AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.
Antiquity is to a city what noble blood is to an individual. The former may fall into decay, and the latter into poverty; but the pride of ancestry supports them both in their fallen greatness. The Romans had excellent olfactories, and a keen scent for steam or sulphuretted hydrogen gas, wherever these issued through cracks or fissures of the earth, in their wide domains. They were very fond of warm baths—and very wisely made frequent use of them with no small advantage, considering that these Lords of the Creation had no linen shirts, and wore thick woollen, and probably somewhat greasy garments next the skin. The boiling cauldron under Aix poured forth its nauseous and malodorous broth as freely when Cæsar was mustering his legions on the banks of the Rhine, or when Charlemagne, many a century afterwards, was uniting his Franco-German subjects in the same place, as now, when the “Dampschippe” and “Chemin de Fer” are daily bringing hundreds of customers and guests from the distant shores of Albion and Erin. Innumerable Roman relics are here found—and actual baths were discovered, where the brother of Nero probably bathed.
Aix is situated in latitude 50° in the midst of a gentle valley, environed, at some distance, by well-wooded hills. The substratum is calcareous, but there are unequivocal marks of volcanic agency in the neighbourhood. The town, like London, presents an old city environed by a new one—especially towards the Borcette. The old town, in which almost all the hotels, and indeed the baths are situated, is very irregular, and cedes to few continental cities in the roughness of its pavements.
The Fontaine Elisée, the chief or only place for drinking the waters, is situated exactly between the old and new towns, close to the theatre, and is one of the handsomest places of the kind amongst the spas of Germany—forming a remarkable contrast with the Hygeian fonts of Ems, Wisbaden, and Baden-Baden. In the midst of the façade, 270 feet in length, rises the rotunda (resembling the Temple of Vesta at Rome) nearly fifty feet in height, supported by columns, flanked by two open colonnades ending in cafées, and fronted by a promenade among trees. The fountain, from which issue two streams, is situated ten or twelve feet below the colonnade, at the bottom of two flights of marble steps—one for descending to the font, and the other for ascending from it. There is ample space in front of the fountain for slowly bibbing the fervid spring. The whole is surmounted by a marble bust of Hygeia—taken from a German Princess—and certainly exhibiting more benignity of mein than beauty of feature. The two High Priests who fill the glasses from the two streams, have no sinecure of it from six till eight o’clock every morning. I counted 300 drinkers the first morning—and then, being tired, I counted no more. It must be the reputation, and not the taste or flavour of these waters, that draws such multitudes of invalids to them every year. The odour of sulphur is exceedingly strong—the temperature 129° Fahrenheit—the taste most nauseous—exactly resembling the washings of a gun-barrel, with a dash of rotten eggs. It is astonishing how soon the palate and olfactories get reconciled to these and other malodorous waters. On the second morning I felt little or no repugnance to them. They are clear as crystal.
The best baths are at the Hotel de l’Empereur (where the superior and hottest source is found), and which is also a very good hotel. The maitre (Mr. Nuellens) is a pleasant fellow, who speaks English, and is very attentive to his guests.
As Aix-la-Chapelle is not a place of resort for those who seek pleasure only, the great body of the real visitors are really invalids, or think themselves such. The few attendants on sick friends are seldom seen taking either the waters or baths.
At such a place the experienced eye of the physician can detect, with a tolerable approach to accuracy, the prevailing maladies for the removal of which these waters are employed. The drinkers can readily be divided into three, if not four classes. 1st. I observed a certain proportion, chiefly females—perhaps a twentieth or thirtieth part of the whole,—who were clearly “malades imaginaires”—and whose complexions, features, gait, voices, and condition of body, evinced the absence of all organic disease, or even functional disorder, of any consequence. They appeared, however, to be full as anxious to imbibe the prescribed quantity of this terrible compound of sulphuretted hydrogen gas, muriate of soda and a few other salts, as any of their neighbours, who shewed too evident marks of corporeal sufferings.
