FOWLERS  AND  WELLS
                     (Embracing             y^

H^'   ALL  THE MOST  POPULAR WORKS     f-<j
^
ON THE SUBJECT:
INCLUDING
 IViT.riDUCTION T(i THE WATER-CURE ;
 liVUROPATHY, OR THE WATER-CURB ;
 EXPERIENCE IN Till: WATER-CURE i
 Tilt: CMoLEitA, AND BOWEL DI3KASES ;
 water and vi'.kl'table diet;
'the parents' ouidk ;
 TnnACCOT ITS nature and effects]
CURIOSITIES OF COMMON WATER;
WATER-CURE MANUAL J
WATER-CURE IN EVERY DISEASE ,
WATER-CURE IN PREGNANCY ;
HYDROPATHY FOR THE PEOPLE,
ERRORS IN TlfE WATER-CURE ;
WATER-CURE IN CONSUMPTION.
IN  SEVEN VOLUMES.
                     VOL.  VI.
         W A T E R-C UKI5 IX  E V E RrY  DISEASE.
         ERRORS XV  THE  WAT'ER-CURE.
                 C-. -


               N E W   YORK:
FOWLERS AND  WELLS,  PUBLISHEIS,
           NO-  3 O H 13 K O A 13 WAY-
SOLD BY BOOKSELLERS GENERALLY. 
 
THE
WATER-CURE,
APPLIED TO
EVERY   KNOWN   DISEASE:
1 COMPLETE DEMONSTRATION OF THE ADVANTAGES OF THE HYDRO-
 PATHIC SYSTEM OF CURING DISEASES*. SHOWING, ALSO, THE FAL-
    LACY OF THE MEDICINAL METHOD, AND ITS UTTER INA-
         BILITY TO EFFECT A PERMANENT CORE.
WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING A WATER DIET AND
              RULES FOR BATHING.
         BY  J.  H.  RAUSSE,^^^
 PRACTITIONER OF WATER-CURE IN MECKLENBURG, GERMANY.
     PVanc-te^  H*\n rich  F
    "translated BY C. H. MEEKER, M.D.,
MEMBER OF THE SCIENTIFIC HYDROPATHIC SOCIETY OF GERMANY
    THIRD KD1TION, KNI.AHGKD AND IMPROVED.


              NEW YORK:
FOWLERS cV;  WELLS, PUBLISHERS,
          NO. 508 BROADWAY.
    la Boston:     ,    ^rr         Pb.huklph.a :
 14S Wellington Street. \    1855.       No. 231 Arch Street 
v^3  r

           i
  Entered accord.ag to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by
               G.  H. MEEKER.
i tho Clerk's OiTti-e of tile District Court of the United States Jor \tt#
              Southern District of New York. 
CONTENTS.
                                                         PA81
A Power ot A 3similation and Secretion in'General    .   .   .   1
B. Power of Assimilation and  Secretion  of the An'mal  Or-
       ganism in particular.....       ....     5
C. What is Instinct ?.............11
D. The terms " Health and Disease " fixed......    18
E. Arrangement of the Causes of Disease  in classes   ...  21
F. Classification  of the Diseases themselves; various rules
       of classification..........          23
G. The S3'mptoms of Disease and their classification     .  .   27
II. Proofs of the Materiality of the  Causes of Disease, or for
       the existence of Matters of Disease......     30
I. Proofs for the truth of the classification of Disease in
       Healing and Destroying Diseases   ......      .46
K. What is Poison ?  What is Medicine ?......     50
L. Of the Effects of Cold Water upon the human organism in
       general        ..............67
M. The Primary or Healing Diseases........    73
   1. Manner in which Primary Diseases in general arise  .   .  73
   2. Hydriatic Cure of the Primary Diseases.....     74
   3. Medicinal Cure of the  same  Diseases......75
   4. The Normal Stomach...........    78
   5. Primary Diseases of the Stomach in general  .   .   .   .  82
   6. Cure of the Primary Diseases of the Digestive Organs
        in general...............    84
   7. Nausea and Vomiting.—Diarrhoea........85
   8. Mucous Envelopment of the Matters of Disease, espe-
        cially of the poisonous..........    90
   9. The Nature and Purpose  of Fever   .  .  .  .  .       10ft
   10. The Internal Process of taking Cold......108
   11. Drinking when Overheated..........113 
                                                        IAOB
  12. Dysentery........        .....
  13. Cholera      ...............1M
  14. The Primary Inflammatory Diseases in general .   .      125
  15. Inflammation of the Eyes.—Inflammation cf the Brain.
       Inflammation  of the Throat.—Inflammation of  the
       Lungs................134
  16. Cough and Catarrh..........141
  17. The Intermitting Fever...........143
  18. Concluding  Remarks on the Primary Diseases ...   148
N. The Secondary or Destroying Diseases.......150
   1. General Preliminary Observations.......150
   2. The Manner in  which the three stadia of  Secondary
       Diseases arise..............151
   3. The Cure of the  Secondary Diseases......156
   4. Loss of Appetite.—Heartburn and Eructations.—Hard
       and Sluggish  Evacuations.—The False Mucous Slim-
       ing.—Worms..............159
   5. Consumptive Diarrhoea.—The true Mucous Sliming.—
       Hardening of the Slime and Indurations in the Walls
       of the Digestive Canals..........163
   6. The Mucous Fever.—The Nervous Fever.—The Putrid
       Fever.................181
   7. Nervous Complaints.—Cramps........187
   8. Hypochondria and Hysteria.—Disgust of Life, and Sui-
       cidal Propensity.............196
   9. Rheumatism   .  .  ............203
  10.  Gout................   213
  11.  Chlorosis, or Green Sickness.—Scrofula.—Rachitis  . . 224
  12. Hemorrhoids..............227
  13.  Sleeplessness..............   229
  14.  Chronic Fever.—Chronic Night Sweats.—Dropsy .  .   231
  15.  Concluding Remarks on the Secondary Diseases .   .   235
 0. The Contagious Diseases.........        238
 P. The External  or Surgical Diseases   ...    .... 246
 Q, Critical States in  the Water-Cure ...     ,  .        252
 R What Diseases are Curable by Water   .          ... 260
 S Invitation to the Physicians  ....        .       .261 
TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE.
I was induced to undertake the translation of the presen
work for several important reasons : first, to employ ad-
vantageously several  leisure hours of each day, which
would otherwise have been entirely wasted or misspent;
second, as a means of gaining a more intimate acquaint-
ance with the principles and  processes of the hydriatic
art, which is to  be  acquired  only  by a diligent study of
the writings of the most approved authors  and practition-
ers of this new  system ; third, because it  is a most ex-
cellent work, containing wonderful and astounding new
truths, as every one who reads it must admit;  and fourth,
because it is written by the most successful and scientific
practitioner  of hydriatique (the father of the  system ex-
cepted) in Germany, who  spent eight years in  studying
the various branches of science connected with the water-
cure art, though, at first, without the intention of employ-
ing his knowledge  for the benefit  of " suffering humani-
ty," to which he was, however, afterwards induced, from
reasons best known to himself.  Three years of his study
were passed among the Indians of  th« American wilds io 
 strictly  obstrving  nature,  and  trie  effects of a  life of
 original simplicity.
   In the German language  there  are also  a number of
 other valuable works, which enjoy a permanent and well-
 deserved reputation;   among others,  those of  Munde,
 Krause, and Weiss, are the most prominent.  Munde's is
 a hydrotherapy, though  neither original in its conception,
 nor true to hydriatic principles in  its execution ;  still, in
 most points,  it is an excellent hand-book of water-cure,
 and  stands among the  first  of all  treatises upon the sub-
 ject  in hand, it being a compendious, comprehensive,  and
 highly elaborate  work,  entering into  all  the minutiae of
 the  treatment  of the  various diseases.   Krause's is an
 excellent hydrotherapy, adhering strictly  to the principles
 and method of treatment pursued  by  Vincent Priessnitz.
 The work of Weiss, with whom I also  became acquainted
 while residing  at Graefenberg, and had  many conversa-
 tions on the subject of water-cure,  has  already been laid
 before the English public, and, consequently, water-cure
 readers are,  to some extent  at least, acquainted with its
 character.
  The present work of Rausse,  however, is, in its cha-
 racter, conception, and  intention, altogether  distinct from
the above-mentioned ;  it  is not a  therapy; it is  not to
be used  as  a hand-book  to  direct the treatment of  dis-
eases; it is a true pathology,  a doctrine of disease divest-
ed of the errors of the old  system,  retaining only that 
Vll
part of the same which is consistent wirh true sense and
sound reason.   It portrays a true picture of the nature
of diseases, astonishing us with the sense of the reality
that most of the  so-called  acute diseases are, in truth, a
blessing  rather than a misfortune, under a correct hydro-
therapeutic management;  detailing, in  particular,  and
drawing  a strict line of antithetical distinction  between
the medical and hydriatic method of treatment and cure ;
representing, from all-recognised principles and  laws of
physiology, the injuriousness of the  medical method,  and
the advantage and lasting benefit accruing from the hydri-
atic treatment  of disease.  The  American public may
judge somewhat of its worth and merits by the fact that,
through the influence of the members of the medical pro-
fession, the public sale of it was prohibited  in the Austrian
dominions.  Still, it was in the possession of almost every
Graefenberg cure-guest, and the work was at first brought
to my notice and presented to me  by Mr. C. von G., a
Tyrolean gentleman of fine talents and excellent disposi-
tion, who,  I am happy to say, was, before my departure
from Graefenberg, quite restored to an excellent  state of
health j and although not far removed f* om his third score
year of life, and has labored under a complication  of the
most severe maladies, still avowed  that, since his eight-
eenth year he had never enjoyed better health.
                                          C.  H. M. 
VINCENT   PRIESSNITZ.
The inclinations  and antipathies of instinct are the leading
strings by which Nature directs man  and beast  on the road  to
happiness and  health.   Man  is not ordained  to independent
emancipation from the bonds of Nature; every digression from
the voice of Nature is a revolt, an outbreak, and their conse-
quences are  misery and  affliction.  A great part of  the human
race has burst asunder these bonds, and is consequently broken
down and loaded with affliction  ; it is going the way  to destruc-
tion.
  Salvation is alone possible by a return to Nature, to simplicity
—that  is virtue.  Health is alone possible by abstinence from
everything against which the instinct of a man of Nature warns,
especially from  the poisons which it has  pleased man to call
Medicines, and from those drinks and  potions which the chemi-
cal art  prepares,  and which  are enemies to human  reason.
Cure is alone possible by  means of the  abundant  use of the
elements Air and Water !
  Such are the  thoughts, that  lighten, as  guiding stars, in all
the doings and  efforts  of  Vincent  Priessnitz.   He does not
express them, because he is  no  friend to many words; he treads
the path of his thoughts silent and alone, as the extraordinary
among mankind have in all times been wont to do.
  He is more than a genius, in the modern sense ; he is a wise,
i. e. a true man, and, in  every  respect, a man.  Whithersoever 
X
o»e might have turned the  eye of his  radiant  mind, there he
would have discovered new truths, and opened new paths of life.
Destiny assigned to him the healing of man.
  Already a mere youth, he perceived, with searching glance in
the structure of the healing art, which centuries have inherited,
and on which millions of workmen have labored, a labyrinth full
of murderous deceit  and error;  already, as a mere youth, he
had  the  unshakable  courage to  form, express, hold firmly, his
own opinions  in contradiction to  the authority of thousands of
years, and the belief  of millions of men; aye, and to stake his
life upon the truths of his opinion.  The bold position was won,
and  with this won,  Va-banque !  was it decided that,  at  some
future time, the obscure peasant boy of the remote Sudates will
blow into air the old title-dressed, order-bedangled art of poison-
ing.
   A youth of eighteen, he cured  himself of inflammation of the
lungs, and a  serious  fracture of the  ribs,  in an incredibly short
time, and, by a course which, according to the  old  healing-art,
should  have caused  his  death.   So  soon as he had  obtained
these great  results,  he  pursued,  with a bold soul eager of dis-
covery, the course he had taken,  on  an entirely unknown, un-
navigated ocean.
   The Atlantis, which he was yet to  discover, the blessed island
of cure, lay afar off, and was veiled and hidden behind the foam
of the most  fearful  breakers.  For well may one compare the
death-menacing crisis which the water-cure calls up, and through
which alone  lies the  path to the cure of chronic diseases, with
the most terrible raging of the waves.   Such a crisis, with its
burning fever, accompanied, sometimes, with franticness, would
have been sufficient  to  frighten  back any common person with
terror and trembling from  the perplexed  path.   But Priessnitx
remained calm, cool, firm;  for to him it was certainty that Na-
ture never  deceives, and never leads man into misery, and he
was following the dictates of Nature.
   Thus  he  stood undaunted, a  second  Columbus; he  alone 
x
against the barking and  ridicule  of the old world; thus steered
he his bark into the haven of the  new.
  Now he has the raging  and the monsters of the deep behind
him ; now he stands, the palm-crowned hero, under the palms of
the new world, which he has discovered.
  Thou that  readest this, banish thy smiling  until thou hast
perused these pages throughout!   If then thou still  wouldst ridi-
cule, I pray thee desist, go  hence to the Sudates, look  into the
eye of Vincent Priessnitz, beliold the tears of joy of those he
has saved, and list to the stammering of their thanks.
  Go thither  to those mountains; there,  high above  nations'
heads, stands the form of that great man, embracing and uphold-
ing with one  arm the eternal love-dispensing Nature, reaching
forth the^ other to  mankind, and offering it  restoration to health,
happiness, and a new era. 
PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.
Since  writing  my first  hydriatic pamphlet  eight  years  have
elapsed.  The enthusiasm for the creation of Vincent Priessnitz
which  seizes every one who is  so fortunate as to find  his way
into  this new spiritual world, directed, at that time,  my pen.
Enthusiasm is, in its nature, a something ardent and streaming;
it moderates either in the course of time, and dissolves  into air,
or it cools  and hardens to an unshakable conviction, whose
foundation must rest as well in facts  as in reason and science.
To such a  conviction has my  enthusiasm, since the last eight
years,  cooled and  hardened.  The facts which I  have  collected
in these eight years, indeed, first, in a great number of private
cures,  afterwards  in a water-cure establishment, founded  and
directed by myself, all these consonant facts have furnished me
the proof that the water-cure  method  is the only right one, and
that  the theory of the water-cure art, and the doctrine of disease,
detected and brought forward by me,  is, in all points  of chief
moment, truth.   I must  confess that,  in affairs of secondary
i mportance, I have sometimes erred; especially in the first editions
of my  works, there are errors present in regard to the  practical
detail-application of water.  The  practical  errors of the first
editions consist wholly in  recommendation of  an  excessive  use
of water and  too  cold degree  of temperature.  Without  here
investigating the causes whence the excesses in the water-cure 
xn
originate, I may herewith excuse my fcrmer faults, on the ground
that originally Vincent Priessnitz  himself had fallen into many
excesses, and  that every patient, as soon as he wins full confi-
dence in the  hydriatique,  carries  the use of water, at first, to
excess.  I have never yet witnessed an  exception  to this rule,
for which reason I warn  every new cure-guest on  entering my
establishment against overstepping my directions ; while at the
same time, I feel assured, and apprise the patient of my  convic-
tion, that he will still  surpass the prescribed limits.  Farther-
more, I  have  formerly represented,  in  exaggerated terms, the
beneficial effects of tho  water-cure art  in chronic diseases, not
intentionally, however, but  from the error into which enthusiasm
so easily leads.  My eight years' experience has convinced me
that the effects of medicinal poisonings cannot, in all chronic
diseases, be completely removed by the water-cure, because these
poisonings  often  enough occasion  such  organic changes or
ravages that they then still  partially continue when the medicinal
poisons  are driven out of the body  through the agency of water.
  But, on the other hand,  I have, by  the  experience  and the
most diligent research of these eight years, been  confirmed in
the conviction and  the  knowledge that, hard as I have in the
first  editions of my writings judged of the  medical method or
cure, still  I have not done it  injustice, and in that case, have
been guilty of no  exaggeration.  I  have been convinced that,
in all diseases, the  medicinal means of  cure can produce only
increased  misfortunes «f disease, even if in acute diseases they
are of apparent good ; I have  been farther convinced, that there
is no disease and no state of disease in which the greatest pos-
sible assistance and benefit cannot  be afforded by the water-cure.
  This  book contains the physiological and  pathological  demon-
stration, why the medical method of cure must always be injuri-
ous.  It contains at the same time, and first of all, the outline
of a new doctrine of disease,  which  is  deduced as much from
the results of  the new method of cure as from recognised physi-
ological rules  and fundamental principles.  It is farther proved 
                             xiii

in this work that the pathology and therapy cf he  physicians
stand in contradiction with the physiology which these physicians
recognise and teach from their  professorial chairs, and that the
doctrine of disease first discovered by me, and  brought forward
in this book, contains nothing which is  not a consequence fairly
drawn from well-known physiological  rules.   In accordance
with the foregoing, it need scarcely be  observed, that this book
is no therapy, and that no  one may expect, with the assistance
of this alone, to conduct water-cures.  I  insert here a warning
against water-cures on one's own responsibility, unaltered from
the preface  of the second  edition of this work, for  this reason,
that no one may attribute  this  warning to selfish motives, be-
cause at that  time, and for three years  after,  I neither had a
water-cure  establishment  nor  the intention to undertake the
practice of hydriatique as a vocation.
   On page vii of  the second edition it reads thus :—
   " Many persons, as soon as they have gained confidence in the
water-cure, commence immediately to treat themselves, on their
own  responsibility, presuming that no especial requirements and
experience  are necessary to this method of  cure.  That is  a
dangerous error, which  has already done  much injury, as well
to such persons as to the water-cure.   Even under the direction
of a distant water-physician, the consequence  of the treatment
is, at the  best, doubtful, since misconceptions of many kinds
cannot but  arise.  If Priessnitz  knew  how  strangely wrong
many of his correspondence-patients  understood  and  pursued
his directions, how inclined most are, in the alarm of a crisis, to
have recourse to a mediciner, and how much less judgment peo-
 ple in general possess, than he  attributes to them, I believe that
 Priessnitz would wish to renounce all correspondence-practice.
 Where  then any one, through his  own errors,  grows worse
 instead of better, then  he accuses the water,  while he should
 wily lament, his own want  of judgment.   Most mediciners hail
 euch unfortunate events as real blessed turns of fortune, which
 they employ ir. order, with loud voice, to warn  their unfortunate 
                             XIV

wtients Against the water-cute, and to retain  Jiem in the rredi-
cal.
  " Such mishaps can only be obviated by a comprehensive and
universally serviceable hand-book of hydrotherapeutics.  Munde
Was already supplied one, serviceable  in  some respects and par-
oculars, namely,  serviceable for those who  have also visited a
lydropathic establishment, and then  only in  certain states  of
disease.  But his  book lacks much  of being a comprehensive
and generally serviceable guide for all persons in all diseases.
Mr. Munde  lacks  all capability to  the literary improvement of
the hydriatique; he lacks the talent to bring within the scope of
the understanding the principles of hydrotherapeutics,  ofttimes
practised by Priessnitz in the  never-erring instinct of an intuitive
geniality, and adapt the peculiar good of the genius to the gene-
ral good of all men.  It does not belong in this place to prove
that also all  future attempts at therapeutic  hand-books must
necessarily prove abortive, even in their birth, if  they are con-
structed upon the  hitherto customary principles (which Munde
has also followed) ; still Jess  can the new therapeutic principles
be unfolded, wiiich, moreover, are nothing else than consequences
deducible from the patho-'ogical fundamental truths given in this
work."
   A cursory comparison of  this third edition with  the second
will convince the reader that this book has undergone an entire
change, partly through erasure,  partly through retouching,  and
partly through addition of  considerable extra matter.
   When in this work  I speak of physicians in general,  of the
incorrigibility of their profession  errors and prejudices,  of the
conceitedness and arrogance  of  the sect, of their indifference to
truth, of their tender sensibility for  the interests of their purse,  I
would not have  it understood  that, by this  genera! censure,  I
exclude, or dispute, in any wise, numerous honorable exceptions.
Under all classes the common souls compose the majority: under
all classes  are to be found individual noble men, to whom truth
is dearer than private  emolument.   Already many *jrmh Wi**) 
XV
physicians have  altered  materially in their practice, and these
changes will,  in  future, occur  yet more frequently.  But the
" servum pecus "  of common receipt-blotters will persevere in
their old habits, either from error or self-interest, so long as the
Bame can be made a lucrative business.
                                                   J. H.  R.
  SHuer, Duetnier 1845 
 
a.
THE   TOWER  )F   APPROPRIATION

                        AND

       SECRETION IN  GENERAL.
The power of appropriation, of assimilation of foreign sub-
stance  into one's self; into  bodily I, is  the fundamental
principle upon which Nature has built her system.
  This propensity and this  power  is not only in all or-
ganic bodies, the predominant, but also in the elementary
bodies.*
  In  the beginning  the globe  was  a bleak rock,  upon
which the air and water exercised  their power of appro-
priation.
  Appropriation can be effected  only by decomposition.   In
order to appropriate, the aii  and water decomposed  the

  *  The words " elementary bodies, elements," are here employed
in the old popular sense, in which they signify, " Air, Earth, Fire,
Water;" consequently not in the chemical sense, in which they
denote " chemically indecomposable substances " in contra-distinc-
tion to the compound
                     1 
'2
earth's crust, thus originated the dissolved surface capa-
ble of producing and maintaining organic beings.
   Since  these beings—beasts  and plants, are intended to
live in a  world wherein the elements constantly exercise on
all matter their power of decomposition and appropriation :
therefore from the beginning the same power must have de-
veloped  itself as primary and fundamental power in the or-
ganic beings for a defence against the elements.
   Instances of the appropriating propensity of the elements
among one another are : The air  decomposes  the water in
vapors, in order to appropriate to itself its gases.   Water
again absorbs from the air oxygen gas.   Fire devours the
oxygen gas of the air again ;  it  frees water  into its two
elements, viz.  hydrogen and oxygen  gas,  and thus by
burning  these gases  it transforms water into fire.   The
air absorbs many gases, which  fire sets  free.   The air
draws gases from the earth, the earth draws oxygen  gas
from the air.   Thus the elements stand in constant strife
with each other; each endeavors to decompose the other,
and wholly appropriate its elements to itsolf.
   Instances of the strife of assimilation between the elements
and organisms are : The organic  bodies draw in from the
air oxygen gas  through the  respiratory process, which
dwells also in all plants ; the  organic bodies (plants) draw
through the absorption of the  roots or (beasts) by the con-
sumption of  plants,  into their own substance all  that,
which fhe earth's soil offers thorn capable of assimilation.
Vice versa fire decomposes and  assimilates all  organisms
and their products ;  water and air  endeavor to effect the
same on  the  organic beings,  which, while they are alive,
is  accomplished  only in part by appropriation of the eva-
porations, after their death, however, entirely.  The eartV 
3
exercises upon living  organisms this  power only condi-
tionally and partially, namely, when their residence is in
the earth, as for instance many beasts live there, and all
the roots of plants.   On man the earth does not generally
exercise decomposition until life has become extinct (un-
less on those who use the dirt baths of Dr. Graham, which
Lichtenberg classes  among the materia medica, because
they sometimes perhaps do no injury).
   The  earth, however, exercises somewhat of this power
also upon  those living human beings, who in the savage
state live in caves of the earth, or sleep on the bare ground.
To these belong especially most tribes in New Holland.
   This power is  the co-operating  cause, which,  even
when there is no taking of cold in the question, produces
a  commotion  in the body after sleep on the bare ground,
and when  this is  treated in the medical manner, degene-
rates into  a real disease.  Therefore  people usually say,
the exhalations from the  earth are  unwholesome  ; but
they  are so only  for the effeminate, and those weaned
from Nature.
   Instances of the strife of assimilation among  the organ-
isms themselves are : Beasts devour each other and plants;
that is, they appropriate to themselves,  with the nelp of
the stomach, so much of their substance  as can be assimi-
lated by them.  Plants, on the other hand, transform many
parts of dead  beasts  and plants (dung) into  their own
substance.
   Besides this power of assimilation and the power  of re-
action against foreign attempts  at decomposition, it is still
requisite for each being, element, and organism, to  be exposed
io the influence of foreign appropnalive power. 
I
   That is the fundamental principle of the doctrine  of
 healing.
   Instances of this principle . Water becomes  thick and
 putrid if withdrawn from the decomposing power of agi-
 tated air; the air loses its oxygenous principle and  be-
 comes mephitic if  it find no water and no vegetables with
 which to exercise  reciprocally its decomposing and assi-
 milating power.  Beasts and plants sicken and  die  when
 their surface is so covered that neither air nor water can
 exercise their decomposing power upon it.
   When nutriment is withdrawn from an organic being, i. e.
 the opportunity to appropriate to itself foreign  matter, then
 death follows from a failure of the supply to the juices of
 the body ; if, on the contrary, this being is withdrawn  from
 the influence cf foreign  decomposing  power, disease follows
from the coagulation and corruption  of the juices from want
of the removal of refuse humors  by the power of foreign
appropriation. 
B,
THE  POWER  OF  APPROPRIATION

               AND SECRETION OF THE

     ANIMAL ORGANISMS IN PARTICULAR.
The condition of vitality in general has not as yet been
thoroughly investigated by any one, still less its classifi-
cation in species, varieties, and individual cases.
  Individual powers and processes of vitality have been
explored, and we are accustomed to call the systematically
arranged  doctrine  of these  processes the physiology of
plants and beasts.
  Under the as yet known  laws of  physiology (we are
here concerned only with the  animal physiology) the
law  of  appropriation  and secretion  is one of the most
general  importance, and in  the  relation  it bears  to the
healing  art, decided y  the chief.   The  renovation  of the
substance in animal bodies is the necessary consequence
of this law, which renovation extends itself to the  inner-
most and most solid parts, viz. the bones, i. e. all parts
of the animal bodies receive into themselves daily foreign
matter, and incorporate it into a part of themselves (they
make it similar to themselves, hence the words assimilate, 
6
 assimilation); in like manner these bodies excrete some-
 what of their  own substance, and thus renew by degrees
 their whole  substance.
   Learned,  naturalists have  produced learned proofs foi
 the existence of the  above mentioned  laws, which, how-
 ever, are very superfluous for the true thinker, since the
 one  untaught  perspicuous fact  that no animal organism
 can  survive without  nutriment (i. e. sustain itself spon-
 taneously in its  separate individuality from the external
 world), furnishes to the thinker the proof of the  law of
 assimilation and secretion, and  consequently of the law
 of the change of matter in the animal bodies.
   For if none  of the  aliment of animals were  transformed
 into their own  essential substance, then this whole aliment
 would again pass off without being used, and would be
 quite superfluous; consequently animals would be spared
 the numerous sufferings  arising from want of nourish-
 ment, and from  the  endeavors to procure it.   This is,
 however, impossible, because there is no absurd law to be
 found in Nature.   If, however, much of the nutriment
 is  incorporated  by the  animal  bodies  into their essence,
then  on the other hand  much  of this  must  be again
 secreted, because  otherwise the body would constantly
increase in weight just as much as the weight of the  food
 which is  assimilated.   (The secretions, however, are to
 be divided into such  as consist in un< mployed, unservice-
 able aliment, and in such as consist in refuse matter of
the organism itself.)
  I must, however, because I live in a more learned than
thinking  age,  bring  forward  also some  learned detail
proofs of the transformation of matter in animals.  Readers
who  do not love learnedness, may omit the same. 
7
  1st.  In anatomical examinatidns  we  notice plainly a
certain alteration in young and old bodies, viz. increase
of the  earthy and  fibrous  matter,  and  decrease  of the
glutinous and serous.  This alteration does not arise from
disease as an exception to the general rule, but normally,
and always from old age.
  2d.  The bones of beasts become red, when they are fed
with madder.
  3d.  The roots of the milk teeth disappear.
  4th. The bones  in  advanced age decrease in circum-
ference and weight.
  5th. Cartilage changes into bony  matter, and thus car-
tilaginous substance disappears.
  It is not so difficult to show in what manner solid matter
is transformed into  liquid in  the animal bodies, as is the
explanation of  the  manner of forming solid  from  fluid
matters; the latter comes more conspicuously to notice,
when  the  bones, in  the  growing season  of  life, are in-
creasing, which  are  undoubtedly formed directly and in-
directly  from the Wood.
   The  transformation of the  liquid into solid is thus:
on  the extremities of the arteries,  there where they de-
posit serum on  the  fibres, the blood loses  oxygen  gas,
which transforms the liquid serum into solid matter.
   The change of the solid  into liquid takes place in the
following manner:  the absorbent vessels (vasa absorbentia)
or  lymphatic veins  (venae lymphaticae  serosae) soften
solid substances by moisture and absorption, they  conduct
absorbed liquids out of the limbs into the body, and empty
themselves through the  main  trunk of the veins in the
back part of the breast into the left collar bone vein (vena
subclavi,  sinistra) and in  the right jugular vein (vena 
8
 jugularisdextraj ; solid parts having in this manner been
made liquid, and conducted into the above-mentioned veins,
the discharge of the liquid takes place through the organ
of the skin, further  by the  aid of the glands from  the
hollowj of the eyes, of the ears, and of the nose,  further
also partially through the  bladder and rectum.
   The  processes,  also, whereby  on  the  one  hand  the
formation, maintenance, and increase of the bones,  where-
by on the other hand  the  removal  of refuse matter from
the body is carried on, have  already been  followed out in
detail by learned physiologists, and exposed to view.
   Many kinds of experiments, which have  been confirmed
also by Troja's  method, have  shown that the  formation,
growth, and sustenance  of  the  bones  proceed from  the
external periosteum,  the  absorption, however,  from  the
internal or skin of the marrow.
   The following facts relate thereto:
   1. When the skin  of the marrow has been destroyed,
the bone dies, whereupon  a  new skin to the marrow, and
a new piece of bone grows instead.
   2. This latter forms itself between the new skin of  the
marrow and the  periosteum.
   3. These two skins form  together only  one very thick
skin, divisible into laminae.
   4. The new skin of the narrow separates by degrees
from the periosteum by the interposition of the new bone.
   5. The texture of the skin of the marrow, which is at
first very thick and close, becomes  gradually more tender,
fills with juices,  and at last  becomes precisely similar to
the former skin.
   6. The inner  surface of the new skin of the marrow,
which exhibits alternately elevations and depressions, dis- 
9
solves and destroys the old bone, and absorbs it completely.
When  the medullary skin  of the  end of an amputated
bone is separated with a stilet, the untouched skin of the
leg begins to swell;  there arises on  the outward surface
of the bone a layer of cartilage, which originates in  the
skin of the leg, with which it is intimately connected, and
from which the new  springs.
   The exchange of matter in the organic beings, as well
as in the elements, is an evident truth, which to  my know-
ledge has not been disputed  by any naturalist  since  the
discovery ©f that  law.    This exchange  in the  organic
beings is only possible  through  liquefaction of the solid
matter, and on the other hand through consolidation of the
liquid matter.  These unceasingly successive transforma-
tions can only be effected by  means of oxygen and  hy-
drogen, since the oxygen hardens the liquid, and  the  hy-
drogen  softens the  solid matter, as has been proved by
many concurring  investigations and experiments, among
others  by the  discovery  first made by Dr. Curssel, in
Petersburg, that flesh on the oxygen pole  of the galvanic
chain became hard, and on the hydrogen pole became soft.
Curssel has proved, on many other substances, the solvent
power of the  hydrogen pole, and the desiccating  hardening
power of the oxygen pole.
   Frons  the  foregoing principles we make the following
deductions:
   1. Water, as is known, consists of hydrogen and oxygen;
2.  and  moreover, that  these  constituent  parts of water
effect the transformation  and exchange of matter in  the
organic beings; 3. to this we  add, in conclusion, that the
undisturbed and normal  exchange  of  matter in the bodj
is i"he fundamental condition of the life and health of oi
                       1* 
10
ganic beings.   From these three data taken together, we
draw the conclusion, that water  is the chief material of
health and cure for the organic body, and  consequently
that  the Water-cure method  is  the correct method, and
deeply and eternally founded in nature.
  Whoever is not yet enabled by the foregoing to discover
the  small connecting  members  between the deductions
brought forward, will find  them farther on, and also the
detail proofs of the  above made inferences. 
               c.
WHAT   IS   INSTINCT'
The law  of assimilation and secretion, which with cer-
tainty governs the terrestrial creation, and with probability
the whole universe, produces  manifold collisions and con-
flicts among the various beings respecting the substance to
be assimilated.  Also the existence of beasts of prey in the
animal kingdom is a consequence of this law.  The phi-
losophical consequences of this  law are very important,
especially for the vindication of optimism ; however, they
belong not in this book.
   To reconcile the collisions and  conflicts which take
p.ace in procuring matter for assimilation with the con-
tinuance and propagation of the  various races, was with-
L-Jt doubt one  of the  most important  problems for the
creative principle, which has been  solved with the most
eminent and admirable wisdom.
   Numberless dangers on  all  sides and from all the king.
doms of nature threaten  young inexperienced  animals
(we  wish to turn our  attention  to  the animal kingdom
only).   How were it possible to  afford  them a protection
against  those dangers, since  experience and knowledge
are not innate ?   The assertion that the parents take care 
12
of their young till they become of full age, is, from man}
reasons, entirely untenable.  The first reason  is the falsity
of the thing asserted.   Never, in a state of nature, do the
parents remain with their young till their full growth, and
the great mass of animals never get sight of their parents,
viz. fishes, insects, and amphibious  animals do not, which
come from eggs, the hatching  of which  is  committed to
the sun.
   What a  multitude of dangers is there  for animals in
the vegetable kingdom alone from the presence of poisons!
What  a still  greater multitude in the  animal kingdom
from the assimilating enemies,  generally called beasts of
prey !   How was it possible, then, in a creation, wherein
the law of assimilation  rules supreme, to insure the con
tinuation of the various races 1  It was  possible through
the Instinct alone, which  nature  has bestowed  on indi-
viduals.

                 WHAT IS  INSTINCT ?

   That is the question which the learned of all times have
variously answered, and these extremely learned explana-
tions have for the most  part ended  in a literal sense with
out sensp

                  WHAT IS  INSTINCT?

   Ah, tha. is so simple, easy a question, that any uncor
rupted  plain human understanding can give but one and
the same .answer.  Instinct is the purely sensual faculty of
all animal creatures, to distinguish  by perception of the
agreeable and disagreeable, ivhat is conducive to health and 
3
life, from what is prejudicial, to seek the former and shun
the latter.
  Not man alone possesses this sensual faculty in common
with the heists, but every animal  organism on every star
of the universe must of absolute necessity be endowed with
it, if the law of  assimilation and excretion reigns there as
on the earth.        \
   Why whimpers  the  new born  babe after the mother's
breast ?   He has a craving for it, because it is necessary
to his existence,—that  is already  instinct.  Why are  the
smell and taste of all poisons disgusting and painful to the
man of nature ?  In order to withhold him from partaking
of things destructive to his health—through instinct.  Even
in this age of refinement the guide-posts of instinct  are
possessed in  part  by all.   There is  no poison,  which,
when unmixed  with  other things  agreeable to the taste,
will not cause disgust and shuddering to every palate, ana
excite vomiting.   However, when a little poison is com-
 bined with a  great deal of wholesome matter, as alcohol
in wine, with delicious fruits and sugar  delicacies, then
the  palate can  be deceived, and  thus gradually be  cor-
 rupted.   The natural  palate, when moistened  by any in-
toxicating liquor, becomes alarmed, as all seamen and dis-
 coverers  unanimously  inform  us, that  every savage spits
 out  the first draught of anything intoxicating, or perhaps
 swallows it with averseness and feelings of disgust.  This
 is related by the South sea voyagers, Cook, Bougainville,
 Dumont  d'Urville,  and all  others.  Of course, however,
 the  first warning of instinct is soon overcome by intoxi-
 cating stimulants, the instinct-nerves  are soon poisoned,
 and the  toper is made.   The idolatrous respect  of the
 savages for the gods of thunder, whom they try to imitate 
14
in everything, is to blame, that they all aft^r a longer as-
sociation with Europeans overcome that warning and learn
to drink.   Farther, man and every beast, that  is liable to
be poisoned by  the bite  of snakes, feel, through instinct,
without the help of experience or any warning, a shudder-
ing, fear, and deadly enmity at the sight of all serpents,
and either  flee from them, or take the precaution  to kill
them.   On the contrary, the hog, which is in no wise in-
jured  by  their bite, exhibits  no symptoms of fear, but
searches for snakes as for caterpil.ars or acorns, and de-
vours  them ;  the same is the case  with the stork and
crane.   The proud  king lion flees from the scorpion:  in
his cage it makes him tremble and cringe with fear into
the farthest corner;  the  colossal elephant exhibits the
same symptoms  towards  that minute insect, which  creeps
into its trunk, and thence into its brain, and thus  causes
its death.
  All the warnings of instinct are entirely innate and need
not the cultivation of experience, which constitutes wisdom.
Instinct confines itself to the absolute questions of life, and
is absolutely infallible.   Wi&dom  presumes to see and ex-
plore farther, and is very deceptive.
  As the instinct is absolutely infallible, just so absolutely
necessary is it to the continuation of our race ;  every ani-
mal tribe, that corrupts  the instinct, and destroys it in  it-
self must come to ruin, and it requires  not much acuteness
to perceive, that the human race is travelling or decaying
on towards death ; salvation is  alone possible, if it regains
instinct and nature, which is still  possible.
  At all events the human species has  many thousand
years to run on  before its total  extinction, although every
species of beast would have become extinct; for through 
                          15

the whole chain of  animal organitms this  law prevails,
that the more perfect a species is in regard to its physical
constitution, it has in the  same degree a limited instinct
and extended capacity for  wisdom, and of the mental and
arbitrary functions ;  thus in the  latter capacity it finds a
sort of surrogate, but one  very deceptive for a deadened
instinct.   In the most intimate harmony and  connexion
with that first law stands  the second, that the senses are
less reliable for the instinct  in the same order in which
they are nobler, more spiritual and perceptive,  thus in the
following order : feeling and taste about equal,  then smell,
hearing, and sight.  Of this we  mention an explanatory
instance.   The  young  hare can sometimes be ensnared
by the fox, when the latter dances  about him, imitating
the pranks of a young hare, so long as the hare is aided
by no other sense  than that of sight;  but  as  soon as he
hears the voice of the beast of prey, or gets scent thereof,
he is  undeceived, and makes his escape, if it be not al-
ready too late.  On that account the fox always  endea-
vors  to remain under cover of the wind—that is already
wisdom  of which the higher orders of beasts are decidedly
capable, and oftentimes to an astonishing degree ; however,
 more on this point belongs not here.
   With these and similar fundamental features in the na-
 ture of the animal organisms the learned naturalists have
 but little troubled themselves;  with most of these gentle-
 men  Nature  is nothing else than  a naturalist's cabinet
 with beetles and herbaria, and they are content with clas-
 sifying salamanders, toads, lice, and caterpillars ;  alas let
 those vermin rest in peace until you have explored human
 nature !
   From the  foregoing explanation concerning the nature 
                           16

  of instinct, and from the law of assimilation and secretion
  taken together, it follows, that the means to the continua-
  tion of life and  health are revealed  to animals by their
  physical impulses.
    In like manner, when sickness occurs, the means of
  cure must be indicated by the same instinct.  This second
  position follows as a consequence of the first; it is however
  likewise a postulate of reason, that the capability of choos-
  ing correctly by infallible means those things necessary to
  their well-being should  be  bestowed upon animals of a
  reasonable creation.   This capability must in  like dispo-
  sition be distributed through all grades of the animal cre-
  ation, and must  therefore consist  in a  revelation of the
  sensual feeling, and not in a function of the mental energy,
  or in a result of  experience, still less of true science, but
  least of all in the results of a half silly science like the
  medical.
    It  follows from the  foregoing, that animals falling sick
  have a sensual  desire for  the  means of cure  proper  for
  them, and realize a  sensual pleasure in the use of the
  same.   In  all  primary diseases (concerning this see
  farther on)  this  is really  the  case,  inasmuch as every
  man  (beasts still more) has a strong deeire for the cooling
  stimulus and refreshment of water ; and in the use of the
  same experiences a  sensual  gratification  and  comfort.
,  (Farther on  I will show,  how the instinct of man becomes
  partially corrupted by poisoning, and how in the secondary
  diseases it is  never  quite infallible, and  is  sometimes
  directly false.)
    It follows finally from  those arrangements of nature, of
  which we are speaking, that such pretended means of cure,
  against which the instinct of the patient and of every 
7
healthy man fee.s averseness and  disgust, must be wrong
and injurious.  Herein then is contained the second proof
of the falsity and  perniciousness of the medicinal method
of cure, because  the instinct is infallible.
  The sum of all practical wisdom is the rule, obediently
to acquiesce in the arrangements and follow the voice of
nature—for il is  the voice of God ; the sum  of all theoreti-
cal wisdom is the knowledge of the  reasons, why all the
contrivances of nature must so be, as they are.  The sum
of all folly, and the fountain of all corruption, is the re-
bellion against the regulations  of nature, and the endea-
vor to find fault with and tutor them.
  In this  unfortunate direction of folly, there has been no
human or scientific error in so high a (fegree fatal and silly
as the medicinal  method of cure. 
                   D.
      SIGNIFICATION OF THE TERMS

"HEALTH   AND  DISEASE."
Before I commence defining the terms health and disease,
I must observe, that  there are in reality no  species or
varieties definitely marked off from one another; that the
individuals of every species  and variety have dissimilar-
ities among themselves; that the transitions, from one  spe-
cies to the other  are  so imperceptible, that with  certain
individuals and concrete cases it cannot  be  determined
with certainty  to which species  they  belong.   This is
particularly the case with the different diseases, and even
the line of demarcation  between health and disease is in
cases  of  reality frequently  very  wavering.   In a word,
the denominations of species, &c, are not borrowed from
reality, and thence delivered  over  to human  ingenuity,
but vice versa, have  originated in the  human mind,  and
from there been transferred to the reality,  because the
former cannot operate  without them.  Whoever wishes
to read more upon this subject, I refer to the introduction
to my  " Guide  to  the  Practice of the Water Cure Sys-
tem,"  soon  to appear, where I was  obliged to enter  into
the depth of this thema. 
19
  The  disposition   of  vitality in  the  organic  beings
in regard  to  duration  of time  may be  called  double;
namely, the vital energy may be of such a  kind that it
wears itself out gradually by the labor of appropriation
and excretion, by the strife with the appropriative power
of the external world,  and  finally perishes.   Organic
beings, that are  endowed with such vitality, can effectuate
the continuance of their species only through propagation
and births.  Of this kind are the organic beings of our
planet.
   We may suppose that, upon other bodies of the universe
and, viz. upon the self-existent stars, which we call  fixed
stars,  there may exist  beings  materially organic  of a
higher nature, whose vital energy does not wear out, and
consequently  does not perish.   With such beings propa-
gation may be dispensed with, because the race continues
on without it, and it must be dispensed with, because  the
propensity thereto is incompatible with  an exalted nature,
and  because  probably  no constantly  even and eternally
enduring  vitality of individuals is compatible  with  the
capability and exercise of the propagation of the race.
   Among the physiological and psychological laws known
to us, there is none that sets a contradiction between  the
notions of immortality and materiality of any being.
   In accordance with these  two  essentially different kinds
of vitality, the notions of absolute health are just as
essentially different.   The idea of  the  absolute health  of
a being not  having necessarily self-consuming  vitality,
coincides  with  the everlasting  life of that  being.   The
idea of the absolute health of a being possessing necessa-
rily  self-extinguishing  vitality,  is  quite  a  different one.
In the latter case, not only the death,  but also the earliei 
21)
jr later  occurrence  thereof,  give no certain  principle
whereby to determine the idea of absolute health.   This
conception is  chiefly determined by two indications, viz.
first, in freedom  from pain during the whole course of
life ; and second, in the harmony of the functions, and the
proportionate diminution of the functions in entering upon
that  age  which  lies  between the noonday of  life  and
death.    Finally, the  following  condition  (which  has
already been indirectly inferred in the two first-mentioned
indications)  is  included in the conception of the  absolute
health  of a being with vitality  necessarily self-consuming,
viz. that death in good old  age must  occur without pain.
Such a death deserves the name of a normal and healthy
death,  while on the contrary, every death connected  with
a struggle is a death  by disease.  It  is  undeniable,  that
such absolute health  occurs  but in  very few  instances
with the  animal  creations  of  our planet, even when  in a
state of  nature,  if we include  in the term sickness all
the numberless and petty injuries inflicted through exter-
nal violence.  When this  is  not  the case, then  absolute
health occurs much oftener, although by no means always,
because,  upon  our planet, animals even in a state of health
are subject  to epidemic diseases, which probably have
their originating cause in periodical  corruption of the
elements ; of this see farther on. 
E.
             DIVISION  OF THB

CAUSES OF  DISEASE  INTO  CLASSES.
IF we take the term disease  in the broad*, st signification
of the word, then the causes of disease resolve themselves
into four several classes :
  Namely, first,  In injuries inflicted by external objects.
  Second, In  destroying the balance of the  functions
through over-exercise of individual organs ;  for example,
of the organ of sight, of thought, of procreation.
  Third, In destroying the same balance through injuries
and fearful affections of the mind.
  Fourth, In the burdening  of the animal organism with
foreign matters internally (matters of disease).  The for-
eign  matters  of disease fall into two several principal
classes, viz. first,  into actual matter, which is foreign to
the organism, but  is not in a normal manner promptly
excreted, from want of some of the conditions of excre-
tion,  of which farther on much  will be said.  Second,
Into such matters of the external world  as are introducec.
into the body  through  the organs  of the skin or stomach, 
22
 and which from beginning  to end are incapable of being
 assimilated (poisons).
   The causes  of diseases  given under  2 and 3 are ex-
 tremely seldom present by themselves,  they  are  almost
 always more or less combined with the matters of disease
 given under division  4.   In the  very  seldom cases  in
 which they may  be  present  alone, to  cure  them  it is
 necessary only  to remove the causes of the disease.  We
 do not occupy ourselves  at all in  this work  with the
 second and third causes of disease as existing of them-
 selves alone, and on this account, because in reality  they
 extremely seldom appear, and secondly, because for them
 there is no positive, but only a negative method of cure,
 and thirdly, because all signs of reaction fail them.   (See
 farther on.)
   A fifth class of causes of bodily suffering, which arise
 from insufficient nourishment and over-driven exertion of
 the whole body, is accordingly excluded  from  this  work,
 because  these   noxious influences bring suffering only
 upon the organic body, but no disease, if they,  to wit, are
 by themselves alone  and not connected  with  any  grand
 cause of disease in the body.
   The class  of  disease given under division 4, will  first
be treated of in  this work as by far the  most  important,
and the first class  of disease will then follow as append-
ant. 
           CLASSIFICATION

      OF  DISEASES THEMSELVES;

DIFFERENT  MODES  OF CLASSIFICATION.
 In the Introduction to the  " Guide  to the Practice of the
 Water-Cure Art," I have in detailed manner shown, that
 in reality there are  no classes among diseases,  but only
 cases or individual instances of disease, no two  of which
 are precisely alike,  many of which, however, are similar,
 and according to this similarity constitute groups natural,
 but not strictly separate from one another.  These groups,
 which are natural and run into each other, have by  the
 human mind been arranged into classes, or in species and
 varieties,  because it cannot work without specific ideas.
  have in the above-mentioned introduction shown, that no
doctrine of disease is possible without classification of the
diseases in species and varieties according to their several
natures, and that on the other hand no  doctrine of cure
with such a classification  according to the nature of the
diseases can have a practical usefulness.
  The arrangement of disoises in  species and  varieties 
24
may be oased on very various and different signatures of
classification (a signature of classification is a mark which
gives the rule wherewith  to  direct the arrangement into
classes or into species and varieties).  The duration of
 he diseases, for instance,  may be  set up as the rule to
direct the arrangement, the nature of the matter of dis-
ease, or the  physiological  system of the body, in which
the disease has its seat (the glandular system, the muscu-
lar system, or osseous system), or the anatomical part of
the body which is affected (whether head, breast, or abdo-
men), maybe taken to direct the rule of classification, &c.
   If the division of diseases into classes and sorts actually
existed, then it would be  possible  to  discover  some  one
signature of classification, in conformity with which  the
construction  of the  whole doctrine  of disease could be
strictly and definitely carried out.   The  fact, that patho-
logists have not succeeded in the arrangement of diseases
in strict  truth and  consecution according  to  one single
signature of classification, consequently explains  itself
very  naturally from this  circumstance, that the division
of the divers sorts of  diseases into classes does not  at all
exist  in the  reality.  The  labors of many pathologists in
endeavoring to arrange and fabricate the  system of patho-
logy  in  conformity with  one  signature  of classification
testify to the want  of sense of these learned persons,
and to  their misapprehension of the truth, that  in  the
reality there are  no classes of diseases.  Such  systems
bear  in themselves the double stamp of being both untrue
and forced.   Whoever has perceived that  the classifica-
tion of diseases  is an untruth in the reality, but  for the
operations and researches of the  human mind  an indis-
pensable crutch, such an one gives himself not a moment's 
25
trouble to bring  the whole territory of pathology undei
one single signature of classification, and he is guided in
the choice of his  different signatures, not by the endeavor
to attain  to  philosophical  strictness, but simply in con-
sideration of making himself intelligible to readers.
   In  this  work  we  divide diseases into  four principal
classes, namely :
   1.  In healing diseases.
   2.  In destroying diseases.
   3.  In infectious and epidemic diseases.
   4.  In external or surgical diseases.
   The healing diseases coincide for the most part, but  not
altogether, with  those  diseases  which  physicians call
" acute," and  the destroying diseases with those which
are usually comprehended under the name " chronic dis-
eases."
   Observation :  Acute diseases are, according  to the defi-
nition of the  physicians, " such  as  do not last over four
weeks,  generally accompanied  by fever, and  confine  to
the bed.   Chronic diseases, on  the  other hand, are such
as generally  do  not confine to the bed, whose  duration is
over  four  weeks, and  are commonly  unattended with
fever."
   The unserviceableness  of this mode  of classification,
taken from the mere surface, comes plainly into view
when we  consider that one minute's difference in the du-
ration of the  disease can make  no essential  point  of dis-
tinction.   Gonorally speaking, the duration of diseases is
a mode of classifying which characterizes the  nature  of
diseases little or not at all, and consequently does not enter
into the depth of pathology.  When, in the former editions
of my hydriatic writings, I received as normal the division
                   2 
26
of diseases into acute and chronic, it wt.s only because  I
made use of these two words in a quite new signification.
Namely, in the divisions made first by myself of diseases
into  healing and destroying diseases,  I used  the word
"acute" for the  first class, and the word "chronic" for
the second.  Such an altered manner of employing old
medical terms, however, occasions misunderstandings, and
on this account  I have  exchanged  these  old names for
such  new ones as are more suited  to my new system of
pathology, and subject to no misunderstanding.  If in this
third  edition,  also, the words " acute "  and " chronic "
should still remain in some places, I  pray you attribute  it
to the press for time  under which I  must  undertake the
revision of this edition.   Instead thereof the words " pri-
mary" and "secondary" disease will be found—"primary"
answering  to the healing diseases, " secondary " to the
class of destroying diseases.  The  reasons which deter-
mined me in  the  use  cf   'jiese  terms will  be found
farther on. 
                     G

THE  SYMPTOMS  OF  DISEASES,
                     AND

    CLASSIFICATION  OF  THE  SAME
 In the following section  H. the materiality of the causes
 of disease will be treated of, and proved.   Here the posi-
 tion that the causes, if not of all, yet of nearly all, diseases
 are foreign matters in the diseased organism, must be an-
 ticipated and premised previous to its proof.  Accordingly,
 then, disease  itself consists in the burdening of the organ-
 ism internally with foreign matters, particularly with acrid,
 corrosive, putrid, universally  with matters more or less
 poisonous
  Those expressions of  disease  manifesting themselves
 externally to the perception, we  call  signs or symptoms
 of the disease, well aware that we employ these  words  in
 a signification widely differing from the medical  termino-
 logy, which, indeed, cannot be otherwise, since  here we
 have tc do with a doctrine of disease entirely new.   Dis-
 ease comes to the perception of the patient himself through
 his general feeling always, and through the senses of sight.
of smell, of  hearing, and  of touch  sometimes,—to the 
28
observing physician, through one or more of the last named
senses.
  The symptoms of disease resolve themselves, according
to their inmost nature, into symptoms of the organic struggle
against the matter  of disease in the body, and the destruc-
tive effects of this  matter upon  the organic  body.   The
first symptoms we  will call symptoms of reaction, because
they arise  from the  reaction  of the system against the
matters of disease, i. e. disease-causing  matters.   Ac-
cordingly the symptoms of reaction arise from the endea-
vor of the organism to heal itself, to rid itself of its dis-
turbing  matter, and  might therefore  be called healing
symptoms, if we did not need  this word for a subdivision
of the symptoms of reaction, namely, for  those symptoms
of reaction to which belong the signs of the success of the
reaction, i. e. of the victory of the organism over its disease-
causing  matters.  The symptoms of reaction include also
those symptoms which are as yet only endeavors of the or-
ganism to rid itself of the disease,  even if those endeavors
fail.
   In all  internal diseases not produced by external injuries,
every severe pain, and every  severe (acute) inflammation
is decidedly a symptom of reaction.
   The second class of symptoms of disease consists in the
destructive effects of the  matters  of disease  upon the
organism,  and  these  symptoms we will call  destroying
symptoms or " passive symptoms of disease."  The  term,
" active  symptoms of disease" would  be  perfectly ex-
pressive for the symptoms of reaction.
   The passive or the destroying symptoms consist  in  or-
ganic destructions through ulceration, fistula and cancer-
sores, in organic transformations, ossification, enlargements, 
19
contractions, accumulations  of  diseased  fluid  humors
(dropsy) ;  farther, in cramps of the  most various  kinds,.
&c, &c.
  The symptoms of reaction in their  perfection, totality,
and greatest strength, are only to be found in the primary
or healing diseases.   They aim at the radical cure, the
complete expulsion  of all disturbing  matters of disease.
There are, however, in the chronic diseases also imperfect
symptoms of reaction, i. e. signs of the contra-working of
the  organism against the  extension of the matters of dis-
ease, a struggle not for radical cure of the disease, but for
preservation of the status quo, for suppression of the dis-
ease as long as possible.   We need, therefore, a distinction
between the symptoms of reaction in primary (acute) and
secondary  (chronic)  diseases, and we will call  the first
absolute or total signs of reaction, the second, relative or
partial signs of  reaction.
  Since now, in the foregoing, we have erected the  frame-
work of our mode of classification and terminology, we
can, in what follows, enter upon the matter itself, because
we now understand  each other.   I am  well aware how
tedious the foregoing must have been to the reader,  but it
could not be otherwise ;  classification and terminology are
always necessary, and both must be created anew, if one
wishes to bring into the world  \ group of new truths. 
                         H.

