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ARMY MEDICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED 1836
WASHINGTON, D.C. 
 
 
      BULWER  AND  FORBES
            ON THE

WATER-TREATMENT:
          A COMPILATION OF
      PAPERS ON THE SUBJECT OF

HYGIENE AND  RATIONAL HYDROPATHY:

      EDITED, WITH ADDITIONAL, MATTER,
   BY ROLAND S. HOUGHTON, A.M., M.D.
NEW AND REVISED EDITION, STEREOTYPED : WITH ADDITIONS
         AND IMPROVEMENTS.
        i:--------T----^

         NEW  YORK:
FOWLERS AND WELLS, PUBLISHERS,
     CLINTON HALL, 131 NASSAU STREET.
            1851. 
Vi3  F


  \25\
    1  </
    Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1851, by

               ROLAND g. HOUGHTON, M.D.,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
                Southern District of New York.
STEREOTYPED BY WILLIAM J. BANEB,

        201 William Street. 
TO
LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL MEN,





                 AND





       TO  ALL WHO THINK,
DESIGNED TO ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION,






       AND TO SET FORTH THE MERITS OF A






   STRICTLY NATURAL, HYGIENIC, AND PHILOSOPHICAL






           MODE OF TREATING DISEASE,






        IS  RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED






                          BY THE EDITOR.
HSU 
 
PREFACE
TO  THE  STEREOTYPE  EDITION.
   The compilation herewith presented to the public owes its origin
to a strong desire, on the part of the editor, that the various mate-
rials  of  which it  is mainly  composed should be  embraced in a
suitable form for permanent  preservation.   Although some of the
papers seem to have been originally designed for merely temporary
purposes, yet he is so perfectly convinced of their lasting value,
that he has deemed it well worth while to render  them easily ac-
cessible to the public—and especially to all  who  may chance to be
interested in the  deeply-absorbing subject of which they treat.
So great is  their literary merit, so able and conclusive  the argu-
ments they embody,  and so high and unimpeachable the social and
professional  reputation of their respective authors, that he cannot
help feeling confident that there are a great many readers on this
side of the  Atlantic who  will  eagerly greet their present reap-
pearance.
   The leading paper, or Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton's "Confes-
sions  of a Water Patient," which originally  appeared in Colburn's
jYew  Monthly Magazine  for September, 1845, is the  only one of
the number from  a  non-medical source.  Its style is singularly
quaint and pleasing,  its manner warm and earnest, and its reason-
ings generally correct; insomuch that it can hardly fail to become
a favorite treatise on the modern Water-Cure among those who pos-
sess refinement of mind and a cultivated taste.  Addressed as it is
to literary men as a body, and written with a genuine  friendliness 
VI
PREFACE.
and cordiality of tone, the editor ventures to add the hope that the
brotherhood in America may profit by its admonitions and pay heed
to its prophetic warnings.
   Dr. Forbes's article  on  Hydropathy  has  already "made  its
mark," and provoked a deal of controversial  criticism.  It is in-
cluded in this volume for the reason that it is perhaps the most
thorough  and satisfactory demonstration of the  real  merits  and
true province of the Water-Treatment yet offered to the public by
any one member of the medical profession.  Indeed, no compilation
of the kind contemplated by the editor would  be complete without
this calm, able, and searching paper.
   The succeeding  article embraces  a  couple  of chapters  from a
most  excellent Treatise on Healthy Skin, by Erasmus Wilson,
M.D., F.R.S., Consulting Surgeon to the St.  Pancras Infirmary,
Lecturer  on Anatomy and Physiology in Middlesex Hospital, au-
thor of a favorite text-book on Anatomy, etc.  Of these two chap-
ters the  one first  given is the ninth in the order of the Treatise
(the tenth, which is appended, being especially devoted to the con-
sideration of the Water-Treatment), and follows a series of admira-
ble expositions  of the distribution of the skin;  its division into
two layers, the external and internal; the nature of the perspira-
tory apparatus, the oil-glands, and the hairs ;  and the  influence of
diet, clothing, and exercise upon  the health of the skin generally.
[This explanation will  render perfectly clear to the mind of the
reader Dr. Wilson's  allusion at the outset to several " preceding
chapters."]
   The fourth article  consists of a careful  abridgment  of  Sir
Charles Scudamore's  elegantly-written account of his Medical
Visit to Graefenberg, in April and May, 1843.  The results of his
inquiries are here transcribed, in preference to the narrative part
and the details of cases; the latter having already been circulated
to a wide extent in this country, in some of the American reprints
on the subject of Hydropathy. The editor  takes leave to invite
the particular attention of his readers  to the remarks  of Sir
Charles Scudamore—a writer and practitioner so generally and
deservedly honored both in England and  America as  to need no
formal introduction or eulogy. 
PREFACE.
vii
  The fifth paper in the compilation is an abridgment of a very
able work entitled, The Cold-Water Cure: its Use  and Misuse
Examined, by Herbert Mayo, M.D., F.R.S., formerly Surgeon
of Middlesex Hospital, London, and  latterly Physician to  the Hy-
dropathic establishment  at MUhlbad, Boppard-on-the-Rhine.   Dr.
Mayo had, previously to his taking up his  residence upon the Con-
tinent, suffered severely from chronic rheumatism, insomuch that
he was persuaded to " try the Water-Cure" as a last resort, though
at the expense of " relinquishing a professional career in London,
which was full of interest and promise of success."  Dr. Mayo's
amendment was so striking, that gratitude for his improvement im-
mediately prompted him to impart to others his sense of the merits
of Rational Hydropathy.
  The editor has preferred to reprint these papers without notes or
material abridgment, rather than run the risk of doing injustice to
their authors, and at the same time interrupting the attention of the
careful reader.  There may be some few points of a minor nature
on which his  opinions are at variance, to a greater or less extent,
with those set forth m these papers with such brilliancy and force;
but the occasion does not call for any detailed  notice of them here.
His own " position" the editor has felt it to be  most proper to " de-
fine" in a separate  paper at  the close of the volume.  To this he
respectfully refers  the reader.
No. 8, West Eleventh Stkeet,
      New York City. 
 
CONTENTS.
I.  CONFESSIONS  OF  A WATER  PATIENT:  by Sir
     Edward Bulwkr Lytton,  author of " Harold," "The
     Last Days of Pompeii," "Rienzi," etc-, etc.,     -  13-49

Introductory observations—The melancholy fate of Campbell, Hook, and Hood
  —The cant of the times about the education of the mind, to the neglect of
  physical education—The author's own experience—Hygienic treatment insuf-
  ficient for his case—Contemplates placing himself under the care of Dr. James
  Wilson, at Malvern, to undergo the water treatment—Sifts some of the cases
  of Water-Cure cited by Dr. Wilson with satisfactory results—Resolves upon
  going to Malvern, in spite of the vehement denunciations of " the faculty,"
  who recommend in preference "a course ofprussic acid !"—Innocence of the
  Water-Cure  in  skilful hands—Good  habits easily acquired under  the new
  system—Water in itself a powerful anodyne, as well as stimulant and excitant
  —The water-processes agreeable rather than repulsive—Chronic cases require
  a long cure, as a general rule—The author continues the treatment under Dr.
  Weiss, at Petersham, iu order to be near London—Experiences a constitu-
  tional disturbance of his system—Emerges blanched and emaciated, but with
  muscles as hard as iron—Visits Germany—Seized with a severe cold while
  travelling, which turnod into high fever—Proceeds to Dr. Schmitz's establish-
  ment, at Boppart—Cured of the  fever in twenty-four hours, and resumes his
  journey on the third day—Continues to improve steadily—Passes the winter
  agreeably at  Malvern—Sums up his own case—Had gained an immense accu-
  mulation of  the capital  of health—Ultra and  exclusive Water-Cure notions
  absurd and chimerical—The Water-Cure  least eifectual in neuralgic pains,
  paralysis in  the case of aged persons, and  tubercular consumption;  most
  effectual in rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia, drug diseases, intemperance, scrof-
  ula, etc., etc.—Wonderful  benefits of the Water-Cure in acute complaints—
  Theory of the wet sheet—The Water-Cure  not a desperate  remedy—Infinitely
  more agreeable than any course of medicine—Three weeks at Malvern more
  beneficial than three months at Brighton or Boulogne—Author's advice to his
  literary brethren—Farewell address.


II.  A REVIEW  OF  HYDROPATHY:  by John Forbes,
     M.D.,  F.R.S., F.G.S.,  Fellow  of the Royal  College of
     Physicians  in Londou. Physician   in Ordinary  to  her
     Majesty's  Household, and  Consulting  Physician to  the
     Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest,
                                                             51-119

Unjust  prejudices of the medical profession  against the Water-Cure owing to
  its non-medical origin—Intention of the writer, however, to speak his opinions
  openly and boldly when he believes them just—Not a little quackery mixed
  up with real'y  effective water-practice—Many hydropathic  physicians ill-

                   1* 
X
CONTENTS.
  qualified for their posts—The  duty of the medic.d profession  to adopt the
  improvements recommended" by Hydropathy, on being satisfied of their value
  —Many parts  of the hydropathic system can  be  safely carried on at tho
  patients' own homes—The water establishments should be under the control
  of regularly-educated medical men—Drugs should not be entirely banished
  from the water treatment—Historical sketch of the remedial uses of water—
  Lanzani's method of treating fevers—Sir John Floyer and Dr. Baynard—
  Practice of Dr. James Currie—Medical doctrine in regard to bathing before
  the  times of  Priessnitz—Artificial perspiration, how  produced  among the
  ancient Romans, the Russians, and North American Indians—Sketch of Vin-
  cent Priessnitz's career—His mode of treatment described—Effects of a course
  of water treatment: (1.) The careful withdrawal of all stimulants from in-
  ternal  parts—(2.) Generosity of the Water-Cure system of diet—(3.) Almost
  all the treatment is applied to the surface—(4.) A system of most energetic,
  local, and general counter-irritation employed—(5) Frequency of the num-
  ber of coolings of the body—(6.) A large amount of stimulation created in the
  system—(7.) Sedative effect ot the treatment without causing debility—(8.)
  Valuable tonic properties of cold water—(9.) The sweating  process—(10.)
  The  purgative action of Hydropathy—(11.) Tranquillizing  influence of the
  Water-Cure—(12.) Other important powers possessed  by Hydropathy—(13.)
  Remarks on medical habits in reference to chronic disease—The allopathic
  and hydropathic treatment of chronic dyspepsia contrasted—Propriety of re-
  viving Dr. Currie's  treatment of fevers by  cold affusion—The  Water-Cure
  extremely efficacious in gout  and rheumatism—Deserves a trial in  chronic
  dyspepsia,  chronic  nervous affections, and  general debility—The sitz-bath
  frequently an  effectual remedy in chronic diarrhoea, dysentery, and haemor-
  rhoids—There is nothing  to forbid a cautious use  of drugs in combination
  with hydropathic measures—A judicious combination  of the two the best
  means of obtaining  the full benefit of each—The Water-Cure, in  the proper
  hands, rarely attended with danger—The Water-Cure can easily be employed
  in private  practice, but in many cases cures progress more rapidly at an
  establishment, owing to relief from domestic anxieties, change of air, scene,
  society, etc.—The  water  treatment  cannot be safely  conducted by non-
  professional persons—The medical profession should adopt the improvements
  effected by the Water-Cure for the purpose of putting down quackery.



III.   TWO   CHAPTERS  ON   BATHING  AND   THE
     WATER  TREATMENT : by Erasmus Wilson, M.D.,
     F.R.S., author of  " Wilson's Anatomy,"  Consulting Sur-
     geon to the St. Pancras  Infirmary, etc.,  -      -   121-165

(1.) On Bathing.—Causes giving rise to the necessity for ablution—Effects of
  obstruction of the pores ot the skin—Utility of water to man—Action of water
  in removing impurities from the skin—Soaps and wash-powders__Does soar)
  irritate the skin?—Mode of preventing the  unpleasant effects  sometimes
  caused to the  skm  by soap—Temperature of the water used  in  ablution-
  Frequency of ablutions—Tonic or " bracing"  eflccts of washing—Modes ot
  using water—Sponging—Test of the benefit of ablution—The spon<*in<* bath
  a combination  of  exercise and bathing—The shower bath a combination of
  bathing with concussion ot the skin—Shock of the shower  bath—Doe* the
to be used in bathing—Physiological effects of bathing—Importance™" "°"S
f£K^£i^.^:^                       khR?s*h, or Indian
bath. (2.) On the Merits of Hyd,opatk,j, page 143.-The ■' Wuter:Cin™_XaS 
CONTENTS.
XI
 of merit due to Priessnitz—Appreciation of Priessnitz by his patients—Effects
 of attaching a commercial value to medicines—Priessnitz's mode of examining
 his patients—The dietetics of Priessnitz—Example of his treatment—Priess-
 nitz objects to warm clothing—Graefenberg the esssential of the "Water-
 Cure"—Indiscreet adulators of Priessnitz—Universality of water a monomania
 —Method of treating a patient—Kernel  of the Graefenberg  nut— Hygienic
 sanatoriums in Britain—A course of water at Graefenberg—Mode ot produ-
 cing perspiration practised by Priessnitz—Explanation of the principle ot cold
 affusion after perspiration or the warm bath—The Russian bath—Cold bath,
 shallow bath, hip bath—The damp sheet—The wet sheet—The wet bandage
 or compress—The douche—Partial baths—The Harrow establishment.


IV.  A  MEDICAL INVESTIGATION  OF THE WA-
     TER-CURE TREATMENT:  by Sir Charles Scuda-

     mork, M.D.,  F.R.S., etc.,     -                     167-184

The water treatment powerful for good and  evil—The public cannot be too
  wel informed with regard to it—The medical profession recommended to
  discard all prejudices against the Water-Cure  and against  Priessnitz, its
  originator—The question that we have to consider is the  measures and not
  the man—A physician should be a student to the latest period  of his life—1 he
  subject of Hydropathy one of the highest importance to the civihzed^world-
  Some of the writers on the Water-Cure do not give sufficient ciedit to
  Priessnitz—Eulogy on the founder of the Water-Cure-Hydropathy possess

  an eminent^^tefative ^^^J^^^l ^^^A^^Q^^ZZ
  of medical art, rather than an offensive rival or foe-Practice  o . Hj«op*tty
  in a town-A radical cure the object to be aimed at in chronic disease-Wed-
   rinV cannooften be required in water treatment;  should be  admini stored as
  an exception? and not as the rule-Hydropathy™^™™**gfj£*Z
  ests • hence it is opposed in a few quarters for that reason—Partial explana
  tions of the modufoperandi of the water treatment objected to-Paramount
  importance of vital force—Doctrines of Liebig considered—Theoiy  ot tlie







 V.  THE  COLD   WATER   CURE ;   ITS   USE  AND
      MISUSE:   by Herbert   Mato,  M.D.,  F.R.S.,  for-
      merly Surgeon  of Middlesex  Hospital, London, etc.,  rtc^











   scrofula, etc.-(2.) The reductive^ com*^™ ££*,£  n the asthenic forms
   applied, as in severe colds and ^££^°°^rAppiicable in head dis
   of gout and rheumatism—(.3.) The ^MwecouiB    w       indigestion,
   order, confirmed dyspepsia, "^ai gout easeb rt pure      s^ati^eowat,

   ^ppSie** ^^&^Z&t6&£in^tf. etc  Concluding
remarks. 
xii
CONTENTS.
VI. OBSERVATIONS ON  HYGIENE  AND THE WA-
     TER TREATMENT:  by Roland S.  Houghton, A.M.,
     M.D.,      -     -.....203-258

Prevalent neglect of physical education—Correctness of Bulwer's description
  of the physical life of the literary brotherhood—Health too often considered
  a mere matter of chance and good luck—Quack medicines frequently counte-
  nanced and endorsed by "educated" men—Melancholy fate  of Mr. Legare
  and Judge Story, owing  to their violation of physical laws—Impropriety of
  ascribing death under such circumstances to a "Divine visitation"—Nothing
  lawless in human life—Abemethy's  remark about the unhealthiness of the
  people of London—Meaning of the term "healthy organization"—Results of
  an intelligent study of anatomy—Consideration of the principles of Hygiene
  —This subject formerly treated of under the following heads, with the gen-
  eral designation of "iVbre-naturals !"  "Air"—"Meat and drink"—"Sleep and
  watching"—"Motion  and rest"—"The- retentions and excretions"—"The
  affections of the mind"—The noblest department of  the science of medicine
  the prevention of disease—Consideration of  the efficacy of the vis medicatrix
  natura, or the healing power of nature—Career of Howard  the Philanthropist
  —Relation of the  curative processes of nature to surgical treatment—Case
  of Cornaro—Consideration of the Hygienic and Hydropathic Treatment
  of Disease—Injustice of denouncing  all "regular  practitioners"—Hydro-
  pathy not "empirical"—The hydropathist  does not "vend  nostrums," or
  " sound his own praise in the public papers"—Contrast between allopathic
  and hydropathic practice—Allopathy itself  " empirical"—Dr.  Kneeland's ad-
  mission—Antiquity of the Water-Cure—The Mosaic laws of cleanliness—Ho-
  mer's description of the baths employed by Ulysses and Hector—Bathing among
  the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians—Magnificence of Darius's baths—Also of
  the Roman baths in the times of the emperors—Quotation from Hippocrates
  —The Emperor Augustus cured by water—Antonius Musa prescribes a course
  of bathing for the poet Horace—Other publications on the subject of water—
  Concluding remarks. 
THE  WATER-TREATMENT,
                       I.

          BULWER'S  LETTER.
  CONFESSIONS AND OBSERVATIONS OF A WATER PATIENT,
    IN A LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

Dear Mr. Editor :
  I am truly glad to see so worthily filled the presi-
dency in  one of the many chairs  which our republic
permits to criticism and  letters—a dignity in which  I
had  the  honor  to  precede you, sub consule  Planco,
in the good  days of William IV.   I feel  as if there
were something ghostlike in my momentary return to  *
my ancient haunts, no longer in the editorial robe  and
purple, but addressing a  new chief, and in great part a
new assembly : for  the reading public is a  creature of
rapid growth—every five  years a fresh generation pours
forth from our institutes, our colleges, our  schools, de-
manding  and filled with fresh  ideas, fresh principles,
and hopes.   And the seas wash the place  where Can-
ute parleyed with the waves.   All that interested the
world, when to me (then  Mr. Editor, now your humble
servant,) contributors addressed their articles, hot  and 
14            THE  WATER-TREATMENT.

seasoned for the month, and like all good articles to a
periodical, " warranted  not to  keep," have passed
away into the  lumber room,  where those old maids,
History and  Criticism, hoard  their scraps and relics,
and where, amidst dust and silence, things old-fashion-
ed ripen into things antique.   The roar of the Reform
Bill is still, Fanny Kemble acts no more, the " Hunch-
back" awaits upon our shelves the resuscitation of a
new Julia, poets of promise have become mute, Rubini
sings  no more, Macready is in the provinces, " Punch"
frisks it on the jocund throne  of Sidney Smith,  and
over  a domain  once  parcelled  amongst many, reigns
" Boz."   Scattered and voiceless the old contributors
—a new hum betrays the changing Babel of a new mul-
titude.  Gliding thus, I say ghostlike, amidst the pres-
ent race, busy and sanguine as  the  past, I feel that it
best   suits with a ghost's dignity to  appear but for an
admonitory purpose;  not  with the  light and careless
step of an ordinary visitor, but with meaning stride,
and finger upon lip.   Ghosts, we know, have appeared
to predict death—more gentle I, my apparition would
only  promise healing, and beckon not to graves  and
charnels, but to  the Hygeian spring.
  And now that I am fairly on the  ground,  let us call
to mind, Mr. Editor, the illustrious  names which still
overshadow  it at  once with  melancholy and fame.
Your  post has been filled with men  whose fate pre-
cludes the envy  which their genius might excite :  by
Campbell,  the high-souled  and  silver-toned, and  by
Honk, from whom jest, and whim, and humor flowed 
BULWER'S LETTER.
15
in so free and  so riotous a wave, that books confined
and  narrowed  away the  stream; to read Hook is to
wrong  him.   Nor can we think of your predecessors
without thinking of  your  rival, Hood, who, as the tree
puts forth its most exuberant blossoms the year before
its decay, showed the bloom  and promise of his  genius
most when the  worm was at  the trunk.  To us  behind
the scenes, to. us who knew the men, how melancholy
the contrast between the fresh and youthful intellect
and the worn-out and broken frame ;  for, despite what
I have seen written, Campbell, when taken at the right
moment,  was  Campbell ever.  Not capable indeed,
towards the last, of the same exertion, if manifested by
those poor evidences of what is in  us, that books pa-
rade, but still   as  powerful in his  great and noble
thoughts, in  the oral poetry revealed by flashes  and
winged words,  though  unrounded  into form.    And
Hook jested on the  bed of death as none but he could
jest.   And Hood !  who remembers not the tender  pa-
thos, the exquisite humanity, which  spoke  forth from
his darkened room ?  Alas !  what  prolonged  pangs,
what heavy lassitude, what death  in life, did these
men endure !
   Here we are, Mr. Editor, in these  days of cant  and
jargon, preaching up the education of the mind,  forcing
our children  under  melon-frames, and babbling to the
laborer and  mechanic, " Read, and read, and  read,"
as if God had  not  given us muscles, and nerves,  and
bodies  subjected to exquisite pains as pleasures—as if
the bodv were  not be cared  for and cultivated  as well 
16
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
as the mind ; as if health were no  blessing, instead of
that capital good, without which  all other blessings—
save the hope of health eternal—grow flat and  joyless;
as if the enjoyment of the world in which we are was
not far  more closely linked  with  our physical than our
mental  selves ; as if we  were better than maimed and
imperfect men so  long  as  our nerves  are jaded and
prostrate, our senses  dim and heavy, our relationship
with nature  abridged and  thwarted by the jaundiced
eye, and failing limb, and trembling hand—the apothe-
cary's shop between  us  and the sun !   For the mind,
we admit that to render  it strong and clear, habit and
discipline are required; how deal we (especially we,
Mr. Editor,  of the London  world—we of the literary
craft—we of the restless, striving brotherhood)—how
deal we with the body ?   We carry it on with us, as a
post-horse, from  stage to stage—does it  flag 1  no rest!
give it ale or the  spur.   We begin to feel the frame
break under us ;  we administer a drug, gain a tempo-
rary relief, shift  the  disorder from one part to another
—forget our ailments in  our excitements, and when we
pause  at  last, thoroughly shattered, with complaints
grown chronic, diseases  fastening to the  organs, send
for the  doctors in good earnest, and die  as your prede-
cessors  and your rival died, under combinations of long-
neglected  maladies, which could never have been knoAvn
had we  done  for  the body what we do for the mind__
mads it strong  by discipline, and maintained it  firm
by habit.
   Not alone ca.lling to recollection our departed friends. 
BULWER'S LETTER.
17
but looking over the vast field of suffering which those
acquainted with the lives of men who think and labor
cannot fail to behold around them, I confess, though I
have something of Canning's disdain of professed phi-
lanthropists,  and do  not love every knife-grinder as
much as if he were my brother—I confess, nevertheless,
that I am filled with  an earnest pity;  and an anxious
desire seizes me to communicate to others that simple
process of healing and well-being which has passed un-
der my own experience, and  to which I gratefully owe
days no longer weary of the sun, and nights which no
longer yearn for and yet dread the morrow.
   And now, Mr. Editor, I may be pardoned, I trust,
if I  illustrate by my own  case the system I commend
to others.
   I have been a  workman in my day.  I began  to
write, and to toil,  and to win  some kind of  a, name,
which  I  had the ambition to improve  while yet little
 more than a boy.  With strong love for study in books
—with yet greater desire to accomplish myself in the
knowledge of men, for  sixteen years I  can conceive no
 life to  have  been more filled by occupation than mine.
 What time was not given  to action was given to study ;
 what time not given to study, to action—labor in both !
 To a constitution  naturally far from strong, I allowed
 no pause or respite.   The  wear  and tear  went  on
 without  intermission—the whirl of the  wheel  never
 ceased.  Sometimes, indeed,  thoroughly  overpowered
 and  exhausted, I  sought  for escape.   The physicians
 said," Travel," and I travelled; " Go into the country," 
18
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
 and I went.  But in such  attempts at repose all my
 ailments gathered round me—made themselves far more
 palpable and  felt.   I had no resource but to fly from
 myself—to fly into  the other world of books, or thought,
 or reverie—to live in some state of being less painful
 than my own.  As long as I was  always at  work it
 seemed that I had no leisure to be ill.  Quiet was my
 hell.
   At length  the frame thus long neglected—patched
 up for a while by drugs and doctors—put off and trifled
 with as an intrusive dun—like  a dun who is in his
 rights—brought  in its arrears—crushing  and terrible,
 accumulated  through  long  years.   Worn out  and
 wasted, the constitution seemed  wholly inadequate  to
 meet  the  demand.  The exhaustion of toil and  study
 had been completed by  great anxiety and grief.   I had
 watched  with alternate hope  and fear the lingering
 and mournful death-bed of my  nearest  relation and
 dearest friend—of the  person around whom was en-
 twined the strongest affection my life had known—
 and when all  was  over I seemed scarcely to live my-
 self.
   At  this time,  about  the January of 1844, I was
 thoroughly shattered.  The least  attempt at exercise
 exhausted me.  The nerves gave way at the most or-
 dinary excitement—a  chronic  irritation of that vast
 surface we call the mucous  membrane, which had de-
fied for years all medical skill, rendered me continually
liable to acute attacks, which from their  repetition,
and the increased  feebleness  of my frame, might at any 
BULWER'S LETTER.
19
time be fatal.  Though free from  any organic disease
of the heart,  its action was morbidly restless and pain-
ful.  My sleep was without refreshment.   At morning
I rose more weary than I lay down  to rest.
  Without  fatiguing  you and  your  readers  further
with the longa cohors of my complaints, I pass on to
record my struggle to resist them.  I have always had
a great belief  in  the power of will.   What  a man
determines to do—that in ninety-nine cases out of  the
hundred I hold that he succeeds in  doing.   I deter-
mined  to have some insight into  a knowledge I had
never attained since manhood—the knowledge of health.
  I  resolutely  put away books  and study, sought  the
airs which the  physicians esteemed the most healthful,
and adopted the strict regimen on which all the chil-
dren of iEsculapius so wisely insist.  In short, I main-
tained the same general habits  as  to hours, diet (with
the  exception  of wine, which in  moderate quantities
seemed to me indispensable), and, so far as my strength
would  allow, of exercise, as I found  afterwards insti-
tuted  at  hydropathic establishments.   I dwell  on this
to forestall in some manner the common remark of per-
sons not well acquainted  with the medical agencies of
water—that  it is to the regular life which water-patients
lead, and not to  the element itself, that they owe their
recovery.  Nevertheless  I  found  that these changes,
however  salutary in theory, produced little,  if any,
practical amelioration in my health.  All invalids know,
perhaps, how difficult, under ordinary circumstances,
is the  alteration of habits from bad to good.  The early 
20
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
rising, the  walk before breakfast,  so  delicious  in  the
feelings of  freshness and vigor which they bestow upon
the strong, often become punishments to the valetudina-
rian.   Headache,  languor, a sense of weariness over
the eyes, a  sinking of the whole system toward noon,
which seemed  imperiously to  demand the  dangerous
aid of stimulants,  was all that I obtained by the morn-
ing breeze and the languid stroll by the sea-shore.  The
suspension  from  study only afflicted  with intolerable
ennui, and added  to the profound dejection of the spir-
its.   The  brain, so long accustomed to morbid activity,
was but withdrawn from its usual occupations to invent
horrors and chimeras.   Over the pillow, vainly sought
two hours  before midnight, hovered  no golden sleep.
The  absence of excitement, however unhealthy,  only
aggravated the symptoms of ill health.
   It  was at this  time that  I  met by chance,  in  the
library at St. Leonard's, with Captain Claridge's work
on the " Water-Cure," as practised by Priessnitz at
Graefenberg.   Making allowance for certain exaggera-
tions  therein, which  appeared  evident to  my common
sense, enough still remained not only to captivate  the
imagination and flatter the hopes of an invalid, but to
appeal with favor to his sober  judgment.   Till then,
perfectly ignorant  of the subject and the system, except
by some such  vague stories and  good jests  as  had
reached my ears in Germany, I resolved at least to read
what  more could be said in favor of the dpufnv u<kip, and
examine dispassionately into its merits as a medicament.
I  was then  under the advice of one of the first physi- 
BULWER'S  LETTER.
21
cians of our age.  I had consulted half the faculty.  I
had every reason to be grateful for the attention, and
to be confident in the skill, of those whose prescriptions
had, from time to time, flattered my hopes and enriched
the chemist.  But the truth must be spoken—far from
being better, I  was sinking fast.   Little  remained to
me to try in the great volume of  the herbal.   Seek
what I would next,  even if  a" quackery, it certainly
might expedite my grave, but it could scarcely render
life—at  least the external life—more unjoyous.   Ac-
cordingly I  examined, with  such grave thought as a
sick man brings to  bear upon his case, all the grounds
upon which to  justify to  myself—an excursion  to the
snows of Silesia.   But I own that in proportion as I
found my faith in the system strengthen, I shrunk from
the terrors  of this long  journey to the rugged region in
which the probable lodging would be a laborer's cot-
tage,* and in which the Babel of a hundred languages
(so  agreeable  to  the  healthful  delight in novelty—so
appalling to the sickly despondency of a hypochondriac)
would murmur and growl over a public table spread
with no tempting condiments.  Could I hope to find
healing  in  my own land,  and not too far from my own
doctors  in  case of failure, I  might indeed  solicit the
   * Let me not disparage the fountain-head of the Water-Cure, the
parent institution of the great  Priessnitz.  I believe many of the
earlier hardships complained of at Graefenberg have been removed
or amended; and such as remain are no doubt well compensated by
the vast experience and extraordinary tact of a man who will rank
hereafter among the most illustrious discoverers who have ever
 benefited the human race. 
22
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
watery gods—but the journey ! I who scarcely lived
through a day without leech or potion—the long—gelid
journey to Graefenberg—I should be sure to fall ill by
the way—to be  clutched  and  mismanaged  by some
German  doctor—to  deposit my bones in some  dismal
churchyard on the banks of the Father Rhine.
   While thus perplexed, I fell in with one of  the pam-
phlets written by Dr. Wilson, of Malvern, and my doubts
were  solved.  Here  was an  English doctor,  who had
himself known more  than my own sufferings,  who, like
myself, had found the pharmacopoeia in vain—who had*
spent ten months at Graefenberg, and left all his com-
plaints behind  him—who, fraught with the experience
he had acquired, not only in  his own person, but from
scientific examination of cases under his eye, had trans-
ported the system to our native shores, and who proffered
the proverbial salubrity of Malvern air and its holy
springs to those who, like me, had ranged in vain, from
simple to mineral, and who had become bold by despair
—bold enough to  try if health, like truth,  lay  at  the
bottom of a well.
   I was not then aware that other institutions had been
established in England of more or less fame.  I saw in
Dr. Wilson the first transporter—at least as a physi-
cian—of the Silesian system, and did not pause  to look
out for other and  later pupils of this innovating German
school.
   I resolved then to betake myself to Malvern.  On
my way through town I paused, in the innocence of my
heart, to inquire of the faculty if they thought the Wa- 
BULWER'S LETTER.
23
ter-Cure would suit my case.   With one exception,
they were unanimous in the vehemence of their denun-
ciations.  Granting even that in some cases, especially
of rheumatism, hydropathy had produced a cure—to my
complaints it was worse than inapplicable—it was highly
dangerous—it  would probably  be fatal.   I  had  not
stamina for  the treatment—it would fix chronic ailments
into organic disease—surely it would be much better to
try what  I  had not yet tried.   What had I  not yet
tried ?  A course of prussic acid!   Nothing was- better
for gastric  irritation,  which  was no doubt the main
cause of my suffering !   If, however, I were obstinately
bent upon so mad an experiment, Dr.  Wilson was the
last  person  I should go to.   I was not deterred by all
these  intimidations,  nor  seduced by the  salubrious
allurements of the prussic acid  under its scientific ap-
pellation of  hydrocyanic.   A little reflection taught me
that the members of a learned profession are naturally
the very persons least disposed to favor innovation  upon
the practices which  custom and prescription have ren-
dered sacred in their eyes.  A lawyer is not the person
to consult upon bold reforms in jurisprudence.   A phy-
sician can scarcely be expected to own that a Silesian
peasant will cure with water  the diseases which resist
an armament of phials.  And with regard to the pecu-
liar  objections to Dr. Wilson, I had  read  in  his own
pamphlet attacks upon the orthodox  practice sufficient
to account for—perhaps to justify—the disposition to
depreciate him in return.
  Still my friends were anxious and fearful; to please 
24
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
them I continued to inquire, though not of physicians,
but of patients.  I sought out some of those who had
gone through the process.   I sifted some of the cases of
cure cited by Dr. Wilson.   I found the account of the
patients so encouraging, the  cases quoted so  authentic,
that I grew impatient of delay.  I threw physic to the
dogs, and went to Malvern.
   It  is not  my intention, Mr. Editor,  to  detail the
course I underwent.  The different  resources of water
as a medicament are to be found in many works easily
to be obtained, and well worth the  study.  In this let-
ter I suppose  myself to be  addressing those as thor-
oughly unacquainted with the system as myself was  at
the first, and I deal therefore only in generals.
   The first point which impressed and struck me was
the extreme and utter innocence of the Water-Cure in
skilful hands—in  any hands, indeed,  not  thoroughly
new to the system.   Certainly when I went,  I believed
it to be a kill-or-cure  system.  I fancied it  must be a
very violent remedy—that it doubtless might effect great
and magical cures—but that if it failed it might be fatal.
Now, I speak not alone of my own case, but  of the im-
mense number of cases I  have seen—patients of all
ages—all  species and genera of disease—all  kinds and
conditions  of  constitution, when I  declare,  upon my
honor, that I never witnessed one dangerous symptom
produced by the Water-Cure, whether at Dr. Wilson's
or the ether hydropathic institutions which I afterwards
visited.   And though unquestionably fatal consequences
might occur from gross mismanagement, and as unques- 
BULWER'S  LETTER.
25
tionably have so occurred at various establishments, I
am yet convinced that water in itself is so friendly to
the human  body, that it requires a very extraordinary
degree of bungling, of ignorance, and presumption to
produce results really dangerous, that a regular practi-
tioner does more frequent mischief from the misapplica-
tion of even the  simplest drugs than a water-doctor of
very moderate experience does, or can do, by the misap-
plication of  his  baths  and friction.   And here I must
observe, that those  portions of  the treatment which ap-
pear to the uninitiated  as the most perilous, are really
the safest, such  as  the wet-sheet packing, and  can  be
applied with the most impunity to the weakest constitu-
tions ;  whereas those which appear, from  our  greater
familiarity with  them, the least startling and most  in-
nocuous—the plunge-bath, the douche—are those which
require the greatest knowledge  of general pathology and
the individual constitution.   I  shall revert to this part
of my subject before I conclude.
   The next thing that struck me was the extraordinary
ease with which,  under this system, good habits  are ac-
quired and bad habits relinquished.   The difficulty with
which, under orthodox  medical treatment, stimulants
are abandoned, is here not witnessed.  Patients accus-
tomed for half a century to live hard and high, wine-
drinkers,  spirit-bibbers, whom the  regular physician
has sought  in vain  to reduce to a daily  pint of  sherry,
here voluntarily resign all strong potations, after a day
or two cease to  feel the want of them, and  reconcile
themselves  to water as if they had drunk nothing else 
26
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
all their lives.  Others who have had recourse for years
and  years  to  medicine—their potion  in  the morning,
their cordial at noon, their pill before dinner, their nar-
cotic at bed-time—cease to require these  aids to life, as
if by  a  charm.   Nor is  this  alone.  Men to  whom
mental labor has  been a necessity—who have existed
on the excitement of the passions  and the  stir of the
intellect—who have felt, these withdrawn, the prostra-
tion  of the whole system—the lock to the wheel of the
entire machine—return at once to the careless spirits
of the boy in his first holiday.
   Here lies a great secret; water thus skilfully admin-
istered is in itself a wonderful  excitement;  it supplies
the place of all others—it operates powerfully and rap-
idly  upon  the  nerv„es, sometimes  to calm them, some-
times to irritate, but always to occupy.   Hence follows
a consequence which all  patients have remarked—the
complete repose of the passions during the early stages
of the cure ; they seem laid asleep as if by enchantment.
The intellect shares the same rest; after a  short time,
mental exertion becomes  impossible ;  even the memory
grows far less tenacious of its painful impressions; cares
and  griefs are forgotten;  the sense of the present ab-
sorbs the past and future ; there is a certain freshness
and  youth which pervade the spirits, and live upon the
enjoyment of the actual hour.  Thus the great agents
of our mortal wear and tear—the passions and the mind
—calmed into  strange rest—nature seems to leave the
body to its instinctive tendency, which is always towards
recovery.  All that interests  and amuses  Ls of a health- 
bulwer's  letter.
27
ful  character; exercise, instead  of being  an unwilling
drudgery, becomes the inevitable impulse  of the frame
braced and invigorated  by the  element.   A series of
reactions is always going on—the willing exercise pro-
duces refreshing  rest, and refreshing rest willing exer-
cise.   The extraordinary effect which water taken early
in the morning produces on  the appetite  is well known
among those who have tried it, even before the Water-
Cure was thought of—an appetite it should be the care
of the skilful doctor to  check into moderate gratifica-
tion ; the powers of nutrition become singularly strength-
ened, the  blood grows rich and pure—the constitution
is not only amended—it undergoes a change.*
   The  safety of the system, then, struck me first; its
power of replacing by healthful  stimulants th% morbid
ones it withdrew, whether physical or moral, surprised
me next;  that which thirdly impressed me was no less
contrary to all my preconceived notions.   I had fancied
that, whether  good or bad,  the system must be one of
great hardship, extremely repugnant  and disagreeable.
 I wondered at myself to find  how soon  it became so
 associated with  pleasurable and  grateful feelings  as
 to dwell upon the mind  amongst the happiest passages
 of existence.  For my  own part,  despite all my  ail-
 ments, or whatever  may have been my  cares, I have
 ever found exquisite pleasure in  that sense of being

