Essay on the mineral waters of Carlsbad/Carlsbad
CARLSBAD.
FIVE and twenty years before Wenzel Payer, of Ellbogen (¹), wrote the first medical treatise on the hot springs of Carlsbad, a bohemian nobleman, Bohuslas de Lobkowitz (²), sung their virtues in the following hexameters:
IN THERMAS CAROLI IV.
Fons. Heliconiadum merito celebrande cohorti,
Unde tibi latices calidi, venaeve meantis
Sulphuris, aut vivae, dictu mirabile, calcis?
Per terras Siculamne ignis qui provocat Aetnam,
Id facit? An Stygii forsan vicinia Ditis
Has tepefecit aquas? Baïarum littora cedant.
Atque Antenoreum prospectans unda Timavum.
Et quae caeruleo consurgit proxima Rheno,
Nobilitata tuo, sanctissime Carole regum,
Interitu. Quantas emittit in aëra bullas!
Aspice quam varie lapides et marmora pingit
Per quaecunque fluit! Vix ipsa coloribus Iris
Collucet totidem! Felix per secula mana,
Fous sacer, humano generique salutifer esto!
Redde seni validas vires, pavidaeque puellae
Formosam confer faciem, morbisque medere
Omnibus, et patrias accedat laetior oras
Quisquis in hâc lymphâ fragiles immerserit artus!
ON THE HOT SPRINGS OF CHARLES IV.
Fountain of health, the poets honoured theme,
Say whence thy fervid waters flow!
Rush they in subterraneous stream
From where sulphureous tides in Aetna glow,
Or fraught with healing elements ascend,
Sent, when the Stygian God in softened mind,
Had bid his fires their genial influences lend,
In mercy to mankind?
To thee the palm must classic Baiae yield
And Brentas baths by old Antenor sought,
And e’en the Rhenish springs, historie field,
Where Charlemagne victorious faught,
And where they wept him dead,
To thee must bow the head.
See how the bubbling water steam on high,
Impatient of restraint,
The rock, the marble, owns a brighter dye
Than Iris itself could paint!
To suffering man from nature’s genial breast
A boon transcendant ever may’st thou flow,
Blest holy fount, still bid old age to know
Reviving vigour, and if health repressed
Fade in the virgins cheek, renew its glow
For love and joy, and they that in thy wave
Confiding trust and thankful lave
Propitious aid, and speed the stranger band,
With health and life renewed to the native land.
Carlsbad, 16th September 1834.
GAELIC VERSION.
AIR TOBAR THEARLAICH IV.
’S airidh do cliu, Thobair ghrinn
Air co’ sheirm na’n cliar-oigh’n binn.
Co as tha na mear-ghlugain bhlath,
Roimh t-fheithan caochanach tha snamh?
Thair cladach’s beophronase a’ruith,
Co as tha iad sin teachd a muigh?
’Ne Etna na Ifrin, le’n teas,
Tha cuir t-uisg’air ghoil mar eas?
Bi Bäia neo-mhuirneach a chaoidh;
’Sgad thug cliu Thimabhais fein
Antenor chuige mar aoidh,
Sguirar bhi tuille ga’n seinn;
’Stheid am feasda gu di-chuimne.
Fuarain ghorma srath na Ruinn
Dha t ainmsa striochdaidh iad guleir,
Ainm Rhigh Tearlach na’n deagh bluagh
Tha Thusa cho ard os an-ceann
S’tha esan os ceann gach sluaigh.
Feuch an coileach buirn mar ghath,
’Stealladh’s na speuran le sraon!
’S an cladach shios air mhille dath,
Dh’ fhagas fann am bogh-braoin!
Siorruidh mear bi’dh do shru’ caoin,
Jocshlaint’ naomh do n’chinne-dhaoine!
Thoir neart do aois; ’s do n’mhaid in thinn
Thoir gruaigh mar ròs is ceol-ghuth binn,
’S gachneach a nigheas ann do thònn
Cuir dhachaidh meaghrach slan le fonn.