      PROOFS FOR THE MATERIALITY OF THE

   CAUSES    OF   DISEASE

                      OR FOB. THE

EXISTENCEOF  MATTERS OF DISEASE.
My whole doctrine of disease rests upon two fundamental
positions, namely:
  1. Upon the position  that  foreign  material substances
are the causes of perfect diseases (of this see directly
below), and 2, upon the position that all diseases resolve
themselves into the essentially different classes of healing
and destroying diseases.
  In the special  pathology, farther on, will be found  the
detail proof of these two positions in  relation to  each in-
dividual sort of disease.   Here we must  first bring  for-
ward  the  proofs for both of these positions in general,
which philosophy,  physiology, and daily experience, i. e.
the perception of the senses, furnish, so that hereafter in
the special pathology,  in the  detailed  statement  of  the
sickening  and healing processes, the basis  of the whole
conclusion  of this  work nay be  ready at hand, without 
31
which basis, the reat er might think the later conclusions
float in the air, and are petitiones principii.
  In this section, H., we shall take up  only the  first  of
my two fundamental positions, and consider  the second
afterwards in course.
  When I say that material foreign substances are the
causes  of  all perfect diseases, I  understand  by  perfect
diseases those that  are  accompanied with symptoms of
reaction, or have  been preceded  by such symptoms.   To
the symptoms of reaction belong particularly all kinds of
pain and all  kinds of inflammation.  We perceive from
this definition the  extreme rarity of imperfect diseases not
combined with  matters  of disease.  It  is an extremely
rare circumstance that a  person gets diseased without ever
in his life  having  had a pain or inflammation,  and that his
disease  likewise  arises and runs its course without both
of these symptoms.   We might name the  imperfect or re-
 actionless diseases) also  dynamic, and  the perfect ones,
 chemical (as regards their causes), however,  in the argu-
 ment concerning  the existence of disease-causing matter
 I could not choose these names if I wished to  be free from
 all objections.
   In  a later edition of  this work I will devote an appro-
 priate  part to the imperfect diseases;  now time  fails me
 for that purpose,  which  also compels me to leave uncon-
 sidered those abnormities which originate In  the  natural
 false structure of the body and  its organs, and which are
 likewise destitute of symptoms of reaction, and moreover
 do  not admit of cure.
    Accordingly, when in this edition we speak of diseases,
 only those attended witr signs of reaction, or ue perfect
 diseases  are in ended. 
32
  Two  proofs of the most different kind can L« adduced
in confirmation of the existence  of the  materiality of all
perfect diseases, namely, a philosophical proof upon the
principles of Deism and optimism, anc a proof from  facts
drawn from the perception of the senses. 
                         A

    THE  PHILOSOPHICAL   PROOF.




If the  causes  of diseases are material, man can avoid
them, because  these disease-producing matters can only
get into his  body in a manner which comes to the know-
ledge of his senses, and which excites  aversion, disgust,
and even horror in every healthy and uncorrupted person,
since instinct revolts against it.
   This feeling speaks plainly against all sharp and poison-
ous substances, when they are introduced into the body
either through the swallow or through the skin.
   If then  the  causes  of disease  are  material, and are
substances more or less poisonous within the body, man
has in his own self a warner and safeguard against dis-
ease—and it must be so if we do  not admit that  man in
his very creation is a marred and imperfect being, which
would  condition therefore  an  imperfect total creation.
Only a fool can believe this; the wise man finds the older
he grows, the  deeper he penetrates into  the  spirit of the
creation,  the more justifications of the  apparent  impro-
prieties in the creation, and  the more grounds for the ac-
ceptation  of a most exalted wisdom.   The evils which
come upon the humar. race are not  the  consequences of 
34
penerted creation, but of perverted application of our
own powers and our own freedom.  Thus it must be ;
every being must bear in its own self the capability of
being happy.
  In  the  acceptation of tho so-called dynamic  theories,
which, since Haller, have been the  ruling in medicine, the
capability of man to protect himself against sickness  is
denied, and therefore these theories, considered in a philo-
sophical  point  of view,  are  necessarily untruths.   Ac-
cording to these theories the germs and processes of disease
find their way  into the body in a manner not perceptible
to the senses, or develope themselves therein in a manner
that man  has in none of his capabilities a warner or means
of defence against them.
  Moreover, these, as all dynamic  theories, have the mis-
fortune to be more or less phantasms of which one can get
no  clear idea,  and which  are set  forth  in learned words,
since the theorists can neither give  an intelligent account
of the  matter to themselves nor to others.  Dynamis sig-
nifies strength,  and we understand by " dynamic " some-
thing relating to the higher powers,  and, very particularly,
to the  mainspring of all powers, the principle of life, of
which nothing is understood.   Hence it has come to pass
that the word dynamic is very frequently synonymous with
the  idea of want  of knowledge in  man.   More  honest is
it, without doubt, to confess there is  a gap in science ; how-
ever, it sounds  more  learned, and  imposes on the stupid
when the space is eked out with dynamic  flourishes, yet
this itself shows  like stupidity to  those of higher intelli-
gence.  If we  connect with the word dynamic  the idea
of that which regards the first spring of life, and the inner
nature of our  power, then for us human beings this is 
35
synonymous with the unexplored and unknown : in mathe-
matics alone  the word  dynamic has a  clear and deter-
minate sense, when used to mark the  fully investigated
powers and motions of the heavenly bodies.
  The physiology of man  in all that relates to the inner
nature, to the origin and highest energies of vitality, pre-
sents only an empty page ;  also on  the relation of the
nerves to the vital energy, and on the nature and state of
the nerves, an empty page only is to be found.  The phy-
siology of man  has  penetrated  most deeply into the laws
of assimilation and  secretion,  and has  in  this province
brought to light not only demonstrable principles,  but has
also effected  a consolidation of the principles into an or-
ganic combination, into a system.
  The pathology of the mediciners is founded upon the
empty page of physiology, and wavers, without foundation,
in the air.   To it bolongs as little as  does to  the medical
therapy the  claim  to  the name of science, and therefore
the term of rationality  in behalf of the  medical  science
can only be vindicated by such physicians as have no idea
of the nature of a true science.
  My doctrine  of disease  is founded upon demonstrated
and undoubted laws of physiology, and rests therefore on
a solid foundation. 
                         B.

          PRACTICAL  PROOF.




A. practical proof of the presence of morbific matters of
disease has been afforded many thousand times in the re-
sults of the water-cure, inasmuch as, through the various
kinds of crises in this cure, morbific matters are secreted
in such a manner as to be plainly perceptible as such by
the several senses.   In by far the  most cases, where the
water cure is rightly managed and successfully employed,
there arise critical  eruptions and boils.   That these ex-
anthems discharge morbific  matters which cause the dis-
ease, and that they consequently (with the help of water)
show themselves in those persons only who have acrid and
foreign matter  in  their bodies, is  not necessary first  to
prove to  any unprejudiced man; and  no physician  even
has  called this in  question—until  the discovery of the
water-cure by  Priessnitz.    I  am  fully  convinced  that
even at this  day this is not really doubted  by a single
physician, but very many  seek to persuade the  public to
this doubt, since the water-cure has begun to threaten the
existence of the physicians.   I remember very well, that
seven or eight yeaiss ago many physicians contended, that
it boils and eruptions appeared in a  water-treatment,  it 
37
were a purely accidental coincidence with the water-cure;
this treatment could not be the cause of such appearances.
As hydropathy afterwards became more  widely extended,
and as  thousands of facts proved, that the application of
water after the method of Vincent Priessnitz  brought out
boils and eruptions in the majority of  secondary diseases,
and also in many primary cases of disease, then indeed
such a denial  was no longer possible ;  and since then the
great body of physicians have contrived  another cunning
in order to dispute with success the  truth of the water-
cure system; now they  assert, it is a  necessary effect of
water upon the human skin, that when  abundantly used,
it always  produces  boils, even with  any one perfectly
healthy.  I doubt indeed that any physician in the world
can be so simple as really to believe this—such a belief in
a disciple of the natural sciences would  at least allow the
presumption of a moderate degree of stupidity ; but several
of these gentlemen have  the effrontery  to endeavor to teach
such like doctrines to the  public, in  order to keep them
far as possible from the water-cure.  I am almost  in doubt
whether to honor such  an assertion  with a  refutation—
however, for the sake of the weak  it may be necessary.
I refer then, to the experience of thousand fold cases, that
in  almost  every individual case the  water-cure  brought
out  boils and eruptions,—a notorious  fact, which  of itself
alone gives the lie to that assertion.   With persons in the
water-cure, that are too weak  to produce a crisis and are
therefore incurable, no  boils or eruptions make  their ap-
pearance ;  thousands  have learned this to their deep dis-
tress.   Also with persons  having very  weak or shattered
nerves, no crises appear, when from the  ignorance of their
water  physicians  they  are treated  with too cold  walei 
                         38

(alas this occurs too often  enough !   I could  nention the
names of several water practitioners), and they according.
ly are not cured but often  injured.  In the third place, no
boils make their appearance in the water-cure with such
persons as have no morbific matters in themselves.  This
is indeed a very rare occurrence, but has, however, in in-
dividual  cases  been amply proved.  I  mention   among
others the Norwegian, Captain Ramm, who, a Hercules in
strength and  health, came to Graefenberg to be cured of
incipient blindness, which arose solely from over-exertion
of the eyes, and  not  from medicinal poisoning.   (Mr.
Ramm was an engineer captain, had for many years been
engaged in making the most delicate delineations through
strongly magnifying lenses.)  During a six months' cure,
with the strongest application of water in  douches, &c,
this Hercules had  not a mark of eruption or boil—indeed
he was not yet cured,  as in all probability he would never
be perfectly.   Hundreds of the Graefenberg cure-guests
have also witnessed this same.  A fourth class of patients
in the water-cure get no boils or eruptions for this reason,
because they are  cured by means of strong offensively-
smelling transudations; these cases are  by no means sel-
dom, and have often occurred in my practice.
   The physicians, who are guilty of the above mentioned
assertion, are accustomed to cite the case of washerwomen,
since  they get  cracked hands  in washing.  To  this we
answer, that in  the first place the washerwomen in winter
have  iheir hands alternately in hot and ice-cold water,
which, by the long duration of the washing,  is at  least a
mistreatment of the skin ; that in the second place, corrosive
stuffs  such as soap and  ley are here co-operating to  the
same  end • and that in the third  p ace, the  washerwomen 
39
do not get boils nor eruptions from such  injurious use of
water, but cracked hands, the highest degree of brittleness
and weakness even to bleeding, and the origination of holes
in the flesh.  This  cited instance of the washerwoman,
therefore, is  as silly as untrue, and can at the farthest be
excused only in a washerwoman.
   Considered, moreover, abstractly from all experience and
knowledge on the subject, it is sufficiently evident  from
the physiology of man, that boils and eruptions cannot be
produced in  perfectly healthy persons  through the action
of water, since  water is a  matter the most conceivably
mild, and since  boils  produce  a feeling always painful,
and more or less acrimonious and  corrosive, which can
only  be caused by  acrid corrosive  matters, or  by biting
animalculae which  form the  boil.    We will  comprise
these boils and  eruptions under the name of Exanthems,
and then say that acrid  and poisonous substances are the
causes of all exanthems that are not contagious; on the
other hand that living, but to the naked eye invisible, ani-
malculae are the causes of contagious exanthems—con-
cerning which we will treat in detail farther on.
   The exanthems brought out by the water-cure vary ac-
cording to the acridness of their secretions ;  ofttimes they
are so acrid, as to eat through the linen bandages in a few
 weeks ;  always so acrid, that they cause itching, burning,
and pricking.   The substance of the human body may in
 some diseases become putrid, but never  can it  exert  a
 corroding power upon the same organism from which it
 springs.
   The causes  of the not-contagious  critical  exanthems
 must therefore  be foreign corroding substances, which al-
 ready pstvious to the water-cure have lain in the diseased 
10
 body, and which, through the solvent, especially the mucus
 dissolving power of water, are brought  from the  interior
 parts to the skin and excreted by the same.   Concerning
 those, to the first glance apparently inexplicable, processes,
 by which foreign and poisonous matters  can  lie  for years
 in the body without destroying it, we will in the course of
 this work give the detailed physiological  proofs.
  •So much concerning the critical exanthems as instances
 of the materiality of the causes of disease.   These exan-
 thems, as above said, do not make theiv appearance with
 every patient in the water-cure, not even with every one
 that is radically cured by it, but this cure is often effected
 by other critical evacuations, in all of which,  however, the
 existence of the materiality of the causes of disease comes
 to the plain perception of the senses.   Those  other critical
 evacuations consist in offensive smelling  and viscous per-
 spirations, in discharges of urine with unnatural smell and
 strong sediment, in diarrhoeas,  which cause a sensation of
 burning in  the  rectum, in vomiting up of matters which
 have a sharp  medicinal  poisonous taste,  in acrid flow of
 saliva, &c.
   All these crises are proofs of the existence of matters in
 the body, which are causing the disease.
   Here the proof in relation  to the offensive smelling per-
 spirations.  Firstly, there are  but two substances in all
 nature which cause  an  offensive odor, namely:  poisons,
 and  everything  putrifying.   Secondly,  the  evaporations
 and  perspirations  from the  skin  of healthy  and cleanly
 persons are free from  smell,  at least  by no means bad
smelling,  because  a healthy person exudes  no poison, and
because  the  refuse  matter will be discharged from the
skin  of a healthy person  before it has passed  into putridi 
41
ty.  Thirdly, ii follows, that when  ne perspirations and
transpirations are offensive, they are abnormal, and  con-
tain either poisonous o:  putrifying substance, and  conse-
quently carry matter of disease out of the body, that is,
substance which was foreign to the organism.
   Some  readers perhaps make exception  to the second
position, that all perspiration even with a healthy person is
offensive smelling.   That, however, is not the case until it
is allowed to dry up and putrify, instead of being washed
off in bathing;  in other words: it does not  have an offen-
sive odor  in the exudation, but it gets it afterwards by its
change to putridity.   It  is to  be remembered, moreover,
that I speak only of healthy and cleanly persons, and that
no one can be called  cleanly who does not daily wash his
whole  body, and that healthy persons are not to be found
in the old regime or mode of living and eating.   Whoever
at a reasonable  age has taken the water-cure until entirely
cured, and afterwards adheres  to the water diet, his  per-
spiration has no trace of a disagreeable odor.
   Also the viscidity of the perspiration is  a proof of its
containing morbid matter.  This is caused by the mucous
secretion, so that by this help the morbific matters may be
enveloped and transported.
   An argument similar to that given concerning the often-
sive perspirations may  also be  applied in  respect to the
flow of offensive-smelling and  corrosive saliva, as also in
respect to urine containing an abnormal and large  sedi-
ment.
   Every one acquainted with the water-cure knows  that
there is not a solitary instance of the cure of any chronic
or acute  disease without one  or  more  of those  critical
evacuations mentioned in  this book, and consequently not 
42
 without a proof, perceptible to the senses, of the existence
 of  material morbific  matters, which  cause  diseases.
 Generally,  however, there  are several  critical  pheno-
 mena, and  very often  with  chronic patients,  they  all,
 without exception, appear in the course of the  cure  one
 after the other.
   Very  often the various  evacuations in the water-cure
 have decidedly the taste and  smell of medicaments, which
 the  patients have long since  taken more than ten or
 twenty years ago.  In vomiting crises this has  often oc-
 curred in regard to the  taste ; in  regard  to the smell,
 these facts are realized  most frequently during the critical
 perspirations, sometimes also from  exanthems, from criti-
 cal flows  of urine, saliva,  and alvine evacuations.   It is
 here to be observed,  that when the patients have noticed
 these odors  arising from themselves, they have  also been
 noticed by  all  others about them,  so that there can be no
 matter of imagination in the question.   Particularly the
 servants and attendants in water-cure establishments  per-
 ceive this through their own observation, and make men-
 tion of it with astonishment.
  This has  occurred very frequently in my establishment,
 and  in general,  these  observations have  so often been
 made, that every one can convince  himself of  the truth
 of the same, if he questions  concerning them of persons
 who have taken  the water-cure under the care and direc-
 tion  of a competent water-doctor.   (Under incompetent,
 this can not, or at most but seldom,  be the case, because
 no crisis  appears where  the  water-treatment  is badly
 managed.)  If desired I can point out a great number of
suGh persons, and moreo'er, persons  of the  most unques*
tionable credibility. 
43
   Very often persons who have gone through a mercurial
treatment years before, have again, in the water-cure, been
salivated  anew, which saliva  tasted and smelled so de-
cidedly of mercury, that  not only the patients themselves
have distinctly observed it, but also others coming in con-
tact with  them, have noticed distinctly the  most marked
mercurial smell.   This  fact  proves  to an infallibility,
that the mercury had lain for long years as foreign matter
in  the body,  and that it was finally in the water-cure
driven out through  salivation, i. e. partly  through per-
spirations and exanthems,  partly  through  the  flow  of
saliva, for it is well known that we are  made sensible  of
every scent by the olfactory  nerves coming in contact
with the  minute  but material  particles of  the substance
smelled.
   It has  farthermore  occurred,  that by evaporating the
discharges from critical boils in the water-cure,  mercury
and  other  metallic poisons  have  been  in their chemical
nature brought to light and made visible.  In the various
hydriatic  writings are  found  recorded  numbers of such
'ike facts.
   Thus much then for the proof philosophic  and substan-
tiated by experience  of the existence of material  disease-
causing matters within  the body.   In  the course  of this
work I will show from a number of physiological grounds,
that these  morbific matters not only can exist, but also
must originate  and exist  under the false diet and false
mode of cure of the  old regime.
   If it be conceded that morbific  matters exist, and that
the water-cure, by means of various kinds  of crises re-
moves them from the body, then the truth  of the water.
cure system and the  falsity of the medical method of curf 
44
is thereby  made manifest and proved.  Accordingly,  the
mediciners dispute those facts with determination, and most
commonly with all kinds of ridicule and  irony.   To this
I here reply,  from the position  of the physicians them-
selves,  firstly, that before Haller the medical  theories
rested upon the basis of morbific disease-causing matters,
and that the most  celebrated  professors  of medicine of
that time taught this doctrine;  and secondly, that  for a
long time after Haller, and even in the most  recent times,
they have admitted not only the  so-called mercurial and
other medicinal diseases, but also that medicinal substances
remain in  the  body of  the patient.  I refer you, among
others,  to  Dr.  Kohn  and  Dr.  Kranichstaedten, in their
writings on hydropathy, and to Dr. Herr,  Professor in the
University at Freiburg.  The latter says  in  his " Theory
of the Operations and  Effects of Medicine,"  page  8:—
" Certain medicines, after having been  in  any  mannei
applied, are found deposited in the solid parts of the body.
Thus in such persons as  have taken  mercurial prepara-
tions, we find mercury  in the brain, muscles,  bones, &c.
Lead is found in  the  liver,  in  the muscles,  and spinal
marrow.   Copper  deposits itself likewise  in  the liver.
The incorporation  of madder  into osseous substance,  is
well known, and  likewise that  the nitrate  of silver dis-
colors the skin, and that various  bitter remedies commu-
nicate their taste to the flesh."   (Page  39  instances of
these positions  are  given.)  " It needs surely no  farther
demonstration,  that, if medicines deposit themselves in
the solid parts, they can  only attain to it  through tht
agency of the circulation of the blood."
  Sufficiently well-known and  established  facts  in vas<
pum' er could  here  b ■ ci:ed as proofs o*" the deposition of 
45
medicaments and poisons in the body ; among others, that
workers in mercury are so interspersed with this poison,
that a gold  piece  laid upon their tongue becomes white ;
that in the skeletons of old  syphilitic corpses after putre-
faction mercury  has  been found, &c.  The physicians
have treasured up all these  facts for us in their writings.
Accordingly,  it appears certain that  those physicians,
who in their conversations with the lay of the profession,
deny  the  deposition of medicaments and poisons  in  the
solid parts of  the  body, in  order to  dispute the  critical
evacuations of such stuffs in the water-cure, make them-
selves not so much guilty of the sin of ignorance, as much
rather of the sin of falsehood.
  Since, now, we have proved the existence of foreign mat-
ters in the  diseased body, it is still necessary to observe,
that in the course of this work it will be  shown,  that  the
foreign matters in the body are not the effects, but  the
causes of diseases, 
                     I,
       PROOFS  FOR  THE TRUTH  OF
          CLASSIFYING DISEASES INTO

HEALING AND DESTROYING DISEASES.
The existence of destroying  diseases (chronic diseases,
needs not to be proved.  Accordingly in this section we
have only to do with the healing diseases (primary-acute
diseases).
  In the first place we borrow again a proof for the cura
tive character of the primary diseases from the principle
of optimism in philosophy.
  We have  above shown, that the  causes of diseases al-
ready for this reason must be material, because that man
with the help of his instinct can avoid material causes of
disease, dynamic causes, however, not at all.  When, how-
ever, despite the warnings of  instinct, man takes into his
body, through perverted diet and method of cure, matters
of disease,  then the human organism shows  itself more
perfect  in its construction, if it at  least has the relative
capability of making the attempt to remove such like
matters through abnormal  energy and activity (through
normal  only it is  not possible, of that see farther on), 
47
since without  this endeavor and without this capability it
would be immediately destroyed  by such like matters,
either speedily by the poisonings of the villain, or  slowly
by  medicinal.   Consequently,  the existence  of  healing
diseases may be denominated a postulate of reason, since
they do not contradict the laws of physiology, but agree with
them (particularly with the function of secretion).   Still 1
lay no great stress upon this  proof,  for this reason, that the
construction of man in regard to diseases has already the
impress of  a perfectly healthy one, since the  Creator
planted in him an instinct against such things as would
cause disease, and for such as cure and radically heal.
  If the medical method  of cure were  the true method,
then  we have implanted  in man by the Creator an aver-
sion to  that which is  necessary to his  cure,  namely, to
medicine ; then the creation of man is a creation entirely
contrary to sense, and I, for my part, should suppose, that
not the omnipotent God, but some very learned medicinal
professor, or at least a  Dr. Med., promotus, had prepared
the human race.
  In the second place we will notice several facts as proofs
of the existence  of healing  diseases,  i.  e. of the  healing
character of the primary  or acute diseases.
  The most proper form  of a healing disease is the pure,
strong, decisive inflammation.
  Experience  teaches  us, that none but robust  persons
get the real and  severe  inflammatory diseases, and that
persons of very weak and shattered constitutions,  particu-
larly those  with weak nerves, get no  inflammatory  dis-
eases :  also  'mnkards,  when  their  health has  become
ruined  and th; " nerves shattered, get no  inflammatory
diseases; pregna t fema es  are  less subject to those dis- 
48
eases than those not pregnant, having otherwise like consti-
tutions.  Well observe I speak here of acute inflamma-
tion, i. e.  inflammation coming on with violent symptoms,
promptly determining itself.
  These statements are by no means disputed, and  are
well known to all  physicians as well as to every observer
of diseases.
  From these facts alone it follows with great probability,
that the inflammatory diseases are healing diseases.   But
still more decisive proofs of the healing character of these
diseases have been afforded us by the results of the water-
cure.
  (1) In the water-cure treatment the inflammatory dis-
eases are of all others the most promptly ar.d surely cured,
and in the shortest time give immense critical evacuations
of morbific matters.
  (2) The secondary (chronic) diseases in the water-cure
pass through the following  stadia :
  (a) When a patient, with an active skin-system with
strong  nerves  and  digestive  organs,  consequently with
strong  constitution, enters upon  the water-cure, havirjg a
short time  previously (he can then still be strong) taken
inwardly  much disease-producing matter, viz. medicinal
poisons:  such a patient gets very soon some form of in-
flammatory  disease, and  by means thereof he drives  out
these  morbific  matters  in  exanthems, sweats, and  other
evacuations, plainly perceptible to the senses.
  (J) When a patient, having already a very weakened
and shattered  constitution,  pale, emaciated, or diseasedly
bloated, enters upon the water-cure, he  requires first a
long time for the strengthening of the whole organism, for
the growth of firm flesh and healthy complexion, before 
49
inflammatory symptoms appear, which thus take the same
course as capitulated under a ; and end in the elimination
of perceptible morbific matters.
   In a word, it is a truth  established by many thousand
cases, that chronic  diseases are very  seldom cured  other-
wise than by their conversion into acute, which then, with
the he.p of the water,  are followed by perceptible evacu-
ations of the morbific matters in boils, eruptions, perspira-
tions, diarrhoeas, &c.  (In water-cure establishments we
generally call not  only the act of elimination a crisis, but
also denote thereby at  the same time the  abnormal excita-
tion of the body, which precedes  the  discharge itself, and
which almost always is attended with fever, usually with
pains and  inflammatory symptoms.)
   From the facts presented  the conclusion is satisfactory,
that the primary or acute diseases  are  radical curative
endeavors of the organism, and accordingly from their in-
most nature deserve the name of healing diseases.
                3 
               K,
      WHAT IS POISON ?

WHAT  IS  MEDICINE?
  Observations.—1.  When in this work absolute poison
is mentioned, such substance is thereby intended, as, in-
troduced into the stomach  (not in the veins) in certain
quantity, is fatal to life.
  2. When medicine is  mentioned in  this work without
farther  epithet, then allopathic medicine  is always  in-
tended.

                   THE SUBJECT.

  The word poison may be used  in a broad or limited
sense ;  in the first  it means things in general, that  are
deleterious to man's health ;  in the second, those things
only which speedily produce  death.   The  word poison
may be employed in the figurative or in the strict literal
sense ;  in the first it signifies the pernicious and fatal in-
fluences of the external world upon man, whatever may be
their manner of operation, whether the chemical, the phy-
sical, the mechanical,  or the  moral.   We  take  in  our
treatise  the word poison a/ways in the strict literal sense, 
51
 which regards  purely the  chemical operation of a sub-
 stance on  the human body.  When we  understand  me-
 chanical or  dynamic  poisons, we will always attach the
 corresponding epithet to the word.
   Poison, in  the strict sense of the word, or strong poison,
 is a substance, which, taken in the human stomach  in  a
 suitable quantity, is fatal to the life of every person without
 distinction, if this substance be not again ejected by vomit-
 ing  immediately.   We must set some limit to  the  term
 " suitable quantity," which may be variously selected.  The
 most natural measure for " suitable quantity " appears  at
 first sight to be such a quantity as is equal  to an ordinary
 meal.   However, with all stronger poisons it is an absolute
 impossibility to take such a quantity into the stomach, and
 consequently we will  take the second natural  measure,
 namely, the quantity of one ordinary  mouthful, and say,
 poison in  the strict  sense  of the word  is a substance,
 which taken  into the stomach, to  the quantity of an ordi-
 nary mouthful, causes death to every person without dis-
 tinction, if it is  not removed  again by vomiting.   It  is
 evident, that for the  attainment  of a  more determinate
 boundary between poison in the stricter and broader sense,
 a fixed weight should be substituted fcv mouthful, which
 we here omit, because  here the result of the demarcation
 is by no means of impctance, but simply the demonstration
of the demarcation.
  Poison, in the broaaer sense of  the  word, or the class
of milder poisons, is a substance, which, by its chemical
effect on any person, even the healthiest, produces decided
marks of disease, if  the substance be  taken in the quan-
tity of an ordinary meal.
  The above  given explanations  relate to the  absolute 
j2
poisons, and in this work we  understand by poison, with-
out farther epithet, always that which  is  for man abso-
lutely poisonous.
   What is called relative  poison, i. e.  substances  which
are wholesome to the  healthy, but  partly through chemi-
cal effect, partly from  the  quantity thereof,  or  quantita-
tive effect, are deleterious to  sick  and weak persons, and
even  fatal, that belongs not in the least  here, and must be
entirely excluded from the elucidation of absolute poison.
   That, which  to  man is  absolutely poisonous, is again
relatively poisonous to other classes of organisms.
   In  regard  to  the  entire creation there  is  no absolute
poison, but in regard to every individual species, and e. g.
in regard to the human race, there is a mass of absolute
poisons, and we treat here of men only.
   Whoever,  in  the definition of poisons,  in the broader
sense of the word, or  the  milder class  of poisons, given
by me, will accuse it of vacancy and falsity of illustration,
because there is no marked boundary given  between poison
and non-poison, to  him  I  reply two-fold, viz.  in the  first
place,  I repeat, that a determined absolute measure or
weight could be easily substituted for the relative measure
of an ordinary meal, that then  the  demarcation  would be
stricter, that here we  are not in  the least concerned vith
the results of the demarcation, but only with the denrr.n-
stration of it.   In  the second  place, I  reply to suc\. en
one that important and undisputed word often spoken by
me, that nowhere in nature and  in objective truth <M«; (a
be  found marked limits between  different  specie  and
different classes, and consequently in  the reality, thei'j
are no species  and  classes in tho strict  sense of thesj
words. 
53
  1* is not possible between poison and non-poison to draw
a sharp and ever  determinate  boundary  taken from na-
ture,  but  only a  conventional boundary.   It is just  as
little possible  to draw anywhere else in  nature a sharp
and  true  line of  demarcation, e. g.  between trees and
shrubbery.  If, therefore, any one says there is no poison,
because there  is no sharp boundary line between  poison
and non-poison, he must necessarily also  say, there are
no trees, because  there is no  fixed boundary between a
tree and sapling;  he must also say, there  is no black and
no white race  of men, because there  is no  sharply marked
boundary  between both races ;  he must even say there is
nothing,  because  nowhere  in  nature are there sharply
marked limitations.
  As between all  species there are unobservable  transi-
tions and  connecting links, so  also between poison and
non-poison there must be a copula, a point of indifference,
and this intermediate substance  must under certain circum-
stances, be pernicious, under others, uninjurious and even
wholesome.    In regard to man, table salt and spices con-
stitute these transition substances ; namely, unmixed with
other things these  spices are injurious, mixed with certain
articles of food, they are at least not so in all countries.
  The mixture of salt and of  spices with articles of food
leads us to the chapter upon the mixture  of relative poi-
sons with  other articles, and to  the question of their inju-
riousness  in the  mixture.  The answer  to this  can be
easily and  definitely given, viz.  that substance,  which
taken unmixed and pure, produces symptoms of disease, is
then uninjurious in its mixture  with other  articles of food,
if its taste in  the mixture is plainly perceptible, and stiil
to a healthy man  agreeable.   (By healthy men, I under- 
54
 stand only such, from whose diet all artificial, all poison-
 ous, and all  imported stimulants from foreign zones, are
 excluded.)   If we add this elucidation to the above-given
 definition of poisons, we have found in it a demarcation,
 which  also  allots  to  the  transition substances, salt  and
 spices, their appointed place.
   The next question  in  the  determination  of the, term
 " poison " is, whether those substances, which in a  speci-
 fied quantity produce partly speedy death, partly speedilv
 ensuing symptoms of disease, also still absolutely produce
 pernicious  effects,  and consequently  still  then  remain
 absolute poison, when they are taken in smaller quantity.
 Logic,  as well as physiology, reply in the  affirmative.
 But before we  proceed, we must observe that this question
 has led us imperceptibly into the  territory of medicine,
 and that  before  replying  to  the same with logical  and
 physiological reasons, we must give the  definition of the
 term " medicine."
   What is  medicine ?  The word  medicine, or medica-
 ment, signifies, in its literal  translation, a means  of cure
 for diseases.   In this broad and original sense we  do not
 accept the word here, as also in general it is no more used
 in such a sense : e. g. no one calls the sympathetic method
 of treatment a medical method, and one  calls the sympa-
 thist a mediciner.   The word has only retained this broad
 signification  in  figurative  language, which,  however, is
 excluded from our treatise.
  The  words " medicine" and  " medicament,"  in  the
 limited  and modern sense,  are  these articles, the trade in,
 and preparation of, which, are the peculiar privilege of the
apothecaries, comprising all the various -kind  of poisons,
or by far the greater part.   There is not a solitary poison 
55
but what is  administered by physicians  as  a means of
cure for disease, and that with  the  permission of govern-
ment.  Thus I am legally in my good right  when  I  call
medicine poison, and I will  now show that in this expres-
sion I am also in physiological  right.
  Since I, in my hydriatic writings, have  with determina-
tion upbraided  the  physicians with the use of poison and
of poisoning their patients (I mean  of course, a poisoning
through error not  from intention), they seek, through all
kinds of  excuses and justifications,  to convince the people
of the untruth of the accusation; are, however, very un-
fortunate  in  their logic, and take  good care not  to come
out publicly in print with such  pretended  rectifications of
my writings and views, to which  I  have  invited  the gen-
tlemen as urgently as courteously.
  The first excuse of the mediciners consists in the asser-
tion that  there is nowhere poison ; anything might become
poisonous under certain circumstances, to individual  per-
sons.   This  latter is perfectly true with the  relative  poi-
sons in regard to the human race;  but it is perfectly false
with the  absolute poisons, of which  I have just shown that
the definition and determination thereof may be settled in
Hire manner  as with all other terms.  In this proof I have
limited myself to  the  introduction solely of poisons  into
the stomach ; it needs scarcely be  said, that we could
just as well and in like manner, with the introduction of
various stuffs through the skin, or a wound into the circu-
lation, set a determined measure or  weight, which  is
sufficient to destroy any human being, as a definitive mark
for the term poison.  Thus, therefore, is the excuse of the
physicians foiled, viz. that there is no decided poison, and
that every article may become  a poison to the health of 
56
individual persons, thus making the absolute poisons rela-
tive, and the relative poisons absolute at their pleasure.
  The second article of justification of the physicians con-
sists in the assertion that the quantity only of any sub-
stance makes it a poison, and that the same substance is
poison when used  in  great quantity,  but  by no  means
poison, but a means of health, i. e. a means of cure, when
taken in smaller quantities.
  First, a word against the logical falsity and impossibility
of this  assertion.  If a  substance, which  in a  certain
quantity produces death, be  given  in a smalle " quantity,
then every a. priori conclusion, according to  the  laws of
logic, must come to this determination, that this substance
in a less quantity exerts a  less powerful effect, accord-
ingly, causes slow death.  All analogies from the sciences
of chemistry and physiology speak in  the  most decided
terms for this, my conclusion, and against that of the medi-
ciners.  In the kingdoms of chemistry and physiology  the
law obtains that by reduction of the  quantity of the matter,
first, the disposition thereof remains the same, and second,
the  chemical effect is, in like ratio, diminished;  but this
chemical effect always continues to be a corresponding and
never  a contrary-disposed effect.  We may, therefore,
with a full right pronounce the assertion that  the chemical
effect of smaller doses  of poison is  a  contrary one  to  the
chemical effect of larger doses of the same,  a physiologi-
cal  and chemical untruth, because this  assertion contra-
dicts all known laws of physiology and chemistry.   This
assertion lacks every  foundation, even the  shadow of a
foundation, and is purely extracted  from air.
  Directly below we will take up and disprove this assertion
from specially  physiological  grounds, and first make  the 
57
observation  that, premising the truth of this false princi-
ple, it ought necessarily to be verified by the instinct  of
man and  beast; but experience  teaches the contrary,
namely, that the instinct of man as well as of beast exhibits
the most utter abhorrence to these small doses of poison,
which  do not cause  instantaneous death,  and which are
administered by the physicians as intended means of cure,
which abhorrence deters them from taking such remedies.
(Hereafter I will show that the admonitions  of instinct of
a pure man of  nature, not only are unerring,  but are ab-
solutely necessary to the continuation and propagation of
our race upon the earth.)
   We  arrive at  a  physiological  disproval of the above-
mentioned assertion of the physicians, when we show the
physiological laws and  processes through which poisons
exert their destroying power on the animal, and particu-
larly on the human, organism.
   The human  body is indeed no chemically simple body,
but it is, when in a state of health, a physiologically simple
body, i. e. there should be, when it is healthy, no matter in
it, which offers resistance to its power of appropriation, and
thence becomes foreign matter, and throws  hindrances in
the way of the exercise of the physiological functions of
the organism.   Everything,  which in proper fineness and
respective fluidity is introduced into the stomach, or for a
length of time kept in contact with the skin, or a wounded
part, is incorporated either  partially or wholly into part
and parcel of the body, and  is carried,  through the circu-
lation of the blood, into  all, even the  deepest and remotest,
parts of the human body.
   There is no  substance which, introduced  into the body
through  an incision in a large or  small  vein, can  be
                       3* 
                          58

assimilated by the organic power of that body.  Every
substance, therefore, which in such manner gets into the
body  is foreign to the same.   The veins have no organs
of assimilation.
  With the human skin it is otherwise ; that organ is ca-
pable of digesting two  substances, viz. air and water,—
but all else that gets in  the body through absorption of the
skin,  cannot  be  assimilated  by  the  skin,  and is conse-
quently foreign and deleterious to the  constitution.
  The  strongest and most comprehensive digestive and
assimilating power resides in  the  stomach and intestines,
and for  this reason these organs have  been called exclu-
sively the digestive organs.
  From the specified construction of the veins, it follows
that all whatsoever is directly introduced into them through
an opening in them, is poison to the human body, at least
in the broader sense of the word.
  From the constitution of the human skin it follows that
with the exception of air  and water, all fluid or half fluid
substances, kept for  a  length of time in contact with it,
are poison  to  the human  body, either in  the  broader or
stricter  sense of the word.  I mention  this particularly,
for  this  reason,  to  prevent  the objection urged by the
doctors  against  my exposition,  inasmuch  as they might
say that water also could  become  a poison, if  it were in-
troduced into a vein.   In the e ucidation of absolute poi-
son,   the argument  can  only concern  those  substances
which introduced into the stomach have a fatal and sick-
ening effect.   Hence, the objection taken from those  sub-
stances, which introduced immediately into the veins are
absolutely pernicious, is one  that of itself falls to pieces
and originates in a men.al confusion. 
59
   What substances can the healthy stomach digest ?
   The only infallible and all-comprising answer that can
 here be given, is taken from the intimations  of instinct,
 and purports thus : all  those things for which the healthy
 unpoisoned palate has appetite.  This answer is absolutely
 infallible,  and proves  the injuriousness  of all medica-
 ments.
   Do  we inquire as to the chemical nature of those  sub-
 stances,  which agree with or  cause disgust to the  human
 palate, we can  give no  other answer so unerring and
 exclusive.
   Hdwever, there are three conditions, that determine the
 digestibility of substances as far as  the  animal man is
 concerned.
   First,  These substances must not be spoiled, i. e. have
 become putrid.   When they  are  so, and  are  still eaten,
 they pass as putrid juices into  the  body,  and are  conse-
 quently foreign and injurious matter.
   Second,  These substances must  be of such  a  nature
 that they can  be readily dissolved into  infinitely minute
 particles by the gastric juice diluted with  water.   Conse-
 quently,  all substances  that resist this dissolution,  as for
 instance  stones, earths,  and metals, are indigestible.
   Third, The digestible substances  must be less acid and
 weaker than the  gastric juice of the  consumer, because
 in entire nature the law prevails that the stronger vitality
 overpowers and appropriates the weaker.  This law is of
 exceeding  great  importance, and  in  consequence  of this
 law the digestive juice  of man must possess a very high
degree of sharpness,  if he is to have the capability of di-
gesting a vast  number of various substances.   This sharp-
ness of the digestive juice is  produced  partly by the 
60
 secretions if \he glands  of the stomach  itself, still more,
 however,  by  the  bile discharged  into  the  duodenum.
 Man should, therefore., eat nothing that is sharper than the
 digestive juice, and  instinct  directs man in this  respect
 with perfect safety, since all  uncorrupted nerves of taste
 experience from such sharper substances a very disagree-
 able burning and stinging sensations.
   The first class  of  indigestible  substances  forms the
 kitermediate  link  between poison and  non-poison,  and
 consists consequently of relative poisons.
   The second class consists of absolute poisons, and com-
 prises partly those  poisons which toxicology denominates
 astringent  poisons,  partly  somewhat  of those  that are
 called  mechanical poisons, and operate mostly through
 constipation of the  small vessels.
   The third, by far the most important and  dangerous
'class of poisons, consists of those by the toxicology classed
 under the head of " corrosive " and " narcotic " poisons,
 and they operate fatally through their corrosive and nar-
 cotic power, against which the organism  reacts with mu-
 cous secretions, and accumulations of blood (inflammation),
   The most deadly poisons  of the corrosive  and narcotic
 class are administered by the  physicians  as  remedies for
 all violent symptoms  of disease, which  for the  most part
 are  of primary, sometimes  also  of secondary nature, as
 for instance, violent cramps belong to the severe second-
 ary  symptoms of diseases.   The  corrosive poisons are
 not  administered  by  physicians  in cases  of lingering
 atonic disease, but  only narcotic poisons  in  dilutions and
 weak  preparations, in  opposition to which  the narcotic
 poisons,  when admin'stered  for  violent  symptoms,  are 
01
given in an undiluted, mostly concentrated and sublimated
form.
  The corrosive  and narcotic poisons form the  drastic
medicaments; all these poisons, when  not  in a manner
diluted, as indeed the homoeopaths prepare them, but the
allopaths never, have a much sharper substance than the
gastric juice ; con,*equently, their digestion, even in the
smallest allopathic doses, is an impossibility ; consequent-
ly, absolute poison never ceases, through smallness of the
dose, to be poison, can never be a means of cure, because
it can never  be digested.
  Absolute  poison  loses,  through smallness of the allo-
pathic doses,  none of its disgusting  and horrible taste to
the palate, it is thus marked as poison by the instinct as
much as by the laws of physiology,  and by experimental
chemistry.
  The physicians,  who, for the vindication of their pro-
fession and to parry my-attacks, would much too willingly
declare the  poisons administered  by themselves for non-
poisons, and  maintain  that  a substance  is poison only
according to  its quantity, allege the inverted  argument,
that wholesome substances taken to  excess, may also be-
com< poison.  To this I reply : first, The unconditional
inversion of a position is well known to be  logically unal-
lowable, and is therefore a logic blunder, which bears on
its face the stamp of falseness.
  Second,  Substances in themselves wholesome, exert,
through their excess, an injurious effect  upon healthy per-
sons not chemically but  mechanically, through  too violent
distension,  and consequently succeeding relaxation of the
over-burdened organs.  Therefore, these substances, taken
to excess, belong not to the chemical but to the mechanical 
62
poisons,  and thus this whole pretence of the physicians
rests upon a change of the signature of classification, and
arises from a mental confusion, and is entirely false.
   Third, Substances of themselves wholesome and diffi-
cult of  digestion,  may become injurious through their
chemical effect  upon diseased digestive organs, because
the organs are  not  possessed of normal strength ; there-
fore, these substances may be to them relative poisons:  in
this chapter, however,  we  are not  speaking of  relative
poisons,  as oft  observed,  but of absolute poisons; thus
this objection  rests also  upon  a  confusion  of ideas.
Granted, however, that this is not  the case, then  this ob-
jection still neither says nor proves anything in favor of
the false position, namely, that poisonous substances, fron,
minuteness of the dose, lose  their poisonous qualities, and
assume a contrary quality, and become curative remedies
for mankind.  It is very clearly evident, that substances
difficult of digestion, for which the  whole strength of &
healthy stomach is requisite,  cannot be digested by a weak
and diseased stomach, and, therefore, may be relative poi-
son to the possessor of the  diseased stomach.  But the
inversion of this argument,  namely, that  substances or
poisons, which the healthy person  cannot digest, the sick
person shall be able to  digest, and that such substances
may become true remedies, is a logical and  physiological
untruth.
   From  the foregoing  results of this treatise on poison
the correctness of the definition given by me proves itself;
every substance that passes from the stomach and bowels
into the  human  body without  being  digested, is  at least
relative  poison;  every  substance,  however,  that  is by
nran absolute!}' indigestible,  is absolute poison. 
03
  In this definition we have  the  rationale of the
in which poisons exert their evil effect upon  the organism,
viz. in this wise, that they remain as foreign matter in the
organism.
  Since that, in the foregoing, I have proved the existence
of absolute poisons, and that substances do  not lose their
poisonous effects  through diminution of the dose, I must
say a few words upon the mixture  and the combination
of poisons.
  (1)  Mixture  of poisons.—In this  question, whether, in
the strong mixture  of poisonous substances with whole-
some, the poisonous  lose their deleterious effect, and, con-
sequently are divested of their poison, Homoeopathy only
can come under consideration, since Allopathy never ad-
mixes its  poisons to such  a  degree, that they lose their
poisonous effect, which can be proved  by chemical tests,
as well as by the taste which they bear;  also, it is by
no means the purpose of allopathy to reduce  their  medi-
cinal poisons so considerably by dilution, as to cause them
to lose their natural and  chemical effect;  it aims rather
to increase these effects by sublimation  and  concentration.
   Homoeopathy,  on  the  contrary, dilutes its medicines to
such a degree, that  neither  the art of chemistry, nor  the
nerves of taste, can  discover  any of the original  poison-
ous  effects of the  administered  medicaments.  For this
purpose it makes use of water, and that is the only sub-
stance which, by its very copious admixture, can perhaps
deprive poison of all  its pernicious influences,  and ce
tainly removes these effects, in  so  far that  they are
more perceptible, either to the senses or the chemical
   For my part, I do not venture to decide upon it, whet
the  absolute abstraction of the strength  of the poisons 
64
effected by such dilution ;  if such  a possibility exist, it is
thus rendered possible only by admixture with water, and
the least so, by  admixture with solid  substances.   One
thing, however, is  certain, viz. that such an  abstraction
of the poison,  through the agency of  water,  is possible
only when the  uncorrupted palate  can  no more  perceive
the most remote  taste of the  poison in  the  commixture.
In the homoeopathic doses  after the decillionth  dilution,
the slightest  taste of the  poison is no more perceptible,
and consequently, I believe that such doses are absolutely
divested of their poisonous influences en the human body,
and for this reason have  always had  the most profound
respect for this method of cure, in comparison with the
allopathic, and  looked upon it  as a  blessing to the human
race.
  After having refuted all  the arguments that have as yet
come  to my hearing, adduced  by physicians, against my
complaint,  that they treat with  poison  and  poison  their
patients, I must, in conclusion, say  a word
  (2) Concerning the combination of poisons, because from
that source also, the physicians  have endeavored a vindi-
cation of cure with poisons.
  A poison, combined with a  non-poisonous  body or sub-
stance, is such  an one as  can be obtained or freed  from
the combination only by a  chemical transformation of the
substance with  which it is combined.  The combined  poi-
sons are  free from all effective poisonous power or influ-
ence, and hence receive their name, because their powers are
bound up.  Accordingly, poison combined or bound up, is
to the human  organism  decidedly a  non-poison, since
neither the nerves of taste  are capable of detecting it, nor
the other organs experience any evil effect therefrom.   In 
35
my opinion,  the  expression  " combined  poison " is one
very unhappily selected, and originated in chemical error.
Combined poison  is not  at  all present as poison in the
combination,  but in the combination  substances are present,
which, by means of chemical processes, can be converted into
poisons.   Thus, for instance, Prussian blue can be un-
bound or fabricated from the  human blood through chemi-
cal processes (however, in exceedingly small quantity),
from most fruits by fermentation and distillation, alcohol,
from the basis of water and air (viz.  from hydrogen, ni-
trogen, and oxygen), several powerful poisons.  In  these
substances themselves there is not the least poison present,
but only constituents that can be converted into poison.
   When, therefore, physicians adduce  arguments in be-
half cf  their  method of cure with free poisons from this
subject of combined poisons, there lies, also,  again at the
bottom of it,  a perversion  of terms, which no one should
make himself guilty of, who has studied chemistry.
   From the presence of combined  poison  in the blood, in
elements,  &c, the physicians could only justify a  treat-
ment with combined poisons, i. e. with substances without
any effect.   But it is notorious that the physicians  admi-
nister their poisons in a free  uncombined state only.
   As the mechanical poisons, to which belong pieces of
glass, points of needles, and  the like, are excluded from
this chapter on chemical poisons, I was obliged, in accord-
ance with my pathology, to exclude the contagious) poisons
also, because they,  as will be  shown hereafter,  belong,
likewise, to the class of mechanical poisons.   These con-
tagious  poisons consist, as I shall show in the  proper  place,
of small invisible  animalculoe, mostly  mites (as in the
itch), wnich  increase  by  propagation  and engender the 
06
symptoms of disease,  the  contagious  boils and eruptions
by their eating and gnawing.
  Now, I think all false arguments, by which physicians
endeavor to deny their use of poison, have been refuted and
exhibited in  their entire falsity.  Should such arguments
of more recent invention come to  my knowledge,  I  will
not fail to subject them to criticism. 
                        L


OF  THE  EFFECTS  OF  COLD WATER

    UPON THE HUMAN ORGANISM  IN GENERAL.