   *  Dr. Wilson observed to me once, very truly I think, that many
 regular physicians are beginning to own the effect of water  as a
 stimulant, who yet do  not perceive its far more  complicated and
 beneficial effects as an alterative. 
28
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
 which is, as it were, the conscience, the mirror of the
 soul.  I have known hours of as much and as vivid hap-
 piness as perhaps can fall to the lot of man; but among
 all my most brilliant recollections I can recall no periods
 of enjoyment at once more hilarious and serene than the
 hours spent on  the lonely  hills of  Malvern—none in
 which nature was so thoroughly possessed and appreci-
 ated.   The rise from  a sleep  sound as childhood's—
 the impatient rush into the  open air, while the  sun was
 fresh, and the birds first sang—the sense of an unwonted
 strength in every limb  and nerve, which made  so  light
 of the steep ascent to the holy spring—the  delicious
 sparkle of that morning draught—the green terrace on
 the brow of the mountain, with the rich landscape wide
 and far i>elow—the breeze that once would have  been
 so keen and biting, but now exhilarating  the blood, and
 lifting the spirits into religious joy;  and  this keen sen-
 timent of present pleasure rounded by a hope sanctioned
 by all I felt in myself,  and nearly all that I witnessed
 in others—that that very present was but the step, the
 threshold,  into  an unknown and delightful region of
 health and vigor—a disease  and a  care  dropping from
 the frame and the heart at every stride.
   But here I must pause to own that if on the one hand
 the danger and discomforts of the cure are greatly ex-
 aggerated (exaggerated  is too weak a word)—so on the
other hand, as far as my own experience, which is per-
haps not inconsiderable, extends, the  enthusiastic advo-
cates of  the system have greatly misrepresented  the
duration  of the curative process.   I  have read and 
bulwer's letter.
29
heard of chronic diseases of long standing cured perma-
nently in a very few Aveeks.  I candidly confess that I
have seen none such.  I have, it is true, witnessed many
chronic diseases perfectly cured—diseases  which had
been pronounced incurable by the first physicians, but
the cure has  been long and fluctuating.   Persons so •
afflicted, who try this system, must arm themselves with
patience.   The first effects  of the system  are  indeed
usually bracing," and inspire  such  feelings of general
well-being, that some  think they have only to  return
home,  and carry out the cure partially, to recover.  A
great mistake—the  alterative  effects begin long  after
the bracing—a disturbance  in the  constitution  takes
place,  prolonged more or  less, and not till that  ceases
does the  cu™ really  begin.  Not  that the peculiar
" crisis" sought  for so  vehemently by the German
water-doctors, and usually under their hands manifested
by boils and eruptions, is at all a necessary part of the
cure—it is, indeed, as far as I have seen, a  rare occur-
rence,  but a critical action, not single, not  confined to
one period, or one series of phenomena, is at work, often
undetected by the patient himself, during a considerable
(and that the later) portion of the cure in most patients
where  the malady has been grave, and where the recov-
ery becomes permanent.   During this time the patient ^
should be under the eye of his water-doctor.
  To  conclude my own case: I stayed some nine or
ten weeks  at Malvern, and business, from which  I
could not escape, obliging me then  to be in the neigh-
borhood of town, I continued the system seven weeks 
30
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
  longer under  Dr. Weiss, at Petersham ; during this
  latter period the  agreeable phenomena which had char-
  acterized the  former, the cheerfulness,  the  bien  aise,
  the  consciousness of returning  health  vanished, and
  were succeeded  by great irritation of the nerves, ex-
 • treme fretfulness, and the usual characteristics of the
  constitutional disturbance to which I have referred.   I
  had every reason, however, to be satisfied with the care
  and skill of Dr.  Weiss, who fully deserves the reputa-
  tion he  has acquired, and the attachment entertained
  for  him  by his  patients ; nor did my  judgment ever
  despond or doubt of the ultimate benefits of the process.
  I emerged at last  from these operations in no very
  portly condition.  I was blanched  and  emaciated—
  washed out like a thrifty housewife's gowW—but neither
  the bleaching nor the loss of weight had  in the least im-
  paired my strength; on the contrary, all the muscles
  had grown as hard as iron, and I was become capable
  of great  exercise without fatigue ; my cure was not
  effected, but I was compelled to go into Germany.  On
  my return homewards I  was  seized with  a severe cold,
  which rapidly passed into high  fever.  Fortunately I
  was  within reach of Dr. Schmidt's magnificent hydro-
  pathic establishment at Boppart;  thither I caused my-
9 self to be conveyed;  and now I had  occasion to expe-
  rience the wonderful effect of the Water-Cure in acute
  cases ; slow in chronic  disease, its beneficial operation
  in acute  is immediate.   In twenty-four hours all fever
  had  subsided, and on the third day I resumed my jour-
  ney, relieved  from  every symptom  that had before 
bulwer's letter.
31
prognosticated a tedious and perhaps alarming illness.
And  now  came gradually, yet perceptibly, the good
effects of the system I had undergone ; flesh and weight
returned;  the  sense of  health became  conscious and
steady; I had  every reason to bless the hour when  I
first sought the springs of Malvern.  And here I must
observe that  it often happens  that  the patient makes
but slight apparent improvement, when under the cure,
compared  with that which occurs subsequently.   A
water-doctor of repute at Brussels, indeed, said frankly
to a grumbling patient, " I do  not expect you to be well
while here—it  is only on leaving me that you will know
if I have cured you."
   It is as the frame recovers from the agitation it un-
dergoes that it gathers round it power utterly unknown
to it before—as the plant watered  by the rains of one
season betrays in the next the effect of the grateful dews.
   I had always suffered so severely in winter, that the
 severity of our last one gave me  apprehensions, and I
 resolved to  seek  shelter from my fears at my beloved
 Malvern.   I here passed the most inclement period of
 the winter, not  only perfectly free  from  the  colds,
 rheums, and catarrhs which had hitherto visited me
 with the snows, but in the enjoyment of excellent health;
 and I am persuaded that for those who  are  delicate,
 and  who  suffer much  during the winter, there is no
 place where the cold is so little felt as at a Water-Cure
 establishment.  I am persuaded  also, and in this I am
 borne out  by the experience of most water-doctors, that
 the cure is  most rapid and effectual during the cold 
32
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
season—from autumn through the winter.   I am thor-
oughly convinced that consumption in its earlier stages
can be more easily cured, and  the predisposition more
permanently eradicated, by a winter spent at Malvern,
under the  care of Dr. Wilson, than  by the  timorous
flight to Pisa or  Madeira.  It is  by hardening rather
than  defending the tissues that we best secure them
from  disease.
   And now, to sum  up, and to dismiss my egotistical
revelations, I  desire  in no way to  overcolor  my own
case;  I do not say that when I  first went to the Water-
Cure I was affected with any disease immediately men-
acing to life—I say only that I was in that prolonged
and chronic state of ill health, which  made life at the
best  extremely precarious.   I do not  say that I had
any malady Avhich the faculty  could pronounce incura-
ble—I say only that the most eminent  men of the fac-
ulty had failed to cure me.   I  do not  even now affect
to boast of a perfect and complete deliverance from all
my ailments.   I cannot  declare  that a  constitution
naturally delicate has been rendered herculean,  or that
the wear and tear of  a whole manhood  have been thor-
oughly repaired.   WThat might have been the case had
I not taken the cure at intervals, had I remained.at it
steadily for six or eight months without interruption, I
eannot do  more  than conjecture; but  so strong is my
belief that  the result would have  been  completely suc-
cessful, that I  promise myself, whenever  I can spare
the leisure,  a long  renewal of  the system.  These ad-
missions made, what have I gained meanwhile to justify 
BULWER'S LETTER.
33
my eulogies and my gratitude 1—an immense accumu-
lation of the capital of health.   Formerly it was my
favorite and querulous question to those who saw much
of me, " Did you  ever know me twelve  hours without
pain or illness V7   Now, instead of these  being my con-
stant companions, they are but my occasional visitors.
I compare my old  state and  my present  to the poverty
of  a  man  who has a shilling in his  pocket, and whose
poverty is, therefore, a struggle for life,  with the occa-
sional distress of a man of .£5000 a  year, who sees but
an appendage  endangered or a luxury abridged.  All
the good that I have gained is wholly unlike what I ever
derived either  from medicine  or the German mineral
baths ; in the first  place, it does not relieve a single mal-
ady alone, it pervades the whole frame;  in  the second
place, far from subsiding, it  seems to increase by time,
so that I may reasonably  hope  that  the  latter part of
my life, instead of being more infirm than the former,
will become—so far as freedom from suffering, and the
calm enjoyment  of external life are concerned—my
real, my younger, youth.   And it is this profound con-
viction which has  induced me to volunteer these details,
in the hope (I  trust a  pure  and kindly one) to  induce
those, who more  or less have  suffered as I have done,
to fly to the same rich and bountiful resources.  We
ransack the  ends  of the earth for drugs and minerals—
 we extract our potions from  the deadliest poisons—but
 around us and about us, nature,  the  great  mother,
 proffers the  Hygeian  fount,  unsealed  and accessible to
 all.  Wherever  the stream  glides  pure, wherever the
               o ■•■* 
34
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
spring sparkles fresh, there, for the vast proportion of
the  maladies which art produces, nature  yields the
benignant healing.
   It  remains for me  to  say,  merely as an observer,
and solely with  such authority as an  observer alto-
gether disinterested, but without the least  pretence to
professional  science, may fairly claim,  what class of
diseases I have seen the least and most tractable to the
operations of the Water-Cure, and how far enthusiasts
appear to me to  have  over-estimated, how far skeptics
have under-valued, the effects  of  water  as  a medica-
ment.  There are  those  (most of the  water-doctors
especially) who  contend that all medicine by drugs is
unnecessary—that water, internally and outwardly ap-
plied, suffices in  skilful management for all  complaints
—that the  time  will  come when the drug-doctor will
cease to receive  a fee, when the apothecary will close
his shop, and the Water-Cure  be adopted in every hos-
pital  and by every family.   Dreams and absurdities  !
Even granting that the Water-Cure  were  capable of
all the wonders ascribed to it,  its process is so slow in
most chronic cases—it requires such complete abstrac-
tion from care and business—it takes the active  man
so thoroughly out of his course of  life, that a vast  pro-
portion of those  engaged  in worldly  pursuits cannot
hope to find the requisite leisure.  There is also a large
number of  complaints (perhaps the majority)  which
yield so easily to  a sparing use of  drugs, under a mod-
erately  competent  practitioner, that the  convenient
plan of sending to the next chemist for your pill or po- 
                 bulwer's  letter.               35

tion can never be superseded, nor is it perhaps desira-
ble that it should be.  Moreover, as far as I have seen,
there are complaints  curable  by medicine which  the
Water-Cure utterly fails to reach.
   The  disorders  wherein  hydropathy appears  to  be
least effectual are—first, neuralgic pains,  especially the
monster pain of the tic douloureux.  Not one  instance
of cure in the latter by hydropathy has come under my
observation, and I have  only  heard of one authentic
case of recovery from  it by that process.  Secondly,
paralysis of a grave  character  in  persons of an  ad-
vanced age.   Thirdly, in tubercular consumption.   As
may be expected, in this stage of that melancholy dis-
ease, the Water-Cure utterly fails to restore; but I have
known it even here  prolong life  beyond all reasonable
calculation, and astonishingly relieve the more  oppress-
ive symptoms.   In all  cases  where  the nervous  ex-
haustion is  great and of long  standing, and is accom-
panied  with  obstinate hypochondria,  hydropathy,  if
successful at  all, is very slow  in its benefits, and the
patience of the  sufferer is too often  worn out  before
the favorable turn takes place.   I have also noticed that
obstinate and deep-rooted  maladies in persons  other-
wise of very athletic frames, seem to yield much more
tardily to the Water-Cure  than similar  complaints in
more delicate constitutions ; so that you will often  see
of two persons  afflicted by the same  genera of com-
plaints, the feeble and fragile one recovers before  the
stout man with Atlantean shoulders evinces one symp-
tom of amelioration. 
36           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

  Those cases, on  the other  hand,  in  which the
Water-Cure seems an  absolute panacea, and in which
the patient may commence with  the  most sanguine
hopes, arc—first, rheumatism, however prolonged, how-
ever complicated.  In  this the cure is usually rapid—
nearly always  permanent.  Secondly, gout.   Here its
efficacy is little less startling to appearance than in the
former  case; it seems to  take  up the disease  by the
roots; it extracts the peculiar acid, which often ap-
pears in discolorations upon the sheets used in the ap-
plication,  or is ejected in  other  modes.   But here,
 judging always from  cases  subjected  to my personal
knowledge, I have  not seen instances  to justify the
assertion of some water-doctors that returns of the dis-
ease do not occur.   The predisposition—the tendency
has appeared to me to remain.   The patient is liable
to relapses—but I have invariably  found themyar less
frequent, less  lengthened, and  readily  susceptible of
simple and speedy cure, especially  if the habits remain
temperate.
   Thirdly, that wide  and grisly  family of  affliction
classed under  the common name  of dyspepsia.  All
derangements of the  digestive organs, imperfect powers
of nutrition—the malaise  of an injured stomach—ap-
pear  precisely  the  complaints  on which  the  system
takes firmest hold, and in which it effects those cures
that convert existence  from a burden into a blessing.
Hence  it follows that many nameless  and countless
complaints proceeding  from derangement of  the stom-
ach, cease  as that great machine is restored to order. 
                 BULWER'S LETTER.               37

I have seen disorders of the heart, which have  been
pronounced organic by the  learned authorities of the
profession, disappear in an incredibly short time—cases
of incipient  consumption, in which the seat is in the
nutritious powers, haemorrhages, and various congestions,
shortness of breath, habitual fainting fits, many of what
are called, improperly, nervous complaints, but which,
in  reality,  are indications  from the main  ganglionic
spring ;  the  disorders produced by  the abuse of power-
ful medicines, especially mercury and  iodine, the loss
of appetite,  the dulled sense, and the shaking hand of
intemperance, skin complaints, and the  dire scourge of
scrofula—all these seem to obtain from hydropathy
relief—nay,  absolute and unqualified cure, beyond not
only the means of the most skilful drug-doctor, but the
hopes of the most sanguine patient.*
   The cure may  be  divided into  two  branches—the
process for  acute  complaints and  that for chronic; I
have just referred to the last.  And great as are there
its benefits, they seem commonplace beside the effect
the  system  produces in acute complaints.   Fever, in-
cluding the  scarlet and the  typhus, influenza, measles,
small-pox, the sudden and  rapid disorders of children,
are  cured with a simplicity  and  precision  which must,
I am persuaded, sooner or later, render the  resources
of the  hydropathist the ordinary  treatment for such
  * Amongst other complaints, I may add dropsy, which in its sim-
ple state, and  not as the crowning system of a worn-out constitu-
tion, I have known  most successfully treated;  cases of slight pa-
ralysis ;  and I  have witnessed two instances of partial blindness,
in which the sight was restored. 
38            THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
 acute complaints in the hospitals.   The principal rem-
 edy here employed by the water-doctor is the wet-sheet
 packing, which excites  such  terror  among the unin-
 itiated, asid which, of all the curatives adopted by hy-
 dropathy,  is  unquestionably the safest—the  one that
 can be applied without  danger to the greatest  variety
 of  cases,  and which, I do not  hesitate  to aver,  can
 rarely, if  ever, be misapplied in any cases where  the
 pulse is hard and high and the skin dry and burning.
 I have found in conversation so much misapprehension
 of  this very  easy and very luxurious  remedy,  that I
 may be pardoned  for re-explaining what has been ex-
 plained so often.   It is not, as people persist in sup-
 posing, that  patients are put into wet sheets and there
 left to shiver.   The sheets, after being saturated, are
 well wrung out—the patient quickly wrapped in them
 —several  blankets  tightly  bandaged  round,  and  a
 feather-bed placed at top ;  thus, especially where there
 is the least fever,  the first momentary chill is promptly
 succeeded  by a gradual and vivifying warmth, perfectly
 free from the irritation of dry heat—a delicious sense
 of  ease is usually followed  by a sleep more agreeable
 than anodynes ever produced.   It seems a positive cru-
 elty to be relieved from this  magic girdle in  which pain
is lulled, and fever cooled, and watchfulness lapped in
slumber.   The  bath  which  succeeds  refreshes and
braces the skin, which the operation  relaxed and soft-
ened ; they only who have  tried  this, after fatigue  or
in fever, can  form the least notion of its  pleasurable
sensations, or  of  its extraordinary  efficacy;  nor  is 
BULWER'S  LETTER.
39
there any  thing  startling or novel in its theory.  In
hospitals now, water-dressings are found the best poul-
tice to an inflamed member;  this expansion of the wet
dressing is a poultice to the whole  inflamed  surface of
the body.   It does  not differ  greatly, except  in  its
cleanliness and  simplicity, from the old remedy of the
ancients—the wrapping  the  body in the  skins of ani-
mals newly slain, or placing it on dunghills, or immers-
ing it, as now in Germany, in  the  soft slough of mud
baths.*   Its theory is that of  warmth  and  moisture,
those friendliest  agents to inflammatory disorders.  In
fact, I think it  the duty of  every man, on  whom the
lives of others depend, to make himself acquainted with
at least this part of  the  Water-Cure.  The wet  sheet
is the true  life-preserver.   In the large majority of
sudden inflammatory complaints, the doctor at a dis-
tance, prompt  measures  indispensable, it will at least
arrest the disease, check the fever,  till,  if you  prefer
the drugs, the drugs  can come—the remedy is at hand,
wherever you can find a bed and a jug of water; and
whatever else you may apprehend after a short visit to
a hydropathic establishment, your fear of that bugbear
—the wet sheet—is  the first you banish.   The only
cases, I believe,  where it can be positively mischievous,
are  where  the  pulse  scarcely  beats—where the vital
  *A very eminent London physician, opposed generally to the
Water-Cure, told me that  he had effected a perfect cure in a case
of inveterate leprosy, by swathing the patient in wet lint  covered
with oil skin.  This is the wet-sheet packing, but  there  are pa-
tients who would take kindly to wet lint, and shudder at the idea
of a wet sheet! 
40            THE  WATER-TREATMENT.

sense is  extremely low—where  the inanition  of the
frame  forbids the  necessary  reaction in cholera, and
certain disorders of the chest  and bronchia; otherwise
at all  ages, from the  infant  to the octogenarian, it is
equally applicable,  and in most acute cases equally in-
nocent.
   Hydropathy being  thus rapidly  beneficial in  acute
disorders, it follows naturally that it will be quick as a
cure  in  chronic complaints  in  proportion  as  acute
symptoms  are  mixed with them, and  slowest  where
such  complaints are  dull and lethargic—it will be
slowest  also  where  the  nervous  exhaustion  is  the
greatest.  With children, its effects, really and  genu-
inely, can  scarcely be exaggerated; in  them, the ner-
vous system, not weakened by "toil, grief, anxiety, and
intemperance, lends itself to  the gracious element as a
young plant to the rains.  When I now see some tender
mother coddling, and  physicking, and preserving  from
every breath of air,  and  swaddling in  flannels, her
pallid little ones,  I long  to pounce upon the callow
brood, and bear them to the  hills of Malvern, and the
diamond fountain, of St. Anne's—with what rosy faces
and robust limbs I  will promise they shall return—alas !
I promise and preach in vain—the family apothecary
is against me, and  the progeny are  doomed to rhubarb
and the  rickets.
   The Water-Cure as yet has  had this evident  injus-
tice—the patients resorting to it have mostly been des-
perate cases.  So strong a notion prevails that  it is a
desperate remedy,  that  they  only who "have found all 
BULWER'S LETTER.
41
else  fail  have dragged themselves  to  the Bethesda
pools.   That all thus not only abandoned by hope and
the college, but weakened and  poisoned  by the violent
medicines absorbed into their system for a score or so
of years—that all should not recover is not surprising !
The Avonder is that  the number of  recoveries should
be  so  great;  that  every now  and then Ave should  be
surprised by the man  whose untimely grave  Ave pre-
dicted when Ave last saw him, meeting us in the streets
ruddy and stalwart, fresh from the springs of Graefen-
berg, Boppart, Petersham, or Malvern.
   The remedy is not desperate ;  it is simpler, I do not
say than any dose,  but  than any course of  medicine—
it is  infinitely more agreeable—it admits no remedies
for the complaint which are inimical to the constitu-
tion.   It bequeathes hone of the maladies consequent
on blue pill and  mercury—on purgatives and drastics
—on  iodine and aconite—on  leeches and  the lancet.
 If it cures 3rour complaint, it will assuredly strengthen
 your  whole frame  ; if  it fails to cure your complaint,
 it can scarcely fail to improve  your general system.
 As it  acts, or ought, scientifically treated,  to  act, first
 on the system, lastly on the complaint, placing nature
 herself in the way to throw off the disease, so it con-
 stantly happens  that the patients at a hydropathic es-
 tablishment will  tell you that the disorder for  which
 they came is not removed, but  that in all other respects
 their  health is  better  than they ever remember it to
 have  been.  Thus, I would not  only recommend it to
 those  who are sufferers from some  grave  disease,  but 
42           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

