completeness of the arrange ments for turning the waters to the best account.

Indeed, many of the cures are due in part to the way in which the water is employed, and to the skill and experience of the physicians under whose direction patients follow the treatment. In early days, as I have shown by the history of Franzensbad and Marienbad, the seeker after health had to suffer much discomfort at a mineral spring ; but the drawbacks were speedily removed, and the places which had been abodes of misery were transformed into temples of luxury. Few of the English Health Resorts are

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII arranged with equal regard for the fancies and con veniences of invalids. The neglect from which many suffer is explainable on this ground. Some springs on the Continent are not of greater intrinsic value than that of Epsom, which has long fallen into dis repute. No efforts were ever made to render a sojourn at it attractive ; and interesting evidence on this head is to be found in the " Letters " which were written by Dorothy Osborne, between 1652 and 1654, to Sir William Temple, whose wife she after wards became, and which have recently been pub lished under the editorship of Mr. E. A. Parry. Both of them went to Epsom for what Germans call "the cure." Dorothy thus commented ou a letter in which Sir William narrated his experience : " However, I cannot but wish you had stayed longer at Epsom and drunk the waters with more order though in a less proportion.

But did you drink them immediately from the well ? I remember I was forbid it, and methought with a good deal of reason, for (especially at this time of year) the well is so low, and there is such a multitude to be served out on't, that you can hardly get any but what is thick and troubled ; and I have marked that when it stood all night (for that was my directions the bottom of the vessel it stood in would be covered an inch thick with white clay, which, sure, has no great virtue in't, and is not very pleasant to drink." Whilst the Health Resorts on the Continent are

INTRODUCTION.

. more highly prized than those in England, and are systematically planned to induce the sick to visit them, they owe much to the medical men who make a study of balneology and who are specially qualified for giving sound advice on the spot. I have collected many German books and pamphlets treating of the places I visited, and I have extracted from them the salient facts. The painstaking character and the profundity of German writers are proverbial. Medical men in Germany and Austria are as averse as German philo sophers from taking anything for granted ; and some times they attach an importance to simple things which would not be shown in a professional work written in English. For instance, it is superfluous to warn a patient against going out of doors when the weather is bad, to advise him to carry an umbrella when it looks like rain, or to say that it is prudent to try the temperature of a bath with the finger or toe instead of rashly plunging in at the risk of being scalded.

I have given my authorities for any purely medical matter quoted; but the reader who desires medical details rather than general information is referred to works by members of the medical profession. This work does not profess to be a " Guide : " there are plenty of excellent guide-books in existence. Its purpose is to be a supplement to the technical books on Health Resorts, and to the books in which the traveller learns all about roads, rails, and hotels,

INTRODUCTION.

. XV how to reach a particular place, where to live and what to see there, and how to leave it. During the publication of the articles upon which this book is based, a short article appeared in The Lancet which sets forth their scope in better terms than any which I could employ. In the belief that it will interest many readers and commend this book to their notice, I subjoin it : " The Times of June 22nd began publishing a series of articles 'from a correspondent,' on Austrian Health Resorts, which cannot fail to be of much interest to many who are con templating an autumnal holiday to some Continental inland watering-place. The gouty, the rheumatic, the dyspeptic, and the over-wrought find in such a change relief and invigoration, which strictly medicinal treat ment at home often fails to accomplish.

It is not sufficient for such persons that their change should have a directly medical object, and be confined to drinking this or that natural mineral water, though this may form a very important element for the relief of their discomfort. But the air, scenery, elevation above sea level, as well as amusements and novel experiences of life, with facilities for travelling, are matters needing careful preliminary consideration, both by the doctor and the patient. The medical adviser has much difficulty in selecting the kind of place that is likely to be beneficial as well as agreeable to his patient. A large number of persons who go to Continental watering-places need the one as

INTRODUCTION.

. much as the other. Numbers of persons can be equally well-treated, medicinally, at any one of three or four places, though in some instances, no doubt, a particular place is best suited to a particular case ; and this is a matter which medical opinion can best settle. But in other instances, where the appurte nances of medical treatment have to be considered, the patient may fairly have a voice in the selection, and he could scarcely do better than read the articles referred to in order to fit himself to exercise a right judgment in this respect ; nor are the articles without their value to medical men." CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter I

— CARLSBAD 1 Fables about the " Sprudel " 3 Notable Visitors 5 Heroio Treatment 7 The Preliminary Ordeal 9 A Bold Innovator II Nature of the Treatment 13 The Daily Round . . . . . . .15 What to Eat and Drink 17 " Medical Vampires " 19 " Carry an Umbrella " 21 Goethe at Carlsbad 23 His Fourth Visit 25 Public Gaming Tables 27 An Eccentric Duke .29 A Pleasant Surprise 31 Peter the Great 33 An Imperial Mason 35 Leibnitz and the Czar CONTENTS. XVIII

CHAPTER I.