  Preliminary Remarks.—The word cold, as  it apper-
tains to water in its general  relation to man, comprises a
scale of many various degrees.  It cannot be much colder
than 32° Fah., because at that point it becomes ice ;  as-
cending on the  scale, it must, in  regard to the human
body, be called  cold in common parlance, so long as it
does not reach the blood-warmth, i. e. 100° Fah., in con-
tradiction to  which, it becomes warm water as soon as it
exceeds 100° Fah.
  In the water-cure system,  however, we stand in need
of designations for smaller divisions of the scale.  Water,
warmer than 77° Fah. is never employed according to the
system of Vincent Priessnitz.  We  will call  all  water
under 55° Fah.  cold ; all water  between 55° and 77°
Fah. tepid, and &V water above 100° warm,

                    SUBJECT.

  In investigations upon the effects of water under 77°
Fah. there come consequently into consideration, first, the 
68
degree of cold, and  second, the chemical  composition of
the water.
  (7) At  a very low temperature  and by  long  continu-
ance it has a fatal effect upon the human organism by
the merely absolute abstraction of warmth.  At a more
moderate temperature and  in shorter duration, it  effects a
partial abstraction of warmth, which is again restored to
a proper balance  by the organism conducting blood to the
refrigerated part.  An  abnormally strong  determination
of blood to this part is necessary to the restoration of this
balance.
  The first effect of the cold is, therefore, repulsion of the
blood from the part of the body subjected thereto, the  con-
tra-operation of the  organism is increase  of heat  in the
refrigerated part; this contra-operation is often called the
after-effect of the  cold.
  If one subjects  any one part much oftener than the rest
of the body to a short exposure  to  cold, the  current
of the blood must by degrees be directed to this part more
especially, and become accustomed'to the direction.   The
part or organ thus affected must be well nourished  and
warmed by the thus increased  to  and fro current of the
blood.   For the  law holds good, that the contra-effect or
reaction always far exceeds in duration the first  effect of
a short application of cold, and  exceeds it also in energy,
if the organism be  vigorous.   Moreover, with  persons of
strong nerves the reaction  is so much the more energetic
the greater the  difference of temperature between the
body  and   the  cold, and the more  sudden  the transition
from warm to cold.
  Hence it follows,  that in cold we have in our power a
means  to the voluntary regulation of the  circulation of the 
69
flood, and thai wliere  the cold is most  applied, thdher also
the energies of the organism, blood and heat, betake themselves
the most.
  But the reaction against the cold of the air is in propor-
tion to the action thereof, much slighter than the reaction
against the cold  of the water, because  water from its con-
stituent  parts exercises a much more decomposing action
jpon the skin than  the air does, and hence a higher reac-
lion, and more increased press of blood must be produced
in the part cooled with water, than in  the part cooled by
the  air.
  Delicate persons, and those inclined to rheumatism, can-
not  for this reason be hardened by the cold of the air alone,
but only in conjunction with  the  cold of water.   Persons
with shattered nerves cannot endure any considerable de-
gree of cold, and  on this account  water much less cold
must  be used by them,  than by  healthy persons.   Air,
water, and cold, are called  in the favorite words of the
doctors stimulating remedies  ; here these words are indeed
used in  a right  application, but in a measure drawn from
the surface, since in them the process of stimulation is not
at the same time expressed ;  the words: means of produc-
ing reaction would be at all events words of clearer signifi-
cation.   But we will here let the expression stimulating
remedies remain.
  If the stimulating remedies are to answer the  purpose
of strengthening permanently  individual  organs or parts
of the body, they must introduce nothing into  the  body,
that is  incapable  of being assimilated, and therefore al-
ways burden the  organ  upon which  they are  directed
more and more, instead of relieving it, and  at length ruin
it completely.   Daily experience proves this to  satisfac- 
70
tion,  and physiology explains  the  p^-enomenon  in the
clearest  manner.  For  when the parts of the body, that
are to be strengthened,  are gradually burdened more and
more with  such substances,  as  they cannot  convert inta
their own kind, and which are settled in them as  foreign
and  forsooth as acrid and therefore inimical  matters, a
disturbance  of the  circulation of the blood, and a still
greater disturbance of the secretions is thereby induced.
Alcohol  is one of the chief stimulants of the physicians;
this acknowledged poison is absolutely indigestible, is ab-
solutely foreign to the chemical nature of the human body,
and gradually ruins  the organ into which it is introduced
entirely  by its  sharp  poisonous energy.    By washing
weak parts of the body with  spirits,  by the application of
French brandy, especially to  the eyes, in short by  the use
of all remedies  containing  alcohol, the organs  treated
therewith become gradually more and more weakened.
  The invigoration of the general organism is alone possi-
ble by the expulsion of morbific matter, and by wholesome
nutrition.
  The invigoration of an individual organ, i. e. the ele
vation of it  above other organs, or an alteration of the
proportion which the organs bear  to one another,  is only
possible  through the  use of remedies which produce re
action, and since all medicinal stimulants, as above shown,
event in  time in the poisoning and depression of the organ
stimulated by them,  an  alteration in the proportion of the
strength  of the functions and organs to one another is only
possible by means of  the stimulants of nature, air, water,
and  the more or less cold combined therewith.
  (2) The  chemical constitution of water in reference  to
its power of operation unon the human organism  has al- 
"1
ready been considered in the sections  A. and B. in t fceir
main points of interest, and consequently but few words
upon the subject will be here required.
   Water is  the only dissolvent in nature, as many physi-
cians, to wit, Hufeland in his Makrobiotique, have admit-
ted.   Water is, moreover, the only liquid in nature capa-
ble of flowing in drops—all such other liquids consist of
water and of more or less minute solid particles.   These
other liquids  have therefore the general dissolvent power
in less degree than water, because  in the first place the
best  part of  this solvent power  is already exhausted upon
the solid particles therein dissolved, and because  in the
second place  these solid particles are of themselves obsta-
cles  to the solution of other substances, and  obstacles  to
the penetration of the fluid into the most minute  spaces
and interstices.
   In the foregoing  we have seen, that  the  human body
unceasingly excretes the refuse matter of its own essence,
and requires  to be supplied with  fresh substance  for its
support  by means  of assimilation.   Both  functions can
proceed in a normal  and perfect manner only by inward
and outward use of water.
   The nutrition of the body is aided in a double manner
by water, viz. first because the chyle is promptly and per-
fectly dissolved into its  minutest particles by  the water
taken into the stomach, which is necessary to its  absorp-
tion  in  the  ileum and  jejunum.  Second,  oxygen  gas,
which is requisite to the formation of solid  matter frcm
the blood, the last act of nutrition, is offered  to all, even
the smallest  and most remote parts of the  body, by the
water taken into  the stomach, which  is always absorbed
by the above named intestines, and  ius, before it passes 
72
off, makes its  vay  througn the veins and  through the
heart; oxygen gas is, indeed, taken  in  the blood in part
through the process of respiration, but it must be also in
part drawn from the water, which is  drunk, as in the case
of diseases, when frequently an abnormal quantity of oxy-
gen is demanded in certain parts of  the  body  for the pu~
pure of cure.
   (b) Water is also just as indispensable to the excretory
functions.  By virtue of its pure fluidity it penetrates the
whole body, and by virtue of the hydrogen it contains, it
is  the means by which the organism  converts solid matter
into liquid, and thus makes it capable of excretion.
   Therefore water, by virtue of its  chemical constituent
parts, affords the best means for the nutrition of the body,
and for replacing waste matter, and  all substance which
may be wanting in its individual organs, and it affords the
only medium  for the removal  of matters burdensome to
the body, whether they be solid or fluid.  When it is taken
into consideration, that cold water is the best means for the
correction of the circulation, and of the disturbed balance
among the individual functions  and organs,—we are com-
pelled to draw thence the indubitable conclusion, that wa-
ter is the most important and most worthy of regard of all
curative means.  The other means of cure are fresh air,
exercise, wholesome nourishment, and healthy occupation ;
without being combined with these  other assistant reme-
dies, water can effect nothing ;  but if the organic strength
of the person is insufficient, then aii together are useless. 
     THE PRIMARY OR  HEALING DISEASES.



                          i.

 THE MANNER IN  WHICH PRIMARY DISEASES  IN
                  GENERAL ARISE.

The human  body exists under an unceasing labor of
excretion and  fresh formation of humor, flesh, and bony
substance.  In the course of several years the body of a
healthy person is so completely renovated, that of its whole
substance, even to the  minutest atom,  nothing of the old
is any more present.   Physiologists differ very widely as
to  the length of time  required  for complete renovation,
variously assuming it from two to seven years.
  As the body does not possess  the capability of holding
itself at rest in one and the  same state, but is under the
necessity of constant renewal and excretion of waste mat-
ter ; the  conditions  for the appeasement of these wants
must be guaranteed to it.  Adequate aliment is necessary
to the renovation of the body, and  to the normal  undis-
turbed  healthy  excretion  of waste  matter  daily  contact
with air and water is  indispensable, in order that these
elements may exercise their dissolvent power on the skin,
                  4 
74
and absorb from the body through  the  pores  that which
must be removed from it, if it is not to become buFdened
with stagnant matter and thus sicken.
  When the conditions of health are for a length of time
vouchsafed only imperfectly and partially to the  body,  it
loses gradually the normal energy of all its functions.  If,
then, while in such a state, the general tone of the system
being thus depressed, an  extraordinary attack from a*iy
side whatsoever be directed against the body or one of ite
organs, it cannot otherwise react and defend itself, than by
an extraordinary abnormally heightened exertion  of its
powers, that is, by some primary disease.
  There are but two kinds of diseases to which the healthy
person in the air and water diet is still exposed ;  first, the
epidemic diseases, and those  peculiar to certain climates,
produced by corruption  of the atmosphere ; second, con-
tagious exanthematous diseases, small pox,  &c.
  All other  diseases are the  result of the ordinary per-
verted mode of diet, and false method of cure.


                         II.

    HYDRIATIC CURE OF THE PRIMARY DISEASES.
                                   •
The abnormal morbid exertions of  an  organism to  expel
morbific matters are the signs of reaction or the symptoms
of acute disease.  These, the  water-physician assists and
promotes, and attains thereby a certain  and radical  cure,
the object  of  these  symptoms—through  diarrhoea and
vomiting in stomach and digestive complaints, and in all
others  through  perspirations,  rashes, boils, and  critical 
75
uiinations.   Farther on, the  special  processes  will  bo
shown, with citation of instances.
  A state of health far superior to that enjoyed before the
disease is the consequence of every primary disease cured
with water.  General  or local  weakness,  or otherwise
after-pains of any kind, never ensue ; after  a few days,
he that is cured with water, can  undergo labors and fa-
tigue  with  increased energies and  enhanced vigor,  far
surpassing what he enjoyed before the disease.
                         III.

      MEDICINAL CURE OF THE SAME DISEASES.

When poison is administered to a body which is making
that acute struggle to cure itself, it must divert a part of
its powers of reaction and turn them against  this poison,
in order to expel  it by vomiting and evacuation, or sur-
round it with mild mucous juices quickly formed for the
oocasion, that  it may not corrode  and injure  the  body.
The energies and juices, which  the  organism calls  forth
in this manner  to  surround the medicine with mucus,
must be withdrawn from the  struggle which  it is holding
with  the original enemy—viz. the  disease.  From this
cause a moderation in the symptoms ensues, and when the
poison is administered in suitable quantity, and with pro-
per repetition, the organism must call forth  all  its energies
to cope this  dangerous enemy, desist entirely from its
original curative struggle, and thus the symptoms subside.
Then, according to the doctors' manner of speaking, the
disease  is cured.   If the body thus treated  afterwards 
76
endeavors anew to cure  itself, and  calls up these symp.
toms again, they consider it a relapse into the disease, and
poison it anew, until either death or disappearance of the
symptoms ensues.
  In most primary cases the same effect may be attained
by ^copious  blood-lettings  as by means of the poisons.
These draughts upon the vital principle must be regulated
always according to  the strength of the patient, to deprive
him of the  strength and  ability required  for  an  acute
ardent struggle, whereupon the disease is " cured."
  Instinct tells every unfortunate one,  who  has thus been
poisoned and leeched under the old system of cure, that
his  doctor grossly errs when  he calls  him  " cured;" in-
stinct says, that in his body something foreign,  inimical,
has taken up its quarters, and every one of these deplora-
ble  beings requires a long time for the re-collection of his
scattered energies, and must pursue an anxious and  pain-
ful  regimen.   Instead of which, every one treated  from
the  commencement with  water  may, in a few days  after
any primary disease, undertake  whatever he will, eat as
much and of what he likes, go out and in both at evening
and  night, according to his  pleasure.  In  the  hydriatic
treatment it  very rarely occurs that the patient even  loses
his  appetite for any number of days during  the disease.
  From the  demonstrated nature of the effects of poisons
it appears, that in many cases it must be matter of small
moment which kind  of poison  is selected, that it depends
much" more  upon the quantity of the  dose, which  is de-
signed  to cripple the organism to a sufficient degree,
without killing it outright.  Experience confirms this to a
certainty.  Even the apparently so  peculiar effect of the
so called specifics rests upon nothing else than their ge- 
77
 neral  poisonous effect.  For instance, China cures the
 intermitting fever, and was for a long time supposed to be
 the only specific for that complaint; in later times  it has
 been discovered that belladonna and arsenic suppress the
 fever much more effectually, because they are more inju-
 rious poisons.  In  this  manner many diseases can  be
 cured allopathically by one and the same  poison.
   There are, however, many exceptions  at hand, viz. in
 all those primary diseases,  which have  their symptoms
 exclusively in one organ or system of the body, the sup-
 pression of these symptoms  and of the healing-struggle
 must be effected most promptly,  and with  the  proportion-
 ately smallest  dose, if that  poison  be employed  which
 produces with healthy persons in that same organ contrary
 symptoms of disease (contraria contrariis).
   From these grounds  it becomes evident whence  it is
 that almost every physician has  his  favorite  poison, with
 which  he cures almost all complaints, the one mercury,
 ihe other opium, &c, viz. every physician,  by  various
 experiments with his favorite  medicine, arrives at the re-
 sult, that it in most  cases accomplishes the same as that
 medicament prescribed by the " science" for every differ.
 ent case, and thus each one thinks he has found the univer-
 sal medicine.
   For  the  physician, mercury is indisputably the  most
 advantageous poison that can  be used in most diseases, for
 this reason, that this poison developes  its injurious effects
 the most tardily, and consequently, in  the opinion of the
 poisoned, releases the doctor from  all blame for the com-
 plaints  which afterwards appear.   Thus mercury has
 recently become the most favorite medicine of physicians,
and it may not be long ere we shall  behold children born 
78
with salivation and caries of their bones!  so  mere irially
diseased to the very root even is this European race.
   When, in  future, "medicine" is made  mention of in
Jhis work, allopathy is always intended therebv


                         IV.

               THE NORMAL  STOMACH.

In our stomach-poisoned European race we have scarcely
a correct idea of the constitution of a stomach possessing
normal strength and health.
   The  stomach  of every man  of nature possesses the
following qualities:  first, great power  of dilation and
contraction;  he can fast several  days without injury to
his health ; and vice versa, he can take nourishment suf-
ficient for several days at one meal without " indigestion."
   Further, if poisons or absolutely indigestible substances
find their way into his stomach, he vomits them out again
with great energy  and  ease ; if it is  surfeited with food
beyond its utmost power of digestion, it likewise relieves
itself by vomiting.   For this  reason, indigestion, or even
death, is quite  impossible from  the  most beastly surfeit.
In the temperate and frigid climates, the frequent  use of
fat is wholesome  to the  healthy stomach,* and necessary
to the  healthfulness of the  general  digestion.    These
qualities  the  stomach,  in the  water-diet, retains until
death ;  without the daily use of water no one can retain

  * The diseased and medicine-poisoned stomach must eschew fat,
even in the commencement of the water-cure,  until it has be-
come much strengthene. 
79
perfect healthfulness .*f stomach and vigor of body to trie
end of his life.
  Cold water, from the reaction which it produces, gives
to  the stomach  that permanent high degree of warmth,
without which the perfect energy of this organ is impossi-
ble.   The  healthy stomach  of the  water-drinker craves
frequent  and  copious  draughts of  water,  to  cool  and
refresh the  elevated warmth of the stomach, and it is these
coolings  also, which serve to  reproduce and maintain it.
On the contrary, a stomach accustomed to warm and stimu-
lating artificial drinks,  craves  always at  certain periods
this artificial warming, whereby its  condition of normal
warmth   becomes more and  more  depressed.  Such a
stomach is faint  in the morning until it  gets its coffee,
and thereby its " tone."  To  the stomach  of the water-
drinker the feeling of languidness is quite unknown.
  Water only is capable  of keeping the  stomach  and
bowels during the whole course of life pure and free from
all sliming, i. e.  from becoming coated with  mucus  and
slimy matter.
  Water operates very stimulating by means of its con-
stituent parts oxygen gas and hydrogen gas, which gases
are the true spirits of life and fire.
  Water is, directly and  immediately through its dissol-
vent power, the most effective of all  promoters of digestion.
Lay a piece of raw meat in  wine, brandy, beer, broth, or
other soup,  or even in stomach bitters, and observe which
best macerates it, these  fluids  or  water.    One  might
almost be ashamed of being  compelled to speak of things
witi which every cook is acquainted, and  from  which
every child's understanding can make the conclusion  and
application.  But the  stupidity of  the old  regime has so 
?u
filled the people with prejudices, tnat one must prove ax
large the most simple truths.  If all my arguments do not
yet suffice you, then cast  your eyes about you into the
kingdom of life—have  you ever heard of a wild animal
afflicted with the stomach disease, unless it were a lapdog,
which takes its coffee and soup at the table with its mis-
tress ? Does some one sa)r to me, that man is net a oeasc t
to him I reply, that as far  as concerns his body he is as
other animals.
  The Graefenberg water-cure heals the most  wretched
stomach, and elevates it to  such a degree of energy as is
seldom to be found with  even the persons so-called healthy
of the old regime.   I  am  acquainted with several who
have, from the depths of chronic stomach disease, attained
through the water-cure, such a strength of stomach that
the heartiest meal never troubles them, and they observe
no difference between  light and heavy foods,  that they
can eat even fat pastry, and moreover, fat by the spoon-
ful,  without feeling the least uncomfortable sensations
thereafter.
  The  Graefenberg diet,  whereby so great  results are
obtained, is in its details mostly the contradiction of the
old regime.  Water and boiled milk  the only drinks, the
foods cooled or cold, excluding all artificial stimulants,
everything  bitter,  everything from  foreign  zones,  and
most especially all  medicinals.  We perceive that  this
diet is the nearest possible approach to nature, to  the diet
of a man of nature.
   The who.esomeness of water for the stomach has  just
before been shown.   Here still a  word upen the whole-
someness of the  most possibly simple, and  not piquant,
not excitJ ng foods. 
81
  The digestion,  the  assimilation  of foreign matter into
the human bod}-,  is possible only  when the gastric juice
possesses more sharpness and higher vital power than the
chyle, that is, than the food taken into the stomach after
having undergone the process of mastication.   Hence, it
follows that the simple aliments are easier of digestion
than the sharp, spicy, or piquant.  However, this simple-
ncss must not be carried to thai degree which produces in
the uncorrupted instinct a feeling of unpleasant vacancy.
Man undoubtedly requires more  piquant  aliments than
most beasts ; he  resembles the fruit-eating beasts, and
needs, therefore, especially aliments which contain much
saccharine matter.  Entirely foreign to the man of nature
are the sharp, burning spices, the sharp bitternesses, and
most of all the foreign alcoholic drinks.
  The uncorrupted instinct affords a correct discrimina-
tion between the wholesomeness and unwholesomeness of
foods, especially the  instinct of  a  child which is born of
healthy parents, and has never been compelled to swallow
anything which is to him  disagreeable or  loathsome, or
exeites in him feelings of disgust and horror.
  The apparent promotion of digestion by means of stimu-
lants and piquant articles  of food, much  salt and spice,
rests upon a misunderstanding easily detected.   These
articles excite the salivary  and  stomach glands to a mo-
mentary increased secretion of juices, and this abnormal
reaction to carry off and overcome the stimulating reme-
dies awakens a  feeling of false hunger; but they  do not
stiengthen, they weaken*   The  stimulating remedies  are
to the stomach precisely what the spur is  to the worn-out
borsc.  Will any one be so stupid as to believe, the spur
itrengthens the  horse ?
                       4+ 
82
                         V.

     PRIMARY  STOMACH DISEAc/ES IN GENERAL.

It is extremely  seldom that we find chronic conditions of
disease of a simple nature ; the secondary complaints are
rather a  compound affection frequently of many organs,
generally of several at a time.
   Patients, in particular, afflicted with secondary diseases,
are  rarely found  with  healthy  digestion,  because the
stomach  and bowels are quite naturally those organs,
which are the first and most affected and injured by the
poisons which may be taken.
   Stomach diseases are not only so  numerous as physi-
cians suppose, but  still more so;  for many diseases have
their roots in the digestive organs, and their symptoms  in
other organs ; consequently, the doctors exercise their art
on these  other  functions,  because they always  strive  to
suppress the symptoms of disease.
   For these reasons, that  the stomach governs  all other
organs more  than it is governed by them, I  commence
with its diseases and affections.
   The old regime labors at the relaxation of the ganglionic
nerves and digestive canals in  man, from his birth up-
wards, with such consequence, that we are almost tempted
to hold it for refinement,  because  it is difficult to believe
in the honesty of such immoderate blunders.
   Directly upon entrance into the  world, the unlucky
sucklings are favored by their nurses with draughts from
the  camomile  tea-pot, and  consequently, all   nurseries
ring with the cries of stomach-ache.  At the same time,
both  before anc! after weaning, they are fed  with cows' 
83
milk boiled.  Will  not  the  doctors and  nurses soo*.  fall
 ipon the bright idea of first milking the mother, and boil-
ing her milk ?  They are fed with warm, even hot soup,
and in order to crown the work  of stomach destruction,
they are dosed with  medicine, as  soon  as the organism
begins a remedial  struggle  against so many perversities,
as soon as a primary symptom of disease appears.
   Take young lions into such a regime, and you will soov*
see a race of lions with cramps and gripes in the bowels.
   Not only  human  reason  and human  instinct,  but the
most recent experience gives the incontestable certainty,
that children, in a diet of cool or cold  food, without soups.
of unboiled  milk,  and  cold water, as the  only  drinks,
never suffer from sickness of stomach, never have pains
or gripes in the bowels, never have worms.   If such chil-
dren, through mistake,  partake of unwholesome or poison-
ous things, they relieve themselves of them by energetic
vomiting and diarrhoeas, well observed, if nature be allowed
to have  its course,  and its instinct  be  aided  with cold
water ; but  especially spared from swallowing medicines.
   On the other hand, those unhappy  martyrs of the old
poisoning and effeminating  system, pass  through a  child-
hood  replete with  suffering, and  have   before them the
prospect of a  life without  health.  When,  by the said
triple  alliance  of stomach-destroyers,  the  energy and
aetivity of this important organ  are impaired ; then any
slight inadvertence in diet,  any overstepping of the bounds
prescribed by the delicateness of ccnstitution,  brings on
a disorder of the stomach, which cannot be removed other-
wise than  by abnormal exertion.  Only  eat  somewhat
over the usual quantity, or something difficult  of digestion,
and the s";omach is no. capable of doing its  work of diges- 
?4
 non; but it remains there till it has parsed into putridity,
 and then the stomach must have recourse to some unusual
 help—to primary disease.  Vomitings or diarrhoeas come
 to the assistance.  Instead  of promoting  this wholesome
 process with water, it is suppressed by medicine, and as
 soon as this has taken place, the organism must  allow
 those morbid matters, which  it was endeavoring to expel,
 to be firmly settled in itself by enveloping  them in mu-
 cus  and allowing them  to indurate.  Thus,   then, the
 foundation is laid to the chronic misery that follows.
   Children, in general, are remarkable  for  their health
 of stomach, which far exceeds the  general average  of
 persons advanced in  years—and very naturally, because
 medicinal poisoning operates slowly and takes effect after
 a considerable interval.  Most people think, however, that
 it lies in their nature ; that the child's  stomach can endure
 more than the adult's.  We often hear it said,  " such a
 youngster can eat anything !"   Much rather say, " such
 a  man can," because  every grown creature  has, from
 nature, stronger organs than the young undeveloped.


                         VI.

 CURE OF  THE PRIMARY DISEASES OF THE DIGESTIVE
                ORGANS  IN GENERAL.

 All these diseases are cured with the greatest certainty
 and promptness by water.   The aim  of all  these cures,
 the inflammations in the bowels, also,  not excepted, is the
dissolution, and  then the  expulsion of morbific matters
through vomiting  and evacuations.  There  is  no possi-
bility of a real  cure  without  these final  results; if the 
85
acute struggle  ceoses  wil.iout these  results, ;t is certain
that  the  irritating matters  are fixed  chronically in the
stomach and bowels.
  It  is very evident in what manner water cures all these
diseases.   It is  the  only fluid capable of dissolving the
viscous, slimy,  morbid matters; secondly,  by means of
its coldness  and decomposing  power, it calls  forth the
elevated activity of the organs  in question ; and thirdly,
it imparts to the stomach and bowels the fulness, which
is necessary to evacuation.
  (Of the effect and operation of the medical purgative
remedies see farther on.)
  The treatment in all these diseases consists in drinking,
bandages, clysters, and sitz baths.
  The measure of the  drinking, the number of the clys-
ters and sitz  baths vary  according to the variety and de-
gree of the diseases, as also according to the constitutions
of the patients.    Generally,  the  instinct indicates the
measure  of the drinking,  and of  the  clystering; the
water-physician  must determine the  number and length
of the sitz baths, if the patient does not possess the requi-
site hydriatic knowledge.
  These diseases are all cured so surely and quickly by
water, that the one so treated may soon  go about his con-
cerns again free from all after-pains.


                         VII.

        NAUSEA AND ^ OMITING.  DIARRHffiA.

Nauseousness ir ay arise from ill-temper and imagination,
from ossification and ulceration of the  digestive organs, 
86
and  particularly of the nerves of the same ; such kind
of nausea belongs to the secondary or destroying diseases.
   Here we  are speaking only of primary  nausea,  which
is  caused by nauseating  matters in the stomach.   These
nauseating  substances may  be  of  various  kinds,  as
was explained in the  chapter on  poisons.   If poison, in
the broader or stricter  sense, be taken into a strong sto-
mach, and water, or milk, or any mild and solvent fluid
be drunk, there will always ensue thereupon nausea and
vomiting, from the exertion of the organism to free itself
of the nauseating substances.  To vomit, it is necessary
that  the stomach  possess a certain degree of muscular
power, and, therefore, the quite weak and medicine-ruined
stomach  cannot,  or only  imperfectly,  cleanse  itself by
vomiting.  Vomiting arises from a violent contraction of
the inferior parts of the stomach, thus raising its contents,
and disgorging them upwardly.
   The opinion often pronounced by the doctors, that diffi
cult vomiting, after emetics, is a sign  of strong stomach
is thoroughly false ; it is a mark of a powerless  stoflaach.
The  stronger the stomach, the more  easily and  energeti-
cally does it cast out of itself all poison-matters by vomit-
ing, if its healing struggles  be  aided by water and milk.
In the case of not violent  poisons,  of nauseating matters
not properly of poisonous nature,  water-drinking  alone
is sufficient to their radical  expulsion  through vomiting ;
with  the  stronger  poisons,  however,  it  is necessary to
drink much unboiled  sweet  milk, so, that  the  poison be
enveloped and  thereby retained in the milk, which then
immediately curdles, cheese-like, in the stomach, and is
prevented from  exerting  its corrosive power  upon the
coats of the same.  This corroding power,  if it is of a 
87
riolent nature, so disables and cramps  tne stomach, that
it cannot produce the curative vomiting at all, or  at least
not completely.   Another sort of substances besides ori-
ginal  poison, causes,  likewise, primary vomiting,  viz.
when  a stomach not without strength, has been overloaded
with foods and drinks, especially with intoxicating drinks,
hard of digestion, or mixed with poisons, and is unable to
digest  them, it  endeavors, a  few hours afterwards, to re-
lieve itself of the same  through vomiting, which is pre-
ceded  by nauscousness.   With such  nauseating  articles,
water only, and not milk, must be drunk, for the purpose
of exciting vomiting,  because here nothing  is necessary
but the mechanical operations of the liquid to cleanse the
stomach.
   Every  poisonous medicament, and every poison will
produce vomiting with a strong and  healthy stomach, if
water and milk be drunk immediately after,  and  if quan-
tity and quality are not of such degree that  instantaneous
death  ensues.
   When, however,  nauseating matter is taken into the
stomach,  and  is not removed through vomiting, because
the necessary quantity of water and  milk (or other mild
liquid, as decoctions of  harmless herbs  in water, which,
however, always operate less beneficially than water and
milk) has  not been  drunk, then a vigorous,  healthy,
digestive organ unloads itself of these nauseous  stuffs,  at
least  partially, by means of diarrhoea, through the bowels.
   Thus, when  the nauseous substances have arrived at the
ileum and jejunum (the absorbing  intestines), the instinct
of these  organs is made aware, through disagreeable or
corrosive affections, of the perniciousness of these substan-
ces, and absorbs, most probably, less of them than if they 
83
 were wholesome and well-digested sibstances.  The said
 bowels must, however,  absorb ninth of them, and  thus
 conduct it  into  the blood and entire body,  because by
 reason  of their  construction  and activity,  they cannot
 arbitrarily desist  from the peristaltic motion, and still  less,
 close entirely the absorbent vessels.   [The Constructor of
 the human organism, in placing an instinct in the human
 palate,  has fully done  his  duty in regard to protection
 against poisons.   If, despite  his  instinct, man still takes
 poison,  it  is an  error'which  emanates from man's licen-
 tiousness  (as vices do, also), and  can in  no wise be made
 a subject  of complaint against the Creator.]   These nau-
 seous and poisonous stuffs that have now come  through
 the small  bowels  into the  evacuating bowels  (large intes-
 tines), produce, in these latter intestines, tormenting and
 painful  sensations ; the nauseous substances exercise their
 destroying power, and for this reason, the intestines en-
 deavor to  rid themselves as  quickly as possible of them,
 which can  be  effected only  by  the secretion  of much
 liquid.  By means of the  same, the intestines  endeavor to
 wash themselves clean of  the  unwholesome matter, in
 which they are seldom completely successful  without the
 assistance of water administered  as injections.   It  is of
 itself evident, that the intestines are rendered uncommonly
 dry by the abnormal secretion of liquid and mucus, which
 is necessary to  the production  of the primary diarrhoea,
 and that the injection of  water into the  rectum is conse-
quently an essential aid, and a support to  the symptoms of
 reaction.
  The  primary diarrhoea following soon after eating un.
wholesome articles of food, lasts always but a short time.
 Th° critical diarrhoea,  which  arises in  the  water-cure, 
89
when morbid matters, w rich almost  always  are  acrid
medicaments, get released from old indurated  mucus in
the intestines, may continue for weeks  and months,  and
still  it is purely curative, health-restoring disease,  and
consequently by virtue of this character belongs to the
acute diseases, to the chronic disease, however,  by reason
of its exceeding  four weeks in duration.  We see  from
this  example, that  the words acute and  chronic  are not
suitable to our classification of diseases ;  it must, how-
ever, be observed, that the words " primary" and " secon-
dary" in their true interpretation are likewise not so close-
ly expressive, as the words " healing"  and " destroying
disease,"  and that  we use them  arbitrarily in a sense,
which corresponds with our classification.
   There is a destroying  diarrhoea, which is  no curative
endeavor  of  the organism; which has  its origin  in the
deepest ruin of the absorbent intestines, and  carries with
itself consumption.   The chief distinctive mark between
this secondary and  the just mentioned primary diarrhoea
consists herein, that  the  primary diarrhoea is frequently
attended  with a burning, and a feeling of great dryness in
the anus (produced by the evacuated acrid  matter), while
on the contrary in the destroying diarrhoea  this feeling is
entirely wanting.
   Between the two kinds of diarrhoea, that have just been
considered, apparently holding the middle  station, but in
reality belonging to the primary class, is that  diarrhoea,
which is  caused by a sudden and entire change in the
food.  The digestive juice always assumes that  quality,
which is most suited  to the digestion of those foods gene-
rally eaten ;  is another sort  of food  suddenly eaten,
which requires another quality of gastric juice, the unac-
% 
90
customed foods are not at first easily and perfectly digest-
ed, and the stomach  only  adapts itself gradually  to that
state, which produces the suitable kind of digestive  matter.
During this period of transition the  body clears  itself  by
means  of diarrhoeas, of that portion of the unaccustomed
food, which is not  digested, and has  frequently  passed
into putridity.  Such a kind of diarrhoea needs  the  least
of all a positive treatment, but in general requires simply
non-interference  and the guarantee of  an  undisturbed
course   of  action,  and quite  especially no  drugging.
Water  drinking according to the thirst,  and  one or two
clysters daily is all the treatment necessary.
  Such diarrhoeas, arising from  the strangeness  of new
aliments occur, for  instance, in the too sudden weanings
of sucking infants;  more frequently in emigrations to a
foreign zone, and most particularly in emigrations  from
cold climates to warmer and hot, where all the products
have another nature than in the  North;   which  diversity
extends even to the productions of the same varieties.


                        VIII.

MUCOUS ENVELOPMENT  OF MATTERS OF DISEASE,
         PARTICULARLY OF  THE  POISONOUS.

When  poisonous  and indigestible substances  are  not ex-
pelled  by vomiting  or  diarrhoea in  the  manner just de-
scribed, they must either remain in  the alimentary canals,
or be carried into the  blood, and through the circulation
of the same into the remotest parts of the whole body.
  The manner in wh.'ch the organism protects itself for a
length  of time against poisonous substances, which it can-
# 
91
not expel and wJ ich it is obliged to retain within itself, in
order that they may not by their  corroding power effect
immediate destruction of the parts to  which they  have
penetrated, appears at first view totally inexplicable.
  The organism, which cannot through vomiting  and di-
lrrhosa  rid itself of poisonous matter, which is lodged in
t, conducts it over into  the  blood, and removes it in this
manner from the digestive  canals, if the digestive organs
are possessed of the  requisite strength for so doing.   When
they have lost this power, the poisonous and morbific matters
remain in them, and fix themselves in indurated mucus on to
the walls of the stomach and of the bowels.
   We will first  take into consideration the question, how
the organism  manages with  poisonous and  medicinal sub-
stances, when they are carried  by the circulation of the
blood into the innermost parts of the body, and  it has not
the strength and the means  to enable it to free itself of
the same through  boils and  eruptions, of which we shall
speak farther on.
   How  is it possible, that  the  body can harbor in  itself
acrid poisons for a long time with apparent health ?   How
is it, tha  the poisons, while  lying in the flesh  and  bone,
do not corrode in like manner, as, when driven by water-
cure out upon the surface, they do the skin  in  boils, and
even eat through the linen compresses ?
   The  anatomical  knife gives us no information on this
head, because the  matters of disease—whether medicinal
poisons, or acrid  humors, from sharp high seasoned foods,
or stagnated and refuse particles of the body—are divided
into  such minute atoms, that the  eye does not recognise
any  what of them.
   Just  as little  may we expect  enlightenment from the 
92
old pathology,  which  gives information  of nothing else
than of its own incompetency and inconsistency.   When
one cons over the pages of the  allopathic pathologies, he
meets in the case of almost every disease with  the edify.
ing information :  " of the causes and manner of origination
of this disease, the greatest pathologists and physiologists
are of different and mostly contradictory opinion."   Very
edifying ; for where error is, there always  are disagree.
ments and  contradictions, in truth is alone unity and
agreement.
   Still, despite the contradictions of the most  renowned
pathologists,  we  can,  with such  decided certainty, find
the solution of this problem  through combination, that it
can  be doubted  by no one,  except those whom  interest
urges thereto.
   What does the human body do when  large,  visible,
inimical substances are  driven into it through external
force ?   What, for instance, with the leaden bullet ?  Its
first endeavor is to throw off the foreign mass by suppura-
tion ; when this is impossible, or it is forced from its pur-
pose by plasters  and  medicine, it  conducts to the spot a
great quantity of mild mucus-like humor, envelopes  it there-
in, and forms around it a  net-work wherein it holds captive
the bullet and the poisonous effect of the  lead.  The organ-
ism endeavors this same procedure,  with  the minute poi-
sonous and inimical substances, which have  been forced
upon it  through  the digestion—if it is  obstructed in its
endeavors to expel them again by acute force.
   This theory is founded  upon the incontrovertible prin-
ciple of nature in the  elementary and organic world, that
nature  operates  similarly under  similar circumstances.
Hence, the  theory produced loses none  of its  certainty, 
93
because we arc nc  able to recognise  with  the  unaided
eye, on account of their minuteness, the  inimical  atoms
and the minute net-work around them, and to exhibit them
by section.
  Many bodies exist without our being able to see them.
The mues, which  cause the itch, have but  recently be-
come perceptible to the eye by artificial optical assistance;
the  minute unimalculae, in  infusions and  in  water, have
long been unknown,  and now  magnified by the hydro-
oxygen microscope, these formerly invisible  pigmies are
enlarged to the size of a crocodile or an elephant.   It  is
highly probable that at a future time  some one will suc-
ceed in laying open to the  eye  the matters of disease in
dissected bodies, as that the atoms of the same  shall be
made apparent.  The whole of these matters collectively,
exert, even now, a  general effect upon the observant eye,
through the abnormal color,  which  they impart  to the
flesh  of the patient  that has  died  of chronic  disease.
When these foreign matters have  a  marked color, first,
the  mucus, and second, the flesh, partakes somewhat of
it.  If, however, this color is  not very  striking  (as  is
generally the case), then the flesh must have a pale non-
normal  tincture, from  the  whitish color of the mucus.
The fact  has been actually  ascertained  from butchers,
that the flesh of such animals  as, notwithstanding good
feeding, will not fatten  (which  can  only proceed from
chronic  sickness), generally has an unnatural,  pale,
whitish color.
  The difference of the internal flesh color in healthy and
chronically-diseased persons, would show  itself still more
characteristically distinct, if bodies of both kinds  slain on
the  battle-field, siould be examined. 
94
  The flesh of animals has always  the same blood color,
because in the green republics of the woods there can be
no chronic sickness,  since there  are there no doctors, no
apothecaries, and no distilleries of intoxicating liquors.
  Now, we will consider the second question of this chap-
ter, namely, the fixture of poisonous medicinal substances
in the digestive canals themselves.
  A strong digestive organ will rid  itself, as we have
seen, in some manner, of the medicinal substances forced
upon it.  When, however, the use of medicine is  perse-
veringly adhered to for a length  of time,  the walls of the
stomach and bowels become  gradually desiccated by  the
constant  secretion  of mucus,  to  which  alternative  the
digestive canals are driven, in  order to protect themselves
against the  sharp and corrosive medicaments, and thus, in
places, the corrosive power of the medicaments effects a
ruination of the mucous glands and of the nerves.  Now,
on  these most exhausted  and  ruined places, the mucous
accumulations with which the  poisons are mixed, become
fixed, and harden, by degrees, to  that stone-like concretion
which  is commonly called tartar.   The  tartar, which,
with persons of  foul stomach, settles upon the teeth, is
likewise nothing  else than indurated mucus.   The more
now, the use of medicine  is persevered in, the more  the
mucus generated is mix^d with the medicine, and adheres
along with it firmly to the walls of the stomach and bow-
els.  In such a way, many persons carry about  with them
in their digestive canals a small  apothecary shop.  It is
evident, that the  medicaments firmly encased  in  mucus
and tartar,  inasmuch as  no  dissolving power, neither air
nor water can reach them, must  continue  to retain their
peculiar strength and peculiar taste, until they  are again 
95
Bubjected  to  the  decomposing  power  of the  elements,
wnich in the lifetime of the patient is only practicable by
a water-cure.  If the water does  not dissolve this indu-
rated mucus, then the  solution  and decomposition of the
medicaments  therein  contained, do not take place  until
after the death and  decomposition of the patient through
the decomposing power of the elements.
   It is a circumstance well known to physicians,  that in
very weak digestive canals, medicaments may lie undi-
gested ;  I  remember,  that long  before  the water-cure
became  known, my physician at that time, Dr. H., in C,
while I had an intermitting  fever, would give me no china
in substantial form,  because, in  my too weak stomach, " it
might remain undigested as a  crudity in my stomach."
That  appeared  to me, at the  time, impossible.   I ques-
tioned physicians  as to the possibility of it, and received
affirmative answer; I searched in  medical works,  and
found it confirmed.   If, now, many physicians still  deny
these  facts and the possibility of the  same, I am in  no
manner surprised, because, in the present struggle be-
tween medicine and water-cure, a mass of untruths  is set
forth  to the  people  by the physicians  concerning both
systems, contrary to their  better  knowledge, in order to
dispute the results of  the water-cure and  to vindicate me-
dicine.
   I have shown that the fixture of medicaments in indu-
rated mucus  finds  its fullest explanation in the laws of
physiology.   The contrary would be a  contradiction to
physiology ;  it is an  utter impossibility that weakened
bowels,  which  have  long  been allopathically fed  with
acrid and  poisonous medicaments, can constantly retain
the power of expelling the  poisons along with the mucus 
96
which they generate.   Many persons may  suppose  that
the potions afterwards taken  must again dissolve the  mu-
cus, and that it cannot, therefore, continue fixed for  life.
time.   To that I reply the following :
  First,  Knowledge, established by  experience, teaches
the contrary :  viz. in dissections it is not seldom that  tar-
tar is found in the digestive canals, which requires a long
time  for its formation; over which, consequently,  many
fluids have passed without dissolving it.
   Second, Of all  drinks water alone possesses this dissol-
vent power, and then  only when somewhat more of  it is
drunk than the thirst  requires.  For what the thirst de-
mands  is  quickly absorbed,  and accordingly has no  time
to dissolve a tough, still less  a  stone-like, concretion.
   Third, The digestive canals retain, for the purposes of
solution, that water drunk beyond the thirst, so long as it
is needed for  the  solution,  if they  have  the strength to
expel the dissolved mucus, together with the poison contain-
ed therein.  If they do not possess this strength, then the
solution would be a  misfortune, and  consequently, the
digestive organs empty themselves quickly of  the super-
fluous water, and  allow of no solution, in consequence of
the instinct, which is  placed not only in the  palate, but
also in all the  organs.
   Hence it follows, that the  solution of the indurated and
stone-like mucus is only practicable through the agency
of water, and by water treatment;  and that without this
the mucus must remain in the  body till death in the  form
of tartar.
   Not all medicaments have this effect of hardening the
mucus, and coating the digestive canals with tartar, but in
the same  degree  more or less, according  as they  are 
97
  stronger or weaker poisons, and more or less administered
  for a length of time.   One may always reckon with cer-
  tainty upon indurated  mucus in patients that have taken
  much of medicinal purgative remedied, and much of con-
  stipating remedies,  because they dry up the digestive ca-
  nals in an extraordinary manner.  Laudanum in particu-
  lar is disposed to take up  its  abode and  remain in the
  bowels.
    It  is of  itself evident, that those  parts of the stomach
  and bowels, to which the tartar adheres, must soon organi-
  cally perish,  and  pass into induration and  cartilage.
  However, we return again hereafter to this subject.
    In the foregoing has  been shown, that the medicaments
 must retain their peculiar power and peculiar taste in the
 mucous indurations, until the mucus is dissolved, and the
 poisonous matters become exposed to the elements. There-
 fore, in the statement, that in the water cure patients have,
 during a vomiting  crisis, vomited out  medicinal stuffs,
 which they  had taken  several years  before; and in the
 statement, that these substances had retained their own
 peculiar taste, and oftentimes perceptibly their own color,
 there is contained nothing, which offers the  slightest con-
 tradiction to the laws  of physiology ;  and the  laughter,
 which some physicians make use of against such state-
 ments, springs  either from  gross ignorance  or from con-
 scious untruth.
   The weaker the stomach, the  more  unaltered  remain
 the taste  and  strength of the medicaments  enveloped in
 mucus.  If  the stomach, however, is  somewhat  stronger,
it attempts at least through its own peculiar juice a relative
alteration  of the administered poisonous drugs, before  it
resigns itself to th> necessity of retaining in itself the poi. 
98
 sons together with the mucus.  When a patient  in  the
 water cure gets a vomiting crisis, and in the ejected mor-
 bid matter  can  plainly taste  a medicine  that was taken
 some time ago, then  he  may rest assured that this crisis
 will continue some  time,  and will  not  cease until  the
 ejected  matter loses its marked medicinal taste.  That,
 which in such a crisis is first discharged, is naturally the
 poison that was last taken, and the last discharged is  that
 first taken, and first settled in the stomach.  At first, how-
 ever, the stomach has still  strength to make a relative
 change in the  poisons, the  very powerful ones excepted ;
 which  change indeed never reaches actual  digestion,
 which however somewhat diminishes the strength of the
 poison, tftnd thus divests it  of its  peculiar  taste, so that it
 is converted into a more or less acrid, but always an  un-
 digested and poisonous, crudity.
   The theme of sliming or mucous envelopment is one of
 the most important in the doctrine of disease.   The  real
 genuine sliming by abnormal secretions from  the every-
 where extended mucous glands can never be produced but
 by sharp poisons,  which very seldom come from other
 hands than  those of the drug-physician, and the so-called
 slime-dissolving  remedies  of the doctors  are  in reality
 slime-generating remedies.
   When it is said  of  foods and drinks, that they cause a
 flow of mucus, it is not the  real true mucus, i. e. mucus
generated and secreted from  the mucous glands, but rather
a transition of the  chyle into a mucus-like substance from
want of strength,  especially  from  want  of decomposing
power in the weak digestive organs, which a.ways bas its
cause in poisons and insufficient use of water. 
99
  Of the so-called slime-dissolving and purging remedies
of the doctors, we shall speak more at large hereafter.
  I cannot conclude this so exceedingly important  theme
of sliming, before I overthrow still  an  argument  of the
doctors, wherein they deny the permanent continuance of
the matters of disease in the body.
  From the nature  of  poisons we  have seen, that, when
they are introduced into the stomach and not  expelled
again through vomiting, they either adhere to the walls of
the digestive canals  in  hardened mucus or slime,  or are
taken up by  the digestive organs and carried  into the
blood.  These  are  carried  by the  blood and circulation
thereof  into all  the  various and innermost parts  of the
body  and there deposited with the other constituents of the
blood to afford nourishment to the same, and to renew the
constant wear and tear  of the body.
  When many physicians, for the purpose of disputing the
water-cure, deny this now, they contradict not  only the
very  physiological laws which are proclaimed from their
lecturing desks, but they deny all efficaciousness to their
own medicaments.   If the  medicaments did not pass into
the blood, and through d into  the body, they could have no
effect  farther than, at most, upon the digestive  organs, into
which always they make  their way.
  Supposing the  medicinal and poisonous substances pass-
ed into the blood, but not in  their medicinal  quality, but
entirely  divested  of their  poison,  completely  digested,
made like to the  blood,  which is prepared  from the usual
aliments ;  then again they could possess no  medicinal effica-
ciousness, and in  general n  other power than that which is
possessed by every nalus   md, as pointed out by instinct,
agreeable food. 
100
   Thus the physicians, when they pretend that  their poisos
and medicaments are capable  of being assimilated, not on y
contradict physiological laws but themselves also, in the  most
direct manner, inasmuch as in all diseases which have their
seat otherwise than in the digestive canals, they thereby deny
that medicinal effect, which, however, at every other opportu-
nity they avow,  and upon which their whole doctrine of  cure
is founded.
   The more clever ones among the physicians have very
well  comprehended  this double contradiction, and they
admit that the drugs retaining their medicinal quality are
carried by the  circulation of the blood into all parts of the
body, but usually maintain that the medicinal and poison-
ous substances are again promptly thrown off by the eva-
porations from  the  skin.
   This fundamentally false doctrine I  must yet disprove,
oefore I  can conclude this chapter.
   The blood is impelled into all, even into the innermost
solid parts, as,  for instance, into the bones through the cir-
culation, which  is  driven  by  means of the  immense
muscular power of the heart, so that the substance which,
being worn  out, has passed off, is again replaced anew by
the blood.   So long as poisonous and medicinal substances
are still  to be found in the blood of the large veins, they
cannot exert any, or  but slight injurious  effects, because
they are not mixed w ith the healthy parts  of the  blood,
because  in the blood itself there  are no nerves, and be-
cause they  are  rapidly  hurried through  the veins.  As
soon, however,  as the blood has arrived at the place of its
destination,  through the innumerable small veins, it is de-
composed more or less by the organic power into its con-
stituent parts, and out of the various constituent parts are 
01
formed the various juices and substances which it stands
in need of for  its nutrition : the hairy matter, muscular
matter, the nervous  matter, the seminal matter, marrow,
&c, &c.   Into all these solid,  and  also into all fluid sub-
stances, now the  very minute and  consequently very nu-
merous particles  of poison  pass, which have entered into
the circulation, and are through the same carried  into all
parts of the body.  As soon as the  particles of poison are
in this manner separated from the blood, and have settled
in the  solid and  organically vital  parts of the body (the
blood is not as  yet an organically developed body, but the
material for the organic formations of the human body),
they begin to exercise their annihilating power, which is.
however, kept  down by the organism for a length of time,
by secreting from the every wncre existing mucous glands
and glandules mild mucous humors, and therewith envelop-
ing the particles  of poison.  The  labor of generation of,
and envelopment in mucus, is  infinitely easier and re-
quires infinitely  le*ss strength, than the work of elimina-
tion of the poison through  the organ of the skin.
   When the body is poisoned with drugs,  this elimination
through  the skin can never take place readily, and never
without the help  of water.   Their  elimination cannot take
place readily,  because those parts  of  the body into which
the particles of poison arrive, together with the rest of the
particles of blood to nourish, to replace the worn out and
refuse substance, are not  organically inclined to secrete
immediately again  those  newly arrived  substances, be-
cause the secretions from organically  vivified parts of the
body ensue, according to  normal manner, not till a long
time afterwards; and not till such time, as these substances
being worn out and exhausted have  become refuse.  Thcwe 
102
substances, which have to-day beer deposited in  organic
parts of the  body, will, in normal manner, be excreted
again the last of all substances which to-day are in the
body.   The  older is always  excreted  before the fresher
and newer.   Thus the assertion, that  the medicinal poisons
are quickly discharged again out of the body, is a contradic-
tion  against the  laws of physiology, and consequently a de-
cided untruth.
   Without help of water the complete expulsion of poison-
ous substances through the organ of the skin is  never pos-
sible, not even slowly, if this poisoning has been carried to
such an extent, as it usually is with most of the allopathic
treatments.
   To excrete poisonous matters  from  the skin requires,
however, still more  strength  of  the skin, than  to excrete
the refuse matters of assimilation, and therefore the former
is still less possible without the help of water.   By far the
greater number of powerful poisons, when conducted from
the internal organs to the skin, excite boils and eruptions,
which cause a violent  burning and stinging in the skin.
Even  the  first  appearance of these critical poison-dis-
charging exanthems is  very seldom out of the water-cure,
and  then only with  persons of very strong constitutions.
But  the maintenance of these exanthems  until the body is
thoroughly cleansed is  not possible with the strongest per-
sons without  water  treatment,  because the  skin system
becomes gradually  dried  out  by such  secretions, and in
places at least disorganized, if the acridities of the secre-
tions are not mildened by dilutions with water,  and  if the
skin is not bathed with  and allowed to absorb much water,
to replace  the elastic fluid, which it  must produce in ab-
normal quantity to carry off the poisonous matters. 
103
   The  less violent  poisons may in many persons, espe-
cially those of very  fat and coarse system of skin, be dis-
charged without any exanthems, but likewise not without
water.   The  burning and itching, which  such critical
transpirations and  transudations irritate in the skin, must
likewise be cooled by water, if the acrid matters, which
cause these sensations, are not gradually to desiccate the
skin, and  thus mace it wholly incapable of the abnormal
activity required to throw off the poison.
   Farthermore,  the  necessary cleansing of the pores and
keeping them open during such like critical transudations
and exanthems can only be attained  by frequent moisten-
ing of the skin with water.
   Finally, the skin  can  receive  from water only the ab
normal  supply of oxygen and hydrogen, which as before
shown must attend every abnormal activity of the body.
   In all these demonstrations of the impossibility of the
excretion of poison  without  help  of water,  regard  only
has been  had to the cutaneous system, and it has been
shown,  that complete elimination is even then not possible,
when the  poisonous substances have arrived at the skin.
   Hereafter I will show, that it is not possible for these
poisonous drugs and spices to be expedited from the inner-
most  parts  of the body to the skin witho.it  the help  of
water.