to those Avho  require merely the  fillip, the  alterative,
or the bracing which  they noAV often  seek  in  vain  in
country air  or  a Avatering-place.  For such,  three
Aveeks at  Malvern will do more than  three months  at
Brighton  or  Boulogne;  for at the  Water-Cure the
Avhole life is one remedy ; the hours, the habits, the dis-
cipline, not incompatible Avith gayety and cheerfulness
(the spirits of hydropathists are astounding, and in high
spirits all things are amusement), tend perforce to train
the body to the highest  state of  health  of  which it is
capable.   Compare this life, 0 merchant, 0 trader, 0
man of business, escaping to the sea-shore, with that
which  you there lead—with your shrimps and your
shellfish, and your wine and your brown stout—with
all which counteracts  in the evening the good of your
morning dip  and your noonday stroll.   What, I own,
I should envy most is  the robust, healthy man, only a
little  knocked  doAvn  by  his city cares or his  town
pleasures, after his second week at Dr. Wilson's estab-
lishment—yea, how I should envy the exquisite pleasure
Avhich he would derive from the robustness made clear
and sensible  to him—the pure taste, the iron muscles,
the exuberant spirits,  the  overflowing sense  of life!
If even to the weak and languid the Water-Cure gives
hours of physical happiness which the pleasures of  the
grosser senses can never  bestow, what  Avould it give
to the strong man, from whose eye it has but to lift the
light  film—in whose  mechanism, attuned  to joy, it
but brushes  away  the grain of dust, or  oils the solid
wheels! 
BULWER'S  LETTER.
43
   I  must bring my letter to a close.  I meant to ad-
dress it through you, Mr. Editor, chiefly to our breth-
ren—the  over-jaded  sons of toil and  letters—behind
whom I see the Avarning shades of departed martyrs.
But it is applicable  to  all  who ail—to all a#o would
not only cure a complaint, but strengthen a system and
prolong a life.   To such, avIio will so far attach value
to my authority that  they will acknoAvledge, at least,  I
am no interested witness—for I have no institution to
establish—no profession to  build up—I have no eye to
fees, my calling is  but that of an observer—as an ob-
server only do I speak, it may be Avith enthusiasm—but
' enthusiasm built on  experience and prompted by sym-
 pathy ;  to such, then, as may listen to me, I  give this
 recommendation :  pause if you please—inquire if  you
 Avill—but do not consult your doctor.   I have no doubt
 he is a most honest, excellent man—but you  cannot
 expect a doctor of drugs to say other than that doctors
 of water are but quacks.   Do not consult your doctor
 Avhether  you shall try  hydropathy, but find out some
 intelligent nersons in whose shrewdness you  can con-
 fide—Avho have been patients  themselves at  a  hydro-
 pathic establishment.   Better still, go for a few days—
 the cost is not much—into  some such institution your-
 self, look round, talk to the patients, examine with your
 OAvn eyes, hear Avith  your OAvn ears, before you adven-
 ture the experiment.   Become  a Avitness  before  you
 are  a patient; if the  evidence does not  satisfy you,
 turn and flee.  But if you venture,  venture  with  a
 good heart and a stout faith.   Hope, but not with pre- 
44
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
sumption.  Do not fancy that the disorder which has
afflicted  you  for  ten  years  ought to be cured  in ten
days.  Beware, above all, lest, alarmed  by some phe-
nomena  which the searching  element produces, you
have reifeurse immediately to drugs to disperse them.
The Avater-boils,  for instance, which are sometimes, as
I have before said, but by no means frequently, a criti-
cal symptom of the cure, are, in  all cases I have seen,
cured easily by water, but may become extremely dan-
gerous in the hands of your apothecary.   Most of the
few solitary instances  that have terminated fatally, to
the  prejudice of the  Water-Cure, have  been those in
which the patient has gone from water to drugs.  It is*
the  axiom of the system that water  only cures Avhat
Avater produces.   Do not leave a hydropathic establish-
ment in  the time of any u crisis," however much you
may be  panic-stricken.   Hold the  doctor responsible
for getting you out of what he gets you into; and if
your doctor be discreetly chosen,  take my word, he will
do it.
  Do not begin  to carry on the  system at home, and
under any eye but that of an experienced nydropathist.
After you know the system, and the doctor knows you,
the  curative  process  may probably be continued at
your  own  house  with ease—but the commencement
must be watched, and  if  a critical action ensues when
you are at home, return to the only care  that  can con-
duct it safely to a happy  issue.   When at  the institu-
tion, do not let the  example  of  other patients  tempt
you to overdo—to drink more water, or take more baths 
"  bulwer's letter.
45
than are prescribed to you.  Above all, never let  the
eulogies  Avhich many will pass upon the  douche (the
popular bath), tempt you to take it on the sly, unknoAvn
to your  adviser.   The douche is dangerous when  the
body is unprepared—when the heart is affected—when
apoplexy may be feared.
   For your choice of an establishment you  have a wide
range.   Institutions in  England are  now plentiful, and
planted in some  of the loveliest spots of our island.
But as I only speak from personal knowledge, I can but
here depose as to such as I have visited.   I hear, in-
deed, a  high character of  Dr.  Johnson, of Stansted-
Bury, and his books show great ability.  Much is said
in praise of Dr. Freeman, of Cheltenham, though  his
system, in some  measure, is at variance with the  re-
ceived notions of hydropathists.   But  of these and
many others, perhaps  no less  Avorthy of confidence, I
have no experience of my own.   I  have sojourned with
advantage at Dr.  Weiss's, at Petersham ; and for those
Avhose  business and  avocations oblige  them to be near
London, his very agreeable house proffers many advan-
tages, besides his OAvn long practice and great skill.
   To those who  wish  to try the  system  abroad, and
shrink from the  long  journey to  Graefenberg, Dr.
Schmidt, at Boppart, proffers a princely house, compris-
ing every English comfort, amidst the noble scenery
of the Rhine, and I can bear ready witness  to his skill;
but it is natural  that the place which has for me the
most grateful recollections, should be that where I re-
ceived  the earliest and the greatest  benefit, viz., Dr. 
40            THE WATER-TREATMENT.
 Wilson's, at Malvern; there even the distance from the
 capital has its advantages.*  The  cure imperatively
 demands, at least in a large proportion  of cases, ab-
 straction from all the habitual cares of life, and in some
 the very  neighborhood  of London  suffices  to produce
 restlessness and anxiety.   For  certain  complaints, es-
 pecially those of children, and such as are attended with
 debility, the air of Malvern is in itself Hygeian.   The
 Avater  is  immemorially celebrated for  its purity,  the
 landscape is a perpetual pleasure to the eye—the moun-
 tains  furnish the exercise most suited to the cure—
 " Man muss  Geberge haben," " One must have moun-
 tains," is the saying of Priessnitz.   All these are pow-
 erful  auxiliaries, and yet all these are  subordinate to
 the diligent, patient care—the  minute, umvearied  at-
 tention—the  anxious,  unaffected interest Avhich Dr.
 Wilson manifests in every patient, from the humblest
 to the highest, Avho may be submitted to  his care.   The
 vast majority of difficult cures which I  have witnessed
 have emanated from his skill.   A pupil of the celebrated
 Broussais,  his anatomical  knowledge is considerable,
and his tact  in diseases seems intuitive;  he has that
pure pleasure in his profession, that the profits of it seem
to be almost lost sight of, and having an independence

  *  Dr. Gully, whose writings on medicinal subjects are well
known, is also established at  Malvern,  and I believe rather as a
partner or associate than a rival to Dr. Wilson.  As I was not under
his treatment, I cannot speak further of his skill than that he seemed
to have the entire confidence of such of his patients as I became ac-
quainted with. 
BULWER'S  LETTER.               47
of his own, his enthusiasm for the system he pursues is
at least not based upon any mercenary speculation.   I
have seen  him devote the same time and care to those
whom his liberal heart has led him to treat gratuitously,
as to the wealthiest of his patients ; and I me»tion this
less to praise him for generosity, than to  show that he
has  that earnest faith in his OAvn system which begets
an earnest faith in those to whom  he administers.  In
all new  experiments, it is a great  thing to have confi-
dence, not only in the  skill, but the sincerity,  of your
adviser—his treatment is less violent and energetic than
that in fashion  on the Continent.  If he  errs, it is on
the side  of caution, and this  theory leads  him so much
towards  the  restoration of the Avhole system, that the
relief of the particular  malady will sometimes seem
tedious in  order to prove complete.   Hence he  inspires
in those who have had a prolonged experience of his
treatment  a great sense of safety and security.  For
your impatient self,  you might  sometimes prefer the
venture  of a brisker  process; for those in AYhom you
are interested, and for Avhom you are fearful, you would
•not  risk a step more  hurried.  And since there is no
small responsibility in recommending any practitioner
of a novel school, so it is a comfort  to know  that who-
soever resorts to Dr. Wilson, will  at least  be in hands
not only practised and  skilful, but wary and safe.  He
may fail in doing good, but I never met  Avith  a single
patient Avho  accused  him of doing  harm.    And I may
add, that as  in all establishments much of comfort must
depend on the lady at the head,  so, for female  patients 
48
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
 especially, it is  no small addition to  the agremens of
 Malvern,  to find in Mrs. Wilson the manners of a per-
 fect gentleAvoman, and the noiseless solicitude of a heart
 genuinely kind and good !
   Here, then, O  brothers, O  afflicted ones, I  bid  you
 fareAvell.  I wish  you one of the most blessed friend-
 ships man ever made—the familiar intimacy Avith water.
 Not Undine in her virgin existence more sportive and
 beAvitching, not Undine in her wedded state more tender
 and faithful, than  the element of Avhich she is the type.
 In health, may you find it the joyous playmate, in sick-
 ness the genial restorer and soft assuager.  Round the
 healing spring still literally dwell the jocund nymphs in
 whom the Greek  poetry personified Mirth and Ease.
 No drink, Avhether  compounded of the gums and rosin
 of the old  Falernian, or the alcohol and acid of modern
 Avine, gives the animal spirits Avhich rejoice  the water-
 drinker.   Let  him Avho has to go through severe bodily
 fatigue try first whatever—Avine, spirits,  porter, beer-
 he may  conceive  most  generous  and  supporting;  let
 him then go through the same toil with no draughts but
 from the crystal lymph, and if he does not acknowledge
 that there is  no  beverage which man concocts  so
 strengthening and  animating as that Avhich God pours
 forth to all the  children of nature, I throw up my brief.
 Finally,  as health  depends  upon  healthful habits,  let
 those who desire easily and luxuriously to  glide into the
courses most agreeable to the human frame, to enjoy
the morning breeze, to  grow epicures in  the simple regi-
men, to become cased in armor against the vicissitudes 
bulaver's  letter.
49
of our changeful skies—to feel and to shake off light
sleep as a blessed dew, let them, while the organs are
yet sound, and the nerves yet unshattered, devote  ah
autumn to the Water-Cure.
  And  you,  0 parents !  Avho, too  indolent, too much
slaves  to  custom, to endure  change for yourselves, to
renounce for a while  your artificial natures, but who
still covet for your children  hardy constitutions,  pure
tastes, and abstemious habits—who wish  to see them
groAV up Avith a manly  disdain to luxury—with a vigor-
ous indifference to climate—with a full sense  of the
value of health, not alone for  itself, but for the  powers
it elicits, and the  virtues Avith which it is intimately
connected—the serene, unfretful temper—the pleasures
in innocent delight—the well-being that, content  Avith
self, expands in benevolence  to others—you  I  adjure"
not to scorn  the facile process of  which I solicit the
experiment.  Dip your young heroes in the spring, and
hold them not back by the heel.   May my exhortations
find believing listeners, and may some,  now unknown to
me, write me Avord from the green  hills of  Malvern or
the groves of Petersham, " We have hearkened to you
—not in vain."
  Adieu, Mr. Editor!  The ghost returns to silence.
                               E. Bulwer Lytton.
3 
 
f
          DR.  FORBES  ON THE  AVATER-CURE.        51



                            II.

     THE  WATER-CURE,   OR  HYDROPATHY.
         FROM THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN MEDICAL REVIEW.
                BY JOHN FORBES, M.D., F.R.S..
   One of the Editors of the " Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine," Editor oftfue
            " British and Foreign Medical Review," etc, etc.
  1. Examen Clinique de  1'Hydrotherapie.  Par H. E. Schedel, Docteur en
Mfedecine.—Paris, 1845.
  2. The Dangers of the Water-Cure,  and its Efficacy examined.  By James
Wilson, M.D., and James M. Gully, M.D.—London, 1843.
  3. The Cold Water-Cure: its Use and Misuse examined.  By Herbert Mayo,
M.D., F.R.S., formerly Surgeon of Middlesex Hospital.—London, 1845.
  4. A Medical Visit to Graefenberg.  By Sir Charles Scudamore, M U., F.R.S.
—London, 1843.
  5. Hydropathy.  By Edward Johnson, M.D.—London, 1843.        t
  6. Graefenberg ; or, a True Report of the Water-Cure, with an Account of ita
Antiquity. By Robert Hay Graham, M.D.—London, 1845.
  7. Life at the Water-Cure, or a Month at Malvern.  By R. J. Lane.—London,
1846.
  8. Confessions of a Water Patient.  By Sir E. B. Lytton, Bart.—London, 1845.

   In consequence  of the modern Water-Cure  having
been originated by a non-medical and uneducated  man,
and having been subsequently, for the most part, adopted
and professed by lay practitioners, or  by medical  men
of somewhat equivocal reputation—and yet more, from
the  system being held out as a panacea or cure for all
diseases, with an exclusive  scorn of medicinal aid—the
medical profession, as a  body, have naturally enough,
and not inexcusably, treated it  with  much contempt,
not to say aversion, and have shown  a pretty general 
52
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
 determination not to admit it into the catalogue of the-
 rapeutic means.   Exercising a natural influence on the
 public, medical men have succeeded in communicating
 to a large portion of the intelligent classes the feelings
 entertained by themselves.   Thus  hydropathy has be-
 come a tabooed subject, being  either entirely excluded
 from medical journals and books, or only admitted into
 them for the purpose of being  ridiculed  or  utterly de-
 nounced.  Indeed, it is regarded almost as a violation
 of professional etiquette to mention this subject in the
 language of toleration, much more  to  speak of it with
 approbation.   Accordingly, we think it not  unlikely
 that some of our brethren, and those even of the most
 estimable, may regard our  present article as a departure
 from what is medically proper, and will pronounce us
 almpst worthy to have  the severe sentence of " water-
 doctor"  passed against  us.   We have,  however, been
 too long accustomed to speak our opinions  openly and
 boldly, when we believed them to be just, whether they
 were in  accordance  with the  current notions or not, to
 be deterred, on  the present occasion, by any appre-
 hended risk of offending mere professional conventional-
 ism.   Whatever we conscientiously believe  to be  true
 in medical science, especially if, at the same time, cal-
 culated to promote the  great end and aim of all  pro-
fessors of the healing art—the increase  of the means of
lessening the sufferings of mankind—that we shall freely
and fearlessly promulgate, careless  of  personal conse-
quences.
  Our purpose, in  this article,  being  carefully and 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       53

calmly to investigate the real merits of the system now
so widely established under the name of hydropathy, we
hold ourselves absolved from mixing up this investiga-
tion with any considerations 'whatever respecting the
merits or demerits, the objects or motives, of those Avho
practise it.   We regret to think that there is, and has
been from the beginning, not a little quackery and mys-
tification mixed up Avith really effective  practice,  in
hydropathic  establishments, and that not a few of the
conductors of the  Avater-establishments have been, and
are, very ill-qualified  to indicate, much  less to direct
and conduct, any therapeutic processes capable of mod-
ifying, in an important degree, the vital conditions and
functions of the human body.  If it shall appear, hoAV-
ever, as Ave believe it will, on further examination, that
the external application of cold Avater is capable of being
beneficially applied, in the cure of diseases, in modes
of  greater efficacy, and to a much greater  extent, than
has been hitherto  practised  by medical men, there re-
mains only one course for the members of the profession
to  pursue,  viz.,  to adopt the improvements—if such
they be, regardless of their origin, or their past or pres-
ent relations.  When the religious reformer proposed
to adapt profane airs to church psalmody, saying that
he saw no good reason Avhy the devil should have all the
good tunes to himself, he is  generally supposed to have
acted as Avisely  as he  thought shrewdly and  spoke
quaintly.   In like manner, we see no  good reason why
the doctors of the orthodox or legitimate school should
refuse to accept good things, even at  the  hands of the 
54
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
hydropathists.   They have done like things before now,
as the pharmacopoeia, in more pages than one, can tes-
tify ;  and we have not  heard that there has been any
great reason for regretting that they did so.   For our
OAvn parts, we avow ourselves of  such a catholic spirit,
and so loAvly-minded withal, as  to be ready to grasp any
proffered  good in the way of healing, whosoever may
be the offerers, and wheresoever they may have found it.
Not  merely hydropathy, but  even  mesmerism,  yea,
stark-naked and rampant quackery itself,  may, in this
sense, be  a Avelcome knocker at the gate of physic.  It
is not the demerits of the donor or the birthplace of the
gift, that, in such a case, Ave are bound to  look to—but
simply Avhether it is qualified to  aid us in our glorious
and divine mission of soothing  the  pains of our fellow-
men.   If it is so qualified, the  baseness  of its source
will be lost in the glory of its use ;  and, if aught of its
original impurity still attaches  to its application in our
hands, the fault will be in us, not in  it.   A saint may
sing the devil's  tunes without  contamination; a  hero
may Avield the weapon he has wrested from a robber or
a murderer; the medicament or the formula of the most
arrant quack may be hallowed in  the prescription of the
true physician.
  It is in this spirit we enter upon an investigation of
the claims of hydropathy, as  propounded and practised
by Priessnitz  and his disciples.   And  we  invite our
readers to follow us in a like temper, convinced that they
will be benefited  by an  examination  of  the subject,
Whether they  adopt our views or  not.  Some of our 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       55

views we are sure they must adopt—particularly this :
that cold  water,  applied in the manner of the hydro-
pathists,  is a powerful  modifier  of  the condition of
the  human body, both in health  and  disease, and,
when weighed in the therapeutic balance with  other
remedies, merits, at least, a fair trial in legitimate
practice.
   It will  be  an  after-consideration  in what  manner,
or under  what  circumstances, this  trial  can best be
made ; and, supposing the result of the trial to be satis-
factory, it Avill be a yet further consideration, and one
of great importance, how the  remedy shall  best be ap-
plied in the ordinary practice of  medicine.   We our-
selves  believe that distinct bathing establishments Avill
still  be found best for giving full effect to the hydro-
pathic system, although we believe, also, that many parts
of it may be  adopted in ordinary practice at the pa-
tients' own homes ; and the  Avhole  of it certainly be
conducted at  the Avater-establishments under the au-
thority and general direction of the ordinary medical
attendants.   If hydropathy is, as Ave believe, a  thera-
peutic  agent  of  great power and value,  it Avould be
worse than absurd  to exclude it from legitimate  medi-
cine  ; but, if it  is  to  be adopted  by the profession, it
can only be adopted in a strictly professional  manner.
If distinct establishments are found  to be requisite for
its complete and  successful exhibition, the members of
the medical profession  can,  of course, sanction and
patronize  those  only Avhich are conducted by legally
qualified and competent practitioners.  And they can- 
5Q
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
not  be expected  to  shoAV  any countenance,  even  to
those which,  although under  the  superintendence of
legally qualified persons, are conducted on empirical or
absurdly  exclusive principles.  A hydropathic  estab-
lishment  should be simply a  great bathing establish-
ment, or water hospital, and  should contain the means
for using  water in all its medicinal forms, hot as Avell
as  cold, in the  form of vapor as well as liquid, medi-
cated as  Avell as  pure.   In such  a hospital,  although
drugs would, doubtless, be but in  slight requisition, it
Avould be contrary to all  rational proceedings to  ex-
clude their use entirely.   The very fact of a case being
sent to such  a hospital presupposes the previous failure
of drugs, or,  at least, presflmes their unsuitableness in
that particular instance ; and  they would, for  the most
part, be dispensed with at the  commencement of the
treatment, at least;  but no unprejudiced or competent
observer can assert that drugs should be entirely ban-
ished from the treatment of any case at all times.   The
same scientific judgment and  the same practical  skill
that prescribed  the water-treatment as best calculated
to fulfil the indications present at any one  time, could
alone determine whether,  at  any other time,  medica-
ments might be proper, either as  auxiliaries or substi-
tutes.  Nothing but  the  blindest dogmatism or  the
Avildest  empiricism could  maintain that, because  the
Avater-treatment is found useful, all other means must
be useless ; or, reversely, that, because drugs are often
found beneficial, therefore all other kind of treatment,
hydropathy included,  must  be injurious.   The  absolute 
         DR. FORBES ON THE  WATER-CURE.       57

exclusionist,  be  he water-doctor  or  drug-doctor,  is  •
equally unreasonable and equally unjustifiable.
  In the composition of the following article, we have
derived our materials mainly from the published writings
of hydropathists, but, also, partly from personal obser-
vation of the practice  of  hydropathy itself, and from
the reports of patients who had been the subjects of it.
We have been careful  to select as our authorities the
best informed and most impartial of the writers on the
subject of the Water-Cure, and we have used our best
endeavors to  appropriate  what alone seemed trust-
worthy.  It is so extremely difficult for a writer, on any
one side  of  a question that  has become the  subject of
active controversy, to avoid partiality in relating events
and drawing inferences, that  we make no  apology  to
our authors for  having  on many occasions refused their
evidence and rejected their  conclusions.  Many things,
hoAvever, Ave have admitted  on the  authority  of the
Avriters  alone, when they did not seem to  be  contra-
dicted by other facts,  and Avere  in accordance with
the general  principles  of physiology and therapeutics.
We have so far admitted the  validity of the maxim—
cuilibet  in sua  arte credendum; and, so qualified, we
think the propriety of  the admission will not be gain-
said.  But we  have gone farther than this.  We have
accepted at the hands of our hydropathic authors more
than  one alleged fact  and explanation, even although
their validity seems to us questionable.  And avc have
done this because the statements are of a kind justly to
             3* 
58
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
  challenge attention, and  to  demand thorough investi-
  gation.
    On  the whole, then, we wish  the reader to be  pre-
  pared  to find  in  the  following  article, not simply an
  exposition of the doctrines of hydropathy,  as they ap-
  pear to us well established,  but such also  as they are
  laid doAvn by the best authorities of the Water-School;
  one of our  objects in writing it being, not merely to
  endeavor to ascertain  what  we  consider as truth, for
  the benefit of our readers, but Jikewise to  incite them
  to make inquiry and  examination  for themselves, in
 order  that agencies, of such obvious potency on  the
 human frame,  may no longer be permitted free scope
 if evil, or no longer be debarred from ordinary medical
 practice, if good.
   The internal and external  use  of water, in the treat-
 ment of disease, has been frequently discussed by phy-
 sicians  in  all   ages,  from  Hippocrates  downwards.
 Their opinions will be found  cited in detail  by the sys-
 tematic writers on the subject of  baths, and, among
 others,  by Sir John Floyer and Lanzani.  To them we
 refer such as are sufficiently curious to wish for an exact
 acquaintance with the subject, in its historical relations.
 * or our present  purpose, and to render the history of
 the medical use  of  water clear to the less minute stu-
 dent, we will group it under a few convenient heads.
   1. According  to Lanzani,*  the  true method of using

niM^tt ^ SGrVirSe deU' ACqUa Fredda nelle Febri ed * 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE AVATER-CURE.      59

cold water  consists almost* entirely in its internal ad-
ministration, in  very large doses, in certain  stages of
certain fevers.   His work is  most elaborate in every
sense ; learned,  methodical, and comprehensive.  It is
divided  into two books :  the first devoted to  an expla-
nation of the causes, symptoms,  complications, and na-
ture of fever; the second, showing that  copious imbi-
bition of cold water is the best means of combating the
symptoms,"on scientific grounds, and consequently the
best remedy for  fever.   This is obviously an  argument
somewhat theoretical, but it is supported  by  a chapter
of cases, and backed by the opinions of a host of learned
doctors, the author's predecessors.   The  actual value
of the work is considerably diminished by its scientific
character, because many of the doctrines held in its day
have now  become  obsolete, and  tend to encumber and
obscure, rather than strengthen and enlighten, the prac-
tical  facts by which they are accompanied.   But the
same remark applies to the early advocates of other
remedies.   Lanzani appears to have had no knowledge
of the external  use of  water,  nor of its  application  to
the treatment of chronic diseases.   He used it in com-
bination Avith drugs.
  Lanzani may %o  regarded as the representative of a
considerable number of writers and practitioners, both
in Italy and elsewhere,  among  whom  water  has been
employed (^ntcrnally) as the most effectual febrifuge.
  2.  About  the year 1700, Sir John Floyer and Dr.
Baynard  employed  Avater very freely as an external
application,  in  the  ordinary  manner  of  cold bathing, 
60
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
preceding it by a course of physic, and  accompanying
it generally by copious water-drinking.*   Their prac-
tice appears to have  been chiefly in chronic diseases,
such as rheumatism,  gout, paralysis, indigestion, gen-
eral debility, and  various  nervous affections,  in the
whole of which a  large  amount  of success  is  said to
have been attained.   The  baths, at which their  cases
were treated,  were   frequently  designated   by  some
saint's  name.   Probably  a  remnant  of superstitious
reverence for the saint not only assisted  to attract pa-
tients to the well, but infused into them a faith in the
remedy, which materially  promoted  their  recovery.
The practice pursued was simply cold plunging, guard-
ed by certain rules and cautions to prevent accidents.
  Sir John  Floyer supports his  views  by the  citation
of numberless  learned authorities, from the Bible to
Dr.  Mead.   He seems to have attached rather an ex-
cessive importance to grave  precedents,  causing his
portion of the conjoint work to savor more of the libra-
ry than the bedside.   At any rate, he mingles together
practical facts  and opinions of writers, in such intricate
relations, that it is not always  easy  to  discover  on
which he relies most  confidently for the maintenance
of his tenets.  Dr. Baynard, on the other hand,  deals
more in cases, of which  he presents an  abundant col-
lection.  His mode of reasoning is particularly pointed

  * Vvxpokovtiia ; or the History of Cold Bathing, both ancient and
modern.  By Sir John Floyer, of Lichfield, Knt., and  Dr. Edward
Baynard, Fellow of the College of Physicians, London.  2d edition.
London,1706. 
         DR. FORBES ON THE AVATER-CURE.       61

and  sagacious.   No one can leave  the  perusal of his
works without a strong conviction of his being an hon-
est,  shrewd, enterprising,  and  diligent  contributor to
medical literature.
  These Avriters mention the occasional practice of per-
sons bathing in their shirts, and Avcaring  them through-
out the remainder of the day without drying ;  they also
give an instance or tAvo of cases cured or relieved  by
the application of a wet towel.  The former practice is
alluded to as an instance  of rashness on  the part  of
patients, and the latter is  so rarely  mentioned, that in
neither  can they fairly be said to have anticipated
Priessnitz  in the  systematic employment of  the wet
sheet or Avet compress—although  both Avere  actually
employed by them.   They also speak in very favorable
terms of a course of cold preceded by a month's warm
bathing, but not in the modern  hydropathic method of
the cold  following immediately upon the  warm, or upon
sweating, which is a practice they carefully deprecate.
They seem to have had but a slight acquaintance Avith
the  use of cold bathing  in fever  or  acute diseases,
though instances of such practice are given.
  The folloAving passage  from Dr. Baynard,  though
not strictly a part of our present subject, is a curiosity,
and affords a  good sample of his peculiar  manner.
When the  period  of its publication  is considered, it
must be regarded, in some  of its parts, as a remarkable
case of  the forestalling of exact experiment by specu-
lative reasoning. Baynard adduces  the remarks it con-
tains in support of his hydropathic views ;  but we need 
62
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
 not  stay to examine them in that respect.   We tran-
 scribe portions of the passage :
   " 1 conceive life to  be an actual flame ;  as much
 flame as any culinary flame is, but fed with  its peculiar
 and proper pabulum, made out of the blood and spirits
 for. that  purpose;  and  my reasons  are  these,  viz.:
 1. Life is  as extinguishable as  any flame is, by exclud-
 ing the air, etc.  For hold your handkerchief close to
 the mouth and nose of  any animal that has lungs, and
 life is put out;  the  creature is dead in a moment; there
 is no  shin  broke,  nor bone  broke; no  wound, nor
 bruise; there is your whole man, but dead he is.  2d.
 No  flame  will burn without aerial  nitre,  or a quid
 aerium, whatever it be  ; some will have it a mixed gas
 of nitre and sulphur, but Avhatever it be, 'tis a causa
 sine qua non, something without  which  no flame will
 burn; and that the lungs serve to this use, and are air-
 strainers, is  very clear  to me,  by that experiment of
 the candle and two puppy dogs put into a great oven,
 and  stopped close up with a glass door to  see through;
 and  in a little  time, when they had  sucked in some,
 and  the candle wasted the rest  of the nitre, the dogs
 died, and the candle went out with them  at the same
 instant.
  " All ustion as the quid infiammabile wastes, leaves
 by incineration alkalious and caustical salts, either fixed
or volatile, which from their figure or  imbibed fire,
become of a pungent, corrosive nature, and fix upon the
membranes, being nervous and  most exquisite  of sense
 and  perception, which by irritation, cause a slight in- 
         DR. FORBES ON  THE AVATER-CURE.       63

flammation, Avhich inflammation is called thirst;  Avhich
salts are melted and washed off by drinking, the grosser
by stool with  the solid  excrements, but those of most
solid and subtle particles  creep with the chyle into the
blood, and  have no way out but by the urine.  Hence
water is the best menstruum to dissolve salts ; and that
which is most  simple and elementary is  the best Avater,
as least impregnated; such waters wash off and dissolve
their points and  angles, by which they prick, sheathe,
and envelope them in their own pores, and with  them-
selves run off  by ifrine ; but  if so forced by heat and
motion as to disturb  them in their passage, the current
of urine is  checked, and the salts leave their hold of
the water,  shoot  their  vortex, and from  the channels
get into the habit of  the body, which, if not dissolved,
melted, and thrown off by SAveat, they inflame and cause
fevers, etc.; nor will they cease their  action and in-
quietude until totally  dissolved, or forced back  into
their common  passages, and the salts precipitated and
run down by urine.   For I  look upon the pores and
sweat-vents as so many  back-doors and sally-ports, by
which  nature  drives  out the enemy crept  into her gar-
rison.   The truth is  demonstrated in all fevers,  where
the caustical salts are not Avashed off, but remain be-
hind on the glands and membranes, forsaken of their
dissolving menstruum, the water, etc., which that in-
genious chemist, Mr. George Moult, by chemical anal-
ysis, made  appear in six quarts of febrile urine, which
I sent him, and  he  found but  the thirtieth 'part of
those salts  usually found  in a sound man's urine,  so 
64
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
  that of necessity they must remain  behind and be left
  (like so many French dragoons) to quarter on the blood
  and spirits  at  discretion.   The history  of which  is
  printed in the ' Philosophical Transactions' for some
  years since.
    " Now that which we call an insensible perspiration
  is nothing else than the smoke made from the vital flame,
  and the pores are  the  spiramenta  through which  it
  passes, and  when these are  stopped,  this  smoke  is
  returned and the flame becomes reverberatory, which  is
  sometimes necessary to force  an obstruction, for the
  body has  its  registers and vent-holes  as Avell as other
  furnaces.  But to  proceed; these salts sometimes crys-
  tallize,  so that the  common menstrua  Avill not touch
  them, no  more than a file will steel or hardened  iron,
  and then it is a true diabetes  (and  here the physician
 is at his wit's end, and that no far journey); then hey!
 for lime water,  quince wine, and  other restringents,
 which, if it were possible, would rather make a coales-
 cence, and tie the  knot harder.  No ; the cure lies in
 solution by melting down the salts, which must be done
 by open, raw,  and unimpregnated menstrua, such as the
 Bristol  waters are, as most  simple,  having least  con-
 tents in them." (pp. 47 et seq.)
  3. At about the  beginning of the present century,
 Dr.  Currie's practice in  fever  is well known to have
 consisted principally of cold affusion, or  immersion, in
 the early stages of  the disease, and  in  certain  acute
affections of the nervous system.  His work is so well
known  that it is  unnecessary to enter into anv detail 
          DR. FORBES ON THE AVATER-CURE.       65

as to its contents.*   He seems to have known but little
of the application  of cold water to the treatment of
chronic  diseases,  as represented by Floyer and  Bay-
nard, or not to have  employed  the copious libations
described  by Lanzani.  He  cannot  be said  to  have
forestalled  Priessnitz in any other respect than in the
prompt and energetic use of cold water in the suppres-
sion of acute febrile and nervous affections.   He brings
a  large  amount of scientific  argument  and  practical
experience to bear out  his views.  He has  also placed
in a clear light  some points of practice  on  which im-
portant  errors  previously prevailed, such as the safety
of cold  applications when the body is heated beyond
the natural degree, and  the relative value  and safety
of cold or tepid  water, of immersion, affusion, and ablu-
tion.  On these points his  work is of great practical
value.   We may have occasion to revert to  some of
them hereafter.
   4. The  prevalent opinions of medical men in  this
country, on the  general  subject of the external use of
water, previously to the Priessnitzian era, may be con-
sidered  to be represented in the article Bathing, in the
" Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine," published within
the last twenty years.  The article in question places
bathing in a  very subordinate position* among means
available for the actual cure  of disease.   In  its cold

