AND
CENTRAL FRANCE.
Although there is little that can be denominated bold, or strikingly
romantic, in the general aspect of the country around Tours, it
nevertheless, possesses charms of a peculiar and novel nature, alike
calculated to gratify a lover of the picturesque, tranquillize the
mind, and renovate the enfeebled energies of the valetudinarian.
Hence it has long been famed as a favourite resort, more especially, of
these classes of British Tourists, etc.; many adopting it as a temporary
place of residence, whilst others have permanently established
themselves in some of the beautiful sylvan retreats which characterize
the more immediate vicinity of the city.
Throughout a vast area, the surface of the surrounding country is
pleasingly diversified by gentle undulations, considerable tracts of
which are adorned by dense masses of foliage, occasionally presenting
deeply indented vistas, embosoming some modern country house or ancient
Château, with its spacious, but somewhat formal pleasure grounds. Many
picturesque vales with their meandering streams, verdant meadows, and
towering poplars, also present themselves to the eye of the traveller,
but the characteristic rural features of this portion of France are its
wide spread vineyards, which may almost be said to occupy every slope,
and crown every upland.
As throughout nearly the whole of these extensive tracts of fluttering
verdure, the walnut, the apple, and in many instances the peach,
apricot, cherry and almond, with innumerable elms, oaks, and gigantic
specimens of the Lombardy poplar are thickly and pretty uniformly
interspersed, the whole country assumes a remarkably foreign and sylvan
character; the peaceful beauty of which is much heightened by the
sequestered and vine clad abodes of the rural population, of the
majority of which, it may almost literally be said, that they are
surrounded by a terrestrial paradise, teeming with the most luscious and
grateful productions of all bounteous nature.
Although such is the agreeable aspect of much of what may be termed the
table lands of Touraine, the picturesque character of the landscape is
much enhanced as we gradually descend into the capacious valley of the
Loire.
On approaching the Barrière de la Tranchée, the ancient and handsome
city of Tours, with the dome capped towers of its magnificent cathedral,
and other churches, presents itself full in view, occupying a
considerable area on the opposite banks of the river, and being
encircled by a girdle of luxuriant foliage formed by its celebrated
Mall (le Mail), a spacious avenue of fine elms; beyond which, a
fertile plain of about two miles broad extends to the Cher; which is
immediately succeeded by the richly wooded southern slopes of the vale,
thickly bespangled with the handsome white residences of the French
noblesse.
The broad and voluminous waters of the Loire, are here, as in many other
localities, adorned by two rather large and well planted islands,
between which the noble bridge with its fifteen elliptic arches
stretches across the stream; opening a direct communication with the
spacious Rue Royale, said to be one of the handsomest streets in Europe.
The two opposite slopes of the beautiful vale of the Loire, which are
sometimes deeply furrowed or intersected by denudated vallies, being
thickly studded with pretty villas, surrounded by ornamental grounds,
and intersected by thriving vineyards, with their sequestered villages,
sometimes alone detectable by the tall taper mineret of the Parish
church, piercing through the sombre masses of foliage that occasionally
project far into the hurrying current, or abruptly recede to crown some
bold projection of the adjacent heights, necessarily present, many
exceedingly interesting views, whose charming realities can alone be
correctly depicted by the pencil of the artist, and many of which do in
fact, merit to be delineated by the genius of a Claude.
The expansive plain through which this noble river gracefully
serpentines, possesses an exceedingly fertile alluvial soil on a
substratum of gravel, and is chiefly devoted to agricultural purposes;
but, occasionally contains extensive tracts of pasture land, which
fattens the majority of the cattle consumed in the adjacent districts.
The soils of the table lands are comparatively poor and infertile, being
for the most part constituted of a light sandy loam and tenaceous
calcareous marl, in which frequently a gravelly debris prevails, or
innumerable flint stones are interspersed.
The subformations of the country being chiefly composed of sandstone and
porous calcareous and siliceous rocks, renders the thin soils on these
higher tracts extremely dry and arid. And perhaps this is more
particularly the case where the white sandstone forms extensive mural
terraces along the northern borders of the vale of the Loire. At la
Tranchée this rock being barely covered, and where it happens to be so
to any depth, by a porous loamy and gravelly deposit only,—this fact is
peculiarly and very happily demonstrated by the healthiness of the
place.
A characteristic freedom from terreous moisture and aqueous exhalations,
tends in no small degree to augment the natural salubrity of the
Tourainean climate, and perhaps it is mainly indebted to its peculiar
geological structure, which we shall presently consider more in detail,
for the preference awarded to certain of its localities by invalids,
over the somewhat milder but generally speaking more humid resorts of
southern France.
The topographical situation also of Tours secures to it some
advantageous peculiarities not possessed by many of the frequented
places of the south. Pau in the south-west of France, one of its most
formidable rivals, is, in consequence of its proximity to the Pyrenees,
subject to considerable variations of temperature, and although a
considerable distance from the coast, is very much under the influence
of the Atlantic. All the changes though in some degree modified to which
it gives rise extending as far as that place. These effects cannot be
properly said to reach Tours, which is situated in a fine campaign
country, and is at least twice the distance of Pau from the sea, or
about one hundred and fifty miles; the temperature however of Tours is
subject to rather frequent but decidedly not great vicissitudes, the
thermometer being rarely above 80° in summer or below 40° in winter.
The comparative statements given by Dr Playfair respecting the
climates of several places in the north and south of Europe, may
somewhat serve to illustrate that of Tours with regard to those
respective localities:[A] «The mean annual temperature of Pau is 4½°
higher than that of London, and about 3° higher than that of Penzance;
it is about 5° lower than that of Marsilles, Nice, and Rome, and 10°
lower than that of Maderia. In winter it is 2° warmer than London, 3°
colder than Penzance, 6° colder than Nice and Rome, and 18° colder than
Maderia. But in spring Pau is 6° warmer than London, and 5° warmer
than Penzance; only 2½° colder than Marsilles and Rome, and 7° colder
than Maderia.
The range of temperature, between the warmest and coldest months at Pau
is 32°; this at London, and likewise at Rome is 26°; at Penzance it is
only 18°, and at Maderia 14°. The daily range of temperature at Pau is
7½°, at Penzance it is 6½°, at Nice 8½°, at Rome 11°.»
At Tours the prevailing winds are south westerly. Between however the
vernal equinox (the 21st of march and the latter part of april),
easterly winds are rather frequent, but the city is pretty effectually
protected from the effects of these and the north winds by the high
range of country which stretches out from nearly east to west along the
northern banks of the Loire. The long succession of handsome villas
pleasantly situated opposite Tours at the base of these high grounds,
occasionally climbing their slopes, and which are chiefly occupied by
English families, being entirely protected from them.
The autumn which is peculiarly mild and may be said to be here
exceedingly charming,—especially where the red tinted leaves of the
vine impart a glowing richness to the vineyard clad landscape,—advances
with an agreeable and smiling aspect into the more dreary month of
december, when cold weather may, generally speaking, be said to have
commenced; though the middle of most days is still cheered by a warm and
genial sunshine. A good deal of heavy rain usually falls about the
autumnal equinox, but is quickly absorbed by the porous soil and
prevailing arenaceous formations of the neighbourhood, consequently, the
atmosphere is particularly free from humidity.
A peculiar absence from cold winds may be strictly said to prevail the
greater portion of the year, but perhaps the characteristic qualities of
the climate are the equability of its seasons, and the comparative
mildness of its spring. Constituting in a high degree, that healthful
atmosphere so indispensable to the preservation and improvement of our
native energies both physical and mental.
In all chronic pulmonary affections, the quality of the air which is
inspired into the lungs is well known to be a point of the most vital
consequence, and therefore invalids affected by inflammatory affections
of that organ experience much benefit by repairing to a climate like
this, more particularly during the vernal exacerbations of the disease.
Indeed experience has proved the climate of Tours to be peculiarly
efficacious in bronchial affections, being very beneficial in almost all
cases of irritation of the air passages, whether or not accompanied by
increased secretion.
The mild equable temperature of the Touraine climate is peculiarly
adapted to afford essential relief to persons predisposed to phthisis
or consumption, and those suffering from laryngeal, bronchial, and
catarrhal affections, assimulating that disease. Also to invalids
labouring under chronic dyspepsia, gout, and rheumatic affections, a
winter's residence particularly, in Tours, has frequently proved
highly serviceable, and no inconsiderable benefit is experienced by
persons who have contracted local disease from a residence in a tropical
or unhealthy climate.
Most of the above mentioned diseases being generally induced by a
continued subjection to the suddenness and excess of atmospherical
vicissitudes, and which the efforts of medicine alone too frequently
fail to eradicate or alleviate, it is sufficiently evident, that a
removal to localities where these causes can be in a great measure
obviated, is in most cases, the more commendable course the afflicted
can pursue, as the one assuredly the most calculated to expedite the
remedial skill of the Physician through the renovating virtues of those
powerful and efficient agents, travelling and change of air.
When it is considered how much the natural character of the subtle and
elastic fluid which surrounds the earth is changed and modified in
different localities by the geographical position and physical
peculiarities so variously distinguishing the respective regions of the
globe, it will, we trust, readily be conceived from what has been stated
of such circumstances, respecting Tours and its neighbourhood, that its
prevailing climatic qualities cannot fail to be of a highly healthful
tendency.
Tours, we have intimated, is too remote from the Ocean, to be
prejudicially affected by its mutable influences, or by the vast stream
of aqueous vapours perpetually arising from the great western
waters;—it is environed by moderately elevated absorbing
formations,—it is situated in a broad and extensive vale, whose fertile
soils are based upon a thick alluvial deposit of gravel;—while its
walls are bathed by the purifying waters of a wide, rapid and limpid
river.
It is from such a happy combination of natural circumstances that its
atmosphere possesses the transparency and elasticity which so strikingly
characterizes it; and on which of course its peculiar adaptation for
the due and healthful performance of the animal functions mainly
depends.
Lord Bacon thinks the best air is to be met with in open campaign
countries; where the soil is dry, not parched or sandy, and
spontaneously produces wild thyme, wild marjorem, and the like sweet
scented plants.