                         IX.

      THE NATURE  AND PURPOSE OF FEVER.

Infinite time and pains have been expended in the inves-
tigation  of the nature and the causes of fever  by the thou-
sands, who have '.n this century devoted their whole lives 
104
professionally to the curing of diseases.   But alas tne rid
die remained   unsolved, despite  so many guessers  and
counsellors.
   Hahnemann  is  of the opinion, that perhaps  it will never
be granted  to  humanity to fathom, to determine the in-
ward  nature of fever  and of the chronic diseases.   If,
however, some  one should succeed  in so doing, the  . xpla-
nation would  be  so simple, so  evident, so  disrobed of
learned subtility,  that it would captivate every human un-
derstanding, and  fill  it with a new flood of light.  This is
most certainly true !
   Fever is—but,  man, what art thou attempting ?   What
science in two centuries has been unable to solve—whereon
Boerhave and his consorts of glory have ground todulness
their wisdom teeth—that secret wilt thou break open and
unriddle ?   Well, I draw the curtains of modesty over my
face, with maiden bashfulness I cast down mine eyes, with
blushes on  my cheeks I beg consideration for my learned
stupidity, and stammer as follows :  Fever is nothing more
and nothing less than the effect of any and every violent ex-
ertion, which exceeds the normal and conservative powers of
the body.
   Run hard, or  have  a  bad  wound  on your body to
heal, or beget a human being, or bear a child, and  you
thence get a fever just as  perfect, but not of so long dura-
tion, as when the  body  reacts violently against a suppress-
ed perspiration, or in general is striving to drive morbific
matters from the internal  parts to the skin.
   There are only  three  characteristic  marks of fever
which are brought on by every violent exertion, viz. heat
of the body, rapid pulse, and dry tongue, which by longer
duration of the exertion becomes a parching thirst.  All 
105
other symptoms  of a  fever of disease,  are not  symp-
toms of fever,  but effects  of those  matters of disease,
which  are  to  be  expurged  by  means   of the  fever.
For this reason these other  symptoms are  just as chang-
ing  and  various as the nature of the morbific matters,
or as  the organs are different upon which  the matters
have thrown themselves.   Are  these matters, through
(instructed perspiration,  settled particularly in  the head,
then arises an  inflammation of the  brain ;  'f upon  the
lungs, then, ah inflammation of the lungs;  ana a nervous,
or typhus fever, if upon the nerves.
   The physicians, indeed,  premise still more necessary
marks of  fever, viz. the chill before the heat, also depres-
sion  of the general strength of the organism, and finally,
destruction of the functions of digestion and evacuation.
But firstly, the chill is not the fever, but the preparation
to the fever;  the  start, as it were,  before the  fever.
Secondly, the depression of the organism results less from
the fever  than  from the disease, against which the fever
is a token of reaction ;  and this depression is, in the  water-
treatment, far less sensible than in the medical; is, there-
fore, a partial effect  of the  medicaments.   Instances  are
known to me wherein  persons with fever have,  under the
water-cure, walked upwards  of three miles to get  to  the
bath in the open  air, and, indeed, in raw weather with the
best consequences.   Thirdly, the destruction of digestive
energies takes place always in every case under medical
treatment, but very frequently not at all under the  hydri-
atic, and always for a  short time only.  It is nothing rare
in critical  feverish conditions in the water-cure,  that
during  the same the  patient  eats with  better  appetite,
digests and evacuates  better t :an many persons  in the old
                     5* 
10<j
regime  during their healthy  days.   Consequently,  the
disturbance  of the digestive  energies  is  by no  means
a necessary effect of the  fever, but of the  medical treat-
ment of the same.
  In ah these violent diseases it would scarcely require to
be proved that the causes  of these diseases are foreign
material substances in the  body,  if the so-called science
had  not  so automatonized  the people, that ihey believe
more readily the  puppet in the professorial chair, than the
innermost infallible human perceptions. Does it  net, in
all these diseases, lie perceptibly in and upon the diseased
organ ? does it not sting, and burn,  and press ?   In in-
flammation of the chest,  what  compressed  anguish, and
what stitches, like with glowing daggers, as if an Etna lay
upon the lungs, and his fires were raging therein !   Here
it sits! oh !  here  it pierces, here it burns, here it cramps!
oh ! oh ! cries the  poor patient.  " But, nay," says  the
wooden science, " you err grossly, it is not foreign matters
that afflict you, it is rather-----."  Yes, there the breath
of the  discourse  ceases,  there  it stagnates.  The  wisest
and most celebrated among physicians have honestly con-
fessed  that they know nothing  of the internal nature and
process of diseases.    But the narrow-minded  content
themselves with high-sounding phrases, void of sense and
purport, as they twang from the lecturer's chair, and with
faithful devowon  they learn the stupidity  by heart, and
pay themselves and their  like  with the  false coin,  which
weighs nothing, but only jingles.
  In common life, we  are accustomed to call fever that
condition of body which is produced by abnormal physio-
logical activity of  the  inner  man without  external  and
arbitrary effort.  We will take the wrd fever here with- 
107
out farther argument, in the ordinary seise of fever of
disease, i. e. fever accompanied  by symptoms of disease.
  In all abnormal efforts of the  organism, there is  more
oxygen and hydrogen gas consumed than in the  normal
condition.  In order to  draw more oxygen from  the air
the lungs  respire more rapidly than ordinarily,  which
produces an  acceleration in the throb of the heart and
pulse;  from this accelerated  circulation of the  blood
arises the fever heat.   The fever-thirst arises very natu-
rally  from  the  abnormally great consumption  of oxygen
and hydrogen.   These two  gases are,  as was before
shown, the fundamental conditions of all assimilation and
secretion, since the solid  can  be transformed into  fluid
only through the  agency of hydrogen, and the fluid into
solid only through the agency of oxygen, gas.
   In  this manner the  nature of fever is very simply and  .
clearly comprehended.   The causes and purpose of fever
will be given  farther on.   Let  any one compare my ex-
planation of fever with those before  given, and he will
perceive that mine alone  has claim to the  predicates of
simplicity  and clearness.   I have also had the satisfaction
to perceive that a number of authors have borrowed from
me, and consequently approved  of the declaration of the
nature of fever given  by me, before me entirely unknown.
If, in so doing, they have not named myself as the  origi-
nator  of it, and have, in part, assumed to themselves the
title of authorship, it is only an occurrence that has in
similar cases been repeated a thousand times, and  must
necessarily proceed from  the vanity of contracted  souls.
In the majority of hydriatic works by mediciners and non-
mediciners, that  have  ap )eared since the publication of 
108
my  miscellanies,  my  explanation  of fever  has  been
adopted.

                         X.

      THE INTERNAL  PROCESS OF TAKING COLD.

Colds play a principal part in the pathology of the medicin-
ers, as well as of the laymen.  Concerning the internal pro-
cesses of those diseases arising from colds, we have had
heretofore not so much incorrect ideas as much rather no
ideas at all; these processes have been developed first in
my doctrine of disease.
  If a human body is quite free from morbific humors
(foreign matters  more or less poisonous), then taking cold
could have a morbid effect  only, if the nerves were ex-
tremely weak and diseased, and this  disease could consist
only in nervous irritations, depressions,  and cramps.   But
in a body free from foreign humors, there are no diseased
nerves,  and  consequently, sickness can  never arise in
such manner from colds, if there are no foreign humors
in the body.
  The skin  can perform its  necessary  business of excre-
tion only when its pores are open and it is warm.  These
two conditions cannot be  permanently maintained but by
means of cold water.   Indeed, warmth  can be maintained
around the body for a length of time by confining the imme-
diate atmosphere of the  skin with thick coverings of imper-
fect conductors of heat;  but such a manner of maintaining
the  warmth of the skin has two  decided disadvantages;
first, that the skin, which not only exhales tie insensible
perspiration, but must also absorb from the atmospheie, can
then induct into the body only corrupt  atmospheric nutri 
109
tion (see under air baths), and second, by tnis artificial
retention of the transpired warmth, the power of the skin
to generate warmth becomes gradually weaker, and con-
sequently, more and more covering becomes necessary.
  Because in the old regime the skin cannot  generate of„
itself the warmth necessary to transpiration, it becomes
obstructed so soon as the accustomed artificial aids are not
satisfactorily guaranteed.  This obst/uction of transpira-
tion  is  the so-called catarrh or cold which, however, as
before said, can only produce disease when morbific humors
(i. e. matters that are or have become foreign, and are not
exhaled in time from the body) are present in the body.
  When under such circumstances the transpiration stag-
nates for a length of time by reason of insufficient warmth
of skin, the matters to be  transpired take an  abnormal
course towards the inward parts of the body, or at least
the  fluid matter, that  should  have  evaporated, remains
an abnormal length of time within the body,  and dissolves
by reason of its fluidity  many of those mucous particles in
which the foreign, and especially the poisonous matters, lay
enveloped.   It  must, then,  necessarily result, that these
morbid  humors  which  have been thus  freed  from their
mucous envelopment, produce by  their acrid and corrosive
properties pains in those parts of the body with which they
come in contact.   The organism  can operate in two ways
with these free  humors,  viz. it  can either endeavor to
conduct them  to the skin,  and there excrete  them, or  it
 can  envelope them again with newly-generated mucus.
 The first is a struggle for radical  cure, and is undertaken
 by the organism  the more decidedly and  powerfully, ac-
 cording as it is stronger and healthier. The second course
 is a shift, which the ruii ed organism adopts, and to which 
110
even  a  sound organism  is  forced, when its endeavor to
cure itself is suppressed through medicinal treatment, i. e.
either through blood-letting or poisoning.
  A necessary consequence of the elucidation just given
by me is the conclusion that  under preparatory treatment
Df catarrhal complaints with water, the act of taking cold,
i. e. the setting free of the foreign humors from their mu-
cous envelopment by means of the fluids that should have
been transpired, remaining an abnormal length of time in
the body, can  become a means of cure in the truest sense
of the word, a means of the radical expulsion of the mor-
bid humors.   The  conclusion is  most substantially cor-
rect, when there is previous  strength of the skin and  of
the general  organism  sufficient  for going victoriously
through the struggle, and  when there has been previous
water-treatment.
  The originator of the systematic water-cure, uses, for
the purpose of intentional  catarrhs and  colds, or the dis-
solving of the old  mucus by obstructions of the exhala-
tions, those half baths, which I have called " fever-pro-
ducing baths."
  These half-baths are  employed to change atonic condi-
tions of disease (i. e. conditions of disease without  pain,
and  devoid of any symptoms of reaction)  into  tonic.
They must not be employed if the nerves are considerably
affected,  or if the cutaneous  system is inactive.  In gene-
ral none  but the perfect master of the water-cure  system
should meddle with them.
  The stronger the organism is at the time of its infection
with matters of disease, so  much the sooner ensues  an
acute disease  aftei  taking cold; so much the purer and
more marked  also  does  the  disease  resulting from cold 
Ill
partake of the  inflammatory character, and so much the
freer is it of nervous symptoms.
   With very vigorous persons the inflammatory affection
ensues always  within a  few days after the cold, and just
as soon, and still sooner, follows the crisis in the water-
cure, sometimes  immediately after  the  fever-generating
half-bath.
   But the unfortunate  beings who have a shattered ner-
vous system,  never get inflammatory affections after  a
cold, because it requires good, or tolerably good, nerves to
produce them ; those unfortunates suffer the most after
oolds from increased nervous afflictions, less from  rheu-
matic pains, and not at  all  from the inflammatory.   An
organism with shattered nerves can do nothing but imme-
diately  re-envelope  with mucus those morbific humors,
which  are set  free.   This exertion,  however, of itself so
trivial,  produces, in combination with the constringen*
prime effect of the cold  upon the nerves, an increase of
the nervous sufferings.  Hence it follows, that  persons
with shattered  nerves must, under all circumstances, care-
fully guard  against  taking cold,  and this also  while under
the water-treatment, until such time that the nerves have
gained strength and healthiness therefrom.
   From the above-shown difference in the effects of a cold
upon  healthy and diseased  nerves it  is argued, that that
method of cure which changes the rheumatic and inflam-
matory disposition of disease gradually into a nervous, is
by all means thoroughly false and ruinous ; and that that
method which  produces the contrary change, must deci-
dedly be the true method.   Thousands and  millions of
times has medicine  effected that disastrous  change, and
never has it produced a  single instance of the last-named 
j 12
 change, which leads to a  true cure.  Only water, only
 nature's medical art has the power to work out such a
 victorious change, which then is always the transition to
 the most complete cure.
   Every person, who does not pursue internal and exter-
 nal water diet, does not transpire  readily enough the  re-
 fuse-grown  substance, has  therefore diseased  matters in
 his body, and can, by  taking cold, bring  upon himself a
 disease.  No wild  beast, no wild  man can  be morbidly
 affected from the most violent cold, i. e. from transpira-
 tions  for a long time entirely suppressed, because no old
 foreign substances are present in the body.   If the exter-
 nal cold reaches such  an  unusual  degree, that  the organ-
 ism cannot react against it, then it is possible that such a
 healthy  being may, through withdrawal of all  warmth,'
 grow numb and perish, but never can any sickness follow
 from  restoration of warmth.
   To attain to such  enviable ruggedness and incapability
 of taking cold, it is  not necessary that we become wild ;
 much rather, we  may remain perfectly tame and  comfort-
 able,  and be just  as healthy as the  tiger or polar bear—if
 we return to first principles, to the water-cure and water-
 diet.  Such  health will be  guaranteed to the new-born
 babe, if it is reared in the  water-diet;  with him, however,
 who has grown up under the old  regime, the diet is  of
 little avail before he has been born  anew by a course of
 water-treatment.
  If any one is disposed to  learn whether he is  entirely
 free of foreign humors, is  absolutely healthy, he can best
 make the test by intentionally contracting a  severe cold.
However, this may only be allowable when  a water-phy-
sician is at hand to prevent any evil consequences, and 
113
when the state of the experimenter approaches nearly to
that of health, which, in common life, is entitled extraor-
dinarily  healthy.
  With a vigorous organism, which has for a ccnsiderable
length of time pursued the water-diet (without being  per-
fectly pure, however), a strong critical  perspiration  will
break out, probably the next night after the contraction of
the cold, and thus the matter is ended.   With a healthy
person under the usual diet, an acute disease will ensue,
and,  under water-treatment,  disappear  in  a few days,
without leaving a vestige behind.
  The chronic patient should guard himself  carefully '
against contracting  any cold, because he can no longer
produce any healing disease.
  There are, certainly, very few persons in Europe  that
can bid  defiance to any cold.  These few would, in the
Graefenberg water-cure, get no  kind of crisis whatever.
All others would do well to take in  hand the water-purifi-
cation  of their  bodies, which is attained  so much the
sooner the  healthier their  organism is.   Very  vigorous
persons get,  in the  Graefenberg water-cure,  eruptions
within the first few days, while the weak and enfeebled
require weeks and months.

                          XI.

     DRINKING OF COLD WATER WHEN HEATED.

The cooling of the  body internally  through cold-water
drinking while, or after being heated, operates in like man-
ner as the cooling of the skin by ablutions, always refresh-
ing and agreeable, and never produces sickness nor malady
in a healthy person.   Ar-3 we, indeed, to believe that nature 
114
 has implanted in her creatures this  ardent  desire aftei
 cold water, if to appease it were injurious ?   Oh, the  all-
 loviog, noble Nature has given to  man, as also to  the
 beasts, no propensity the appeasing of which renders him
 unhappy  or unhealthy !   But cultivation, i. e. those dis-
 tortions and distractions of civilization of which Europe
 is so proud, and which are continuallv approaching nearer
 and nearer to the absurdities of tht Chinese—that has
 perverted most conditions and circumstances, and plunged
 them into misery and error !
   Every beast, when it is heated, drinks with eagerness
 great  quantities  of cold  water, and  well  it agrees with
 him.  Only civilized man  and the civilizejd horse are the
 sufferers thereby ; for these poor creatures' have  a  body
 always so  full of corrupt  matters, that any  interrupted
 perspiration makes them sicken—thanks to the poisoning
 science !   On the contrary,  the wild  horse, because  it
 lives in the natural water-regime, is as  healthy and  as
 hardy as any other animal; even the horses of the Indians
 know  of no trouble  from  this source, and, after being
 heated, drink with impunity,  cold  water,  without being
 afterwards set in  motion or receiving any' covering.
  If cold-drinking, when   heated, were  injurious, hey!
 Messrs. Doctors, what would have become of your ances-
tors in their wild hunting expeditions ?  From what medi-
cal bench was preached to  the wild Germans,  and to the
savages of  the present  day, the precautions against  cold
water ?  And were and are these wild gentlemen  of the
woods  perhaps pulmonary  wheezers  and asthmatics ?
And  have you ever found   a savage or a  man of nature
anywhere, who does  not drink cold water  when heated ?
In the  moon perhaps, but not on earth 
115
  Every one who is perfectly free of foreign matters, may
drink cold water after the most intense over-heating of the
body, and then at pleasure either heat himself still  more,
or allow himself to cool.   Experience  has already con-
firmed this.
  But whoever  has grown  up in the  regime of a false
diet, and still more, whoever has swallowed the poisons
of medicine, cannot drink in an  over-heated state, if  he
does not continue in a state of activity,  which will  main-
tain  the heat in him, unless he  has previously purified
/amself completely by the water-treatment.


                         XII.

                     DYSENTERY.

Remark.—When, in this work, the distinguishing  symp-
toms of the  different  diseases are given under  the title,
" symptoms of the disease," these symptoms are always
taken from  those marks which characterize the disease,
never from the nature of the disease, or from the  causes
of the disease, which  two last subjects are treated  imme-
diately after the specification of the symptoms.
   (1)  Symptoms of the  Dysentery.—Violent pains  in the
evacuating intestine (rectum), and sometimes in the other
intestines also, attended with constant desire to evacuate
and proportionately small stools.   At first the evacuations
consist only of the excrements  in the  bowels, but after-
wards at a  later and  advanced  stadium of the disease,
which is chiefly the consequence of medicinal treatment,
they consist mostly of greenish  foul slime, which is passed
only with great  difficulty and straining.  If blood  is min- 
116
gled with the evacuation, or preponderates in the mixture,
it is called the bloody flux.   When  the  false formations
of inflammation arise  through  wrong treatment  of the
dysentery (of this  see  inflammatory  diseases) cuticular
and  polj pus-like formations are also evacuated.   Far-
ther, the  dysentery  passes  under false treatment some-
times into ulceration ce the  bowels, more frequently into
mortification, which then speedily produces death.
  (2)  The Nature and Condition of Disease in Dysentery
is an inflammation in the large intestines, most frequently
in the rectum, so that the  excrements  can with difficulty,
or not at all, pass by the inflamed part, and hence arises
the pressing desire to stool without the ability of  effecting
an evacuation.   The causes of dysentery lie almost al-
ways in the  corruption of the air, of the water, or of the
food ; colds  and a  previous predisposition  to dysentery
are co-operating causes.  This latter consists chiefly in
this, that in  the coatings of the large intestines acrid or
poisonous substances lie enveloped in mucus, which mu-
cus is dissolved by the moisture repressed by the closing
of the  pores by cold ; whereupon, then, in co-operation
with the  above-mentioned  corruption  of the elements or
of the aliments, more morbid  matters are accumulated in
the bowels,  against which the organism reacts  with an
inflammation, and thus endeavors to effect its cure.
  Moreover, I  must confess that I have not  as  yet suc-
ceeded  in investigating the  processes so  clearly and
thoroughly  of the epidemic diseases  as I have the pro-
cesses of the non-epidemic.
  (3) The operation and effect of the wai&r-treatment on the
Dysentery.
  Remark.—In representing the -jffects of water on  the 
117
various diseases, I have always in view the true hydriatic
treatment, according to the method of Vincent Priessnitz.
  The water which  is  drunk always passes  with  great
rapidity, and in inflammatory diseases, with  uncommon
rapidity through the whole circulation of the blood, and
arrives very soon through the small veins of the bowels
at the inflamed parts thereof; it dilutes and weakens  the
acrid humors,  and thus  renders them milder, and  by
means of its fluidity promotes their expulsion through the
various excretory functions.  The water taken as drink does
not reach as such the cavities of the large intestines, since
it is previously absorbed  in the small ones ; but, for  the
speedy cure of the dysentery, as of every  inflammation,
the application of a great  quantity of water in its original
substance is highly salutary ; therefore, in the dysentery,
a great many  water clysters must be given, which come
directly to the inflamed part of the bowels, where the pro-
per seat of the disease lies'.   The water cools the inflam-
mation, dilutes  and qualifies the acrid  morbid matters,
which, through the reaction,  are secreted partly from  the
internal parts  of walls of  the bowels, and discharged into
the hollow spaces of the intestines, and which, for the rest
part, have  come  into  the canal of the large intestines
through unwholesome foods and the corruption of the ele-
ments.   Farthermore, the water gives to  the bowels the
necessary  fulness, which facilitates evacuation, and in
such manner  washes them  dear of all morbific humors.
The water finally  supplies the  oxygen  and  hydrogen,
which, in  all  inflammations,  is consumed in abnormal
quantity, without which the false formations of inflamma-
tion  arise.    Sitz-baths and wet compresses around the
 abdomen, make the  work of cure complete. 
118
   When  the  dysentery-patient is  reduced by medical
treatment to that condition  in which the  transpirations of
the skin, together with the alvine evacuations, have become
obstructed and stagnated, then the  water  must first in wet
sheet envelopments be directed towards  re-animating the
activity of the skin, which it arouses through  its  afore-
described  effect upon the  human organism.  Also, when
there is considerable fever preceding the  inclination to
stool, a short envelopment is necessary.
   The operation of  water  in the  dysentery is  therefore
the cleansing of the  large  bowels  of the foreign matters,
against which  the organism  struggles so violently, and
thus the water-cure is an assistant to the reactive struggle.
   (4)  The effects  of the medical treatment upon the dys-
entery are according to the  variousness of the  remedies
applied, partly of moderate, partly of vast injury.  To the
moderately injurious belong the slimy and oily  remedies,
which sometimes are given alone, when the symptoms do
not rise to great violence ;  but these remedies can  never
effect a cure.   The  administered oil burdens the stomach
exceedingly ;  it does not pass directly through the bowels,
but is, for the most part, absorbed  in the small intestines,
consequently but a small portion reaches that part of the
bowels, where the inflammation  and  proper seat of the
disease lies.  Even then it is of very inconsiderable bene-
fit, because  no inflammation  can  be cooled with oil, but
only with  water, because the  oil  possesses  no  dissolving
power, because it can by no means penetrate into the very
delicate and minute spaces, and because it contains neither
oxygen nor hydrogen, which, in every inflammation, are
of the most cogent  necessity if they are to issue salutarily.
   That that part ol the oil, which is  absorbed in  the small 
119
intestines, and thus conducted into  he blood, can likewise
exercise no  salutary effect  upon the disease, is evident
from analogous causes.
  Frequently a  vomitive  is  administered immediately at
the commencement of the dysentery, and this is still more
in accordance with the characteristic  spirit  of  medicine;
it is a  poisonous  coercive remedy, which  withholds the
organism  from its  curative  endeavor, either obstructing
this endeavor or utterly rendering it  impossible, just ac-
cording to the strength of the patient.
  The opiate medicaments, which are so very frequently
administered in dysentery, operate in like manner.  Their
poisonous effects cripple the  organism ; hence the symp-
toms of reaction must in consequence  thereof grow weak-
er,  and on suitable  repetition  of  the poisonings must
finally cease, either because  death, the grand  colleague
of the mediciners,  gradually steps in,  or  because  the
organism desists  from its  struggle, and  resorts  to enve-
lopment of the morbific matter in mucus.   In this manner
either death by mortification is incurred by the above-
mentioned and  other poisons, or chronic  indurations  and
disorganizations  form themselves  in  the inflamed  parts,
which are followed by tedious life-long complaints.  This
last we find noticed in all  the medical  pathologies, where
indeed it is not at the same time mentioned, that the organic
transformations and ravages are the effect of the poisonous
suppression of the symptoms  of reaction of the dysentery.
But physiology  affords proof  to this, and  moreover it  has
been confirmed a thousand times by experience.  Never
after hydriatic treatment has  there arisen a chronic ailing
in the evacuating bowel, and  never has  a  patient  under
such treatment  died of dysentery.  I make  here the  ex- 
120
plicit observatioi , that, when I speak of hydriatic  treat-
ment, I  mean  a treatment conducted from  beginning to
end with water, and exclude a previous medicinal one.
  In the dysentery, as  in  every primary  disease,  the
palate manifests a  strong desire  for cold water, and in
every primary disease there must to a hair just so  much
be drunk as the thirst requires, and not a drop more.


                        XIII.

                      CHOLERA.

There  is no  fixed boundary to be drawn between the
sporadic and Asiatic cholera, as in general  nowhere be-
tween neighboring diseases  can certain  fixed  boundaries
be drawn.
  (1) Symptoms of the Cholera.—Sometimes it is preceded
by fore-tokens, frequently not.
  The fore-tokens are dejectedness of mind  and anxiety,
weariness of the limbs  and dizziness, in connexion with
disturbances in  the  digestive functions, especially with
diarrhoea.
  The  symptoms of cholera are: painful burning, with
anxious sensations  and compression in  the region of the
stomach, and in the region of the abdomen bordering upon
it below; distension of the abdomen, with dreadful  pains
and  disturbances in  the  bowels;  frequent vomiting  and
diarrhoea, by which a yellowish, brownish, greenish fluid
is evacuated with great violence.   With these  symptoms
is combined a burning thirst for cold water and a  rapid
but very small thread^ ike p alse. 
121
  These symptoms belong to  the cholera, also when it is
correctly treated  with water.
  In every medicinal, and in  every false treatment, there
arise as  signs of a  second and worse stadium, generally
the following symptoms: Evacuations of a whey—or rice-
water like fluid, with flakes which resemble  cheese-mites;
coldness of hands and feet, a changing of the color of the
skin to a dirty pale yellow,  to a bluish, and even to a
blackish  color;  viciousness,  flaccidness of the skin, and
secretion of a tough, anxious perspiration; blackish color
of the lips and nails ; a death-like look, with deep sunken
eyes,  around  which blackish  rings  form themselves; a
hoarse inarticulate voice, a cold  and light  grey lead co-
lored tongue;  painful cramps in the limbs, especially in
the calves of the  legs and muscles of the belly ; difficult
groaning respiration, total cessation of urinary secretions,
and of the vomiting  and diarrhoea;  a stupefied slumber,
but without disturbance of the   onsciousness;  a tough,
pitch-like disposition of the blood, a  continual dwindling
of the pulsations of the  heart, increasing coldness of the
skin—death.
  (2) The Nature of Disease  in the Cholera  is a reaction
of all the  organs of digestion against matters of disease
more in the cavities  than in the walls of the organs, and
an  effort to cast off these matters through  vomiting and
purging.
  An elucidation on this  subject, of what  nature these
matters of disease may  be, has not, as yet, been given in
regard to the epidemic and Asiatic cholera ;  certain it is,
however, that these matters are a consequence of a corrup-
tion of the elements, and thence also, of foods in general,
and that they are the consequi nee especially  of the corrup- 
122
 tion of the air.  Whether the atmospheric corruption con-
 sists in its putrefaction or other chemical transformation, or
 whether in its impregnation with minute invisible animal-
 culse, thereupon I venture no opinion.   The morbid mat-
 ters which cause sporadic cholera, originate, partly, in  a
 less extensive corruption of the elements; partly, and for
 the most part,  in  the  consumption of corrupted  foods.
 This corruption of the  foods is of two  kinds, either  as
 having taken  place before the foods were eaten, or, on the
 other hand,  as originating  in the digestive organs by rea-
 son of weakness, or chronic disease in those organs  from
 poisons previously taken.
   That to take either  kind of cholera  a predisposition is
 necessary, is evident for this  reason, that even where the
 epidemic cholera is  raging most violently, the great ma
jority escape its attacks.   The nature  and causes of this;
 predisposition  are the same in general as those mentioned
 in the foregoing chapter.
   The dysentery, as well as the cholera, may become a
 violent epidemic and apparently contagious; but they are,
 properly  speaking,  not  contagious; in regard to conta-
giousness, these diseases may be denominated the transi-
 tion diseases.
   Whence  is  it,  that sometimes  the  cholera does not
set in with the initial symptoms of efforts at evacuation,
 but immediately with  cramps and coldness of the extre-
mities 1
   It comes from the relaxation and chronic illness of the
digestive  organs :  it  only occurs with such  persons as
have for  a long time suffered in these organs.  Through
perverted diet, and especially from  much doctoring, the
stomach finally loses the  power of  free motion of the mus- 
123
cles, by which vomiting is produced.  On the ether hand,
it is a proof of excellent health  and strength of stomach,
if it can immediately and without difficulty, rid itself, by
vomiting, of an inimical substance, and immediately have
a good appetite  again—in like manner as a dog's stomach.
  This same appearance  manifests  itself when cramps,
without vomiting, sometimes  ensue  after medicinal vomi-
tives are administered, and the reason is precisely the same.
The stomach, too weak to eject the, enemy, torments itself
In endeavoring to do so, and this  tormenting calls  up  the
nervous convulsions of the cramp.   In this manner a per-
son may die of a vomitive, if vomiting does not ensue,  a
circumstance which has happened often enough.
  This state of cramps and death-fear occurs  in cholera
as second stadium, also with  those  persons whose efforts
at purification are  disturbed  and suppressed by medical
interference.  For the old method of cure with its usual
folly, combats the diarrhoea and vomiting, the very cura-
tive efforts of the disease :  in  this manner it has sacrificed
far more victims than the malady itself.
  (3)  The effect of the water-treatment upon  the cholera
need  not  be specially  shown, since it  is similar to its
effect  on the dysentery.  The  burning thirst for cold
water points out this drink in compliance with the infalli-
bility of the  human instinct, as  the only and sovereign
remedy.  It cures by the  di.ution   and  reduction of the
matters of disease, as  also more especially by the elimina-
tion  and ejection thereof through vomiting and evacua-
tions.
  If these two  symptoms are still remaining, the water is
applied as drink,  as clyster, in sitz-baths, and wet com-
presses.   If, however, these  symptoms have already been 
124
suppressed through medical treatment, and if the second
stadium, with the above-mentioned  principal symptoms,
is  thus brought  on,  then  the water  must  be  directed,
by means of the wet envelopments, strong rubbing of the
feet, moderate drinking and bathing, towards exciting into
action  the energy of the skin, until this object be attained,
whereupon, then, the  water is applied  again to the diges-
tive organs.
  (4)  The Effects of  the Medical Treatment of Cholera.
—At first in the commencement of the disease oleaginous
remedies are administered, of which I have  already spo-
ken.   In the most direct contradiction to themselves the
mediciners  give  now  a remedy to stop the evacuation
(and this is generally the case), now a remedy to excite
vomiting.   That  the  first  manner of proceeding causes
great  injury is evident from  former expositions.  The
second  manner of proceeding  is quite as  injurious ; for
the  medical vomitives  consist of poisons which  neither
moderate nor dilute the matters  of disease  at hand, but
have the contrary effect;  they consist of poisons which
do not  dissolve the  old mucous slime, but necessarily
cause a fresh flow of mucus, because without this mucous
protection  the  walls  of the stomach  and  of the  bowels
would  be corroded, and more  or less  destroyed through
the operation of the poison.
  In the cholera medicine  has  exhibited its injuriousness
on a large scale ; according to official accounts, of those
attacked with the  cholera  in Russia, who, on account of
their remoteness from physician and drug shop,  were not
medically,  and, consequently, not at all, treated, not half
so many died as of those treated medically.   A like pro-
portion to the discountenance of allopathy exhibits itself 
125
between homoeopathic and allopathic treatment.  It is also
to be added and taken into consideration, that those cholera
patients who survive the allopathic treatment, have  always
a long, oftentimes  a life-long chronic malady to labor
under, because the  elimination of the cholera-humors is
not promoted  by medicine, but  hindered and  rendered
quite impossible, and because  to  these humors the medi-
cinal poisons are superadded and remain in the body more
or less during  life.
  On  the contrary,  if a cholera-patient  has not, as yet,
taken any medicine,  and if the alvine evacuations are still
in operation, no chance of death is possible under correct
water-treatment, and still less possible are  after-pains and
the origination of chronic illnesses.


                        XIV.

    THE PRIMARY INFLAMMATORY DISEASES IN
                     GENERAL.

Remark.—By primary inflammation we understand  that
form of inflammation which the physicians call  the acute,
and also the synochous.
  (1)  Symptoms of Primary Inflammation.—In all inflam-
mations of the  internal parts, and in violent inflammations
of the  external parts, fever  is present.   Tn the inflamed
part there is an universal increase of warmth even to heat,
and an abnormal accumulation of blood, with which is
necessari y combined a high red  color.   These accumu-
lations c i blood produce an enhanced fulness of the pulse,
fill vessels with blood, which are otherwise bloodless, and
cause a throbbing and palpitation  in vessels where  other- 
126
 wise  no pulsation  is to be perceived.  In  the  inflamed
 part are pains  frequently of a violent, shooting nature.
 Thus the primary or curative inflammation is distinguished
 from  the  secondary or destroying inflammation, by the
 heightened degree  and rapid course  of the former, but
 still in a greater degree and far more  essentially, are the
 two kinds distinguished from each other by the abnormally
 increased  structural disposition  of all primary inflamma-
 tions ; while on the contrary, in the secondary inflamma-
 tion this disposition  never exceeds the normal energy, but
 often sinks below it, as  this is  especially the case in the
 typhus  inflammation.
  The only assistance which the hydriatic  pathology can
 receive and make use of from the  medical  pathology, and
 indeed must make use of, is that part which treats of the
 symptoms of  diseases ; this must, however, be done  with
 extreme caution and the full understanding of the subject,
to prevent the transfer  of many errors from  the  medical
to the hydriatic pathology.
  The above-enumerated symptoms of primary inflamma-
tion are to be found in the writings of the physicians, and
they belong to this  form of disease really and originally.
 But the symptoms  of alteration in the disposition of the
blood and  the  origination  of  false structures which the
medical pathology ascribes also to the inflammation, belong
solely to the medical treatment of this disease ;  they are an
effect of medicine and  the  non-use of  water, they are  so
foreign to the true form  of inflammation in itself, that the
slightest trace of such symptoms never appears, 1 vhen tbe
disease is treated from beginning to end with wate r.
  (2) The  Nature of Disease in the Primary form of In.
flammation consists  in  a combat of the organism against 
127
foreign acrid poisonous substances afloat in the system, set
free from the mucous  coatings  of the stomach and bow-
els, or in heightened re-formative activity of the organism
in cases  of partial  destructions  of the organic  structure
from external violence, as in  the case of wounds,  burns,
&c, &c.
   The manner in which the body gets burdened with for-
eign and acrid matters through unwholesome diet or false
method of cure,  and how these matters enveloped in mu-
cus lie for a length of time  inactive  and  uninjurious, yet
how they are released either by suppression of the  insen-
sible perspiration, by contraction of  cold, or because the
part of the body in which they lie renews itself, and thus
loses the old, and endeavors to exude it—all this has been
already set forth  by me  and  demonstrated,  and  I can,
therefore, enter  upon  the detail-account of the internal
processes of inflammation.
   The inflammation arising from external  injuries remains
here unconsidered,  since they belong to the chapter upon
surgical  diseases.
   Those substances which are at first introduced into thf
body as  foreign  and disease-causing, are  commonly those
proceeding from unwholesome  diet, not medicinal sub-
stances.     •
   The substances  from false diet incapable  of assimila-
tion, arise in the excessive use of salt;  the consumption
of articles in the  incipient stages of putrefaction, as  for
example, of  strong  cheese  and rancid butter; in the use
of sharp spices, as pepper; and  in the  use  of alcoholic
and intoxicating drinks.   In consequence of the law, that
the digestive organs can  digest no  substances which  are
sharper  than the gastric juice and gall together, therefore, 
128
the above-mentioned sharp and acrid substances which are
intermixed with the foods and drinks, pass unassimilated
in their sharp acrid constitution, into the circulation, and
through it into the whole body, while the other ingredients
of the foods and drinks thus  intermixed are digested and
transformed into organic essence.   When medicine  is
administered in a  diarrhoea, or  common indisposition, or
in a contagious exanthematous disease, then actual poi-
sons are introduced into the  body in addition to the acrid
sharp substances of the false diet.  In such a manner a
person may accumulate in himself a considerable quan-
tity of sharp and poisonous   matter,  without ever having
had an inflammatory disease, in the cure of which he has
necessarily been medicinally poisoned.
  As  soon as these matters are, during  a long and severe
cold,  released  from their mucous fetters,  they produce
violent pains, by coming in contact with the nerves.  If the
organism is not vigorous enough to undertake the effort of
radically eliminating the matters, these pains continue for
a long time, return frequently, and  are called rheumatic
pains.  If,  however, the organism has the strength neces-
sary to undertake its radical  cure, it carries on still more
extensively the work of releasing the peccant matter by
dissolving the old mucus, and does not again" envelop the
released foreign matters in fresh  mucus, but forces great
quantities of blood  into that  organ, in which they are in
greatest quantity present.  Abnormal  quantities of blood
are there necessary for  several  purposes, to wit, first, to
dissolve more and more the  old phlegmy mucus, to drive
the released poisonous matters towards the skin, to protect
the nerves and other organic  structures as much as possi-
ble against the dest "active  power of the poisons, which
• 
129
are carried past them  towards the skin ;  and  second,  to
restore by new formations  the  partial destructions  which
still are  necessarily produced in organic structures, for
which purpose much blood is requisite;  for  blood  is the
material from which the vital energy creates all organic
structures.
   From  this  necessity  of re-formation of organic destruc-
tions,  the abnormally strong re-formative disposition  of the
primary inflammatory disease explains itself in the simplest
and dearest manner, which indeed has hitherto been a rid-
dle to all pathologists.
   The  blood  is  the material which forms  all organic
structures, but these formations cannot proceed in a normal
and organically perfect manner without oxygen sufficient
to the  transformation of the fluid blood into solid organic
parts, and they cannot proceed without hydrogen to change
the refuse solid parts into  transpirable fluid.   These two
materials are the constituent parts  of water.  In the in-
flammatory form of disease the body needs for the above-
mentioned purposes these two materials in an  abnormal
quantity.  Without sufficient support from these  two mate-
rials,  the abnormally heightened re-formative disposition of
the system cannot elaborate to organic perfectness  the organic
new formations of destroyed parts, but it  must necessarily
produce malformations—and those are the false formations
of the inflammatory form of disease, which physicians can-
not explain to themselves, and which always arise  when
the skin and stomach are not supplied with as much water
as the instinct requires—unless directly in its commence-
ment the inflammation  is suppressed by repeated  blood-
lettings, of which  I shall speak more fully  and particu.
larly.
                        6* 
130
   The  ever, which  attends every  violent irilammation,
finds its explanation in the abnormally, and far above the
normal energies, elevated activity of the organism, and in
the abnormally increased consumption of oxygen.
   (3)  The effects of the hydriatic treatment on the primary
form of Inflammation, have been given already under sec-
tion  2, in  all the points of chief moment.  For the com-
plete dissolution of all foreign matters  in  the  inflamed
part the  blood  requires copious dilution, so that it may
penetrate  into the minutest spaces, and possess the greatesl
possible dissolvent power ;  to expedite the foreign matters
towards the  skin  it requires  an  uncommon quantity of
transpirable matter, to which  the water furnishes partly
the material, and partly the means ; finally, the  pores of
.he skin, in order to eliminate  the  offending  matters, re-
quire frequent and repeated cleansing, and the refreshing,
cooling, strengthening influence  which  water exercises
upon that  organ.
   So much upon the  requisiteness of water for the pur-
pose of excreting foreign  matters; the indispensableness
of water for the purpose  of rebuilding  organical destruc-
tion, has already been considered under division 2.
   (4) The effects of the medical treatment  upon Inflamma-
tory Disease,  are diametrically contrary to the effects of
the hydriatic.
   Under the water-treatment the instinct  is appeased and
satisfied, under the medical treatment it is maltreated ;
for, in every  primary  inflammation the patient has most
parching thirst for water, both in the skin and the tongue,
and  has  in every  disease, and in  ecery condition,  the
greatest disgust for medicine and poison ; under  the wa-
ter-cure the symptoms of disease  are moderated, but still 
131
sustained, until the purpose of the inflammation has oeen
gained ;  under the medical treatment the symptoms, as
efforts of the organism to cure itself, are suppressed, and
the re-construction of organic demolitions is rendered im-
possible.  Under the medical treatment an actual cure is
a  physiological  impossibility;  still,  through  medicinal
means and appliances, a deliverance from death, with some
exceptions,  is most generally  possible  in this  disease.
Bleeding  especially is their  most  efficacious remedy.
Thus, if, in that stadium of the disease wherein the blood
has not as yet passed  into corruption, recourse is had to
sufficient bleedings, the quantity of blood necessary to an
inflammation is thus withdrawn  from the inflamed organ,
and the inflammation must  for this reason  cease.  Often
enough the patient then dies of debilitation from loss of
blood, but  it is  more  frequently the case, that he  does
not die, while, on the contrary, he almost always dies, if
neither water nor  medical  assistance (under  this head I
include blood-lettings) is  administered.
   Such,  however, is  the dreadful effect of blood-letting
and  poisons upon  the  inflammatory form of disease, that
where death does not ensue, they  always leave a chronic
malady, which is, in  most cases, far worse  than  death
itself.   As a rule, we find it mentioned in  all  medical
therapies, that the  medically cured inflammations  gene-
rally leave a weakness in  the  inflamed  part, which con-
tinues through the remainder of life.   This is  not by far
the most  disastrous effect of the medical treatment;  it
happens very  frequently  that it is  followed  sometimes
sooner,  sometimes later, by  chronic  ulcerations, indura-
tions which grow to cartilage, false  growths, schirrous
exanlhem, which finally turns to cancer, the accumulation 
132
of an abnormal quantity of serous liquid, and even Tiorti-
fication.   These after-effects of medically treated inflam-
mation, we  find mentioned  in  all medical  instruction
books.  The manner in which  such destructive diseases
arise, finds a general explanation in my expositions already
given ; further on, when the secondary diseases are treated
of, I will give the detail demonstrations.
  The poisons are less effectual  in suppressing inflamma-
tory symptoms than the  abstractions of blood.  Still,  the
former afford the  latter  great  assistance.  More recently
mercury,  in its various preparations,  is almost always
employed  as an antiphlogistic medicament, besides a mass
of other poisons.
  When poison is introduced into the stomach, that organ
must either cast it out immediately,  or envelope it in mu-
cus.  To  accomplish the first  of these  purposes requires
much more energy than the second.  Sometimes the me-
dicament  heightens the  symptoms, and  produces new,
although other symptoms ; sometimes it quiets them ;  the
first  is the case when the organism  attempts to throw off
the  poison of the medicine, the last  when it  envelopes it,
and tolerates it within itself.   On suitable repetition of the
doses of poison the organism is always driven to the latter
expedient.
  That the symptoms of disease, if  they be curative, and
consequently voluntary symptoms, must abate, when an
uncommon exercise  of power is demanded in another  or-
gan, is of itself evident;  the  power of inflammation in
another  organ must abate exactly in accordance with  the
proportion of strength employed to generate mucus in  the
digestive organs.   Hence, it is evident, that  the poisons
depress or entirel- suppress the inflammatory symptoms. 
133
  The effect of medical  treatment upon  primary inflarn
mations is  accordingly e ther  death  from debilitation, or
the origination of chronic complaints ;  for this reason, that
in the first place neither the original peccant matter of the
disease  is eliminated by the  medical treatment, nor can
the organic destructions be restored through new forma-
tions ;  that,  secondly, new  poisons are brought into the
body, and firmly fixed there in  mucous envelopment;  and
that, thirdly, the general organism  is debilitated by the
abstraction  of  blood, and most especially the nerves are
affected.  A nervous disorder is often  enough brought on
by repeated  copious  bleedings, and then insanity follows
in the train of  consequences.
  Sometimes the mere quenching of the thirst with water
suffices to cure an inflammatory disease ; however death
frequently follows such a simple  treatment, and it  very
rarely cures the malady radically.   But the appliances
of the methodic hydriatique cures  radically  under all cir-
cumstances  every primary inflammation with uncommon
despatch, and a chance of death is absolutely impossible,
if the water be employed in the very commencement of it.
  The primary form  of inflammation is  the purest  and
most energetic curative  form  of the  human organism, it
has  been growing more and more seldom for a number of
years, and  the  nervous form  of disease  more  and more
frequent.  That is the effect of a  method of cure, which
borrows all  its  remedies from the  armories of death, the
torture and  the executioner's agents—poison, fire, steel—
these three words comprehend the whole " apparatus medi-
caminum "  of the art of mischief, as reason calls it, which
is a devouring cancer on the marrow  of the human  race,
and which, by newly invented arts of a medical Jesuitism, 
134
gives itself all imaginaole trouble to .nduce the magistracy
or rulers of the country to suppress the true  system ol
cure.

                         XV.

INFLAMMATION  OF THE  EYES—INFLAMMATION  OF
  THE BRAIN—INFLAMMATION OF  THE THROAT,  OR
  QUINSY—INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS.

   (1) Inflammation  of the Eyes  falls  into many subdivi-
sions, according to the degree of violence (taraxis, chemo-
sis, ophthalmia), and the different parts of the eye, which
are particularly the seat of the  inflammation (inflamma-
tion of the sockets of the eye, of the eyelids, of the eye-
balls, of the cornea, of the iris, &c, &c).  All these, and
a number of  other subdivisions, are  in the hydriatic prac-
tice not only superfluous, but unnecessarily perplexing,
and productive of confusion, and may be entirely disre-
garded.  Therefore  we will use here  only the  general
term of Inflammation of the Eyes.
   When the organism f ndeavors by acute efforts to throw
off foreign, acrid, poisonous matter  from the eyes  by
means of secretions of mucus from the glands  and glan-
dules, it can effect this only by an abnormally heightened
energy of action,  which is here almost entirely  local, and
consequently  not without abnormal accumulation of blood
and increase of warmth.   If the heat be not cooled, and
the eyes  not  bathed with water,  the quality of the blood
becomes altered, and false formations arise, which are of
various kinds ; oftentimes a film  grows over the eye-ball,
and produces  blindness. 
13o
  Inflammations of the eyes  particularly are sometimes
epidemic, for instance in Egypt, when the wind, impreg-
nated with fine sand, drives it into the eyes, and in large
towns, when a dry heat prevails in the  summer season ;
and consequently the fine stone-dust, which the wheels of
a thousand vehicles grind from the stone pavement, is not
kept down by rain or moisture, as, for instance, in Berlin.
Allopathy administers  its antiphlogistica, applies leeches
and Spanish  flies, and  smears poisonous salves, wherein
mercury again plays  a principal  part, into that delicate
noble organ of the sight.  Whoever has, in such a man-
ner, passed through the executioners' hands, has before
him a threefold  prospect; first, always and uncondition-
ally chronic  decrease of the keenness  of vision, which
usually soon  grows to such weakness as to  incapacitate
the eyes for any in-door business ;  second, in most gases
a  permanent  life-long  redness, periodical  prickling  or
pains in the eyes, and nightly suppuration ; third, in very
many instances after the expiration of a number of years,
blindness from decay of the visual nerve.
   It is evident, from the former deductions of this book,
how the poison rubbed into  and through coercive means
imbibed by the eyes may for a series of  years be held in
confinement,  and it can at last  still  destroy the  visual
nerve.   Blindness may come  on  twenty years and  more
after such a treatment, and yet the cause in material sub-
stance is still that same poison which  so long afterwards
destroys the nerve of sight.
   In Berlin,  as a chief seat of inflammation  of eyes and
of  allopathy, many hundreds have in  this way been de-
prived of their sight  by the  most  celebrated physicians, 
136
and e\en now not a single year passes in  which such vic-
tims are not sacrificed to the night of blindness.
  If water be rightly applied in  eye-baths and wet ban-
dages directly in the commencement of the acute stadium,
the  purification of the eyes will  be  soon  effected, and no
after-affections can in anywise possibly ensue.  If, after
the  eyes have been  injured by poisonous applications, in
addition to the above-named appliance, the douche, back-
head bath, and foot-bath be  employed, the acute crisis will
again  return, and by perseverance  the former keenness
of sight, provided  that the  organism is still possessed of
good age and vital energy.
  (2)  Inflammation of the Brain comprises  the inflamma-
tion both of the  brain and of the  membrane covering  the
brain,  and a distinction between them is entirely unneces-
sary in the hydriatic system.
  The symptoms of this disease  are glaring red eyes, a
fixed, staring, or wild  rolling  look ;  the  blood-vessels of
the head are greatly dilated, and beat violently under the
influence  of a high general  fever ;  the  skin  is dry.  A
stupefying, oppressive feeling in the head is followed by a
fixed violent pain, which is  increased by every strong im-
pression of the  mind, and which at times runs into  tor-
pid, at times into raging deliria.
  We have here excluded external  injuries as  an  origi-
nating cause.
  The nature of this disease consists in a violent reaction
of the organism  against foreign matter in  the brain, which
is set free from  its mucous  envelopment by colds; in the
head, by a systematic  water-cure in chronic affections of
the  brain, by abnormal determination of blood to the parts, 
137
brought on by excessive exertion  and  application of the
mind.
   The effects of the hydriatic treatment upon inflammations
of the brain are elimination of the matter of disease, partly
through perspiration and eruptions on the head, but more
through abnormal secretions from the alvearies or hollows
of the ears, and from the nostrils (catarrh); oftentimes
these secretions have quite an  abnormal color and acrid-
ness.
   Under the water-treatment,  inflammation of the  brain
cannot possibly event either in  death or in the foundation
of any secondary affection of the head.
   The effects of the  medical  treatment  upon inflammation
of the brain, are either death  under apoplectic and con-
vulsive circumstances, and palsy of the brain, or a sensi-
ble enfeeblement of that organ, or secondary brain-disease,
as chronic  inflammation, gradual ulceration of the brain,
accumulation of serous liquid,  softening of  the brain,
finally also insanity.
   (3)  Inflammation of  the Throat, or  Sore Throat.—By
sore throat we intend sometimes all  inflammations of the
various organs and parts'of the throat, at other times only
the  inflammations of the  wind-pipe, and  again  also  the
inflammations of the  contiguous parts.
   Besides  the fore-mentioned general symptoms of inflam-
mation, that of the wind-pipe is attended by a cough, of a
hoarse and barking tone, that of the oesophagus with diffi-
culties in swallowing.
   When death does  not ensue under  the medical  treat-
ment, still  after-affections  always do, which, in favorable
cases, consist in a predisposition to fresh attacks of inflam-
mation of  the  throat;  in  unfavorable  cases, however, io 
138
a chronic inflammation of the organs  that we:e affected,
further  in  indurations and ossifications of the wind-pipe
and  oesophagus, further in origination of  schirrus and
cancer.
  (4) The Inflammation of the Lungs, and Diaphragm, have
like symptoms, and are treated alike in the water-cure.
  Violent compression of the breast,  and difficulties  in
breathing, with high  fever, a pain in the breast, which
now  is dull, now piercing, hot breath and  expectoration
of phlegm, and frequently, also, of blood, are the symp-
toms of inflammation of the lungs.
  The results of the hydriatic as well as of the medical
treatment correspond  to the same results in  the other in-
flammations.    In  the  water-treatment  actual  cure  is
effected through the critical discharges of the  cough, and in
general also of boils ;  in the medical treatment the afore-
mentioned after-evils arise, and, in  particular, in the last
instance of inflammation of the lungs and chest, ulceration
of the lungs, commonly called consumption, sets in.
  The inflammation of the other parts of the body, as of
the liver, of the tongue, of the diaphragm, of the stomach,
of the matrix, &c, are analogous  to those just described,
as well  in  regard  to the symptoms,  and condition, and
nature of the  disease, as in regard to the  effects which
the  water-cure and  medicine  exert  upon  them  respec-
tively ;  still each  is variously modified according to the
different construction  and function  of the different organs.
The very limited space which I can still allow to primary
inflammations I must devote to the consideration of the
metastases.
   When, as is generally the case, matters of disease are
present in several  organs of one and the same body,  and 
139
are set free from their envelopment of mucus by a severe
cold or other  cause, still, then, a genuine and  energetic
inflammation  cannot take place but in a single organ, be-
cause the organism in general does not possess vigor suf-
ficient '  to  a  victorious  encounter  of the  inflammatory
struggle in two  different organs ;  exceptions occur  very
rarely, and only in uncommonly strong  organisms, well
observed, I speak  only  of primary, violent, and genu-
ine inflammations, not of rheumatic, still less of  chronic
inflammations.   It is no contradiction of this position, that
the adjoining parts and organs are also somewhat affected
by  the inflammations ; for  these affections arise only from
a  lateral influence of the spontaneously  inflamed organ,
and must follow  from  the consensuality of contiguous or-
gans.
   Another circumstance not to  be confounded with the
position  just  considered^ is  the transplantation  of the  in-
flammation from one organ  to another, and always  to a no
bier organ, and  one more influential, and  possessing more
power over life.  These transplantations of a disease, and
especially of an  inflammatory,  is  called  a  metastasis
(genuine metastasis).
   Metastasis is generally the effect of a false medical treat-
ment.  Genuine metastasis is produced  only  by freshly
contracted cold ; false metastasis  arises  from  medicinal
poisoning.
   A true metastasis I call such as is  produced by  a vio-
lently altered direction of the humors, and especially  of
the transpiratory faculty ; the violence which this Droduces
consists seldom  in colds taken in the usual manner, but so
much the more  frequently in a false application of cold
water, and still  more of ice.  If the cooling water com- 
140
presses, or local  baths  of cold water, are  continued too
long, without in the meantime allowing the organism the
space and means for reaction by the application of warm-
ing cold-water-bandages, the fluid  of  the insensible  per-
spiration is forced  into other organs,  and there  sets free
matters of disease,  and  thus causes  fresh  isflammation.
The original inflammation in the former organ must abate,
because  the  organism has not  powers sufficient  to  two
simultaneous inflammations ; consequently, the organism
must  again  envelope in  mucus the  peccant matter set
free in the first inflamed organ.   In such  a  manner, by
the false application of water, an inflammation of the bow-
els may be transmitted to the  chest, as also inflammation
of the chest  to the brain.   When physicians, according
to their method, make water-applications in  inflammations,
they take it always too cold, and continue its influence too
long,  so that they almost always produce  metastasis;
they make use, also, of ice, which  must  be  wholly ex-
cluded from the true water-cure system.   Under  correct
water-treatment, a metastasis is  impossible, and the direc-
tions for such water-treatment can be given so simply and
clearly, that even the most uninformed cannot err, when
he has read them.
   The  false  metastasis I call that  transposition of the in-
flammation which is produced by poisonous substances in
another organ recently introduced  into the  body.  When,
for instance, mustard plasters are applied behind the  ears
or upon the back  for inflamed  eyes,  then  this is  a false
metastasis, which  is intentionally  produced by the physi-
cians, as a so-called derivative.  Frequently they accom-
plish the same end unintentionally, but quite in the  same
manner, by poisons administered  internally.   It is  clear 
141
that the primary inflammation of an organ must somewhat
abate when inflammation and impostumation is produced
elsewhere by corrosive drugs, and the powers of the body
are thereby divided ; and it is just as clear that the peccant
matter of the primarily inflamed organ  is not  thereby
eliminated, but that fresh poisonous matters are introduced
into the artificially inflamed organ.
   The real metastasis  is distinguished by its greater en-
ergy and marked primary character from the false metas-
tasis, which, in most  cases,  partakes somewhat  of the
character of the chronic and  lingering inflammation,  and
sometimes passes over into such.


