98

WILDBAD. — CHAPT. VI.

oi’ even fetid, character. The waters, takcn internally, in conjunction with (he baths, will powerfully second these effects, particularly by increasing tbe action of the kidneys; and a considerablc Sediment will then be obscrved in tbe sccretions of those Organs. These reinarks also apply to the great number of complaints arising from rhcumatism, such as ncuralgia, tic douloureux; onc-sided hcad-aches; partial deafness, affections of the sight, asthmatic coughs, intermissions of pulse, diseases of the tbroat, the la- rynx, and the wind-pipe, chronic diarrhcea, colics, cramps of the stomach, lumbago, etc.; all this forniidable array of diseases will be cured by the use of the Wildbad spring. By the samc agency the most complicated cases of gout here find alleviation, and frcquently will be en- tirely removed. The following cases are selected amongst a great number, givcn by Fricker, and Heim; and tbey will better serve to inspirc the patient with confidence for these baths, than a mere enumeration of the complaints against which they are efficacious:

A pcasant girl,- aged 17, who liad hitherto enjoyed a robust health, from scveral days, working in the forest at a time of cold and wet weather, had caught a cold. From this arose an obstinate rheumatism in the right arm, which, for nine months, resisted the best remedies usually em- ployed in such cases. At first only the fore-arm was af- fected, but at a latter period the rheumatism extended over the muscles of the whole arm, and the violence and duration of the paitis she had to suffer, forced her to Ieave her bed six or eight times every night, in Order to obtain a short alleviation.

When she came to Wildbad, the arm, in consequence of its sufferings, which always were complicated with fever, was bent in the joint, so that the fore-part with the closed