It is in fact sufficiently obvious, that wherever the aerial currents
have a free and unobstructed circulation those injurious mixtures, in
the form of vapour known under the name of miasmata, cannot
disseminate their baneful seeds, the whole ingredients of the atmosphere
being thereby continually amalgamated together.
The greater portion indeed of central France, it may justly be said, has
as strong and palpable claims to a genial and equable climate, as the
province of Touraine, with all its acknowledged local advantages. The
winters are of very short duration, and a powerful sun during the
greater part of the year dispenses heat and life through a cloudless and
lucid atmosphere.
The present winter (1842), like its immediate predecessor has been
somewhat remarkable for an unusual though partial severity. This was
only experienced at Tours during the month of January, when a keen but
dry atmosphere prevailed. The cold about this period however, seems to
have been severely felt in the south of Europe generally, and in
countries where the temperature is usually very mild. At Rome on the
ninth January 1842, there was a fall of snow which remained on the
ground several hours, and on the thirteenth the hills of Albano and
Tusculum were still covered with snow. The cold was twenty two degrees
below freezing point, which is a very rare circumstance in the Roman
states. At Carthagena, where severe cold is seldom known, the
thermometer fell for the first time to a degree and a half below zero.
The hills for the first time for many years were covered with snow. At
Madrid, the great basin of the Buen-Retiro was covered with ice
several inches thick, and two sentinels of the queen's palace were
frozen to death at their posts. At Valencia the thermometer fell seven
degrees below freezing point. At Burgois, Barcelona, and Cordova,
the weather was equally severe. Even the shores of Africa experienced
a similar visitation;—at Algiers the thermometer stood at three
degrees below zero. So low a temperature had not been experienced for
twenty years. At Trieste on the third of January, the roads were
blocked up with snow, and the Mails from France and Italy were two days
in arrears.
During the same month at Tours, but a few very slight falls of snow
were experienced, and which throughout the whole winter, with the
exception of one or two days, did not cover the ground for more than a
few hours duration.
On the third, the thermometer here, stood at thirty-six degrees of
Farenhenit in the shade, on the ninth at 24°, the thirteenth at 31°,
the fifteenth at 39°, the twentieth at 34°, and on the twenty-fifth at
forty-six degrees; the latter being the highest point the mercury
attained during the month, and seventeen at nine o'clock in the morning
of the tenth, the lowest, and which at midday rose to twenty-five
degrees. There were thirteen clear, sunny days, and but six in which
rain or snow fell. The north east winds prevailed until the tenth, when
west and south west winds set in, and continued until the end of the
month. The average daily range of temperature was four and a half.
The weather of the succeeding month rapidly became still more
propitious, and the many days which a genial sun shone forth in
uninterrupted splendour, produced a very sensible effect upon
vegetation, the swelling buds of many of the deciduous trees, appeared
on the eve of expanding into full form and beauty, while the green
mantle of the plain assumed a lively and luxurious appearance.
During the month of march the thermometer continues generally to range
between forty and fifty degrees; the vegetable world now resumes its
wonted vigour and activity with astonishing rapidity, and the whole face
of nature begins to wear a smiling and cheerful aspect. The warm glowing
sunshine of April completes the lovely picture, the tender plant is no
longer held in bondage by the opposing elements, a thousand pretty
odoriferous harbingers on every side remind us that the season of
universal florescence is at hand, regenerated, benificent nature,
rejoices beneath a serene and cloudless sky, and whilst a magical
brilliancy illumines the new born verdure, the embryo bud, the expanded
blossom, and the vigorous plant of spring, silently but eloquently give
joyful promise of the abundant fruits of Autumn.
This is a pleasing but not overwrought picture of the forwardness and
redundant beauty of the springs of central France:—
| Where the resplendant orb of day |
| Imparts the magic of his ray |
| Een'through the wintry blast! |
| And dormant nature forthwith springs, |
| Mounting to life with vig'rous wings |
| Triumphant oer the past. |
| For now the rural gods do reign, |
| Oer vine-clad hill and verdant plain, |
| To grace the teemful earth; |
| The clear, elastic air is fill'd, |
| With sweets the flowerets have distill'd, |
| To consecrate their birth. |
| Redolent zephyrs play around, |
| And health inspiring hills abound, |
| Beneath these bright blue skies; |
| New energy, new life to man they give, |
| Bidding his drooping spirit live, |
| And taste the new-born-joys. |
It being a matter of the first importance to the valetudinarian to adopt
every precaution against the atmospheric effects to which he is
necessarily exposed in his transit from place to place, and also of
great consequence to be provided with such comforts and necessaries as
are probably not to be obtained in his route through the country; a few
observations on this point may here with propriety be introduced, and
which we think cannot be more judiciously stated than in the words, of a
popular writer, who has spent many years in travelling on the continent.
«It will add materially to the comforts and advantage of invalids who
travel en poste, to have a courier who rides before, to avoid the
delays at the post-stations, at frontiers, etc., and to have apartments
at the hotels ready prepared on the arrival of his employers, as these
circumstances often occasion a good deal of discomfort and annoyance to
persons in bad health. An easy English-built carriage from a maker's on
whom reliance can be placed, fitted up with conveniences, and springs
and wheels suited to the continental roads, is requisite for those who
wish to travel in comfort. Many of the roads are paved, which sometimes
occasions considerable fatigue. For elderly and delicate persons who are
liable to be affected by the transitions of temperature, a post-chariot
is the best: for others a light travelling britscka, or chaise de
poste will best answer the purpose.
It is very advisable for invalids, as well as persons in health, not to
sit too long at a time in the carriage, but to get out now and then to
walk up the hills, or at the post-stations, as by so doing the fatigue
consequent upon the muscles being kept long in the same position will be
avoided.
Those persons who labour under affections of the air passages should be
provided with a Jeffrey's respirator, though its too frequent use is not
to be recommended, as tending to render the respiratory organs more
susceptible. A pair of leather sheets may be placed beneath the
seat-cushions, as a precaution against damp beds, which, however, are
seldom met with in France or Italy. Essence of ginger is a useful
stimulant, and a teaspoonful in a cup of tea on arriving after a days
journey is very refreshing. Those who are in weak health, and travellers
in general, should eat very sparingly of animal food when on a journey,
as it tends to produce heat and flushing. Black tea is one of the most
useful articles travellers can be provided with, as it is seldom good
in small towns or at inns on the road. As an evening meal, tea, with a
little cold meat or chicken, is much preferable to a hot dinner or
supper, which not unfrequently is a cause of sleeplessness. Those who
are subject to cold feet should be provided with short boots of coarse
cloth, to slip on and off, over their ordinary boots, as occasion may
require, and a small feet-warmer should be placed in the carriage. A
large medicine chest, which is a constant companion of many families,
will be cumbersome and unnecessary, as almost all medicines of good
quality may be obtained in all the towns frequented by invalids. A small
chest containing a few articles likely to be required at out of the way
places (as lint, soap-plaster, James's powder, a small quantity of
calomel, laudanum, extracts of henbane and colocynth, a box of aperient
pills, spirits of ammonia, tartarised antimony, castor oil, rhubarb,
weights and scales,) will, however, be a useful precautionary addition
to the luggage.»
The cheering and beneficial influence of travelling through a succession
of novel and agreeable scenes, to a mind under the distressing moral
influences of grief, anxiety, or disappointment,—so frequently the
precursors of disease,—is too apparent to need any expatiatory remarks
on the subject; but we would particularly remind the valetudinarian who
naturally, may be tempted to a frequent enjoyment of the prevailing
sunshine of the winters of Touraine, that more, than an apparently
sufficient warmth of clothing is necessary for such occasions; for,
when the still powerful rays of the sun occasionally become suddenly
obscured by clouds, or after that luminary has disappeared below the
horizon, a rather formidable transition from a comparatively high to a
low temperature is here the common result. The proper time for such
persons to take exercise at this season of the year, is between twelve
and three o'clock.
Nothing conduces more to a healthful action of the digestive functions,
a free circulation of the blood, and the due performances of the various
secretions, than a sufficiency of daily walking exercise, indeed than
the neglect of it, a more common predisposing cause of disease does not
exist:—a congestive state of particular organs, an impaired action of
the muscles of respiration thereby inducing a tendency to consumption;
and habitual cold feet, are among the multitudinous evils emanating from
a listless and sedentary mode of life.
To persons addicted to travelling or who are necessarily much exposed to
atmospheric vicissitudes, we would particularly recommend the
hydropathic treatment, or perhaps more properly, what Dr Johnson terms
the «Calido-frigid sponging, or lavation.»
This consists in sponging the face, throat, and upper part of the chest,
night and morning, with hot water, and then immediately with cold
water. Children also should be habituated to this sponging all over the
body, as the means of inuring them to, and securing them from, the
injuries produced by atmospheric vicissitudes. It is the best
preservative against face-aches, toothaches (hot and cold water being
alternately used to rinse the mouth), earaches, catarrhs, etc., so
frequent and distressing in England. But its paramount virtue is that of
preserving many a constitution from pulmonary consumption, the causes of
which are often laid in repeated colds, and in the susceptibility to
atmospheric impressions.
Invalids, on their arrival, should also pay great attention to their
diet and regimen.
The wines of this country, should at first be but sparingly taken, for,
on account of their acidity, an ordinary use of them at the outset, will
frequently occasion considerable derangement of the digestive functions,
but when persons become sufficiently accustomed to them, they constitute
a light and wholesome beverage.
It is indeed worthy of remark that the wines of France, rank before
those of other countries for their Purely vinous qualities, and so
multitudinous are their diversities, that it is confidently affirmed
there is no variety in the world which might not find an approximation
to some one or another of her growths, and which invariably are
manufactured according to well-fixed scientific principles.
The wines grown near Tours, are divided into three classes, namely, what
is called rouge noble, vin du Cher, and rouge commun.
Those of Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil, Joué, Saint-Cyr, Chambray, and
Saint-Avertin, are the most esteemed growths of Touraine.
The Champigny of Richelieu, and Clos-Baudouin of Vouvray and
Rochecorbon, are also much in request. These red wines if of a genuine
quality, are remarkable for their flavour and soft bouquet, which is
balmy to the palate, and moderately taken are wholesome and
exhilarating.
