The text describes Druskininkai, where the mineral springs are located. According to the description, it is a small town, and the text also sketches its history dating back to the 14th century. The St. Petersburg-Warsaw iron road, which also connects the town to Vilnius and Grodno, is mentioned. The article also mentions doctors Ignacy Fonberg, Professor Adamowicz or Jan Pilecki, who are authorities on Druskininkai mineral waters (Source: Tygodnik Illustrowany, Warsaw 1868, Series 2, T:2, pp. 88-89, after: Digital Library of the University of Łódź).

A modernised reading of the text.

Druskininkai

Druskininkai is located in Grodno province and district, at the mouth of the River Rothnichanka into the Nemunas, 39 versts from Grodno, 110 from Vilnius, 18 from the station of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw railway line Poreče, where Druskininkai mineral springs are located. A few decades ago, this beautiful town with only over a hundred decent houses was a miserable village of only six huts called Druskininkai, named after the word druskas meaning salt in Lithuanian. For a long time Druskininkai springs were only known by the local inhabitants, and even more so by the peasants, who used them only as an effective remedy. Research into Druskininkai's past shows that the area was often ravaged by the Teutonic Order during its bloody expeditions to pagan Lithuania. In the chronicle of Peter Dusburg, published by Kryštof Hartknoch, we find under the year 1311, during the reign of Lithuania's Duke Vitenius, a description of the ravaging of the Druskininkai area and the burning of the town of Grodno by Henry de Plecke, Grand Commander of the Teutonic Order. Numerous pagan graves and traces of an old Lithuanian town called Rajgród, as well as numerous folk tales testify to the antiquity of the place. In 1830 Druskininkai waters were looked at and analysed, and the University of Vilnius instructed Ignacy Fouberg, a distinguished professor of chemistry, to study the mineral springs more closely. But it is only from 1837 that a more glorious era for Druskininkai begins. A separate committee established at that time took care of everything that could be done usefully for the new plant. With the 35 000 rs. from the treasury allocated for this purpose, bathrooms similar to those in foreign countries were built, in which more than 600 people could bathe every day; the springs were cleaned, protected from the Nemunas' floods, and the already charming Druskininkai town was beautified by art. Within three years a clean and tidy town was built, government houses, hotels, a theatre, a concert and dance hall were constructed, a church was built from the collected contributions, and a shelter for Christians and a hospital for Old Believers were established from voluntary donations. The construction of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw iron road, also an important era for Druskininkai, due to the speed, ease and cheapness of communication. It takes 20 hours to get to Druskininkai from St. Petersburg, 8 from Warsaw, 5 from Vilnius, 2 from Grodno. In 1865 the Druskininkai water plant was transferred to the private ownership of Colonel Konstantin Strandtman, which means an even brighter future for the plant. Thanks to the efforts of the new owner many improvements were made. Instead of horse power, steam machines were used to supply water for the baths; new water tanks and pipelines were made; all the copper apparatus in the bathrooms were redesigned; the bathrooms were tastefully furnished and redesigned for the greater comfort of the patients; the bathrooms were equipped with drop, rain, steam and spirit baths; the concert and dance halls were beautified and furnished; a "table d'hôte" with French cuisine was introduced; On the same Nemunas, as well as on the Druskininkai lake, comfortable and safe boats were provided for the public to ride in; a hotel was built in the town with all conveniences and even comfort; Stagecoaches, vehicles and postal carriages were brought to the railway station Poreče at a distance of 18 roundabouts for faster communication; a telegraph station was established in the town, which entailed considerable costs. However, the public who gather at the water's edge do not always seem to be satisfied, and sometimes make the most unfair and unjust claims against the owner. We will not discuss the chemical properties of the Druskininkai mineral waters here, nor their medical efficacy; we will limit ourselves to presenting the opinions of doctors familiar with these waters, among whom they hold the first place: Ignacy Fonberg, a distinguished professor of chemistry at Kyiv University, Professor Adamovich of Vilnius University, Xavier Wolfgang, publisher of the once periodical in Druskininkai "Ondyna Druskininkai springs", Jan Pilecki, former chief physician of the establishment, for years engaged in permanent practice at the same establishment, doctors: Choński, Pawłowski, Natimowicz, Hryniewicz, Moszyński and many others. They unanimously testify about the effectiveness of Druskininkai waters in various chronic, often very persistent diseases, namely in scrofulous, arthritic, rheumatism, abdominal gastrointestinal pain, quagmire, paralysis, weakness, as well as in some nervous diseases. Last year, 1867, there were more than 400 families in Druskininkai, most of them from St. Petersburg, the Kingdom of Poland, from multinational Russian and Lithuanian gubernias. There were six doctors permanently engaged in mineral water practice, and more than 25 thousand bathers were chosen during the whole season. Looking at all the improvements that have been made and the increasing number of patients, it is expected that Druskininkai will soon be on a par with Kissingen, Kreuznach and other similar institutions abroad.