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becomes sweet. Other waters rise up bitter and black,
and some people drink them instead of poison to
heal their maladies, for they often cause great
purgations in many people. This water
rises black and clear and flows through land that
is bitter and black. It is full of great rottenness,
and for this reason it is very marvellous to know that it can
be healthy for a man's body. In another place there flows
water so hot that one can be scalded by it, and places like this
are called natural baths. There are such baths in the city
of Aix in Germany and at the Abbey of Plombières, which is
located in Lorraine, as well as at Aix in Gascony and one
other place. They occur because inside the earth there
are many caverns that are hot and burning like fire.
And the earth has many veins that are full of sulpher.
So it happens sometimes that a great, cold wind will
blow on the water, so that it surges up. As it does so, the
sulphur takes flame and burns as hot as a furnace.
The water that flows through these veins and through