  * Medical Reports of the Effects of Water, cold and warm, as a
Remedy in Fever and other Diseases.  By James Currie, M.D.,
F.R.S., Fellow of  the  Royal  College of Physicians, Edinburgh.
2 vols.  2d edition, London, 1805. 
66
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
 form, it is recommended as a valuable tonic, used with
 many restrictions, in nervous debility and other analo-
 gous states ; and, in its Avarm form, its use is  almost
 limited to the allaying of irritation in certain disorders,
 the more  formidable  symptoms of  Avhich  are  to  be
 encountered by other remedies.   Other articles in the
 same  Avork have done  justice to Dr. Currie's  views.
 Beyond this, the medical profession have hitherto done
 little or  nothing Avith bathing as  an instrument of cure.
 We shall hereafter find reason for believing that a vast
 superfluity of caution has existed in the employment of
 this remedy, and that  some of  the supposed cautions
 have really increased, instead of diminishing, the  dan-
 ger, as well as destroyed  the efficiency of  its  appli-
 cation.
   The author of the article in the Cyclopaedia describes
 cold bathing as partially or absolutely contra-indicated
 in  the folloAving conditions :  partially, in  infancy and
 old age ; pregnancy; indurations, obstructions, or chro-
 nic inflammations of internal  parts; acute inflamma-
 tions of  the same ;  chronic inflammations  of mucous
 membrane ; absolutely, during menstruation ; in great
 plethora, or tendency to active haemorrhage, or conges-
 tions in  important  viscera; affections of  the heart;
 loaded state td* the bowels;  great  general debility—
 though then often advantageous after warm water  or
 vapor bath.
  5. The ancient Romans were accustomed to produce
perspiration  by surrounding  the person with heated
 aqueous vapor, and,  while  freely perspiring, to plunge 
         DR. FORBES ON  THE  WATER-CURE.       67

into cold water.   Interesting remains of baths for this
purpose, evidently of Roman architecture, and contain-
ing fine specimens of mosaic pavement, may be seen in
several parts of England; as, for example, on the mar-
gin of the Cranham  woods, in  the  village of Whit-
combe, about six miles from Cheltenham ; at Bignor in
Sussex, etc.  It is also Avell knoAvn to have been a fre-
quent practice of the Roman youth to plunge into  the
Tiber, when heated by exercise in the Campus Martius.
  The modern Russians, also, as is well known, excite
perspiration in a similar manner, and then roll  them-
selves in snoAV.   A  somewhat similar practice  has pre-
vailed among the North  American Indians.   The fol-
lowing  description  of their process was  given by the
celebrated Quaker, William Penn,  to Dr. Baynard :
  " I once saAV an  instance of  it, with  divers more in
company.  For being upon a discovery of the back part
of the country, I called upon an Indian of note, whose
name was Tenoughan, the captain-general of the clans
of those parts.   I found him ill of  fever, his head and
limbs much affected Avith  pain, and at  the  same time
his wife  preparing a bagnio for him.   The  bagnio re-
sembled a large oven, into which he crept, by a door on
the one  side, while she put several  red-hot stones in at
a small  door on the other side thereof, and then fasten-
ed the doors as closely from the air as  she could.   Noav,
while he was sweating in this bagnio,  his Avife  (for they
disdain  no service)  Avas, Avith an axe, cutting  her hus-
band a passage into the river (being the  winter of '83,
the great frost, and the ice very  thick), in order to the 
68
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
  immersing himself, after he should come out of his bath.
  In less than half an hour he ay as in so great a sweat,
  that, Avhen he came out, he  ay as as Avet  as  if  he had
  come out of the river, and  the reek or steam of his body
  so thick that  it was  hard  to discern  any body's face
  that  stood  near him.   In this  condition, stark-naked,
  he ran  into the river, Avhich Avas about  twenty paces,
  and ducked himself  twice or thrice therein, and so re-
  turned (passing only through his bagnio to mitigate the
  immediate stroke of the cold) to his own house, perhaps
  twenty  paces  farther,  and  Avrapping himself in his
  woollen mantle, lay down  at length near a long (but
 gentle)  fire, in  the middle of his  wigwam, or house,
 turning himself several times, till he was  dry, and then
 he rose, and fell to getting us our dinner, seeming to be
 as easy, and well in health, as at any other time."—
 Baynard, pp. 103, 4.
   The extraordinary revivifying effect  of  the  cold
 plunge bath, after the system has been excited by arti-
 ficial heat, is testified  by various evidences of  the most
 unquestionable kind.  Numerous travellers have spoken
 of  this very enthusiastically; among others, Stephens,
 the American (in his " Incidents of Travel"), who took
 a Russian  bath, after a most fatiguing journey, and
 came out of it, he says,  quite a new man.  We have
 had similar information from more  than one private
 source.  This  practice, however, similar as  it  is to
 that of Priessnitz, has never, until his time, been ex-
tensively, rf at all, employed  in Europe as a means of
curing disease. 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       69

   6.  In the foregoing synopsis are contained the prin-
cipal forms in which cold bathing and Avater drinking
have been used in.the treatment of disease, before these
means were so vigorously adopted by Priessnitz.   It will
be obvious  that  from  none of the Avriters  mentioned
could  he have  learned his bold  and  comprehensive
practice.   In his method are combined those of Lan-
zani,  Floyer,  and Currie, accompanied by  novel and
powerful processes,  to which those writers Avere entire
strangers.   The  douche, the Avet sheet, the sweating
blanket, the cold plunging bath after SAveating, the wet
compress, the sitting bath (sitz-bath) must  be allowed
to be, in a great  measure, peculiar to the Graefenberg
peasant and his disciples.   From the same source have
proceeded  some important  precepts on the  subject of
diet and regimen.  Priessnitz, moreover, is distinguish-
ed from all the authorities quoted, by his entire aban-
donment of drugs.
   Vincent Priessnitz Avas originally a small farmer, re-
siding at Graefenberg, near the town of Freiwaldau, in
Silesia.  He is about  fifty years of age.   The  follow-
ing is a description of him  by Sir Charles Scudamore:
   " Of Priessnitz himself I shall say a few Avords, and
describe my impressions  on first  seeing  him.   His
countenance  is full  of self-possession; rather agreea-
ble;  mild,  but  firm in  expression;  with  an  eye of
sense, and a pleasing  smile.  The small-pox, and  the
loss of some front teeth  from an accident,  impair  his
good  looks.   His manners  are  sufficiently Avell-bred...
On closer acquaintance, you discover he is quick in per- 
70
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
 ception; is reflective; prompt,  hoAvever, in decision ;
 simple  and clear.   He inspires his patients Avith the
 most entire confidence, and he  exacts implicit obedi-
 ence."---# Medical  Visit to  Graefenberg, pp. 2, 3.
    Other travellers give a similar description of Priess-
 nitz.   They all agree in stating  that he is a most arbi-
 trary and tyrannical despot, issuing laws as irrevocable
 as those of the Medes and Persians, commanding  obe-
 dience with a haughtiness that might Avell excite admi-
 ration and envy even in  an autocrat,  and exciting as
 much fear in his patients  as is found in the subjects of
 the Grand Turk himself.  He is  also represented as re-
 markably cool and collected in emergencies, ever ready
 with his remedy on occasions of  danger, and possessed
 of an imperturbable self-reliance.   These traits suffice
 to prove that he  is  a man of original  and powerful
 mind, exactly adapted to  carry out a novel and start-
 ling practice.   While his  firm and decided manner is
 calculated to secure the confidence of his patients, his
 coolness and self-reliance  enable  him easily to bear the
 responsibility by which such confidence is attended.
   His practice  originated in a  succession of  trifling
 accidents, by which he was led to employ bathing in a
 neighboring spring, for the relief  of  disease.   It is not
 necessary to give them in detail.   Success in these first
 attempts procured  him a local  renown, and he became
the village doctor.  From villagers his fame soon spread
to  patients of a higher rank, and Graefenberg gradually
became the resort of the hipped  and the halt from all
the surrounding  district.  By these his praises were 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE AVATER-CURE.       71

sung louder and louder, until all the world  began to
furnish  him patients by the  hundred.  He now pos-
sesses an enormous establishment, capable  of contain-
ing several hundreds of patients, which is  almost con-
stantly  crowded with  ladies  and gentlemen  of every
degree,  and from every nation ;  while'his disciples  and
folloAvers, as  is well known,  have  spread  themselves
throughout the world,  and maintain, in every country,
numerous and flourishing establishments formed on the
original model of Graefenberg.
  His  treatment,  although  apparently constructed of
such simple elements, is capable of being varied almost
ad infinitum,  according to the peculiarities of the case
or the  fancy of  the  prescriber, and  of being  rendered
so powerful, as often to  excite in  the patients  and
spectators  apprehensions of danger, and sometimes, no
doubt, to produce it in  reality.   It is scarcely too much
to say that he has modified the application of water,
and  some very few other  means, in  a manner so inge-
nious as to render them no imperfect nominal substitute,
at least, for most  of the drugs in the pharmacopoeia.
He has  his stimulant, his sedative, his tonic, his reduc-
ing agent, his  purgative, his astringent, his diuretic, his
styptic, his febrifuge, his diaphoretic,Tiis alterative, his
counter-irritant.   Combined  with these are peculiar
regulations  as to  diet, dress, and regimen.  The fol-
loAving is his general mode of proceeding:
   In his first  interview with the patient, after hearing
sufficient to give him a  rude insight into the locahty and
general features of the malady, Priessnitz  proceeds to 
72
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
 investigate its suitableness to his method of euro.   He
 does this by sprinkling the surface of the body with cold
 water, or witnessing the taking of a cold bath, and  then
 watching the development of reaction.  If this appears
 in a certain amount of activity, he pronounces the  case
 appropriate to his treatment;  if not, he advises the
 abandonment of all hydropathic intentions.   This is a
 mode  of ascertaining the power of the constitution quite
 original,  and it cannot be said to be unscientific.   The
 power of resisting the external application of cold is a
 most essential conservative property of the animal  sys-
 tem, and the degree to which it exists must be regarded
 as, in some respects, a criterion of the amount of vis
 medicatrix possessed  by the patient.   We see no very
 decisive  reason  for pronouncing it  a more fallacious
 guide  than the orthodox custom of feeling the pulse.
 The only objection to  it that occurs to us is, that it may
 not be always free from hazard.
   This point being satisfactorily determined, the  pa-
 tient is straightway admitted into the mysteries of  the
 cure.   In the first place, he finds himself restricted to
 a peculiar  diet.    Every  stimulant is absolutely pro-
 hibited, from brandy and  claret to mustard and pep-
 per ;  so, also, afe most  of the luxuries imported from
foreign ports, such as tea,  coffee, and every kind of
spice.   The meals consist of three—breakfast at eight,
dinner at one, and supper at  seven or eight o'clock.
For breakfast, cold milk is the  beverage, and bread  and
butter its only substantial  companions.   At  dinner,
there is no other restriction  than those above  named. 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       73

Supper is a repetition of breakfast, with the occasional
addition of preserved fruit or potatoes.  Throughout
the day, no warm  beverages  Avhatever  are permitted,
and much of the food is brought to table considerably
cooled.  As some compensation  for these manifold  de-
privations, the patient is allowed to gratify his appetite
with  every reasonable variety, and a free abundance,
of substantial and nutritious food.   He  finds it a max-
im that generous  diet will promote  his recovery,  the
treatment being responsible for preventing surfeit.  He
no longer finds an embargo laid on fruit and vegetables,
and is not expected to dine seven days in the Aveek off
dry bread  and mutton chops.  So that, on the whole,
there is perhaps about an equal  amount of indulgence
and restriction, as respects diet, to a patient coming to
the Graefenberg rules from those of some fashionable
physician in London.
   In  the next place, the  majority of  patients  are  di-
rected to enter upon  a  course of water-drinking, the
quantity of water varying from five or six to  thirty or
forty  tumblers in the twenty-four hours.   A large por-
tion of this  is taken before breakfast, the rest at suita-
ble periods after meals, so as  not to interfere with, di-
gestion, Avith frequently a glass or two the last thing at
night.   Exercise is generally advised at  the  time of
water-drinking,  except Avhen this  accompanies  some
other  process of treatment incompatible  with it.
   A  third  rule insisted on, is, that every  patient shall
take  a large amount of exercise during the day.   This
is, to  some degree,  indispensable  after the cold baths,
             4 
71
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
  as a means of procuring the necessary reaction.  Walk-
  ing in the open air is the mode generally selected, Avhen
  possible.   In case of bad weather, or  lameness, other
  plans  are contrived, such as  gymnastics, saAving or
  chopping Avood, etc.   As a general  rule, every patient
  is required to take a long Avalk before breakfast.   It is
  a vexata  qucestio, Ave believe, among hydropathists, as
  among doctors, Avhether  the patients  should  rest  or
  Avalk immediately after a meal;  but the water-doctors
  generally incline to advise very gentle exercise at such
  times ; and,  Ave believe,  properly.   The well-knoAvn
  experiments on greyhounds, and  such other convincing
  facts, are counterbalanced, to say the least, by the hab-
  its of the Avorking-man, who  proceeds   to his labor as
 soon as he has SAvalloAved his  dinner, and rarely suffers
 from so doing.
   After these preliminaries,  and the case being pro-
 nounced suitable for the  treatment, the next morning
 A\ltnesses the patient's initiation  into more active pro-
 ceedings.   At an  early  hour of the morning, varying
 according  to the  time  required  for the operation about
 to be undergone, a bath attendant enters with the for-
 midable machinery for the administration of a rubbing
 with  a  wet  sheet, a packing in the  dry blanket, or a
 packing in the wet sheet.   The first of these processes
 consists of throwing a wet sheet over the whole person,
 and  applying upon it active friction of a few minutes'
duration.  A glow is thus excited.   The patient  then
dresses, takes his water, and sets forth upon his morn-
ing's walk.   The second of the above three operations 
         DR. FORBES ON THE WATER-CURE.       75

requires the patient to be enveloped in several blankets,
with perhaps  the superincumbence of a large feather
pillow, until free perspiration is  excited, which gene-
rally requires  a period of about  three hours.   When
the perspiration has  continued  the  prescribed time
(from fifteen minutes to an hour  or more), the patient
is subjected to some kind of cold bath, either  by the
Avet sheet, as just described, by pouring Avater over the
person from the pails or watering-pots, or by taking a
plunge bath.  This being followed by friction and Ava-
ter-drinking, the morning's proceedings are concluded
by exercise.  Packing in the wet sheet is similar to the
foregoing, Avith the addition, next the skin, of a sheet
wrung out of cold water.  It  is generally of short du-
ration, as forty-five minutes or an hour, the object be-
ing to excite a glow, instead of perspiration.  It is fol-
lowed by cold  bathing, as just described.   During the
packing, in  both instances, some  glasses of cold water
are imbibed through a tube.
  At other parts of  the  day, other  portions of the
treatment  are  applied,  such  as the sitz-bath, the
douche, the shower-bath, head-bath, foot-bath, etc.
  The sitz-bath is a tub of cold water, in Avhich the
patient sits  for a period varying from  a feAV minutes to
an hour, or even longer, using constant friction  to the
abdominal  region.   The other baths mentioned  in this
paragraph need no description.   These, as Avell as the
former processes, arc sometimes repeated during the
day.  In certain cases the  day's  proceedings  com-
mence Avith some of  them, in  place of those previously 
76
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
mentioned.   A rubbing with the Avet sheet is frequent-
ly employed before getting into bed at night.
   In fever, from Avhatever source, the patient is envel-
oped in  a succession  of wet  sheets, reneAved as often
as  they  become  warm, for a period varying Avith the
intensity of the case—say from  thirty minutes to five
or six hours.   In other similar  cases, cold  immersion
or affusion is employed with the  same view, viz., to re-
duce the morbid heat of the system.
   The  umschlag, or compress, is  an essential  and
seldom-omitted  part of the  treatment.  It  is a cloth,
well  wetted with  cold water, applied  to the  surface
nearest  to the supposed  seat of the disease, securely
covered  with a  dry cloth, and changed as often as it
becomes dry during the day.   It is sometimes covered
with a layer of  oiled silk, which, by impeding evapo-
ration, prevents the inconvenience of frequent change.
This compress speedily becomes  warm, and remains so
until dry.   It is  termed a heating or stimulating band-
age.  In cases of superficial inflammation it is more fre-
quently changed, so as to keep  cold, whereby its effect
is just the reverse,  being then a local antiphlogistic.
  In some establishments the sweating has been effect-
ed  by other means than the simple envelopments of
Priessnitz, as  by the vapor-bath, or a  chamber  highly
heated by a stove.   We have heard of a temperature
of. 180°, and even  that of 198°  Fahrenheit, being em-
ployed for this purpose.   The blankets used by Priess-
nitz are very bad conductors of caloric ; therefore they
cause the heat given off by the body to be  accumulated 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE AVATF.R-CURE.       77

around its surface, by the lengthened influence of which
the sudorific  action is effected.   This process differs in
no other manner than in degree  and  rapidity of effect
from  exposing the same surface to  heat of any other
origin.   The animal heat, when once  evolved, becomes
a quality of the surrounding atmosphere.   Being kept
in contact Avith  the  body by blankets, it constitutes an
artificial elevation of temperature, and  nothing more.
Therefore, in  cases where active sweating is required,
we can suppose no disadvantage to result from using
other kinds of artificial heat, and can easily imagine
advantages in a higher  temperature  than that attain-
able from animal heat alone.  But we would limit this
remark to dry heat.   Aqueous vapor, by a well-known
laAv, impedes evaporation, and would therefore restrict
the full completion of the sudorific process.   For  this
reason it is used to  prevent plants from parting Avith
their  moisture in hot-houses.  For the same reason it
should not be used when the intention is to promote the
removal of moisture, or to promote perspiration.
   A point  uniformly insisted-on by  Priessnitz is, that
his patients should abstain from wearing flannel next
the skin.  When we consider how generally the use of
this article of clothing has been advised by physicians,
and adopted by invalids, especially in this country, Ave
can easily conceive that strong prejudices Avill exist in
the minds of patients  against relinquishing it.  Yet it
appears  to be  almost  universally discarded by hydro-
pathists, and, as far as we have  learnt, without any
mischievous consequences. 
78            THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
   Another  maxim of  Priessnitz is,  that  his patients
 are  never to take any  kind of drug.   It should be re-
 marked, that, not being  licensed to practise medicine,
 it would  be illegal  for him to administer  drugs.  So
 that it does not follow, from his disuse of them, that
 he himself would be  opposed to their use in all cases,
 much less that their  use is  in any Avay  inconsistent
 with his practice.   His medical disciples, not  being
 similarly restricted, so  far as  we can learn, usually
 employ drugs occasionally, though sparingly.
   Hoav are we  now to  proceed, in order to arrive at a
 just appreciation of the  value of the means thus briefly
 enumerated 1   The  more usual course would be  to en-
 ter  upon an examination of  the practical results, as
 published by hydropathic writers.  But, in the present
 inquiry, this plan would scarcely answer; for the means
 employed  are  so strange, so much  at Arariance with
 those by which  disease is commonly treated, and not a
 few of the reporters are so little  entitled to claim credit
 for even a capacity to report medical  results truly, that
 the greater part of our readers Avould disbelieve the al-
 leged facts rather than admit the principles they  would
 carry with them.  It will be more proper,  therefore, to
 omit matters of evidence for the  present, and to  see if
 we can find  in hydropathic practice any conformity Avith
 the principles on which we should estimate the merits
 of any other neAV remedy.
   If a new vegetable were  imported, or a previously
unknown  chemical substance  discovered, and we were
 called upon to use it as a medicine, we should first in- 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       79

quire whether it possessed any of those qualities which
are regarded  as constituting  medicinal  virtues.   We
might assume that we are  sufficiently acquainted Avith
the characters of most diseases,  to pronounce Avhat de-
scription of influence would have a counteracting effect
upon them.  It would then remain to inquire, Avhether
the qualities  possessed by  the article in question were
of a kind to lead us to expect any description of such
influence  from their  operation.   If  they were  not, ayc
should be indisposed  to  try the remedy until Avell as-
sured, from  abundant and  unquestionable  practical
evidence,  of its curative powers.   If  they  were, Ave
should be inclined to  give it a trial,  even if the proofs
of its remedial properties  were  not unexceptionable.
For instance,  if the article under consideration merely
possessed a nauseous taste,  a  specific color, or a power-
ful odor, it would offer little inducement for an experi-
ment of its medical powers, because  those qualities are
not  known to possess  any intrinsic  influence over any
diseased  condition.   But if it were a purgative or a
sedative,  no one could  hesitate  to  recognize it as a
priori entitled to a trial by physicians ;  because  expe-
rience has  taught us that,  by the means of purging or
tranquillizing, certain diseases or  morbid symptoms may
be cured  or relieved.   And  since it is  the  case Avith
many of our present remedies, that  with the property
Ave  Avish  to employ  is  combined another Ave  would
gladly avoid (purgatives  being  debilitating, sedatives
narcotic, etc.), and with  their amount of usefulness is
thus  associated a certain tendency to mischief—if the 
80
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
new remedy  presented to us appeared to possess the
essential quality, and to Avant  the mischievous power
of that otherwise used for the same purpose, we should
be  still  more  desirous  of availing  ourselves of it in
practice.
   If we apply these  remarks to hydropathy, as prac-
tised by Priessnitz, the first inquiry ought to be, does
it furnish the physician Avith instruments which he, as
a skilful workman, can undertake  to employ ?  Does it
contain, among  its various machinery, any really the-
rapeutic means, any powers capable of carrying out the
indications Avhich Ave  regard as  palpable  in many dis-
eases 1   Can it evacuate, can it brace, can it tranquil-
lize 1  We cannot entertain the idea that the professors
of hydropathy have hit upon any grand secret concern-
ing the  origin or nature  of diseases, or the philosophy
of  their removal.  Such  a  supposition, were it  a ne-
cessary article of faith in the hydropathic creed, would
render us the most obstinate of skeptics.   But, if the
practitioners of this  neAV school profess merely to have
introduced more efficient, or less  dangerous, means of
fulfilling the purposes which all physicians have in view
in treating disease, we are willing to give them a patient
and impartial hearing.  Or, if  they profess nothing of
the  kind, and reject  such an  idea Avith  contempt—if,
nevertheless, their  system appear  to us of the  nature
we  are indicating, we can still entertain it Avith the
hope of discovering something of good in it.
  Let  us now inquire, then, on physiological and pa-
thological grounds, supported by some personal experi- 
         DR. FORBES ON  THE  WATER-CURE.        81

ence, what appear to be the effects, or among the ef-
fects of a course of water  treatment according to the
Priessnitzian system.
  1. In  the first  place, we remark the careful with-
draAval of all stimulants from  internal  parts.   In this
hydropathy is  at once distinguished  from  ordinary
practice.   The refinement of civilized life,  and the
complicated affairs of society, prevent the human frame
from being treated entirely as a machine.  The  body
is compelled  to undergo a usage not always suitable to
its Avelfare, in consequence of its having to minis< er to
the mind.  The exhaustion of the latter, from exertion
and  excitement, is restored by  artificial stimuli applied
to the former.   These  are generally directed  to parts
ill adapted for  their reception.   Thus, the stomach,
constructed to digest simple food, and to admit fluid at
the impulse of thirst, becomes  the vehicle of conveying
to the nervous system alcohol  in its various forms, and
other similar fluids.   These are unnatural to the stom-
ach  itself,  though  grateful to  the nerves.    Conse-
quently, the mucous lining of the alimentary canal may
suffer in the  attainment of an  object required only by
the neiwous system.   This is, possibly, the very origin
of a portion of those manifold  chronic ailments knoAvn
under the terms of dyspepsia, hypochondriasis, bilious
affections,  etc.,  and  is  unquestionably  an  aggravating
cause in many.  To the treatment of  these affections
the physician brings  his purgatives, his carminatives,
his anodynes, his stomachics.   But it is to the surface
of the same unfortunate membrane that thev are all
           4* 
82
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
applied ;  and it frequently results, that when they re-
lieve temporary suffering, they often leave the  general
health worse than  they found it.   From this predica-
ment hydropathy professes  to  be entirely exempt, by
abstaining  from artificial  interference  with internal
mucous membranes.
   2.  In the next place, the  hydropathists adopt a sys-
tem of diet such as other practitioners seldom venture
to prescribe.   If a person, suffering from constipation,
or any of its long train of attendant  ills, applies to an
ordinary physician, he is  probably told  scrupulously to
avoid fruit, pastry, and all vegetables, except, perhaps,
a favorite one, or, it may  be  two.   He is also cautioned
against  the use of veal, pork, beef,  and new  bread.
We have known such a patient ordered to live for
months—we might say,  years—constantly on mutton,
and bread never less  than five days old.  This  case is
neither singular nor infrequent.   What is the conse-
quence of this ?  The patient is compelled to take ape-
rient pills and draughts every day, or every other day;
to stimulate the digestive organs (rendered  torpid by
the  use of so  monotonous  a  regimen)  by occasional
glasses of sherry or  porter  ; and,  to  compensate the
deficient nutrition obtained from so barren a source, by
indulgence in strong tea  and coffee.   Such  a patient
goes to a hydropathic establishment, and is straight-
Avay ushered into a salle-a-manger, in which he finds
all  the variety of food customary at a  foreign table-
dVidfe dinner, and is told to obey the dictates of his ap-
petite.   He does so timidly  at  first, and  apprehensive 
         DR. KORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       83

of direful consequences ; but he finds, to his astonish-
ment, that he can take the forbidden luxuries of broc-
coli, turnips, veal, game, puddings, and fruit with as
much impunity as the  never-varied  mutton and dry
bread, to which he was previously restricted.   This is
an  occurrence  so frequently experienced, and  so uni-
versally attested by hydropathists and their patients,
that Ave cannot  refuse to  admit it as a point attained by
their system—therein being  comprehended the Avater
and all its accessories and concomitants.
  3.  A third important principle of hydropathic treat-
ment is, that almost all its measures are applied to the
surface.   It is one of the most  formidable difficulties
with Avhich the ordinary  physician has to contend, that
nearly all his remedies  reach the point to Avhich they
are  directed through  one channel.   If the brain re-
quires to  be placed under  the  influence of a sedative
or a stimulant, if the  muscular  system demands invig-
orating by tonics, if the functions of organic life need
correction by alteratives, the physician has -no means of
attaining  his object except  by inundating the stomach
and bowels Avith foreign, and frequently to them per-
nicious, substances.  In being thus made the  medical
doorway to all  parts of  the system,  and so compelled
to admit every description  of therapeutical applicant,
the  organ of digestion  is contorted to a  purpose  for
which, it  was  never intended.    The consequence  is,
that it has  to be consulted before Ave enter upon the
treatment of any case, and it often forbids our  availing
ourselves of remedies,  or plans of  action, which  are 
84
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
plainly, perhaps urgently, indicated by the condition of
other organs, or of the system at large.   Thus, to take
the three cases above mentioned : hoAV often do we find
that one stomach will neither bear  ether nor opium;
another is injured by steel; and  others  are  intolerant
of mercury.   The two latter  remedies  are  peculiarly
illustrative of these remarks.  Iron is employed to raise
the tone of the general system, but it occasions consti-
pation by its  action on the alimentary canal;  there-
fore, in order to counteract this portion of its effect, it
can  only be used in  conjunction with aloes, or some
other purgative, the tendency of which, as respects the
system at large, may be exactly the  reverse of that of
the steel.   With mercury the case is just the opposite.
We wish to introduce it into the  system, but it is pur-
gative as well as alterative and antiphlogistic, and the
former quality often renders very difficult our attaining
the benefit of the two latter.  The  physician, then, is
frequently placed  in  the dilemma, either to  injure the
stomach in  an attempt to  relieve  other parts, or to
leave the  latter to their fate, because they can only be
rescued at the peril  of the former.   His only mode of
escape from this predicament is, to employ a legion of
adjuvantia, dirigentia,  and corrigentia, in the  multi-
plicity and confusion of Avhich it is  by no means easy
to make out so clear a balance of power as shall enable
him clearly  to foresee  which kind  of action,  in the
mHee, will get the uppermost;  and  unless he be well
skilled in chemistry, he may unconsciously prescribe a 
         DR. FORBES  ON THE AVATER-CURE.       85

dose so scrupulously guarded  as to be neutralized  and
altogether impotent.
  Of course we do not conclude  that hydropathy has
discovered a remedy for this difficulty; but  its own
plan of proceeding is not similarly embarrassed, because
it deals with outward instead of inward parts. Whether
it can produce an efficient substitute for steel, mercury,
opium, and other remedies, to which we are alluding, is
altogether another question,  and one which its profes-
sors must bestir  themselves  to solve,  by the careful
record and honest publication of  their successful  and
unsuccessful cases.
  4. Fourthly, hydropathy employs a system  of most
energetic, general, and local counter-irritation.  It has
been held by some medical philosophers, that tAvo kinds
of morbid action cannot co-exist in the same individual.
According to this  theory, if we can set up an artificial,
but  harmless,  disease  by treatment, its development
will be attended by the departure of any other disorder
that previously existed.  Thus is  supposed  to be  ex-
plained the operation of mercury in curing various  dis-
eases, the disorder arising from  its  own action  being
easily disposed of  afterwards.  We attach no value to
this dogma as a dogma, but it serves to embody a large
number of Avell-known  facts, and  may be as properly
appropriated by hydropathists as by other practitioners.
By the diligent employment of hydropathic machinery,
due regard being had to the constitutional vigor, a con-
dition  is often excited, termed by  hydropathists  the
crisis.   This sometimes consists in the appearance of 
86
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
various cutaneous eruptions ; sometimes it is character-
ized by a series of boils, more or less  severe;  in other
cases its leading feature is disturbance of the  function
of  some  internal organ, creating diarrhoea, abnormal
urinary  discharges,  vomiting,  etc.   In general  this
effect is trifling, and seldom proceeds to such  a degree
as  to excite alarm, or to give cause for special interfe-
rence ; so that the measures which have led to its ap-
pearance are in most cases continued, and in some even
increased, until it has run through its course and sub-
sided.   This is not always the case;  sometimes it pro-
ceeds  to a more serious length, and requires careful
management  to prevent mischief;  the boils, in partic-
ular, are frequently very troublesome ; even death has,
in  a certain  proportion of instances,  ensued, either as
an immediate or remote  consequence of the so-called
crisis.
   Whatever  the crisis may be—or Avhether what is so
called be a crisis in reality—there is no  disputing that
it results from the operation of a  powerful system of
counter-irritation—or of irritation at least.   It is to
this that we now wish to direct attention,  because  we
suspect  that  in it is contained the  true  explanation
of the good effect of  the Water-Cure  in many chronic
cases.
  5. A fifth  physiological  feature  of the Water-Cure
is the number of coolings to which the body is subjected
during the day.  The generation of caloric in  the ani-
mal system has been traced to its real source.  It re-
sults from the burning up of  Avaste matter, which, by 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       87

accumulation, would become injurious.   The  oxygen
of the atmosphere, admitted into the lungs  by inspira-
tion,  traverses the various blood-vessels of the body,
and, in the minute capillaries, unites  Avith carbonized
substances.   The union  produces the  carbonic  acid
emitted from  the lungs in expiration, and is attended
Avith  the development of what is called animal heat.
It is obvious that lowering the temperature of the body,
Avithin certain limits, by  awakening an  uncomfortable
sensation in the nerves, Avould induce increased activity
in this calorific process, in order to maintain or restore
the average degree of warmth.  This increased activity
could only be supported by an additional consumption
of carbonized matter.   If the carbonized  matter Avere
already there, and if its existence constituted the dis-
ease, or an important  part of it, as  is probably some-
times the case, a  perfect cure would result from its
removal.  But supposing  there is no such matter pres-
ent, what then would be the consequence of stimulating
this decarbonizing operation 1  The consequence would
certainly be, that the constituents of the tissues them-
selves would be consumed, in order to supply the pabu-
lum required by the oxygen.  This Avould as certainly
excite an effort at restoration, by which the digestive
organs would aim  to reneAV to the tissues  the amount
abstracted by the oxygen.  In other words, the appe-
tite Avould be increased.
   Hence it  is that more  food is required  in* cold  cli-
mates than in Avarm—in winter than in summer.  The
greater consumption necessary to maintain equal tern- 
88
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
perature in cold Aveather, can only be met by increased
supply.  What, in a vague and general manner, arises
from the ordinary progress of the seasons, may be ren-
dered  methodical and profitable, by the careful inter-
ference of art.
   It has been urged  that  the  effect here considered
Avould equally result from exposure to cold air as to
cold water.   In  the  words of  Mr.  Herbert  Mayo,
" This is not  only entertaining, but satisfactory as far
as it  goes ; and admits very well of being popularly
and loosely brought forward in favor of  cold  bathing;
but unluckily it is  as much or more in favor  of  our
living in  Nova Zembla  as  of our resorting to Graef-
enberg."
   The same intelligent writer proceeds to notice other
modes of exposure to cold, which are found to produce
evil instead of good, which  are,  indeed, familiar as the
frequent  causes of serious disease, and  against  which
we are of old cautioned :
       " Nudus ara, sere nudus,—habebis frigora, febrim."