                       XVI.

                COUGHS AND COLDS.

These are diseases of the most general and simple kind,
and, in the commencement, are always curative endeavors
to eliminate  peccant matter  by means  of secretions  of
mucus.   In persons  afflicted with chronic diseases they
lose their primary  and curative character, and degenerate
into various secondary  forms, as  for instance,  into ob-
structed catarrh, into  the dry cough, which, with some,
produces chronic affection  of the throat, and is the fore-
runner of ulceration of the  lungs.   Here, we have only
to do with the primary  forms, which are not of long dura-
tion, and cause copious secretion of mucus.
   The excretions of the brain, that is, the refuse substance
of the brain, as well as  also foreign and poisonous matters,
which have found their way  into the brain through the
circulation of the  blood,  are  discharged  mostly through 
142
 the nostrils in the mucus  and rhlegm of the  nose, less
 from the ears, in the form of earwax, least of all, and
 indeed only in sickness, from the sockets of the eyes.
 Primary catarrh is thus  a  secretion of acrid foreign hu-
 mor from the brain, and the inflammation of the mucous
 membrane of the nose is produced by the acrid and cor-
 rosive  power  of the  foreign  humors coming in  contact
 with it.   Allopathy, which, in its  usual  supeiricial man-
 ner, confounds the symptoms and  even the effects  of the
 disease, with the nature of the disease, endeavors  to find
 the nature of catarrh  in an inflammation of the mucous
 membrane of the nose, while the inflammation is only an
 effect of the catarrh, and its nature consists in  a cleans-
 ing of the brain.  Colds  are usually  the occasion  of the
 origination  of this cleansing,  inasmuch as they release
 the foreign matters encased in mucus, whereupon, then,
 the purifying effort commences.  The feeling, alone, tells
 every one that the cause and seat of the cold does  not lie
 in the mucous glands of the nose  only,  but  still more in
 the brain also, since  in the  beginning  of the cold, con-
 fusedness in the  head, and  after it  has passed off, a plea-
 surable sensation and  ncreased ease of the brain is expe-
 rienced,  which manifests itself also in the  ease and per-
 spicuity  of thought which in the  commencement  of the
 cold is very much restricted.
  All  the circumstances and processes, together with the
 causes of primary cough, are quite analogous with those
 of catarrh.  In a like superficial  manner,  allopathy de-
 clares  its nature to be an  inflammation of the  mucous
glands of the throat, while its nature consists  really  in the
elimination of  foreign matters from  the lungs.
  It is a real pleasure to  see  how primary coughs and 
143
 colds, under the vater-treatment, increase their secretions
 of phlegm, mucus, and expectoration, and are thus cured
 so much the more  quickly.
   In the water-cure, obstructed catarrh becomes loose and
 flowing, and in the  same manner  precisely,  dry cough,
 pains and strictures of the breast, are changed to critical
 cough, by which the phlegm-enveloped matters are thrown
 off, since otherwise, at a later  period of life,  they would
 have caused ulceration or dropsy on the chest.
   The acridness of the secretions in catarrhs and coughs,
 which, in the case of the former, is oftentimes so corroding
 that  they  painfully affect the nostrils, and even the  con-
 tiguous part of the upper lip, and  give  them a high in-
 flamed red color,  proves sufficiently,  that  the secreted
 phlegm contains matters which are quite distinct from the
 phlegm itself, which, as is well known, is a perfectly mild
 substance, free from all taste and smell.
   In the wide  field of disease the group of the inflamma-
 tory forms of disease  borders upon the group of the rheu-
 matic forms, and,  in individual cases of disease, one may
 be in doubt  under which  of these groups they are to be
 classed.   Also, primary coughs  and catarrhs are often-
 times intermediate forms between those  wo groups.


                        XVII.

               INTERMITTING FEVER.

 Fevers are usually classified under three main  heads—
capillary  fever, intermitting fever, and  nervous fever.
The capillary  fevers  are subdivided into  primary and
secondary ; to  the former belong the inflammatory fevers; 
L44
 to the latter belong the typhus and putrid.   The catarrhal
 and rheumatic  fevers form  a transition  or intermediate
 class,  and, according as they partake more of the inflam-
 matory or more of the nervous character, incline at one
 time to the primary capillary form, at another time to the
 nervous form.
   Of all fevers only the primary capillary fevers and the
 intermitting fever belong always to the primary diseases;
 generally, the catarrhal fevers belong there also, to whose
 more  minute consideration room  fails us in this edition ;
 they are among the most unimportant and best known dis-
 eases,  and their nature is apparent  from  the chapters on
 the inflammatory and rheumatic forms of disease.
   The symptoms  of a  corrupt or diseased stomach in a
 fever give it that character which is usually called gastric.
 In the pure inflammatory form of disease all gastric cha-
 racter is wanting; on the contrary, the gastric character
 accompanies the intermitting fever, and is the over-ruling
 and  most prominent.  The  intermitting  fever is distin-
 guished  from the  gastric catarrhal fever by the regular
 cessation of the former for a space of time, after which it
 returns again ; there is  an intermitting fever, which re-
 turns every  day,  one  which returns every second  day,
 and one  which returns every third day.   There are  also
 intermitting fevers, which for certain periods of time set
 in twice a day.
  (1)  Symptoms of the Intermitting Fever.—The  preced-
ing oftentimes very severe chill, which in the inflamma-
tory as well as intermitting fever, I do not include a/'iong
the symptoms of recognition or distinction,  because  it  i«
no characteristicum, and moreover, because I do no/  con- 
145
aider it as beloi.ging  to the  disease itself,  but  only as a
preparation for it.
  The symptoms of intermitting fever are :  blue color of
the  lips and nails, scanty secretion of water-colored urine,
and a small  rapid pulse during  the  period of the chill.
During  the  heat, which generally  extends itself down-
wards, the pulse beats full and quick, but still hard ; the
urine takes a  clear light-red coloring; the head  is dis-
turbed, and a feeling of faintness arises  from the stomach.
The dry heat is  followed  by perspiration, and  the pulse
becomes softer ; the perspiration has always  an  unplea-
sant, commonly a sour smell, and  the  urine precipitates
a considerable  sediment if it is  kept standing for some
time in a glass vessel.  During  all the described stadia
the  patient  has a strong thirst for cold water, and in the
course of the perspiration period  feels,  also, a  strong de-
sire for a water-bath.
  (2) The  Nature  of Intermitting  Fever consists  in im-
purity of the  stomach, in  the energy of the skin  being
partially destroyed  by the  presence of matters  of disease
under it, and in a  reaction of the  organism against these
morbific matters.  The fever is  an effort to throw  off,  by
perspiration from the skin, the morbific matters under it;
the  great thirst during the  periods of the chill, which does
not  appear in  the chill preceding inflammatory diseases,
does not  arise from the want of an abnormal quantity  of
oxygen  for new formations, but merely from the want  of
a dissolving fluid, and is a  proof of the effort of the organ-
ism to dissolve slimy corrupted substances in the stomach,
and then, with the assistance of water, to discharge them
by vomiting or diarrhoea.
  The cause of intermitting fevers lies  in  the corruption
                   7 
146
of the stomach, which is produced sometimes by unwhole-
some  diet, sometimes by the contamination of the atmo-
sphere and water by the presence of malaria in the neigh-
borhood of swamps and low lands, and sometimes  by the
conjoint effect of both these pernicious causes.
  (3)  The Effects of  Water-treatment on the intermitting
fever  is  actual cure  of the disease through  diarrhoea,
vomiting, and secretion of critical perspiration, and  criti-
cal urine.   The water taken through the stomach into the
circulation sets free from mucous envelopment the matters
of disease deposited in the flesh, and conducts them to the
skin in the fluid, which passes off in insensible perspiration.
The bath invigorates the skin, cleanses it, keeps the  pores
open, and, by means  of the  reaction after the bath, con-
ducts  the  current  of  the  juices from the  internal parts
towards the skin.
   Although  the water-cure, when it is  applied  in good
season, as first  treatment, always  cures the intermitting
fever radically, yet it is not effected so rapidly as with the
inflammatory fevers,  because the intermitting fever is a
compound disease, and because there is  no curative form
of disease so pure and energetic as the  inflammatory
form.
   (4)  The Effect of Medical Treatment.—Here, as  ever,
the medical treatment suppresses the symptoms of disease,
and thereby converts the primary disease  into a secondary,
i. e. ends in  the chronic fixture of the matters  of disease.
The fever remedies of the mediciners are  China, Bella-
donna, Arsenic.  Since the curative  efforts in this  fever
originate chiefly in the stomach, it must naturally  desist
from these efforts, when substances, that are very inju-
rious to it, are thrown into it and  paralyse its energies 
147
Then the curative symptoms oLihe feve, naturally cease,
and the mediciners, when they have suppressed the cura-
tive  symptoms of a primary disease,  think or  say, they
have cured the disease.   The  patient's own  feelings en-
lighten them always to the contrary; the feeling and in-
stinct of the patient never  err in primary diseases, and
never deceive ; physiology and true pathology speak like-
wise to the contrary, and the later after-effects of such
nedicinal cures teach in a terrible manner the contrary.
  The  medical remedies always dispel the  intermitting
fever for a time ;  however, it frequently returns again, as
soon as the organism has somewhat recovered  from  the
poisoning.  Then medicine  is  administered  anew, which
often enough converts the curative fever into a destroying
disease, into  mucous  fever,  even into a putrid  fever.
These changes produced by medical treatment take place
without any perceptible interval of health.  After such
intervals,  and  sometimes not till  a number of years after-
wards, in  consequence of the medical  treatment there set
in ossification  of the stomach, dropsy, enlargements of the
liver, besides contraction of the heart,  and many other of
such like destroying diseases.
  In intermitting  fever the  diet must be modified accord-
ing to certain  rules ; in all those primary diseases treated
of before  the  intermitting  fever, the instinct is the only
and  infallible   regulator of the  diet.   The  intermitting
fever forms in this, as in many other respects, a transition
from the primary to the secondary diseases. 
148
                        XVIII.

   CONCLUDING REMARKS  ON PRIMARY DISEASES

Although the directions for all the practical  forms of
application of water  against  diseases,  together with the
rules for the diet,  belong in  a therapy, and consequently
must be excluded from this work, still the statement of the
practical fundamental rules is in its proper place in a pa-
thology, because the establishment of the therapeutic foun-
dation must be thence derived.
  The colder  the  water, the stronger  is  the reaction of
that  part of the body which is brought in contact with it;
the colder it is, so  much the  more  does it accelerate the
circulation of the blood, and  thereby arouse  all the  ener-
gies  of the excited organ to an abnormal height.  Because
now  in all fevers there  is already an abnormal excitation
of the circulation, therefore the application of cold water
in the form of full  bath  or entire ablution is injurious, and
water of a temperature of from 57° to,  at the highest, 77°
Fah., must be used.  At least one should be aware, that the
fever is increased by cold water, by  tepid water however it
is reduced ; the reduction is caused through  the chemical
effect of the water, the excitation  through  the dynamic
effect of the cold.  Exceptions may occur, wherein the
experienced water-physician  finds it expedient  to elevate
still  higher the degree  of fever, and accordingly applies
cold  water for a time, but an inexperienced person should
never venture on this, and, in general,  to avoid many ac-
cidents, it is necessary that the above be considered funda-
mental rules.
  With such absolute infallibility does  the instinct in all 
149
orimary diseases .udicate  the proper mode of application,
 hat in fevers it manifests a disrelish to quite cold water,
even where the patient has been accustomed to it previous
io the fever, and his instinct was then fond of  it.
  When I now conclude the treatise on primary  diseases,
1 do not mean to infer  that I have in anywise exhausted
the subject, but refer you to the title-page, which  promises
only the outlines of a pathology. 
N.
 THE  SECONDARY OR  DESTROYING DISEASES.




                          I.

       GENERAL PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

Although the revision which I have undertaken with the
division on  primary diseases, has attained, neither in ex-
tent of material, nor in its  order and  arrangement, that
degree of perfection which I should  have achieved with
more  leisure for authorship;  still, I am compelled  by
many circumstances, in the  revision of the division treat-
ing of secondary diseases,  to hold myself still more to the
surface, and to publish again this section with less altera-
tions in its original form, and in its original contents.
  As  there  are  everywhere individuals and groups  of
transition between the classes of things created by human
ingenuity, so is this also the case with every conceivable
classification of disease.  If more at leisure, I would have
devoted a particular section to the  transition group; now
I must content myself with specifying as such the varie-
ties of disease which compose this  group, without setting
apart  a place for them in this work. 
151
                          II.

THE  MANNER  IN  WHICH  THE THREE  STADIA  OF
            SECONDARY DISEASES ARISE.

In the division on primary diseases, it has already been
shown, how poisonous and medicinal  substances convert
the primary diseases into secondary diseases.
   False diet is generally cooperative  in the  development
of secondary disease.   By this I mean the use of sharp,
high-seasoned foods,  and alcoholic drinks;  furthermore,
!he want of bodily  exercise, living in unwholesome and
coi rupted  atmosphere, as is too frequently found  in the
habitations  of the poor, and the consumption of propor-
tionately too much  food.  Whoever  has  not a healthy
stomach, should never fully  satisfy his appetite; further-
more, he also should not, who leads a sedentary life, even
if he has a strong stomach—one departure from nature's
laws  necessitates another.  It is contrary to nature not'to
satisfy  the appetite ;  it is contrary  to nature  to  lead a
sedentary life.
   Only such an one as has a strong stomach, and  at the
same time  takes much bodily exercise, may be allowed to
fully satiate his appetite, provided he pursues a  water-
diet.
   Other cooperating causes, which aid in laying the foun-
dation of secondary diseases, are the  over-exertion of in-
dividual organs, especially of the brain and the generative
organ, and  also mental  affections of a  violent and melan-
choly nature.
   A disturbance  in the balance of the circulation  and  in
other functions is produced  by the long continued false
and partial  use  of cold water.  Whoever,  for  instance 
152
washes  head and face daily in  cold water, and  the  feet
never, or but very seldom, must  sooner or later suffer of
cold feet, and generally, also, of repletion of blood, and
excess of heat in the head.  In  common life we are ac-
customed to call this, which  arises from the false circula-
tion of the  blood, " plethora,  or excess of blood ;" but the
opinion  which gives  rise  to  this  is an  entirely false one.
A disease of plethora, i. e. a  disease arising from too much
blood, does  not exist, but this apparent disease consists
always  in false and unequal circulation  of the blood.   The
only remedy for this complaint lies in cold water; but foi
this purpose  it must be  applied  precisely in the contrar}
manner to that which the doctors suppose and recommend
   Secondary disease  has three several stadia, which, in-
deed, in the  reality are  not  nicely  demarcated, but flow
into each other by a gradual transition.
   The first stadium is the period of oft-returning efforts of
the body to produce anew an acute disease wherewith to cure
itself; these efforts,  however, never succeed in full with-
out aid  from the water-cure.  In this stadium acute pains
frequently  arise, which end either in a  hot and red tumor,
for instance,  with  toothache and other rheumatic  affec-
tions, or find vent in abnormal  secretions of mucus and
phlegm  from the nose, windpipe, eyes, throat,  bowels ;
or, with those who are more successful,  in driving out boils
and eruptions.  All these various forms are decided signs
that the body is still possessed of inclination and strength
to cure  itself; but it  has no more the power to accomplish
this cure through a general and  radical reaction, through
a properly  acute  disease, but attempts to gain it little  by
little, by  means  of acute-like partial  efforts  frequently
repeated.   If a  fresh attack lays hold of the organism,   i 
153
generally from contraction  of cold, still, then, it always
reacts against it with acute pains.
   When the painful curative struggles of the first stadium
are suppressed by medicine, then the organism enters into
   The second chronic  stadium of disease, which is an ap-
parent condition of tolerable  health and is a state of quiet.
In this period the  organism has no longer strength enough
to attempt its  cure  of its own accord, still enough, how-
ever, to hold  the enveloped fettered  morbific matters in
statu quo.  If, in this stadium, inimical influences act upon
the body, it does not endeavor any more to react and eject
the enemy, but simply endeavors to envelope it and fix  it
temporarily in mucus, that it may work  no  immediate
effect on the animal economy.  For this reason the former
acute pains, which, indeed,  are nothing else than the bat-
tle-music  of  the  curative strife, die away, and, in  lieu
thereof,  succeed disagreeable, dull,   oppressed, nervous
conditions, in  which the patient feels  a longing  desire
after acute  pains.   Instead  of the   symptoms  of pain,
which have now passed off,  two others, much  worse, have
taken their place ; first, diminished  strength and energy of
the whole machine, and  second, the consciousness  of the
patient, that tells him, things  are not as they should be  in
his body, an  enemy is lurking there, the germ of death is
forming, and bestirring itself  apace.
   In the second stadium there comes on  not seldom a cor-
pulence of a  very notorious kind,  that  embonpoint of
superfcetation with its peculiarly tumid  and impotent ex-
pression,   accompanied,   generally, with  baldness  and
decay of the  fire  of the eye.  If then a little  French
rouge is added to  the cheeks, the  tout ensemble appears
                        7* 
154
like a caricature on a healthy man; hxe a plump, well-
stuffed doll.
  Still, the patient, in the second  chronic stadium,  can
attend  to his business tolerably well, and  he passes gene-
rally for healthy, because he is large and fat, and  has no
acute symptoms.
  The third stadium is that of annihilation, either of the
individual  organs and  senses, when the disease is only
local, or of life itself, when it is' general;  or, indeed,  of
those organs which condition  life.   In the  latter case the
stadium is  a slow,  horrid, chronic dying, whose struggles
and pains may be prolonged several years.
  In this third period the organism is no longer possessed
of powers  and juices enough continually to curb, by mu-
cous envelopment, the indwelling inimical humors ; there-
fore, getting released, they begin internally  to corrode,
and ulcerate first  in those  organs and parts of the body
where they are the  most accumulated.   Thus, then,  ori-
ginate the  chronic  ulcerations  of individual  internal
organs, of  the lungs,  of the  liver, of the  stomach,  &c«
In this manner caries originate, and the so-called  fistulas
and cancers ;  in like manner arises the dissolution of the
walls  of the  blood-vessels, which, in case of the larger
arteries, causes death.   Thus arises also the organic de-
formations  and organic  defects  (of course  the innate
deformities excepted), cartilaginous growths, ossifications,
polypi, and growths of all kinds solely through the effects
of poison.
  Many diseases of the  third  period may  set in directly
after a poisoning, without the foregoing first two stadia, if
the poisoning  has been  carried by bunglers  beyond the
rules of the medical art. 
155
  In the hird stadium belongs the chronic, /.ale, and cold
uwelling called  dropsy.  (See farther  on the process of
origination of this disease.)
  It is, indeed, possible that a chronic complaint may arise
through one or more of the afore-mentioned faults of diet;
but it is an extremely seldom  case  in which  this occurs
without  the co-operation of a medicinal  poisoning.
  Whoever, in an acute  disease, has taken  an energetic,
powerful medicine, has  been deprived  of the possibility
of dying a natural death from  old age  ; he must, sooner
or later, die a painful  death  from  a secondary  disease;
unless, through water-cure and water-diet, he heals him-
self of the poisoning, and bears a new body.
  You who read  this book, if ever the  deep-colored cup
of poison  is tendered you,  cast it from you, mindful of
this warning—that what you  drink to-day will, in after
years, bring upon you a miserable death by disease.
  Are my deductions upo^ the after-deadly effects of poi-
son not  evident enough to carry conviction to the mind of
every one ?  Do they still require  the corroboration of
instances and cases ?   Alas !  of them there is no lack.
  The secret medicinal consultee Toffana, in Naples, knew
how to graduate her doses so as to cause the death  of the
victims  to her skill in  any required space of time, just
according to the desire of her  applicants,  either immedi-
ately, or in one year, or in  ten years.   This woman was
a medical genius, and certainly she  would  have " cured "
any acute disease, according to the  rules of art, with her
nice remedies, because it was an  easy  matter for  her to
mete out  the  requisite  dose.   Also, many of the victims
of Brinvilliers and Gesche Tlmm died of one of the above. 
156
 mentioned secondary diseases  ;nany years after  .laving
 been poisoned.
   I should be sorry if, despite all that has been said, some
 one should  reply to me, " these secret  murderesses gave
 poison, the physicians, however, give medicine."
   Abstractedly from the point, that poison is identical with
 medicine, according to every definition affecting their na-
 ture and their essence (the only difference that exists does
 not lie in the thing itself, but in the intention ; if one gives
 poison to cause mischief, then it is called poison ;  if one
 gives  it under  the erroneous  opinion of curing with it,
 then  it is called medicine), and  also that the intention of
 the agent makes no alteration in the nature of the matter,
 then the physicians, in all energetic acute diseases, ad-
 minister poisons,  even according to the most restricted
 nomenclature,   by  which  only the  destroying  poisons
 receive the  name of poisons : they give arsenic, mercury,
 belladonna, prussic  acid; in short, they exhaust the  whole
 arsenal of death.


                          III.

      THE CURE OF THE SECONDARY  DISEASES.

As the causes of the  perfect diseases are foreign matters
in the suffering organism,  which must be eliminated,  there-
fore, a true oure can only be effected through the activity
of the organism, aided by the dissolvent  power of water,
whereby skin and  stomach are  raised to the condition of
greatest reaction and activity.
  In acute diseases physic blinds the eye of a short-sighted
observer with the  appearance of cure, which the poison- 
157
ing,  by suppression  of symptoms, spreads  over its mis-
chievous work ;  but in chronic diseases it no longer com-
mands the ability to dazzle, and it confesses its weakness.
  The  water-cure  cures all  secondary diseases of the
first and second stadium with  the most perfect certainty.
(Concerning  the  method of cure of Priessnitz, and the
internal process of healing in  chronic complaints, see the
work entitled, " Spirit of the Graefenberg Water-Cure, by
J. II. Rausse.")
   Whoever,  in   the first  stadium,  enters  a water-cure
establishment, may expect a cure  as speedy as radical,
because his body still,  of its own accord, presses on to the
crisis and cure.
   Whoever,  in the second stadium, enters upon the water-
cure,  musi determine  upon a long course of treatment,
because he requires a considerable length  of time, to be
restored to the condition of the first stadium, whereupon,
then, the  cure is certain.  By perseverance he  will be
radically  cured of all  his afflictions and diseased humors,
and regains not only his former healthfulness. but also his
strength of body.
   Patients,  in the  third stadium, are  only partially and
conditionally curable, and they must always undergo such
a long and  irksome course of treatment,  that they may
well consider, beforehand, their capability  and determina-
tion of perseverance.
   The first condition of curableness  is, that sufficient vital
energy be still left; and  the second, that ulceration of
the lungs has not yet commenced.  Subject, then, to these
two provisions the  hydriatic system cures, of the far-
advanced ulcerations of internal  organs, only those of the
mouth, of the oesophag is, of the stomach, and of the bow- 
158
els, because here the water can be directly appl ed to the
diseased part through  drinking and  clysters.  Of can-
cerous ulcers, those which are external and in the stomach
and bowels are curable ; fistulas are cured ; farthermore,
all external  chronic suppurations,  which are a  sign  of
good  constitution, because  the organism  has strength to
drive the poisoned humors to the external surface.   Far-
ther,  caries  are curable, and  also  the dissolution of the
walls of the  blood-vessels in its commencement, the dis-
eased affections of all the  senses, if their  nerves  are not
yet entirely destroyed.   Deaf  and blind persons have,  in
Graefenberg, regained  an  acute hearing and keen  sight.
Finally, dropsy is curable in its commencement.
   All these patients must determine to persist in a course
of treatment  for one year and upwards.   The  cure re-
quires so much more time, the deeper the roots of the dis-
ease have penetrated, and extended throughout the organ-
ism ;  and especially according  to the number of complaints
combined in  one body.
   It is not advisable to force the cure  with such  patients,
and  endeavor to  extort an  early  crisis.  Before  this is
possible, a considerable time must be spent in invigorating
and regaining vital energy, except where the organism is
still unimpaired, and the complaint only local.  Generally,
it  is not expedient to sweat such a patient every day until
the crisis comes ;  rather it will be most advisable to alter-
nate frequently the water-diet  with  the proper water-cure
in suitable periods.
   Many such patients have left Graefenberg without being
radically cured, satisfied with the progress they had made,
and the great  alleviation and  invigoration  they had ob-
tained, forced  away  from  the water-cure  establishment 
159
through  impatience and lack  of  perseverance,  or on
account of uncontrollable circumstances.


                         IV.

iX)SS OF APPETITE.  HEARTBURN AND ERUCTATIONS
  HARD  AND SLUGGISH  STOOL.  THE  FALSE OR UN
  REAL MUCUS.  WORMS.

Constant loss of Appetite may have its cause in two differ-
ent organs,  namely,  in the stomach together with the
Dowels, and in the  system of the skin.   When  the first
organ is diseased and weak,  it lacks the ability to convert
ihe consumed aliments, promptly and normally, into chyle
and blood ; when the second organ is weak and  inactive,
there is  a deficiency in the requisite  quantity of blood,
because the sluggish skin does not transpire readily enough
the refuse of the  body.   When  this excretion stagnates,
ihen there is no room and desire for the freshly  prepared
substance, consequently, no sufficient appetite.
   The morbid condition of sluggish digestion is  removed
by internal use of water ; the second one, viz. that of stag-
nating transpirations, by external use of water.   There it
is  then that  the secret lies,  why the cold bath increases
the appetite so decidedly.  If water is not  taken internally
at  the same time, the  digestive  organs cannot supply as
much as the skin excretes, and, consequently, as  much as
the body requires, without decreasing in weight.
   Experience has  afforded  the  average  result  that, in
pursuance of the water-diet, from once and a half to twice
as  much is eaten, as in  pursuance of the old  coffee and
tea, wine and  beer  diet; whence the conclusion  unques- 
60
tionably follows, that, under the water  regime,  the body
renews itself from one and a half times to  twice as soon
as under the old  regime.   If  the  natural rotation  of the
entire renewal of the body embraces four years, it arises
to six or eight years with  the so-called healthy persons of
the old regime ;  with chronically diseased  persons a still
longftr time, 01 rather with them there is no radical reno-
vation at all.                                    *
   The  flesh of the body possesses  the  normal  firmness,
hardness, and  strength only  when, according to the ap-
pointment  of nature, it renews itself rapidly ; and, con-
sequently,  when the refuse flesh, &c, is rapidly dissolved
and transpired; the slower the process proceeds, the more
tender, soft, and  flabby becomes the flesh, and the  organ-
ism inclines then, in  particular, to  the generation  of fat,
provided that it has no wasting chronic disease.   It ex-
ceeds the expectation of every one, how a thorough  water-
cure  converts the soft miserable flesh of the coffee, and
brandy, and medicine diet into iron-like muscularity.
   Heartburn and Eructations, as habitual symptoms, arise
from  the  acidification of the  food  and  drink  taken into
weak  and  diseased  stomachs,  and the  endeavor  of the
stomach to throw them off. The heartburn and eructations
are to be viewed as an imperfect effort at  vomiting, and
it passes over  into actual vomiting by the  right applica-
tion of water, whereby the stomach is then cleansed.  In
most cases this is quickly effected by water,  but it requires
a much longer time so to  heal and strengthen the stomach
as to enable it to digest  normally,  and thus generate no
acidity.
   Hard and Obstructed Evacuations arise from weakness,
inactivity, and from the insuffifl ent secretion of fluid mat 
161
ter in the large intestines, and particularly in the rectum.
When the digested chyle is imbibed by the ileum and jeju-
num, the coarser,  and, therefore, not absorbable constitu-
ent parts of it remain behind, and pass, drained and desic-
cated, into the large intestines, into which a considerable
quantity of mucous fluid ought to be secreted for the pur-
pose  of discharging  the  excrements.   But when  the
vessels of the bowels  are dried up by medicaments and
drugging,  and partially destroyed ; farther, when  an in-
activity of the rectum is brought  on  by close  sedentary
habits, tha  mucous fluidity is  not secreted in sufficient
quantity, and thus the evacuations are hard and sluggish.
  The Sliming of False Mucus  I call that state of disease
of the stomach in  which the food is not  properly decom-
posed and  digested, but turns to  a mucus-like  mass.
This arises in weakness of the stomach, insufficient sharp-
ness and energy of the gastric  juice.   The  usual cause
is long-continued use  of medicines,  whereby the nerves
and  glands  of the stomach have become weakened and
partially destroyed.
  The Worms of the iidestines  appear only when disease
and  slime (false mucus) are present in these organs ; they
are parasitical animals, which do not exist out of the bow-
els, and, consequently, never get into the body from with-
out.
  The worst variety  of these  worms is the tape-worm
Many persons take care not to  drink water because they
are apprehensive of imbibing a young tape-worm ; or, at
least, one  of their eggs.  If these  persons  would only
incommode  themselves with  a  little reflection they might
easily relieve themselves of such fears.   Has  any  one
ever found an old  tape-worm in wa.er?  No.   Whence, 
l.*2
 hen, shall a young tape-worr.i or an egg cf these animals
 find its way into th<» water?
   A tape-worm  may,  however, very easily originate in
 the bowels  by total  abstinence from water-drinking ; for
 the tape-worm is a parasitical animal, which is generated
 in weak bowels, and the bowels  can  only preserve their
 full energy through the use of cold water.
   Whoever uses water with their children internally  and
 externally may  rest assured that they will  never be  tor-
 mented with  worms and worm-doctors.  The expulsion
 of the small worm by medicine can only have, as a con-
 sequence,  the generation  always  of more,  because  the
 intestines become  weaker and weaker by means of the
 medicine ; strengthen them, and they will cleanse  them-
 selves.
   The medical mode of expelling the tape-worm is truly
 horrid.  The  worm is to be poisoned, or rather, so  much
 poison is to be sent after it that it  betakes itself to flight
 out of sheer fright.   A fearful, mad experiment, that has
 alreadj cost many an one his life, and is quite worthy of
 allopathy.   Must not the poison pass through the stomach,
 and, consequently, poison the unwilling possessor of the
 tape-worm  either to death or chronic disease ?   Even
 when the expulsion of the animal is effected, and the sub-
ject escapes with his life, still, the injury which the medi-
 cine inflicts upon the bowels  is  generally much worse
than was the burden of the lodgment.
   All those causes which produce  sliminess and disease
of the bowels,  may also be the immediate or remote causes
of worm  disease:  medicine, false diet,  hot foods and
drinks, want of water-drinking, &c.
   I remember  a tragico-comic occurrence which happened 
163
 in my native town ;  two women, an  aunt and her niece,
 who drank  boiled water through fear  of drinking in a
 young tape-worm, and at the  same time partook  amply
 of medicine, coffee, and tea ;  both fell a prey to the objecl
 of their apprehension.


                         V.

 CONSUMPTIVE DIARRHffiA.  THE SLIMING WITH REAL
  MUCUS.  HARDENING OF THE MUCOUS SLIMING, AND
  INDURATIONS IN  THE WALLS OF  THE DIGESTIVE
  CANALS.   CHRONIC  INFLAMMATION, OR  ULCERA-
  TION IN THE DIGESTIVE CANALS.  CANCER IN THE
  STOMACH.

 The consumptive diarrhoea results from the total ruin of
 the absorbing intestines (of the  ileum and  jejunum).
 When these intestines do not  at all, or very imperfectly,
 absorb the digested chyle, it passes, with the greater part
 of its  fluid substance, into the large  intestines,  and is
 evacuated by them in its liquid state.
  Consequently, the  secondary or consumptive diarrhoea
 is the result of processes quite different frOrn those of the
 primary.   While the latter is produced by abnormal  se-
cretions of fluid from the  large intestines, the  former  is
the result of non-absorption in the small intestines.
  It is certain that  the consumptive diarrhoea very  rarely
arises from other causes than continued dosing with  strong
medicinal poisons;  I  even believe that it has never arisen
 from any other cause than poisonings.
  The manner in  which the coating of the alimentary
canal with real mucus is effected, has  already been  shown
in the foregoing.  The nature of this disease consists in an 
164
abnormally  copious  secretion of true mucus  from  the
mucous glands.   The  cause of abnormal  secretions of
mucus is twofold, as also is the nature of the true mucous
slimings.
  The first  cause is a diseased affection of the mucus-
glands, especially a weakness thereof, which is commonly
produced by the medical treatment of a primary inflam-
mation of the glands, much more frequently by excessive
exertion  of individual  organs (e. g.  the flow of semen,
brought on by strong sexual debauches), sometimes, also,
by a perverted diet and uncleanliness.
  The medicinal poisoning is here, as in every secondary
disease, the  great chief cause.   Under the hands of the
physicians, inflammatory, catarrhal, and even intermitting
fevers, often enough degenerate into mucous fever.  Such
a change is possible only through poisoning.
  This kind of sliming with real mucus,  i. e. of abnor-
mal secretions of mucus from disease of the glands, oc-
curs more rarely in the digestive canals.
  The  second  state of  true mucous sliming consists in
an abnormal secretion of mucus for the purpose of en-
velopment  and dilution of poisonous matters forced upon
the organism.   This sort of sliming, therefore, does not
arise from a disease of the  mueus glands, but from a de-
fensive operation of the organism against inimical sub-
stances pressed upon it.
  When the digestive  organs have  become  coated  with
slime,  then the old curing art applies medical purgatives
to subdue the symptoms.
  With a stomach not totally ruined, not uncommonly
weak, a vomitive  causes the ejection of the food remaining
in it, of a part of the vomitive itself, sometimes; also, of 
165
the whole of it, also, of the  fluids taken into the stomach,
and especially of that  mucus which has been  produced
afresh by the poison of the vomitive; in a word, the  ejec-
tion of all matters free and loose in the  stomach.   But the
original  mucous  conglomerations  of longer standing in
the stomach, for  the removal of which the emetic was
given,  and which,  by reason of their tenacious viscous-
ness, adhere to the desiccated surface of the walls of the
stomach, can never be ejected without being first dissolved
and set  at liberty.   For this purpose the old healing art
first administers the so-called resolutive medicines of a
decomposing nature.  The  physicians must have strange
notions of the processes going on in the stomach if they
suppose these resolutive poisons shall, at command, address
themselves to the  mucous  conglomerations and decom-
pose them.   On  the contrary, as soon as the new medi-
cine enters the stomach, the stomach  must react against it,
must prepare fresh mucus in order to envelope it.  Instead
of dissolving the old phlegm and slime, it always fixes  it
more firmly than  ever, because the  stomach is farther
exhausted and  weakened by  every additional  poisoning.
If an emetic follows the resolutive medicine, there cer-
tainly ensues great discharge of slime  and bile ;  but it  is
always the mucus and effusion of bile only which have been
produced by  the medicine just administered, and, accord-
ingly, are floating loosely in the stomach.   The old slime
which has been adhering to the walls of the stomach, can
be dissolved and  removed by nothing else than water.
   The case is precisely the same in regard to the purga-
tive medicines, with the difference  only, that they tiause,
 particularly in the  bowels,  fresh productions of mucus,
 and its partial evacuation. 
166
   The oftener such medicinal " purifications " are under-
 taken, so much the more  does  the slime accumulate, and
 if such a course be  pursued for a length of time,  these
 medicines finally lose  their purgative effect, they accu-
 mulate together with  the  slime in  the internal canals—
 because the reactive power of the organs has been destroy-
 ed.   At length,  the bowels  may get  completely choked
 up, and a slow death  ensues, which, in excruciating ner-
 vous  sufferings, cannot be equalled.
   If  some among my readers are not  convinced by what
 I have already set  forth concerning the operation of the
 medical " means  of purification," I can adduce the proof
 of facts and  experience, of such overwhelming force that
 no resistance  is possible ; viz. those persons who, having
 undergone a medical course  for the  purpose of purifying
 the stomach, especially for intermitting fever, have come
 to Graefenberg, have,  under the influence  of water, ob-
 tained a purifying crisis, in  which not only great masses
 of slime  have  been vomited out, but  also  the medicine
 which they had taken,  oftentimes plainly recognised  by
 their  taste.   Those  who have  been long under medicai
 treatment for stomach complaints, may rest assured that
 they  harbor  i great  plenty  of slime  and drug-stuffs in
 their  digestive canals,—may rest  assured  that, by the
 water-cure, they will  attain  a radical  purification,  if, to
 wit, they possess sufficient  perseverance  and  the disposi-
 tion not to break off the cure before or during the crisis.
  Perhaps some one, who is not, from his own experience,
 acquainted with the water-cure, raises  the plea here, that
the excess of water drinking may  excite vomiting and
diarrhoea, even when  the  digestive  canals are  perfectly
clean  and sound.  Possibly vomiting, but never diarrhoea ; 
167
and, moreover, that which is  thus vomited is nothing but
pure water, free  from all nauseous  and medicinal taste.
This vomiting is only possible when  more water is forced
into the stomach than it is able to contain by its greatest
distension, and the instinct so defends itself against such
an act of violence that it never  occurs.   Circumstances
of two kinds prove that old impurities and slime-enveloped
medicinal stuffs lie at the foundation of the Graefenberg
purification-crises ; in vomiting-crises,  it is proved by the
quantities of slime,  and  the disgusting  taste,  which  is
oftentimes  plainly medicinal; in diarrhoea-crises,  it  is
confirmed by the  evacuated slime-masses, and an unques-
tionable proof is the  fact that, when  the crisis is over, the
most  energetic water-cure  is  unable  to  produce those
vomitings and diarrhoeas.
  The more inconsiderable the  coating  and sliming  of
stomach and bowels, the more promptly and easily will the
crisis ensue;  the more inveterate  and accumulated, so
much the longer will  the  crisis be delayed ; because, in
this case, it requires longer time so to reinvigorate the
stomach, &c, that it shall have strength snfficient to pro-
duce and carry through the crisis.   So soon as the patient
feels himself pretty well, and  has gained much strength,
then  the  purification-crises  commence.    Certain it is,
that many persons have left Graefenberg without getting
the crisis, because they went away too  soon, and without
misgiving how affairs stood in their bowels.
  The circumstances  and appearances in persons legiti-
mately poisoned by medicine, have been ascertained to be
similar  to  those  in  persons  illegitimately  intentionally
poisoned;  for  instance,  in   many  victims of  Gesche
Timm.    Persons  who,  according to  the confessions 
                         168

made by this insidious murderess before her judges,  had
received poison from  her long before,  and died several
years  after the  date  of her confessions,  had in their
stomachs a coating of mucus, which,  by  chemical  ex-
amination,  was found  to  contain arsenic.   These misera-
ble "victims could certainly have been saved by the water-
cure timely applied.
   In the foregoing we have  considered the operation of
medicinal emetics upon a stomach not entirely depressed
to the lowest degree of weakness.   When, however,  the
stomach is so weak that it is  not equal to the strong exer-
tion of the muscles necessary to medical vomiting,  and
when, consequently, no discharge  follows, then it is always
certain  that the  entire medicament remains, during  the
life-time of the patient, in his body, inasmuch  as a small
portion of it is received  into the digestion ; the greater
portion of it, however, adheres in mucous slime firmly to
the walls of the  stomach, after that the stomach has sepa-
rated the liquid part of the medicament, the original water,
from the solid  and properly medicinal part.  This process
it undertakes with every liquid medicament in general; one
must not suppose there is any other dripping fluid  on our
planet  excepting water;  al'  other apparently fluids  are
nothing else than  a mixture of infinitely minute solid
substances with  water.  If the chemical arts shall  per-
haps never be  able  to resolve completely the intermixed
liquids into their original water and original solid atoms,
still the stomach can,  at  least partial'y, and it effects  this
partly by  its decomposing juice,  partly in  the  case of
liquids  containing poison by fresh infusions of mucus,
which is an excellent  filterer, inasmuch as the solid parte
remain  in  it, and th   fluid ooze  through.   The stomach 
169
is the best chemist; and  the  stomach proceeds thus with
all mixed liquids which come  into it, especially with medi-
caments always,  if it  does not discharge them immedi-
ately  by vomiting  or  diarrhoea.  When,  therefore,  we
speak of medicaments being firmly fixed in the weak
stomach, it  means only the solid medicinal parts;  by no
means, however, is  it  to  be presumed  that the medicine
remains as liquid  mixture in the stomach, which,  indeed,
were manifest nonsense.  As soon as the solid parts,  the
proper quintessence of the medicament, are separated from
the watery parts and enveloped in slime in the stomach,
then they adhere  thereto, and harden to a firm mass, in
like manner as the mucus, which, in persons of unhealthy
stomach, is  generated in the mouth and settles  on  the
teeth,  hardens to tartp.r.
  If any one disputes and doubts the correctness of  my
reasoning concerning the inefficaciousness of medicinal
vomitives, viz. that the mucus ejected through  such means
is only that which is at the time called forth by the same :
he may convince  himself by administering an emetic to
a clean, healthy  stomach.   So soon as the stomach  de-
composes it, it feels that it is poison, and that, for a doubie
reason, it must  quickly prepare a fresh quantity of mu-
cus ; first, to protect itself and its glands, nerves and capil-
laries, &c, against the poison ; second, wherewith to eject
it, which cannot be effected otherwise than by the help of
this transporting medium  ;  unless great quantities of cold
water and milk be drunk immediately upon  the  emetic,
whereby the ability to vomit is guaranteed to the stomach,
and the necessity of generating mucus is obviated.  If
any person,  for the sake of gaining a knowledge of the
truth in this matter, wishes the  experiment made,  I would
                  8 
170
advise him to undertake it under his own supervision, and
not commit it to the faith of mediciners, the most of whom
disbelieve, entirely, in the efficacy of water as an antidote
for poison, and  must, from the nature of circumstances,
namely, in a struggle on the issue of which depends  their
own subsistence, and in a time when, alas ! truth is not
as highly prized as bread.
   One might convince himself still more  decidedly that
emetics call forth mucus in the purest, healthiest stomachs,
if he would take, before the emetic, one of those so-called
resolutive medicaments, and first allow that to operate an
hour.
   In  a manner  quite  similar,  the  medical purgatives
cause evacuations of mucus even from the healthiest and
cleanest  bowels;  and in like manner, the evacuations
from slime-coated bowels, caused by purgative medicines,
never consist of the old morbid matters, but only of fresh-
formed mucous-masses.
   The course of water-treatment to be pursued  in har-
dened  mucous-coatings of the digestive canals, consists in
plenteous drinking, in  sitz-baths,  wet compresses about
the body, and  clysters ;  here, as in every other case,  we
premise,  as first postulate of every water-treatment and
water-diet,  a full cold bath every day.
   In cases of old mucous-coatings more water must at first
be drunk than the  thirst calls for, because the  quantum
which the thirst requires is  soon digested, and, therefore,
has no time to  dissolve the  indurated mucus.   Drinking
beyond the thirst must never be  carried to  excess, or it
may do injury.  A few glasses beyond the thirst suffice
to furnish the  stomach with  the  means  of solution.   As
soon, hov ever, as the solution, and  in consequence there- 
171
of, vomiting or diarrhoea  have begun,  not  a glass must
be drunk beyond the thirst.
  The sitz-bath, through the coincidence of several effects,
is the  greatest among the great  benefactions  wherewith
the genius of Priessnitz has favored suffering  humanity.
The results  of this bath,  in regard to the re-invigoration
of the  digestive organs,  would  appear truly  wonderful
if they could not be explained  on such evidently natural
principles.
  Firstly, The bath draws long-lodged morbific and medi-
cinal matters out of the external  membranes and muscles
of the  abdomen, inasmuch as it produces there eruptions
and boils, and it is particularly efficacious in this respect,
on  account of the long duration of the bath.
  Secondly, It fortifies the nerves  of the ganglionic sys-
tem in a decided manner.
   Thirdly,  The sitz-bath  strengthens as well by the gene-
ral effect of cold water as, especially, by the wet rubbing
and excitation of  the  abdominal muscles,  and promotes
the worm-like (peristaltic) motion of the bowels, without
which all digestion is  impossible.
   Fourthly, By its mechanical  pressure it promotes vo-
miting, as soon  as  it  becomes necessary.   Other healing
effects of the  sitz-bath upon other organs belong not here.
   The bandages assist the sitz-bath in all its operations.
   The clysters serve  to  cleanse and  strengthen the rec-
tum, and are a necessary part of the water-cure with all
of  weak digestion.  For  wherever there are secretions of
slime  and weakness of the stomach, there  are also slug-
 gishness and accumulation of excrements in the 1 return.
   Constipation attends not  only  chronic stomach  lisease,
 but also, almost  every acute  disease  for a time, if it  is 
172
treated according to the old medicu.e-regime.   This con-
stipation and  the medicine  quite  naturally destroy the
appetite, and,  indeed, so universally that we are accus-
tomed to view the loss of appetite as a natural and neces-
sary effect of the diseases  themselves.  Lay hold  upon
water, ye sick, and  you will retain  a good appetite and
free evacuations, and will perceive that these most impor-
tant functions are disordered, not by the diseases, but by
the medicine alone.   In violent fevers under water-treat-
ment the appetite sometimes fails one  day, rarely two,
and never more.
   When a disordered, constipated state of the evacuations
has been brought on by medicine during an  acute disease,
and this function  afterwards  proceeds again in a normal
manner;  then,  still,  the excrementitious matters, whose
discharge was delayed days and weeks, remain oftentimes
in  the  rectum,  since,  by means of slime, they  adhere
thereto  and indurate.  The releasement and evacuation
of these can be effected only by frequent cold-water  clys-
ters ; at the same time, the rectum thus regains its former
energy.   With persons already sunk deep in the miseries
of impaired digestion and constipation, the clysters are at
first discharged  again, before  they  grow  warm  in the
bowels,  and without being followed by the evacuation of
much excrementitious matter.   One must not allow  that
to lead him astray, but must continue, and soon the water
will be taken up, and whole clysters be entirely absorbed
throughout, in proof of the  need such bowels have of the
healing  element.   Then  normal  evacuation ensues, and,
after a length of time, perhaps several months, begins the
liberation and evacuation of  the old filth of the bowels
which has become like unto .^ard bullets. 
173
  As the excrements  become very hard an i  compressed,
it is thus possible that the rectum stores away incredibly
great quantities in a small space, before it gets so far
constipated that atrophy or some other fatal disease ensues.
There have been instances at sea where passengers have
had no evacuation of the bowels for a long time, even for
several  weeks, without  altogether  losing  their appetite
and health.   Of course the abdomen is distended by such
accumulations ;  but still it is astonishing that it can con-
tain the refuse of so many meals.  Afterwards, when the
usual softer evacuations are again restored without any
discharge of the old, hard, dry excrement, then the com-
pass of the abdomen is reduced by their firmer and more
compact  consolidation, but it never  regains  its normal
symmetry.   Despite this internal accumulation, a tolera-
ble state of health may be enjoyed for years; still, if some
other disease  does not sooner terminate  life, it renders  a
natural  death impossible  in all cases where chronic dis-
ease is harbored in the body.
  Those parts of the stomach and  bowels  which  are
covered with  indurated slime, perish organically, and pass
into induration, because  these parts are prevented  by  the
slime adhering to them from  organic action ;  they are
prevented from secreting digestive juices, and from absorb-
ing  chyle;  they are  prevented from excreting their  own
refuse, and, therefore, renewal is impossible.
  The symptoms of indurated slime in the digestive canals
do not manifest themselves unequivocally until the com-
mencement of the water-cure crises, or,  after death, in
dissections  of corpses.  The  symptoms of disease in all
internal indurations and ossifications  do not  appear  well
marked in  living patients that  are not under water-treat- 
174
ment.  They are attended with no sensible pains.  If the
sliming covers only small spaces in the  large bowels, no
effects are  perceptible for a long time, and proper symp-
toms of the disease sometimes never appear.   An internal
imperceptible effect is, indeed, always present,  and that
consists in a somewhat insufficient sustenance of the body.
When, however,  such like coatings and indurations  are
present in the stomach, then there are always considerable
indurations in the bowels, because, in the latter, especially
in the folds of the large bowels, the slime always settles
and adheres first.   A person  is paler and more emaciated
in the same ratio  that  his digestive canals are  the more
extensively  covered with  slime  and  indurations.  Ac-
cordingly,  loss of flesh and paleness  of the  skin  are
the chief symptoms of indurated slime, which, when pre-
sent  in  a  high  degree,  results in hypochondriasis and
painful affections of the nervous system.   When a person
labors under all these symptoms of disease without having
any decidedly marked diseases, then the digestive organs
are always the seat of the  complaint, and generally indu-
rated slime is present in these organs.   Persons of solid
flesh  and ruddy complexion are seldom thus affected, and
never to any considerable extent.
   It is an easy matter to show in what manner the indu-
iated  mucous coatings of the  stomach and bowels produce
emaciation and paleness.   According as a greater extent
of the surface of these organs is slimed and indurated, so
much less surface is in activity in the digestion of food
and the absorption of chyle.  In this manner  a considera-
ble portion of the aliment of the food consumed passes off
in excrement,  unelaborated and  unemployed.   For this
reason all persons with slime-coated bowels and  stomach, 
175
are inclined to over-eating, because the body requires more
aliment than the digestive  organs can elaborate ; there-
fore, despite the large quantity of their daily food, which,
with healthy digestion, would  be sufficient to the perma-
nent nutrition of a full rugged body, their body continues
to emaciate more and more.
   Since  the great majority  of people  have not healthy
digestive organs, they experience a feeling of great dis-
comfort if they fully satiate their appetite.  Hence, then,
has arisen the oft-repeated rule, that it is more healthy to
cease eating before the appetite is  fully satisfied.  This
precaution  is quite necessary  for medicine-poisoned sto-
machs, but for healthy stomachs  it  is a great folly, if,  to
wit, an active life be  combined  with  healthiness of sto-
mach.  Whoever has his digestion  restored by  a course
of water-cure, and afterwards continues  in  the diet of
Priessnitz,  feels himself in the highest degree comfortable
and healthy, if he always fully satisfies his appetite ;  and,
indeed, in our temperately cold climate, fat foods are par-
ticularly wholesome  to the healthy,  as  well  to  impart
pliancy to the bowels as to maintain  a cc mfortable warmth
of body.  However,  those who  have  stomachs  after the
fashion of the old regime, suffer of sour stomach  after
partaking of fat, and cannot eat it, and dare not, generally
speaking, satisfy their appetite ; and they also, who lead
a sedentary life, should never fully satiate their appetite.
   Do you suppose Nature would have given man appetite
for more than he dare eat?   Do you suppose that Nature
would have  imposed penances and denials on mankind ?
No, mankind itself has done it.
   When the  appetite of the healthy hydropathic stomach
is satiated  to its utmost requisition with very  fat foods 
176
there follows no  penance  as  a consequence  thereof, but
that satisfactory, in the highest degree pleasurable, condi-
tion of digestion which the healthy only know.
  Hard and scanty stool  is usually connected with sliming
of the bowels, and determination of blood to the head, and
eyes, and breast.   All these  consequential disorders and
discomforts disappear  of themselves as soon as the purifi-
cation by water is completed.   If, instead of which,  medi-
cine  is still continued in, a  sort of consumption sets in
also,  an  iliac  passion,  a  hardening of the intestines, or
such  like scientifically produced affliction.
  The  coating and partial  induration of the  digestive
organs is very  rarely observed  among  the  lower classes,
since there medicinal dosing is not carried to any conside-
rable extent.   Nearly  all  the  patients  that enter the
water-cure  establishments have  taken  a great deal  of
medicine ; according  to my experience in establishments
well directed, and  provided with  good  water,  about one-
half of  the patients get critical diarrhoeas, and one-eighth
part  get critical  vomiting;  consequently,  of the  cure-
guests in water-cure establishments, about one-half bring
with them indurated sliming  of the bowels, and only  an
eighth part such sliming of the stomach.
  From the well-discussed operation of mucous sliming,
to which the stomach  resorts to protect itself against the
poisons  forced  upon it, we obtain  the explanation of the
causes why certain doses and kinds of poison introduced
into  the stomach  do not cause immediate symptoms  of
disease  to arise,  although, when introduced through a
wound into the direct  circulation  of the blood, they pro-
luce speedy death.  This  is  the  case with the poison  of
serpents, of which  one may swallow, without  perceptible   ' 
[77
      injury, the same quantity which, introduced into a wound,
      would soon produce either death, or, at least, violent mor-
      bid symptoms.
        When, however, the doses of poison are too large, and,
      at the same time, too violent, for the stomach to envelope
      them through the  sliming process, they eat through the
      slime, and cause, not unfrequently,  a chronic ulceration
      of those  places in the  stomach and bowels on which they
      more particularly settle.
        Generally  speaking, it  must  be observed  under the
      theme of mixture  of  poisons with mucus, that an abso-
      lute envelopment of the poison in mucus is never effected,
      but only a relative, and that always more or less of the
      administered  poison is  absorbed  and taken into the circu-
      lation ; more when the poison  mixed with mucus  courses
      through the bowels; less  when  the  greater  part  thereof
      remains  in the  stomach.   But yet this latter case is the
      more pernicious, because  the hearth of life, the workshop
      of the aliment of the body is thus more ruined than when
      the poison is  carried off out of the stomach and partially
      mixed with the blood.
        In a chronic ulceration, the organism, under the usual
      diet, without  assistance from  the water-cure, reacts only
      against the rapid extension of the evil, by constantly con-
      ducting its best juices thither to keep  in subjection the
      oorroding poison.   This imperfect reaction produces that
      sort  of inflammation  which  the physicians  denominate
      chronic,  and  which has not an energetic but a sly charac-
      ter.  Such reaction allows the ulceration to proceed only
      very slowly, sometimes retards its progress several years.
      But  as soon as a  new debilitating cause, any other dis-
t,     ease, or old  age  arises,  the annihilation proceeds more
                            8*