TURKISH VERSION.
PÂDICHÂH CAROLOS ILIDJÉSI UZÉRINÉ.
Tchechmésâr chu ’arâ itchré mechhour,
Abi guiermun né yerden îtdi soudour,
Di né yerden quizar quibriti révân,
Ya bou emvâdji sûroudji souzân?
Asli mi quiouhi Etna-i ’azim,
Dibdé mi yanayur nâri hadjim?
Bayanin yalisi viré sana yer,
Vé Timavosé âb iden nézer,
Vé yaquin mâvi Riné tchechmésâr,
Candé Châh Carolos bouldi mézar:
Né cader quieupurur caynae guirdâb,
Yucséquié né cader satchar habâb!
Bac né guioun senkler éyléyur i ’lám,
Guiudjlé bou nour virur quiémâni bénâm.
Her zéman devlet ilé ol djéréyân,
Sendé boulsun ehifâ nev ’i insân,
Djumlé zahmetléré dévâ éylé.
Piré couvvéti ten ’atâ eylé.
Bécri tersnâquié éylé ghil imdâd,
Vedjhi mûnendi guiul ola dilchâd:
Her quichi châz idé vatané rudjou’,
Qui ’ilâdj soulérunden itdi toulou.
According to an old tradition, supported by no historical records, the hot springs of Carlsbad were first discovered, about the middle of the fourteenth century, by Charles IV, emperor of Germany and king of Bohemia. One of his hounds, when following a stag, having fallen into the boiling water, gave by his howling such indication of pain, as to cause the monarch and his retinue to approach the wells, where they saw with amazement the wonderful and high springing Sprudel, which no one, even to this day, can contemplate without admiration. The emperor, labouring under an infirmity in his leg, his physicians recommanded him to bathe in this spring; he built a castle near the hot waters, encouraged the neighbouring peasantry to settle there, and named his new town Carlsbad (Charles ’s bath).
A document, of a rather questionable nature, had grounded the belief that Charles IV had used our baths in November 1347, whilst residing at Ellbogen, for the healing of wounds received at Crécy, on the 26th August 1346, where he lost his father, the blind king John, under Philip VI of France, against Edward III of England. New researches (Almanach de Carlsbad, for 1835, ch. IX.) have however demonstrated, without controversy, that Charles was not in Bohemia from the beginning of October 1347 to the 19th February 1348. That he ever bathed in our hot springs is uncertain, not one word being said about it in his Life, written by himself, nor by any of his historians, who followed almost every step of that beloved sovereign. That he granted important privileges to Carlsbad, dated from Nuremberg 14th August 1370; that he gave his name to the town, and that he resided there in 1370 and 1376, are the only historical facts we can quote. The foundation of the University of Prague, in 1348 (the oldest in Europe after those of Paris and Bologna), by Charles IV; the nomination of a great number of celebrated foreign and national professors, spread so much scientific knowledge in Bohemia, that it is probable enough that our hot springs, only known as a wonderful natural phenomenon, attracted then the attention of learned physicians, who gradually extended the fame of their medical virtues.
Before a mineral spring acquires renown, it is in general known in its neighbourhood alone, till successful cases attract the attention of physicians and of the owners of the soil, who then form establishments for the accommodation of visitors. Such was very likely the fate of Carlsbad, called formerly and still now, by the neighbouring peasants: Warmbad. Ellbogen, one of the oldest fortresses of Bohemia, five english miles distant from Carlsbad, was, long before that time, inhabited by kings and grandees, to whom the astonishing phenomenon of the bubbling springs and their thick vapours could no more remain unknown, in a valley open at both ends, than to woodsmen, sheperds, fishers and sportsmen. How could the most ignorant boor not be struck with such a scenery? How could he not notice that the river, lower than the wells, never freezes; that snow never stays on the ground about the thermal chaldron? In short, how could so many uncommon things remain unobserved by the neighbouring population? The existence of a castle is proved by indisputable documents (Almanach de Carlsbad, 1832, ch. XXI.), and though no farther vestige of a building is now to be seen, the names of a street (Schlossberg, Castle-Hill) and of a fountain on the top of that hill (Schlossbrunn, Castle-Wells) attest sufficiently the former existence of a castle.
