Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/407

Rh oldest watering places in Germany, and now the capital of the Prussian District of Wiesbaden. The place is resorted to every year by thousands of Germans and hundreds of foreigners who seek to renovate their health by the use of its waters. I was one of them; for after years of hard work in heavy or unhealthy Bengal Districts, like Mymensing and Burdwan, Dinajpur and Midnapur, I had felt the need for a change, and had come to Europe in 1893. I had brought my ailments with me, and I suffered from malarial fever for six weeks in England before I had done with it. And I was also susceptible to rheumatism, and Wiesbaden, they say, is the best place for cure of that disease. One has need to be more careful of his health at forty-five than at the age of twenty-five, and I accordingly gave up all idea of visiting the Chicago Exhibition, and decided to spend the summer of 1893 in this quiet watering place, Wiesbaden.

The treatment which is prescribed here is much the same as elsewhere. Bath in the tepid spring water every morning, the patient lying in the water for half an hour, and two or three courses of that water for drink during the day. This treatment, continued for a month, is very weakening; one is much weaker and thinner after the period; but in nine cases out of ten he gets rid of his ailments, and is a sounder and healthier man for years after. This certainly was the case with me.

The weather was sunny and mild, and my days