The price of the best Bourgueil is from one hundred and thirty francs
to one hundred and fifty francs per barique, of about three hundred and
fifty bottles; and the Joué and Chambray from eighty to ninety francs
per barique. Some tolerable effervescing white wines are produced in the
neighbourhood of Tours, the prices of which are a little under the red,
but they are for the most part heady and treacherous, and want the
perfume and vinosity of Champagne.
The highly esteemed rose coloured champagne may be purchased for seven
francs per bottle, very tolerable may be had for three francs, and the
recently, and most successfully Champagnized red Joué for two francs.
A very good effervescing wine is grown on an extensive scale at
Villandry, about twelve miles from Tours, and which is exported in
large quantities to Russia.
Of the sounder, most delicate and recherché of the red wines to be
readily obtained at Tours, we may particularly enumerate Bordeaux—which
even when prepared for the English markets, still possesses the fine
qualities of the pure wine;—and Burgundy, of which, the Romanée
Saint-Vivant, and Romanée Conti, are the best and most perfect. It may
also be observed that the vin crémant d'Ay which is the least frothy
and fullest bodied of the effervescing wines, is held in high repute,
being grateful and stomachic.
The Champagne wines are divided into sparkling (mousseux), demi
sparkling (demi-mousseux), and still wines (non mousseux). Their
effervescence is owing to the carbonic acid gas, produced in the
process of fermentation. And we are told that as this gas is produced in
the cask or (as more quickly) in the bottle, the saccharine and
tartarous principles are decomposed.
If the latter principle predominates, the wine effervesces strongly, but
is weak; if the saccharine principle be considerable and the alcohol
found in sufficient quantity to limit its decomposition, the quality is
good. Wine of moderate effervescence is invariably selected by
connoisseurs in Champagne, and such wine carries the best price.
Of the still class, a wine put into bottles when about ten or twelve
months old designated, ptisannes of Champagne, is greatly recommended
as aperient and diuretic.
The champagne wines are light in quality in respect to spirit, the
average of alcohol in the generality of them, according to professor
Brande, being but 12.61 per cent.
It is a remarkable and well ascertained fact, that the alcohol in wine
combined in the natural way, when drank in that state, is not
productive of those complaints of the liver, and other diseases, which
arise from drinking the brandied wines of Portugal, in which the spirit
is foreign. The union of the alcohol, being mingled with the other
ingredients of the wine by artificial means, is never perfect, and is
beyond calculation more pernicious than the strongest natural product.
The light wines of France may not on first acquaintance prove so
relishing or pleasant to the English palate accustomed to adulterated
or brandied wines; they however in reality, not only impart a
cheerfulness and exhilaration, a kind of pleasant easy buoyancy entirely
different from what arises from the use of port, or the spirituous
heavier wines but have when taken largely a much less injurious effect
upon the constitution.
This remark would perhaps seem more strictly to apply to the wines made
for home consumption, as a small per centage of Brandy and syrup of
raisins are generally mingled with the French wines to please the
foreign palate.
The generous juice of the grape, was undoubtedly bestowed upon man by
his benificent Creator, to impart health and vigour to his physical
energies, and a wholesome cheerfulness to his soul; and if he would
wish to avoid enervating the one or brutalizing the other, he will do
well to eschew all «mixed wine», which before the period of its
scriptural denunciation to the present, has ever and anon manifested
itself in the «living temples» of its besotted votaries in the character
of indigestion, apoplexy, dropsy, gout, delirium, tremours, and a long
train of diseases.
«Strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise»;
but pure wine upon a healthy stomach, is grateful and precious as
the light of truth and the exercise of discretion, to a sound and
well-regulated mind.[B]
Such are the facilities for travelling afforded by the two countries,
that a journey may now be performed with ease and comfort between London
and Tours, in the short space of fifty hours! being a distance of about
four hundred miles. This is to be effected by the railway from the
metropolis to Southampton, and thence by the splendid steam packets to
Hâvre, from which place a well appointed malle-poste daily runs to
Tours.[C]
The nearest way from Hâvre to Tours, being a distance of about one
hundred and sixty miles, is by Honfleur, Lizieux, Alençon and Le Mans,
which diligences regularly perform. But perhaps the most picturesque
routes are by way of Rouen. The post road from Hâvre to Rouen, along the
northern banks of the Seine, frequently presents the most beautiful and
varied prospects; but if possible, the picturesque scenery which
successively presents itself in an ascent by steam vessel up the Seine
to Rouen is of a more exquisitely charming character. Passing between
Harfleur and Honfleur, which are pleasantly situated on the opposite
elevated slopes, near the mouth of the river, a small but most beautiful
bay presents itself bounded by a series of gently rising, well wooded
hills, occasionally decorated with a spacious mansion, or bespangled
with neat cottages and elegant villas. On approaching Quillebeuf, near
which there is a spot, said to exceed in picturesque beauty the banks of
the Rhine, the river becomes narrower, and as we continue to follow its
exceedingly tortuous course, a rapid succession of lovely sylvan scenery
gratifies the eye.
The heights which border the Seine, and which are constituted of the
chalk formation, are deeply furrowed by a continuous series of
transverse vallies, forming a succession of rounded elevations, which
together, present a remarkable natural phenomena, well worthy the
particular attention of the speculative geologist. Many of these heights
are clad with a rich garb of foliage, as are also most of their
concomitant vales, in some of which a pretty neat village is
sequesteredly ensconced, while its neighbouring hills are adorned by a
château, or the semblance of some noble ruin, in the bold indentations
of a grey rocky precipice peering through dense masses of foliage.
As the vicinity of Rouen is approached, the opposite hills gradually
expand, leaving at their base an extensive plain of luxuriant pastures
and waving corn fields, around which the Seine winds in graceful folds,
till, on reaching the environs of Rouen, it encircles islands of the
richest verdure. At this point, the ancient capital of Normandy appears
in view, with its venerable temples, noble buildings, quays, and hosts
of sea and river craft; the whole being surrounded by an expansive
amphitheatre of thickly timbered hills.
The distance from Hâvre to Rouen by land is fifty-three miles, but up
the Seine it is about eighty miles; the extra length however of the
journey occasioned by the extremely indirect course of the river, is
amply compensated for by the exquisite and ever varying prospects
afforded by the passage up the Seine.
Another extremely interesting and convenient route to Tours might be
pointed out, to such as could bear the fatigues of a lengthened voyage
and long land trip, by way of the channel islands to Saint-Malo, and
thence by diligence, through the romantic primary districts of Britanny,
to Rennes and Nantes, the chief place of the department of
Loire-Inférieure, and one of the richest and most commercial towns of
France; it is situated on the right banks of the Loire, at the
confluence of the Indre and the Severe. From this place the traveller
may reach Tours by the regular conveyances, through Angers and Saumur;
or, by ascending the Loire in one of the neat steam packets which
perform regular trips between Nantes and Orléans: the fare by which to
Tours is but twelve francs, though the distance thus performed is
upwards of one hundred and forty miles. The land journey which is about
one hundred and thirty miles, is extremely diversified and pleasing, but
that by water is of surpassing beauty; the delighted voyager wends his
way where many a verdant isle smiles amid the stream, through an endless
variety of lake-like scenery, enriched on either hand in the highest
degree by rocky escarpments, and gently rising grounds clad with
vineyards, and numerous other choice productions of the vegetable
kingdom, now receding so as to form an expansive plain of verdant
pastures, and anon abruptly projecting with their lovely sylvan burdens
into the very centre of the broad and glittering stream.
In closing these few descriptive remarks on the character of the most
prominent routes to Tours, from northern France, we must not omit to
remind the invalided especially, that the one from Dover to Calais, or
to Boulogne, and thence to Paris, Orléans, and Blois, is perhaps in many
cases, to be preferred on account of the shortness of the sea passage;
and although one of a circuitous character, it necessarily presents many
natural and artificial features of stirring interest and beauty.
The city of Tours, may be divided into two compartments, the ancient
and the modern.
The modern portion is no less distinguished for its neatness and
elegance, than is the ancient for its antique character, and the number
of monuments it contains, illustrative of the histories of remote ages.
Tours, now head quarters of the department of Indre-et-Loire, was before
the revolution, the capital of Touraine, and the seat of the governors;
it is one of the most ancient archbishoprics of France, and the station
of the fourth military division.
Chroniclers have never been able to give a precise date and name to the
foundation and the founder of Tours.
When Cæsar made his expedition into Gaul, it was the Civitas Turonum
so often mentioned in the commentaries of the conquering historian.
Conquest, however, gave the city another name, and the Romans called it
Cessarodunum. It fell alternately into the power of the Goths and the
Francs. In 732 Charles-Martel gained under its walls a celebrated
victory over the Saracens, who attracted by the mildness of the
climate tried to fix their wandering tents in its smiling plains: but
it was only in 1202 after having suffered all the miseries of barbarism
that Tours was at last reunited to the crown of France.
This city was become so important by its central position and the
resources of its environs, that in the space of less than a century,
from 1470 to 1506, the states general assembled in it three times. Henry
3rd, pressed by the League, transferred the parliament to it in 1587.
If we believe the ancient chroniclers whom Froissart and Monstrelet
copied, the city of Tours had a much more ancient origin. It is to a
great prince named Turnus, who after the siege of Troy came into Gaul
and died not far from this city, where, say these chroniclers, his tomb
has long been seen, that Tours owes its origin and its name.
Tours and its neighbourhood afford many resources for the active and
agreeable employment of the mind. It has long been pre-eminently
distinguished for the agrémens of its society. Elegance and urbanity
characterize the demeanour of the native noblesse; the British residents
and visitants are composed of the most respectable grades, amongst whom,
a reciprocation of friendly intercourse is cherished with perhaps more
than the ordinary assiduity so generally productive of affable
association among the English abroad.
The French language is considered to be spoken in its greatest purity in
Touraine, a desideratum of much consequence to persons who resort to
France for the education of their children, and it may also be proper to
remark that there is a classical establishment for young gentlemen in
the immediate vicinity of the city. Tours also possesses a library
containing some valuable MSS., some of which are of the sixth century,
a museum of painting and natural history, a college, a society of
agriculture, science, art, and belles-lettres, a theatre, excellent
baths, and extensive umbrageous promenades. There are two English
episcopal chapels, one in Tours, and the other but recently opened is
situated on the Tranchée; an English club has long been established;
which is now supported with great spirit and liberality, affording all
the usual attractions of such institutions, and where many of the
English newspapers are daily received.