Historical details about the successive improvements of Carlsbad, the calamities it has suffered by war, inundations and fire, the progress of its institutions, the privileges granted to its citizens by several sovereigns, the list of its numerous benefactors, not belonging to a sketch like this, we shall speak of the place and of its establishments, not such as they have been, but such as they are. Much has been done, in every respect, by Government and the inhabitants, since the beginning of this century.
The town, without its territory, counts above 500 houses, in general clean and comfortable; the proprietors keep for themselves the ground-floor, and let the other rooms with furniture, table and bed-linen. The population in winter is about 3000 catholic inhabitants, all germans, and is considerably augmented, during the season, by female servants, waiters and tradespeople of all descriptions, coming from every part of the country, to minister to the wants of so many visitors, the gradual increase of whom is seen by the authentic Lists, regularly published, shewing for . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| . . . . . the year 1785: 445 families. |
| . . . . . the year„ 1795: 634 |
| . . . . . the year„ 1805: 725 |
| . . . . . the year„ 1815: 1302 |
| . . . . . the year„ 1825: 1660 |
| . . . . . the year„ 1834: 3287 or 6165 persons. |
Travellers passing through Carlsbad are not inscribed in the Visitors List, and those who do not remain above five days, have no tax to pay. That tax (Cur-Tax) is four florins silver a head; children under fifteen years, as well as domestics, are free from it; children above fifteen, coming with their parents, pay the half-tax. That revenue is entirely devoted to useful establishments and embellishments.
Carlsbad, sixty german miles distant from Vienna, and sixteen from Prague, is situated in a deep and narrow valley, between granitic rocks, on both sides of the Teple, which throws itself into a larger river, the Egra, very near the town. The houses are all built on the declivity of the hills, and on the banks of the Teple. Those hills, beautifully wooded, offer innumerable and well kept walks, the greatest variety of prospects, and an interesting field to lovers of geology and botany.
According to the last observations of the Rev. A. David, royal astronomer at Prague, Carlsbad lays 50° 13′ 38″ of latit., 30° 32′ 47″ long., and 182 fathoms above the level of the sea near Hamburgh.
Invalids coming from Prague were formerly obliged to descend the mountain, at the foot of which the town and its springs lay, by roads fiter for goats and woodsmen, than for heavy carriages. During one of the most calamitous periods of his reign, from 1804 to 1806, the late emperor had a magnificent serpentine Chaussée constructed, at the expenses of 160,000 silver florins, by which the town is approached with so much ease, and offering so delightful a prospect, that visitors have been known to say, the pleasant sensation this causes was sufficient alone to come here. For lighter carriages, a shorter cut of a road, called the Tappenhof–Chaussée, leads more directly down the hill, and is far easier than the Prague street (Prager Gasse). From the Egra side the roads, formerly very bad, are now excellent and flat. A statement of what has been done for the improvement of roads in all directions, in order to establish better and shorter communications between the different watering places of Bohemia, and for the improvement of Carlsbad, only since the beginning of the present Grand-Bourgrave (governor of the kingdom) count Charles Chotek’s administration, viz. since 1827, is to be seen in my Almanach for 1833, ch. XII and XIII. The great improvements of roads have facilitated the establishment of Stage and Mailcoaches, under the name of Eilwägen (vélocifères). For those who, by motives of health, are obliged to travel slowly (à petites journées), veturinis (Landkutscher) are every where to be had. From Prague to Carlsbad, for instance, the Eilwagen requires fourteen hours, whilst a Landkutsche, with the same horses and loaded with baggage, requires two days.