— CARLSBAD (continued). PAGE Picturesque Walks 3^ Frequenters of the SpriDgs 41 Magnates and Millionaires 43 Patients and Doctors . , 45 Baths and Waters 47 The Emperor's Birthday 49 The Queen of Watering Places 51

Chapter II

— GIESSHUBL-PUCHSTEIN . ... 52 A Pleasant Beverage 53 King Otto's Spring 55 Natural Charms ........ 57 Increasing Demand ....... 59 Pretty and Picturesque ...... 61

Chapter III

— FRANZENSBAD 62 A Ladies' Bath ........ 63 A Petticoat Riot 65 Springs and Baths ....... 67 Despotic Doctors 69 The Bill of Fare . ...... 71 Early to Bed 73 Impatience Improper . ...... 75 An Extinct Volcano ....... 77 The Moor at Soos 79 Paleontological Treasures 81 Frederick the Great Cured ...... 83 An Historical Event CONTENTS. PAGE

Chapter IV

— MARIENBAD 86 " Very Thick Ladies " 87 An Unexpected Discovery 89 Rash Water-drinkers ....... 91 Goethe's First Visit 93 In a Moor-bath 95 Effect of a Gas-bath 97 Character of the Springs 99 A Family Watering-place ...... 101 A Bill of Fare 103 Sleeping and Starving ...... 105 Churches and Amusements 107 A Wonders ul Water 109

Chapter V

— TEPLITZ 110 Illustrious Visitors ....... Ill A Catastrophe 113 The Springs Rediscovered ...... 115 Bathing or Shampooing ? . . .... 117 Milk, Water, and Beer 119 ., .vaiei/, Going on Pilgrimage ....... 121 Battles and Monuments ...... 123 An Exceptional Spring ...... 125

Chapter VI

— KONIGSWART 126 Invigorating Waters ....... 127 A Sanatorium XX CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VI.

— KONIGSWART (continued). I AGE A Romantic Career ....... 131 Odds and Ends 133 The Bohemian Legislature . . . ' . . 135 Home Rule in Bohemia ...... 137 Lucrative Patriotism . . . . . . .139 German Demands ....... 141 Mr. Freeman's Comments ...... 143

Chapter VII

— BADEN AND VOSLAU . . . .145 The Two Badens . . .... 147 A Roman Bath ... ..... 149 Fire and Pestilence ....... 151 Unadulterated Wine ....... 153 A Trying Water 155 Good Advice ........ 157 A Choice of Cures ....... 159 A Blot on the Landscape .... . . 161

Chapter VIII

— ISCHL 163 Brine Baths and Whey ...... 165 Viennese Journalists ....... 167 Daughters of Luxury ...... 1G9 Russian Baths ....."... 171 Butter-milk Cure 173 The Curhaus 175 Natural Attractions CONTENTS. XXI PAGE

Chapter IX

— GASTEIN 179 Ancient Gold-mining ....... 181 Persecuted Protestants 183 Doctors and Hotels 185 The Valley 187 The Waterfall 189 Indifferent Waters . 191 Effect of Mineral Water 193 Revivifying Flowers ....... 195 Idle Hands 197 Miraculous Water ....... 199 Times and Seasons 201

Chapter X

— MERAN 203 The Grape Cure 205 A Light Diet 207 A Grape Problem 209 The Pleasantest " Cure " 211 An Imperial Visitor ....... 213 A Windless Valley 215 Testimony of the Rocks . . . . . . 217 Winter Amusements ....... 219

CHAPTER XL

— RONCEGNO 221 Out of the Beaten Track 223 A Golden-yellow Liquid 225 A Potent Medicine CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL

— RONCEGNO (continued). PAGE Rules and Regulations ...... 229 How and When to Bathe 231 Character of the Water ...... 233 Growing Popular ....... 235 The Tesino Valley 237 Scenery and Climate ....... 239

