At Marienbad, as at Franzensbad, the carbonic acid gas rises from the earth in such abundance, that it is only necessary to inclose a piece of ground and form a reservoir, when the deadly mephitic gas collects in such quantities as would destroy the whole population of those spas in a few minutes! But as the most potent poisons have been converted into the most efficient remedies, so has this deleterious emanation from the bowels of the earth, been made an instrument for restoring various lost powers in the human frame. The application of this gas is only of modern date. The first notice I have seen is in the Dict. des Sciences Medicales, 1812. Since then Dr. Heidler, Dr. De Carro, and others have published on this subject. The gas-bath was first used at Marienbad about twenty years ago, on the following occasion. Dr. Struve, of Dresden, had been using the waters and baths of Marienbad for a painful affection of the left thigh and leg, which prevented him from walking without crutches, and, on any little exertion, caused the most excruciating pain. A number of lymphatic glands were swelled in the course of the vessels of that limb, and the vessels themselves were enlarged and inflamed, though the limb was emaciated. He had a gorged liver and hæmorrhoids. He exposed the afflicted member daily to the action of the carbonic acid gas, which always floats on the surface of the Marienbrunn; and the following were his words:—“I soon felt an agreeable warmth creep up the limb exposed to the gas, which went on increasing, accompanied by a sense of formication (creeping of ants) over the skin. After half an hour’s application, on the first trial, I removed from the Marienbrunn, by the aid of my servant and crutches; but my astonishment was great, when I found that I could put my foot to the ground with increased power, and that the painful titillation soon subsided. In the course of a few days the power of the limb was so far augmented that I was able to walk without crutches or even a stick. I continued, however, the Kreuzbrunn water internally—the mud-poultices to the limb—and the gas-bath for three weeks, when the cure was complete and permanent.”[64]
This almost miraculous cure attracted Dr. Heidler’s attention to the subject, and, from that period, he has made numerous experiments on other patients, with this new remedy, as well as on himself personally, and published the results in the year 1819, at Vienna. The succeeding year six gas-bathing chambers were constructed, and now, (August 1840) this gas-bathing establishment is on the completest scale of perfection. The Count St. Leu, and Marshal Schwarzenberg, were among the first patients who used the gas-baths after their establishment in 1819. The physicians of Marienbad have, ever since the last-mentioned period, employed this remedy in a great number of cases and diseases, and, they informed me, with great advantage.
The sensible effects are chiefly as follows:
1. A sensation of heat (sometimes preceded by a slight coldness) very soon is felt after entering the gas-bath, beginning at the feet and mounting upwards over the whole body, in the majority of cases, but, in others, it is most sensibly experienced in those parts of the body or limbs which are or were the seats of diseases. In the abdomen, and especially in the lower parts of the pelvis, this pleasant sensation of heat is more felt than in the chest—a fact which led to the application of gas to certain complaints in both sexes attended with torpor and debility of particular functions.
2. A sensation of twitching, formication, and even pain, is often the result of the gas-bath, especially in parts which have formerly been the seat of fractures, sprains, wounds, or severe gout or rheumatism. These pains are so acute as sometimes to force the patient to quit the bath before the usual time has expired. On the other hand, most excruciating pains of rheumatism, tic, &c. unaccompanied by inflammation, have been instantaneously relieved by the application of the gas. 3. Perspiration is generally produced or augmented by the bath, either at the time of immersion, a few hours afterwards, or in the following night. 4. The gas-bath sometimes brings on, at others regulates, periodical discharges, hæmorrhoidal or otherwise. 5. The gas-bath is exciting or even irritating to the organs of respiration, and should not be used where there is any inflammatory action or congestion in the chest. 6. If a certain proportion of the gas gets mixed with the common air, and is thus breathed, it produces giddiness, vertigo, anguish at the pit of the stomach, and oppression about the lungs. If the pure gas is breathed, instant death is the result. A few years ago the life of a female peasant was lost by the stupidity of her husband, who put the cover of the bath over her head, instead of being round her throat. No one is now allowed to take a gas-bath without the medical or some experienced attendant.[65]
The carbonic acid gas is generally employed here in commixture with a small proportion of sulphuretted hydrogen gas.
The mode of action of the gas-bath being decidedly stimulant, it should never be employed where stimulants are improper. The disorders in which it is most employed by Dr. Heidler, Dr. Herzig, and other physicians at Marienbad, are the following:—1. Suppressed or scanty menstruation—especially after the waters and common baths have been used without effect. 2. Suppressed hæmorrhoidal discharges, in which the mineral waters may also be employed. 3. In scrofulous ulcers and swellings, aided by the mud-baths and mineral water. 4. Various derangements of digestion, where there is no plethora of any of the abdominal organs. 5. In gouty affections of a painful kind, without actual inflammation, and where the other baths and waters have proved ineffectual. In such cases, the gas-baths often bring out an acid and fætid perspiration on the pained part. 6. In some chronic affections of the sight, as amaurosis, not accompanied by inflammatory symptoms, the local application of the gas has been found useful: also in deafness dependent on torpor of the nerves and membranes of the ear, or where the natural secretion is defective or nul. Great caution, however, is necessary in the local application of streams of this gas to the eyes or ears, where there is any tendency to vertigo, or fulness about the head.
The gas-baths are taken locally or generally. In the general bath the patient should be lightly cloathed, as the gas generally induces perspiration. When it is used locally, by way of douche, it may often be applied to the naked part, or with a gauze covering over the surface, especially if to the eyes. Care should always be taken to prevent the introduction of gas into the lungs—or even into the mouth or nose, lest disagreeable consequences should ensue.
This new remedy has attracted individuals of both sexes to Franzensbad and Marienbad, from the wilds of Russia, and from various parts of the South and centre of Europe. Those who come with the greatest anxiety, and with the most ardent hopes, or at least expectations, to the gas-baths, are such as have long sighed, but sighed in vain, to become—