The theatre is frequently open, and balls and routs prevail during the
winter season. The hôtels are replete with every comfort and
accommodation.
Tours also possesses an excellent English boarding house; and elegant
houses, villas and châteaux, well furnished, are to be readily obtained
in the town and its environs. All kinds of provisions are exceedingly
plentiful, which with the numerous fruits and wines are to be obtained
at very moderate prices.
The lovers of rural sports and pastimes, may find much to interest them
in this and the neighbouring departments. The Loire and the Cher afford
excellent diversion to the angler, and occasionally to the fowler, being
during the autumnal and winter months sometimes frequented by large
flocks of aquatic birds. The wild boar and the chevreuil, a small but
elegant species of deer, are to be found in the forest; the vast
intermediate tracts of arable land are however for the most part but
thinly stocked with game.
The ancient châteaux within an easy distance of Tours merit the
attention of the antiquarian, some of them possessing historical
associations of a highly interesting character. The principal are the
chateaux of Loches, Chenonceaux, Chinon, and Amboise; of which
respectively, for the gratification of those who feel a pleasure in
journeying to gaze upon these sombre and for the most part dilapidated
monitors of the «instability of all sublunary things,» we will proceed
to enter upon a brief description.
The vast fortress of Loches,—which is twenty five miles from
Tours,—has been the residence of many of the kings of France, since it
was occupied by Philip Augustus.
Within the range of its former precincts the Tomb of the famous Agnès
Sorel in black marble may still be seen. As may also the dungeon in
which Ludovico Sforce duke of Milan was confined in 1500.
The castle, or rather prison, which it is said was founded during the
Roman domination in this part of the country, presents some striking
specimens of its pristine magnificence.
We are informed that in this abode of terror, there were dungeons under
dungeons, some of them unknown even to the keepers themselves; men were
frequently doomed to pass the remainder of their lives here, breathing
impure air and subsisting on bread and water. At this formidable castle
were also those horrible places of confinement called cages, in which
the wretched prisoner could neither stand upright nor stretch himself at
length.
The celebrated cardinal Balue was confined here by order of Louis
11th, for many years in one of these cages. The Duke of Alençon,
Charles de Melun and Philippe de Commines were also imprisoned in this
fortress. It was successively occupied by Charles 7th, Louis 11th,
Charles 8th, Louis 12th, Francis 1st, Henry 2nd and Charles
9th.
The chateau of Chinon, which in ancient times was a place of great
strength, it is said was once composed of three distinct castles,
erected at three different epochs. Ten kings of France had occasionally
made it their place of residence. Henry the second, and Richard the
First died here. Joan of Arc had an interview with Charles the 7th at
this place; the remains of the room in which it occurred are still
shewn. But a few dismantled towers and dilapidated walls now alone
remain to mark the elevated site of the magnificent superstructure,
which in days of yore proudly towered above the lovely sylvan scenery of
the fertile vale of the Vienne.
Chinon is about thirty miles from Tours.
The castle of Amboise is a noble structure of great antiquity; and from
the beauty of its elevated situation on the southern banks of the Loire,
and the drive to it from Tours, of about twelve miles, being of a
romantic and very interesting character, it is an object of much
attraction to the general Tourist.
Constantine rebuilt the fort soon after its destruction by Diocletian.
Charles the 8th, resided at this his birth place many years prior to
his ascending the French throne; and in 1498 he here expired.
The two large towers which form a protected communication between the
castle and the town below, were built by this monarch. One of the towers
is remarkable for its internal spiral roadway, up which cavalry may
ascend four abreast.
Louis 12th, Francis 1st, Henry 2nd, and Francis 2nd
respectively contributed towards the improvement and adornment of the
castle, and which by an act of Louis 16th, became the property of the
Orléans family.
The small detached chapel dedicated to St.-Hubert is much admired for
its sculptural embellishments in alto-relievo.
The pleasure grounds attached to the castle which are partially laid out
in the English fashion, are extensive and diversified, and the view of
the adjacent country from the terraces is remarkable for its picturesque
beauty.
The glittering waters of the princely Loire studded with its numerous
little green Isles, and white sails of commerce, are seen rapidly
coursing in intricate windings through the broad, rich plain of
corn-fields, for many miles in extent, both to the east and west, and
which is bordered by bold elevations, and cliffs of chalk and calcareous
sandstone, surmounted by a succession of beautiful vineyards. And
perhaps the most singular feature in this varied landscape, is the vast
chain of human habitations, which, like a whitened irregular stratum may
be seen stretching out as far as the eye can reach in opposite
directions, along the whole slope of the southern elevations just
adverted to. They contain a large population, principally constituted of
the cultivators of the adjacent plain and hills, the slopes being
chiefly occupied by pretty white villas belonging to the better classes,
while in the abrupt intermediate precipices of rock, the poor have
scooped out their indestructible dwellings. And which, certainly possess
some considerable advantages over those of their more pretending
neighbours, being warm in winter, cool in summer, and dry in all
seasons. These subterranean abodes, together present an exceedingly
curious and novel spectacle. Sometimes the excavations are continued a
considerable height up the cliff, and the numerous doors and windows in
the face of it, apprize the spectator that, his species here literally
«live and have their being» in the foundations of the earth! A kind of
fret work or fantastically wrought sculpture not unfrequently
over-arches the entrance, or hangs like an ornamental frieze above
entire dwellings, which on a close inspection we discover to be the
mystical workings and embellishments of nature herself, being actually
constituted of a bed of fossil zoophytes, which in the very spot they
now occupy, vegetated at the bottom of the antediluvian Ocean! How
strange the transformation! How astounding the physical revolutions
time has here effected!—The identical bed of coral, over which the
turbulent waves of the Ocean rolled for centuries, and amid which the
finny tribe disported, now, in its pristine position, forms a roof for
the permanent dwellings of man! Which, with their fruitful vines
flourishing around the doors, and the smoke from the domestic hearth
rising in graceful curls through the submarine production, or as
sometimes seen, peering through some verdant knoll, present a singular,
but pleasing picture of humble contentment security and peace.
Near the western visible extremity of these thickly peopled hills, the
lofty turrets of Tours cathedral are distinctly visible in the horison.
But in our enumeration of the more striking features of this
interesting panorama, we must not omit to mention the long island in the
middle of the river, immediately below the castle, and which
communicates with the town by a stone bridge of ten arches, and with the
opposite bank by a curiously constructed wooden bridge of eleven arches.
The portion of the island above the bridges, being covered with a
verdant turf, and tall trees, affords a very agreeable and favourite
promenade, while the part contiguous to the bridges being entirely
occupied by houses, presents the curious appearance of a small town
floating as it were on the hurrying current.
Visitors from Tours to this place sometimes extend their drive on the
same day to Chenonceaux, a distance of ten miles through the extensive
forest of Amboise, and return from thence to the city, a drive of twenty
miles, along the interesting banks of the river Cher.
This a large and majestic structure, and being built upon arches
constructed across the Cher exhibits a singular appearance, and its
approach through a noble avenue of trees is one of striking beauty.
This beautiful chateau, supposed to have been erected in the thirteenth
century, became crown property in 1535.
It was greatly improved and embellished by Diana of Poitiers, mistress
of Henry 2nd who however was afterwards compelled by Catherine de
Médicis to exchange this splendid gift of her munificent lord, for
Chaumont-sur-Loire.
Its extensive picture gallery contains a considerable variety of
interesting paintings and ancient portraits. In short the general
character and internal decorations of this spacious and antique
building, its neat and extensive pleasure grounds, with the pretty
sylvan park attached thereto, together render the place an object of
very general interest.
In the plain, about a mile to the west-ward of Tours, a few
comparatively inconsiderable remains of the royal Castle and appendages
of Plessis-les-Tours, are still to be seen; they consist of an
extensive wall about 15 feet high enclosing about 60 acres of arable
land, an uninteresting habitable portion of the ancient structure, and a
remnant of the once famous and beautiful Saint Hubert's Chapel. These
solitary relics in fact barely suffice to attest the spot where high in
the air, arose the noble and massive pile, which during the feudal times
of darkness and of danger, was watched and defended with the most
extreme and jealous care.
This castle was the favourite residence of Louis XI, and many were the
strange and plotting scenes enacted here during the period it was
dignified by the presence of his mysterious court. He is said to have
been excessively superstitious, crafty, vindictive and cruel, and the
vigilance and surveillance he caused to be exercised in the vicinity of
his palace, by his not over scrupulous agents, continually filled the
surrounding neighbourhood with awe and apprehension.
A vast enclosed chase, termed in latin of the middle ages, Plexitium,
encircled the external enclosures surrounding the open esplanade which
sloped up to the castle walls, rendering the precincts of the Royal
domain as sombre and portentous in aspect, as were the dark and
multiplied battlements which frowned above the monarchs of the
surrounding forests.
The cruel and treacherous cardinal La Balue was a great favourite at
this court, and for a considerable period basked in the smiles of
royalty at Plessis-les-Tours, but Louis having strong grounds for
suspecting that he had been mainly instrumental in betraying him to the
duke of Burgundy,—his feuds with whom were highest about 1460—he
ultimately caused him to be immured in one of the iron cages, we have
referred to in our notice of Loches. In this horrid den, the invention
of which some ascribe to Balue himself, he was confined eleven years,
principally it is said at Plessis-les-Tours, nor did Louis permit him to
be liberated till his last illness.
Such are a few of the historical facts associated with the crumbling
memento which as yet remain of this favourite and beautiful demesne of a
great and powerful monarch. All its proud bulwarks have long since
fallen beneath the ruthless hand of time, and its noble and extensive
forests been laid prostrate by the active axe of the cultivator, while
the march of rural improvement which has entirely renewed the face of
the plain, will ere long have swept every ancient vestige away leaving
the antiquary to search for the locality of Plessis-les-Tours, alone in
the page of History.
