Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Franzensbad

FRANZENSBAD, Kaiser-Franzensbad, Egerbrunnen, and formerly Schladaer Säuerling, a well-known Bohemian watering-place which owes its most popular name to the emperor Francis II. It is a little over three miles N.W. of Eger, at a height of about 1500 feet above the sea, in the neighbourhood of the Fichtelgebirge, the Böhmerwald, and the Erzgebirge. There are altogether eight mineral springs, of which the first known was the Franzensquelle or Francis's fountain. The Poltersbrunnen gives off carbonic acid gas, which is utilized for medical purposes in a building erected in 1826. Besides the great cursaal or pump-room, the village contains several bathing establishments, one of which belongs to the town of Eger. In the park, which is also the property of the Eger municipality, there is a bronze statue of Francis I. by Schwanthaler. The mineral waters are saline and alkaline, and act as mild aperients and tonics. They have a great reputation, and have given rise to a considerable literature. See the works of Cartellieri (1869), Hamburger (1873), and Klein (1874).