Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1872-07-12
KISSENGEN.

RId6S Ot hlSSeBgcn, please.
OF the many who perspiringly stand
at the mineral water fountains during
the heated term, and with grateful
throats partake of the cool draught, how
few pause to think of the clear spring
thousands Of miles away from which
their beverage takes its name, and OF
which it is one Of the many limitations.
Kissengen is a pretty little town OF
5000 inhabitants, and is situated on a
small river, the Saal, and is nestled
away among the hills of Bavaria. Like
most German watering places, the
houses are well built aud large, and
every dwelling, from the burgomaster' s
and doctor s to the humble tenement OF
the shoemaker, is used as a lodging
house during the season" AS at our
Saratoga, the inhabitants seem to sleep
through the dull winter, to be strong and
earnest for the harvest of dollars to be
wrested from the crowd of strangers
pouring INTO their great bailiwick during
the summer months. The town rests in
a valley, surrounded by tiers of gradu-
ally rising hills covered with pine and
hemlock, and through the leaiy boughs
at intervals are seen the ruins of old
feudal castles, and the gray stone eros.
ses erected by the people to commemo.
rate particularly bountiful harvest In
the dim distance the wooded Rhine is
seen, its hill.sides dotted with villages
and on the right hand and the left, at
almost every step, chapels and churches
and shrines with saihted image chal-
lenge the religious wanderer
And bearing the brult of Prussiau
cannon a hundred houses are SCARED
with the memories of the campaign Of
1866. Many pieces of shot aud shell
remain firmly imbedded in the walls Of
houses, relics of the war, and souvenirs
to keep alive the hatred of the people
toward the Prussians. .t
The wooded parks and shady paths
about Kissengen are numerous and beau
tiful, and lead to the miraculous salt
springs which have made this little quiet
town famous the world over. 1t is said
that these springs were known as early
as the ninth century. The history Of
the town speaks of frequent battles be-
tween the Hennehbergs and the Prince
of Fuzberg,, its early ruler. 1t finally
came into the hands of the latter about
the end Of the fourteenth century. Gus.
tavus Adolphus held it for time, and
the first Napoleon captured it early in
1913. By the treaty of Vienna in 1915
it was given to Bavaria, and in 1874 it
became known as fashionable watering
place. In 1914 there were but stwo |
springs known to the inhabitants-the
f" Max Brunnen and the Pandour,"
distant from each other in the same |
park about three hundred feet. 1t was
during the year 1876, when Prince Fred
eric Charles " Schonbrun was changing
the course of the Saal in order to pre-
vent the inundation of the Pandour,"'
that famous spring Razozcy Drummer"
was discovered. Its waters were found
to be so valuable that the spring became
known throughout Germany.
To King Ludwig belongs the credit of
having established the fame of these
springs. The town was
adorned by him with large and elegant
public buildings, private dwellings, parks
filled with rare flowers, walks, paths,
rambles and promenades. The springs
we're developed by his command, their
contents subjected to chemical analysis,
and the many healing virtues of its wa
.ers published to the world. DR.. Gran
7ille, a celebrated English physician,
brought the waters of Kissengen to Eng
ish notice in valuable treatise issued
n 1880. About the time Of its appear
lnce the number of annual visitors to
kissengen was in the neighborhood of
100. Now they number 10000 guests at
he height of the season. Diseases which
'tubbornly resist treatment rapidly give
way to the magical spring water, and the.
,aths seem the veritable fountains Of
,outh that De Leon hoped'to find in the
Floridas .'