It is singular enough that this very argument, now em-
ployed to discountenance the use of cold bathing, is the
very strongest theoretical argument in its favor,  as Avas
long ago pointed out by that very sarcastic Avriter, Dr.
Baynard, in the following anecdote :
   " Here  a demi-brained  doctor, of  more note than
nous, asfoed, in the amazed agony of his  half-under-
standing, how 'twas possible that an external applica-
tion should  affect the boAvels and cure the pain Avithin. 
         UK. FORBES OX THE WATER-CURE.       89

' Why, doctor,'  quoth an old  woman standing by,  ' by
the same reason that being wet-shod, or catching  cold
from Avithout, should  give you  the gripes and  pain
within.' "   (P. 119.)
   If a rude exposure of the surface to cold and wet is
capable of producing internal  disease, there is no doubt
that a close relation exists between those agents and
the morbid  condition of internal parts.  Therefore, if
they could, by skilful management, be so applied as to
excite the opposite  effect from that  to which their bad
consequences are due, they would then become equally
powerful means of removing disease.  This is the very
thing that Priessnitz and his  disciples profess to have
done—and to do.
   Let  us consider  a little further the  consequence of
repeated applications of cold, supposing, for  the  sake
of argument, it is used  Avith due  reference to the con-
stitutional powers, so as to create an increased activity
of the  vital functions.   It appears to us  that this is
exactly the  thing needed in  the treatment of a great
many cases  of chronic  ailments.  It is easy enough to
construct methodical catalogues of organic  lesions  and
their symptoms, and to  assign, on paper, a  "local habi-
tation and a name" for  every  malady that  is to require
our  treatment.   But  the truth  is, that, practically
speaking, there are  a vast number of cases  in which the
symptoms may be  said  to constitute the  only disease
that can be  detected, and in AA'hich they point rather to
a general torpidity or derangement of all, or almost all,
the vital functions, than to special  change or  disturb- 
90            THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
 ance  in  any particular organ.   Many cases known as
 indigestion, gout, rheumatism, liver complaints, or ner-
 vous affections come under this description.  In a large
 portion of such cases, and their like, Ave could conceive
 the practice of Priessnitz to be peculiarly beneficial, if
 it consisted  in  nothing more than the frequent  appli-
 cation, and  skilful  adaptation, of cold water.  It was
 mainly  by this means  that  the cures  described by
 Floyer and Baynard were effected, simple cold bathing
 having been almost their only instrument.
    6.  Another  physiological  feature of  hydropathic
 treatment consists in its creating a large amount of
 stimulation  in  the system.   This  stimulation is of a
 peculiar kind, and ve* different from that produced by
 alcoholic fluids or pharmaceutical stimulants.  The dif-
 ference is in its not awakening  abnormal activity, to be
 succeeded by abnormal depression, in the nerves and
 organs of circulation, as  is done by the stimulants just
 mentioned.   The  fall of a heavy douche, the sudden
 plunging into a cold  bath with  speedy exit, active fric-
 tion in a shallow  bath, are  means of stimulating the
 system in the  manner  here  intended.  The effect, we
 are told,  is manifested in the altered look of the patient
 after taking the  bath, in his freshened cheek, his bright-
 ened eye, his elastic step, his  cheerful tone.  But it is
 not manifested in a quickened pulse, or a heated ima-
 gination,  nor  followed  by exhausted energy or loAvered
 spirits.   This is the description given by hydropathists
(whose practice we are not teaching but describing)—
and which we have ourselves  heard given  by patients. 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       91

It is also said  that drinking, in rapid succession, seve-
ral  glasses  of perfectly cold  water has  a decidedly
stimulating influence on the system.  If these descrip-
tions be correct  of hydropathic  stimulants, that they
are powerful as well as innocuous, exciting and not ex-
hausting, they constitute a valuable instrument in the
treatment of  disease, and  deserve the  more careful
attention of physicians.
  We happen to  have  been  acquainted with a case of a
lady avIio was at a hydropathic  institution for the treat-
ment of very aggravated  chronic rheumatism.   Her
general poAvers were much  shaken, and she had been
unable to Avalk at all for a period of about  four  years,
before  undergoing this system of treatment.   After
several  weeks  of  sweating and cold plunging, locomo-
tion began gradually to return.  The first indication of
this was, that she could walk  a few steps immediately
after leaving the cold bath.   For a considerable time
this continued to be the only occasion of her being able
to Avalk during the  day, though she aftenvards made
considerably further progress.   We mention  this case
because Ave  can guarantee its  truth, and it always ap-
peared  to us a striking and instructive instance of the
stimulating property of a cold bath.
   7.  A still  more important and  less  questionable
quality  of the Water-Cure  is its power of lowering the
system  to  any extent, Avithout any of  the debilitating
means  otherwise used for  that purpose.  In a gene-
ral  inflammatory or febrile condition  of the body,  a
lengthened  immersion in cold water, or  envelopment in 
92            THE WATER-TREATMENT.

a succession of Avet sheets, would reduce  the  tempera-
ture and force of  circulation to the most extreme de-
gree.  These means are, to the functions of life, Avhat
an  extinguisher is to a flame.   Their  reducing  power
can be gradually applied up to the point  of actual ex-
tinction.  Any where short of that, withdraw the means,
and the flame, whether of oil  or  of life, gradually re-
sumes its previous brilliancy.
   In the treatment of febrile  diseases  an important
indication is to reduce the morbidly increased activity
of  some of the organic functions, most  distinctly mani-
fested in the circulation and the temperature.   For this
purpose the great  instrument  heretofore  most in use is
blood-letting, as being our only certain and expeditious
method of reducing the  frequency, force, or fulness of
the pulse.  So  that, in order to suppress  febrile action,
Ave hazarded occasioning a more or less lingering debil-
ity.  The post hoc, whether propter hoc or not, is too
frequently a  protracted  convalescence,  during  Avhich
the patient is  in  constant danger of relapse.   The
mortality that occurs during convalescence after fever,
from recurrence of the  original disease,  from some of
its  numerous sequelae, or from the accidental inroad of
some other disorder, is so considerable as to render this
a period of great anxiety to the patient  and the phy-
sician.   It is a question  deserving of cautious and dis-
passionate investigation,  Avhether  any portion  of the
liability  to these mishaps is attributable  to the  bleed-
ing, purging, salivating, and low diet  employed in re-
moving the fever. 
         DR. FORBES ON THE WATER-CURE.      93

  In some of the cases of fever  described  by Currie
we  cannot fail to be struck by the rapidity and com-
pleteness of the cures effected by cold affusion or im-
mersion, when used sufficiently early.   The disease ap-
pears to have been suddenly checked or destroyed.  In
the course of a few hours, or a day or two, a patient
threatened with, or laboring under, a dangerous fever,
was restored to perfect health.   No period of debility
ensued, no organs were found to have been seriously
or permanently injured.   The result of his well-known
treatment, by cold bathing, of the fever which appeared
in the  30th regiment is  thus described:
   " These means were successful in arresting the  epi-
demic  ; after the 13th of June no person was attacked
by it.   It extended to fifty-eight persons in  all, of Avhich
thirty-two Avent through the regular course of the fever,
and in twenty-six  the  disease seemed to be cut short
by the cold affusion.   Of the thirty-tAvo already  men-
tioned, tAvo died.   Both of these were men whose con-
stitutions  Avere weakened by the  climate  of the West
Indies ; both of them had been bled in the  early stages
of the fever ; and  one of them  being in the tAvelfth,
the other in the fourteenth day of the disease, when I
first visited them, neither of them was subjected to the
cold affusion."   (Vol. i. p. 13.)
    Again :
    " In cases in which  the affusion was not employed
 till the third day of the  fever, I have  seen several in-
 stances of the same complete solution of the  disease.
 I have even seen this take place when the remedy had 
94
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
been deferred till the fourth day;  but this is not com-
mon."   (Ibid. p. 23.)
   In contemplating these facts, we are driven seriously
to ask, not only is not the debility consecutive to fever
partly occasioned by the remedies employed in its treat-
ment,  but are not its  attendant local and  organic le-
sions in  a great  measure produced by the febrile par-
oxysm itself?   And  could  they  not be  avoided  by
boldly applying a remedy by which this  febrile  condi-
tion would be more  speedily subdued 1  The real na-
ture of fever is, unfortunately, beyond the reach of our
present  knowledge.  We only recognize  the disease in
its causes, its symptoms, its  complications.   In them
we perceive much to lead us to answer the above ques-
tions in  the affirmative.  It is peculiarly a general dis-
ease.  Its local characters usually appear subsequently
to its  general development, and wear much more  the
aspect of consequences than  of causes.  Almost any
of  the local complications of synochus, or typhus, may
appear in exanthematous fevers where they cannot be
causes.
   It appears  to us to  be a most important subject of
inquiry,  whether a very serious fallacy  does  not per-
vade the medical profession at present  as to the best
manner of applying cold water in fever.   Dr.  Currie
says :
   " When the  affusion of Avater,  cold or tepid, is not
employed in  fever, benefit  may be derived, as has al-
ready  been mentioned,  though in an inferior degree, by
sponging or Avetting  the body  with cold or Avarm vine- 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.       95

gar or water.   This application is, however, to be reg-
ulated, like the others, by the actual state  of, the pa-
tient's heat and of his sensations.   According to my
experience, it is not only less effectual,  but in many
cases less safe ; for the system will often bear a sud-
den, a general, and a stimulating application of cold,
when it shrinks from  its slow and successive applica-
tion."  (Vol. i. p. 73.)
   " It is  evident  De  Haen  was  not regulated, in his
use of external ablution with cold  water, by rules simi-
lar to  those Avhich I have  ventured to lay down  from
several years'  experience.   Instead  of pouring Avater
over the naked body,  he  applied sponges  soaked in
cold water to every  part of the surface in  succession
for some  time together, in my  judgment the  least
efficacious, as well as the most hazardous manner of
using the remedy.''''   (Ibid. p. 84, note.)
   This is  a remark  Avhich  we  suspect  to be  of very
great  importance, and to contain the real  secret of
much of the difference, as to the treatment of fever,
between hydropathists  and the regular faculty.   Mod-
ern physicians have  professed to regard Dr. Currie as
a very high authority  on this point, and  his AYork is
constantly  quoted  as  the most enlightened  guide for
the use of water in fever; but the above  opinion  and
precept have been, of late years,  entirely disregarded,
and the converse has  been made  the rule of practice.
In the article on Bathing, in the Cyclopaedia, formerly
referred to, the  author says :
   " The only cases in  Avhich  refrigeration is required 
96
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
as a remedy are those in which the animal temperature
is elevated  above the natural standard ;  and this hap-
pens only in febrile diseases.   To insure refrigeration,
the water should be  applied at first only a little below
the  temperature of  the skin, its heat being insensibly
and gradually reduced, but never below that of tepid,
or, at most, cool.   The gentlest  mode of applying it
is the  best, as with  a soft  sponge;  and the process
should be persevered in, without interruption, until the
desired effect is produced."   (Art.  Bathing,  Cyclo-
paedia of Practical Medicine.)
   We believe this mode of applying water in the treat-
ment of febrile diseases to be that which has for many
years generally prevailed, not from  ignorance of the
precepts and practice of Dr. Currie, but from a gene-
ral belief  that fever once formed could not be extin-
guished by the cold affusion as recommended by him.
The hydropathists have renewed his system in its full
boldness.   It  is, therefore, a question  of the first in-
terest,  on which side does reason preponderate 1
   On carefully examining  the cases of  fever reported
at length  by  Currie  and Lanzani,  it  will be seen
that their  cures were effected by what may be termed
a process of reaction.  The immediate consequences, in
most cases, of the copious  libation  " ultra satietatem"
of the one,  and the effusion or immersion of the  other,
were  perspiration  and  sleep.   These  constituted the
reaction.   When exacerbation of the fever ensued, and
required a repetition of the remedy, it occurred  several
hours after the cold application, when the period of re- 
         DR. FORBES ON  THE  WATER-CURE.        97

action had long passed over, and  evidently proceeded,
not from  the consequences of  the cold treatment, but
from the non-removal of the diseased action. The cold
appears  to  have acted in a most  decidedly medical
manner, with a palpable and immediate succession of
consequences altogether different  from what the grad-
ual coolness of  the sponge and tepid water can be ex-
pected to produce.   If these  cases are correctly stated,
as they appear  to be, it is preposterous  to confound the
febrile paroxysm with reaction from a cold bath, or to
expect any portion of  the beneficial effect of cold im-
mersion  in fever, from tepid or cool sponging.  The
two kinds of treatment are in no measure similar.
   But it may be supposed there is a danger in the sud-
den and active  employment of the cold bath in fever.
 We suspect that this is entirely imaginary.  Dr. Cur-
rie was  certainly very bold  in its administration, and
had extensive experience  of  its effects.  In the second.
edition of his work he says :
   " I have  thus related all  the instances which have
occurred to me since the  last edition of this volume (a
period of five years  of extensive and attentive observa-
tion), in which the affusion of  water on the surface of
the body, cold or tepid, proved either less beneficial in
its effects in fever  than I had formerly represented it,
or entirely  unsuccessful.  I  would  add, if any  such
had occurred, the instances in which this remedy had
 appeared to be injurious.   But  experience has  sug-
gested to me no instance  of  the kind, and extensive as
 my employment of  the affusion has been, / have never
               5 
98
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
heard  that it has suggested, even to the  fears or pre-
judices of others, a single occasion  of imputing in-
jury to the remedy."  (Vol. ii. p. 25.)
   This statement, Avhich does not  appear to have been
assailed, goes far towards proving  the innocence, as his
numerous cases do the curative powers, of reaction in
the  treatment of  fever.  We certainly cannot quarrel
with hydropathists  for seeking to revive, in  its real
character, a method supported by so high  an authority.
   8. It  is scarcely necessary to remark that a judi-
cious system of cold bathing is  a valuable tonic.   This
has  been always known; but it has not been so widely
recognized in practice as  in  doctrine.  It has  been
thought necessary that cases for cold bathing should be
carefully selected :  that they  should consist  only  of
such patients as  have unimpaired constitutions ; that
certain  diseases  were   absolute  contra-indications
against the use of this remedy; that it is a treatment
requiring unquestionable vigor in the patient,  and skill
in the physician, to employ it without injury.   It is
scarcely too  much to  say  it has  been regarded as a
treatment rather for the  strong than the  weak, and as
tending rather to reduce  than  augment the powers of
the  system, and yet it is  called a tonic.   This is  an
illogical  paradox  not  quite solitary in  medical litera-
ture.  The cold bath  seems to be  professionally em-
ployed to  strengthen   the  body,  as  temptation  is  to
strengthen virtue, by furnishing an  enemy to struggle
against. ■  Thus  it is considered more as a test than as
a source of strength, 
DR. FORBES ON THE WATER-CURE.      99
  The  hydropathists  have  discarded this excessive
precaution,  and boldly used their  remedy  as a  tonic,
wherever a tonic is required.  They have administered
it to the young and the old, the weak, the  bilious, the
gouty, the scrofulous, the dyspeptic, and the paralytic.
Neither mucous membranes nor mesenteric glands, in-
fantile weakness nor senile decrepitude, have  stood in
their way.   To almost all cases, all ages, and  all con-
stitutions, their method has been  applied.  Unless  it
can  be shown  that  this all but  universal  administra-
tion of the  system  has produced  serious evils, we are
actually driven to admit  that it is  in the same propor-
tion  safe.   And  we are  bound to admit, though  we
have  known  some  instances where the practice has
been seriously injurious, and have  heard of others of a
similar kind, that the  proportion of bad consequences
has  not appeared to  us  greater than in  the  ordinary
modes of treating similar diseases.   The  practice of
the  hydropathists is  so  open, and their  disciples  so
numerous, that the innocence of their proceedings may
be said to be established by the absence of evidence to
the  contrary.   We cannot enter  any circle of  society
without encountering  some follower of this  method,
ready to narrate  a series of psuchrolousian miracles,
prepared to defend, and  zealous to applaud the  Priess-
nitzian practice ;  but few or none come forwards with
 satisfactory evidence of any thing like general mischief
 having resulted  from its general  practice.  Judgment
 must, therefore, be entered by default  against  its  op-
 ponents, and  hydropathy is entitled  to the verdict of 
100
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
   harmlessness, since cause has never been shown to the
   contrary.
     But not only have hydropathists despised the. discrim-
   ination usually employed in the selection of cases for
   cold bathing, they have manifested  an equal apparent
   boldness in  the manner of  using it.  In place of the
   spongings and the dribblings to which ordinary practi-
   tioners commonly deem it prudent to  limit the use of
   this remedy, they employ active plunging and powerful
  douches.  Perhaps it is to this  that they owe some por-
  tion of  the  impunity with which they appear to have
  applied it so generally.  They assert  that  the  more
  violent practice is really the more safe, and that the
  danger to be apprehended is in proportion to the sup-
  posed mildness of the process, sponging being less safe
  than total immersion,  and a  shower  bath more danger-
  ous than a douche.  And assuredly theory, in this re-
  spect, goes with them to some  extent.   In the plunge
  there is a sudden shock, which awakens nervous energy
  and leads to speedy and effectual reaction; whereas,in
 sponging, the whole surface is exposed to a gradual and
 powerful cooling, without the protection of stimulus.
 In the former, the whole frame is at once covered with
 water, and shielded from the reducing evaporation which
 would attend  the latter.  Moreover, the plunge can be
 more speedily gone through, and followed up more im-
 mediately by exercise.  The  same distinction  may be
made between the hydropathic douche and the orthodox
shower Bath.   The force of the latter  falls almost ex
dusively on the head and shoulders, as it mjft^ 
         DR.  FORBES  ON THE WATER-CURE.      101

down the rest of the frame.   How different is this from
the powerful impulse of the douche upon all the muscu-
lar parts !
   9. Another  conspicuous item  in  the catalogue  of
hydropathic machinery is  the sweating process.  On
this subject hydropathist^are, in some measure, divided.
It is said that Priessnitz has  considerably modified his
vieAvs respecting its  efficacy  and  its safety.   In'the
earlier period of his practice he seems to have employed
it in nearly all cases.   More recently he is said to have
discarded it, as  a general remedy, in favor of packing
in the wet sheet, though still largely applying it in cases
to which his  matured experience has  taught him to
regard it  as  especially  beneficial.  We wish here to
direct attention  to it merely in a physiological and pa-
thological point  of view, and need not, therefore, enter
into  the  question  as to the relative value of the past
and present practice of Priessnitz.
   The skin is a part through which nature has arranged
that a large amount of matter should be removed from
the body during health,  and  a still larger amount, of
different  character,  in the process of  recovery from
many diseases.  It is well known that a deficient cuta-
neous excretion is incompatible with perfect health.
Perhaps  there  is  scarcely any  disease in which the
function  of the  skin is not, to some  extent, deranged.
To Avhat extent, physicians have not bestowed sufficient
pains to learn ;  nor  have they been accustomed to give
much attention to  this part, in the practical investiga-
tion  of diseases.   Still less has it acquired an important 
102
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
 position in the list of parts to which medical treatment
 is directed.   Therefore, we possess little information,
 in medical writers, as  to  the amount or frequency of
 cutaneous disturbance in general  disease, as to the
 effect of therapeutic .means in correcting such disturb-
 ance, or as to the value of the correction in the cure
 of disease.
   According to  Priessnitzian  writers,  in almost  all
 cases of indigestion, gout, rheumatism, nervous affec-
 tions, indeed, of chronic disorders in general, the action
 of the skin is either deficient or depraved, the part itself
 being found  dry,  hard, rough, thick, pale, relaxed, or
 in some other manner unnatural.  They further tell us
 that  a  course of perspiration, or of  the wet sheet, fol-
 loAved by cold bathing, corrects these signs of disorder,
 and reduces  the part to its normal condition ;  and that
 the beneficial influence of  the remedy is  speedily mani-
 fested in the improvement of the case in other respects.
 But it might  be expected  that such a course would, at
 least, reduce  the general  strength,  and  require more
 vigor of constitution  than  many such patients possess.
 And  yet, if Ave may believe the hydropathists, or even
 their patients, a course of active hydropathic sweating
 is found to strengthen, instead of weakening, the system.
 There is a gain, instead of a  loss, of weight under its
operation.   Whether this  be  attributable to the subse-
quent cold bathing, to the water drinking,  or to the pecu-
liar regimen,  may be a matter  of question ; but the fact
Avould seem to be too notorious to be contradicted.  We
are told that it is no  unfrequent occurrence at hydro- 
DR. FORBES ON THE  AVATER-CURE.     103
pathic establishments for the liquid perspiration to  be
streaming on the floor, having penetrated  through the
material on which the patient is  reclining,  as  Avell
as the blanket in Avhich he  is wrapped!   The blanket
also,  Avhen removed  from  the  person,  is  dripping
with  liquid  in   all directions, as if itself just re-
moved from  the  bath!  On these occasions  several
pounds of matter  must  be removed  from  the body.
The patient, dripping and steaming, next hastens into
the plunge bath,  stays there his appointed  time, under-
goes the prescribed friction, drinks his water, and finds
himself actually  invigorated by the strange process he
has undergone!
   Nay, more ; it  is placed beyond doubt, by experience,
that this proceeding may be  repeated  daily, or even
twice a day, for many months, Avithout  producing any
deleterious effect upon the general health!   Many cases
have occurred in Avhich it has  been ascertained that it
has been attended Avith an increase of Aveight, and that
of no slight amount.   We knoAV the particulars of one
case, in Avhich a  gouty gentleman gained seven pounds
in a  fortnight of such treatment; and of another, in
which there was  a gain of  eight pounds  in  ten  days.
We arc also acquainted with  the case of a lady who
was unable to walk at any other period of the day,  ex-
cept  immediately after the sweating process, a sure
proof that it did  not occasion debility.
   The safety of  the immediate succession of  cold  ba-
thing upon copious sweating has been called in question;
but the practice  of so many hydropathists as there are 
104
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
 around us amply establishes this  point.   On  scientific
 grounds the question Avas completely set at rest by Dr.
 Currie.
   An effective and  innocuous means of increasing the
 excretion from the skin being thus found, Avhich ap-
 pears to combine with its own peculiar action the indi-
 rect effect of a tonic, have we not reason to regard it as
 a promising instrument of cure,  in  many disordered
 states of the system 1   We fully believe that  we have.
 We know the utility of  augmenting the secretion of the
 mucous  membranes, the liver, the kidneys: we recog-
 nize this in our constant practice.   It is by this means
 that we combat a large proportion of chronic as well as
 acute maladies.  Why should the skin alone be  neg-
 lected ?   Physiology teaches us  that  it is the vehicle
 for conveying out of the system a large amount of mat-
 ter, as Avell solid as liquid ; and practical experience
 exhibits it as the channel through  Avhich the  materies
 morbi in many instances, and  the burthen of  plethora
 generally, find their exit.   These facts indicate it as a
 legitimate  locality  for  the same artificial measures
 which are found  serviceable on other secreting organs.
   It may be objected to  Avhat we are now urging, that
 profuse perspiration itself characterizes many diseases,
 of which it is  one  of the  most formidable symptoms.
 Hoav can  SAveating  cure acute rheumatism, it may be
asked, of which it is almost a  constant feature 1   But
the same remark  applies to other medical phenomena.
Excessive purging and increased action of the kidneys
are dangerous,  frequently  mortal, symptoms.    But 
DR. FORBES ON THE  WATER-CURE.       105
does that prevent  our employing them as remedies 1
Do we not, in spite of our frequent experience of their
injurious effects, apply them  almost constantly to  the
cure of disease 1  Are there ten cases out of ten thous-
and in Avhich some kind of purgatives are not  adminis-
tered ?  Nay, is not dysentery itself treated by purga-
tive calomel?   Let us extend the  same  tolerance to
SAveating.   It is  contrary to  all the  instruction of ex-
perience to confound the consequences of a phenomenon
violently excited by morbid causes with those it induces
Avhen seasonably created, and  carefully managed,  by
skilful treatment.
   In many of these cashes the benefit does not appear
to result so much from stimulating the function of  any
particular organ, as from removing a certain portion of
matter from the system at large.  There is no reason
to suppose that exciting the liver, the colon, the duode-
num, or the kidneys, for instance, has any special influ-
ence over a morbid condition  of  the brain.  We  find
that drugs which .act upon any  of these  organs  fre-
quently relieve such conditions, and they may often be
selected indiscriminately, the  one answering much the
same purpose as the  others.   A common, anti-bilious
pill, retailed for a penny by a druggist, or a  patented
nostrum of Cockle or Morrison, will generally do as
Avell as the most elaborate prescription.   The particu-
lar adaptation seems to depend more on constitutional
idiosyncrasy than on any fixed relation of the part dis-
eased with the part treated.   The whole of those reme-
dies appear to  act  in  such cases,  either by  a  general
            5* 
106
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
principle of counter-irritation, or by removing  a quan-
tum of fluid, or of excretory matter, from the circula-
tion,  either  of which objects might  be attained as
speedily, as certainly, as extensively, and as safely, by
the skin as by any other part.
   But the power of the Water-Cure over excretions is
not limited to the skin.   It professes to be both a pur-
gative and a diuretic.   That it is diuretic, in a certain
sense, needs no proof.   It is no new discovery that, in
proportion to  the quantity of  fluid  imbibed  by  the
mouth, will be the quantity  emitted by  the  kidneys.
This, though verbally, is not  medically a diuretic ac-
tion.  It  may consist  simply in the mechanical  dis-
charge of the fluid imbibed, with no  augmentation of
the  proper functions of the  kidneys, as  respects the
previous condition of the blood-vessels.  But it is not
perhaps unphilosophical  to give hydropathists the bene-
fit of supposing that water-drinking  may do indirectly
Avhat it does' not appear  to do directly ;  by its diluting
poAver may it not destroy the influence of  any mischie-
vous constituent  of  the blood,  the excess of dilution
being immediately repaired by the remoA'al of the water
through the kidneys, in  company  with the deleterious
matter dissolved in it 1   This view might  be admitted
if it could be shown practically that drinking water has
the same effect on disease as taking diuretics.
   10.  The purgative action of hydropathy is less equiv-
ocal.   It frequently happens, in cases of constipation,
that after a few days' or weeks' use of its appliances, the
patient is attacked Avith diarrhoea.   This is  sometimes 
        DR.  FORBES ON  THE WATER-CURE.       107

