The Argosy — page 321: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Lhe Baths of Gastein. — 303 embrace ; whispering to them the close mysterious connection existing between mountain and mist; between land and water; between earth and heaven; in a word between the Creator and the created. Then gradually it would roll and roll away and disperse, and lose itself in the’ deep blue of the sky, which here seems so high and clear, as to be the very quickening of the word ethereal. The soul amidst such scenes feels its power; and with a force they cannot quite possess even amidst the echoing aisles and fretted vaults of a temple, the grand words of the canticle whisper themselves :— * Oh, all ye works of the Lorn, bless ye the LORD : praise Him and magnify Lim for ever / “ Oh, ye winds of Gon, bless ye the LORD: praise Him and magnify fim for ever / “ Oh, ye mountains and hills, bless ye the LORD: praise Him and masnify Him for ever / Though the air of Gastein is not bracing, none can deny its purity. It possesses something that makes itself felt, almost speaking to you in words: something soothing and delicious to the senses ; that stills the nerves and rests the brain; suspending all powers of exertion, but breathing in an intoxicating sense of life. ‘‘ Could you but go up naked into the woods,” remarked the doctor one day, “ after the bath, and in that state take the air, you would feel life creeping into your veins; all your muscles hardening, and weakness giving place to strength.” “Why, then, don’t you organize something of the sort?” I returned. ** Why not have a place set apart for this purpose, where your patients, protected by a linen gown, might receive the benefit of this wonderful air?” “It would never do,”’ replied the doctor, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. ‘“ We should acquire a reputation for cannibal- ism; be called savages; the world would come down upon us with self-righteous fury. So for the sake of an idea, my patients must re- nounce one of the best means of restoring them to health. In Gastein it would have a double and treble effect, for the baths open the pores of the skin and render them peculiarly susceptible to all atmospheric influences.” . ‘Ts this your reason for making your patients lie down after every bath P” ‘It is one of them. You then get all the air possible, though in a modified form. Before reaching your room, it has figuratively speak- ing, passed through a number of strainers; only that it has become less, and not more, refined by the process.” ‘‘ What other reasons have you?” COMIC OOOKS. EO —_)