Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/526

510 heard of was that there was a good deal of water-splashing by the friskier convalescents.

But let us approach the splendid establishment which lies nearest the railroad-station, the Bain Impérial, or Thermes Napoléon of the Second Empire. The latter inscription is still traceable, though very faintly, under the briefer legend of to-day, "Thermes." Confucius demands somewhere, "How can a man be concealed?" and in France one must often ask himself the same of the names in the changing inscriptions on public buildings. They usually discover, if you scrutinize them a little closely, some trace of the previous occupancy—sometimes a pathetic trace. One may not sympathize with the doings of the Second Empire, and yet it rouses a lively feeling of unfair play to see this fine establishment, like many other public works which Napoleon III executed in France, stripped even of the name of the ruler who at least did much for the material prosperity and comfort of his country, as roads and public buildings throughout France testify. An author's name goes upon the title-page of his book; surely it is not less fair that the builder's name should remain upon his edifices.

The Thermes Napoléon, then, are the newest, finest, and most extensive of the six establishments of Plombières, and they are among the finest in France or in Europe. The Bain Romain, an old establishment, rebuilt in 1837; the Bain des Dames; the Bain tempéré, in which, as I have said, the bathers were formerly so crowded; and the Bain des Capucins, in an old church—these all lie farther up the beautiful narrow valley in which Plombières is built; and all are much frequented, the latter especially for the cure of sterility. In all these different springs the waters are warm, ranging from about 43° to 55° C. (110° to 131° Fahr.), and in the subterranean vapor-room, where the spring bursts from the rock, the temperature runs up to 153 Fahr.—quite as high as one can well face heat in the shape of vapor. It seems to burn when it first strikes your face, but a pleasant perspiration follows. This temperature, however, that of the hot spring itself, as it has been flowing for thousands of years past from the primitive rock, is not that which is used for treatment. In the steam-room the vapor-baths are given at 113° Fahr. Nearly every variety of bath known is administered in one or another of these thoroughly equipped establishments.

The waters of Plombières are of the mildest; they are classed by some as indifferent thermal waters, but they contain silicic acid and sulphate of soda. Taken as a drink, they are stimulating to the circulation and to the nerves; they are diuretic and aperient, and sometimes produce gastric disturbance and the so-called "thermal fever" at the outset of the treatment. There is, besides, an iron spring, which is cold, and which has a similar laxative effect, unusual among chalybeate waters. The baths of Plombières, at first stimulating, have