1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Franzensbad

FRANZENSBAD, or Kaiser-Franzensbad, a town and watering-place of Bohemia, Austria, 152 m. W.N.W. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 2330. It is situated at an altitude of about 1500 ft. between the spurs of the Fichtelgebirge, the Böhmerwald and the Erzgebirge, and lies 4 m. N.W. of Eger. It possesses a large kursaal, several bathing establishments, a hospital for poor patients and several parks. There are altogether 12 mineral springs with saline, alkaline and ferruginous waters, of which the oldest and most important is the Franzensquelle. One of the springs gives off carbonic acid gas and another contains a considerable proportion of lithia salts. The waters, which have an average temperature between 50.2° F. and 54.5° F., are used both internally and externally, and are efficacious in cases of anaemia, nervous disorders, sexual diseases, specially for women, and heart diseases. Franzensbad is frequently resorted to as an after-cure by patients from Carlsbad and Marienbad. Another important part of the cure is the so-called moor or mud-baths, prepared from the peat of the Franzensbad marsh, which is very rich in mineral substances, like sulphates of iron, of soda and of potash, organic acids, salt, &c.

The first information about the springs dates from the 16th century, and an analysis of the waters was made in 1565. They were first used for bathing purposes in 1707. But the foundation of Franzensbad as a watering-place really dates from 1793, when Dr Adler built here the first Kurhaus, and the place received its name after the emperor Francis I.

See Dr Loimann, Franzensbad (3rd ed., Vienna, 1900).