Chapter XII

— LEVICO 241 Points of Interest ....... 243 A Popular Poison ....... 245 Arsenical Water ....... 247 The Doctor's Fee 249 Bathing Under Difficulties ..... 251 Superfluous Advice ....... 253 International Medicine ...... 255 "Care Hinders Cure" 257

Chapter XIII

— ARCO 258 The Beauties of Nature 259 A Medical Critic 261 Weather in Winter 263 The Dust Plague 265 The Golden Mean 267 The Terrain Cure ....... 269 Rival Health Resorts 271 The Bane of Popularity 273 An Austrian Paradise ...... CONTENTS. XXIII PAGE

Chapter XIV

— ABBAZIA 276 A Benedictine Abbey 277 A Predestined Health Resort 279 Royal and Titled Visitors 281 Nice in Summer 283 The Fiume Gulf 285 Winter Temperature ....... 287 Water and Gas 289 Pestiferous Odours 291 Systematic Sea Bathing ...... 293 Walks and Excursions ...... 295

Chapter XV

— GORIZIA 297 Beginning of the City ....... 299 The Austrian Nice 301 Temperature in Winter ...... 303 Character of the Climate ...... 305 A Clean City 307 Amusements 309 Hotels and Villas 311 Provisions and Wine ....... 313 Castagnavizza ........ 315 A Beautiful Prospect AUSTRIAN HEALTH RESORTS.

Chapter I. Carlsbad

Boheji.a is characterised at the heading to the third scene in the third act of The Winter's Tale as " a desert country near the sea." Shakespeare is held to have displayed inexcusable ignorance in making Antigonus land upon the Bohemian sea coast, and the plea of poetic licence has not availed to save him from censure. Yet an excuse might be urged for his blunder, which, though not con clusive, is yet quite as good as the excuses proffered by enthusiastic commentators in extenuation of other blunders in his plays. In Shakespeare's day Bohemia was famed for its watering-places, and he may have supposed that, where a watering-place existed, the sea was not very far off. Whether he were misled by something which he had heard and misunderstood, or whether, B CARLSBAD. as is more probable, he simply drew upon his imagination for his localities, it is certain that the fame of one Bohemian watering-place had spread far and wide long before Shakespeare was born.

This was Carlsbad, a place which Herr Karl Bott cher likens to " a full-blown rose placed upon Austria's bosom to beautify and adorn it." Geologists affirm that the healing waters of Carlsbad have issued from the ground since a time of which the rocks are the only record. How long these waters have been turned to medicinal account cannot be determined with precision ; but it is beyond doubt that they have been highly valued as medicines during six centuries. Most of the mineral springs which are still in high repute were discovered and used by the Romans, who seem to have had as keen eyes for mineral waters as the North American Indians. Yet the Carlsbad waters apparently escaped the notice of those con querors of the world to whom mineral water was only less dear than universal dominion. A fable was long accepted as the true explanation of the discovery of these waters.

It ran to the effect that, on the 23rd of June, 1370, the Emperor Charles the Fourth was hunting the stag near the valley in which Carlsbad now stands. The animal pursued by the hunters leapt from the high ground into this valley, FABLES ABOUT THE "SPRUDEL." 3 whither the hounds followed. When one of the hunters descended to the bottom of the valley, he saw the hounds struggling for their lives in a huge natural cauldron of seething water. The " Sprudel," the principal spring at Carlsbad, now rises from this spot in the form of a small geyser, the tem perature being 165° Fahrenheit. As the water is so hot, the glasses are filled by being placed in a small holder at the end of a long pole. This is a practical exemplification of the Scottish saying : " When you sup with the Devil you must have a long spoon."

Perhaps I may here ■explain that those who now go to Carlsbad in the belief that the Sprudel water contains gold will be disappointed. A paragraph to the effect that gold has been discovered in it has gone the round of the English and American papers. No contradiction has appeared in them, yet there is no truth in the state ment. It originated in the columns of the Karlsbader Zeitung, which appears on Sunday, and this year the 1st of April fell on a Sunday. What the Carlsbad journalist meant as a joke has been accepted as a fact. There are many mineral in gredients in the Sprudel water, but gold is not one of them. The oldest statement about the Sprudel is no more authentic than the latest. What militates against b CARLSBAD. the allegation of the Emperor Charles the Fourth having been the first discoverer of the "Sprudel," either through the intermediary of a stag or a dog, or in his own person, is the undoubted circumstance of the spring being known to King John, his father.

