Carlsbad

karls'bad (Charles's Bath), a city of Bohemia built up around the celebrated hot springs of that name. The name was given in honor of Emperor Charles IV, who is said to have discovered the value of their waters a hundred years before the birth of Columbus. The waters of the springs are charged with salts, and are of remarkable virtue in curing rheumatism, gout, and kindred ailments. The water is drunk on the spot. It is bottled also and sold throughout Europe and America. Carlsbad is a well built city of 15,000 inhabitants, with hotels, hospitals, theaters, opera houses, concert gardens, and every other convenience or luxury that wealth can supply. It has long been a brilliant social center. Archduke Ferdinand, George III, Augustus I of Poland, Peter the Great, Leibnitz, Maria Theresa, Goethe, Schiller, Beethoven, Wellington, Bismarck, and thousands of other celebrated persons, together with the aristocracy of Europe, have visited Carlsbad to regain their health or for social pleasures. About 25,000 summer visitors frequent the springs. The largest, the Sprudel, gushes up to a height of about three feet above the ground. The flow of the various springs is estimated at about 2,000,000 gallons daily. There are over fifty lace factories in the neighborhood.