j 
178
 rapidly, and  causes death—oftentimes  many years after
 the poisoning has been effected.
    The symptoms of this disease are, besides an inadequate
 digestion  and  nourishment, a  sensation  of burning or
 pricking in the stomach or bowels, which often alternates
 with a sensation of oppression.   In a more advanced state
 of the disease there ensues, also, vomiting of coagulated
 blood, which escapes from one of the blood-vessels corroded
 and eaten through by the ulceration or alvine evacuations
 of blood, which now is coagulated, now not.  Generally,
 periodical vomiting also attends  the chronic ulceration of
 the stomach,  still not always.
   This disease is cured by water, when sufficient organic
 strength  is  still  present, and  the disease  has  not yet
 reached  the  last stadium.    The  processes by  which
 water effects  cure are  easily explained.   The water thai
 is drunk makes, as already before  observed, its course
 through the whole circulation of the blood, before it is in
 part excreted through the  urinary organs.   Tt thus re-
 leases  stagnating and slimy matter,  it qualifies  acrid
 and  poisonous  humors by  thinning and  diluting  them,
 and conducts them out of the body through transpirations
 of  the skin,  and evacuations,  and  urine,  if water  be
 also rightly  and  proportionably applied  externally.   In
 such a manner the water-cure purifies all the juices and
 the whole mass of the body.  Moreover, the water comes
 in  direct contact with the inflamed and festering parts
 of the digestive canals, and before it enters into the circu-
 lation is partially absorbed by these parts in the state of
 pure water, and mixes itself with the acrid poisonous hu-
mors, which are the cause of the inflammation, and thus
qualifies and dilutes tHm, and becomes, at the same time, 
179
the  medium of their transportation to the place of excre-
tion.  In this  way it operates from within  through the
capillaries of the walls of the stomach,  and, at the same
time, from without the stomach, dissolving, diluting, and
extracting.   It  exercises another healing effect, through
its constituent parts, oxygen and hydrogen, in the neces-
sary new formation or reconstruction of nerves, glands,
&c, destroyed by the inflammation.
  The cancer in the stomach arises from causes similar
to those of the chronic  inflammation.  It is a more  obsti-
nate  and fatal  disease,  and  is brought on  when those
causes just mentioned are present in a high  degree, par-
ticularly when a general  and extensive corruption  of the
humors is combined therewith, and when corrosive and
poisonous substances deposit themselves  on the glands of
the stomach.
   The symptoms of cancer  in the stomach are the follow-
ing : first, the concealed  symptoms in the stomach, which
are only detected  by dissection, are, in  the  beginning,  a
rough, hard tumor, which is painful, has a red hue, after-
wards passing to dark red, to a lead color, and blue-black,
which grows into the adjacent parts ;  finally, bursts and
discharges an acrid, oftentimes bloody fluid pus of various
colors and offensive odor.
   The symptoms of cancer sensible to the patient during
life, are, burning and stitching pains in the stomach, vo-
miting of an offensive watery substance frequently  mixed
with  blood, exceedingly  bad digestion, and meagre nour-
ishment of body, sleeplessness, and constipation.
   From  this,  one may  perceive  that  the symptoms of
ehronic inflammation nearly  -esemble those of cancer  m
the stomach. 
                         180

  The cancer is  more difficult of cure than the chronic
inflammation, but in  its commencement, and  especially
with strong constitutions, it  is curable by  water.   The
curative processes are,  in every respect, similar to those
described in ulceration of the stomach.   When, however,
the cancer has  been open a long time, and the organism
extremely emaciated  and debilitated  in  the strife against
it, then a cure is  no longer possible.   I have cured, with
water, not  a small number of cancer patients ;  but I have
also denied many a reception into my establishment who
were already in an advanced stage of this disease, because
the hydropath must guard against a case of death in his
establishment at  almost any price.   For this  reason  he
must frequently deny a reception to  patients, who are not
absolutely incurable, with whom, however,  it is doubtful
whether they may not die before long.
   A goodly number of persons bear within them the germ
of cancer.  These unfortunates in the hands of the drug-
doctors journey onward to a horribly painful death.   Had
they  knowledge  of their disease, and  of  the various
 riethods of cure,  they would hasten to enter a water-cure
ostablishment before it might be too late.   Whoever has a
periodical feeling of burning or pricking in the stomach,
oftentimes combined with an alternating  oppression there,
with  him the germ  of stomach cancer, or,  at least, a
chronic ulceration, is developing itself 
181
                           VI.

   MUCUS FEVER.  NERVOUS FEVER.  PUTRIL FEVER.
 The mucus  fever  arises generally from  falsely treated
 catarrhal and inflammatory fevers, and the false treatment
 of the latter fevers consists in the employment and  admi-
 nistration of medical poisons, and a false diet.  To the lat-
 ter  belongs the prohibition of all use of cold water, and
 using instead thereof warm emollient soups, whica are par-
 ticularly injurious,  when the patient manifests an aversion
 for them, and then still is compelled to take them  by  order
 of his physician.  It is very rare that a fever sets in im-
 mediately with the character of mucus fever.
   The symptoms of mucus fever are the following :  Quick,
 but weak pulse, loss of appetite, usually constipation, which
 sometimes alternates with diarrhoea, pale, also  dirty grey
 color of complexion, tendency to thrush, and the symptoms
 of foul stomach, eructations from the  stomach, coated
 tongue, a slimy nauseous taste, puffed up abdomen.   With
 these symptoms  are combined, oftentimes, catarrhal affec-
 tions, which in general do not belong to the  mucus  fever
 character, but are transferred from their original catarrhal
 character to the  mucus fever.
   The cure of the mucus fever is effected through mucous
 discharges, both of vomiting  and  alvine  evacuations;
 farther, through  critical perspirations, and eruptions.  It is
 evident, from the above  given explanations, that all  these
 said  curative  processes are  not only promoted  by water,
 but are brought  about by it alone ; it is farther  evident,
 that medicinal remedies  are decided  hindrances  to  these
processes.   Under the hands of the doctors, very often a
catarrhal fever i3 converted  into mucus fever, and mucus 
                           182

  'ever into neivous fever ;  daily experience teaches it.   In
  the  hydriatic  treatment,  such a change  for the worse is
  an impossibility.
    (2) The nervous fever likewise sets in very seldom as the
  original form of disease, and is as generally as the mucus
  fever a fabrication of the doctors ; nervous fever developes
  itself  under  the doctor's hands  from gastric,  catarrhal,
  inflammatory, and  even  from intermitting fevers.   The
  nervous fever is not a healing disease ;  what I have said in
  my first hydriatic work, entitled, " The Spirit of the Grae-
  fenberg  Water-Cure," upon this fever, proceeded  from a
  wrong view of this disease,  and requires  the rectification
  here given.   That pamphlet was written by me during the
  first period of my own  water-cure,  and wants  the eight
  years' experience and investigations, which since that time
  I have collected and prepared.
    The nervous fever arises, when an  organism, afflicted
  with morbific matters, receives an  impulse to the produc-
  tion of a healing fever ; at the same time, however, the weak-
 ness of the nerves,  and  also  usually the relaxation of the
 system of the skin, steps  in the way, hindering the  accom-
 plishment of  a healing form of  disease.   Under healing
 fevers, I  include  the inflammatory, catarrhal, gastric,  and
 intermitting fevers.
   From this explanation concerning the nature of nervous
 fever,  we get also an explanation of the causes, why the
 said healing  fevers,  under the hands  of  the doctors, so
 often degenerate  into nervous  fevers,  to wit, because by
 blood-letting and poisonings the organism is robbed of the
 power  necessary to maintain and perfect the healing fever;
 because the nervous system is depressed by these disturb-
ing inroads, and thereby disqualified for any healing fever, 
183
  and, finally, because from non-application of water to the
  skin, that system in all  fevers  and  sweatings is so  de-
  pressed,  that critical discharges  therefrom cannot possibly
  ensue  in a  satisfactory  manner.  Under all these hin-
  drances  the excitation  then passes over to  the  nervous
  system in particular; nervous afflictions  and  violent fever
  combine to form a compound disease, which is  denominated
  nervous fever.
   It has  already been  shown in the  foregoing, that  the
 gastric fevers frequently  have  an epidemic  cause, i. e.
 they originate in a corruption of the air in certain districts.
 These gastric fevers  of the epidemic nature are,  under the
 hands of  mediciners, very frequently converted  into ner-
 vous fevers;  indeed, in certain  districts, and at  certain
 times, they always assume,  without delay, the nervous form
 under drug  treatment.  Therefore it is quite an error  to
 speak of epidemic or contagious nervous fevers; for, in the
 water-treatment, the  gastric fevers  never  assume the
 marked nervous form, and they  soon lose those symptoms
 which prognosticate  a degeneration of the fever into the
 nervous form.
   In consideration of the causes of nervous fever it should
 not remain unmentioned, that, when a disposition of the
 body to arouse a healing fever is present, mental over-ex-
 ertion may likewise become a cause of degeneration into
 nervous fever.   Farther, this  disease may develope itself
 from  a healing  fever, by  means  of repeated  deleterious
 mental excitements, through fright, great fear, grief, and
 repeated vexations.   But all these causes occur  very sel-
dom,  in comparison with  the causes of  bloodletting and
medicinal  poisoning;  for those mental  and moral  causes 
184
 must rise to an unusually fearful degree, if they are tc
 produce an effect equal to the medical treatment.
   The symptoms of nervous fever are the following : Every
 kind of nervous fever is .ushered in by disturbances in the
 head, nervous  pains, feverish  pulse, loss of appetite, and
 sleep, or at  least the sleep is unrefreshing, and beset with
 fantasies.   Nervous fever  is  divided into two  general
 kinds.
   (1) The inflammatory  nervous fever approaches more
 nearly the curative  form of disease than the torpid nervous
 fever, and the  former is more easily and certainly curable
 by water than the latter.  In  the inflammatory  nervous
 fever we perceive a greater energy in all the functions of
 the organism, and in all manifestations of disease.  Dry, and
 burning hot skin, rapid and irregular pulse, state of high
 excitement and deliriousness, parching thirst, nervous, and
 sometimes  half rheumatic  pains,  dry,  brown,  cracked
 tongue ; these constitute  the most prominent symptoms of
 inflammatory nervous fever.
   (2) The  torpid nervous fever has on the other hand the
 following symptoms ; pale and  sunken expression of coun-
 tenance,  lack-lustre, dying expression of  the  eye,  total
 prostration of the strength, dulness of  the senses, in con-
 tradistinction to the  diseased sensitiveness of the senses in
 the inflammatory nervous fever, torpid  slumbering, entire
 want of appetite and of evacuations from  the bowels, dark
 brown furrowed tongue, gloomy unconscious fantasies.
   The  inflammatory nervous  fever is very  often  con.
 verted into the  torpid by medical treatment.  The furthei
 effects of that treatment are either death, through palsy.
apoplexy,  exhaustion of the vital  energies,  resolution of
the juices of the  body,  consumption  of me  nerves (sup 
185
pressed nervous fever), or a very slow and relative reco-
very, without any or at least any considerable struggles and
discharges.   How tardily  convalescence  follows,  under
medical hands, and how very seldom  the former state of
health  is afterwards  regained,  are circumstances  suffi-
ciently well known, and find their most satisfactory  expla-
nation  herein, viz. that the critical discharges of the mor-
bific matter are rendered impossible by medical treatment.
  In the hydriatic treatment, nervous fever assumes, gra-
dually,  the character of rheumatic or catarrhal fever ;
also, marked rheumatic pains usually  arise, and the mat-
ters of disease, which have occasioned the  nervous  fever,
are eliminated through critical  secretions.  If the disease
be treated from the very commencement with water,  its ra-
dical cure is  effected very soon, comparatively, and after-
pains, relapses, or, indeed,  the origination of  new chronic
affections, are never consequent upon such  treatment.
  Although the hydriatic treatment of nervous fever must
be more carefully undertaken than that of inflammatory
fevers, and although the nervous fever is a secondary dis-
ease, and caused by hindrance  being  offered to the heal-
ing propensity of nature ; still, my experience and  know-
ledge have justified me  in the  belief that no person can
die of  nervous fever  if, in the beginning, it be treated
rightly (not  after the  manner of the physicians), with
water.  During the prevailing  disposition in Mecklenburg
for many years  past to nervous fevers, I have  had  occa-
sion to  treat  this disease in  all its stadia  and in  all its
varieties.   Although  I  have never lost a  patient  by  it,
not even in cases where a medical treatment had preceded
mine,  still, I consider  the issue of  the water-treatment
very doubtful when a  mediciner has already been pre- 
186
 viously practising upon the fever.  For in so dangerous a
 disease one does not change from one method  of cure to
 another out of mere pastime, ; one does not discharge his
 medicine-doctor before that he has abandoned  all hope of
 a fortunate  issue of the disease under the medical  treat-
 ment, and then the patients are already to the last degree
 emaciated and  debilitated.   All those  that  have been
 handed over  to me  from  the medical  treatment, were
 already  reduced to the  appearance of  skeletons,  and I
 consider it to be, therefore,  only a fortunate circumstance
 that I have  also cured all these.  Yet,  abstractly of the
 uncertain issue  of the water-cure after preceding  medi-
 cinal treatment, the recovery after such a preceding treat-
 ment is always tedious.
  (3)  The Putrid Fever is  still more decidedly  than  the
 nervous  fever,  a  fabrication  from  primary fevers, and,
 consequently, seldom comes on immediately in its terrible
 form.   Medical treatment, and a hot, damp, and corrupted
 atmosphere, are the usual causes,  which convert a primary
 or a nervous fever into a putrid fever.
  The Symptoms of Putrid Fever are a pricking  heat,
 which, on being touched with the hand, leaves behind a
 disagreeable sensation, great debilitation, and disfigured
 look, a small fever-pulse, offensive evacuations,  and dis-
 charges of blood, an  inclination  towards  resolution of the
humors, and dissolution of the solid parts.
  Although I cannot assert that water,  rightly applied,
will, in every case, cure the  putrid fever, yet it is proved,
 by experience, that water is the best remedy for this dis-
 ease also, and that one may presume upon a happy  issue
 with great probability, if it be applied immediately in the
 3omraencement of this terrible disease. 
187
                         VII.

          NERVOUS AFFLICTIONS.  CRAMPS.

A .L nervous afflictions are secondary  manifestations  of
disease, and for this reason their symptoms are not to  be
considered as healing endeavors  of the organism, but are
tormenting  sensations which the body suffers  in  its gra-
dual annihilation by chronic disease.
  Protracted and lingering nervous afflictions are, in most
cases, an effect of secondary disease  of the digestive or-
gans, whose disease may be  so laten. that one detects  Jio
symptoms of disease in those parts of the body which are
influenced by these organs.  For instance, the  indurated
mucous sliming of the digestive  canals  has  no symptoms
particularly sensible in the stomach and bowels, not even
when it is present in a very high degree : the signs of the
disease are emaciation, paleness, hypochondria, disgust  of
life : in a word, dull nervous distress,  respecting whose
true seat the feelings give no proper direction.
  The nerves are mostly governed and influenced by the
brain ; but  the brain  itself is a complication of nerves,
and if we do not separate  it from the nerves  of  the rest
of the body, but place it under the nervous system collec-
tively,  then  the digestive organ is,  of  all other organs,
that one which exercises the most  influence upon the
whole  nervous system ;  the  stomach,  by  means  of  its
ganglionic  nerves, stands in  reciprocal action with the
whole  nervous system ; still,  however, it influences the
nervous  system in a  higher degree  than it is influenced
bv it.
  Since the administered poisons  arrive first in the sto-
mach and  bowels, before they  pass into the blood, and 
188
since they are often partially withheld from  passing into
the blood and the rest part of the body, they being enve-
loped in mucus, and thus remain in the digestiv ? canals :
therefore, among such nations as have, for a long course
of time, made use of a method of curing diseases by poi-
sons, the great body of diseases of the  digestive organs
must not only be widely extended, but, also, preponderate
over the diseases of the  other organs.  Since, farther-
more, the digestive organs exercise so decided an influence
on the  nerves, therefore, nervous afflictions must,  next in
order,  be the most widely extended.
   Thus it is in present Europe—everywhere stomach dis-
ease, partly in forms of diseases which, by  sensual per*
ceptions, denote the stomach as the seat of affliction, partly
in latent forms, which manifest  themselves to the percep-
tion in the form of nervous afflictions.
   As the use of medicine among the higher classes  is   •
more frequent than among the lower, therefore, with the
former, stomach and nervous diseases must  be more fre-
quent than among the latter.  Experience  aiso confirms
this conclusion.
   Every poisening, which causes slow death, not only the
medical, but also that of  the insidious villain, is followed
by a train of dreadful nervous torments.
   When the stomach, and especially the ganglionic nerves,
are strongly poisoned and shattered by powerful medicinal
poisons administered in  an  energetic acute  disease, or
when some other organ is similarly affected by absorption
of the poison from the blood, and when nervous complaints
are in  such wise produced, then  the  physicians prescribe
milder poisons for the cure of these complaints, and there-
by complete, slowly but  surely,  the  ruin  of the  nerves. 
189
These  milder  poisons  are called  nerve-strengthening
(" neurotic"), or also, in general, " restoratives."
  An organism can only be truly restored and strengthened
by expelling all foreign matters, especially from the diges-
tive canals,  and enabling it to digest and  assimilate  to  it--
self a sufficient quantity of aliment.   This true invigora-
tion is  always  (the water-cure has proved it a thousand
times), with very  emaciated persons,  accompanied  by  a
very sensible, oftentimes astonishing, increase in flesh and
muscle, and with  persons of sufficient,  but soft,  weak
flesh, it hardens itself to an iron-like solidity.  Wherever
both of these very visible effects, and, moreover, a bloom-
ing ruddy complexion, fail, their  true invigoration has
never been effected, but at most a false show of  it, caused
by stimulants.  Alcohol is the real main principle of most
allopathic " restoratives " or " tonics," which at first spur
up  the nerves  temporarily, in  order  afterwards to ruin
them and  the whole organism  more surely.  The alcohol
is then administered, sometimes alone in sublimated  form,
in ethers,  essences, drops,  sometimes together with  other
stimulants ;  for instance, old  wine, cognac,  with china,
&c.  All these articles correspond, in their substance and
effects, with brandy.   When the period  of  their first
stimulation  is past, then bluntness and  insensibility follow,
and that dreadful condition in which  the brandy and  sti-
mulants have become  a necessity, without being longer
able to exercise any effect.
   But the etherial  lady abstains from  brandy as little  as
the day  laborer,  when, in her delicacy, she entitles it—
ether,  eau—and who knows with what other names  1
   The completion of the ruin of the nerves  by nerve-
strengthening  and narcotia medicaments, rests  upon a 
190
direct pernicious effect  of these stuffs  on the  nerves.
Every other poisoning,  which produces long-continuing
and oft-returning pains, operates, also, indirectly, with de-
structive effect upon  the nerves.  Pain is  a thing which
is  unnatural,  and tht nervous system  of  all  animals is
constituted  for their  pleasure, and-not for their pain ; for
this reason it cannot endure  long-continuing pain without
becoming diseased.   Also, rheumatic pains, viz. those of
the teeth and of the face, ruin the  nerves  in  the course
of time ;  even the pains produced by external artificial
means,  e. g. by the tortures  of the rack, effect the same;
if they are frequently repeated.
   When  powerful medicinal  poisons penetrate directly
into the body of the nerves, by means of the  circulation
they effect not only a chemical transformation  of the sub-
stance of the nerves,  but also an organic deformation, and
respective destruction of the form of the nerves.  When,
however, medicinal  poisons  ruin  the  nervous system
through  indirect effect,  then  the transformations  usually
extend  more  to the  form, than to the material,  of  the
nerves.
   The  artificial  stimulants,  which are  such  dangerous
enemies to the nerves, come  not alone from the hands of
the mediciners, but at the present day, also, out of the lap
of the false conditions of culture, particularly from the cor
ruption of social  culture.  This  deep corruption has  ad
vanced, indeed, to that  degree that the use  of narcotic
poisons  passes for an attribute  of manhood,  with boys
even, as the dub of knighthood,  which  elevates them to
men.   Tobacco and the  intoxicating drinks belong most
particularly to the narcotic poisons.   On this point I will
here only state,  in general,  that  these  pernicious  sub- 
191
stances are,  indeed,  much less  injurious than  the  most
nerve-poisoning  medicaments,  but still they are,  by all
means, injurious to the stomach and nerves, and if they,
of themselves alone, do not possess the power, when  used
moderately, to cause speedy and marked injury to a healthy
person, still they are  faithful allies  to the medicinal poi-
sons in the work  of destruction of the nerves.   In the
second part I will  speak at large respecting tobacco and
alcohol.
  Also, coffee, tea, and the stimulating spices, are preju-
dicial to- the health of the nerves, although they, of them-
selves alone, are still less capable than tobacco*" and alco-
hol, of destroying  a healthy nervous system.   But  they
are co-operative with  the destroying power of medicinal
poisons, and  they  must  be unconditionally prohibited in
all cases where the nerves are already the prey to dis-
ease, or a cure will be rendered impossible.
  We  will now turn to the  immaterial causes of nervous
affliction.   If  such causes,  without  the introduction of
foreign  matter into the  body,  can  produce disease and
gradual ruination  to a system  of the  body, it is unques-
tionably the nervous system.   Still, I do not believe that
a case has ever yet occurred  in which this  system has
become diseased  through  immaterial  causes alone; but
unquestionably these  causes are sometimes  the predomi-
nating, and very often the  co-operating causes of disease
of the nerves.
  First in order, among the immaterial  causes as destroy-
ers of the nerves, stand the over-exercise and  too close
application of the  mental faculties.  In my opinion there
is only one kind  of exercise of mind,  which is no detri.
ment to the health, and that is the  exercise  of the inge* 
192
nuity in enabling us to escape dangers, to pursue enemies
and beasts of prey, as this so often occurs in the life of
the savages.   But abstract and scientific thinking  I  hold
to be relatively unhealthy, and am of the opinion, that at
this moment while I am thinking and writing for the  inte-
rests of the general  health, I  am acting against the  inte-
rests of my own health.   I say " relatively "  unhealthy,
and intend by this word to note especially the considera-
tion that it is unnatural and unhealthy to practise abstract
thinking as a  business and means of livelihood;  accord-
ing to my opinion, every person in a truly human, refined,
and cultivated state  of society, should  busy  himself  with
some  bodily  labor,  and  the  mentally  endowed  should,
only in their hours of recreation, yield themselves up to
abstract and  scientific thinking  as a  means of pleasure.
That would be not only better for health, but unspeakably
much better  for science  also.  Sciences constructed by
persons that are recluses by  profession, can  be as  little
healthy as are the recluses themselves.  But that belongs
not here ; that digresses  widely  into strange fields ;  that
draws down much affliction upon humanity, and the  poor
wan journeyman of science ;  that gives testimony to the
falseness of our refined  conditions, and causes me bitter
sorrow whenever  I  reflect upon it;  therefore,  for  four
important reasons  I must  abandon these thoughts.
   I said " relatively," and intend thereby to denote the
disproportionately  constant thinking to the neglect of the
corporal elaboration  of one's organic powers and his  stag-
nating juices.   Every mental occupation that is not  pur-
sued from inclination, or choice, or with aversion even,
operates either in bl unting or morbidly exciting the nerves 
193
of the brain, and in every case causes decided injury not
to the body only, but also to the mind.
  To the over-exertion of the mind belong also the labors
of those unhappy writers and poets, whose imagination is
not a fountain gushing spontaneously from the lap of the
soul, profuse and unceasing, but a pump, which is wrought
in the bitter sweat of hard laboriousness.
  The second class of immaterial causes  of nervous dis-
eases consists of mental affections of an uninjurious kind.
To these  belong grief, care,  fright,  and long-continued
fear, anger, envy, and jealousy ; also, humbled pride and
inordinate thirst after  honor and power.   All these influ-
ences are  co-operative with the causes  of nervous dis-
eases ; it may be easily supposed that some of these may
become causes of nervous afflictions, although this has, by
no  means, been demonstrated, and  experience seems to
speak to the contrary.  For experience teaches that, of
all the above-mentioned mental affections,  there is no one
which, in  every case, will ruin the nervous system of the
Derson therewith affected ; but  experience  teaches that
every lingering poisoning, that of the insidious murderer,
as well as of the mediciner,  brings wretched disease upon
the nervous system ;  experience teaches  that those per-
sons who have taken  the most medicine always have  the
most diseased nerves.
   Sexual  excesses also operate injuriously upon the ner-
vous system, but only then, when at the same time a diet
of narcotic artificial stimulants is employed, or when me-
dicinal poisoning is present.  If a natural diet  is used,
and  the water-cure employed when  the  disease occurs,
then with  healthy persons of mature age,  there can be no
excesses,  in as far as  health  is concerned,  i. e. the inclina-
                    9 
194
tro^ to physical love does not then exceed the capability
thereto.
  But quite otherwise is it with sexual pleasures in unripe
age,  and with al. unnatural modes of quieting the sexual
desire.   They all  exhaust the vital energy prematurely,
and depress all the mental and corporal functions ;  there-
fore, they depress, also, the nervous  system, and rob it of
its fresh susceptibility for enjoymen.; but if neither medi-
cinal poisoning, nor  mental  and moral  affections of an
injurious  nature, nor as yet  the  pernicious effects of a
narcotic diet, co-operate,  at the same time, to enhance the
evil,  then they destroy  the  whole machine  gradually,
without producing either symptoms of disease or a strongly
prominent disorder in the balance of the functions.  Still
it is  very rare that the said excesses are left to operate
alone, as in the supposed case ; when, however, they are
attended by a narcotic diet, it assists in annihilating the
nervous system.
  Cramps are  forms of disease which only appear when
the nerves are secondarily and deeply diseased.  Cramps
are involuntary movements and convulsions of the nerves,
which impart themselves, more or less, to  the adjacent
muscles, and through them  produce the most various,  in-
voluntary, and ungovernable actions of the organism, toss-
ing of the arms and legs,  utterance of tones which are
low lower, now louder, but always of a fearful kind, and
which sometimes swell to a heart-rending shriek.
  The allopathic classifications of cramps in clonic, ato-
nic,  convulsive, cataleptic, epileptic, &c, are  a confused
mixture of several  modes of classification, because some
are only different grades in the effects of similar causes;
others, however, the effec s of dissimilar causes. 
195
  Next to the organic devastations and deformations,  the
chronic nervous afflictions are those diseases  for which
water affords the slowest  and most imperfect aid ; still,
water is,  of  all  remedies, that one which decidedly is  ca-
pable of affording the greatest relative  assistance, and,
indeed, the only assistance.  This most physicians them-
selves  admit;  many of these physicians tell their patients
that water is a suitable remedy for nervous affections only,
well knowing  that  it cures them  the  most slowly  and
imperfectly  ; often these sly foxes find, among the public,
persons who are simple enough  to  receive such like  un-
truths  in good faith.
   In regard to the water-cure practically,  the chief fun-
damental rule to be observed in the treatment of severe
nervous  complaints  is, that cold water  must never be
used until considerable improvement has taken place,  but
until such time, tepid water of a temperature between 57°
and 75°  Fahrenheit.   This fundamental rule, I  am sorry
to say, is daily disregarded in many water-cure establish-
ments.  By the use of too cold water and too stimulating
 baths, the condition of the nervous patient is in every case
 much aggravated, and he may,  by such treatment, even
 be brought  into a state of insanity.
   During the several  past generations of man the acute
 diseases have become more seldom, and the  chronic  con-
 ditions of disease more frequent (a necessary effect of the
 medicinal  art), and,  therefore, the stimulating medicines
 have grown more and more in general use, and the  ruin
 of the nerves  and  cramps more  aggravated.   Nervous
 complaint,  over-stimuiation of the nerves, cramps,  and
 convulsions, we now find everywhere : in men's  bodies, in
 society, in literature, politics, and morals, and the prime 
196
cause of all this evil is nothing else  than medicinal poi-
soning.
  Thus allopathy has penetrated with her infernal  influ-
ences even into the profound depths of the mind.   Do
you smile ?  Do you believe, then, that the over-stimulat-
ed, nervous weakling can produce thoughts, ideas,  deeds,
upon which the stamp of disease and nervous over-stimu-
lation is not fixed ?   Youth is inexhaustible in the talent
of hope ; it holds the cramps and twinges of our time,
for  pains of that time, which will give birth to a  new
grand  epoch.  Poor deluded youth,  the  cramps  of an
over-stimulated poisoned dame are no  pains of travail;
they are the slow pains of death!


                       VIII.

HYPOCHONDRIACISM  AND  HYSTERIA.   DISGUST  OF
           LIFE AND SUICIDAL PROPENSITY.

Hypochondriacism and Hysteria are forms of disease similar
to one another, and whatsoever is dissimilar in them arises
from  the dissimilarity of the two sexes;  hypochondria-
cism appertains to  the  male, and hysteria to the female
sex.   The  seat of both diseases is in the stomach and
bowels, and particularly in the nerves.   In hysteria, dis-
ease of the sexual  nerves  is always combined with dis-
ease of the nerves of the digestive organs ; in hypochon-
dria, however, there is usually disease only of the  latter
nerves present.
  The symptoms of the  two forms of disease, which they
have in common with each  other, are, at first,  frequent
and sudden changes of humor, and, accordingly, apparent 
197
changeableness of character.   Now unrestrained joy from
trifling causes, and again, and  still oftener  the deepest
concern and disquietude, ill  temper,  vexation,  sudden
bursts of passion over the most unimportant matters.  In
the first disposition of temperament, the character appears
pleasing, sympathizing, and forbearing; in the second, on
the contrary, it appears  rough, harsh, unjust, even  mali-
cious.  A second symptom of these two  diseases is sel-
fishness, accompanied, also, with the passion of speaking
much of one's own self, and  one's own disease, and of
reading, meditating,  and speculating much upon it, of
daily changing one's view with respect to  it, and, in ima-
gination, living to experience all  possible diseases.   With
the described eccentricity  in  each  of the most diverse
temperaments, they are, of course, also connected with a
want of perseverance  in any  one undertaking, and a
seizing after new projects.
   In hysteria there is often an unmistakable effort to ex-
cite attention by actions, by talking, looks, and in particu-
lar, also, by dress, and this  propensity appears to arise
from disease of the sexual nerves.
   The  purely corporal  symptoms of diseases are  pains
and cramps in the  stomach and  bowels, hard  and scanty
evacuations, flatulency, changeableness in appetite, and a
feeling of bodily  anxiety and  fear.  In the hysteria the
cramps increase sometimes to convulsions, and to a cramp-
like action from abdomen to stomach and throat.  It must,
however, be observed that the corporal symptoms of disease
here enumerated  do  not always arise,  at least, it fre-
quently is the case, that  for a long time  the above-men-
tioned  conditions  of tlw temperament  only  show  then*
selves. 
198
  The causes which produce hypochondria and hysteria
are over-excitement, disorganization, material  and formal
alteration of the abdominal nerves,  effected particularly
by oft-repeated  purgatives ;  farther,  want of bodily exer-
cise, much sitting, connected with over-exercise of mind,
a diet weakening  to  the  digestive organs through over-
stimulation, sometimes, also, sexual excesses, particularly
unnatural sexual indulgences.
   In  all  secondary stomach diseases, therefore, also, in
hysteria and hypochondria, the  feelings  of the  patient
afford him no sure key to the  seat  of the disease.  The
cause of this circumstance lies  in the following construc-
tion of the human  body : the  nerves of the  abdominal
viscera form a separate system, whose centre is called the
abdominal brain (cerebrum abdominale).   These bowels,
as also the  heart, receive their nerves from  the  gangli-
ons, by which the conduct upwards to the head is arrested.
Through this isolation from the brain, follows, necessarily,
that the said bowels can only transmit  their sensations
very  imperfectly to the brain ;  moreover, their sense of
feeling is, of itself, very weak, because these nerves con-
tain, but little marrow.
   Most physicians attribute  these  diseases to dynamic
causes ; still, many acknowledge, that organic defects and
deformations are present in the abdominal  organs in these
forms of disease, but indeed without comprehending  that
these  disorganizations are rarely produced otherwise than
by medicinal poisonings.
  They consist in transformation of the  material  of the
nerves, in  destruction  and induration of the nerves in
places, by adhesions of indurated slime, in accumulations
of serous fluid  (abdominal dropsy), in causing abnormal 
199
growths  of mt.cous membrane  (polypi), and in ahronio
ulcerations.
   The hypochondria and  hysteria  are  always real dis-
eases of  the body ; the supposition that  these complaints
sometimes originate in the  imagination merely, is  utterly
false.  Of the  seat and nature of his disease, the hypo-
chondriac has frequently very erroneous notions ;  but in
regard to the presence of disease  he is  never deceived.
Universally,  every one who  feels himself unwell, is, in
reality, unwell, although the  medical advisers often try
to reason their patients out of this idea, and persuade them
that the disease  has been  destroyed by their medicines.
On the other  hand, many consider themselves at times
healthy, who are not so, if  we assume organic simplicity
of body as a condition of true and perfect healthiness.
   Hypochondria and hysteria are attended always  with
periods of despair and disgust of life ; still,  habitual dis-
gust of life is no symptom  of genuine  hypochondria,
but  it springs from a  form of disease which is com-
pounded  of hypochondria,  of sensual surfeiting, and  a
tough and thick quality of the blood and of the humors.
This diseased quality of blood arises from insufficient use
of water, and  instead thereof the  use of fermented and
distilled drinks.   Under such diet the fluids of the body
lack the  normal quantity of oxygen and hydrogen, and
this want  causes an uncomfortable,  pleasure-killing feel-
ing in the whole sensorium of the  organism ; moreover,
this want causes a predisposition to  apoplexy and  such
like diseases.
   The hypochondriacal, periodical,  and  habitual disgust
of life is, at. the present day, so  widely extended, and, in
itself, brought to such a  perfect form, that it may  almost 
200
be considered as  a new  temperament.   Its chief, or at
least, a co-operating cause, lies in the ruin of the diges-
tive organs, as in general  alL different temperaments are,
principally, the results of  a healthy or diseased digestion.
This has been proved, very  conclusively, by the water-
cure, which,  by restoring  to  health this important organ,
has already metamorphosed many a melancholic malcon-
tent temperament into  a joyous, happy, sanguine tempera-
ment.
   Against these said  evils  the  water-cure is  the  only
remedy capable of effecting  anything ; it effects, in most
cases,  where the patient  has sufficient perseverance,  a
radical cure,  which, however, for its permanency, requires
a  reasonable  corresponding  diet, and  particularly that
bodily exercise be not  neglected.  But the water can, of
course, not cure when the vital  energy is already  much
exhausted, and those above-mentioned organic defects and
ravages in stomach and bowels  are, in high degree, ad-
vanced.
   The highest degree  of hypochondria and disgust of life
is the suicidal propensity.  It is very difficult, it is almost
impossible, that a perfectly healthy man raise the armed
hand against his own life, although the severest outward
disappointments of life almost overcome  him.   All this
outward unhappiness is nothing  in comparison to the in-
ward chronic misery of disease.
   It is said  the passions drive  men  to  commit suicide.
Most assuredly; well observed,  however, the  passions
are,  in most  cases, and with  most men, the offspring of
disease of body.  The  perfectly healthy person has rarely
and but few passions, because his  claims upon the enjoy-
ment of life  are satisfied  through the pleasures of good 
201
digesnon and procreative powers.  Does some aie accuse
me of making man half  a beast ?  Not I, but Nature has
done it, when she clothed the soul in tne garb of an ani-
mal body, and—let him  also declaim against it who will
—still, it is certain  that  no  human soul can be healthy
when the shackles of the outward animal, into which it is
exiled, are afflicted  with pains and wretchedness.
  The thirst after happiness speeds through  the heart of
man  powerfully and ardently as the gulf-stream through
the ocean.  The  honey of joy flows  in upon the  healthy
person from all sides ; when  he awakes  in  the  morning
he is full of joy at  the prospect of a new day, and with
him  his limbs, which, refreshed, unfold  themselves from
the embraces of sleep; he  finds joy and refreshment in
his very breath, which, with expanded  lungs,  he inhales
from the grand bowl of ether ; he  reaps  delight in view-
ing the golden sunshine and the streams of the mountains.
But with the loss of health flies also  the  capability of
enjoyment and rejoicing, and  still the ardent desire  for
happiness remains.  It is a  fundamental trait in the per-
verted  condition of the diseased, that they suppose they
lack  the external conditions  of joy,  while,  indeed, they
lack  only the  internal.    Permanent  happiness  dwells
only  in  the  natural enjoyments of a healthy body  and
mind;  when  disease  dispels  these,  the wretch longs
after strange artificial enjoyments, and  the more these
escape his grasping hands,  the more ardently glows the
passion.  When the power to love is  poisoned by disease,
then comes the passion for wealth, and power, and honor,
orders and titles, and other insignificancies.
  Since most passions are  the  offspring of diseaae, the
                      9* 
202
apparent wonder that water cures them, easily explains
itself—because it cures the cause of them.
  I am aware that this view sounds  quite  matter-of-fact-
like, is not poetical; the water-cure is not at all so ;  also,
that is not  at all  requisite to  poesy,  least  of all,  to this
modern poesy, which puts out its blossoms from a diseased
stock.  Laugh, laugh, still I fear not  to say, make the
human race healthy, and  you will  behold a new poesy
arise, the rents  and chasms will disappear, the accords of
melancholy and shrills of despair cease to resound.
   Never has a  man in acute disease, during the severest
pains and extremities, taken his own life, because instinct
feels that  they are nothing  else than  the  curative  pro-
cesses  of nature.  On the contrary, in chronic disease,
the feeling of despair awakes,  and whispers despondency.
Thus  the  most suicides  are  the after-consequences of
medicinal poisoning, are explosions of the dull feeling of
an internal misery, that  can be cured  by no other  pills
except the leaden.
   Despite  the  external  wretchedness  that weighs  upon
the lower orders,  still suicides among them  are more sel-
dom,  in  proportion, than  among the higher of society.
Their poverty,  which allows them to buy but little medi-
cine, protects them against suicide and nervous misery.*
  Behold the different men,  and observe  what different
courses they pursue when  overtaken by equal strokes of
outward misfortune.  A bankruptcy drives one to commit

  * In more recent times most afflictions among the lower classes
are  the effect of  the poison  contained  in brandy, viz.  alcohol,
which corresponding afflictions in the higher  classes are prcduced
by medicinal poisJ ning.  Namely, the suicides and shatterings of
understanding are among the consequences of the brandy-plague. 
203
suicide, the  other, to increased industry, to contentment
and true happiness.   The faithlessness of a sweetheart
breaks the  heart  of one and sends  a bullet through his
brain ; the other  finds another,  and becomes the  happy
head of a family.  Whence the  different effects  of the
same causes ?  From the different temperaments of men,
i. e.  from the different states of health of their digestive
organs.

                        IX.

                    RHEUMATISM.