troublesome,  but  we  believe seldom dangerous.   On
its subsiding, the boAvels are  said  to have  generally
acquired a regular and healthy action, which is thence-
forward  maintained by persevering in the  drinking,
bathing, etc.  In other cases, a  regular  action  of  the
bowels comes on in  a  gradual manner, without the  oc-
currence of diarrhoea,  the treatment appearing to influ-
ence the  boAvels through  its action on the system  at
large.   In others, and every one has seen examples of
this, the mere drinking of a few glasses of Avater before
breakfast is represented as a purgative that may be re-
lied on.   In  these the daily dose is regulated according
to circumstances,  being increased Avhen signs of torpid-
ity are  observed.   We are  ourselves  acquainted Avith
some persons who regulate this function  as  accurately
by Avater-drinking as they formerly did by  medicinal
aperients.  There are cases, again, in  which the sitz-
bath, or other external applications  of cold water, pro-
duce a purgative effect.
   It may be asked,  is not this  effect too uniform  for
the purpose  of  the  practical physician ?   Does it  not
often result from the percolation of Avater through  the
mucous lining of the intestinal canal ?  Is it not, there-
fore, a mere pouring out of what has been swallowed ?
Is it not clearly inadequate to excite the  particular ac-
tion  of the liver, the pancreas, the lower or upper  por-
tion  of the intestinal tube ?  Is it not necessary that we
should be able to act on these parts separately, for  the
effectual cure of disease?   These questions, important
as they appear, may with equal justice be asked as to 
108
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
 the practical proceedings of our profession  in  general.
 It is true that, in  theory, many nice distinctions are
 laid down respecting the peculiar operation, as  to local-
 ity or otherwise, of different cathartics.  But are these
 distinctions generally observed in practice ?   Did not
 Abernethy's page 72 contain the curative maxim for
 all cases ?  and were not his prescriptions almost always
 identical ?   Has not every respectable family doctor his
 " my pills," carefully prepared  from  the same ingre-
 dients  for  every difficulty in the bowels ?   Is  not  the
 black draught  as universal a purgative as  Priessnitz
 would make cold water ?  Are not all our moneyed dys-
 peptics  and  hypochondriac  nabobs sent in a  body to
 mineral springs, because they are  purgative,  without
 any preliminary investigation as to their action on the
 duodenum or the colon, the liver or the pancreas, or as
 to  the expediency of  such  action in the individual case
 in  question ?
   11. We observe, also, in the history of hydropathic
 practice, the  development  of a peculiar sedative or
 tranquillizing influence.   It  is well illustrated in the
 following passage from Mr. Mayo's preface :
   " Through repeated attacks of a sort of rheumatism,
 my constitution appeared completely broken down.  Al-
 ready crippled in my limbs, preserving what power of
 exertion I still retained only through the use of opium,
 and my indisposition  still increasing, I looked forward
 to being, before long, worn out with  suffering—as to
death, as a release.   I could  not  bear  the fatigue of a
land journey, Qr I should  have gone at once to Graefen- 
DR. FORBES ON THE  WATER-CURE.      109
berg;  but Coblentz  and Boppart might  be reached
from London by  Avater—so I Avent  to  Marienburg in
June, 1842.   On arriving  there  I  Avas placed on a
routine  system of sweating  and bathing.   The  imme-
diate effect on my health was strikingly beneficial, and
in a week I was  able to relinquish the use of opium.
The rheumatism did not, however, give way proportion-
ably to my general improvement.   The  pains  of the
joints Avcrc, indeed, heightened."  (P. 1.)
   This was a painfully severe case, one in  which every
conceivable remedy had been previously tried, not ex-
cepting repeated  change of air, the Bath Avaters, etc.;
yet nothing had succeeded in relieving the  system from
the  necessity of constantly  using opium.   A " routine
system  of SAveating and bathing" was applied, and in a
week the patient was able to  relinquish his doses of
opium, notwithstanding that the rheumatism did not
give Avay; indeed, the pains in the joints  increased.
How is this to be explained ?  Only by supposing that,
independent of any curative influence  over  the  actual
disease, the Water-Cure exercised some sort  of sedative
action  on the  system at large.   Similar instances  are
 said to be familiar at hydropathic establishments.  If
 these accounts may be depended on, hydropathy Avould
 appear to contain in  its  armamentarium  even  an ano-
 dyne,  and one  of great power.   Every practitioner
 knows the difficulty presented in the treatment of chro-
 nic cases, by  morbid irritability, and painful  nervous
 sensations, which are not only intolerable  to the patient
 himself,  but  most  prejudicial  to  his  recovery;  and 
110
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
which  can only be relieved from time to time, by re-
peated and gradually augmented doses of a drug, whose
own effects are almost as pernicious as the symptoms it
is used to palliate.  This is one instance of a predica-
ment in Avhich the physician is not unfrequently placed,
Avhen he has most gravely to consider whether there is
most mischief in the  disease to be combated, or in the
only remedy by which it can be encountered.   If " a
routine system of sweating and bathing" affords a means
of extrication from  the present instance of this diffi-
culty, this is a strong reason why it should not continue
to be obstinately excluded from the well-fenced pale of
the medical profession;
   12.  In addition to the effects already considered, and
which  have  occupied  as much as can be spared  of our
space, the Water-Cure pretends to the possession of
other  important  powers.   Thus, it is  said to be a
stomachic,  since it almost invariably increases the ap-
petite.  It  is a local calefacient, in the  application of
the Avet  cloth covered by the dry one.  It is a deriva-
tive,  cold friction at one part, by  exciting increased
action there, producing  corresponding diminution  else-
Avhere.  It is a local as well  as general  counter-irri-
tant, the compress frequently acting, if not like a blis-
ter, at least like a mustard poultice.   It is essentially
alterative in the continued removal of old matter by
SAveating, and its renewal as shown in the maintenance
of  the same weight.
   13.  Lastly, our subject  brings us to make a few re-
marks on medical habits in reference to chronic cases. 
DR. FORBES ON THE AVATER-CURE.      Ill
In such cases avc have only commenced the  treatment,
when we have removed the immediate symptoms; the
real difficulty consists in preventing their  recurrence.
   Accordingly, the patient quits his physician with am-
ple instructions for his future guidance, and with most
impressive Avarnings as to perseverance in their observ-
ance.  What are these instructions, and to what habits
do they lead?  Let us take a case of  " biliousness" or
chronic dyspepsy, and  briefly  trace the  history of its
" legitimate" treatment, according to the heroic  school
of London.
   In addition  to constipation, the patient, we shall
suppose, is affected with acidity, deficient or depraved
appetite, foul tongue, oppression  after meals, suscepti-
bility to cold,  debility,  headache, despondency, irrita-
bility of temper, inconstancy of  purpose, hopelessness
of relief, with  divers  local  grievances.  A few brisk
cathartic doses, combined Avith mutton diet,  and a gen-
tle stimulant, empty the bowels,  and carry  off most of
the attendant ills.  By continuing this plan  for a short
time the patient is, what  is medically termed, cured;
but, for  future protection, he  is furnished  with a pre-
scription—say of aloes, colocynth, and calomel, or some
such compound, to take pro re nata ;  another of senna
and  salts to take less frequently, as more urgent symp-
toms require ; a  third of calumba, gentian, or cinchona,
to take at noon with a glass of sherry.   He is told to
live  on boiled mutton,  rice, and  dry bread, avoiding
fruit and vegetables.
'   What future, as respects health, has  such a person 
112           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

before him ?  As long  as  he lives he will be a martyr
to the disease, probably  in  an increasing  degree; he
must abandon all hope of the action of the  boAvels ever
resuming its normal state; his general strength will
gradually diminish;  his  nervous system Avill  become
more and more irritable ;  his whole comfort and enjoy-
ment will be sacrificed in order to empty the alimentary
canal;  he will become one of the most  pitiable of all
sufferers, a  "person living by rule ;" his health will be
supported, as one of our witty doctors remarks, like a
shuttlecock between two battledores, by the alternate
impulse of senna and sherry, of  calomel  and coffee, of
jalap  and gentian.   As long as these instruments are
so directed, that their respective  influences succeed
each other  in  compensating proportion,  all seems, for
the time, smooth; but let either overdo or underdo the
mark, and every thing breaks down.   The  game  must
then be commenced  anew, to be continued as  long as
feather and cork resist the tendency which it has to
knock them to pieces.
   This is scarcely a caricatured picture of the disci-
pline to which dyspeptic patients are  often forced to
submit.   Every body's experience must furnish abun-
dant proof  that the  illustration is too  close to nature.
It is in the  latter stages of  these affections, when the
patients have long been under the influence of thera-
peutic means, that Priessnitz pronounces  them " drug-
diseases."  If, by this  term, he means that drugs con-
stitute the whole disease, then he is no  doubt Avrong;
yet, in one  point  of  view, he  is  right.   The original. 
         DR. FORBES ON  THE  AVATER-CURE.       113

complaint for Avhich the drugs were administered might,
very probably, have been one  requiring some artificial
remedy, and which would have induced more serious
consequences, had not some such remedy been employ-
ed.  But  it is quite possible that a persevering use of
such remedies may create a train of  symptoms, in ad-
dition to those which existed before, and induce such  a
host of wants as may constitute a prominent feature
of the  case, by the time it is submitted to the curative
process of such  a practitioner as Priessnitz; therefore
his term,  drug-disease, may not be  altogether inappli-
cable.
   But  what is often  the  result of placing the cases,
now under consideration, in a hydropathic establish-
ment ?   Precisely such as might be expected from the
abandonment of  a, pernicious custom, and the adoption,
at the same time, of a more natural mode of  life  with
healthier  and hardier habits;  and with the additional
mental stimulus  of cheerfulness, of faith and hope in
the neAV system, and of unbounded confidence  in the
neAv doctor.  It  is accordingly the general report that,
in a large proportion of  such  cases, the patients are
enabled immediately to discontinue the use of purgative
medicines  ; they  can bear a mixed animal and vegeta-
ble diet, in the  ordinary  proportion;  a  regular action
of the boAvels is shortly acquired, and no further stimu-
lant or pharmaceutical tonic is necessary.  When they
quit the establishment, formal and complex means being
no longer  required, we are assured  that they  are  able,
for a time at least, to maintain the ground gained, sim- 
114          THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

ply by common-sense diet, drinking  a few glasses of
Avater  in  the  morning, taking a  daily cold  bath, and
persevering in their  habitual exercise.   The  country
rings Avith such accounts as these; if they are  correct,
undoubtedly the patients  are in a fair Avay of recover-
ing their lost health and strength, and are pursuing
subsequently  to systematic  treatment, a  much  more
rational and  scientific course of medical  habits than
that  enjoined  to  the dyspeptic disciple of medical or-
thodoxy.
   The questions, with which we set out, may noAY be
lrypothetically answered: they were, " Does hydropathy
furnish the physician with instruments which he, as a
skilful workman, can undertake  to  employ?  Does it
contain, among its various machinery, any really thera-
peutic means, any properties capable of carrying out
the indications which we regard  as  palpable in  many
diseases ?"  These questions, we  think, may be allowed
to have been  ansAvered in the affirmative, if we may
depend on the results of our own limited experience;
they must be alloAved to be so answered, and unequivo-
cally, if Ave may admit as perfectly trustworthy the ac-
counts published by the hydropathists themselves, and
by those who  have subjected themselves  to  the  treat-
ment.   On another occasion we may, perhaps, endeavor
to sift this evidence in a more rigid manner, in order to
ascertain, Avith certainty, Avhat in it is true, Avhat false,
Avhat doubtful, and what inapplicable.  But in any in-
quiry we  may institute, Ave must  continue to examine
the  Water-Cure relatively to  other modes of practice: 
         DR. FORBES ON THE WATER-CURE.      115

this is the only method of arriving at an. estimate of its
actual value  to the  practical physician.   The imper-
fections Avhich it shares in common Avith ordinary treat-
ment, and which  are inseparable from all human per-
formances, may be left entirely out of sight; to dwell
on them would  be uselessly to encumber  the  question,
like inserting a crowd of corresponding items upon both
sides of an equation.  The philosopher's  duty is to re-
move  such superfluities, in order that the real problem
may appear in a just and intelligible form.

  In conclusion, we  will venture to place on record the
following, as  among  the  more  important impressions
which have remained on our mind after a careful  ex-
amination of  the Avhole subject:
  1. We should be glad to see Dr.  Currie's practice
revived (for the sake of experiment, at least), in all its
boldness,  for the  suppression of the general  febrile
paroxysm.   On carefully looking over  the  evidence
published by Dr. Currie and his  contemporaries, it is
impossible to deny that they attained a larger amount
of success in treating fever by water  than other prac-
titioners have done by other means.   We have already
pointed out how their practice has  been misunderstood
by modern writers.   But, while we regard this practice
as well adapted for  treating general fever, we  find no
proof  that it is  competent to  meet  the dangerous local
complications with which fever is so often accompanied.
These complications may reasonably be expected less
frequently, when  the early treatment of  fever  is  ren- 
116           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

dered more efficacious.   But when they do occur, we
find nothing in hydropathic writers to show that lancets,
leeches, etc.,  can be dispensed with.
   2.  In a large proportion of cases of gout  and rheu-
matism the Water-Cure  seems  to be extremely effica-
cious.  After the evidence in its favor, accessible  to
every body, we think medical men can hardly be justi-
fied in omitting—in  a  certain  proportion of cases, at
least—a  full trial  of it.  No  evidence  exists of any
special risk from the water-practice in such cases.
   3. In that very large  class of cases of complex dis-
ease, usually known under the name of chronic dyspep-
sia, in  Avhich other modes of treatment  have failed or
been only partially successful, the practice of Priessnitz
is well  deserving of trial.
   4. In many  chronic  nervous affections and general
debility we should  anticipate great benefits from this
system.
   5. In chronic diarrhoea, dysentery, and haemorrhoids
the sitz-bath  appears to be frequently an effectual rem-
edy.
   6.  We find nothing to forbid a cautious use of drugs
in combination with  hydropathic measures.  On  the
contrary, we  are  convinced that a judicious combina-
tion of  the two is the best means of  obtaining the full
benefit  of each.  The Water-Cure  contains no sub-
stitute for the lancet, active purging, and many other
means necessary for the relief of sudden  and dangerous
local  maladies.   The banishment of drugs from his
practice was  necessary,  and perhaps natural,  on the 
DR. FORBES ON THE AVATER-CURE.      117
 part of Priessnitz :  the like  proceeding on the part of
 qualified  medical men superintending water-establish-
 ments in this country evinces ignorance or charlatanry
 —or both.
   7. With  careful and  discreet management, in the
 hands of  a properly qualified medical  practitioner, the
 Water-Cure is very rarely attended with danger.
   8. Many of the principal advantages of hydropathy
 may be obtained in a private residence, with the assist-
 ance of ordinary movable  baths.   Therefore  it can
 easily  be  brought under the direction of the  regular
 medical practitioner.
   9.  In many cases, however, it is evident that what
 may be termed the  mere  accessories  of the  Water-
 Cure, are  of extreme importance in bringing  about a
 favorable  result;  and these accessories are  frequently
 not available—or available in a very inferior degree—
 in ordinary practice.   Among the  more important of
 these accessories  we may mention the following as hav-
 ing relation to most of the chronic  cases treated in hy-
 dropathic  establishments  : 1st,  relief from mental la-
 bors of an exhausting or  irritating kind, from the anx-
ieties and  responsibilities of business, from domestic
 irritations  of various  kinds,  from mental  inaction or
ennui, etc.; 2d, change of locality,  air, scene,  society,
 diet, etc.;  3d, the fresh mental stimulus involved in
 the almost constant occupation of the patient's time in
the performance of  the  numerous and various dab-
blings, paddlings,  sweatings, washings, drinkings, rub-
bings, etc., imposed by the water-treatment;  4th, the 
118
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
frequent and regular bodily exercise taken in the open
air,  or  Avithin  doors; 5th, the powerful  mental stim-
ulus supplied by the  confidence  generally reposed by
the patients in the means employed, and by the con-
sequent  hope,  alacrity, cheerfulness, etc.; 6th, the to-
tal abandonment of vinous and other stimulants, and
drugs—all  of  which  have, in a large proportion  of
cases, been tried and found, not only useless, but, prob-
ably, productive of disadvantage.
   10.  A certain and not inconsiderable portion of the
benefits  derived from hydropathic establishments are,
hoAvever, attainable without them, by other means, as
by travelling, etc., etc.   For example, we suspect that
many of the most striking  results witnessed  in such
establishments, as in the case of Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton  or  Mr. Lane,  would  have  probably been ob-
tained,  if the  patients had chosen to hire themselves,
and  had worked  as agricultural laborers, in  a dry,
healthy district, and had lived  on agricultural fare, suf-
ficiently nutritious in quantity  and kind, for a  sufficient
length of time.
   11.  Notwithstanding the  success of the founder of
hydropathy, its practice by  non-professional  persons
can  neither be fully advantageous  nor safe.   At the
same time, it is true that very little experience is ne-
cessary  to enable an educated medical  man to acquire
sufficient insight  into it for  purposes  of   practice.
Many of the best  hydropathic physicians have, in the
first  instance,  devoted  very few weeks to  studying the
subject in Germany. 
         DR. FORBES ON THE  WATER-CURE.      119

   12.  Many advantages Avould result from the subject
being taken up by the medical profession.  The evils
and  dangers of quackery would at once be  removed
from it.  Its real merits would soon be known.   The
tonic  portion of its measures  might then be employed
in conjunction with special  remedies of more activity,
which, no doubt, Avould often  prove exceedingly bene-
ficial.
   13.  The benefits ascribed to hydropathy, but arising
indirectly from  the  abandonment of drugs, vinous  and
other stimulants, etc., may certainly be obtained Avith-
out sending patients to Graefenberg.
   14.  Finally,  it must always be remembered that the
distinction between quacks and respectable practition-
ers is  one, not  so much of  remedies used, as of skill
and honesty in  using them.   Therefore, let our  ortho-
dox brethren be especially anxious to establish and to
Aviden, as  far  as  possible,  this  distinction  between
themselves and all spurious  pretenders.  " Artem me-
dicam  denique  videmus, si d naturali philosophia de-
stituatur, empiricorum praxi haud multum prcestare.
Medic.ina in philosophia non fundata, res  infirma
est." 
 
DR. E. WILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.    121
                        in.

     DR.  E.  WILSON ON  THE WATER-CURE.

ON THE INFLUENCE  OF ABLUTION  AND BATHING ON
             THE HEALTH  OF THE SKIN.

   The preceding chapters* on the structure and pur-
poses of the skin, and particularly those parts which
treat of the constant  abrasion and reproduction of  the
scarf-skin and  the functions of the oil-glands and per-
spiratory  system,  afford the groundwork upon which
much  of  our reasoning  on the  necessity of ablution
must rest.   The scarf-skin  is being constantly cast off
in the form  of minute powdery scales;  but these, in-
stead of falling aAvay from the skin, are retained against
the  surface  by the  contact of  clothing.  Moreover,
they become mingled with the unctuous and saline pro-
ducts of the skin, and the whole together concrete into
a thin crust, Avhich, by its adhesiveness, attracts parti-
cles of dust of all kinds, soot and dust from the atmos-
phere,  and particles of foreign  matter from our dress.
So that in the course of a day, the whole body, the cov-
ered parts least, and the  uncovered most,  becomes
covered by a pellicle of impurities of every description.
If this pellicle  be alloAved to remain, to  become thick,
and  establish itself upon the skin, effects which I shall
               * See Preface.—Editor.
             6 
122
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
 now  proceed to detail will follow.  In the first  place,
 the pores will be obstructed, and, in consequence, tran-
 spiration impeded, and the influence of the skin, as a
 respiratory organ,  entirely prevented.   In the second
 place, the skin  will be irritated both mechanically and
 chemically; it will be kept damp and cold from the at-
 traction and  detention of moisture by the saline  parti-
 cles, and, possibly, the matters once removed from the
 system may be  again conveyed into it  by absorption.
 And, thirdly, foreign matters in solution, such as poi-
 sonous gases, miasmata, and infectious vapors, will find
 upon the skin a medium  favorable  for their suspension
 and subsequent transmission into the body.  These are
 the primary consequences of neglected ablution of the
 skin; let  us  now  inquire what are  the secondary or
 constitutional effects.
   If the  pores be  obstructed and  the transpiration
 checked, the  constituents of the transpired fluids will
 necessarily be  thrown upon  the system, and as they
 are injurious, even poisonous, if retained, they must be
 removed by other organs  than the skin.   Those organs
 are, the  lungs, the kidneys, the liver, and the bowels.
 But it will be  apparent  to  every one,  that if  these
 organs equally,  or  one more  than another, which is
 generally the case,  be called upon to perform their own
 office plus that  of another, the equilibrium  of health
 must  be disturbed,  the  oppressed organ  must suffer
from exhaustion and fatigue, and must become the prey
of disease.   Thus,  obviously and plainly, habits of un-
cleanliness  become  the cause of consumption and other 
       DR. E.  WILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.     123

serious  diseases of the vital organs.  Again:  if the
pores be obstructed, respiration through the skin will
be at an end, and, as a consequence, the blood, deprived
of one source of  its oxygen,  one outlet for its carbon,
the chemical changes of  nutrition will  be insufficient,
and  the animal  temperature  lowered.   As a  conse-
quence of the second position,  cutaneous eruptions and
diseases will  be  engendered, the  effects of cold  mani-
fested on the system, and the  reabsorption of matters
once separated  from the body will  be the exciting cause
of other injurious disorders.   The third position offers
results  even more serious than  those which precede.
If a pellicle of foreign substance  be permitted to form
on the skin, this  will inevitably become the seat  of de-
tention of miasmata and infectious vapors.  They will
rest here previously to being  absorbed, and their ab-
sorption Avill engender  the diseases of which they are
the peculiar ferment.
   With such  considerations as these before us, ablu-
tion becomes a necessity  which needs no further argu-
ment to enforce strict attention to its observance.  But
I fear that Avater, the medium of ablution, hardly re-
ceives a just appreciation at our hands.   Water is the
most grateful, the most necessary, and the most univer-
sal of the gifts of a wise Creator, and in an age when
man drcAV his luxuries more  from nature, and less from
Avorks  of his  own production,  when water was *his
friend more than his servant, water was regarded as a
representative of the Deity, and  Avas raised to the dig-
nity of a mythological god.  Thus the rivers of Greece 
124
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
and Rome  Avere represented allegorically by a tutelar
god, with his attendant  nymphs^ and to  this day the
Ganges  is  adored by the  votaries  of  Brahma.  The
practice of the  Avorship  of rivers has undoubtedly, in
some instances, obscured its  principle, a remark appli-
cable  in the most modern times, in the most  civilized
countries, and to most serious objects ;  but the princi-
ple  evidently is, the utility of water to  man.  From
the first hour of existence to his latest breath, in health
and in sickness,  on the throne or in  the cellar, Avater is
a universal good.  Baths Avere dedicated by the ancients
to  the divinities of Medicine, Strength, and  Wisdom,
namely, iEsculapius, Hercules, and  Minerva, to whom
might properly be  added, the goddess  of health, Hy-
geia.  The use of Avater has been enforced as a reli-
gious  observance,  and  water has been  adopted as one
of  the symbols of  Christianity.
   Let us now turn our attention to water in its seve-
ral relations to cleanliness, health, and the relief of dis-
ease.  In its former capacity it  enables  us to remove
the pellicle of impurities  previously spoken of from our
bodies, and also from the clothes which we wear near-
est our skin, and it effects  this purpose by its quality
of dissolving saline matters, and  holding  in temporary
suspension those Avhich are insoluble.  There are, how-
eArer, certain substances  for which water has a natural
repulsion,  and over which it consequently exerts no
influence until assisted  by a  chemical power.   These
substances are oily matters of all kinds, and the skin,
as  Ave have seen, is abundantly provided  with  an unc- 
        DK.  E. WILSON ON THE  WATER-CURE.    125

tuous secretion.  The chemical  power which is called
into use for the subjection of the  oil is soap ; soap ren-
ders the unctuous product of the skin freely miscible
with Avater, and hence is  an invaluable agent for puri-
fying the skin.  I may affirm that it  is an indispensable
aid, for in no other Avay can the unctuous substance of
the surface of the skin and the dirt which adheres to it
be thoroughly removed.  I am aAvare that certain sub-
stances termed " Avash-powders," are occasionally used
as substitutes  for soap ; they are rubbed on the skin
with  the  hands, and act in the  same manner that
crumbs  of  bread  do  upon  a chalk drawing.   But
draughtsmen well know that  they  cannot  remove the
chalk Avhich has entered the crevices  of the paper, nor
can they, indeed,  restore the surface to  its  original
whiteness  and purity.    Neither can  wash-powders
follow the innumerable apertures  of the skin, nor enter
the mouths of the pores  otherwise  than  to  obstruct
them.   A skin cleaned in this manner may always  be
detected by a certain kind of shining, not to say greasy,
polish, and the Avhole complexion looks melloAved into
a kind of tone, as Ave say of pictures, in which dirt and
time have softened and chastened the tints.  But sure-
ly no  one would care to put up for  the  reputation  of
resembling an  old picture, however rich  its tints or
admirable the art developed in its  painting.   Soap is
accused of  being irritative to  the skin, but this is  an
obvious injustice done to soap,ybr soap never irritates
the delicate skin of infants. Depend upon it, that when
soap does cause irritation,  the error is in the condition 
126
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
of the complainant, and betokens  either an improper
neglect of its use, or  a state of susceptibility of the
skin verging on disease of that membrane.  If Ave Avould
have health, we must use soap.   If soap act as an irri-
tant,  Ave  must  train to its use  by  beginning  with  a
small quantity and increasing it gradually.  I may be
asked, What is the  best soap ?   I reply, Good white
curd soap, without scent, or scented only by its conti-
guity to odorant substances.   The  use of soap is cer-
tainly calculated to preserve  the  skin in  health,  to
maintain  its complexion  and tone, and prevent it from
falling into wrinkles;  and if any unpleasant sensations
are felt after its use, they may be immediately removed
by rinsing the  surface with  water slightly  acidulated
with lemon-juice.
   The unpleasant qualities  usually attributed to soap
are frequently  referrible to the  temperature  of  the
Avater used in ablution.   In this,  as in most other of the
rules of health, extremes should be  avoided.  To a man
whose duties  call him to brave the  cold of winter in all
its intensity, water at its lowest temperature is  appro-
priate and  refreshing.    But to woman or an invalid,
such a degree of cold is  not  merely painful, but really
injurious  to the  skin.   The temperature  of the A\ater
should be raised to a point at which it feels lukewarm,
but no higher.   For if  cold water be hurtful to the
skin, that which is hot  is infinitely more mischievous,
particularly  in  the winter season.   The heat  excites
the circulation of the part and stimulates the nerves;
it is then, perhaps, immediately exposed to a cold at- 
       DR.  E. WILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.    127

mosphere, sometimes a piercing wind.   Can we be sur-
prised that, with such  an extreme, the skin should  be
irritated, roughened,  and chapped, or that the com-
plexion should suffer ?   In alternations of temperature,
as of food, clothing, and exercise, moderation and judg-
ment must be used; and if we are in doubt, we had
better trust the casting vote to our sensations, which
will rarely deceive  us.   As  regards the frequency  of
ablution, the face and neck, from their necessary expo-
sure to the  atmosphere and the impurities which the
latter contains, cannot  escape  with less than two sa-
ponaceous  ablutions in twenty-four hours; the  feet,
from the confined  nature  of the  coverings  which are
Avorn over  them, require  at least  one;  the armpits,
from their peculiar formation in reference  to the  de-
tention of secretions, and also from the peculiar prop-
erties  of  the latter, at least one;  and the hands and
arms so  many as nicety and refined taste may dictate.
No harm can arise from too frequent ablutions ;  much
evil may result from their neglect.
   Such is ablution  when intended  for the purpose  of
cleanliness, but  it  must be in  the  experience "of  every
one, that other  effects originate  from its  use;  that
nothing is more  refreshing than a thorough ablution;
that, in point of  fact, to those who conduct  the opera-
tion properly and with a due attention to temperature,
nothing can be more luxurious, nothing restore the en-
ergies more surely  and more agreeably, after hours  of
toil or exertion; and,  as I am about  to show, nothing
can be more healthy.  The common terms which  we 
128            THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
hear applied to the effects of a  thorough ablution is
" bracing;" in professional language avc speak of them
as being " tonic ;" and in truth there exists  no better
means of restoring the " tone" of the system than  the
judicious employment of water ;  and this leads me to
the modes  in Avhich water may be used with the  best
prospect of benefit to the health.
   It must  not be supposed, that because water  is a
good and  excellent  tonic, our  health would  be better
for being thrown into a fever  by it, or even drowned
in it, any more than that a parallel argument would be
tenable with regard to food, clothing,  or exercise.  I
know very well that  equilibrium is not suited to  the
times ;  that there exists among  mankind, in medicine
as in politics and religion, a certain thirsty " go-ahead"
or " go the whole hog" principle which is absolutely in-
satiable.  I do not say that this character is  the pecu-
liar attribute  of the present age, for  the history of
nations proves it to have existed at all periods of the
world.   There is  no philosopher's stone of health any
more than for  commuting the grosser into the precious
metals.  But  every one who desires it has the elements
of an  equally valuable  " arcanum"  in conforming to
a correct  practice of diet, clothing, exercise, and ab-
lution.
   The  simplest mode of applying water to the skin,
and that by Avhich the smallest extent of surface is ex-
posed,  conditions  of much  importance to the weakly
and delicate, is by means of the wetted sponge.  In this
mode,  the  water  may have any temperature  that is 
       DR. E. WILSON  ON THE AVATER-CURE.    129

agreeable to the sensations, a part only of the body is
exposed at a time, and  as soon as that part has  been
briskly sponged, and  as briskly wiped dry, it may  be
again covered by the dress.   The whole body may in
this way be speedily subjected to the  influence of wa-
ter, and  to the no less useful  friction which succeeds
it in the  operation of drying.   An invalid rising from a
bed of sickness would  adopt this remedy by degrees,
beginning first  with the arms, then proceeding to the
chest,  and then,  gradually,  to the whole body.  He
would  use Avarm Avater in the first instance,  but  if the ^
season were summer,  would be speedily able to proceed
to cold.   A person of weakly habit beginning a system
of daily ablution for the first time should commence in
the summer, and by  the winter his powers  of endur-
ance  will  have become so well trained, that he will
bear  cold water  without inconvenience.   It must  be
admitted that the plan here laid down is very simple;
it requires no  apparatus, a  sponge  and a basin  being
the sole  furniture for its use; but it is no less a  valua-
ble appliance to health. The cold chill of the sponge,
which Avas at first disagreeable, becomes pleasant, the
quick  friction  which  ensues  is  agreeable, and while it
stimulates the skin, gives action to the whole muscular
system ; and the Avarm glow, the thrill of health which
follows,  is positively  delicious.   I must,  however, call
attention more strongly to the "glow  of warmth" over
 the surface, as it is the test  by which  the benefit of the
 remedy is to be estimated in this  and  in all other forms
 of ablution and bathing.   I can hardly conceive a case
               6* 
130           THE  AVATER-TREATMF.NT.