It is possible that the Emperor bathed in it, and that the place was named after him. King John and the Emperor Charles the Fourth were the first of many crowned heads who have visited Carlsbad as patients. Out of the long list the names may be cited of Frederick the First of Prussia; Peter the Great; Augustus the First of Poland; the Emperor Charles the Sixth; the Empress Maria Ludovika ; a king of Saxony; the Emperor Francis the Second and his daughter, the Empress Maria Louisa, the second wife of Bonaparte; Frederick William the Third of Prussia; and his successor William, the First German Emperor. The lovely but most unfortunate Empress Eugenie has visited Carlsbad more than once, deriving much benefit from the waters. The names of some other visitors will be cherished with warm affection long after those of many royal personages are forgotten.

Amongst them are Sebastian Bach and Beethoven; Catalini, Sontag, and Paganini; Gellert, Fichte, and Schelling ; Herder, Schiller, and Goethe; Korner, Auerbach, Strauss, and Tourgenieff; Chateaubriand and Ger- NOTABLE VISITORS. 5 vinus. The third Duke of Wellington is one of the many notable English visitors at the present day. Prince Blucher visited Carlsbad after Water loo, and Prince Bismarck before Sadowa. A story is told of Blucher that, after arriving and taking the waters, he exclaimed : " I always detested water drinking, yet the Devil has brought me here to swallow water against my will." The name of every visitor to Carlsbad is now printed and published. It was not till the year 1756 that a complete record of them was kept. In that year the visitors numbered 134; the number of those who now go thither between the months of May and October in each year does not fall short of 30,000, and it is sometimes in excess of these figures.

The chief knowledge which we have of the way in which the waters were valued three or four centuries ago, is derived from a Latin ode written by Bohuslaw Lobkowitz, who died in 1510. He there writes that the waters merit all the praise which the Muse can bestow, that they are great natural marvels as well as most valuable medicinal products, that their use restores vigour to the body and limbs of the old, and revives the rosy bloom of health in the cheeks of the delicate maiden. In the days when Bohuslaw Lobkowitz lived and praised the healing springs at Carlsbad, they were CARLSBAD. used for bathing and not for drinking ; now they are chiefly valued for their effects when taken internally. Two centuries elapsed after they had become famous before medical men ordered their patients to drink them.

During the period when bathing was the rule, the process was a serious one, judging from the account of it which was written in 1571 by Dr. Summers. The passage which is quoted in Dr. Hlawacek's elaborate work on Carlsbad is in a form of German that is nearly as obsolete as Chaucer's English. I may translate it as follows : " When it is desired to cause an eruption over the body and skin, the patient must bathe for ten or eleven hours daily, beginning with a few baths the first day, bathing for three hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, increasing the time by one, two, three, and more hours afterwards till the eruption has occurred. The water must not be so cold as to give the patient a chill, but should be tepid only, and not so warm as to induce perspiration when the eruption has broken out on the skin.

When this eruption has taken place, the patient is to leave the bath, cover himself with wraps, and walk up and down in a moderately warm room ; or, if this should be a labour to him, he is to lie down in bed so that the evil humours may have free course to the surface. After an hour or two he is to return to the bath, HEROIC TREATMENT. 7 and remain an hour there, and then leave it, remaining in his room so that the evil humours may recommence to flow. Thereafter he is to return to the bath, remaining there for an hour, and this he is to do, so far as may be practicable, four or five times during two, three, or more days, till the flow of the evil humours has ceased. When this happens he is to bathe again, not in the water which caused the eruption, but in other and unused water. On the first day this water is not to be very warm, but should be cooled down, yet it should be warmer than the water which caused the eruption ; after wards he is to bathe for a longer time in warmer water till the skin is drawn together.

When the patient begins to bathe in warm water, he is to do so four or five times a day, for fifteen or thirty minutes at a time, and, when he leaves the bath, he is to remain for an hour in a warm room. During the following days he is to prolong his stay in the bath from day to day." When a patient was covered with painful boils he was pronounced in a fair way towards recovery. Few invalids and few maladies could long resist this heroic treatment, it was eminently a case of kill or cure ; yet the cures seem to have predominated. Strong measures were in favour with our stalwart forefathers, and what might sap the energies of their CARLSBAD. more sensitive, if not degenerate descendants, appears to have given them fresh vigour and a renewed lease of life. Perhaps the skins of those who were never thoroughly washed, except immediately after birth and death, may have been tougher than those of the persons who, in our day, regularly wash their bodies as well as their faces.