Carlsbad

Carlsbad, or Karlsbad, a town of Bohemia in the Austrian empire, about 76 miles N.W. of Prague, on the right bank of the Eger at its junction with the Tepel. The town, which is situated in a valley between two wooded hills, and is surrounded by pretty scenery, is chiefly noted as a watering-place, on account of its hot mineral springs. The water varies from 117° to 165° F., and is charged with sulphate of soda and other salts, the twelve principal springs supplying about 2,000,000 gallons a day. Someone has described Carlsbad as a "town built upon the lid of a cauldron of boiling water." The waters were already known at the beginning of the sixteenth century, but the Emperor Charles IV. made its reputation by building a castle, some vestiges of which still remain. It was a favourite meeting-place of the German sovereigns, and in 1819 the members of the Holy Alliance held a conference there.