in which  the application  of  Avater,  according to  this
method, could leave a chill behind it; but if such an
occurrence take place, the individual has need of med-
ical aid, and that should be promptly applied.   I may
mention that it was the present form of ablution which
was  used by Sir Astley Cooper, and to which  he at-
tributed much  of  his unusually robust and excellent
health.
   The second form of ablution by the sponge requires
the aid of  a large shallow tub, or sponging-bath, in
which the bather  stands  or sits, while he receives the
water from a sponge  squeezed over the shoulders and
against his body.   The same precautions, with regard
to temperature, may be  taken in this as in the  preced-
ing case, but the bather  is necessarily more exposed,
and the form of bathing  is  suitable  only to  persons
in moderate health, excepting in the  summer season,
when  it may be borne  by invalids.   In the early use
of the sponging-bath, the  bather should content him-
self with a single affusion from the sponge, and should
then dry the body  quickly.   As there is more freedom
for the limbs, there is  more  muscular action in  this
than the former method, and the glow is proportionally
increased.  Indeed, in the sponging-bath, exercise and
ablution are combined, and its employment by persons
of sedentary habits is highly advantageous.   I know
but one circumstance that could render the  sponging-
bath  objectionable, and  that is  the occurrence of  pal-
pitations.   This,  however, may be obviated, by relin-
quishing the drying of  the body to an attendant, or 
       DR.  E.  WILSON ON  THE  AVATER-CURE.     131

adopting the " wet sponge," and after a short time, if
there be no tendency in the system to disease of the
heart, the palpitations will cease.
  A third  kind of ablution is that Avith  the shower-
bath, Avhich provides  a greater amount of affusion than
the former, combined Avith a greater shock to the ner-
vous system.   But that which more particularly distin-
guishes  this from the previous modes is the concussion
of the skin by the fall of the Avater, the degree of con-
cussion  having reference to the height of the reservoir
and  the  size of the openings  through which  the  little
columns  issue.   The  usefulness and convenience of the
shoAver-bath and its facilities of application render it a
necessary article of furniture in every house, the only
question of  importance with regard to it being the kind
of apartment  assigned to  its use.  I have known in-
stances of the shower-bath being transferred to an area,
an outhouse, or a cellar, so that the bather had to  make
his way  from  a warm bed, if the bath  were taken at
rising, only partly  dressed, through cold passages, to
his  bathing place, and Avas  generally chilled on his
way. The  bath, in such a case, becomes an instrument
of punishment and disease rather than of health.   The
shower-bath must  be located in a dry room, a room
in which a fire can be lighted in the winter season—
in  an  airy dressing-room, for instance—and  every
regard  paid to comfort and convenience.   It is in this
 that the public bath is generally so  much superior to
 that of  home; in it, every suggestion that comfort and
 even luxurv can  invent is realized,  and  over such  a 
132           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

bath only does Hygeia preside.  The shower-bath ad-
mits of modification, to  render it suitable to the most
delicate as well as to the most robust.  The extent of
fall may be increased or diminished, the apertures may
be regulated, so as to produce the lightest shower or
the heaviest  rain;  the  temperature of the water may
be  adjusted to any degree  of warmth, and, moreover,
the quantity delivered also  determined.   I cannot too
often repeat that  the sensations of the bather must be
tenderly regarded, if  good is  to follow the practice of
ablution;  and this is in no case more necessary than in
delicate or convalescent  health.   By judicious  train-
ing, the  nervous system, which Avould shudder  under
the application of a tepid sponge to the skin, could be
made  to bear, without  uneasiness, a smart  charge of
 cold water from the shower-bath.   It is evident that in
 this case a victory is  gained over the sensations of the
 utmost importance, and one which cannot be too highly
 valued; for, by a parallel reasoning, the skin, which in
 this way is made to bear the shock of a shower-bath,
 could  better and for a longer period resist the influence
of atmospheric cold  and its consequent morbid effects
on the economy.  In making use of the Avord " shock,"
as expressive of the effect of a discharge of water by
the shower-bath on the surface of the body, it must not
be  supposed  that I refer to any unpleasant  or painful
effect; this is far from being  the fact;  the" shock with
warm  water,  with  which the  bather  should  always
begin, is  really agreeable, and the  feeling will  be one
of regret when the  shower is at an end.  A  person 
        DR.  E. WILSON ON THE WATER-CURE.    133

unaccustomed to the shower-bath  entering one with a
strong charge of wrater at a low temperature and  pull-
ing the valve-string, would certainly be shocked by the
sudden and unusual sensation caused by the rush Avhich
immediately follows ; but this is abusing, not using, the
shoAver-bath.   In the like manner, a feeble stream of
electricity may be passed  through the  body  without
producing a  disagreeable  sensation, and with benefit
to the part, while half the quantity from a Leyden jar
Avould occasion a severe  and painful shock.   In using
the cold shower-bath, it will be  found that the  first im-
pression made  upon the skin is much colder than  that
which folloAvs; and after being prolonged  for a few
minutes, the  sensation is really one of  warmth.  This
is an effect of the concussion of the skin by the water,
which I shall  hereafter have more particularly to allude
to.  The  old " tumbling bath" is the  parent of the
present shower-bath, and much  inferior in its value, for
in it the Avhole body of water contained in the reservoir
is throAvn at once upon the bather.
   Before  quitting  the  subject  of  the  shoAver-bath, I
must refer to  an  objection that has been made to its
use, namely,  that it is liable  to cause a  determination
to the head, and  is therefore  improper for persons of
full  habit.   This is an error  originating in  the abuse
of the bath,  and is only so far related to truth as  to
the assertion that an excessive  meal will produce  apo-
plexy.  If a person whose vessels  are oppressed  with
excess of blood subject himself  without training to the
sudden  shock  of  a showTer-bath, a shock whose  first 
 134           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

 effect is to impel the blood inwards upon the vital or-
 gans, it is impossible to answer for  the result; the re-
 sult, in fact, must be ruled by the physical strength of
 the tissues of those organs to resist the impulse.  But
 the whole tenor  of  the observations on  food, raiment
 exercise, and ablution contained in this book is to guard
 against violent extremes, which are, in reality, a wilful
 risk  of life.   If, in the case above supposed, the indi-
 vidual be young, and the tissues elastic and strong, the
 vital organs will not only resist the strain, but will not
 in any wise be injured.   If, however,  the person have
 reached that  time of life when the  tissues  are brittle
 rather than yielding, something must give way.  But  I
 repeat that I cannot look upon this otherwise than in
 the light of an exceptional case, and  such an one as
 could not occur if the rules of bathing, here laid down,
 were strictly followed.  Indeed, the training necessary
 to arrive at the comfortable use of such a bath as has
 been supposed, would itself prevent the fulness, which
 in this case was the cause of mischief.   To prevent the
 dangerous consequences attributed to the shower-bath,
 it has been suggested that the feet should be immersed
 in  hot  water during the operation.   I  can  only  say,
 that if this harmless expedient will in any way conduce
 to the  confidence of the bather, let it  be practised, by
 all means; but, philosophically, it is useless;  the secret
 of safety  lies in  the  training, not only in this, but
 also in  all other matters in Avhich  the vital organs  are
 concerned.  I should not deserve the pardon of my lady
readers if I Avere to neglect another  matter connected 
        DR. E. AVILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.    135

 with this subject, namely, the suggestion of some cover-
 ing for the protection of the hair.   The best contriv-
 ance for the purpose that I have seen is a high, conical,
 extinguisher-shaped cap, made of  some light material,
 and covered with oiled silk.   A cap of this  shape has
 the advantage of not interfering  with the descending
 shower, Avhile, by the breadth of its base,  it effectually
 protects the head, and offers the means of tying a bor-
 der of the same silk beneath the hair.
   The douse, or douche-bath, is a contrivance for ap-
 plying water locally, and, combining with affusion, more
 or  less concussion  of the skin,  As the remedy for
 local disease,  this form of  bath  has  been  in use from
 time immemorial: a jug  of water poured from a height
 on  a part of  the body is a douche-bath;  and a more
 complete  one is the  stream from a pump,  the  popular
 treatment of  a sprain.  The douche-bath  to the head
 is also applicable to some kinds of insanity.   From
 these remarks it will be apparent that the  douche-bath
 is less manageable than the forms previously described,
 and that  recourse must be had  to  some bathing estab-
 lishment when  its use  is required.   In establishments
 of this nature,  the douche may be obtained of any size
 or temperature, and may be received in any direction,
 some being horizontal and some  also ascending.   The
 concussion of the  skin, caused by the blow of the water
 against the surface, is a  feature of importance in this
form of bath;  and Avhen a sufficient height of column
cannot be obtained, the blow may be supplied artificially 
136           THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
by  a little wooden  hammer, with which the  skin  is
beaten as the water falls.
  The  cold  bath is of three kinds, fresh, saline, and
mineral, and the properties of each may be  modified
by being at rest  or in motion.   The still, fresh-AYater,
or plunging-bath offers few advantages over the shoAver-
bath, and combines the same principles.   The affusion
is, perhaps, somewhat more complete;  the shock is de-
pendent upon  the  temperature of the Avater, and the
concussion on  the  activity and energy of the bather,
Avho, by his active movements in the bath, supplies the
want of motion in the fluid.  The cold-water bath on
the  banks of a stream is infinitely preferable to that
taken in an apartment;  the temperature of the atmo-
sphere is probably  agreeable, the sun may be warm, the
fresh air breathes upon the limbs, and the immersion is
active,  and accompanied by diving, or the exercise of
swimming.   The saline bath, at rest, differs from the
fresh-water bath in the more stimulating properties of
the saline matters which it contains, and in the greater
weight of the water;  while the same bath in motion,
that is, in the  open sea, produces a greater  degree  of
concussion than the river stream, particularly when ac-
companied by active motion or swimming.  The mine-
ral  baths, in like manner, owe their special properties
to the mineral salts which they hold in solution.
  When the cold bath is disagreeable to the sensations,
or to the constitution of the bather, it may be raised in
temperature to suit  his purposes.   It then changes its
designation, and, according to its heat, is  termed  tem- 
        OR.  E. WILSON  ON THE AVATER-CURE.     137

perate, tepid,  warm, or hot.   A temperate bath ranges
from 75° to 85° ;  a tepid bath, from 85° to 95°;  a warm
bath, from  95° to 98°;  and a hot  bath, from 98° to
105°.   In other words, the Avarm bath comes up to the
elevation of the warmest parts of the exterior of the
body, the hot bath to that of the interior, and a little
beyond, the temperature of the blood on the left side
of the heart being 101°.
   The vapor-bath offers some points of difference from
the preceding, in the circumstance of extending its in-
fluence to the interior as well as to the exterior of the
body.   The bather is seated upon a chair, in a position
agreeable to himself, and the vapor is gradually turned
on around him,  until the requisite  temperature (from
90° to 110°)  is attained.  The  vapor is consequently
breathed, and thus brought into contact with every part
of the  interior of the lungs.  The vapor-bath has un-
dergone much improvement within the last few years,
and its powers as an agent for the cure of diseases have
been increased by the  discovery  of  various vegetable
substances, whose volatile elements  are  susceptible of
being  diffused through the vapor, and thus introduced
into the blood are made to act upon the system.*
   Bathing  and exercise are very closely allied to each
other—they both stimulate the actions of the skin, and
both,  if carried  too far, are productive  of fatigue.

   * I have lately had the opportunity of examining and testing the
merits of some  admirably-conducted baths of this kind, kept  by
Mr. Sturgeon, of No. 3, New Basinghall-street, and my opinion is
strongly in their favor. 
138
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
Bathing, again, is indebted to  exercise for some of its
useful properties.   In like manner, the rules of bathing
and those of exercise are very  similar.  Bathing, to be
efficient in preserving health, should be regular, should
be commenced by degrees, and increased by a process
of training,  and  should not be  permitted to intrude
upon hours devoted  to  some important function, such
as digestion.   It  must not approach too  near a meal,
that is to say, if it be attended with  the least fatigue;
nor  must  it folloAv  a meal  too  closely,  three or  four
hours being permitted to elapse.   The time  occupied
in bathing in cold water by invalids  should not  exceed
a feAv minutes, ranging, perhaps,  from two to ten; but
persons in health  may carry it to the point of satiety,
provided always that they combine with it active exer-
cise.  The period for  the tepid, warm, or vapor-bath
is from a quarter  to half an hour, unless special indica-
tions require to be fulfilled.
   I  come noAv to the immediate physiological effects of
bathing on the system.   When the body is moistened
with a sponge Avetted in cold water, or when affusion by
the  sponge or shoAver-bath is  effected, the skin  imme-
diately shrinks, and  the whole of its tissues contract.
As a result of this contraction, the capacity of the cu-
taneous system of vessels for blood is diminished, and
a portion of the blood circulating through them is  sud-
denly thrown upon the deeper parts and internal organs.
The nervous system, among others, participates in it,
and is stimulated  by  the afflux, and communicating its
impression of stimulus  to the  Avhole system, causes a 
        DR.  E.  WILSON ON  THE  WATER-CURE.     139

 more energetic action of the heart  and blood-vessels,
 and a consequent rush back to the surface.   This is
 the state termed " reaction," the first object and  pur-
 pose of every form  of bathing whatsoever, the test of
 its utility and security.  Reaction is known by the red-
 ness of surface, the glow, the thrill of  comfort  and
 warmth which  follow the bath, and  the bather  should
 direct all his care  to insuring  this  effect.  By it, the
 internal  organs  are relieved, respiration is lightened,
 the heart is made  to beat  calm  and free, the  mind
 feels  clear  and  strong, the tone of  the muscular sys-
 tem is increased, the  appetite is sharpened, and  the
 whole organism feels invigorated.   This is the end  and
 aim of the  bather,  and to this  all his training  tends.
 The error is, to expect the result  without the prepara-
 tion.   After a  proper training  the most plethoric  and
 apopleptic individual  may derive health  and  safety
 from  systematic  bathing; but  it will be  seen  at a
 glance, by  the above  explanation,  that  without  the
 training  the attempt  would  be  madness.   But  the
 reader must not imagine that because there is  danger
 in bathing in a particular case,  the practice is danger-
 ous : that would  be an erroneous inference.   I  have
 endeavored  to  show that food,  raiment, and exercise,
 when  judiciously used, are  the source of many enjoy-
 ments, and the means  of our existence; and I think it
 will be granted  me without difficulty, that excess in
 either is  replete with danger.  Are we  to  give up  the
use of food because  an incautious person eats himself
into an apoplexy ?   Bathing is as little dangerous as 
140          THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
food, the  difference between the  two  being, that we
prefer the one, and therefore take it under the mantle
of our protection,  while  Ave repudiate  the  other, be-
cause  it is less agreeable to our appetites, or perhaps
a  little troublesome.
   In order to increase and  promote the reaction of the
skin, various measures and  manipulations are resorted
to, some of them  being practised  in the  bath, others
after quitting  it.   Of the former kind  is the operation
of shampooing, which consists  in pressing and  knead-
ing the flesh, stretching  and relaxing the joints, and
brushing  and scrubbing  the  skin.   In the  East, the
practice is  most  singular.   You  are laid out at full
length, rubbed with  a hair  brush, scrubbed, buffeted,
 and  kicked;  but it  is  all  "very refreshing."*  The
 ancients were in  the habit of scraping the  skin with
 an  ivory knife.    But practices  so agreeable to the
 bather have been little followed in temperate and cold
 climates, partly  from the  prevailing  neglect of the
 bath, and partly from the necessity of  having the ope-
ration performed  by  a person skilled in the manoeuvre.
 Our common means of stimulating the  skin are con-
fined  to the  rough towel, the horse-hair glove or rub-
ber, and the flesh-brush, which are used after quitting
the bath.f
   * Sir Alexander Burnes's Travels in Bokhara.
   t Since  the above  was written, I have had  the opportunity of
examining  a flesh-glove  that comes recommended to us  by the
experience of ages, and certainly offers advantages superior to
any other kind of rubber for the skin in existence.   This is the
Indian flesh-glove or kheesah, a glove, or rather mitten, which has 
DR.  E.  WILSON  ON  THE  WATER-CURE.     141
 Indeed,  this  short catalogue embraces  all the  appli-
 ances requisite  for the  purpose.   For tender and del-
 icate skins, the rough towel answers every purpose, and
 should be used  by the bather himself, unless the exer-
 tion  be  found too great, or cause palpitation  of  the
 heart.   In the  latter case, it  must be resigned  to an
 attendant, and the  process  completed by the bather,
 in  order that the reaction  may be increased by some
 degree of  muscular exercise.    Some skins bear  the
 horse-hair  and  bristle  brushes equally  well with  the
 rough toAvel,  in which case these may  be  used after the
 drying is effected.   When there is any delicacy of  the
 respiratory organs, the  horse-hair  and bristle brushes,
 by producing an  increased  degree of stimulation over
 the chest and  trunk of the  body,  are important addi-
 tions  to our  means of cure.   It is not intended, how-
 ever, that the remedy should be more unbearable than
'the disease, which is likely to  be  the case if the com-
 mon  horse-hair  gloves  are  employed:  a better kind
 been  used, from time  immemorial, in Hindoostan,  Persia, and
 throughout the East, and by a race of people, both from necessity
 and luxury, more attentive  to the skin than any other upon the
 face of the globe.  The glove was introduced  into England by Mr.
 J. Ranald Martin, of Grosvenor-street, and  much labor and ex-
 pense have been employed by Messrs. Savory and Moore in having
 a similar glove manufactured in  London.  Their imitation, how-
 ever, is perfect, both in appearance and properties; and it is a
 subject of much satisfaction  to me to be enabled  to recommend so
 admirable a contrivance for promoting  the health of  the body,
 through the  agency of the skin.   The glove is made of goat-harr,
 the material used in the manufacture of  the Burruck or Persian
 glove-cloth, of which the original kheesah is composed. 
142
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
are those Avhich have a brush surface ; they are much
softer, and more efficacious.*   The electrical qualities
Avhich are  spoken  of in  connection Avith horse-hair
gloves are an innocent fraud on the imagination of the
purchaser.   The  best form of flesh-brush  is  one in
Avhich the bristles are set on a leather back.
   The influence which the bath exerts over the nervous
and circulating system of  the  bather is  not the  least
remarkable  of  its  effects.   The temperate and  the
tepid bath,  for  example, produce a gradual diminution
in the number of the heart's pulsations,  a calm in the
nervous system,  and  a  tendency to  sleep ;  in other
Avords, they  are sedative in their action on the system.
The  hot bath,  on the contrary, causes an excitation of
the nervous  and vascular system, an increased heat of
the interior of the body, a quickened pulse, and profuse
perspiration.  It  is  a stimulant to  the system.  The
warm bath, occupying a mid-position between the tepid
and the hot bath, is also intermediate in its effects  ; but
as the  poAver of maintaining and bearing heat is very
different in  different persons,  it  is  impossible to fix
upon  the exact point of neutrality for all.  It appears to
extend over a range of about ten  degrees, from 90° to
100°,  so that if we Avish designedly to produce a seda-
tive or a stimulant  effect on the economy, we should,
having always  regard to the  feelings of the bather,
select a temperature above  or below  the neutral range.
  * In Hindoostan, the  horse-hair glove is employed  for rubbing
down horses, a  purpose for which they are certainly better  fitted
than for using on the human skin. 
        DR. E. WILSON  ON THE AVATER-CURE.    143

   Another curious and important laAv is associated with
the influence exerted by the bath over the state of  the
pulse, which is, a poAver of absorption by the skin below
the neutral range, and an augmented transpiration above
it.  The absorbing poAver  is modified by various cir-
cumstances, such as the  quantity of fluids already con-
tained within the tissues of the bather, the state of  the
body in relation  to food,  activity of nutrition, etc.  In
this sense, medicated baths have the poAver of acting
upon the system.   The  process is, however, sIoav, and
requires long immersion  Avhen  the  Avater-bath is used,
but more active with the vapor-bath.
   The opposite  effect is produced Avhen the tempera-
ture of the bath rises above the neutral range ;  in other
words, above the  temperature of the blood.   In this
case, transpiration  is so active, that the  bather loses
weight.   If the bath be prolonged, there is danger of
its proving fatal, by the over-excitation of the system ;
the pulse,  as before mentioned, becomes rapid, the
beating of the heart tumultuous, the respiration quick-
ened ; the bather experiences a sensation of oppression
amounting almost to suffocation ;  he is faint and giddy,
and falls into the insensibility of apoplexy.
ON THE MERITS OF HYDROPATHY, OR THE TREATMENT
              OF  DISEASE  BY WATER.

  The advantages to health of a judicious and sound
system of diet, clothing, exercise, and  ablution cannot 
144
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
be better illustrated than  by reference to what has
been termed the " Water-Cure."  The water practice
has effected important  results in the treatment of dis-
ease, and will, I trust, be instrumental in restoring to
Medicine one of her most valuable and important aux-
iliaries.   Medical men may be jealous that these bene-
fits have been "conjured from the vasty deep" by
other hands than those of the  high priests of Therapeia,
but they have no just reason  of  complaint: the treat-
ment of disease by water  had  been improperly neg-
lected; noAv, however, its merits  may by tested, and the
test aided  by public  encouragement; moreover, the
remedy will revert  to those who are alone qualified to
employ it, and Ave may fairly hope  that a correct  sys-
tem for its use  will be established  by their labors.
Priessnitz, the peasant of Silesia, has  done much, but
he would have done infinitely more had  he received  a
medical education ;  he  would  then have avoided many
errors,  and  have entitled himself to the rank of a dis-
coverer.  At present, though armed with the experience
of tAventy years, he is little more than an experimen-
talist, and,  in  some instances, a rash and incautious
one.  A warm  supporter* and  eulogist of Priessnitz
remarks : " The knowledge acquired by anatomy, phy-
siology, and pathology is  indispensable to the full un-
derstanding of the  Water-Cure and  to  its practice,
without frequent error.   It is true it has  been discov-
ered and  brought to extraordinary perfection without
this knowledge, but Priessnitz did not bring  it to its
                  * Dr. James  AVilson 
       DR. E.  WILSON  ON  THE  WATER-CURE.    145

present state Avithout tAventy long and patient  years of
practical study of the powers of water, of the vital phe-
nomena, and of those of disease,  however imperfect his
knowledge may be.   But Priessnitz is a genius—an ex-
traordinary case—one of those isolated instances which
occur so seldom in the  history of man ;  let not, there-
fore, other uneducated  persons attempt to practise the
Water-Cure  because Priessnitz  has  practised it; the
power of genius is no rule for ordinary mortals."
   This I believe to  be a plain statement of the amount
of merit  due  to Priessnitz, and  such, as I think, we
cannot refuse to accord  him.  To weigh truly the ad-
vantages of  the system, Ave must, as the same author
advises, " allay the force of habit, and the passion of
prepossession."  " One of Priessnitz's great peculiari-
ties,"  he observes,  " is his  tact; this is a valuable at-
tribute, and indispensable to a great practitioner, though,
when unaided by a knoAvledge of  every mechanical and
rational means of ascertaining the precise state of all
the organs, it must  frequently be followed by error."
His  patients, strange to say,  look at this blundering
upon the right at the risk  of  hitting the Avrong, as  a
special clairvoyance, as a mode of " peeping  into the     •
internal recesses of the bosom, and  into all the wind-
ings of the  abdominal  cavity."   The  truth  is  that,
being incomprehensible to themselves, they regard it  as
supernatural and  wonderful,  Avhile  the  same persons
would  consider the  cautious process of induction and
mature judgment, founded  on carefully observed  data
and  the  collective  experience of ages of the medical 
146
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
man, as nothing at all out of the common.   This is the
natural consequence of training a people to believe that
drugs are their cure ;  they at last value the filthy stuff
alone,   and despise  the  judgment  which directs  it.
Truly, indeed, do we deserve Napoleon's contemptuous
sneer, that " England is a nation of shopkeepers," so
long as Ave tolerate the mental attributes of the medical
man only for  the sake of enjoying  his drugs, and  pay
gladly for the drugs, while we repudiate any reward as
the harvest of a scientific education.
   But  to return to  Priessnitz.   When  a patient is
brought to him to be submitted to the Water-Cure, " he
looks at and feels the skin,  examines the  make of, and
marks  on, a man with the greatest  attention and accu-
racy, and makes them valuable guides as to what he
ought to do, and  what opinion to form as to  the state
of the  constitution and nature of the  disease.   He
goes  no  further, for the best of all possible reasons:
 because  he does not know or understand the means.
He does not feel the pulse  or look at the tongue, both
valuable, and almost  indispensable, when understood,
and joined with all other means : had he done this, he
would  have acted somewhat differently in many cases
which  I  have noted."  I  think some of my invalid
readers will shudder before such a picture of medical
examination.   Priessnitz is  evidently incompetent to
investigate disease,  and his examination embraces less
than  half of  the inquiry of every  medical man.   To
visit his want of knowledge charitably, we must admit
that he sees loith half an eye, a kind of inspection that 
       DR.  E.  AVILSON ON  THE  WATER-CURE.     147

I should think ill supplied by all the " tact" which the
uneducated peasant can bring to bear on his treatment.
But this does not invalidate the benefits of water and
hydropathy;  it only leads us to the conclusion that we
should not prefer to seek them at the  hands of  the re-
doubtable Priessnitz, if we could obtain them at home,
administered by those in whom we feel confidence, and
whom Ave knoAv to have  deserved that  confidence by
the nature of their education  and qualifications.   The
secret of Priessnitz's success seems to be explained in
the following passage :  "He evidently tries to stick as
close to nature  as he can, and by this he has done won-
ders."  But this remark immediately precedes a proof
of his failure, and shows him, with all  his disposition
to try, a blundering  expounder of nature's laws.   For
example, pursuing his perquisitions into himself, a Si-
lesian peasant, as the book of nature, he arrives at the
conclusion, that whatever is  suitable to him must be
good for his patients.   Now listen, ye  dyspeptics, to
a few "first  lines" of  this Silesian  peasant-book.
" Priessnitz  is himself  so  strong and  hearty  by his
mode of  life that he does not know he has a stomach,
 the truest sign of the  healthy state ; and not feeling
 with his  patients, he forgets, or, from some mystifica-
 tion of reasoning, overlooks the fact that others are not
 in  this enviable position, or takes an  unphysiological
 vieAV of the influence of  an overloaded  stomach on the
 whole body, on each of its organs, and on any disease
 with which it may be affected."
   The  consequences of  self-inspection, ignorance, and 
148           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
obstinacy,* on the part of Priessnitz, are attended with
the most mischieATous  and injurious results to his pa-
tients.   Dr. Wilson continues :  " With all Priessnitz's
sagacity, it is a matter of surprise that he has  fallen
into an  abuse which interferes  greatly with  his excel-
lent cure;  this is, allowing vegetable and animal  mat-
ters at his  table, which are of  an indigestible and per-
nicious  nature, such  as pork  baked to a cinder, sau-
sages, ' sauer kraut,'  salted cucumbers, and  bad pas-
try, articles of  diet which, even in health,  should be
avoided when any food of a more  salutary nature can
be obtained.   What, then, must be the effect when the
majority of his  patients have,  complicated with other
complaints, some  disease or derangement of  the diges-
tive organs'?   But a  more flagrant  error still is the
quantity which each  person  consumes.  There  is a
kind of furor who shall devour most.   It is  true that
with the Water-Cure every person can eat  infinitely
more  than he could under any  other circumstances.
But this is not enough;  indigestion may take place,
and excess be committed in  the Water-Cure as well
as elsewhere.   Water only counteracts the evil effects.
But the  point I am convinced  of  is, that it interferes
with, and retards  the final cure of,  the  majority of the
patients  of Graefenberg."  The  following is a  vivid
picture of the effects of this abuse.   The author is de-
tailing a case  of dyspeptic hypochondriasis ;  speaking
  * " The expression of his countenance is intelligent and inquir-
ing; he has a general  appearance of firmness, which he possesses,
in fact, to the degree of obstinacy." 
DR. E. WILSON  ON THE AVATER-CURE.    149
of the  patient he observes : " One day he came to my
room, and I examined him.  The lungs and heart were
perfectly sound.   On pressing deeply on different parts
of the stomach and bowels, great pain was caused, par-
ticularly about the  region  and pyloric orifice of  the
stomach;  in the  latter there  appeared to  be  some
hardness.   I found that the process of pressing, though
made with great gentleness, made  his  hands and feet
quite cold.  The case was a clear one : he was ordered
to go through the sweating process twice a day; a hip-
bath and douche ; to  eat  as  much as he  could, and
without distinction.   At the  end of seven months of
this active treatment  he left Graefenberg  very little
better.   The  error in this  treatment was  the douche,
sweating, and diet."  Dr. Wilson goes on to say that
the misapplication of treatment arose from the perver-
sity of Priessnitz's theory, which enforced the necessity
of ejecting the Morrison's pills, which were  the cause
of the  disease, and  other  morbid " stuff," out of  the
system, the proper  treatment being  " the  general fo-
mentation by ' the wet sheet,' and an additional hip-
bath, and the warm  compress  to the  bowels, foot-bath,
 etc.  Another fatal error was in the diet, for  he stuffed
 enormously the most indigestible  matters,  in the hope
 of gaining strength.   After  a dinner of  pork  and
 ' sauer kraut,'  salted cucumbers, and  pastry for  a
 ploughman, I always,  the  next morning, made a point
 of conversing with him.   I generally found him sitting
 on a  bench  by himself, looking on  the  ground, and
 avoiding all intercourse."  While in this state, he had 
150            THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
an objection to ansAver  any questions, but  after a lit-
tle solicitation AYOuld acknOAvledge that he had  passed
a horrible night, sleepless and sick.   The tenor of the
human  mind, in such a case  as this, and  the  intole-
rance of good advice under such circumstances, is well
displayed in the  next  remark of the author.  " If I
had said a word about the  pork, ' sauer  kraut,' and
other indigestible ' combustibles,' he would never have
spoken to me again."   Dr. Wilson " made it a rule to
inquire, the morning  after one of the indigestible din-
ners, how  the dyspeptics and  hypochondriacs found
themselves.   They  were  invariably  in  a suffering
state."
   Another of  the peasant's vagaries is an  objection to
warm  clothing.  "Priessnitz recommends people to
clothe  lightly,  and to  avoid  flannel next the skin."
" His prejudice against flannel is so great, that he will
not allow its use  under  any circumstances."  "What
makes  Priessnitz so  obstinate on this point, I cannot
exactly determine;  but he has, with all his genius and
sagacity, two  or three decided  mystifications."  So,
besides  being poisoned with  improper food, taken in
improper quantities, the invalid is to  be deprived  of his
warm coverings, and their future use prohibited.  These
are  startling propositions;  and  we can  only come to
the  conclusion that such a  plan may be  suitable for
Graefenberg  and Priessnitz,  but most  unsuitable for
any place  possessing  inferior advantages  of air and
means of taking  exercise.   Priessnitz's tact and  saga-
city are then purely local, his  plans applicable to  Grae- 
        DR. E. WILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.    151

fenberg alone;  he is, in  every sense of the word,  a
"genius loci;"  remove  him from his native "berg,"
and  the fruits of his twenty years' experience will be
well  nigh lost—he will have all to learn over again.   It
must be* recollected that, in drawing these inferences of
the true character of Priessnitz as a minister of disease,
I have taken the  statements of a warm admirer as a
groundwork; and  though in my own  mind  they do not
detract from a certain kind of merit due to the man, it
is necessary that he should  be brought doAvn from the
pinnacle of nonsensical  flattery  upon which his eulo-
gists have  raised him, in order  that he may be rightly
comprehended.   The British nation are hearty detesters
of "  humbug;"  and it is to be  regretted  that so much
of that material should have been interwoven, by indis-
creet adulators,  among  the laurels of Priessnitz, both
for his  own sake  and that of his system.   The artificial
throne  upon which he  has been chaired, itself explains
the remark of Dr.  Wilson, that at Graefenberg " noth-
ing can exceed the prejudice against medical men."  To
which may  be added another little reason, which savors
of negligence,  but which is  diluted obviously with wa-
ter, into the expression "reserve."  This reserve, then,
" has its inconvenience when carried to excess, for he
frequently omits to give the necessary instructions when
the patient forgets, or does not  know how to ask for
them."
  Dr.  Wilson  deserves the warmest praise for his can-
did analysis of Priessnitz and the Water-Cure, and still
more for putting its principles into practice in Britain. 
152
THE AVATER-TKEATMH.NT.
. But his long residence at Graefenberg, and his extreme
 anxiety to establish the "universality of water/'' ren-
 der him a partial advocate of the merits of his remedy.
 Thus, after the narration of a case, Avliich I shall pres-
 ently quote, he observes, " here there Avas not. air and
 exercise,  and no  particular  diet.   No   doubt  it Avill
 stagger a little those avIio think that diet,  air, and exer-
 cise constitute the principal parts of the Water-Cure."
 Noav I think  I may answer  for  my readers as well as
 for myself, that Ave are quite willing to give a fair share
 of honor to well-directed ablution; and  that, although
 we could Avish to see an  equally Avcll-directed diet add-
 ed, we are disposed to be satisfied in this  case with ab-
 stinence from alcoholic and other stimulants.   But we
 cannot agree with him that air and exercise were omit-
 ted in the case referred to.   The patient was  unable
 to walk out, but she breathed  the fresh air of Graefen-
 berg,  to  her  a change of air, in her  apartment; and
 exercise does not imply walking many miles, but simply
 action of the muscles, to an extent commensurate with
 the powers of the individual.  Such motion was enjoy-
 ed by  the patient in question, firstly, through the  fric-
 tion used by the attendants, and, subsequently, move-
 ment in obedience to her own will.   The  patient Avas a
 lady nearly seventy years old;  she was completely crip-
 pled with rheumatic gout, and had not been out of her
 bed for nearly twenty years.  For sixteen  years she Avas
 unable to lie  horizontally, and for  seventeen had not
 used a pen.   Priessnitz at first refused to receive her,
 but yielding to solicitation, she was  treated as follows: 
       DR.  E.  WILSON ON  THE  WATER-CURE.     153