But what reasonable and enlightened mind will regret even such a
consummation, for, as moral improvement advances towards the climax of
perfection, we every day see the face of nature rejoicing in its
progress, and her children enjoying the fruits of their industry in the
fullness of freedom and of unrestricted liberty.
The clustering vine and the golden waving corn, now deck the place of
the arbitrary halls, and the dismal dungeons of the castle, the peaceful
hamlet with its neat and assiduously cultivated gardens, covers no
inconsiderable portion of the once exclusive and lordly precincts, while
its unsophisticated population pursue their daily avocations in
fearlessness and in peace.
Old tottering ruins and dismantled Towers may of themselves under many
circumstances be justly deemed very picturesque objects, and merit to be
valued accordingly, but to preserve and venerate all solely for their
historical associations, which at best, are but too frequently the dark
and ignominious doings of a clandestine and barbarous age, would seem to
argue a morbid sensibility, more befitting the devoted and infatuated
antiquarian, than the true and enlightened philosopher who sees
"language in stones and God in everything."
There are a few other ancient Châteaux and some inconsiderable
architectural remains in the arrondisement, but as they present few or
no features of general interest, it would be a work of supererogation to
particularize them; we cannot however close these brief notices without
particularly adverting to a very laudable and attractive modern
institution, situated at the pretty sequestered village of Mettray,
about three miles from Tours. And this we shall do with the more
pleasure, as its philanthropic object, judicious development of its
practical plans, moral and religious administration, would do honor to
any nation in the world.
The purport of this Institution, which is denominated an "Agricultural
Colony", is to reform juvenile delinquents; and by the inculcation of
moral and religious principles, aided by sober methodical and
industrious habits, to effect the great work of penitentiary reform. The
founders and devoted benefactors of the colony are Mr de Metz and
viscount de Bretignères. These benevolent gentlemen took the sublime
idea of such a project from the reform colony founded by the worthy and
excellent Hickerr, at Horn near Hambourg in 1834. And they have so
zealously and skilfully executed their designs, as to have already
realized in all essential particulars, a beautiful model of their
admirable prototype.
The colony is composed of a certain number of uniformly built
houses;—Each house contains forty children, divided into two sections,
and forming one family, headed by a chief, who has subject to his orders
two under teachers.
The first Sunday of each month, a colonist is elected in the respective
sections, who takes the title of elder Brother; and serves as mediator
between the masters and the pupils. The houses are erected (30 feet)
distant from each other, and are united by sheds. The ground floor of
the "Maison de la Ville de Paris" occupied by the family A,—is
organized like the work shops at Horn, it contains work rooms of
tailors, shoemakers, saddlers, etc., and the rest are arranged in
nearly the same manner. The house of Count d'Aurches on the ground floor
contains six prison cells on the first story, the director's room, and
that of the agent of the agricultural works. On the second story, the
office and the lodging room of the accountable agent,—a forge and a
braziers work shop for the service of the house, are established under
the fourth shed. The adjacent large building is intended for a class of
300 scholars; the chaplain and the professor of gymnastics occupy the
house opposite those of the colonists. A handsome chapel has recently
been added to the establishment.
The instruction given to the colonists is regulated by the station they
are likely to fill in the world.
For the suppression of vice, a tribunal composed of the colonists
inscribed on the honourable list, is deputed to try serious offences,
the directors reserving to themselves the right of softening those
judgments which may be too severe.
The heads of each family (young men of irreproachable conduct, selected
on the formation of the colony from poor but respectable familyies)
conduct their children to the fields, and the work rooms, which are
separated into several divisions by a partition of a yard in height; by
the manner of which distribution a single chief can at the same time
overlook the works of the whole. After the ordinary occupations of the
day, the children return to their respective families, where it is
sought to instil in their hardened minds those affections and good
feelings which the carelessness or depravity of their parents had
blighted.
When a fresh pupil arrives at the establishment, he is placed under the
peculiar care of an intelligent person who studies his disposition, and
who each day gives to the director an account of the results of his
observations; after a certain period of trial, the child is admitted in
a family, where is performed a religious ceremony, and a sermon preached
to prove the blessing of finding a safe asylum after many
temptations;—it is then the new comer is reinstated in the eyes of the
colony and its directors; who take it on themselves, if he conducts
himself well, to place him, and to appoint him a zealous patron who
enjoys public esteem.
Such is the philanthropic nature of the system adopted in this admirable
institution, already productive of the happiest results; and so
judiciously and efficaciously have the economical and industrial
departments been conducted, that it is confidently expected, the colony
will in two years support itself.
The visitor will he highly gratified by a trip to this establishment,
the tout ensemble of which on a fine summer's day, particularly, is
one of surpassing loveliness. Its pretty white Swisslike buildings are
completely environed by woods, groves, vineyards, and tastefully
decorated pleasure grounds, which, viewed as the hallowed precincts of
practical humanity and piety, are highly calculated to inspire the
reflective mind with the most pleasing thoughts and emotions.
| Peaceful abode! with rural beauty rife, |
| And charms that smooth the rugged paths of life; |
| Here human aid assumes a power divine, |
| And Virtue's fix'd her gentle, hallowed shrine; |
| Erring, untutor'd youth, enraptur'd pause |
| Mid wild career, to recognize her laws. |
| Vice with her direful train abash'd retires, |
| Nor dares to light her soul-consuming fires; |
| Industry with her sober, powerful arm, |
| Guards the young mind, and keeps the passions calm: |
| While benign religion, with sweet controul, |
| Gently compels, the wild and wayward soul |
| To taste the various joys her truths impart, |
| And kiss the rod that rectifies the heart. |
The customary paved roads having in this department as in many other
provinces of France been broken up, and superseded by well formed
macadamized ones, trips into the surrounding country can be performed
with as much ease and facility as is afforded by the unequalled highways
of England.
The steam packets which navigate the river as far down as Nantes, and up
to Orléans, offer every facility for agreeable excursions.
It is presumed that in closing these multifarious notices, a few words
touching the social habits and condition of the little coterie of
English located at Tours, may prove acceptable to the general reader, as
well as to persons who contemplate an abode within its interesting
precincts.
The established etiquette is, for those who have resolved on a period of
residence, first to call upon such of the British residents as they
may feel disposed to visit, which acts of courtesy, are, generally
speaking, the prelude to a reciprocity of agreeable and social
intercourse.
An air of high respectability, and elegance, is characteristic of the
Anglo-French circle of acquaintance pervading Tours and its environs;
the newly arrived man of social habits and fashion, may if he chooses,
soon possess the happy consciousness of feeling, that, though distant
from friends and native land, he has his customary social comforts, and
habitual pleasures and refinements of life, completely at his command.
It is true, these enjoyments exist in a limited and circumscribed form,
but for this very reason, facility of intercourse and goodfellowship,
are distinguished by an acuteness of character, rarely to be found in
the far more expansive arrondisements of English society at home.
The warm, generous heart of the Englishman, like the concentrated rays
of the genial orb of day, here, glows with the greater intensity on all
who come within the sphere of its vivifying influence.
Behold him seated at his hospitable board, which groans beneath the
cheapened luxuries and substantial fare, alike of his native and his
adopted land, and gladdened by the presence of his selected countrymen,
who perhaps like himself, have quitted their native shores, to seek for
renewed pleasure, wonted repose, health, or it may be economy, abroad.
The sparkling champagne speedily thaws the icy formula which too often
envelopes and conceals the best, inherent feelings of his nature, and in
the exuberance of his zeal for the universal cultivation of the social
principle, and his lively sense of national toleration and liberality,
he rises to toast, with equal sincerity, the beloved Queen of old
England, or the citizen King of France.
And in what a pretty sylvan retreat has he snugly domiciled
himself!—his white freestone villa, which presents a pleasing display
of architectural elegance, is replete with every internal comfort; a
smiling parterre, decked with many a fine specimen of the stately
cypress, a garden stored with rare and luscious fruits, and the generous
vine every where hanging in graceful festoons, are the most prominent
adjuncts of his sequestered retirement.
There is in short, an exclusiveness, a completeness, spaciousness and
peacefulness, about this his foreign abode, which comports well with his
native feelings, and closely assimilates with the home of his childhood.
Such are the brighter parts of a pleasing picture, and it would hardly
appear fair, were we to recount them without a glance at its darker
shades, which, circumscribed like some of the former; are also of an
intense character, and in the busy workings of the ill disposed
curiosity monger, often appear, as the concentrated essence of bold
conjecture. In plain terms, here, as in other small communities, the
condition, and character of individuals, are constantly subjected to the
microscopic investigations of the vigilant, and not over scrupulous
retailers of flying news, and interesting on dits.
The good feeling of the well-bred, and liberal minded Frenchman, is ever
here, manifested towards the English, in a variety of pleasing
demonstrations, constituting a series of practical illustrations of that
native politeness, for which he is pre-eminently distinguished.
And no one can, we think, be a spectator of these mutual good offices,
and growing interchange of kindly feeling, between the subjects of two
nations which have so long been led to regard each other as inveterate
foes,—without rejoicing at the liberal and peaceful policy which
maintains inviolate the present order of things. Beneath its fostering
and genial sway, the acceleration of the respective national interests
and energies, the reciprocal cultivation of the arts and sciences, the
advancement of true religion and benevolence, and the consolidation of
domestic happiness, though amongst the most prominent, are but a meagre
catalogue of the mutual benefits, which the two neighbouring nations,
cannot fail to realize, as the blessings of a permanent peace.
In this rapid enumeration of the more prominently interesting features
of Indre-et-Loire, it would appear unpardonable were we to pass over
wholly unnoticed, the Botanical productions of the department, the great
variety and successful culture of which, have long since obtained for it
the enviable sobriquet of the garden of France. And perhaps it
behoves us the more especially to glance at it in an essay of this
character, as the study of Botany has become so favorite and fashionable
a pursuit, that scarcely a person of any pretensions to elegant taste,
or to refined intellectual occupations, traverses a new or distant
region without endeavouring to increase the interesting riches of his
Hortus siccus: or at least to bestow some attention to its natural
floral and arborescent productions.