Rheumatism falls  into several subdivisions, of which the
acute or inflammatory rheumatism  is  properly the only
purely rheumatic  original form ;  the cold chronic and the
atonic are secondary  forms, which are only produced by
false treatment  of the acute  rheumatism.   The nervous
rheumatism is a compound form of nervous and rheuma-
tic affection.
  The  Symptoms of Inflammatory Rheumatism are a violent
pain, attended with abnormal accumulations of blood, and
thereby produced  abnormal heat  in  the affected part.  It
will be seen that these symptoms are nearly related to the
symptoms of the proper  inflammatory diseases,  and, also,
the nature of the two kinds of diseases is similar.
  The difference  lies herein, that in  the inflammatory dis-
eases, the heat and accumulation of blood in the diseased
part are greater than in the rheumatic form of disease ;
also,  that  the purely inflammatory  form runs its course
and comes to some decision  sooner  than the rheumatic ;
on the other hand, in the rheumatic form the  pains are
more sensible than in the inflammatory ;  and finally, this 
204
inflammatory form is  attended with sironger fevers than
the rheumatic.   These  differences arise partly from the
higher energy of the inflammatory form of disease, partly
from  the  essential  difference in  the organs, which are
most frequently attacked by both of the  said forms.  Thus
the internal fleshy organs, and those most abundantly pro-
vided with  veins, are most  subjected  to  inflammations,
while on the other hand, the seat  of  rheumatism is more
in the muscles, membranes, and sinews of the flesh sur-
rounding the bones.  Hence, the  more sensible pain  of
the rheumatic, as, also, the more violent accumulation of
blood and heat of the inflammatory form explains itself.
   From the foregoing it is apparent that the rheumatism
is a transition  form between the  healing and destroying
diseases.
   The rheumatic pain is caused thereby  that the nerves in
the affected parts of the body come in contact with foreign
acrid  substances, particularly with poisonous medicinal
substances.  Every considerable poisoning with mercury
produces rheumatic or  gouty pains, which are frequently
of exceeding violence.
   If one applies acrid corrosive substances externally to
the nerves of a  wounded part, there arise,  quite  in the
same manner as with the internal rheumatic, inflammato-
ry, and gouty processes, pains, which are the more vio-
lent the more corrosive the poisonous substance.
   The effect of the water-treatment of inflammatory rheu-
matism is the expulsion  of the matters producing them,
through critical sweats and  critical exanthems (boils and
eruptions).
   The effect of the medical treatment is, on the  contrary,
ihe conversion of inflammatory rheumatism to cold-chro« 
205
nic,  atonic, and  nervous  rheumatism.  This change  is
thus brought about slowly but surely, tnat the organism
is weakened  by medicinal sudorifics,  by purgatives, ve-
sicatories, and the like, and prevented from the formation
of healing exanthems ; farthermore, thus, that the skin
of the affected parts  is long covered  with  flannel and
oiled  silk,  and thereby totally weakened  and rendered
absolutely incapable of\excreting the morbific matters.
   The medicinal  sudorifics produce like process with the
medicinal purgatives only in other organs.   An elimina-
tion of morbific matters by the introduction of fresh evil
substances  is  not possible ;  in the most fortunate, but
very rare, cases, the organism succeeds in  excreting the
newly introduced  medicinal evil matters.  The sweating
caused by medicinal remedies is not a critical perspira-
tion but the sweat  of agony ; moreover, the  stomach is
debilitated, and, in the long run, entirely ruined by these
remedies usually  administered very hot.  People say, in
common life, the causes of rheumatic affections lie mostly
in co'ids.   I have already before shown that no disease
and no pains can be produced by the severest cold, if no
morbific matters are present in the body.  Consequently,
a cold, when morbific matters are present in the  body,
may very well be the  incidental cause  of exciting  rheu-
matism, and  hastening the period  of its outbreak, but
never can it be the  prime cause of it, never produce it.
   The chronic cold rheumatism manifests itself only through
inward pain, without  the skin becoming reddened  or
Heated, because the skin-system and the whole organism
is too much weakened to drive the  healing signs of heat
and accumulation of blood to the periphery.
  The atonic rheumatism shows itself in weakness,  lame- 
206
ness, and stiffness of the affected parts, without pain and
without inflammation.
   The nervous rheumatism is that form which the rheuma-
tism assumes with  persons  of shattered nerves;  then
convulsive sensations are combined with the rheumatic
pains.
   The chronic, atonic,  and  nervous rheumatism cannot,
even with the best diet,  be cured by the organic strength
without the  aid of  water;  still less is this possible by
medicinal means.   When the water-cure is used'properly
and with  perseverance, and vital energy is still present,
then  these rheumatic secondary forms are  transformed
into the primary or  inflammatory, which then discharge
their  morbific  humors  in critical  sweatings and  exan-
thems.
   Sometimes the rheumatism remains for a long time set-
tled in one spot, and is  then called the fixed ; sometimes
the rheumatic pain flies from one place to another, and is
then called the vagrant or  unfixed.  The vagrant rheu-
matism is not so to be understood, as if  the acrid matters,
which generate the  pains, changed  quickly their position
from  one  place to  another, which is a physiological impos-
sibility, but rather in this  manner, that tha foreign matters
are present in different  parts of the body, and are set free
out of the mucous envelopment in one part of the body by the
afore-described processes, and by their acridness produce
the pains ; these, however, on not being  discharged by the
excretory functions,  are again enveloped in newly infused
mucus, whereupon they are  set free in  other parts of the
body  and  thus generate  fresh pains.
   When the rheumatism attacks the organs of sense and
is medically  treated, they  are frequently rendered incapa- 
                          207

 ble of performing  their offices; in such  a manner has
 many a  person  lost his hearing,  his  sight, his sense of
 smell, and not unfrequently even his organ of taste.  On
 the other hand, these diseases of lost senses have been
 often  cured again by water-treatment.
   The worst kinds  of the fixed  rheumatism are lumbago
 and pains in the face ;  still these complaints are generally
 of a complex nature, and have gouty and nervous admix-
 tures.  Also,  these complaints, the vital  energy being
 sufficient, are  cured by water.
   One of the most widely-extended and painful rheumatic
 complaints is the toothache.
   Of all those who incessantly feed from  the drug-shop,
 there  are very few, perhaps none  at all, who are not at
 times subject  to the  torments  of toothache.  Still, the
 high-seasoned  foods and those  prepared with sharp acids,
 bring into  the body substances which, by their  contact,
 cause pain in the nerves, and  particularly  in  the nerves
 of the teeth.
   Most medicaments commence their destructions first in
 the mouth, throat, and the digestive canals, because they
 are taken most directly in these parts, and, therefore, they
 penetrate them the most.  Before the medicine reaches the
 stomach, a part of it is absorbed in the tongue, in the gums,
 in the glands; to be sure the organism reacts  against it
 and endeavors to secrete it in an increased  flow of saliva;
 however, when the  use of it is bravely followed  up, the
 power of reaction becomes less and less, and chronic ac-
cumulations are deposited.   When  now  a cold  is con-
tracted,  these  minute  atoms  of poison  are loosed  from
their envelopment, and by reason of their corrosive nature
excite pains ir the  teeth and glands, &c. 
21)8
  As long as the orgai ism is  still vigorous, tt endeavors
to expel the excited matters, through salivation and smaller
and larger gum-boils.
  The acrid  salivation is never anything  else than the
effect of a new or old poisoning, most frequently caused
by mercury ; as that same  abominable  poison, which  is
now administered for almost every  disease, is also the
most frequent cause  of toothache.   Through the saliva-
tion  somewhat of the penetrating poison is again elimi-
nated ;  it is unquestionably certain that  particles  of poi-
son are contained in  the  acrid  saliva;  for it  could not,
possibly, for  instance, smell of mercury if there was no
mercury in it.  Although the physicians must know this,
for  they know that  the  sensation of smell is awakened
only by material particles coming in contact with the olfac-
tory nerves;  they know, also, that the salivation or flow
of saliva, though its acridity, corrodes to soreness the lips
and mouth—still, these gentlemen seem not to compre-
hend that the salivation is,  therefore, a healing effect of
the body, and,  consequently,  must be supported,  which,
indeed, is possible only by water.  Aye, most physicians
give even  medicines to suppress the salivation, and for
this purpose order piquant, biting substances and spices to
be chewed, or give sulphur  and iodine, especially in mer-
curial salivation.   Take water  in the mouth, and hold  it
therein  until it becomes warm, lay about  the throat and
saliva glands warming cold-water compresses, bathe daily,
and you will  see  how the secretion  of the  poison is pro-
moted through  increased  flow of saliva, and how, in this
manner, also, wholesome boils will be developed.
  Generally, flow of  saliva  attends toothaches, and  must,
likewise, be  maintained in the manner described, only 
209
that warm water  must  be  taken ir. the moi th when the
pains are violent, and meanwhile rub with cold water ex-
ternally, and then lay the compress there again.
  A radical cure from  the susceptibility of toothache 01
from matters causing  toothache, can only be effected by
a radical water-cure, as also, generally speaking, it is not
possible to cure an  individual chronic complaint withoul
at the same time stirring up all the other hidden morbific
causes,  and ridding the system of them.   Thus it is that
chronic cures are so tedious.
  People who before have  suffered of the toothache, get,
in the water-cure, critical toothaches  again,  which differ
from the usual ones in  this respect, that they commence
immediately with those  symptoms with which  the usual
aches depart, namely, with secretion of an  acrid, corro-
sive saliva, with swelling of the jaws or cheeks, and with
the uncomfortable  feeling,  as if the teeth  had  become
longer ; then come gum-boils also, boils upon the external
skin,  and frequently such  a soreness of the mouth that
mastication becomes very painful.   In  such manner the
organism rids itself, with the help of water, of the causes
of past, and, also, of future possible  pains, and the said
critical symptoms  are  sufficient proofs that substantial
foreign matters are the cause of  all toothaches.  After
removal of these causes no  cold can produce toothache,
and this is also confirmed both by reason and experience.
I am acquainted with several persons who formerly suf-
fered terribly of this  misery, but after having taken the
water-cure have never again experienced  the  slightest
inconvenience  on that score,  and laugh at tie  idea of
taking cold.
   Thus it is certain,  that  every one, who still possesses 
210
 good vital  power, can, by the water-cure, rid hinself for
 ever radically of this evil;  just so certainly is it impossible
 to remove the pains immtdiately, because no true cure can
 be effected without pains.  This last principle obtains not
 only in the physical, but also in the  moral world.
    The  allopathic remedies for toothache consist chiefly in
 abstraction of blood  and humor by  leeches and  drawing
 plaster.  Concerning the first tappings, enough has already
 been said ; those caused by the plaster are not less ineffec-
 tual and injurious.  When corrosive and poisonous sub-
 stances of a certain kind are applied in plasters to the skin,
 it absorbs from  them,  and, because they are poisons, it
 reacts  against them  by  means  of healthy  juices; the
 juices, are poisoned,  and  for that reason the  organism
 expels  them   from itself.   This  executional  procedure
 proves  firstly, that in the " rational method of cure" any-
 thing is more easily found than rationality.  Is there sense
 or reason therein, when it  is the aim to cleanse the  body
 of all impure  matters,  to force  new impurities upon  it, to
 compel it to turn its power of reaction away from the old
 against  the new, or at  least to divide it between both of
 them ?   When,  therefore, a temporary mitigation ensues
 from these means,  it is not because  the original peccant
 matters have been thereby removed, but because the body
 has been deprived of the necessary energy.  By reducing
 the strength of the body we can drive away all pains, anc
 even life itself; and reduction of the strength is the uni
 versal remedy of allopathy for all acute pains and cramps.
   Another kind of allopathic  suppression of pain is to be
reached  by applying  smarting substances to  the hollow
tooth, or to the gum.  It is  sufficiently well known,  that
these shameful remedies have not in all cases even a  pal. 
211
liative  effect, not to speak of their ever actually curing.   ,
Sometimes, for the first moment, the inward pain is dead-
ened by the outward; but as soon as this painful reaction
against  the fresh poison  is at an end,  the  strife with the
old awakens again, which with the greater difficulty attains
a result, the oftener it is disturbed.
   When any person has been in the  habit of using the
above mentioned medicinal remedies for toothache, he has
the best prospect of getting, sooner or later, a fistula in
the gum, and accordingly the chance of losing a piece of
his jaw bone.  When the endeavors to  drive to the surface
the matters causing toothache, by means of salivation and
boils, are disturbed and suppressed  by fresh poisons, the
peccant matters at last gnaw internally, and generate in-
ternal  festerings on the bones, which are called fistulas.
   How can one best preserve his teeth, especially their
whiteness and gloss ? by what sort of  powder ? by which
dentist 1
   This half toothless European race cannot any more
 without impertinence speak of their teeth,  at the  most of
 the ruins of  their teeth, venerably moss-grown and crum-
 bling ruins.
   The teeth have  three  mortal enemies ; first, everything
 that is poison,  and medicine : second, everything that is
 hot; and third, all impurities of the  stomach.  The first
 two enemies corrode and  oreak the enamel, and thus the
 teeth  themselves ;  the third enemy covers  the teeth with
 dirt and tartar, and this raises and presses them out of their
 sockets, so that they become loose and can fall out.   Most
 powders are also injurious, which are used to cleanse and
 preserve the teeth, all so called tooth powders, because by
 their acidity they slowly destroy the enamel.  Experience 
212
proves it; who has better teeth  the peasant girl, or the
lady, that  is, when you divest the latter of her ivory and
porcelain ?  Instinct proves it  equally  as well, for these
powders are  unpleasant to the teeth, and sometimes even
painful.   Every substance, which occasions the body, or
any  part  thereof,  disagreeable  or painful  sensations, is
unwholesome.
   Whoever  has cleansed  his  stomach  by a course of
water-treatment (en passant, I would advise every lady,
whose mouth  has not the fragrant  odor of ambergris, to
procure by help of water a rosy breath)  and whoever
adheres afterwards to a diet of cool foods  (particularly
smokes no tobacco), he will never resort again to the arti-
ficial means above spoken of;  much rather he will live to
see his teeth cleanse themselves  entirely, and the tartar
will be dissolved and passed off.
   The only cleansing, which the teeth require, is done by
the water, which  occasionally passes about them in the
course of drinking ;  whoever wishes to do it more radi-
cally may, after each meal, rinse and gargle his mouth
with this  delicious fluid.
   Do you not believe it ?   Do you suppose the powders of
the tooth  breakers are sine qua non's ?  Then go hence
and ask the tiger  madam, what lotion she has to thank for
her agreeably coquettish enamel; demand of the elephant
what tooth doctor he employs, since a constant  exchange
is going  on  from his mouth  into those  of  the beautiful
ladies ? 
213
                          X.

                        GOUT.

As the rheumatism in its inflammatory form  is with diffi-
culty distinguished from rea.  inflammation, so also  in its
chronic and atonic form the same difficulty in distinguish-
ing it from the chronic  and atonic gout.  It is oftentimes
difficult to determine, whether the face-ache is  to be set
down under fixed rheumatism or gout.
  In these two diseases it  is seen  more clearly than any-
where else, that the classification of diseases in species
and varieties  is only an  invention of the human mind,
without possessing a corresponding reality in the external
world.
   Another question to  be taken into consideration here is
the hereditary nature  of the  gout,  which  is frequently
asserted.
   Besides the contagious chronic  exanthematous diseases,
 there occur rarely, or  not all, inherited  perfect diseases,
 because by virtue of an  admirably wise arrangement of
 nature, not the worst, but only the best juices of the mother,
 even when her body is deeply affected with disease, are
 conducted to the foetus, and because the presence of mate-
 rial foreign causes is necessary to every  complete  and
 perfect disease.
    But there  are innate  abnormities in the  organism, and
 there are innate dispositions to diseases.
    All substances impossible of assimilation (poisons), and
 all refuse  portions of the body,  are repelled by  all the
 internal  organs  and parts, and in this  manner  are trans-
 mitted from hand to hand towards the skin and transpired ;
 at leas, the organism  endeavors  to do this.   But when by 
214
 reason of insufficient activity of the sk n it does not suc-
 ceed in accomplishing this, these substances settle particu-
 larly in those organs, which are hereditarily the weakest,
 and in time bring on in that organ the disease which the
 father  had, and which the son perhaps will have again.
   The correctness of the view here presented is confirmed
 by the fact, that the " hereditary diseases" develope them-
 selves usually in an advanced stage of life, oftentimes not
 till in  advanced old  age.   Whoever follows the water diet,
 will certainly prevent  any hereditary  disease in himself,
 3ven if he has a decided predisposition thereto.  Farther-
 more,  it  is evident,  from this view of the subject, that
 " hereditary diseases" are curable by water,  as this  has
 also been already confirmed by experience.
   We see certain families visited with lung complaints;
 all that is hereditary with them is weakness of the lungs;
 in consequence of which there arise  at first in the lungs,
 from bad diet, obstructions (of refuse matters);  in conse-
 quence of which  acute efforts to rid themselves of these
 matters through cough or " inflammation ;" in consequence
 of which medicine  is administered;  in consequence  of
 which poison is deposited in the  lungs, which sooner or
 later, as a last consequence, causes ulceration and death.
 It is precisely the same with hereditary gout.  The gout
 is a disease  of the bones and  membranes which immedi-
 ately surround the bones (periosteum).   When these parts
 of the  body are  the weakest  of  all,  the peccant  matter
 deposits itself in them first of all,  and generates the gout.
 The pains of the  gout are  produced  by the  foreign and
 poisonous matters exercising  their destroying corrosive
 power  on  the membrane or skin of the bones. ' On account
of this d sturbance, the particles  of the body  intended to 
215
form new bony substance are in part not transformed in a
normal manner into bone, and in part the waste matter of
the bones is either not properly, or not at all, transmitted
to the skin and transpired.   Hence the cause of the gouty
protuberances or knots explains itself,  which are  nothing
else than the refuse of the affected bone.
  The doctors have already made notice of this circum-
stance, that sometimes,  when with gouty  persons, after
severe pains, a critical perspiration breaks out and becomes
dry, the whole skin  is visibly covered with white, earthy
dust, as if with bone dust.  Hence it follows without doubt,
that material  morbific causes, which the perspiration re-
moves, are  present  in  the  gout.   It is strange that the
allopaths, who have in their books made mention of this
circumstance, did not thence draw the very pertinent con-
clusion, that the gout could only be cured through activity
of the skin, through sweating and  boils.
   At the present time  the  gout  is  called  one of those
diseases, which particularly is cured  by the water  treat-
ment.   It is universally a settled fact,  that water  cures
with most certainty of the  rude very material causes of
disease, e. g.  with much more certainty  it cures of a min-
eral  poisoning—mercury,  steel,   lead,  copper—than  a
vegetable poisoning.  The  poison of belladonna is very
particularly difficult to overcome.
   The treatment  of gout  consists  chiefly in sweat and
douche-baths; that  drives  to the skin  the accumulated
morbid gouty matters, in critical sweatings, eruptions, and
boils; still the cure is tedious, when the disease is old and
deeply rooted.  When it is  happily ended, the recovered
person, to remain healthy for the  residue of his life, must
adhere to the water diet; if he returns again to wine, cof- 
216
 fee, &c, and particularly if he neglects  a daily bath and
 washing, the old complaint will return again.
   With gout the Allopaths even concede to the water-cure
 the possession of a certain  curative  power, and have al-
 ready sent many of these patients to Graefenberg.
   In  the water-cure the critical sweats occur much more
 frequently and powerfully than in the eld dry and medi-
 cinal regime, where such like critical perspirations appear
 but  seldom, and  only  with  strong  constitutions.  In the
 water-cure the critical perspiration covers the skin of the
 gout-patient sometimes for a length of time so considera-
 bly with  a  chalk-like substance,  that any unaided  eye
 may  perceive it.
   In  gout the doctors  assume a dyscrasy of the  juices as
 cause of the disease, and  derive  this dyscrasy  of the
 juices from false  processes of preparation of blood  and
 juice, so that consequently the digestive organs, by a false
 act of digestion, would  make  acrid and  pain-generating
 humors from wholesome foods.  Munde,  in bis so-called
 hydrotherapy, blindly follows this view.   We  can pardon
 the doctors  for such  an opinion, as  they are  placed  by
 their  instructors on a false basis directly in the commence-
 ment of their study; when one starts from false premises,
 he arrives  necessarily at false conclusions.  But when
 Mr. Munde, who, without having  been filled and biassed
 with prejudices by  a laborious course of study in a false
 science, had the opportunity of observing so many water-
cures, still copies and  repeats erroneous doctrines, whose
falseness has been proved directly and practically by the
 results of the water-cure:  he justifies his readers in the
conclusion,  that he lacks  the  mental ability,  to  deduct
from  the  results  of the water-cure  the causal connexion 
217
of the processes of disease.  In another  olace I will de-
vote a few critical remarks to the last writings, and espe-
cially the hydrotherapie, of Dr. Munde.
  The opinion, that the causes of diseases are of dynamic
nature, and that the body can elaborate acrid matters and
juices  productive of severe  pains from  wholesome ali-
ments, contradicts in the second place  the laws of physi-
ology, and  in the third place the results of experience
made by the water-cure.
  (1) The  position of philosophic view in regard to the
doctrine of disease has already been given in the forego-
ing.  If the causes of disease were immaterial and dyna-
mic, they could not be recognised  by any of the human
senses, not even by any mental sense, and it would  be an
impossibility to avoid these causes.   The human organism
were then such an unfortunate abortive piece of workman-
ship, that it would not be a  proof of the infinite wisdom,
but of the  surpassing  stupidity of its creator; in the ac-
ceptation of the truth  of the dynamic pathology, and  of
the medical therapie, the instinct of man were not only in
vain, but would be a  cause of his  greatest  unhappiness,
and the production of unceasing confusion ;  that same in-
stinct, which dictates so unerringly to the most imperfect
orders  of creation the  way  to the maintenance  of their
life and health, which  speaks just as loudly and distinctly
in man  as in beast!   Or has man  perhaps less horror and
disgust of poison  than  the beast has ?  Has man  less de-
sire for food and drink than the beast 1
  If, farther, the  causes of diseases were dynamic, then
every possibility  of an investigation  of the  processes of
disease  as  regards man is thereby rendered impossible,
because  as regards man the dynamic is inexplorable and
                       10 
218
incomprehensible.  A pathology on dynamic basis  is for
the human  mind  a contradictio in adjecto, i. e. if it be
required of  such a pathology, that it  shall contain  truth.
The homoeopaths,  who  are much  wiser,  have  compre-
hended all this very well, and accordingly never allow of
any investigations  and systematic expositions concerning
the nature of diseases, and the causation of their processes.
   (2)  The  physiological grounds against the acceptation,
that the organism by an improper act of digestion can from
wholesome  foods and  drinks generate such acridities, as
brought by the  circulation in  contact with  the nerves
 jause  violent pains by reason of their corrosive power, are
 he following.
   The transformation of the whole of a mild substance to
an acrid and  corrosive  is not possible  by any known
chemical process;  but substances, which  are mixed with
acridities, may be  made corrosively acrid, by separating
the  mild qualifying  parts, and thus  leaving behind the
corrosive.  This last  process indeed  takes place during
digestion, when foods  and drinks are taken that are mixed
with very sharp, pungent,  or with  poisonous  substances.
By the digestion, namely, the  mild constituent parts are
assimilated, the sharp pungent ingredients, on the contrary,
pass separated  from  the  milder unassimilated  into the
whole  body at  large, and produce pains by their contact
with the nerves.   It is precisely this  process which pro-
duces by far the most  cases of disease  from taking poisons,
with what constitutions  we will see farther  on.   In this
process, however, no acridities are generated by an impro-
per digestion, but by an  act of the most normal digestion
they are  separated from  their mixture  with mild sub-
stances. 
219
  Farther, combined poisons can, by chemical processes, be
set free, or, more correctly speaking, there are mild sub-
stances, which, through chemical processes, can be trans-
formed partly into corrosive and narcotic poisons;  but the
processes of digestion are so entirely different from them,
that a change of mild substances into  poisonous  by false
digestion must be called an impossibility, according to all
known physiological and chemical laws.   The most acrid
substance, that the stomach can generate through disease
from wholesome  food, is  the  acid of  the  heartburn, but
this is always very  far from being a corrosive or  narcotic
substance; it does not contain, even in  mixture,  any of
such like  ingredients.   Moreover, this acid manifests its
presence to every one, who is affected with it, by its rising
on the stomach.  The great mass of gouty patients, how-
ever,  are  not  affected with acidity  of stomach,  and the
great mass of those  thus affected, do not suffer of the gout.
 The acid of the stomach  never contains by far such sharp
substances as brandy, wine, and even  beer; for all these
drinks contain more or less alcoholic poisons ;  the stomach
ncid is, farthermore, by far not so sharp as the spices.   *t
is therefore very strange to assume with persons, who eat
all those sharp, pungent, and poison-containing substances,
that the gouty and other pains are produced by contact of
the nerves with acrimonious matters,  which the stomach
has made out of mild substances by false digestion.  This
assumption is  still  much more strange and  rrational  in
the case of such persons as have taken, and still continue
to take, unmixed  poison  under the  name of  medicine.
Wherever poison is taken, there is sufficient material pre-
sent for all  conceivable sufferings and  organic devasta-
tions,  without  being compelled to  have  lecourse to,  or 
'220
being justified in the at >ve  considered  hypothesis, which
is wholly unfounded, and stands in contradiction with the
known laws of physiology.
  Farther  on we  will return to this subject again, that
there is a disease of dyscrasy, or, more properly  speak.
ing, of false preparation of humors from wholesome foods ;
but  we shall see,  that also that disease  is engendered
through material causes, and that it  does not produce any
corrosive and poisonous substances, but  only faults in the
chemical preparation  of the  blood, consequently  that its
false preparation of humors is not of a positive but  of a
negative nature.
  Here only the very sharp  and  corrosive substances
come into  consideration ; for only by their  contact  with
the  nerves  can internal  pains  of any kind  be produced.
Even the so-called nervous  pains, the nervous toothache,
headache,  &c, are always  of nervous-rheumatic  or ner-
vous-gouty disposition ; the  pain there is produced by con-
tact  of acrid substances with the nerves, and the nervous
character of these pains arises  from chronic disease and
partial disorganization of the nerves.  There are  convul-
sions, cramps, torments of the  nerves, which  usually have
arisen in  some  cases  indirectly  from poisoning,  which,
however, do not arise from direct and  simultaneous con-
tact  with acrimonious foreign matters, when the secondary
diseased state of the nerves is  already perfectly  formed.
But  every actual pain within the human body can  be pro-
duced  only by direct and simultaneous operation of foreign
matters.   These are  mostly of a corrosive and poisonous
nature ;  still there are pain? within  the body, that are not
caused by chemicai but by  mechanical operation of the 
221
matters, for  instance, the  gravel  pains by obstruction cf
various canals by means of stony concrements.
  (3) The ground, which, from the  results of the water-
cure, opposes the assumption that  the  digestive organs of
the  gout-patient prepare  the acrimonious pain-exciting
humors, consists therein, that the  said  patients do not im-
mediately in the beginning of the water-cure  get critical
vomiting or diarrhoea.   When free* acrimonious matters
are  contained in the digestive canals, they are by copious
use  of  water forthwith  expelled through diarrhoea or
vomiting, and vice versa,  where such  evacuations do not
ensue from the free use of water there are either no acri-
dities at all,  or, at least, no free acridities present.   Such
evacuations  ensue  immediately in the very  commence-
ment of the  water-cure with  those patients only  who suf-
fer  of sour stomach, but by no means with the  gout-pa-
tients.   All  what  Mr.  Munde says of temperance in his
chapter on gout  and otherwheres, borders much  nearer
upon the extreme  of hunger, than the method of cure of
V.  Priessnitz on the extreme of over-eating.   The truth
does not lie half way between the two, but much  nearer
Priessnitz than Munde.   I will not dispute that Priessnitz
in most diseases allows his  patients to eat too much and
of too indigestible food ; but  Priessnitz deserves conside-
ration on this account, because it  is almost impossible for
one who has never suffered  from disease of the stomach
or nerves, so to conform himself  to these diseases  that he
can sympathize  in all the different  tones of these com-
plaints.  When Mr. Munde  again warms up  for our edifi-

  * Free acrimonious matters mean here those old acridities that
are not enveloped in slime, and adhere together with the slime to
the walls of the digestive canals. 
222
cation the story of Cornaro, and will show from his man-
ner of life  how little food a man  requires, he overlooks
the point that a man in Italy requires  only  half so much
food as a man in Germany, and again  in Italy much more
than in  India.   According to  my  experience, only those
patients in the water-cure when taking  suitable exercise
must not be allowed to  satiate  their appetites, who suffer
of stomach or severe nervous complaints.   My arthritical
patients, who are not afflicted with  either of these two
complaints, I have  always allowed, when  taking propel
exercise, to satisfy their appetite perfectly, and this is pre-
cisely the class  of patients which  I have as yet always
radically cured.
   The gout arises from  sharp, pungent  substances taken
into the body from without;  if these sharp  substances  be
taken in any considerable quantity, and if the bones and
 veriostea especially in the joints are the weakest part of the
body.   In  that case the  acrimonious matters and  poisons
of diet  and medicine are more thrown off from the other
organs, and, deposited  on the bones  and their  investing
membranes,  impede the normal secretions and renovation
of the  bones, and cause thereby concrements of osseous
matter.  Still all this cannot occur until the organ of the
skin becomes weakened, and this  usually does not occur
much before middle age.
   It is my opinion, that  with most  gout-patients medicinal
poisoning  is indeed  a co-operating cause  of  disease, but
that a diet of sharp, high-seasoned  foods, or of intoxicating
drinks,  is,  however, the grand cause of gout, viz. under
the  pre-supposition,  that  the  other internal  organs are
strong,  and the bones, with their memoranes, are heredi-
tarily the weakest parts  of the body. 
223
  The fully perfected gout returns mostly at fixed periods,
generally in  spring  and autumn, when  the  body under-
takes its chief renovation, and when  therefore the depo-
sited morbific matters are the  most  set  free from  their
mucous envelopments, generate  pains and disease,  and
cannot be excreted without pains.
  The symptoms of the gout  are  well  known  in  as far as
they can be generally determined ; they  vary sometimes
into the symptoms of other  diseases,  when the  condition
is a compound one.   The symptoms of the pure and most
usual  gout  are:  a  violent pain  in the ligaments of the
joints and the contiguous parts of the  bones, accompanied
by an inflammatory swelling and inflexibility of the joints.
  The gout has different names, according to the different
joints  that  are befallen therewith, as chiragra, podagra,
gonagra (gout in the hands, feet, knees).   Moreover, the
gout has taken various denotations according to its various
character ; flying gout, settled gout, acute, chronic, atonic
gout.  Of these various characters of the gout,  preMy
much the same holds good as was said of the correspond-
ing characters of the rheumatism.
   The operation and effect of medical  treatment of the gout
are essentially as follows: The  antiphlogistic  remedies in
arthritical fever produce the deleterious effects which are
treated of  under  the chapter  upon inflammatory  fevers ;
the vomitives  and purgatives ruin gradually  the digestive
canals ;  the narcotic poisons, as particularly opium (given
to mitigate the pains), operate in the  highest degree inju-
riously upon the  nervous system, and fill the organism
with  powerful poisonous substances; the so-called  anti-
arthritic medicines,  as mercury, aconite,  colchicum, cam-
phor, cod-oil, &c, operate likewise decidedly prejudicially 
224
on  the nerves and digestive organs, .md  impregnate the
body with foreign matter; they do very  great  injury to
the body, but the gout does very little ; the gout triumphs
over all these quackeries.  Moreover, among the relatively
enlightened porMon of the doctors, the opinion prevails that
the medical science is not capable of effecting anything
against the gout.
   The curability of the gout by  the water-cure is already
generally admitted,  and therefore requires no  farther
demonstration.
   I would classify gout into the  true and false.  The
false gout, then, would be the pain in the  bones, which is
pro luced  by powerful  medicinal poisoning, particularly
by a course of mercurial treatment; the true gout, on the
contrary, would be the pain seated mostly in the articula-
tions which is engendered by a  faulty diet as the prepon-
derating cause, when there is a predisposition to it that is
a predominant weakness in the joints.  According to my
experience the true gout is cured in the water-cure chiefly
through critical perspirations, the false on the other  hand
mostly through critical exanthems.

                           XI.

          CHLOROSIS.  SCROFULA.  RACHITIS.

I have already mentioned that there is in diseased diges-
tive organs an act  of false digestion, whereby the blood,
and,  indirectly, the other humors  also are deteriorated.
But, in the first place, the prime cause is always material
disease-bringing substances, which are introduced  from
without into  the body :  with  scrofulous,  venereally dis-
eased, consumptive, am arthritical mothers,  this  maf 
225
occur to  the foetus even in their bodies ;  still, however,
this comes into the world usually with predisposition only
to scrofulous  diseases, rarely or never  with the disease
perfectly formed.  Secondly, such an elaboration of sickly
fluids from the wholesome aliment never consists  in this,
that foreign substances of a corrosive or  very acrid nature
are engendered by a false act  of digestion, but always
herein, that either disproportions in the compounding  of the
chemical elements of the blood, &c, are present, or that
one of these elements is entirely wanting.  Thus, by this
false  act of digestion, no pain-producing substances are
engendered.
   The chlorosis, the  scrofula, the rachitis,  belong to the
cachectic and  dyscratic diseases; the mediciners  also in-
elude pulmonary consumption, dropsy, venereal diseases,
leprosy, and scurvy, erroneously under the  same  head.
   (1) Chlorosis.—Green Sickness.—Symptoms of the dis-
ease are : pale skin, which  sometimes darkens into  a yel-
lowish-green,  and which  is lax  and of cool temperature ;
paleness  and  inflatedness of the lips; bluish rings about
the eyes ; depressed and irritable temperament; derange-
ments in  the  digestion,  and frequently  palpitation  of the
heart with shortness of breath.
   The nature  of this disease consists in a  diseased chemical
constitution of the  blood, connected with  disease  of the
sexual organs, and frequently arising out of it.
   The causes  of this  disease  are  usually several co-
operating, as  false diet, too much sitting, excessive exer-
tion of the mind or of the imagination, medicinal disease,
remains  of disease   from former scrofulous complaints,
oftentimes also onanism.
   The medical treatment consists mainly in the  adminis-
                        10* 
220
tration of bitter an j aromatic  reaiedies, rhubarb, muriate
of ammonia, myrrh, but particularly iron and ferruginous
mineral waters.  The organism  heals this disease some-
times despite medicinal treatment; frequently, however,
such treatment causes it to run into hysteria, consumption,
and dropsy.
   The water-cure has already been proved in chlorosis;
and, from many cases of  experience, we can say that this
disease is in every case radically cured  by water, rightly
applied, if no organic defects, particularly in the heart or
abdomen, are present.
   Chlorosis occurs only with  the  female sex, and usually
in the years of sexual maturity.
   (2) Scrofula.—The symptoms of this disease are a lax
and transparent white  skin, large and swollen abdomen,
diseased  and false appetite, feebleness and emaciation  of
the limbs, softness and flexibility of the bones, dispropor-
tionately large head, broad,  almost  square face, sunken
eyes with dilated pupils and inclination to inflammation in
them.
   The hearth of this disease is  to be found in the glands
and the lymphatic system.
   The medicinal treatment of scrofula operates, in general,
much more injuriously  upcn  the organism  than  medi-
caments employed in chlorosis.   In scrofula more power-
ful poisons are given ;  as mercury, iodine,  belladonna,
hemlock; also, cod-oil, gold, lime-water,  and  the most
various mineral and  artificial  baths.  The organism  can
never attain to perfect cure jnder medical  treatment;
oftentimes scrofula is, thus converted into tuberculous con-
sumption, into hectic fever, consumption, and dropsy.
   Under the water-cure scrofulous disease is always cured, 
227
whci  it has not as yet been preceded by  i medicinal
course of treatment;  aad even after this; it  is cured by
water when the medicinal disease has not ioid too  deep a
hold upon the organs of life, and has not as yet exhausted
the vital energy too much.
   (3) The Rachitis.—This disease is nearly akin to scro-
fula, and likewise peculiar only to the age of childhood.
   The symptoms of the disease are, large head, particu-
larly  the  sutures  of the  head-bones  being  defectively
united, enlarged abdomen, small limbs, swelling, and dis-
tortion of the bones.
   Under medicinal treatment death most generally ensues
through atrophy, or dropsy.
   The correct hydriatic treatment cures the disease, when,
as yet, no considerable medicinal disease is combined with
it, and the organism not too much exhausted.
   This frightful disease was, as very many others, quite
unknown  among mankind before the introduction of pow-
erful poisons into medicine ; consequently, not before the
middle of the sixteenth century.  In my opinion it  can
appear in no other children  than those born of poisoned
parents,  especially of parents that  have labored under
venereal disease, itch, or scurvy medicinally treated.


                         XII.

              HEMORRHOIDS, OR PILES.

The symptoms of this  disease are, itching and burning in
the anus,  secretion  of blood  from the rectum, swellings
and knots in  he anus, discharges of slime from the rectum.
  The piles accompanied by discharges of  blood are 
226
called bleeding, those discharging slime, the slimy—he-
morrhoids ; the knots, which discharge nothing, are called
blind hemorrhoids.
   The nature  of this disease consists  in  a discharge of
acrid matters, by transporting  and eliminating  them in
blood ;  and, accordingly, the hemorrhoids, i. e. the bleed-
ing, belong to the  transition disease between the primary
and secondary form.  In  the  discharges,  however, no
general  relief from old  and new matters of disease is
effected, but only  partial from those acrimonious  matters,
which flow always anew into  the  body through drugging
and false diet.  The bleeding hemorrhoids are, by  con-
tinuing in  the use of medicine and false diet, converted,
in the course  of time, into blind, or slimy, or a metathesis
of the disease occurs.   Under the said deleterious influ-
ences the  hemorrhoidal acrimonious humors are thrown
upon the other parts of the body,  and  either find no dis-
charge at all (latent hemorrhoids), or a discharge  from the
veins of the other  organs, as, for instance, from the vagina
and bladder.
   Thus the effect of medicinal treatment upon this disease
is a gradual conversion of the bleeding hemorrhoids into
blind, slimy, and  latent.
  The effect of the water-cure is  a change directly  con-
trary,  and, consequently, a cure of  the  bloody hemor-
rhoids by introducing no new acridities into the body, and
removing the old  in discharges  of blood,  critical transu-
dations,  abnormal  secretions  of  urine,  and  exanthems.
Of  course,  without corresponding diet no cure can be ac-
complished.  Much exercise and adherence in the use of
mild foods  and drinks  are the  main  requisitions of this
diet. 
229
  The suppression of the bleeding hemorrhoids by medi.
cinal remedies has always, sooner or later, the most dis-
astrous consequences.


                         XII t.

                   SLEEPLESSNESS.

Sleep  is  that condition of animals wherein the physical
powers, together with the arbitrary voluntary motions, are
in a state  of perfect inactivity,  and the susceptibility to
perceptions of the senses is,  to  a certain degree, extin-
guished ;  wherein, on  the other hand,  the processes of
circulation  of  the blood, of assimilation, of  insensible
perspiration, an.d  of  respiration,  proceed  regularly and
undisturbed.
   As the  nature of vitality is unexplored, so  also is the
inward nature of sleep, of the suspension of several pro-
cesses of  vitality.
   Sleeplessness, i. e. relative, can occur in healthy per-
sons from want of exercise and satisfaction of the  natural
desires, which hinders  the elaboration of the  humors and
the secretion of the surplus in seminal humors, and from
these inducing in the organism  a disturbance of its har-
 mony, which is, in a certain sense, a state of disease.
   Most conditions of disease disturb  the sleep more  or
 less, because in  them  abnormal processes are going on,
 which exceed the powers of  the sleeping organism, or  in
 other words, which are incompatible with the cessation  of
 those functions, which are suspended during sleep.  For
 this reason  the processes of disease  combat and resist
 sleep ; when the former are in activity, the latter rr/ist 
230
yield, or be changed to a sort of half-slumbering ;  when
the latter occurs, the former are  compelled, for the time,
to a full or relative cessation.
   From the  above it  appears  that sleeplessness is no
proper kind of disease, but  that it  may be an effect of all,
and the most different processes of disease.
   Whoever suffers from sleeplessness without the above-
mentioned cause of want of exercise, &c,  in persons of
full habit, and without painful or acute, or in  general,
marked symptoms of disease being  perceptible, with him
there are, in the internal organism, latent organic deforma-
tions or ravages at work,  and  the sleeplessness  proceeds
from a reaction of the organism against the rapid extension
of the disorganization.   The relative and  imperfect  reac-
tion in secondary diseases  is  usually unaccompanied by
symptoms,  which  come to the  perception  through  the
feeling of the patient, or are manifest to the physician ;
the absolute reaction  in primary diseases is, on the con-
trary, always accompanied by such symptoms.
   As fever is the effect of every  exertion of the  body which
exceeds the conservative powers  of the  waking organism,
so sleeplessness is, in  like  manner, the  effect of processes
which exceed the  powers of  the sleeping organism.
    Hence,  it  follows  that  medicinal soporifics are,  in  a
double sense, destructive in the  highest degree ;  first, be-
cause they consist of stupefying poisons, and  thus intro-
duce poison into the  body ; and  secondly, because  they
disturb the organism in its  reaction  against the rapid ex-
tension of an internal destruction or deformation already
 in progress.
    Perhaps some one  raises as an  objection against the
  vhole of my  reasoning, that  sleeplessness, at the presen 
231
day, is a very wide-spread  complaint, and  that organic
defects are not so widely extended.
  To this I reply, that organic defects are just as widely
extended I s the secondary diseases are ;  in every chro-
nically diseased  person organic defects take  place in the
organs which are the seat of the chronic disease.
  The dissections of corpses of those that have  died  of
chronic disease,  have also proved  this equally as well as
it has been proved already a priori, by true pathology.
  It is in the highest degree ridiculous, when the doctors,
by a  post-mortem  discovery of organic destructions and
deformations, consider themselves justified  in the event of
the incurableness of the patient.   The presence of organic
ravages in persons that have  been medicinally  treated in  all
the sicknesses which they have been subject to,  is the most
severe, accusation imaginable against the medicinal method
of cure.
  It is, in the highest degree, absurd to suppose  the causes
of organic  ravages in  man otherwise  than in  the poisons
which they have taken.   Wherever such poisons as the me-
diciners administer in the energetic  diseases  have been taken
by the patients, there, evident causes are present for all con-
ceivable organic  ravages and deformations.


                          XV.

CHRONIC FEVER.  CHRONIC NIGHT-SWEATS.  DROPSY.

(I)  Chronic Fever.—As the  acute fever proceeds from
the abnormal exertion which the  organism makes to cast
off accumulated matters of disease, an  exertion which
exceeds  the normal powers, so the chronic slow fever pro- 
232
 ceeds therefrom, that the performance of :he daily ftinc-
 lions exceeds the strength of the machine, because one 01
 more  organs are  being gradually  destroyed  by poison.
 Hence, we see that this fever is not the effect of a curative
 struggle, but of gradual  subjugation, of the  annihilation
 of the  general system ; hence, the fever is pitifully Weak,
 as the thin pulse of such  a patient  evinces.   With all
 yearlong medicine-eaters, the digestive organs are irritated
 and poisoned, and, consequently, such persons get a slight
 fever after every full meal, as  proof  that only by abnor-
 mal elevation of strength the operation of digestion can
 be accomplished.
   (2)  Chronic Night-Sweats.—The  chronic night-sweats
 bear the same relation to the critical  transudations as the
 chronic fever does to the  acute fever.  The critical  per-
 spirations  in and after acute fevers, discharge  the whole
 mass  of accumulated matters of disease ; on  the con-
 trary, the  chronic eliminate nothing more than the daily
 refuse  of the body, which naturally  should be  removed
 through insensible  perspiration  and  respiration of the
 skin.  Chronic perspirations are consequences of depressed
 deeply-ruined  energy of skin, which is obliged to  have
 recourse to the extraordinary  assistance  of sweating, to
 accomplish the business of excretion.
   The  issue of these diseased perspirations is  oftentimes
 consumption, oftentimes dropsy.
   In  the  case of chronic  fevers, as well as of chronic
 perspiration, a slight chill follows every fever  and perspi-
 ration ;  it rises to such a  height  at last that the body is
 constantly  changing  from  one extreme to the other, be-
cause a relaxation  must quite  naturally ensue  after the
diseasei over-strained exertion of the corporal powers. 
233
   The  cure of these  sad states  of  . isease can  only be
effected by a tedious, troublesome  ccurse  of water-cure;
still, it is, in every case, attained with certainty when, as
yet, youth, or sufficient vital energy is present.
   (3) Dropsy.—This  fearful  disease  claims more  and
more  victims every year.  What  are its causes ?
   It can only  be engendered through a double cause, viz.
through  poisoning  and  dry-skin  regime  (want  of cold
washing and bathing).
   When the skin is so relaxed that it can no longer throw
off the  refuse  humors  which  are daily  deposited there
from  the internal  parts, these  fluids, which should have
been transuded, accumulate under  the skin, and produce
bloatedness, paleness, and coldness,—the so-called dropsy
of the skin.
   The more a body is poisoned, the more  need has it of
abnormally free and copious transpiration, because it seeks
thus to  rid  itself  of its  matters of disease and  poison.
Hence, it follows that in the  case  of  poisoned subjects, a
more than ordinary activity of skin is requisite, and  that
this important organ  is,  therefore,  the first to  become
relaxed, if it is not sustained  by the daily refreshment of
cold water intended by nature.  For this  reason  alone it
follows that no one  has more urgent  need of cold-water-
cure and water-diet than he  who has taken much medi-
cine.   Hence,  the  well-known fact  explains  itself,  that
strong poisonings (oe they either medicinal, and particu-
larly those by mercury and china, or be they dietetic, from
extravagant use of spirits, i. e. spirits of wine and alcohol
in intoxicating drinks) very frequently cause death by
dropsy.
  When poisoning and relaxation of skin,  and,  conse- 
234
 quently, disposition to dropsy, a/e present, contraction of
 a severe cold very often accelerates the outbreak  of the
 disease, which otherwise might have lain dormant  still a
 long time in  the  system ;  yet  it is  an error when some
 suppose that a cold might be the prime, or only, cause of
 dropsy.
   When this disease is submitted to the operations  of the
 hydriatic system  in its commencement, it is always cured,
 if sufficient vital energy is still left in the body.    The
 task of the cure is, so to  animate the skin, re-invigorate
 it, that it again  sets  about its business of transudation.
 The critical removal of the already-accumulated fluids is
 generally effected by transudation or abnormal secretions
 of urine.
   If the  poisons that have been  swallowed deposit  them.
 selves, particularly  on an internal organ—perhaps be-
 cause there was, during the acute  disease  in which the
 medicine was given, an elevated feverish  excitement in
 that organ, and,   consequently, determination of humors
 thither—then the  last effect of the poisoning is either ul-
 ceration of this organ, or accumulation of stagnating fluid
 therein—local dropsy.   The  process by which this is
 effected is this :  as protection against '.he penetrating poi-
 sonous matters, the organism sends, without intermission,
 its best humors and energies to the affected organ, partly
 to  dilute the poisons, partly with and  in these humors to
transmit them to the skin and thence expel them from the
body.   In such manner their radical elimination  can be
gradually accomplished  if  water-diet,  from  within and
without, be adhered  in.  If this, however, does not take
place, and if the organ particularly burdened with poison
loses  its power to  again throw off the humors pressing 
                          235

 upon it, which become saturated  with poisonous  matter,
 so that they may be transmitted to the skin and removed
 oy transpiration, then you have dropsy,  whether it be on
 the brain, or the chest, or abdomen, &e.
   Whoever casts  aside medicine and  intoxicating drinks
 and adheres  to water-diet, is absolutely  insured  against
 the possibility of any kind ol dropsy.
   These local stagnations of serous fluid can be removed
 by the water-cure, when suitable  vital energy  still is
 present, and the disease has not, as yet, reached too high
 a degree of perfection.
   The inadequateness of medicine to affect any of these
 diseases is well known, and the old  curing art scarcely
 attempts to dissimulate  here any longer;  it confesses its
 weakness.

                         XVI.

    CONCLUDING REMARKS UPON THE SECONDARY
                      DISEASES.

 When the  medicinal  poisons are taken into the stomach,
 they operate  most  injuriously upon the digestive organs,
 and  engender secondary symptoms there in particular;
 when taken upon  a full stomach, they pass, mixed  with
 the food, into the chyme,  into the  chyle,  into the blood,
 and through the circulation of the blood, into the whole
 organism, still  unassimilated  and remaining  a foreign
 substance.   By their admixture with chyle  they operate
 less  injuriously on the  digestive  organs ; by this inter-
 mixture they are somewhat diluted and reduced, but more
effectually  corducted into  the blood, than when they are
taken into  the empty stomac  in which a portion  of the 
236
 poison is retained and prevented passing into the blood by
 being enveloped  in mucus.
   The  more powerful poisons  are not given so frequently
 as the weaker, and the former cause pre-eminently or-
 ganic destructions through ulcerations, through cancerous
 abscesses,  and caries of the bones.  The weaker poisons,
 which are administered in  greater quantities, cause par-
 ticularly dropsy.   The poisons of common diet, especially
 the alcohol in intoxicating drinks, fortius reason frequently
 produce dropsies of every kind, but never, of themselves
 alone, ulcerations of internal organs.
   The  medicaments of the class  of corrosive poisons, as
 arsenic, mercury,  concentrated acids, iodine,  also, the
 many corrosive vegetables, cause  particularly  excessive
 stimulation, bluntness  of the  senses,  deformation of the
 nerves, and dropsy.
   The  astringent poisons, as medicaments, cause particu-
 larly consumption, by obstruction of the finer canals, and
 by permanent contraction of the animal fibres.
   The organic indurations, cartilaginous growths, ossifica-
 tions, the  disappearance and  abnormal increase of indi-
 vidual organs, polypous growths, and strong concrements
 (in the gout and gravel-disease), all these painful and dis-
 tressing organic defects and ravages, can be produced by
 poisoning  only, which  is, in  most cases,  the  result of
 medicine,  more seldom  of diet,  and most seldom  the  resull
of intentional  poisoning.
   All these organic  deformations and ravages arise in the
course of after-life, and generally, not before 4he  years
of middle or  advanced age ;  the method of cure, under
whose protection  and influence such misery can  arise, is
already, for these  reasons, in the eyes  of every thinking 
237
man, marked and branded as a method of mischief of the
most fearful kind.
  All these disorganizations can be cured by water, and
only in the first stadium, provided at the  same time suffi-
cient vital energy is  present.  Afterwards the water can
only strengthen the organism  and mitigate the organic
disease.  Therefore, let every one hasten to  the water-
cure as soon as he perceives the first symptoms of such
disorganization.   Every chronic affliction,  and chronic
sleeplessness, are symptoms of  disorganizing  processes
withii the body.
f 
                         0

    THE  CONTAGIOUS  DISEASES.



