KISSINGEN, the chief town of a department in the government district of Lower Franconia and Aschaffenburg, Bavaria, is situated on the Franconian Saale, G56 feet above sea-level, and about 62 miles east of Frankfort-onthe-Main. Its streets are regular, and its houses attractive. A stone bridge spans the Saale at the town. It has a local court, a commercial school, a theatre, and various benevolent institutions, besides all the usual buildings for the lodging, cure, and amusement of the 10,000 annual visitors who are attracted to this, the most popular watering-place in Bavaria. In the Kurgarten, a tree-shaded expanse between the Kurhaus and the handsome colonnaded Conversations-Saal, are the three principal springs, Rakoczi, Pandur, and Maxbrunnen, of which the first two, strongly impregnated with iron and salt, have a temperature of 51°.26 Fahr. ; and the last (50°•2), is like Selters or Seltzer water. At short distances from the town are the intermittent artesian spring Soolensprudel, the Schonbornspruclel, and the Theresienquelle ; and in the same valley as Kissingen are the minor spas of Bocklet and Briickenau.

The waters of Kissingen are prescribed for both internal and external use in a great variety of diseases, such as chronic catarrh, rheumatism, scrofula, affections of the bowels, or the lungs, and also of the eyes and ears. They are all highly charged with salt, and productive Government salt-works were at one time stationed near Kissingen. The manufactures of the town, chiefly carriages and furniture, are unimportant. The population in 1875 was 3471.

The salt springs were known in the 9th century, and their medicinal properties were recognized in the 16th, but it was only within the first half of the 19th century that Kissingen became a popular resort. On July 10, 1866, the Prussians defeated the Bavarian, with great slaughter near Kissingen. The town was the scene of the attempted assassination of Prince Bismarck by Kullman, July 13, 1874.