According to an old custom, sometimes annoying to sick people, lodged on the Market-Place, but pleasing to those who enjoy the daily increase of visitors, watchmen, posted upon the Tower-gallery, salute with trompets, more or less numerous, according to the size and elegance of the equipage, the new comers, upon whom they wait the next day, for a remuneration, entirely left to the good will of the visitor, who has, for the next evening, another tribute to prepare for a regular sérénade, given under his windows by performers not unworthy of the philharmonic renown of Bohemia.
During the whole season, the names, quality and domicile of visitors are inscribed in a List (Cur-List), published almost daily, for the price of fl. 1. 24 kr, silver, and 12 kr, for the insertion of the name.
Strangers, accustomed to their own wine, can import, free of duty, one Eimer or eighty bottles of any foreign wine. One pound of tobacco is equally allowed to each visitor.
Since 1830, an elegant reading-room for german, french and english news-papers, has been opened for the moderate price of 40 creutzers a week.
During the season there are two booksellers at Carlsbad. Pianos and guitars can be hired; a theater, concerts, balls and other amusements are not wanting; but walking, riding and driving, offer to visitors the greatest variety of resources. The company, being composed of people of all ranks, of all nations, religions and professions, every one chooses what is more analogous to himself, rather than to seek equality, as impracticable at Carlsbad as any where else. It is out of the plan of this compendium to describe the numerous places which offer agreable excursions. Those who do not bring their own horses and carriages, find here caleches, few saddle-horses, and donkeys. Carlsbad, being nothing more than a most elegant hospital, is by no means a place of dissipation. The amusements are of a quiet and moderate kind; the necessary early hours for attending the wells in the morning prevent late ones at night; the strict prohibition of hazard-games; the obligation of submitting to a sober diet, and of taking much bodily exercise, have introduced very regular habits into society, and more than one gastronome and hard drinker has began at Carlsbad to understand the incalculable advantages of sobriety and temperance.
We have already mentioned the external and internal cleanliness of the houses, some of which are very small, others large enough for the accommodation of numerous families. The most elegant are on the Wiese and on the Market-Place, and more expensive than those situated in the higher and more remote streets. In most houses the beds are good, at least as good as in any part of Germany, though many tall visitors wish them longer, and the coverlids broader. The price of lodgings varies with their situation and the season, which begins with the 1st May and lasts to the end of September. It is not rare, however, to see patients at Carlsbad in April and October (⁵). The most crowded period is from the 15th of June to the 15th of August, and, of course, the price of lodgings then much higher than during the first part, and particularly than during the later part of the season, when proprietors, having nothing more to hope, take lodgers almost at any price. That price is always fixed weekly. Large families will act prudently in securing their lodgings before their arrival, and can apply, for that purpose, to the physician to whom they are recommanded; in which case it is indispensable to fix with precision the day of the arrival, the length of the stay, the number of rooms and beds, servants, horses, etc. Those who have not taken such precautions, will find in general temporary accommodations at the principal inns, such as the Golden Schield, the Golden Lion and the Paradise.
As to living, visitors coming without their own cook, find numerous eating-houses and {lang|fr|restaurans}}, where they can go to or send for their dinner. These houses are frequented by ladies as well as gentlemen. The Salle de Saxe, the Posthof and the Freundschafts-Saal, where the dinner is at so much a head (in general one florin silver), are frequented by the best company; but those who prefer to choose their dishes, dine à la carte, and equally well, at the Golden Schield, the Bohemian Salle, the Stadt Paris, the Three Pheasants, the Lusthaus, etc, etc. The Blue Pike (Blaue Hecht) on the Wiese sends dinners any where, but does not receive company. The coockery is plain and alike every where, and no invalid has reason to fear the temptation of dishes contrary to the laws of the cure, about which all inn-keepers have traditional and almost invariable principles, suggested by the medical Faculty. Besides, regimen and diet are always a subject of advice at the first interview between the physician and the patient.