The second class—and by far the most numerous—were those whose countenances and tout-ensemble indicated the presence of various functional disorders—more especially stomach complaints, biliary obstructions, cutaneous affections, and uterine derangements. A large proportion of these were likely to benefit from the sulphur salines of Aix. The third class could not be mistaken. The melancholy sequences of apoplectic attacks (paralysis)—swelled limbs—dropsical effusions of the body—jaundice,—enlarged livers and spleens—diseases of the heart—last stages of indigestion—kidney diseases—panting asthma—hectic cough—in short, the long black catalogue of organic diseases, which no waters but those of oblivion could ever wash away.
Yet hope, which clings to the human heart, had collected this unfortunate class—and not in very small numbers—round the fountain and the baths—to return to their homes with blighted expectations, there to linger out a wretched existence!
The German physicians appear to be convinced that mineral springs are not merely waters impregnated with various mineral and gaseous matters, with or without increase of temperature; but that they are possessed of vitality—living beings, in fact, whose life is transfused into the human organism, thereby communicating energy to the solids and purity to the fluids of our bodies—in other words, correcting and expelling disease and restoring health! Even the venerable Alibert was smitten with this German transcendentalism, and he observes of the Aix waters—“these springs, under the empire of Nature, most undoubtedly enjoy a species of vitality (une sorte de vitalité) in common with other living bodies on this globe. They are animated by a multitude of principles, which will long, perhaps for ever, elude the most laborious researches of chemistry. The waters of Aix-la-Chapelle, whether used internally or in baths, act as potent restorers of vital energies. Their constituents are powerfully aided in efficacy by the high temperature and the impregnation of divers gases. Taken internally they excite the action of the abdominal viscera—detach mucosities and other morbid secretions, and evacuate them by the bowels, kidneys, and skin. The inhalation of the vapour rising from these waters has been very serviceable in many cases of pulmonary affections.”
This vitality hypothesis did not escape the notice of my friend Dr. Granville, who appears, however, to have thought it rather too large for John Bull to swallow, without some qualification. He therefore substituted “caloricity” for “vitality,” in order that so good an idea might not be lost—and that some mysterious agency might aid the natural operation of the German spas. This mode of explaining the ignotum by the ignotius is, no doubt, very ingenious; but, for my own part, I shall at once acknowledge my ignorance, not only of the manner in which mineral waters are formed in the bowels of the earth, but of their specific action (if any) on the human frame.
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.”
Let us now advert to the bill of fare which Alibert, Monheim, Zillerland, Dordonville, Reumont, and others, have spread before the invalids resorting to Aix-la-Chapelle. I shall endeavour, here and elsewhere, to form some scale or estimate of the probable, doubtful, and dangerous agency of the waters and baths.
1. Probable.—2. Doubtful.—3. Dangerous.
Difficult digestion, without organic disease (1)—Acidities in the stomach and bowels (1)—Cramps in the stomach (1)—Coliques (1)—Worms (1)—Constipation (2)—Mesenteric obstruction (1)—Obstruction of liver (1)—Of Spleen (1)—Of Kidneys (2)—Hypochondriasis (2)—Hysteria (1)—Hæmorrhoids (1)—Want of sleep (2)—Jaundice (1)—Dropsy (2)—Derangement of monthly health (1)—Sterility (2)—Diarrhœa (2)—Chronic dysentery (2)—Chronic catarrh (2)—Renal and vesical calculi (2)—Glandular enlargements (1)—Scrofula (1)—Tubercles of the liver (2)—Rheumatism, fixed or wandering (1)—Gout, if perfectly chronic (1)—Cutaneous eruptions, chronic and not inflammatory (1)—Morbid effects of mercury (1)—Effects of mineral poisons, as of lead (1)—Deafness (2)—Loss of voice (2)—Weak vision (2).—These waters are contra-indicated in hæmorrhages—tendency to apoplexy—(though they are said to be sometimes useful in the paralysis following apoplexy.)
The foregoing is a tolerably copious list of maladies which may be benefitted by the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle—and from their sensible qualities and long-established reputation, there is little doubt but that fashion has drawn away from them to other more favoured places, many who would have derived great advantage from their use. The remarks on drinking, bathing, and preparatory measures, will be found under the head of Ems, to prevent repetition.