Of the subsequent history of the Saint Elias Fountain, which alone
still continued to flow, the bibliographer also learned much--how its
fame had grown in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries till it
attracted invalids from the most distant provinces, necessitating the
erection of a palatial pump-room for the better accommodations of
visitors; how latterly again the waters had unaccountably fallen into
disfavour with the public. And this, notwithstanding the fact that in
1872 the celebrated Privy Councillor Dr. Saponaro, Director of the
Montecitorio Home for Incurables, had written, at the urgent
solicitation of the Nepenthe Town Authorities (who were alarmed at the
decrease in their bathing-tax revenue) a pamphlet--a pamphlet which, by
the way, cost them a mint of money in view of the author's deserved
reputation as an incorruptible scientist--a pamphlet extolling the
virtue of the spring; proving, by elaborate chemical analysis, that its
ingredients had not only not changed a white since the days of
Monsignor Perrelli but actually improved in quality; and concluding
with the warm recommendation that they were as well adapted as ever for
curing those ailments to which the island population was peculiarly
liable--namely, the consequences of excessive lechery and alcohol, and
the discomfort caused by ingrowing toe-nails.
Pages:
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335