Of the articles of diet allowed, beef and mutton are of good quality; veal, chicken and pidgeons are very seldom properly fed; venison (deer) and ducks are always to be had; partridges, pheasants and hares in their season; porc and goose are forbidden; vegetables are neither plentiful nor cheap, and not all salutary. Carp, pike and trouts are in general to be had, but particularly on fast-days, and all that class of farinaceous compounds, called Mehlspeisen, are perfectly well understood at Carlsbad. Made dishes and scientific ragouts are never to be met with, except when particularly ordered. Salad and raw fruit are not allowed. Breakfast will be treated of later.
Living, in general, is cheap, for those who are under the obligation of oeconomy, though innumerable occasions offer daily of spending money, as every where else. A very tolerable dinner, à la carte, of three or four dishes, with a bottle of good beer, can be had for half a florin (30 creutzers). For the sake. of those innumerable invalids, who weigh and calculate what they eat, and even for those who like, several dishes, but little of each, half-portions are to be had in many eating-houses.
The citizens of Carlsbad are in general civil and obliging, and strangers, travelling without servants, find in every house the necessary attendance. They are industrious; all sorts of workmen and tradespeople are found amongst them, and they have even acquired some renown in the fabrication of fire-arms, cabinet-work, cutlery and pins; the incrustations produced by the fixed parts of the waters, called Sprudel-stones, are an object of industry. A number of tradesmen of all sorts come, during the season, from Prague and Vienna; bohemian glasses, hyaliths, the pewter-ware of Schlaggenwald, fill very beautiful shops, and all the china and fine potter’s-ware manufactures of the kingdom are near Carlsbad.
The china or earthen cups, used by the water-drinkers, vary in beauty and price, but are of the same size, viz., about six ounces. Dials, with moveable hands, assist the memory of those who drink a great number of goblets.
Carlsbad has its magistracy, presided by a burgomaster; but, during the season, the Government of Prague delegates a commissary for the Inspection of the place, to whom strangers must apply about passports, in any contest that may arise between them and the inhabitants, in short, in every case where the assistance and decision of justice are requested.
Religious tolerance being complete in the Austrian dominions, I shall remark, for the tranquillity of those who might not be aware of it, that a part of the catholic church-yard is devoted to protestants, who are buried openly, and allowed to have their own funeral service performed by a clergyman of their confession, if they wish it, and if there happens to be one at Carlsbad, among the visitors. Many tomb-stones have been erected in that part of the church-yard, by non-catholics, to their deceased friends.
NOTES.
(¹) Wenzel (Venceslas) Payer or Bayer, of Ellbogen, born in the year 1488, studied at Leipzic, and took his degrees in 1507. Highly protected by the counts Schlick, to whom the greatest part of the royal domain of Ellbogen, and even Carlsbad, was mortgaged for the money they often lent to the kings of Bohemia, those rich and mighty noblemen sent Payer to Italy at their own expense. Inflammed by the sight of the remains of ancient baths and of some modern bathing establishments, he paid, on his return home, a particular attention to the hot springs of Carlsbad, where he first recommanded their internal use and the douche, so much employed then in Italy. The title of his work is: Wenceslai Payer de Cubitu Tractatus de Thermis Caroli IV Imperatoris prope Ellbogen sitis. Lipsiae, 1521; 2. edition, 1614. He died on the 11th December 1526, thirty-eight years of age. The mode of his death is uncertain; but he died gloriously, as proved by two silver medals, coined by order of the counts Schlick, proprietors of the celebrated silver mines and of the mint of Joachimsthal, near Carlsbad, with Payer’s effigy and the honourable inscription: Cum pariter omnibus moriendum, non tardè sed clarè mori optandum. Those medals are at Vienna in the imperial numismatic Museum. Payer being represented as Curtius, precipitating himself into an abyss, it is highly probable that he died victim of his scientific zeal in investigating the Sprudel. I have described and commented these medals in my work: Carlsbad, ses eaux minérales, etc. p. 205.
