P.S.—A rail-road is forming between Dresden and Prague, to run by Teplitz. This will render the communication between London, Teplitz, and Carlsbad, extremely easy and quick.
I am, dear Sir,
Your’s truly,
Theodore L. Richter, M.D.
Teplitz, 18th Sept. 1840.
Extract of a Paper of Mr. Spitta’s on the Waters of Püllna, &c.
Within a morning’s drive from Teplitz, are situated three mineral springs, little known, yet in many respects extremely interesting—Püllna, Saidschitz, and Sedlitz. They all yield a water of a similar nature, rich in the sulphates of magnesia and soda; and which is so peculiarly bitter, as to have acquired the title of “Bitterwasser.”
Having heard so much of this bitterwasser in Germany, and of the powders of Sedlitz at home, I was anxious to ascertain the true nature of the springs; and see if they really afforded a mineral water so agreeable and salutary as we get in England by dissolving our “genuine Sedlitz powders.” I proposed an excursion, and Dr. Richter, of Teplitz, with his usual urbanity, kindly accompanied me.
So near as Teplitz is to these springs, it will doubtless appear strange to others as it did to me, that, no one, not even the people at the post-office, where we ordered the carriage, could tell us their exact position. So great a traffic! so much Sedlitz salt prepared! one hardly knew how to account for such ignorance. Püllna, indeed, they had heard of; for, being on the road from Carlsbad to Teplitz, it could not well have been overlooked; Saidschitz was conceived, by possibility, to exist; but, as to poor Sedlitz, where all our powders come from, its very existence was denied; nor was it, till we were within a mile, that we learnt its situation from a few wandering peasants.