The epidemic diseases are oftentimes confounded with tho
contagious.   The  cholera, colic,  yellow fever, are  epi-
demic  diseases; also, the intermitting and gastric fevers
become so frequently.
   All diseases that have a pure contagious character are
with the single exception of hydrophobia, attended with
exanthems of the most various kinds.
   In  many  of these exanthems,  small  worms or mites
have been discovered through optical artificial assistance,
which, in each different disease, have a different form.
   It is highly probable, that these  mites are not the effect
of the  exanthems,  but the causes  of them,  and conse-
quently also of the whole disease.
   If any one introduces into his body any mineral, vege-
table, or animal poison (with the exception of  the poison
of hydrophobia), it infuses itself into and extends itself
throughout  the  whole circulation, and poisons thus the
body ;  but in the same degree that the poison extends  it-
self, and becomes diluted by admixture, in like ratio it loses
its strength ;  it is also the same with the poison of serpents.
In the  contagious exanthematous  diseases, however, th« 
239
ratio is inverted;  the smallest particle suffices to infect
the  whole organism,  and then it  generates  the  poison  U.
much greater quantities than  it has received it, and this
latter loses by its immense extension none o,' 'ts strength.
  A production of acrid  and  corroding  poison through
physiological processes from the humors ©f the body is not
only totally inexplicaole, but it contradicts every philoso-
phical conception of  physiology and pathology.
  But when we accept that the contagious exanthematous
diseases are produced by animalcules, which are propa-
gated according to the laws of animal  procreation in the
body of the infected person, then we arrive at not only an
elucidation of that class of diseases now under considera-
tion, but also preserve the philosophical basis in pathology
and  physiology.  To this acceptation, therefore, we are
mentally constrained, and that the more, since the percep-
tive power of the senses has already convinced itself of
the  existence of mites in the  boils of the psora and vene-
real diseases.
  Also, hydrophobia cannot be otherwise explained than
by the hypothesis of animalic  production of foreign being.
  The contagious exanthematous diseases  resolve them-
selves into two classes, into acute and chronic.
  To the acute belong  the  measles, small-pox, &c.   In
these diseases we must  suppose a  species of animalculae
which, indeed, propagate themselves in the  human body,
but only for several generations, and which soon die  off,
where they do not quickly cause the death of the infected.
  To the chronic  contagious diseases  belong  the  itch
(psora), the scurvy,  and the  venereal diseases, &c.   Here
an animalcule (the magnifying glass has already detected
it)  must be assumed, which, under false  diet and false 
210
method of cure, continues to propagate itself, till it causes
the death of the infected by eating and gnawing continu-
ally deeper.
   I must reserve for a later  period entering into the de-
 ail of the  contagious diseases, and  here I must confine
myself to what is said in the second  edition of this work
on venereal diseases.
   In  all diseases that  are  caused  by inorganic matter,
every medicinal  poisoning can only result in injury with-
out the possibility of any profit, without the possibility of
destroying the matter of disease, because  first, the medi-
cament does not  so penetrate the whole body as to reach
all the  secreted  foreign  atoms ;  and because, secondly,
even  if this were the case, still the solution of the inimioa1
matter in nothing can never be effected.  It is sufficiently
well known that the annihilation of the smallest material
atom is by no means possible, neither by fire nor by any
chemical process.   The apparent annihilation is nothing
else than a reduction to its  elements, or an entrance into
other combinations.  Hence, :t follows with evident cer-
tainty, that the organism can never be freed of its causes
of disease  and foreign inimical  substances otherwise than
by their expulsion, that it is  impossible to effect their anni-
hilation in  the body through medicinal means—it  follows
that every  idea of cure by poison or  medicine belongs to
the most irrational and fearful of  errors under which the
human race has evei labored.
   If,  however, the causes of disease were really of imma-
terial and dynamic nature, as the mediciners of more re-
cent  date assume, then the  idea of  healing  by  poison,
universally by the material,  is still more absurd.   In that
case  the cure would be  possible only through  dynamic 
241
influences and  means, in some wise through .fagnetism,
Electricity, and such like.
  Thus,  in  every  case,  whether  corporeal matters  or
dynamic  faults be  the  causes of disease, the medicinal
science is as  absurd and contradictory in its theory, as
destroying and mischief-spreading in its practice.
  It is otherwise with the  chronic  infectious exanthema-
tous diseases, wherein the poisoning of the animalculae of
the boils, their  acceleration from  life  to death, can most
certainly be accomplished through poisoning the humors
of the body.   As soon as this has taken place the organ-
ism frees itself of the  minute invisible corpses  through
transpiration and suppuration.  This it endeavors to effect
during the time of  their life ;  but in this it could not suc-
ceed for. two reasons ;  first, because they propagate them-
 selves, and second, because they  exert themselves unceas-
 ingly to  work from the  skin to the  internal parts.
   But the most fearful  in this cure by medicine is, that
 the poison, which is given for that purpose, remains for
 the most part in the body of the  poisoned  person until his
 death, and gradually effects the  annihilation, or, at least,
 the great injury of the internal organs, and  thereby a dis-
 tressing death by disease long before the natural age of
 man—unless this poison is eliminated by the water-cure.
 This elimination proceeds  slowly, is  attended with many
 pains, and,  farthermore, few people are situated in cir-
 cumstances winch  allow of a tedious treatment, dear in
 time and money.   Hence this curing by  medicine is one
 of the most direful calamities which can befall the human
 race.
    In the acute exanthematous  diseases—measles,  small
 pox, &c—the medicinal poisoning  is wholly useless (but
                    11 
242
not harm ess), for this reason, that it cannot oe discnarged
equally as soon as the disease decides itself; it requires
many days before that poison, which is swallowed or rub-
bed into the skin, extends itself through the humors of
the whole body.
   The  hydriatic treatment  in  infectious exanthematous
diseases consists in sweat-baths, in compresses upon the
parts touched by the exanthems, and in drinking.
   Some have said,  that the water-cure in itch  and vene-
real diseases  is exceedingly tedious;  some authors have
even, asserted, that  here water  had proved itself insuffi-
cient, and that it is always necessary to  have recourse to
the specific medicaments.   The first opinion  is perfectly
correct, if the infected persons  have already been freely
treated, or rather mistreated, with medicine before com-
mencing the hydriatic treatment;  for then cure does not
depend alone upon  destroying the infection, but also upon
the elimination of the medicine administered, which must
be retarded  the  more  in  proportion as the body through
doctors'  assistance has  been  robbed of  its  flesh  and
strength;  the cure must also be  retarded, if, besides the
infection, there is present in the diseased body still an array
of chronic affections, hemorrhoidal, arthritical, and others;
for,  as already said, the water cures no disease without at
the same time setting in commotion all other hidden mat-
ters of disease.
   The second opinion, in  regard to the absolute insuffi-
ciency of  water, can only be pronounced  by such as are
totally unacquainted with the hydriatic system, and whose
stupid brain has as yet never been illumed by the faintest
gleam of light on the nature of diseases and  the opera-
tions of water upon the animal  organism. 
243
  Numbers of persons, in the deepest miseries of secondary
syphilis,  have  been  radically  cured  at  Graefenberg ;
among others, I am acquainted  with a man, who, by the
most horrible mistreatment of allopathic physicians, was
plunged into the state of the last dreadful lues, who cast
Buch  an  odor from  his putrefying  body,  that the bath-
attendants would serve him only in  consideration of high
extra-wages, who had scarcely a spot on his whole body
on whicn there  was not caries, or syphilitic sores, or mer-
curial distarbances, who, on his  arrival, was carried from
the wagon, for  he could not stir a limb—and who still,
under the hands of Priessnitz, acquired such health, and
such a fulness of sound and  solid flesh, as at the present
day.is seldom  found among men.   I would  mention his
name, were I not constrained to suppress it in  considera-
tion of the notorious character of the disease.   He was a
man known and respected by all his comrades, as one of
the most  substantial officers  of the garrison of a large
town ; a solitary misstep had delivered him into the hands
of his medical executioners, and they had so treated him,
that they themselves, in the  conviction of the absolute im-
possibility  of h;s  recovery,  had sent him  to  Priessnitz.
Several years  after, when  he  was cured, meeting in a
remote  town with one of his executioners, who supposed
him long since defunct and  mouldered, and there present-
ing him reproachfully with  his  healthy figure, the doctor
stared with horror upon this apparition, for he  believed
Beelzebub had  sent thither the ghost of one of his mur-
dered victims, and  had with infernal irony given it  the
figure of a healthy man.
   Yet, a word upon mercurial poisoning.  Whether the
mercury  be swallowed ot  rubbed  in  the skir, it alwavs 
241
penetrates  into the substance and  humors of the  body.
That it ca.i never be assimilated to human flesh is tolera-
bly well-known ;  consequently, it must  either be driven
off through the skin, little by little, or it remains as foreign
gradually destroying essence—as poison.  The allopaths
presume to attract the mercury out of the body by  warm
sulphur-baths.  It is seen, that allopathy is manifestly of
the opinion, that a foreign matter is present in  the organ-
ism ;  but the maimer in which they will remove it, testi-
fies to the grossest ignorance of nature's manner of cure.
The sulphur, which has an affinity for mercury, will, they
think, attract the mercury and  neutralize it—as  if the
human body were a rag or sponge, without life of its own
—as if the mercury so lay upon the surface, that it  would
be attracted by the sulphur.   No, the affair is otherwise;
when the sulphur  presses in the skin, the organism must
then defend itself against this new poison, and therefore
has at that moment, least of all, the power to  transmit to
the skin  the mercury hidden in the most internal and va-
rious parts of the body, and enveloped  in mucus.   The
mercury  remains rather where  it  is,  and the sulphur,
which penetrates  into the body, must likewise be enve-
loped in mild  mucus-like  humors, because otherwise it
would, like every  other poison, destroy the nerves and all
organs, into which it was transmitted.  The whole  conse-
quence of  the sulphur-baths, therefore, is this, that  to the
mercurial  poison  is  superadded  a new  poisoning by  sul-
phur.  That this is so, has been  incontestably proved by
facts in the water-cure.  All persons mercurially poisoned,
who have  subsequently passed through  the sulphureous
ordeal, have, in Graefenberg, always had the same course
of crises;  name y, their first critical  transudations smell 
245
bo 4<»c»«W t sulphurous, that the bluntest olfactories  can-
not remain in doubt;  when all  the  sulphur is removed,
then  follow  perspirations of mercurial  odors, also boils
and  eruptions  and salivations,  as  surest  proof of  the
secretion  of  mercury ; frequently  the syphilitic  boils
finally make their appearance again,  which  then, in a
Bhort time, are sweated  and bathed away.
  The warmth of these  sulphur-baths contributes much to
lower the  condition of the mercurially-poisoned ;  for they
render the body liable  to take cold, which, in every poi-
soning, but especially in the mercurial, has consequences
in the highest degree painful and fatally dangerous.  All
warm-baths, far from  being able to  effect a cure, rather
weaken and effeminate the organism, and open the doors
of disease.  To health, and still more  to cure, is neces-
sary  great activity and  warmth of skin,  a  determina-
tion  of humors externally,  energetic  life in the  peri-
phery  of  the body.   By the  warm-bath,  however,  the
opposite of all this is gained ; for, as the artificial action
of it is to  produce warmth of the.skin, so, in consequence
of the eternal laws of nature, the reaction  after the  bath
produces coldness  and relaxation of  the skin.   To this no
contradiction is possible.  Theory and experience prove it
with equal force.
   Still, although these truths are clear as the light of day,
we See daily that many of the physicians prescribe warm-
baths ; is  this to be imputed to their  contractedness, or
rather to a spirit  of speculation, to  nsure work  and pay
for themselves in future ? 
p.
THE EXTERNAL, OR  SURGICAL DISEASES.
Under this head I include only those injuries arising from
external,  mostly  mechanical causes, but by  no  means
those external exanthems arising from internal disease.
   The external diseases, accordingly, consist in wounds,
contusions, ruptures, fractures,  dislocations, burnings, and
freezings.
   To heal such an injury the organism must deposit new
flesh upon the injured spot, create new vessels to receive
the minute new veins,  &c.; in order to make this  flesh it
is necessary that  it conducts  thither to the injured part
the material thereto—the  creative  humor,  which is the
blood—in abnormal quantity  (in like manner plants heal
an injury, a bruise, or cut), by  transmitting the  sap in
great quantity to the affected spot; this abnormal flow of
blood produces in  the part  to be  healed  an increased
warmth, which can only rise to actual inflammation when
the instinctive thirst of the  wounded  for cold water inter-
nally and externally  is not appeased.   Allopathy looks
upon this determination of blood to the wounded spot, and
the local vitality elevated even  to a glov ing heat,  as dis- 
247
ease, as a symptom that must be removed, and taps life's
blood.   Thereupon, the organism summons a fresh supply
of blood thither, where it is needed,  and  the  allopaths
oftentimes continue  their  tapping, till the extremities  are
relieved of all their blood, and become  cold ;  oftentimes,
till the  patient dies  of debilitation  (with internal inflam-
mations also, they do the same), and then they have, in the
most literal sense, slaughtered the patient.
   When wounds, from  the  commencement, are tre&ted
with water, according  to  the method of Priessnitz, they
heal readily, and  always  cleanly:  these parts are never
afterwards subject to pains, have no hard scar, or  rather
no perceptible scar,  so that the spot  where the wound has
formerly been cannot be detected.
   All wild  animals operate similarly to Vincent Priess-
nitz ;  whence, forsooth, may dumb animals obtain such
wisdom?  All wild  animals, when they  are  wounded,
seek water; they soothe the heat  internally  and exter-
nally ; and all wild animals heal  their wounds much more
skilfully than Diefenbach or Graefe : it is incredible,  but
every huntsman knows that it is true.
   It would lead us  here  too far into detail if I  should
mention instances wherein among wild animals even some
of those organic injuries,  which we usually consider as
decidedly fatal, are happily and  radically cured.  I have
collected instances of the kind from  the life of European
park-hunters, and the trappers of the Far West, and intend
to communicate these in another place.
   It is highly probabje that the  beginnings of  all medi-
cinal art are to be sought in the  application of herb poul-
tices to external injuries.
   As every organism endeavors  to drive to the skin inimi- 
248
 cal matters that have penetrated internal^-, in like mannei
 it endeavors, in a still higher degree, to cleanse wounds
 and sores of dirt and other matter  by suppuration, before
 it closes and heals them.
   The suppuration, as  well with  critical  exanthems  as
 with wounds and injuries, is nothing else  than the assist-
 ing means whereby the matters of disease  and of poison
 are carried  off.   It is  impossible  that the organism ex-
 crete these substances in their nakedness, minute and atom-
 like  as they are, because, unenveloped in  mild humors,
 they would affect the nerves  painfully and dangerously in
 their passage towards the skin ;  indeed, without  envelop-
 ment in a smooth and slippery substance, they could not
 be transported.*  The critical transudation in the water
 cure, always viscid, and of offensive odor, like  suppura
 tion from a sore,  is, in  its character,  nothing more than
 a sort of suppuration, only that it is exuded little by little
 in innumerable little drops, from the millions of pores of
 the skin.   When, on the contrary,  the  perspiration is not
 critical, i. e. does not contain any matters of disease, then
 it is fresh, not of offensive odor ;  also, it is rather watery
 than fat and glutinous.
   In like manner as the internal  curative struggles of the
 organism,  the symptoms of acute  disease can  be sup-
 pressed by poisoning,  thus can also the  natural effort  to
 cleanse a wound,  by suppuration,  and until  this can be
 accomplished to keep it  open, be overcome by external
 medicinal applications, and a closing and scarring of the
 wound be effected, contrary to the instinct and will of the
  * Even when at table a crumb falls into the windpipe, mucus
is instantly secreted, in order to  -nake the crumb to be ejected,
■lippery and transportable. 
249
organism.  But it is ascertained to a certainty, tnat in al'
wounds artificially closed by salves, internal foreign mat.
ters become chronically fixed there.
  The proof  is this : all  deeper and  more  considerable
wounds and sores that are healed by medicinal art, leave,
under the scar, a  sensation of pain, or numbness and un-
oomfortableness, which  is distinctly felt, either when the
spot is subjected to slight pressure, or when a storm  is
approaching: with some it  comes  on, without any parti-
cular  cause, at  periodical  intervals.  Such artificially
closed wounds oftentimes break open  again in the water-
cure, and then heal of themselves, disturbed by no salves
and  ointments, refreshed  only  with  water.   Then for
ever afterwards every trace  of pain or the least uncom-
fortableness has entirely disappeared.   It  has often hap-
pened that visibly material  substances have been suppu-
rated from such opened wounds; for  instance, particles
of meal, and  even  threads, and pieces  of lint.   Field
wounds, that  were of many  years' standing, have again
opened of themselves,  at  Graefenburg, and  cast out the
enemies and tormenting spirits.
  As the medicinal  art, so also the water-cure art,  com-
menced  by healing wounds ;  Priessnitz,  the  creator of
the whole hydriatique,  first cured particularly external
injuries.
  The treatment  herein is various, according to the con-
stitution and ailments of the patients ; local baths, ban-
dages, and drinking, accomplish  the  principal  part.   In
the water-cure, it is impossible for a wound to close before
it is perfectly clean and mature for healing.  Particularly
in thrust-wounds from  three-edged weapons, the water  is
U* 
250
of invaluable worth, because i;  hese wounds tUe preira-
ture superficial healing is of the worst consequences.
   With animals,  especially horses, water has been e.n-
ployed as a remedy in external  injuries, for a  long  time,
with the happiest consequences;  one would be astonished
at the results if, instead of the perverted manner formerly
in vogue, the  precepts of Priessnitz in this respect were
to be followed.  That would particularly benefit the poor
horse ;  as man 1 lost prizes  this noble beast, it is, next to
himself, most honored with medicine; and the consequences
'ff this poisoning are, in proportion, quite the same as with
the human race.   The delicateness and sickliness of  the
horse is universally known and regretted ; people have
so often lamented that the most beautiful of beasts should
be the  most sickly ; it  has never  once  occurred to  the
wisest of all animals that the sickliness and frailty of the
noble  race of horses  is only an  effect of medicine and
effeminating treatment.   Just  in  proportion as the  races
of horses are more or less poisoned by medicine,  are they
more diseased or more  healthy.  The English race-horse
is almost as rheumatic and hysteric as a lady of rank;
the peasant's horse is somewhat more rugged ; still  more
so the polac, and the horse  of the savage knows as little
of disease as his rider.
   When one understands how to employ water in wounds
and  injuries,  hen surgery  is partially  unnecessary, with
the exception  of setting dislocated joints, fractures, and
other such seldom cases.
   The surgical and  operative  help in cancers, growths
and  excrescences, caries,  moutfication, arterial  tumors,
and all other consequences of earlier medicinal poisoning,
confines itself to  ;he  remova.  of the diseased part;  the 
251
hydriatic assistance guarantees the cure and the preserva-
tion of the remaining part;  this is the first small distinc-
tion  between  the efficaciousness  of Priessnitz  and  of
surgery;  the second consists therein, that, after surgical
aid alone, generally, the evil breaks out again in  other
places, while, on the contrary, the possibility and the root
of every  later mischief are totally  extirpated  by  the
water-cure.   To be  sure, in such  cases, the water-treat-
ment  is very tedious, and a  leg or a breast is cut away in
a few minutes.
   What a train of fearful errors :  when an acute disease
is  fortunately cured  into the  body  by medicine, the  pa-
tient lauds the skilfulness of  his  doctor;  yes, his  heart
is  really  touched with  gratitude.  When, after  many
years, the perpetrated poisoning developes its ravages and
destructions, then it does not even occur to the unfortu-
nate being that a long time  ago  his doctor sowed the poi
son-seed, which is now maturing  to a harvest  of internal
ulcerations,  of cancers,  and  unnatural  growths.   Now
the sharp  steel comes to the assistance to reap the fruit,
to cut away the  cancer ;  now the  word is,  go to some
celebrated surgeon,  and the  refrain of all this wretch-
edness is the stupid  exclamation,—how astonishingly  ad-
vanced man is  in  science.   " Life is short; art is long."
Truly,  indeed ! and the longer  art  grows,  the shorter
grows life. 
Q.
CRITICAL  STATES IN THE  WATER-CURE
The  medicinal  science understands  by crisis, in  the
broader sense, the determination of the disease; by crisis,
ki the limited sense, the fortunate  determination of the
disease through  evacuations, be  they transudations, or
mucous secretions, or exanthems, or depositions of abnor-
mal matter in the  urine, or diarrhoea, &c.
   By lysis the said  science  understands so unimportant
a crisis as escapes observation, perceptible only through
its consequences.
   From these explanations it will  be perceived that the
hydriatic has borrowed  both  the words from  the medical
science, and combines, with them,  similar conceptions.
It  will farther be perceived that when, as is often the
case, the mediciners deny to  the lay of the profession the
existence of crises,  and accompany this denial with a
compassionate smile, they make  themselves  guilty of a
conscious falsehood.   It is likewise  falsehood when doc-
tors misrepresent  the acceptation of material  causes of
diseases as something in itself  absurd, that, according- to
their assertion,  only  quite ignorant unprofessional men 
253
could stumble  upon  so  unreasonable a  supposition,  be-
cause the so-called humoral pathology, which  for  a long
time governed medicine, and which has still many adhe-
"ents among the practical  and older physicians, is based
upon the acceptation of material causes of disease.
   The hydriatique understands by crisis, the elimination
of matters of disease in a  manner  perceptible  to  the
senses,  together  with the excitation  and  fevers  which
often precede the elimination ; it understands by lysis, the
imperceptible excretion of these matters.
   It has already been before shown  how the water-cure
system  converts the chronic diseases into acute, viz. that
the water, first of all, invigorates the organism, and then
releases the enveloped morbific matters  from the slime,
and excretes them, oftentimes under raging fevers.
   The conditions  of  disease during  the water-cure, and
particularly during the critical periods,  are, throughout,
different from everything which  has  formerly been wit-
nessed.   It cannot be otherwise, because this cure stirs
up, little by little,  all  latent and most deeply-hidden mat-
ters of disease, and eliminates them  through boils, &c. ;
on the contrary, all former methods of cure suppress  the
commotion of the  struggles  of  disease, and force  the
causes of disease inwards.   The essential distinction  be-
tween water and medicine  is, that  the former drives  the
peccant matter out of the body ; the latter, however, drives
it into the body.
  For this reason the mediciner seldom perceives that the
causes of diseases  are material ;  the water-doctor, how-
ever, makes  this  sensual  perception in every disease.
Hence   arise  the various views  of  the  corporality and
spirituality of the causes of disease.   Whoever cannot, 
254
by any means, be convinced of the truth of the fust view,
for him it were advisable to go to Graefenberg ;  there he
must surrender, unless, in a genuine spiritual manner, he
denies, to all perception  of the senses, the power of fur.
nishing proof.
  To the characteristics of .he critical conditions belong,
first, the rare mixture of  the joy  of  hope with pains of
body, of which he alone has an idea who knows it through
personal experience, although the solution of the apparent
riddle is not difficult.  The  pain is produced by the
aroused alarmed " matters,"  and the joy is caused by the
instinct,  which feels certain of cure, and is no more to be
deluded and destroyed.  One  perceives  in Graefenberg,
in the fortunate  one with whom the crisis has broken out,
the lineaments of  pain and of joy in picturesque contrast
resting upon the same countenance ; one sees joy bursting
from the eye, while the mouth laments and anathematizes
the pains of the  water-cure.
   Tn many respects, one may speak  of the pleasures of
the Graefenberg state of  sickness.   What a pleasure  to
feel the appetite constantly growing, and  soon to  dare  to
eat whatever one  wishes !  For it holds, as a fundamental
position, that, after the instinct is again awakened,  it  is
always  the healthiest for  every one to eat what  he likes
the most.  What  a freedom, farthermore, to dare  to be
always in the open  air whenever one desires to  be ; no
possibility of taking cold  !  What a  delicious treat, al-
ways to dare to drink freely of the cool, limpid, mountain
spring, when the fever-heat demands it; to dare to plunge
into a bath when the body, glowing like a Moloch, requires
it, in order to bring into the world the crises, &c, which
usher in the cure ! 
255
  On the other hand, the treatment causes many troubles
and pains;  claims all  the  time set apart  for pleasures ;
requires a more than usual perseverance.   Of those who
have fully accomplished  the cure, many an one finds his
expectations disappointed in a double respect.  First, the
cure (in many ailments) is  more troublesome and painful
than he had before thought possible ;  second, the results
of the cure are, oftentimes, much more brilliant  than the
patient was before able to hope for.
  Well observed, I speak of those that persevere until n.j
crisis more  will arise and can arise, because the  body has
been completely purified.   Very many leave before  this,
and then do not carry out thoroughly enough the necessary
after-cure.   When  any one has had  a few crises  with
boils and discharge of suppuration, he  is  astonished al-
ready,  that  such a mass of bad  humors was in his body,
and thinks,  surely, this must be  the last.   Still, it may be
that, by farther use of the cure, the crises  will be repeat-
ed again and again,  until absolute purification and health
are attained.
  Much more  disagreeable  still  than the boil crises is the
cleansing-cure of badly slimed digestive canals ;  also, the
matter here to  be discharged is much greater in quantity.
When a week  has passed in vomiting and  evacuation of
slime, it appears a long  time;  where months thus  pass
away, the patient becomes desperate  ; still, he may live to
see years pass away in this manner.  This latter, indeed,
is only a very  extreme case, and then  only possible  when
the  coating  of  the bowels and stomach has  begun almost
with the first  dawn of existence, and, therefore, it  is so
hardened that the gradual solution  of it lays  claim  to so
much  time  and energy of body.   That the  indurated 
256
slimings can  be produced  only by poison  and  medicine,
and never  by any other cause, on  this subject there is
nothing to be found in the instruction book of the rational
art of poisoning.
   In these  stomach crises the patients  sometimes taste
decidedly the medicaments again which they have taken
years before.  In this, however, t:iere is nothing strange ;
for the drug  substances, which are preserved in indurated
mucns, and to which neither water nor air can have  ac-
cess/ retain their taste and  peculiar smell as perfectly as
if they lay in sealed vials.  The same is the  case with
the poisons, which, divided into  minute atoms, are chro-
nically settled in the body ;  for instance, mercury retains
its poisonous corrosive power when it has lain many years
in the  body,  and  then, by the water-cure,  is thrown upon
the skin ;  it eats both through the skin and the compresses
also.
   The first effects of the water-cure are, increased stimu-
lation  and an increased general feeling of well-being  ; so
soon as the body has gained new strength, the crises com-
mence, the  burning fever, with the internal  pains of the
aroused  matters  of disease.  In twelve to  twenty-four
hours  after  the  commencement of this fever follows the
outbreak of boils,  eruptions, perspirations ; that is—well
observed,  by  proper  continuation  of the  water-cure—
always  the  course in chronic  complaints.  In  common
acute  diseases the fever is relieved, much more promptly
and surely, by the water-treatment, and  the disease  dis-
charged in boils, &c,  with still  greater  certainty, 1  say,
because the acute disease is a curative effort of the body
of its  own accord, while, on the contrary, in  chronic dis- 
257
eases, the organism must first be induced  to  the acute
outbreak by a long course of water-treatment.
   From that time onwards  in  which the  Graefenberger
water-cure begins to manifest  its effects  until the radical
cure be  accomplished, it  is an occurrence observed  by
most patients, that the slightest injury of the skin causes
suppuration, and is very slow of healing.   This  symptom
is another proof to the  point, that  the water-cure draws
the matters of disease from  the internal to the external
parts.  One meets often in common life  with persons  of
pale complexion, emaciated flesh, and other symptoms  of
chronic disease, whose skin  however heals quickly, and
without  suppuration, after every injury.   Hence,  people
conclude, that such a body must, by all means, posses?
healthy humors, and that  such a person's  miserable ap-
pearance arises  from "weakness;" but that is far from
the true mark ; such a phenomenon proves that the evil
lies in the internal organs  and  parts of the  body.  When
such persons  undertake  the water-cure they  learn  the
truth; in like ratio  as their  inward feelings improve, as
their flesh  hardens,  the skin  becomes  more inclined to
suppurations, until, at last, the genuine  outbreak of the
boils ensues.
  All this is proof to this effect, that by  the Graefenberg
water-cure the vitality and energy  of the  exterior func-
tions, and those lying nearer to the periphery of the body,
are elevated in the  same degree  as the  diseasedly  in-
creased activity of the internal  noble organs is reduced to
the normal condition ; whence, then, the well-known fact
explains itself, that the water-cure relieves, and  finally,
quite cures the passionateness of sick persons.
  Grad lally,  as  the cure ®Wates and invigorates  the 
258
organism, as the improved digestirn  suipl.i's it with more
blood, do  the veins, the rivulets of the body, fill them-
selves, and their pulsation becomes full-toned; their flow,
which  before  was  crawling  becomes  firm  and  sure.
Every patient  notices  an  entire  change  of pulse, if on
entrance upon  the cure it was not normal.
   With many  the change in the  pulse sets in suddenly
after a crisis.   There is  a sort of pulse-crisis, during
which all the  arteries  beat  and hammer, as if  the body
were a  foundry.   It circulates and chases through and
around ;  it is a condition, as if the body were begetting a
new body.  This condition  is promoted quite especially
by much drinking.  The reaction,  after such  a water-
bout, produces  more heat than  an intoxication  by wine ;
the body  dilates,  because all the veins course in  the most
swelling, fullest  tempo, and because  the  water presses
mechanically from the  interior towards the exterior.   The
skin is very hot, and  that is always an agreeable feeling—
(only the  internal heat is  oppressive)—one  feels in  the
skin a prickling and stitching, which arises from the trans-
udation  of acrid matters of disease.   This is always the
best feature with such  a water-debauch, that no nauseous-
ness,  or other disagreeable consequence,  follows  in its
course, but rather it  arouses keen hunger, and a  high tone
of stomach.  Drinking is a chief requisition of the cure;
still, there is here also a too-much, if one continually pours
down water against the indications of instinct.
   As the pulsation of the  blood, so also the color of tht
same is altered by the  water ;  from the melancholy deep-
red, it passes to the bright light shade which we see gush
from the veins of the stricken deer.  Water makes ruddy 
259
blood, and this transparent color  is, together with the in-
crease of the blood  and the purification of the skin, the
cause of the  rosy  color which the complexion gains by
the water-cure. 
R.
WHAT DISEASES  ARE  CURABLE BY WATER?
 Answer :—All kinds of diseases are curable, but not all
 degrees of disease, and consequently not all sick persons.
 Whoever is curable to-day, he  is next year, or, perhaps,
 even to-morrow, no more so.
   All kinds of disease are, for this reason, curable, be-
 cause they are engendered by  material causes, and be-
 cause the organism, and all and each of its organs, possess
 the power of excreting all kinds of foreign matter.
   Accordingly,  not water, but the organic strength, is the
 universal remedy for all diseases, which strength can only
 develope itself victoriously when all the requisitions of the
 organic instinct are satisfied, and the objects of its antipa-
 thies withdrawn and withheld.
   But all degrees of disease are, for this reason, not cura-
 ble,  because only that state of disease is curable in which
 the organic power is stronger than the power  of the matters
 of disease.
   Accordingly,  the hydropath, who  is  to determine upon
the curableness of the patient, must more necessarily be
acquainted with the degree of the disease and the measure
of the organic strength, than with the variety or charac-
ter of the disease. 
s.
AN  INVITATION  TO  THE  PHYSICIANS.
 I challenge all the physicians of Germany, and, if naeda
 be, of all Europe, to disprove my doctrine of disease.   If
 any one convinces me that the doctrines of this book  are
 erroneous, like all those heretofore published, I will con-
 fess the same honestly and publicly ;  if any one produces
 ingenious sophisms, or plausible arguments, against me, I
 will disprove them ; if any one comes out against me with
 uncommonly abusive language and unfair polemic, I will
 not notice him.
   Only one  request I  would prefer :  if you  accept  my
 offer,  I beg you, leave the learned jargon of your craft at
 home!  Believe me, the times are past in which the pub-
 lic doffed their hats to your kitchen-Greek words of classi-
 fication, in  which it let itself be imposed  upon by  the
 charlatan jingling of senseless hollow expressions after
 the manner  of metaphysics.  Every  truth  that profits
 mankind, every truth, that evidently is truth, must so be
 brought forward, that every  unprejudiced human under-
standing, every thinking human head  may  comprehend
and hold fast to it. 
262
  Truth is like the  pure mountain  later in transparency,
and refreshing invigoration ; in its first effect it is like to
the  lightning's flash, which fires and illuminates ;  in its aftei
effect, it is like to the whole storm, which purifies the atmo-
sphere, and revives every living thing.
  When  any one  brings forward  a doctrine or  a book,
containing hard-digestible matters, it is half or whole er-
rors, indigestible as well by the author as by the reader.
That is,  in  every case, an  unprofitable book, which  a
thinking  man  must  twice  read in  order to understand.
Not only  must the  reader comprehend the book, but the
book must also be inviting to the reader.
  But when  it comes to writing upon subjects of which
the writer himself  has no conception, which,  perhaps, are
beyond the conception  of mankind ; then,  one requires
of necessity a deep, learned style and metaphysical phrase-
ology, in  order  that absurdity may appear like sound
sense. 
263
           APPENDIX

DIETETICS  AND  SEA  BATHING.
  The human raco of the present day is striving after mental rejuvenescence.
They should first become corporeally young and healthy, and cast off their flannel
doublets and woollen jackets ;  and, especially, beget for themselves a new skin
In the cold bath.
  Hitherto, I have only spoken as to the manner in which people are  to cure
themselves of diseases, and will now declare my opinion of the manner in  which
people may protect themselves against the diseases of the future.
  In the morning when you awake, spring hastily out of bed, as if you  were
already booted and spurred for the chase, and refresh your skin with a cold bath.
Whoever cannot do  this, let him have a pail of water dashed  over  his body, or
wash the entire body with a wet sponge or towel—that every one can do.
  If you are not thoroughly warm when you awake, upon getting out of  bed rub
the skin of your body with your hands,  until it is very warm, and then bathe.
  After the bath, take exercise in the open air, until the reaction of warmth has
completely returned : if this  feeUng of comfortableness passes  off after you have
returned home from exercise, cover yourself up warmly with comfortables, until
the most perfect reaction has been produced.
  After the walk, or exercise, breakfast from bread and butter  and unboiled cold
milk, unskimmed and as fresh as possible.
  Here a remark as to the coldness of foods and drinks.
  All warm food and drink debilitates the stomach, but cold invigorates it  To
be sure, the first period of the transition from warm diet to  cold is extremely
sensitive and disagreeable to the stomach; but soon it becomes a habit, and pro-
motes the vigor of the digestive organs in a wonderful manner.  The reason why
the cold strengthens the stomach, is the same as with the skin. When any thing
warm comes in contact with the skin, or is taken  into the stomach, the first effect
is an elevated temperature ; on this account the reaction, which always strives to
produce a contrary effect, causes in this case a depressed temperature  and de-
pressed energy.  With cold, however, the converse is the case ; in addition  to this
highly beneficial reaction of warmth, and consequently elevated energy,  the cold
performs also the office of constringing the fibres of the stomach and skin.
  The experience of Graefenberg has most  perfectly established the beneficial
effect of cold, or, at least, quite cool food ; individuals who suffered of very great
weakness of the digestive organs, were restored  by a continued course of cold
diet. 
264
  Now for the defence of milk.
  The general opinion is that milk slimes or engenders mucus In the stomach :
that objection, however, can only be raised against boiled milk.  As soon  as one
has accustomed himself to unboiled milk, he is sensible of its beneficial effect
upon the stomach ; moreover, it contains the most wholesome of all alimentary
substances, and exerts an excellent effect as an  antidote against acrid humors, aa
also against inveterate and recent medicinal poisoning.
  Whoever cannot overcome a dislike to unboiled milk,  should breakfast either
from bread and butter and water only, and replace the milk by cold roast meat,
or whatever else is agreeable to his taste, provided it is nothing that has under-
gone fermentation, or  nothing imported from a foreign zone—particularly no
coffee.
  For this reason, I am opposed to all outlandish articles  of food :
  The edible products of a zone are wholesome only in their  native zone
  I needed the observations of long and distant travels to perceive these maxima
of nature.  Priessnitz,  with his medicinal instinct, appreciated it without quitting
the horizon of his own blue mountains.
  In the far North, fat grows in abundance, but no hot and stimulating vegetables.
Therefore, when you are in Lapland, eat a sufficiency of fat  to protect yourself
against the effects of cold; but eschew eating all spices—they destroy by inflam-
mation.
  In the hot regions of the  South, fat is wanting to the animal kingdom;  the
vegetable kingdom produces hot spices.   Therefore, if you do not eat lean food
and spice upon the Moluccas, you become the certain sacrifice to a disease whose
seat is in the stomach and bowels.
  It is impossible for any one to dispute these doctrines of experience ;  neither
can any one take exception to the conclusion which I have thence deduced; and
thus it must be admitted, that people should avoid the products of foreign zones,
if they would eat and drink what is wholesome.
  Therefore, resign your coffee and resign your tea, until you go to Arabia and
China; there you may  sip  thereof to your heart's desire—there it will agree
with you.
  The injuriousness of fermented and intoxicating drinks is disputed by no one.
Still, people frequently say. '' taken in moderation they do no injury." That  is,
however, a deception :  taken in moderation they do moderate injury. Therefore,
let not wine become a  daily necessity j and if you drink it on rare occasions,
drink at the same time much water.
  If the intoxicating drinks were not of themselves injurious, still their daily use
would be dangerous, on account of their frequent adulteration and occasional
poisoning.
  Thus far I harmonize with Priessnitz—now comes the divergence.  At dinner
1 would not willingly dine with him off of his dishes.  At dinner, Priessnitz is a
true German of the old school;  he recommends household fare, however, with
exclusion of all smoked and salted  meat, all salt preserves, such as herrings, sar-
delies, etc.
  Salt meat must be avoided for more than one reason.  This kind of food intro-
duces so many acridities into the body, that a healthy person has enough to do to 
265
get rid of them—even if he should be so fortunate ; mtcb  ess can a body  that
has long been afflicted with inntters of disease or diseased humors, even think,
while under the salt diet, of overcoming and improving them.  Still more, the
■tilted articles are injurious to the  stomach, and  stand  in like category with the
bitter stomachics, of which further on.  Thirdly, salt meat contains but  a very
■mall amount of nourishment, as every chemist can prove to an evident certainty.
The nutritious quality of meat consists in the juice or gluten, not in the fibre; this
hiice, howev.r, the brine extracts and absorbs.  Still, the pubUc in general are of
the contrary opinion. They consider this meat  to  be  very nourishing, for  this
rea»on—because it remains a  long time in the stomach; without considering that
this quality is owing merely to its indigestibility.  Finally, this food is of  an  un.
•weet odor, offensive to a delicate sense of smell, disgusting to a refined palate.
  Leave salt meat to the sailor.  He has nothing else, and he can best make away
with it, because his whole general mode of life—the sea air, the daUy involuntary
bath, the exercise—metamorphoses him into a sort of shark.
  Priessnitz gives his patients—even the dyspeptic—besides baked meat, also
boiled meat.  He appears—Uke all the inhabitants of Southern Germany, and
nl«o the  majority of those of Northern Germany—to have no idea of the prepara-
tion of roast meat  That they learn only from the English, which always  finds  a
place upon their well-supplied tables.
  " When a soup has been boiled out of a piece of meat, it is then suitable for
dogs, but not for the human stomach."  Thus the English judge, and rightly ; for
nuch meat contains but little nourishment, difficult of digestion, and so disrelishing
Io a civilized palate, thht dry bread is far preferable to it.
  The meat should be roasted, and in such a manner that it may still retain inter-
nally the red color of the juice of the meat.  Thus only is it sweet and relishing,
eaaily digestible, easily masticated,  and very nutritious.   But if people roast their
■neat, after the manner of their grandfathers, for hours together, the ruddy juice
evaporates, and is consumed  by the atmosphere in the form of gas.
  Still, it is requisite that meat, for a good roasting piece, be taken from a young
animal.   But if this  is not to bo had, how then  f  Then eat, much rather, only
vegetables and farinaceous dishes, etc.
  The roast beef of an Austrian kitchen is precisely the opposite of what  I have
represented as the ideal of a roast.
  In Germany, in badly-managed households, people go so far as to first extract a
•oup from the predestined roasting piece.  Such a procedure is not merely rep-
rehensible, it is criminal treatment of any refined guest, an insult
  Priessnitz excludes no kind of animal from  his diet table; he allows, also, the
hard-digestible pork, duck, and goose.  To eat of these unclean animals is ungen-
teel; however, of that we are  not  speaking  here; I  believe their  flesh is not
wholesome.  If it does not  produce any distinct disease, still it vitiates  the hu-
mors of the body.  Great Moses I  great Rumohr 1  why have you not the power
to give laws to the German kitchen t  Herr von  Rumohr says, in his " Spirit  of
the Culinary Art," although one may not ask quite too  much of a gentleman, still
he may require that he eat no hog's flesh.
  Also, Priessnitz does not recommend the flesh of wild animals, as venison, etc.,
because it creates too much blood.  It is inexplicab'e to me, how a man  of  such

                   12 
266
natural acuteness should give the preference to domestic animals over the wild,
free-roving denizens of the forest—to these tame animals, that are fatted among
the dung, and fettered to the stalls of a barn, deprived of all  exercise, and some-
times also of pure air !  And how, then?  Is blood a disease ?  Too much blood 1
And that in a water-regimen ?  No !  long live venison and game; or. rather, let
them be destroyed, so that we may eat them I
  At the vegetable dish Priessnitz is again a German, down to the very sour-
krout. Whoever has been so unfortunate  as myself, to have been sick and coin.
pelled to  go  to Graefenberg, he may  there experience the following meal: 1
Baked beef, which is always first parboiled to furnish a soup, and onion sauce I
2. Roast pork and sour-kroutl  3. Tyrolean apple-strudel (a sort of colossal
apple dumpling, made of dough a little shortened, and fried in a sea of fat), and
curd cake !—and (mankind can endure a great deal) live through it, since he has
no choice.
   Priessnitz  warns all those of weak  stomach against soup; people should go
further, and banish afl soup entirely from the  table.  Soup makes  too slight an
impression upon  the relaxed walls of the stomach, to arouse their energy.  Bui
warm soup, in particular, weakens the stomach.  All soup is, for this second  rea-
son, not  healthy,  because it occupies  the space  which should be occupied bj
water.   Cold water is the most important of  all promoters of digestion, for tha
simple reason, that it best aids the stomach in macerating its foods, In extracting
from them their nutritious properties, and because, secondly, by means  of the
reaction so often spoken of, it produces the requisite and permanent elevated
warmth of the stomach.
   On the contrary, soup does not decompound the foods in the stomach: soup
must be decomposed itself,  and that  is too  great a demand upon  the gastric
juice.
   " But how ?  Have indeed broths been for centuries past recommended to sick
 people, and is that suddenly to be pronounced wrong which has obtained as truth
since the times of our grandfathers t"
   I pray you, good aunty, spare me such objections.  For centuries the practice
of burning witches was in vogue, and yet a witch never existed.
   Oh, that people would only pay some regard to their human instinct!  All pa-
tients in acute disease thirst after cold water to drink I  All weakness of stomach
manifests a repugnance to soup I
   Instead of such a dinner, 1 propose the following:
   First—No soup, and but one principal dish; because the stomach digests a sim-
ilar quantity  with greater faculty, when it consists of a simple quality, than of a
compound; and  because, in cases of weak stomach, the temptation to cat too
much is greatly increased by a multiplicity of dishes.
   Second—Let this cne dish consist of a piece of well  roasted meat from  a re-
spectable animal, mcst  preferably of venison or game, then  of young beef or
fowls, then  mutton, veal, etc.  This roast meat to be accompanied either by
stewed green or  dry fruit, or  a vegetable, as rice, potatoes, salad, or any thing
else that has not an unsavory odor, such as cabbage.  The principle is well estab-
ished, that whatever smells bad, is difficult of digestion, and not wholesome.  D«i
you believe, then, Nature has given to man his noble nose to no purpcae 1 
267
  Third—After the roast, nothing but good bread and buiter, and sweet, unboiled
milk, or, in summer, rich, curdled, unskimmed milk, or raw fruit
  Females generally prefer farinaceous preparations, and these are as serviceable
to them as meat to man.  Then, the whole meal of a female may consist of fari-
naceous preparations, with fruit, and bread and milk.
  At Graefenberg, the evening meal consists of bread and butter and milk only,
which, however, is devoured in extensive quantities.  When people sup  two to
threo  hours, they may also take a little cold beef, or fish, or farinaceous pudding.
  When I also say, drink nothing but water and milk, accustom yourselves to
drink  considerable water, take much exercise, sit little,  rather stand or  recline-
then I have concluded the rules for the day's work.
  Now, ye gourmands, who are given to wine  and chocolate,  to spices  and Par-
mesan cheese, to caviar and to the sardelle, can you dispute the wholesomeness
of this natural diet ?
  Or do ye smile as epicures, and thank me for my advice, because it robs you
ol all pleasures of  the palate ?
  Believe it not I   Else I must serve you with an answer which would  shame
your understanding t
  Only do not suppose  that ye are  epicureans.  Epicurus  was a very sensible
man, and would have been ashamed of such disciples.
  Epicurism is wisdom;  but your epicurism is a very contracted epicurism I
It is an epicurism which one can at  the most excuse in the understanding of a
child.
  Whoever wishes to carry the enjoyment of  every perception and pleasure to
the greatest height, let him be aware of the fact, and never forget it that the mag-
nitude of the enjoyment depends upon the susceptibility for the perception of the
enjoyment, and not upon the object of enjoyment.               ,
  The diet which I have described, sharpens the senses  in an astonishing degree;
it steels and strengthens the  body ;  but in order to be able to  enjoy things truly,
delicately, and extensively, and constantly, one requires extremely delicate senses
and robust health,  and strength of body.
  This diet sharpens particularly the senses of smell  and taste to such a delicate-
ness, that the instinct long destroyed by the usual diet,  awakes again in the man,
and serves its master as an infallible private physician.  Whoever, in delicateness
of the palate, has  become possessed of true  instinct,  he may, in sickness and
health, always follow the propensities of his appetite.
  That part of the instinct which serves to  the maintenance  of the animal life,
resides in the senses of smell and taste ; this instinct nature has bestowed upon
both man and beast in like degree of keenness and infallibility.  The nose of a
natural man points out to him every poisonous plant, still more so the  sense of
taste.   To destroy this instinct of the  nose, the use of  warm  food and drink is
alone sufficient but the use of the stupefying weed, tobacco, is more than suffi-
cient,   lu like manner, the scent of the hound  becomes obtuse from eating warm
food, as every huntsman knows.
  I am well aware of the dogma, which originated in the myoptic wisdom of tha
old-fashioned spectacled magi—" Instinct was given to the beast but understand-
■f to  man." 
268
  The beast also has understanding, has the power of comprehending and obey
Ing: aye, the nobler animals possess even the noble faculty of fancy.
  Does some one ask, If the most simple diet  warrants the greatest number of
enjoyments, how were it possible that man could stray from the diet of nature
to the diet of refinery 1
  That were possible for this reason : because the brief transition from the natural
to the unnatural supplies more enjoyment than nature vouchsafes.   That is a great
truth, which ought to be published in giant letters.
  Since the increased quantum of enjoyment continues only during  the progres-
sion of the  transition, it sinks the transgressor deeper and deeper, until his senses
and the capabUity of enjoyment are rendered  so obtuse, that ho happily arrives
at Cayenne pepper and aqua-fortis.
   With virtue and vice it is quite the same.  As the transition from the natural
to the unnatural creates the highest intoxication of enjoyment so the return from
the unnatural to the natural gives rise to the most bitter sufferings and depriva-
tions ; consequently, a heroism of purpose is necessary to this conversion.  But
soon, very soon, the conflict has  been maintained, and, as recompense therefor,
happiness is again restored.
   In  Graefenberg, inveterate gourmands of the finest or rather of the coarsest
kind, have been brought to the confession, that never before had their port wine
and sardelles at breakfast tasted so delicious to them, as  now simple milk and
bread.  The resurrection of the deUcateness of the palate ensues at a much ear
lier period than one would suppose.
   What can you reply, you refiners, who arrogate the name of epicureans 1
   The deUcate  palate perceives in mUk the stimulant and the spice which your
coarser palate seeks in Cogniac and Jamaica; the delicate palate can speak of the
aroma and flower of milk.
   Do you  presume upon possessing a nicety of taste ?  Nicety of taste!  You 1
Your coarse, obtuse palates can be deceived by disgusting, spoiled  food, if yea
only do not spare the biting buck, which you call sauces. That occurs  daily
without your being inwardly aware of it

                               CLOTHING.

  Do not wear  woollen garments next to the bare skin ; wool excites the skin tc
perspiration, and one should avoid perspiration, except when one intends bathing
after it.
  In Graefenberg, even feeble and aged persons have always, within two weeks,
in inclement seasons, laid aside their woollen jackets, which were so old, thai
they might well celebrate their jubilee.
  Accustom yourself to light clothing, but do no violence to yourself.  If you are
in general inclined to feel cold,  if you have no comfortable warmth of the skin,
that is a proof that you harbor matters of disease in  your internal organs, and
that the central functions have  gained a preponderating energy over the peripb
eno   You  nesd a systematic water-treatment; ycu will be cured by boils. 
269
i
                               t ASSIONS.

  During the actual cure avoid every excitement  Priessnitz, therefore, strictly
prohibits all playing for money, all unreasonable desires of the fancy, still more
Uic actual enjoyment of sensual  love; he admonishes  against anger, vexation,
envy, etc.  Also, such patients as have only local affections, and otherwise bloom-
ing health, he sentences to celibacy, as long as the actual treatment continues.

      DIET  FOR  DISORDERED AND DYSPEPTIC  STOMACHS.

  In Germany, people are not exactly very moderate and healthy eaters, neither
arc tbey very  moderate drinkers, only they drink no water.  Consequently,
stomach disorderments  are a part of the daily business of a genuine German, and
belong to the chapter on diet.
  The remedy par excellence for invigoration and purification of the stomach, i6
cold water; for this purpose, if it is to dissolve old slime and produce vomiting
or purging, it must be drunk constantly in large quantities.
  The allopathic tonics,  bitters, and piquants, are the sworn mortal enemies of the
stomach.
  This error of the doctors has arisen thus : those bitters  and piquants,  as  indi-
gesubilities, excite an elevated activity in the  stomach, in a certain measure an
acute  struggle of disease, in order to overpower and eject the  mortal  enemy.
On the occasion of this  struggle, the stomach powerfully digests its contents, or,
when it is empty, it manifests an earnest desire after food, as  a  relief, and, to a
certain degree, as a fortification against the enemy.  One perceives this is no di-
gestion and no appetite  of health, but of compulsion and necessity.
  Docs some one say, every energy must have an enemy, it order not to become
torpid ;  and for this reason bitter things are wholesome ?  I reply, firstly, the
enemy must be such an one, that he can be overcome ; but that  is, in this  case,
not possible, because those bitter things are absolutely indigestible; a  superior
enemy discomfits his antagonist  Secondly, with the  stomach it is really unne-
cessary to create work  for it artificially—it has already enough naturally.       ->
  When this same procedure of stomach-invigoration is daily repeated, the stom-
ach sinks daily more and more deeply int j the irrecoverable misery.  Then an-
other danger also arises.  In order to carry  off indigestibilities, also  to protect
itself against the pain which they occasion, the stomach has recourse to slime, or
mucus, wherein it envelopes them.   If it is compelled to do this daily, its power
becomes crippled ;  it prepares the slime, but cannot again purify itself of it; the
■tomach pets coated with slime, and mucous growths  arise.  Now the patient
experiences an incessant oppression in the stomach, Rnd periodical nausea.  The
doctor administers purgatives and vomitives ; the latter have no result *nd the
former cause nothing but discharges of mucus, which each purgation causes to
be newly prepared for  the purpose of carrying off the  poison of the purgative.
Hence, the doctor concludes the stomach is  clean, but  only weak, and  must be
strengthened.  Piquant, and sharp and biting substances exercise  a simUar evil
effect upon the stomach, from similar grounds ; they excite an elevated energy,
bscass* they torture the stomach; they themselves, however,  are indigestible. 
270
Even table salt used in excessive quantities, belongs in this same category.  Peo-
ple must salt their foods only moderately, if they would not produce acridity of
the humors of the body, and weakness of stomach.
  Whoever has taken much of allopathies, tonics, or other  stomach-destroying
medicaments, may, if he has the symptoms of oppression at the stomach, and of
repeated nausea, be assured that his trouble  consists not alone  in weakness of
stomach, but in a coating of the stomach with the toughest slime ;* neither should
he let himself be deceived by the uusuccessfulness of purgatives;  the powerless-
ness of these and other medical remedies has been already spoken of.
   When patients of this kind are not yet too old and weak, they are, by perse-
 verance, surely cured by water, and they wiH be themselves astonished at tha
 quantities of slime which they throw off.
   For this purpose, water must be drunk in  considerable quantity;  the stomacl
 soon accustoms itself to it. It is, however, necessary, together with much watei
 drinking, to take a daily cold bath, so that the central functions may  attain a
 ruinous preponderance over the  peripheric; still more, daily clysters and sitz-
 baths are necessary.
   Such a treatment for inveterate slimings  is vei*y tedious; months may elapse
 before the first trace of solution of slime ensues, and the period of purification
 with vomiting and  purging may continue months longer.  Whoever endeavors
 to abridge  this period by means of medicinal purgatives, destroys the cure, and
 brings himself again into the old misery.
   In order to learn what is necessary for a sick stomach, one should not go to
  extraordinarily learned professors, but to  quite unlearned dogs,  devoid of all
  titles.  The dog, when his stomach is deranged, drinks water until he vomits or
  purges, and then he feels well again.
    Here I would take the opportunity of warning all against an error which is, io
  the highest degree, injurious in  its consequences.  Some persons presume to
  assist a weak stomach by sparing it from labor, inasmuch  as they feed it upon
  pure nourishment contained in the strongest broths, raw yolks of eggs, etc  That
  is the surest road to complete ruin.  When one endeavors to spare an organ  tho
  activity which nature has designed for it it  soon goes to its  final rest
  * These symptoms are, without doubt, unerring indications of mucous or slimy
coating of the stomach; but their  absence is no guaranty of a pure stomach.
Very inveterate mucous coatings may exist without those symptoms, and always
do exist if the symptoms have existed in earner years.  After a mass  of slime
has been fixed in one spot for several days, without the assistance of water it
remains there, in every case, until death.   StUl, it grows so hard that  the nause-
ousness may quite disappear; and when it is not extensive, its effects upon the
health are imperceptible.  Even when it is so extensive as to cause life-long pale-
ness and considerable emaciation, yet for years, every trace of a diseased feeling
in the stomach may be wanting.  However, at last it produces death, by maras-
mus consumption, or ossi&iatioK of the digestive canals, or miserere. 
271
                                 BATHS.

  Before I ever heard of Priessnitz or Oertel, I knew that daily cold baths were
necessary to health.   The woods, and the wild animal nature therein, had taught
me that.  That is, I reflected how it was that cultivated life  was so  entirely  dif-
ferent from-the natural life.   I reflected how it were possible to replace by art
the healthfulness of the natural mode of life.  Every creature is bathed daily in
the dew, or rain, or snow, or in the river, or sea;  consequently I concluded  the
celd bath must be very healthy
  Further—in natural life the most cold water comes in contact with the feet and
Inferior parts of the body;  consequently, it must be necessary to  wet the feet
and legs more with water than the body.  Also, this last conclusion I find beauti-
fully justified by the theory which I  have learred at Graefenberg.  For it is a
principle in my theory, that wherever the water is most abundantly and fre-
quently applied, thither particularly it conducts energy, warmth, the matters of
disease,  and the discharge by boils.  " Feet warm, head cool," that we  have long
understood; but not how to attain it.  Thus, then, by bathing the head least, but
the feet most of all parts of the body.
  This principle explains how it is that, with most men, all acrid matters deposit
themselves in pimples upon the skin of the face.   Because most men are so un-
cleanly as to wash daily nothing but the face, and  not the whole body.   Females
should, if only frtTi  considerations of beauty, take  daily  a cold bath, and also
another foot bath , then the pimples and freckles would certainly  throw them-
■elves upon the feet and legs.
  The most excellent of all cosmetics  is common spring water.   It imparts fresh
ruddinesi, cleanliness, and a kind of transparency to the skin. It  gives to  the
evaporations of the  skin a  peculiarly sweet and delicate odor;  especially  the
limba of females, when they are frequently bathed with cold water, emit such a
sweet, milky aroma.   One observes this when matters of courtesy brings one in
contact with such  a lady—I mean, when he kisses the hand or lips of such a lady.
  Priessnitz is opposed to salt water.  Salt water has not the pure quality of  the
penetration and solution of bodies, but more of corrosion, by means of its fine
acrid and salty properties, and, consequently, is incapable of effecting a true radi-
cal cum.  For, in  and after  the saltwater bath, the body reacts, not only against
the dissolvent power, but also against  the penetration of salty and acrid sub-
■Uincc.  Since a greater part of its energy musf be directed against  this latter, it
cannot direct its undivided strength against its old deep-lodged matters of disease.
This salt water, and the mineral spring, belong quite  in the category of medicine,
because all these  unclean waters possess constituents which operate  solely by
their medicinal effect
  Therefore, the following remarks are more applicable to lake and river bathing
than to sea bathing.
  These baths, as  they have'hitherto  been used, cannot possibly be of any con-
siderable efficiency.   Compared  with a systematic  water-treatment their cura-
tive effect is as insignificant, as it is excellent in  comparison with the effect of
medicine.
  The season fixei  upon  for  their  employment is generally unsuitable,  the 
272
water, in the months of July and August, is so warm, th.* theii  stherwUe gow"
effects  are, on this account, much diminished.  Let him chooso these months,
who will bathe only for the sake of pleasure ; but he who will fish from tho sea
the delicious pearl of health, should select that time of the year in which tho
water ranges from 55° to 75° Fahrenheit—the months of April, May, and June-
still better, from the middle of August to October and November.  But then the
duration of the bath must not exceed fifteen minutes—for most patients, not one
minute.   They must always bathe with the skin warm, or in a slight perspiration.
   In the morning take a full bath immediately on coming from bed, while tha
skin still retains the warmth of the bed ; indeed, it is then necessary that the bath
be but a few steps  distant  from the house.   If not one must erect a wooden
bathing hut on the strand or shore, and there sweat or heat up in blankets before
bathing.
   Also, before noon, take a sitz or foot-bath, after which take a walk before din-
 ner.  The sitz bath  may be taken by aU that suffer from dyspepsia, constipation,
 or nervous affections.
   For the afternoon, I would propose a new kind of bath—walking half-baths—
 that is, in this manner, that  the patient must walk from five to ten minutes in the
 sea, with half of his body immersed in water.  The upper part of the body must
 be so covered, that it is neither too cold nor too hot; that is, it must not perspire.
 Such a bath would be especially serviceable in  drawing congestions from the
 head  and breast.  Its first effect would be the  contrary; and for this reason, those
 who are subject  thereto, or afflicted therewith, must wet their head and breast
 with  water on going into it.  These baths would be particularly effective in con-
 ducting the energy, warmth, the matters  of disease, and the critical exanthema,
 from the nobler parts to the legs ; they would also particularly benefit those hav-
 ing lame or stiff Umbs and joints, or withered calves of the legs.
    My above-mentioned conclusions, taken from baths in natural life, led me to the
 idea of these walking half-baths.
    In  making use of all local baths, one should consider weU the oft-mentioned
 principle, and, consequently, never take a local bath without combining it with a
 daily general bath.   Under this latter condition, a daily sitz-bath is of inestimable
 value to sedentary persons who are afflicted with constipation and piles.  Pness-
 nitz has restored a great many of these  sufferers; all, when they left Graelen-
  berg, took with them their syringe, and respected it as their protective patron.
 In injections, only cold  and tepi3 water is to be used, and never warm water ;
 their temperature should vary from 55° to 72° Fahrenheit