There are several minerals found in this moor. I am indebted to Dr. Palliardi (one of the resident medical men) for a good specimen of blue phosphate of iron; of the hydrated red oxyd of iron; and for one of great interest discovered there by himself, termed Kieselguhr. This substance was first described by Professor Ehrenberg, of Berlin, to be an aggregation, or to speak more accurately, the shells of a collection of different species of infusoriæ. It is said to be pure silica—it is white; extremely light and friable, and forms one of the most beautiful objects for the microscope I have seen. I have a great quantity; and shall be happy to furnish yourself, or any friend that may desire it, with a specimen.
I do not know whether you visited Dr. Palliardi’s study; it would have been well worth the trouble. He is at once a mineralogist, a botanist, an ornithologist, entymologist, chemist, and physician. I was pleased at the simplicity with which they made a mud-bath—they merely picked and sifted the mud (the sun having previously, to a certain extent, dried it) and digested it in the water of the Louisenquelle warmed by steam. The appearance of a bath when ready is anything but prepossessing; I must confess, however, on making the trial, I was agreeably disappointed.
Notwithstanding my qualms, Dr. Kœstler insisted on my taking one, and making myself acquainted with his darling Schlammbads from personal experience; and I must say, when quietly seated in the mire, the sensations were by no means disagreeable. In other hot mineral baths I almost invariably experienced an oppression and anxiety at the chest; but here, I know not why, the breathing was quite natural, and not at all hurried. The black mess was extremely acid, violently and instantaneously reddening litmus paper; and it exhaled a peculiar odour which I can compare to nothing but to blacking. Its taste was styptic and saline—styptic evidently from some salt of iron, and more saline than the water of any other mineral bath. This is no more than would be expected when the quantity of salt it contains is considered. I am informed by Dr. Kœstler that every bath requires 250lbs. of schlamm, in which are contained 33lbs. of salts. And this statement I should imagine to be tolerably correct, for I find that 120 grs. of this mud yield 15.5 grains of matter soluble in water. The solution is light brown, very acid, and contains the following substances: 1. A volatile acid, which was separated by distillation at temp. 230 circ. and which had many of the leading characters of acetic acid, and on which the peculiar odour of the bath depends.—2. Some fixed extractive matter in combination with iron.—3. A large quantity of the persulphate of iron; and 4. some sulphate of soda.
In examining this specimen, I was mostly struck with the very large quantity of iron, and the comparative small quantity of other saline matter. For a wonder it contained no chloride. There is a salt kept by the chemists at Franzensbad, purporting to be the salt contained in the mud. Had they said—made from the mud, they would have been correct. It is perfectly neutral and efflorescent, and is nothing else but sulphate of soda, with just sufficient persulphate of iron left unremoved, to tinge its solution. The fact is—it is prepared by neutralising the acid solution of the mud by carb. soda, and thus precipitating the iron, and retaining the salt of Glauber in solution—one or two crystallisations furnish it tolerably pure. The opinion that it contained the phosphate of soda and phosphate of iron, is unfounded.
In many respects, the mud-bath is unique in its action on the human body. From the quantity of saline matter it holds in solution, it acts as a powerful stimulus to the skin, exciting the capillaries to renewed exertions; hence its great use in gouty and rheumatic paralysis. The chalky and fibrinous depositions which form this disease are absorbed under its influence; and so effectual is it, that Dr. Kœstler, the oracle of Franzensbad, will prophecy the recovery of a patient from this disheartening complaint, after the far-famed hot springs of Teplitz have been tried in vain.
It is to this same property perhaps that its influence in chronic painful affections of single nerves is to be attributed. The point whether salt is actually absorbed from a bath is not, I believe, absolutely decided; but certainly, if the fact be true, as is my firm belief, it is worthy of remark to those patients who look for the tonic effect of the absorption of iron into the blood, that it is in the mud-baths only that this metal is contained in a soluble state. In the baths of Schwalbach, so famous for chlorosis, there is plenty of iron; but it is in the form of an insoluble carbonate: yet it is stated to be absorbed by the skin, and to produce its well-known effect on the coloring matter of the blood; it has always appeared to me that, provided chlorotic patients could bear the stimulation applied to the surface, the mud-baths of Franzensbad would be pre-eminently serviceable. This remark applies equally to some forms of hysteria; and to those irregular muscular contractions of the limbs termed chorea. Indeed it is to the absorption of this iron, I deem that the exhilarating effect universally experienced after their use is to be attributed. Dr. Kœstler quoted to me two cases of diabetes, in which these baths were extremely useful; he could not however say were actually effectual. In conclusion, cutaneous affections of a chronic character, unattended by fever, will be most effectually benefitted; and I believe that these very obstinate complaints, which baffle in so determined a manner the skill of the medical man, will derive more benefit from the mud-baths of Franzensbad than from any other mineral baths, with one exception—those of Kreuznach. I have entered more fully than I had originally purposed into this subject; but I trust that its very great interest, both in a scientific and medical point of view, will be deemed a sufficient apology for trespassing so long on your patience.
I am, dear Sir,
Your’s very sincerely,
Robert J. Spitta.