It is justly observed that a Botanical taste, of all sources of
amusement, is, to an invalid, perhaps the most desirable. When exercise
is the only object it becomes irksome even in the loveliest scenery; the
Botanist is however beguiled onwards with a never ceasing fascination,
yet so leisurely as not to induce fatigue; and when his strength is
unequal to excursions of higher attainment, he can find beauties in the
humblest paths.
Frenchmen take much delight in their gardens, which are often very
extensive and characterized by great neatness and uniformity, indeed in
the majority of instances regularity is carried to excess;—clipped
hedges, alleys laid out in straight lines, flower beds tortured into
fantastic shapes, trees cut in the form of pyramids, birds, animals,
etc., are the order of the day. The principles of good taste are however
beginning to manifest themselves in the adoption of a more natural and
elaborate style in the laying out of grounds which surround many of the
more modern mansions, etc. And they are frequently enriched by choice
and rare collections of exotic plants. Among the most conspicuous of the
arborescent kinds, which adorn the pleasure grounds of such
establishments, may be named the cypress de la Louisiane, the Pinus
Silvestris, the graceful Weeping-willow, and Acacia, which here grow to
great perfection; the Arbutus, Bay tree, Laurel, Fig tree, Chesnut, and
Majestic Cedar of Lebanon. They also frequently contain some fine
specimens of the beautiful family of mimosas, a variety of Pelargoniums,
with the elegant Coronille, and Annas.
Between four hundred and five hundred plants are said to be cultivated
in the gardens. And upwards of twelve hundred wild plants have been
enumerated as belonging to Touraine, besides the cryptogamia, such as
the mosses, ferns, liverworts, and mushrooms.
In the woods and forests are found from one hundred and fifty to two
hundred plants; amongst which may be mentioned the genera Amentaceæ,
which flower and blossom. In the month of April the woods are bespangled
with the violet. Viola. Ficaria. Wind-flower. Anemone nemorosa.
Lung-wort. Pulmonaria Officinalis. etc. In May and June we there also
find the Orchis. Mellitis. Periwinkle. Vinca Major. Hyacinth or Blue
Bell. Hyacinthus non-scriptus. Hare Bell. Campanula rotundifolia.
St. John's Wort. Hypericum-pulchrum. Crane's Bill. Geranium Molle.
Bitter vetch. Orobus tuberosus. Strawberry leaved cinque-foil.
Potentilla Frargariastrum. Wood Angelica. Angelica Sylvestris. The
star of Bethlehem. Ornithogalum pyrenaicum. Black centaury. Centaurea
Nigra. Forget me not. Myosotis palustris. The above are to be found
in the Woods of Chatenay, etc. in the immediate neighbourhood of Tours.
On the commons and higher arid tracts, are seen the cross leaved Heath.
Erica Tetralix. Fine leaved Heath. Erica cineria. Male Fern.
Aspidium Felix Mas. Common Broom. Sparticum scoparium. And the
Furze. Ulex Europæus. When these hardy natives of the wold and the
waste, happen to be grouped together, which is very commonly the case,
the varied and vivid hues of their blossoms, present a striking
contrast, and a very pleasing appearance.
Between two hundred and three hundred plants are common to the
cultivated fields, of which, may be named, the Corn Blue Bottle.
Centaurea cyanus. Red Poppy. Papaver Rhœa. Venus's Mirror.
Campanula speculum. Corn Cockle. Agrostemma Githago. Corn Spurrey.
Spergula Arvensis. Common yellow Rattle. Rhinanthus Crista-Galli.
Great White Ox Eye. Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum. All flowering in
July and August.
In the meadows which occupy the vales, subject to occasional
inundations, a very great variety of plants luxuriate, consisting for
the most part of the Family Graminaceæ amongst them may be seen
shining the Pile-wort. Ranunculus Ficaria. Crow-foot. Ranunculus
sceleratus. And many others of this genus. The Cuckoo flower.
Cardamime Pratensis. Ragged Robin. Lychnis Floscuculi. White
Campion. Lichnis vespertina. Tale Red Rattle. Pedicularis palustris.
Queen of the Meadows. Spiræa Ulmaria. Upatoria Cannabinum. Common
Loosestrife. Lysimachia vulgaris. Also the Parnassia Palustris.,
Gentiana cruciata, and Colchicum Autumnale.
On the surface of the Pools and Brooks, many beautiful specimens of the
Nymphæa are to be seen reposing, as those of the white water Lilly.
Nymphæa Alba, and yellow water Lilly. Nymphæa Lutea. On their banks
may also be found the Water Iris, or Flower de Luce. Iris
Pseudacorus.—The emblem of France. The Flowering Rush. Butomus
umbellatus. Arrow Head. Sagittaria sagittifolia, and Water
ranunculus. Ranunculus aquatilis.
Our limits will not admit of a further enumeration, but perhaps
sufficient has been stated to signify the interesting character of the
Botanical productions of the Province, and to induce the scientific
visitor, or the lover of nature, to prosecute his researches through its
sequestered glades and rural retreats; where in fact, he may on every
hand, behold prolific nature displaying her exquisite charms, in
elaborate perfections, rich profusion, and endless diversities.
Of cultivated Fruit trees, the Pear, Peach, and Prune, are justly famed
for their size and richness of flavour; the Meddlar, Quince, and a great
variety of choice Apple trees are thickly dispersed throughout the
vineyards; some of the latter of which during the winter, present a very
singular appearance, from their being often thickly studded over with
the sombre tufts of the parasitical Viscus, or Misleto. A considerable
quantity of excellent cyder is made in the neighbourhood of Tours.
The vineyards which occupy so large a portion of this district, contain
a great many varieties of the vine, which circumstance, together with
the prevailing difference of soil and aspect, naturally produces
wines of very various flavour and opposite qualities.
It is affirmed, that the first requisite to make good wine seems to be a
peculiar quality in the soil in which the fruit is grown, more than in
the species of vine itself; the second requisite to good wine is the
species of plant, aided by a judicious mode of training and cultivation.
It would naturally be supposed that the wine is excellent in proportion
to the size and luxuriance of the plant, but such is not the case, on
the contrary, good rich soils invigorating the growth of the tree never
produce even tolerable wine, but it is best as the soil is lighter and
drier;—sandy, calcareous, stony and porous soils are found to be most
friendly to the growth of the vine. The chalky soils particularly
produce wines of great freshness and lightness.
Hence we may in a great degree account for the superiority of many of
the vinous productions of the neighbourhood of Tours; on both sides of
the vale of the Loire, the denudated or furrowed elevations naturally
afford many genial sites, whose southern aspects are always exposed to
the direct rays of the sun and which favoured situations are perhaps
more prevalent on the northern banks of the river; where, as on the
opposite slopes, the rather lofty chalky elevations, are mostly covered
by deep accumulations of adventitious and heterogeneous materials,
principally constituted of the debris of that cretaceous formation, and
partly composing the extensive deposit termed the argile et poudinge.
It moreover appears, that the species of plant which is a favourite in
one district is discarded in another; and also that very celebrated
wines are produced in vineyards where the species of plant is by no
means held in high repute; but the most inexplicable circumstance
respecting the culture of the vine, is the fact, that the most delicious
wine is sometimes grown on one little spot only, in the midst of
vineyards which produce no others but of the ordinary quality: while in
another place the product of a vineyard, in proportion to its surface,
shall be incredibly small, yet of exquisite quality, at the same time,
in the soil, aspect, treatment as to culture, and species of plant,
there shall be no perceptible difference to the eye of the most
experienced wine grower. Possibly this may in some measure be accounted
for by the peculiar nature of the substratum which the roots of the
respective vines may chance to penetrate.
The grape called caux or cos, common on the banks of the Cher,
imparts colour and body to the red wines.
The best vines for the more valuable white wines, are the species
denominated sauvignon, semilion, rochalin, blanc doux,
pruneras, muscade, and blanc auba. The semilion should form
two-thirds of a vineyard consisting of these seven species of plants.
Red Hermitage is produced from two varieties of plants named the little
and great Scyras. White Hermitage is produced from the greater and
lesser Rousanne grape.
The esteemed red wines of Saumur, are made from the pineau plant. The
Haut Rhin is classed under the generic title of the gentil. Some
excellent black wines are produced from a grape named côte-rouge, as
also from auxerrois, or pied de perdrix grape, so called because its
stalk is red.
The best Bordeaux wine de côtes is made with the grape called noir de
pressac, the bochet, and the merlot.
The first class Burgundies, called les têtes de cuves, are from the
choicest vines, namely; the noirien and pineau, grown on the best
spots of the vineyards having the finest aspect.
The black grape called the «golden plant» (plant doré,) is cultivated
in all the most distinguished vineyards of Champagne, and from which is
produced the finest of those celebrated wines.
The vines called the semilion and muscat-fou are very extensively
cultivated, those most noted are the black morillon, of two varieties,
the madaleine and the vine of Ischia; the latter produces fine fruit
as high as north lat. 48°.
The bloom upon the grape, which so delicately tints the skin, is
considered in proportion to its prevalence a proof of attention or
negligence in the culture.
The age of which the vine bears well, is from sixty to seventy years, or
more, but in the common course of things it is six or seven years
before it is in full bearing. The vines are pruned three times before
they bear fruit, when this operation is again repeated. In France the
vine is propagated by layers of buds, which are taken up after the
vintage, and by slips chosen from among the cuttings; vines from the
latter live longest and bear most fruit, though those from the layers
shoot earliest. The general method of training the vine in France, is
the «tinge bas» or low stem training, the young shoots of the year
being tied to stakes from four to five feet in height.
The season of the vintage is one of stirring interest and alacrity, the
merry groups of grape gatherers now to be seen in almost every field,
commence their employment as early as possible after the sun has
dissipated the dew, and the gathering is uniformly continued with as
much rapidity as possible, if the weather continue fair, so as to
terminate the pressing in one day.
In concluding this subject, we may very well exemplify the general
distribution of the vegetable tribes in this part of France, by
observing that merry Bacchus presides over the cheerful hills, Flora
and Pomona grace the laughing vallies and the sylvan shades, while the
bountiful Ceres extends her dominion over the upland plains, and the
smiling prairies of the fertilizing Cher and Loire.