(²) Lobkowitz, an illustrious bohemian nobleman, born in the year 1462, died in 1510; he was one of the most learned men of his age, an admirable latin poet, a great traveller, a distinguished statesman, and promoted mightily the restauration of the ancient classical litterature in Germany. He studied at Bologna and Ferrara, and visited afterwards several german universities, particularly Strasbourg, then imperial. In 1490, he embarked at Venice, visited the Ionian Islands, Candia, Cyprus, Rhodes, the Dardanells, Constantinople, Asia Minor, the soil where Troy was, Smyrna, the ruins of the Temple of Ephesus, went through Cilicia, Pamphilia, Syria, Arabia, and prayed over the cradle and the grave of our Saviour. He meant to go to India, but gave up that dangerous plan. He visited Egypt, its pyramids and cataracts, Alexandria, Cairo, the ruins of Carthago, and Tunis; crossing then the Adriatic, he landed at Venice in 1492. Lobkowitz, who gave an account of his travels in several latin letters, brought back a collection of the rarest and most precious objects, amongst others a manuscript of Plato, for which he paid 2000 Milanese ducats, existing still at Raudnitz, belonging to his family, the princes of Lobkowitz, dukes of Raudnitz. His library was the richest in Germany. His works were published sixty years after his death: Illustris ac Generosi DD. Bohuslavi Hassenstein a Lobkowitz, Baronis Bohemici, poetae, oratorisque clarissimi Farrago Poematum in ordinem digestorum per Thomam Mitem, Nymburgenum, Pragae, 1570. His Epigramma in Thermas Caroli IV is p. 179. We possess also his Epistolae and his Lucubrationes oratoriae. His cotemporaries called him the Ulysses, the Pliny, the Horace of Bohemia; they might also have called him their Juvenal, for his satire on the nobility, gentry and people of his country, and for his very sharp letter on the morals of Prague. His works, formerly taught at Leipzic, among the roman classics, are now very rare; scarcely more than fifteen copies are extant in the principal public and private libraries of Bohemia and Austria. He is commonly called The Great Bohemian (Der grosse Böhme).
(³) A family seat, his Tusculum, where he was born, where he passed a great part of his life, and where he died, reduced now to venerable ruins, in the circle of Saaz.
(⁴) Augustus Pfitzmayer was born at Carlsbad, on the 16th March 1808, where his father, a native of Wirtemberg, keeps the Posthof, one of our best Restaurans. He received his first education at Carlsbad, but, when eleven years old, he was sent to Dresden (1819), to study under Mr. Philippi, director of a celebrated institution. Three years after he went to Pilsen (a small town in Bohemia), to attend his last philosophical classes. About that time he began to learn English, French and Italian, which he understands very well, and speaks as easily as can be expected from a young man, overloaded with other studies, and having few opportunities of conversation with foreigners. Of late he has made astonishing progress in the danish language. In 1827, he undertook the turk, without any teacher but Viguier’s Grammar, and the various turkish books he found afterwards in the public libraries of Prague and Vienna. Having met with insurmountable difficulties of admission in the Oriental Academy of Vienna, he tried jurisprudence; but seeing that neither the law nor the turkish language could lead him to any favourable result, he devoted himself to medecine, and took his degrees at Prague, on the 10th of March 1835. The best proof that he has not neglected oriental languages is the double turkish version of Lobkowitz’s Ode on Carlsbad, which he gave me, in April 1831. Having asked him leave of submitting both to Mr. de Hammer’s judgement, who himself, two years before, had declined to translate it at my request, as too difficult, the great orientalist of Vienna answered that „Pfitzmayer’s versions were admirable; that I could without any scruple print them in my Polyglot, etc.“ Augustus Pfitzmayer’s beginning Life, his two versions and Mr, de Hammer’s answers, are published in my Almanach de Carlsbad, 1832, ch. XVIII.
(⁵) Peter I, czar of Russia, came twice to Carlsbad, towards the end of October 1711 and 1712, and the last elective king of Poland, Stanislas Poniatowski, drank our waters, during the winter of 1761, viz. three years before his election.