The GEOLOGY of Touraine, being of a nature particularly worthy the
attention of the scientific enquirer, we may properly close these
restricted remarks, by a few cursory observations on so interesting a
subject. In contemplating the geognostic structure of this department,
the eye of the investigator encounters none of those strikingly bold and
sublime operations of nature, almost every where to be met with in the
primitive and volcanic regions of the globe.
Here with but a few solitary exceptions, the whole surface of the
province presents a continuous series of rounded and gentle undulations,
exhibiting to the careless glance of the unobservant, and to the
uninitiated, one vast homogeneous mass of earthy and stony materials.
But when this wide spread, and apparently uninvestigable aggregation of
particles, comes under the scrutinizing eye of science, a beautiful
and systematic arrangement of undigenous formations are clearly
developed. Individually containing within themselves the marvellous and
decisive evidence of their comparative existence, in their present
relative positions.
Those «medallions of Nature,» the fossils which they contain not only
furnishing us with a chronological knowledge of the progressive
formation of the Earth's crust, but recording in language the most
intelligible, what were the peculiar states, and characteristics of
animal and vegetable existences at the distinct, and distant epochs of
the World.
By the aid of these silent but eloquent intelligencers, we discover that
the strata which now constitute the table lands of Touraine, were among
the last, in the whole geological series, that emerged from the waves of
the Ocean. That, that grand instrument of transposition and renovation,
has in a general sense, ever since been restrained within its mighty
confines. And that at the time its waters last prevailed over these
regions now high and dry, many of the types of living testacea, etc.
were become identical with those of existing species.
Touraine, or the department of Indre-et-Loire, may be said to be the
grand repository of the tertiary formations of central France. It
constitutes the southern divisions of the great Paris basin, formed by
a vast depression in the chalk, and which is about 180 miles long and 90
miles broad. This cretaceous or chalk basin terminates to the south a
short distance from Poitiers, where the oolites and certain other
formations older than the chalk, crop out from beneath it, and thence
forward, principally constitute the formations of the more southern
departments of the kingdom: and occasionally extend to the summits of
the gigantic Pyrénées.
The long range of rocky precipices often constituting rather lofty
escarpments, along the northern borders of the valley of the Loire, are
a portion of the extensive cretaceous formations which surround Paris.
In the vicinity of Tours and many other places where its strata are
alike exposed to view, many beautiful specimens of some of its
characteristic fossils may be readily obtained; this formation here also
frequently contains its usual layers of flint, and which often assumes
the exact form of the zoophytes, and other organic structures, into
which it has percolated.
But in this locality, as also in many instances in the chalk region
south of Angoulême, the mineralogical character of the formation is
often completely altered, chiefly appearing as a fine white calcareous
sandstone, occasionally passing into a compact siliceous limestone,
similar to the calcaire siliceux of the superior freshwater limestone,
but for the most part destitute of the small sinuous cavities the
latter commonly contains.
This calcareous sandstone is directly succeeded, in ascending order, by
the most extensive surface deposit of Touraine, termed by the French
geologist, argile et poudinge; a rather thick argillaceous deposit, in
which flint boulders are sometimes thickly embedded, and on which
reposes the calc d'eau douce or freshwater limestone, both formations
belonging to the uppermost subdivision of the Parisian tertiary strata,
or newer Pliocene deposits.
Immediately above the freshwater limestone just named, a series of
isolated masses occur, consisting of marine sand and marl, the whole
rarely exceeding fifty feet in thickness, and containing for the most
part a different and immense assemblage of fossils. This tertiary
formation which is provincially termed faluns, (broken shells) is
considered to belong to a period intermediate between that of the
Parisian and subapennine strata, and to assimulate in age to the crag
formation of England, which belongs to the Miocene or middle Tertiary.
Mr Lyell who has closely examined the faluns[D], says that most of
the shells they contain do not depart from the Mediterranean type,
although a few would seem to indicate a tropical climate, among these
may be mentioned some large species of the genera conus, terebra,
rynula, tasciolaria, cerithium and cardita.
The species he considers for the most part marine, but that a few of
them belong to land and fluviatile genera. Among the former, helix
turonensis (faluns Touraine) is the most abundant.
Remains of terrestrial quadrupeds are here and there intermixed,
belonging to the genera mastodon, rhinoceros, hyppopotamus, deer and
others, and these are accompanied by cetacea, such as the lamantine,
morse, sea calf, and dolphin, all of extinct species.
Out of two hundred and ninety species of shells from the faluns Mr
Lyell says he found seventy-two identical with recent species, and that
out of the whole three hundred and two in his possession forty-five only
were found to be common to the suffolk crag. Nevertheless a similarity
of mineral composition, and the general analogy of the fossil shells and
zoophytes, together with the perfect identity of certain species,
strongly justifies the opinion that has long been pronounced, that the
faluns of Touraine, and the Suffolk crag are nearly contemporaneous.
To this brief outline of what may properly be termed the regular
stratifications of Touraine, it only remains to be stated, that they are
frequently concealed by considerable deposits of alluvial and diluvian
beds of flinty gravel, sand, and adventitious clays, in some of which
numerous specimens of the rocks and fossils to be found existing in
situ in the neighbourhood are interspersed.
It is almost impossible to contemplate even the comparatively scanty
catalogue of geological facts just adverted to, without being forcibly
reminded of the remarkable physical transformations which the surface of
the country must have undergone, at distinct, and incalculably distant
epochs; and to speculate on the causes which effected; and the peculiar
circumstances characterizing those revolutionizing periods.
Geology, may indeed, be truly said to be an inductive science, and while
pondering over its natural inferences we find ourselves most
marvellously progressing through a long concatenation of pre-existing
realities, which at every remove may be said to assume more and more the
features of romance!
During the cretaceous period, Touraine had not emerged from the
Ocean, which here was probably studded with Islands constituted of the
primary rocks of Brittany, and those of the older secondary formations
we have noticed as now principally occupying the more southern
provinces. These lands, we may reasonably infer, were adorned by the
luxuriant vegetation of a tropical climate, the fossil remains of which,
are found abundantly dispersed throughout the first formed members of
the tertiary series.
Subsequent to the deposition of the chalk, a retiring of the sea from
this region, and a period of repose, are indicated by the presence of
the freshwater formation, but on examining the overlying deposits of
faluns, we have the most indubitable evidence, that this quiescent
state, was succeeded by another irruption of the Ocean, which desolated
the land, and deposited the wrecks of its animal and vegetable
productions as now discovered in that formation. As yet, the geologian
maintains, man had not been called into existence, and therefore the
huge quadrupeds whose remains are found in the faluns, unmolestedly
ranged through the umbrageous wilds of nature absolute Lords of the
creation.
While the imagination is startled at the mystic nature of these
successive cosmological revolutions, it is no less puzzled to account
for the mighty causes which have effected them. The geologist however
has discovered in various parts of the world, the most positive evidence
of the upheaving and subsidence of immense tracts of territory, by the
stupendous operations of subterranean convulsions.
At Alum Bay in the Isle of Wight we have an extraordinary and complete
example of this description; in the remarkable vertical position of
the beautiful and variously coloured arenose stratifications of the
plastic clay, we are enabled to discover that the ponderous substrata of
chalk were uplifted subsequently to the deposition of the tertiary
formation. And it would not be unreasonable to believe that the same, or
a similar convulsion, finally raised the lands of Touraine to their
present elevation above the level of the sea.
We have however in this country, as in almost every other part of the
globe, the most striking proofs of the mighty modifying operations of
the last grand cataclysm, the erosive power of whose turbulent waters
have denudated or scooped out deep vallies, frequently leaving—as
instanced in the faluns detached and widely scattered masses of
pre-existing formations, and heaping up their debris in the vast and
variously shaped accumulations designated as diluvial deposits.
These popular speculations have been touched upon rather with the view
of exciting the attention of the curious, and inviting the disquisitions
of the able student of nature, than a desire to attach any absolute
importance to existing theories; for in a progressive science like
geology, new and amazing facts are continually being developed, and it
is only when an immensely increased accumulation of such existing
evidences has been thoroughly scrutinized by the penetrating and
comprehensive genius of a Newton in geology, that we can hope to
arrive at any thing approaching a correct explication of its remarkable
and interesting phenomena.
To the commonest observer however the present state of geology presents
an astounding exposition of divine power and goodness, and distinctively
marks the gigantic footsteps of that creative energy, which out of
stupendous confusion and disorder, the rocking earthquake, and the
«wreck of worlds,» has caused to spring forth the existing order of
things; whose beauty, perfection, utility and harmony, charm our senses,
enhance our knowledge, and demand for their Creator, the constant
tribute, of our most grateful emanations.
There are a few Chalybeate, and many calcareous springs in the
department, some of the latter of which incrust every substance over
which they flow, and it is not uncommon to find an assemblage of most
fancifully shaped stalactical incrustations in the caves of the
calcareous freestone, etc., being often singularly imitative of the
works both of nature and of art. Caves of this description known by the
name of the caves gouttières are to be seen near the village of
Savonnières on the road from Tours to Chinon, not far from the banks
of the Cher. But perhaps no less remarkable in the estimation of the
curious are the extraordinary series of excavations ranging nearly
opposite Tours. These artificial caverns which are hewn out of the
white calcareous sandstone rocks on the banks of the Loire, frequently
constitute entire dwellings, and are so free from humidity as to be
occupied by the peasantry during summer and winter, while others are
formed into extensive storehouses for the wines of the country.
From the general and impartial review we have here taken of some of the
more attractive features, climatic advantages, and geological structure
of Touraine, it cannot but be admitted that it possesses inducements of
no ordinary description to the searcher after health or recreation.
Considerations, of more special importance to the hypochondriac and the
valetudinarian, who may feel themselves obliged to abandon the soothing
comforts of the domestic circle, for the purpose of obtaining relief
from a temporary residence abroad.
In our just estimation of any country or locality, much however depends
on the spirit and manner in which we scrutinize its resources, to the
eye of the vacant and unobservant mind, the most beautiful and
soul-stirring facts and scenes possess neither novelty nor charms, while
the attentive and intelligent investigator seldom fails to discover
and appreciate those extraordinary assemblages of creative perfections,
and wonders, with which the all bountiful hand of the Supreme Creator
has most amply stored every portion of the material Universe.
A small work of this description will not admit of our entering into a
minute detail of all the mineral waters of France; we shall therefore
merely give a sketch of their physical characters, medicinal properties,
and of the different localities where they are found, to serve as a
superficial guide to Invalids; and conclude by giving a more general
description of the Spas of Central France.
Mineral waters may be arranged into the four following classes;
Saline; Acidulous; Chalybeate; and Sulphureous.
Saline. These waters owe their properties altogether to saline
compounds. Those which predominate and give their character to the
waters of this class are either,
1. Salts, the basis of which is Lime.
2. Muriate of Soda and Magnesia.
3. Sulphate of Magnesia.
4. Alkaline Carbonates, particularly Carbonate of Soda.
They are mostly purgative, the powers of the salts they contain being
very much increased by the large proportion of water in which they are
exhibited.
There are but few Cold Saline Springs in France, viz: those of Andabre
or Camares in the department of Aveyron; Jouhe, dep: Jura; Pouillon,
dep: Landes; Niederbronn, dep: Lower Rhine. They are employed in
diseases which require continued and moderate intestinal evacuations;
such as dyspepsia hypochondriasis, chronic hepatitis, jaundice and
strumous swellings. They are more grateful to the stomach when carbonic
acid gas is also present; and when they contain Iron as in the springs
of Camarès, their tonic powers combined with their purgative qualities,
render them still more useful in dyspeptic complaints and amenorrhœa.
To this class the water of the Ocean belongs. The quantity of saline
matter Sea Water contains varies in different latitudes thus, between
10° and 20° it is rather more than 1/24; at the equator it is 1/25; and
at 57° north it is only 1/27. The saline ingredients in 10,000 parts of
sea water according to the last analysis of Dr. Murray, are, muriate of
Soda 220.01; muriate of lime, 7.84; muriate of Magnesia, 42.08; and
Sulphate of Soda 33.16. When brought up from a great depth, its taste is
purely saline; but when taken from the surface it is disagreeably
bitter, owing, perhaps, to the animal and vegetable matters suspended in
it. Its specific gravity varies from 1.0269 to 1.0285; and it does not
freeze until cooled down to 28.5° Fahrenheit. Its medicinal properties
are the same as those of the saline purgative waters, but more powerful;
and as a bath, its efficacy is much superior to that of fresh water.
The general effects of mineral waters are modified by temperature,
whether they be taken internally, or applied externally.
In some Warm Saline Springs as those of Plombières, and Bains, in the
department of Vosges; Luxeuil, dep. Haute Saône; Bourbon-Lancy, dep.
Saône-et-Loire; Bourbonne-les-Bains, dep. Haute-Marne; Chaudes-Aigues,
dep. Cantal; Avène, Balaruc, dep. l'Hérault; La Motte, dep. l'Isère;
Bagnols, dep. l'Orne; Aix-en-Provence; dep. Bouches-du-Rhône;
St.-Laurent-Les-Bains, dep. l'Ardèche; Sylvanès, dep. l'Aveyron;
Cap-Bern, Bagnères, Bigorre, dep. Upper Pyrénées; Encausse, dep.
Haute-Garonne; Néris, dep. l'Allier; their virtues depend principally on
the height of temperature. And in others which have been found to
contain scarcely any foreign matter, the simple diluent power of the
pure water seems to produce the benefit that results from drinking them.
Acidulous. Waters of this class owe their properties chiefly to Carbonic
Acid. They sparkle when drawn from the spring, or when poured into a
glass; have an acidulous taste, and become vapid when exposed to the
air. Besides free carbonic acid, on the presence of which these
qualities depend, acidulous waters contain generally carbonates of Soda,
of Lime, of Magnesia, and of Iron; and sometimes muriate of Soda.
They may be divided into thermal or warm acidulous waters, and cold
acidulous waters.
The temperature of the former rarely exceeds 72° F. while that of the
latter is generally about 55° F. Of the warm acidulous waters are those
of Mont-D'or, Saint Nectaire, Clermont-Ferrand, in the department of
Puy-de-Dôme; Vichy, Bourbon-l'Archambault, dep. l'Allier; Audinac,
Ussat, dep. l'Arriège; Chateauneuf, Saint-Mart, Chatel-guion, dep.
Puy-de-Dôme; Dax, dep. Landes; Saint Alban on the left of the river
Loire.
Of the cold acidulous waters there is Pougues in the department of
Nièvre; Chateldon, Bar, Saint-Myon, Médague, Vic-le-Comte, dep.
Puy-de-Dôme; Mont-Brison, Saint-Galmier, dep. Loire; Langeac, dep.
Haute-Loire. They are tonic and diuretic; and in large doses produce a
sensible degree of exhilaration.
They all afford a grateful and moderate stimulus to the stomach, but the
warm acidulous springs are to be preferred as there are few of this
kind that do not contain a small portion of Iron and a larger portion of
carbonic acid gas, and are especially useful in all cases of impaired
digestion; while those which contain alkaline carbonates, as Pougues and
Saint-Galmier, are more particularly employed as palliatives in
calculous affections.
Chalybeate. Waters thus named owe their properties to iron in
combination generally with carbonic acid; and as the latter is usually
in excess, they are often acidulous as well as chalybeate. The metal is
found also in the form of a sulphate, but the instances of this are very
rare.
Chalybeate waters have a styptic or inky taste: they are, when fresh
drawn, transparent, but become black when mixed with tincture of
nut-galls; but an ochery sediment soon falls, and the water loses its
taste. If the iron be in the state of sulphate, however, no sediment
falls; and the black colour is produced by the above test, even after
the water has been boiled and filtered. Chalybeate springs are very
numerous in France, some of the following are much frequented:
Rennes-Les-bains, in the department of l'Aude; Saint-Honoré, Passy, near
Paris; Forges, Aumale, Rouen, dep. Seine-inférieure; Contrexeville, dep.
Vosges; Bussang, Provins, dep. Seine-et-Marne; La Chapelle-Godefroi,
dep. of l'Aube; Saint-Gondon, Noyers, dep. Loiret; Fontenelle, dep.
Vendée; Watweiler, Upper-Rhine; Cransac, dep. l'Aveyron; Sainte-Marie,
dep. Cantal; Sermaise, dep. Marne; Ferrières, Segray, dep. Loiret;
Alais, dep. Gard; Boulogne-sur-Mer, dep. Pas-de-Calais; Vals, dep.
l'Ardèche.
Chalybeate waters are powerful tonics, and are employed in dyspepsia,
scrofulous affections, cancer, amenorrhœa, chlorosis, and other
diseases of debility for which the artificial preparations of iron are
used. Much of the benefit derived from the use of chalybeate waters
depends on the extreme division of the metalic salts they contain, as
well as the vehicle in which it is held in solution; while at the same
time their operation is much modified by the carbonic acid gas by which
the iron is suspended. When the water is a carbonated chalybeate, it
should be drunk the moment it is drawn from the spring; but the same
precaution is not necessary with a water containing sulphate of iron.
Sulphureous. Waters classed under this head derive their character
chiefly from sulphureted hydrogen gas; which in some of them is
uncombined, while in others it is united with lime or an alkali. They
are transparent when newly drawn from the spring, and have a fœtid
odour which is gradually lost from exposure to the air, and the water
becomes turbid. When they are strongly impregnated with the gas, they
redden infusion of litmus, and exhibit some other of the characteristics
of acids; and, even in a weak state, they blacken silver and lead.
Besides containing sulphureted hydrogen gas, they are not unfrequently,
also, impregnated with carbonic acid. They generally contain muriate of
Magnesia or other saline matters, which modify their powers as a remedy.
The warm sulphureous springs in France are those of Barèges,
Saint-Sauveur, dep. Upper Pyrénées; Cauterets, Bonnes, Cambo, dep. Lower
Pyrénées; Bagnères-de-Luchon, dep. Haute-Garonne; Ax, dep. l'Arriège;
Gréoult, Digne, dep. Lower Alpes; Castera-Verduzan, dep. Gers; Bagnols,
dep. Lozère; Évaux, dep. Creuse; Saint-Amand, dep. Nord; Loèche, right
of the Rhône; Aix-la-Chapelle. The cold sulphureous waters are those
of Enghien-les-Bains, in the department of Seine-et-Oise; La
Roche-Posay, dep. Vienne; Uriage, near Grenoble.
These waters are resorted to chiefly by patients who labour under
cutaneous affections and are applied locally as well as drunk.
They are slightly sudorific and diuretic, and apt to occasion in some
patients headache of short duration, directly after they are taken.
They are also employed for curing visceral and scrofulous obstructions,
torpor of the intestines, chronic engorgements of the joints: sprains of
long standing, obstinate catarrhs, rheumatism, etc, and in some
dyspeptic and hypochondriacal cases.
The warm sulphureous waters are to be preferred; attention however
should be paid to the state of the bowels during their course which
ought to be kept free from any accumulation by the aid of some mild
aperient medicine; Spa Doctors trust almost entirely to the aperient
operation of the waters and doubtless, the crises, spa-fevers, and
re-actions described by foreign writers on the spas are often
attributable to the want of combining some mild mercurial alterative and
aperient with the use of the waters, and that many cures are prevented
or rendered ineffectual by the dread of mercury entertained by
continental Physicians. The following what Dr. Johnson terms the
Auxilio-Preservative will be found of essential service taken every
night before drinking the morning waters.
| | R, |
| | | Ext: Col: Co: | | |
| | | Pil: Rhei: Co: | à à | gr. | xl |
| | | Pil: Hydrarg: | — | gr. | x |
| |
|
Ol: Caryoph: |
— |
gr. |
vi |
| ft. pil: XX capt. 1 vel: ij hora somni. |
It is however absolutely necessary on patients arriving at any spa, to
consult the resident Physician.
With respect to the use of mineral waters in general, we consider them
as most important, and extremely beneficial in the treatment of disease;
some of the good effects of all of them however, must be allowed to
proceed from change of air and scene; relaxation from business,
amusement, temperance, and regular hours, and under these circumstances
the drinking the waters at the springs possesses advantages which cannot
be obtained from artificial waters, however excellent the imitations may
be, nor even from the natural water, when bottled and conveyed to a
distance from the springs.