" Every morning the upper part of her person was gen-
tly rubbed all over for a few minutes with a towel moist-
ened in cold water.  She was then well dried, and her
dress replaced; the legs and feet were then Avell rubbed
in the same way, and the same thing was repeated in
the evening.   A bandage, well wrung  out of cold Ava-
ter, Avas placed round the waist, covered Avith a thick
dry one, and the same dressing occasionally to the legs.
A few tumblers of Avater were drunk during the day,
more or less, as she felt inclined."  Under  this  treat-
ment she  got well.  But  this is no case in disproof of
the value of air and exercise.   A walk across the room
to a feeble invalid  is equal to a mile of brisk walking to
a person in health.
  The following remarks by Dr. Wilson  give a proper
view of the treatment of disease by water : " It is next
to impossible to do more  than lay down  general rules
in the  treatment of  any given complaint.  The treat-
ment must  be  changed from day to* day, according to
the state of the patient, the  nature of his disease, and
the  powers of his constitution.   One  day using  cold
water, sweating, and douche; at  another time  substi-
tuting the wet  sheet, chilled or tepid water ;  and even
 sometimes warm or hot Avater, which Priessnitz has re-
 course to in rare cases ;  at  other  times,  doing nothing,
 or next to it.   In fact, it resolves itself to this :  all de-
 pends upon the knowledge and tact of the practitioner;
 and it requires the same study and same knowledge of
 all diseased states, the powers, properties, and combina-
 tions of the remedv, as in'the practice of medicine."
               7*' 
154
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
  In admitting that  disease has  been cured, and that
much benefit to health has resulted from the treatment
adopted at Graefenberg, there are one or tAvo consider-
ations which must be taken into the argument.  One of
these relates to the arbitrary medical rule which reigns
there, a rule of absolute necessity in the Water-Cure,
and the very basis of success in all medical treatment.
The place recognizes but one  king, and  dereliction is
immediately folloAved by banishment.  This, therefore,
is a condition of importance, if we wish to transfer the
benefits  of the Water-Cure from Silesia  to  Britain.
We must have Graefenbergs in the form of institutions,
under strict lawTs  and rigid discipline.  The advantages
of  institutions of this  nature are thus referred  to by
Dr. Wilson :  " Among the foremost is the  removal of
the patient from all  business, care, and temptation that
can interfere with the cure, and his return to a healthy
state.  The patient^oes to bed early, and gets up early,
and goes through" the different parts of the cure with
more ease and pleasure from the  stimulus of association
and example; he has  the advantage of seeing similar
cases to his own cured, of comparing notes, and receiv-
ing consolation."   At Graefenberg, therefore, existence
and mind are dedicated to health; the pursuit of health
is the sole occupation of the day; the votaries  of Avater
avill follow out the rules  of their director; they will
be  cured, and they are  cured.   Now it is only in an
institution that we could hope to  combine these advan-
tages  in Britain; and I  trust that the  day is not far
distant Avhen Ave  shall see such  institutions, hygienic 
        DR.  E. WILSON ON THE AVATER-CURE.    155

sanatoriums in fact, in  the neighborhood  of all our
large  cities, and  at our watering-places.  My readers
will perceive an additional necessity for institutions in
the folloAving  glance at the instructions  to  a patient,
who inquires how far he  may venture  to practise the
"water-cure" alone : " You can apply cold water every
morning, either by the wet  sheet, wet-sheet  bath, cold
bath,  or shower-bath, or simple  ablution; take a quiet
walk, and drink three, four, or five tumblers of water
before breakfast;  take a  foot-bath at eleven or twelve
o'clock, a tumbler or  two of water, and a  good  long
walk.  The fomentation may be applied during the day
to the stomach, as described.  For a cold, you can lie
in the wet sheet, and be afterwards well rubbed in the
shallow, chilled bath for five minutes;  or when heavy
and indisposed, a good sweating  and a bath;  but not
much more would I recommend  to ordinary people  to
try themselves."   I think few  persons  would be  so
bold as to venture  upon  these  instructions,  however
simple they may appear  to the  suggester, without the
supervision of a medical director.  It has been said of
a person who conducts his own  case in a court of  law,
that he has a fool for his client;  politeness forbids me
to say what kind  of a patient a man has who physics
himself.
   Those who have not read any authentic detail of the
"water-cure," will be astonished to hear of  a writer
saying of himself, that in eight months he  has taken
five hundred cold baths,  four hundred hip-baths, has
reposed  in  a  wet sheet for four hundred and eighty 
156
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
hours, and drunk three thousand five hundred tumblers
of  cold water.   "I once," he Avrites, " by Avay of ex-
periment, SAvallowed  thirty tumblers of Avater from the
spring before breakfast, each a  large half pint, two of
which I  sometimes took at once.  I was  nearly three
hours about it.   At nine o'clock I was so  hungry that
I could hold out no longer, otherwise I Avould  have tried
another dozen.   When I went out at six, I had  a wet
bandage  on the stomach, tightly applied,  and  covered
by a thick dry  one.   When  I went to breakfast, the
abdomen was diminished in size, for my  bandage no
longer stuck so close.   I  never enjoyed  a  morning's
walk  more, and during  the  day felt perfectly well.
My usual quantity Avas from five  to ten tumblers before
breakfast, two before dinner, one or two at dinner, and
two or three during the evening.   This  is  about the
general  rule that ought not to be exceeded during the
cure."
   With our present  knowledge  of  the importance of
the application  of the  principles of  hygiene  to health,
it will not  be without interest and  instruction  to pass
in  review the various modes of using water practised
by  Priessnitz.   His manner of producing and  keeping
up  profuse  perspiration is excellent; it  is thus de-
scribed by  Dr.  Wilson:   " The bedding  is removed,
and a blanket of the  largest size is spread out on the
mattress ; the patient, lying  down  at full  length, is
enveloped  in it as  closely  as  possible, and so  as to
fit well about the neck and feet.  The best covering
over this  is a small feather bed,  which must be tucked 
       DR.  E.# WILSON ON THE WATER-CURE.     157

in about the head and shoulders, and  all the Avay doAvn
to the feet;  it is as well to elevate the head as high as
the  patient  finds it  convenient or  comfortable.    In
this  state he is left until perspiration  comes on; it is
then alloAved  to continue  for  a longer or  a shorter
time.   It  generally takes two  or  three hours  before
perspiration begins;  but  it is a good  plan, when it is
slow, after the  first hour, to  begin rubbing  the  hands
gently against each other, and up and down the sides,
doing the same with the  feet, but  not so as to fatigue
or affect  the  breathing.   As the  packing  up takes
place at  four  in  the  morning, not to lose any part of
the  day,  the  patient has  generally a good sleep  for an
hour or two.   When  perspiration has fairly set in,  the
windoAv is thrown open, and from time to time a wine-
glassful of  cold water is given to drink.   When it
is considered that sufficient perspiration  has  taken
place,  the bed  and  blanket  are thrown off,  and  the
patient steps  into a  bath (if it be in  his  room) con-
taining about a foot  of cold water, Avhere  he is Avell
Avashed and rubbed, assisting  himself as  much  as
possible.   Before sitting  down  in the bath,  it is well,
as a general rule,  to have  a basin of cold Avater at
the side,  in which he just gives his  hands, face,  and
breast a  rub.   When the large bath is used, the  pa-
tient  walks to  it,  still  enveloped  in the  blanket,  a
cloak thrown over  if necessary;  here he  plunges in
at once,  if  it is large enough.  Sometimes it  is  ne-
cessary to have  two  baths,  one with cold, the other
having Avater Avith  the chill  taken  off.  In this case, 
158           THE AVATER-TREATMENT,

he enters first into the warmer bath, and after a good
rubbing, transfers  himself  quickly  into   the  colder
one, Avhere the same thing  takes place for a minute or
tAvo, returning again to the warmer one.  Where  the
douche is  in the house, it  is sometimes made use of
instead of the bath ; I  doubt its great utility.   After
all these processes, he dresses quickly, and goes out to
Avalk for an  hour or longer, drinking, from time to time,
a tumbler  of water."  It is not to be wondered at that
Priessnitz  should  have  considered this as  a process
Avhich no disease could elude, a thorough purgation of
the  humors  through the skin.   But he found, in prac-
tice, that  it was  not generally applicable, that it was
liable to produce  emaciation  and irritability, and that
it was injurious in persons having a determination of
blood to the brain or mucous membrane, or suffering
from nervous debility; that, in fact, he merely separated
the  diluent water from the  system by this  means,  and
left the  blood, loaded with  salts and  highly irritative,
behind.
   There is one part of this process, however, that calls
for special remark, and  that is, the sudden immersion
of the body  in cold water while bathed with perspira-
tion.  This  is easily explained; the skin is stimulated
to excess, and were not  some means taken to check the
action, it would be prolonged indefinitely, and would be
a cause of chill to the surface of the body, and give rise
to cold and fever.  The  cold water, applied  in the man-
ner described, is a stimulant; it produces a momentary
shock  to the nervous system, causes  the arrest of the 
       DR.  E.  WILSON  ON THE  WATER-CURE.    159

perspiration, and is  followed by a  general reaction.*
In describing the manner in Avhich cold Avas produced
by  draughts of  cold air,  I  had occasion  to  remark
that the  checked perspiration  was  the  effect,  and
not the cause, of the  injury done to the system, and
that the real cause of  mischief was the chilling of the
cutaneous nerves, and the consequent depression of the
nervous poAvers.   Cold never  injures  the  body when
acting as a stimulant;  it is only when it acts long upon
the surface, and robs the latter of its heat.   The youth
of Rome, to avoid cold, were wont, after their contests
on the plain of Mars, to leap into the Tiber.   By this
practice, they  checked and  removed the  perspiration
from the skin, prevented its  slow evaporation and  the
cold engendered  by that process, and caused a health-
ful reaction.  If we hear of disease folloAving this prac-
tice, it is in cases where the object is unknown or over-
looked.  The individual is laboring under nervous ex-
haustion from fatigue, or his nervous powers are lowered
by the long continuance of the ablution ; or he is  pas-
sive in the bath;  there is always some such depressing
cause.  As a stimulant, I repeat, immersion cannot be
injurious.   If the patient were to get up from  the bed
and dress, the  probability is  that he Avould  take cold;
he would  then necessarily chill;  but the old  action is
•stopped, and a  new  one induced, by the cold affusion.
   * It is but fair to mention that, at all hydropathic establishments,
the temperature of the water is regulated by the state and power
of the invalid. This rule is particularly enforced in the excellent
establishment with which I  am most familiar, namely, that of Miss
Price, :it Harrow, Middlesex. 
160            THE WATER-TREATMENT.
I may refer also to the practice of Russia, as an illus-
tration of  the harmlessness of  exposure to a stimulant
cold while the  skin. is perspiring.   The Russian quits
his hot vapor-bath to be rubbed Avith snoAV, he then re-
turns to the bath, and again to the suoav, repeating the
process several times, but always finishing with snow.
The cold in his case  has another effect; it subdues
the excitement of the circulation caused by his clumsy
bath.   But in the Priessnitzian mode  there is no such
excitement.  A  method of treatment introduced  into
medicine  many years ago, but rarely adopted  at  the
present  day, consisted  in pouring  several pailfuls of
 cold water upon the patient, then drying him well, and
returning him to bed.  This remedy never gave cold.
   The cold bath of Priessnitz differs  in nothing from
the ordinary bath, excepting in its application, being
rarely taken but as  an  appendage to the sweating  pro-
cess, or wet sheet.    The  shallow bath is a large tub,
containing from  six  to twelve inches  of water.  The
patient remains in it from three to ten minutes, rubbing
his skin  and dashing water over the surface.   It is also
coupled  with the affusion, once or twice, of a basinful
over the whole body; this  bath is  a  derivative in its
action, and is  employed by  Priessnitz  in fevers  and
inflammations, in which the period of ablution  is  pro-
longed according to  the judgment of the prescriber.
The hip-bath (sitzbad),* like the preceding, is deriva-
  * I am enabled to give strong testimony in favor of the sitting-
bath from my knowledge of its successful use in chronic disorders
of the head, chest, and stomach, at the Harrow establishment. 
       DR.  E. AVILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.     161

tive in its action, and is used for chronic diseases, more
especially in those of the upper  and lower  stomach.
It also relieves determinations to the brain and  chest,
" flatulence, colic, spasms, and vomiting."  The period
of prolonging it is from  fifteen minutes to an hour,  and
during its continuance the surface of the stomach is to
be quickly but gently rubbed with the hand.  In com-
mencing either of the above baths, the temperature of
the water is to  be slightly raised, and  in  succeeding
days gradually reduced  to its natural standard.  The
skin, under the stimulation of the water, becomes  warm
and vividly red.
  The damp sheet  (leintuch) is the  chef-d'oeuvre  of
Priessnitz ; it is simply a linen sheet wrung out of plain
water until no more drops fall.   It is then placed on a
blanket over a mattress, and the sides of the sheet  are
brought over the patient and tucked in, so that  he is
well packed up from neck to foot.  The blanket is then
arranged in the same  manner as the sheet, and a light
down bed placed over all.  The head may be  raised to
any elevation that may be agreeable to the patient,
and, when there is headache, a fold of linen dipped in
water may be laid upon the forehead.   The process
lasts for half or three quarters of an hour, or an hour ;
the patient  then rises, takes  the cold or chilled  bath,
walks for an hour, drinks some  tumblers  of water,  and
then is in high condition for breakfast.  In different
cases, the process may be modified by reducing the  size
of the  sheet, leaving out the legs or arms, or both,  and
enveloping  the trunk only; but in  the  most delicate 
 162           THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.

 invalid, the shallow bath at an agreeable temperature,
 after the removal of the damp sheet, is indispensable.
 " Where there is great heat of the skin from fever or
 internal inflammation, the  damp sheet is  changed as
 often  as it becomes warm;  sometimes  as often as
 fifteen or twenty times before the patient is put into the
 bath;  but all this of course depends upon the  symp-
 toms.   It is a poAverful prophylactic remedy, and  as I
 have said, possesses, at the same time, a sedative, sooth-
 ing, and soporific property, calming the pulse, removing
 feverish heat  from the surface, and allaying pain and
 irritation."  As regards domestic qualities, Dr. Wilson
 observes, " After a long journey, or travelling day and
 night,  a damp sheet and cold bath remove every symp-
 tom of fatigue and  any disposition to cold."  " After
 a feverish  night, awaking Avith  headache, malaise, or
 Avhat is called a state highly bilious, let this process be
 gone through, using, at  first, a shallow bath  with ten
 inches  of Avater at 80° of Fahrenheit, and  a good rub-
 bing  for five  or ten  minutes."  Such  is  the " damp
 sheet," and such are stated to be its effects.  It is  cer-
 tainly calculated to equalize the circulation, taking heat
 here, producing contractions of vessels there, checking
 the vital chemistry of mal-nutrition in this place, pro-
 moting  perspiration in that, determining to the surface,
 and occasioning a general and soothing calm to the ner-
 vous system.   And it is equally certain  that, adminis-
 tered properly, it is not likely to produce cold.  If em-
ployed improperly, the cold  bath Avhich succeeds is the
antidote to its  bad effects.   The test, however, of this, 
       DR. E. WILSON  ON THE WATER-CURE.    163

as of all other modes of application of water, is the sub-
sequent reaction ; where this occurs,  the remedy, how-
ever monstrous to the eyes of prejudice in its shape, is
perfectly harmless.
  The wet-sheet bath (abreibung) is a sheet  less com-
pletely emptied of its water by wringing than the damp
sheet, and thrown over the patient, who draws it about
him, and rubs the  upper part of his body, while an
attendant does the same by the back  and lower limbs.
This  is continued for two or three minutes, and then
replaced  by  a  dry sheet, with  which  the  skin  is
thoroughly dried.   The  author  observes, " this is an
excellent portable  bath," and very convenient for
daily ablution and  travelling.  It is tonic in its medi-
cal  effect.
  The wet bandage, or compress (umschlag), is  a damp
sheet in miniature for application to a part of the body.
When used  for superficial  inflammation, it acts by
evaporation,  and the thinner  the material  employed
the better.   When the inflammation is deep or chronic,
it is made to perform the purpose of a fomentation in
the following way: a thin fold of linen is wrung out
of water until no moisture runs from it, and  is  then
spread smoothly  on the  skin;  a  second and  thicker
fold, but dry, and of larger dimensions, is placed  over
the preceding, and both are  retained in their place by
a broad  bandage  which completely envelopes them.
The wet compress is derivative and  sedative in its ac-
tion, and ketps up a gentle excitation of the skin and
free perspiration.   Whenever  it dries, which does not 
164           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

take place for several hours, it is again wrung out of
water and applied ; and its action is increased by Ava-
ter drunk during  the period, and  exercise.  In this
manner  the  wet compress may be worn for days to-
gether, or only during the night or day.   Whenever it
is laid aside, even  for a few  hours, it must be recol-
lected that  the  surface is warm and perspiring, and
the  perspiration must be stopped by rubbing the  skin
briskly with cold water, and then  drying it well.  In
the  latter case, water is used as a stimulant.   The
above remedy is very  useful  in  dyspeptic  disorders.
It is undoubtedly based on the soundest physiological
principles, and enjoys the  advantage over some of the
other modes of application of water of being perfectly
safe, and  so manageable that the experiment can be
easily made.  It is by no means disagreeable; after a
few minutes, the wet is no longer felt, and the com-
press is then warm and not unpleasant.  And this is
the  test of its utility; if it be disagreeable to  the sen-
sations  and remain so, it  will  do harm rather  than
good, and should be abandoned.   I have been familiar
Avith the wet compress  in  different shapes for many
years, and have  seen the most beneficial and surprising
results follow its  use;  it answers every purpose for
which a poultice  is  generally used,  and is  infinitely
more agreeable as a remedy.
   The douche, as used by Priessnitz,  is a  column of
Avater of from " one to six  inches, or more,"  in diam-
eter, and descending from  ten to twenty feet.*   His
  * The douche baths employed at the Harrow  establishment are, 
       DR.  E.  WILSON  ON THE  WATER-CURE.     165

foot-bath, head-bath, and partial baths offer no pecu-
liarities worthy of  notice.  The  cold foot-bath is used
by him as a derivative in determination to  the  head
and vital  organs of the trunk.   " It is," says  the au-
thor so frequently  quoted, "  the  best local  remedy for
habitual cold feet,  keeping them in a glow for the rest
of the day, and Avith  repetition,  permanently restoring
the warmth and  circulation  in them.   To insure a
speedy reaction,  the  feet must be warmed  by rubbing
or exercise before  putting  them  in  the cold water, and
immediately after the bath exercise  must be taken.   A
certain way of warming the  feet and keeping them so
is by drawing on a pair of cotton socks well A\rung out
of  cold water, over  them another  pair  of thick dry
ones,  and a pair of large boots.   A walk in this  state
 warms the feet immediately, and they remain in a gloAV
 the whole day."
 1st, a waterfall douche of twenty feet  descent; 2d, a vertical col-
 umn douche, varying  in diameter from half an inch to two inches ;
 3d, a horizontal  column  douche; 4th, a vertical shower douche;
 iiml 6th, a horizontal  shower douche.  The douches are  sparingly
 used, and  never at the beginning  of treatment, except in particu-
 lar cases. 
 
      SCUDAMORE  ON THE AVATER-TREATMENT.   167




                       IV.

SIR  CHARLES  SCUDAMORE  ON  THE  WATER-
                  TREATMENT.

  The Water-Cure treatment is one powerful for good
and evil, and too much information cannot be obtained
to give a right  direction to the public feeling and con-
duct as to  its reception.   Toward this object I  am
willing to contribute the results of my personal obser-
vation and experience.   As usually happens Avhen any
novel mode of practice is brought forward, it finds both
friends and foes; and often, too,  in such hostile array,
that  the desire of  truth is lost in the  conflict.   I take
the liberty of recommending to the heads of the profes-
sion not to entertain any strong prejudices  against  the
Water-Cure treatment;  for, hoAvever laudably desirous
they may be to exercise a conservative principle on  be-
half of their patients and of society at large, let them
not decide Avithout examination, or pronounce a verdict
without a candid hearing of the cause.
  It is undoubtedly  a startling proposition that  one
like Priessnitz, born in humble life,  without  the  ad-
vantage of much general education, and none of medi-
cal, should  have brought forward a system professing
to supersede, in a large number of disorders,  the ordi-
nary practice of  physic.   The idea may be humiliating 
168           THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
to the natural  pride and  dignity of the learned physi-
cian ; but the  question is  not to be decided in this man-
ner :  it is the measures, and not the man, that we have
to consider.   I have always been of opinion that a phy-
sician should  consider  himself a student to the  latest
period of his life;  for the wisest must still have  some-
thing to learn.  The  maxim  of Hippocrates should
never be forgotten, of " the shortness of life and the
length of art."
   It appears  to  me that the  subject of  hydropathy is
one of  the highest  importance to the  whole of the civil-
ized Avorld, and that its principles and practice deserve
the closest examination.   It would be the height of in-
 justice  in any part of the medical profession  to disdain
its  pretensions because  it had  its  beginning from a
humble source.  As well might we cease to admire the
noble river, in thinking  only of  the  little  spring from
 Avhich it took its rise.
    I  think that some of the writers on hydropathy have
 not expressed  sufficient praise and acknowledgment to
 Priessnitz as the inventor of the treatment constituting
a complete systematic  plan.   To follow in a path is al-
Avays comparatively easy.   It is quite true that parts
of the whole plan,  and the principles, have been known
and  practised* since  the time of Hippocrates, and by

   * At Malvern, the water of the Holywell, so long as 200 years
ago, had  a great celebrity  for the cure of sores, especially of the
scrofulous kind,  both in its external and internal  use.  See Cam-
den's Britannia, and Dr.  Wall's Erperiments and Observations
an the Malvern  Waters. 
      SCUDAMORE  Or, THE WATER-TREATMENT.   169

none  more ably and scientifically than  the  late  Dr.
Currie, of Liverpool.   But  all  that  can be  quoted
from history bears no comparison with the regular sys-
tematic Avhole Avhich Priessnitz  has so  happily con-
structed, and  by Avhich  he has raised for himself an
imperishable fame.   It cannot be expected  that a man
devoid of medical knowledge by  education should  be
free from imperfections.   Some acquaintance with anat-
omy ; with physiology, or the laws of the animal econ-
omy ; with pathology, or the knowledge of various dis-
eases ; and more especially with good diagnosis, would
surely be an advantage to him to possess, if it could be
given  to him  as a  superstructure on  the foundation
which he has built for himself.   He never  could have
made  such discovery of the  powers  of water  if his
thoughts and  attention  had been  divided with other
studies.   It is truly surprising  in how eminent  a  de-
gree his experience and  ready powers of observation do
supply the absence  of regular  science.   Let  it not,
 however,  be supposed  that he  does not  reason upon
 every case that comes before him.  The able discrimi-
 nation which he makes sufficiently proves his good sense
 and his judgment.   *  *   *
   I think that the Water-Cure measures, in combina-
 tion with all the other circumstances that favor health,
 are  powerfully calculated to effect an entire alteration
 in the system, and change the composition of fluids and
 ^lids in a remarkable degree.   This fact is, indeed,
 sufficiently proved  by  the numerous wonderful  cures
 which have been effected at Graefenberg, in instances
s 
170           THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.

Avhich had bid absolute  defiance to the usual means of
professional art.   *   *   *
   It is  my Avish to speak of the Water-Cure treatment
rather as a valuable  addition to the  resources of med-
ical art than  as  its offensive rival or foe.  It is very
true that my  representation of hydropathy gives it pre-
tensions of no small  extent; yet they have many and
important limits.  Every day presents  cases in which
the whole system of  treatment is not applicable; and
the following  diseases may be enumerated in the ex-
ception ;  confirmed  consumption; confirmed epilepsy;
apoplexy, or  a threatening tendency to it; inveterate
, scrofula ;  all serious diseases of structure ;  cancer ;
the maladies  of infirm old age;  certain states of great
debility, and  some other conditions of aggravated mal-
ady.   I ought, however, to observe  that,  in the first
stage  of consumption,  or, rather,  when  its  earliest
threatenings  are  disclosed, certain parts of the  treat-
ment can be  employed with  the greatest  advantage;
and, even in the onward stages of this melancholy dis-
ease, I  have seen rather more than palliative effect re-
sult from using  two or three  of  the  processes.  In
chronic bronchitis the practice, to a certain extent, is
very useful.
   It  is an  interesting  consideration how far advan-
tage may be taken of the Water- Cure in city or town,
without going to a water  establishment.   It  appears
to me that in all the acute  disorders, the various  fevers
and inflammations,  or  certain  spasmodic  attacks, in
which its  adoption may  be  held expedient, it would be 
      SCUDAMORE ON THE  WATER-TREATMENT.   171

as available  in  city or town  as  in  the country,  in a
street as on the  mountain top.   In  the circumstances
of highly excited circulation, Avith  burning skin  and
great  disturbance of the  sensonum, exercise with the
treatment  Avould be manifestly improper;  and I am
certain  that  here we might  employ cold water in  its
different suitable modes to act as a refrigerant, evapo-
rant, and sedative with the utmost propriety; and by
a skilful use of this  powerful  agent  be  enabled to cut
short  an inflammatory disease, somewhat as Ave Avould
extinguish fire.  In  such acute diseases as  I am  noAv
alluding to,  the  water treatment Avould  be  quickly
brought to a  conclusion.   We might think it neces-
sary or judicious to combine with  it some employment
of medicine,  and especially to meet particular symp-
toms.    In  chronic  disease a different view is to  be
taken.  I do  not mean that  even here every part of
the hydropathic measures is  to be  prohibited  to the
toAvn inhabitant; but it is obvious on the least reflec-
tion, that  in  any case in which the full treatment is
required by the long fixture of the disease in the  sys-
tem, all the  adjuncts which I have  before mentioned,
of the  purest water, the finest air,  all  temptations to
abundant exercise  by beauty of country, with regula-
tion of  diet and regimen, must be comprised, in order
that the patient may have the best  opportunity of ob-
taining  a cure.  It is  ahvays the aim of Priessnitz to
eradicate  the disorder  from   the  system and effect a
complete  cure,  not  being satisfied  with a  temporary
amendment; and hence such patience is required on 
172           THE  WATER-TREATMENT.

the part of the invalid, that  he must  not reckon time
too anxiously.   The question naturally presents itself
to the  physician, Cannot the period which appears to
be required for the success of the  Water-Cure treat-
ment,  in long-standing diseases, be  abridged by the as-
sistance and  co-operation of medical means ?  At
Graefenberg, the answer is given by the positive revolt
against all use of medicine ;  and, indeed, as relates to
mercury and iodine particularly, it  is the professed ob-
ject of Priessnitz to expel these poisons from the  sys-
tem Avith  almost as  much solicitude  as he  seeks to
eradicate disease itself.  A devotee of Avater, he has
afforded us  the opportunity of seeing fully AYhat water
treatment alone is capable of effecting ;  and so far we
have  been taught by a non-medical  person  what we
could  not otherwise have learnt.  The extraordinary
length of  time which, in numerous cases  of chronic
disease, Priessnitz requires for the stay of the patient,
must often be matter of regret, from the inconvenience
of the  sacrifice; and hence the question again arises, Can
the period be shortened with propriety by joining the.
influence of some mild medicinal alterative in a man-
ner  not inconsistent  with the full use  of the water
processes ?  In many of the establishments conducted
by medical  proprietors,  if  not in all,  I  know that
medicine is occasionally employed.   This is certain,  it
should not be officiously used; and  I am  convinced,
as a general statement, that it cannot often be required.
The administration of medicine is the exception, not
the  rule.  On  the other hand, it  is not necessary  to 
      SCUDAMORE  ON THE AVATER-TREATMENT.  173

suppose that the Water-Cure is so perfectly understood
in all its parts as not to admit of  any improvement.
  In regard to  the opposition of a great part of the
medical world to this  innovation on the ordinary prac-
tice of physic, looking at human nature, Ave must at-
tribute  a little  of it  to  its  interference with  settled
interests; but with the  respect which I entertain for
my profession, I am of opinion that a higher and no-
bler principle is usually exercised, and  that  a sincere
desire  is felt  to protect  the  public from  a  supposed
danger,  or  cause of  injury.   It  is, therefore, with  a
due regard  for such laudable feelings—and to those of
an  inferior  nature I shall pay no attention—I am de-
sirous to give the most searching  inquiry into the prin-
 ciples  of this new treatment,  and to gain converts to
 it by convincing the judgment, instead  of misleading
 the imagination.   With  this view, therefore, more re-
 mains to be said on this subject than I have yet offered.
   In examining the cases which  I have related,* the
 great amount of treatment, the various  processes used
 almost from hour  to  hour, and continued from day to
 day, from week to Aveek, and from  month  to  month,
 we  must at once  perceive the great influence neces-
 sarily produced upon the whole  animal economy; not
 in an  insulated manner, upon any particular  organ;
 not upon one  order of blood-vessels, or other descrip-
 tion of vessels  distinctly; not upon  separate parts of
 the nervous system;  but that by means of  strong im-
   * A'ide Sir Charles Scudamore's Medical Visit  to Graefen-
 bei^, pp. 38 to 86.—Editor. 
174           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

pressions produced on  all the  living functions, and of
chemical action taking place Avithin the body in  con-
nection Avith vital  force, the  great change and  effect is
produced.  I object, therefore, to  partial explanations
of  the modus operandi of the Water-Cure treatment.
   Hence it is  that I wish to receive Avith caution the
doctrines of Liebig, as bearing on the present question,
if attempted to be used as chiefly explaining the question
which I am now discussing.   It  is Avith diffidence, and
with deep  respect for  this profound chemical philoso-
pher, that  I venture to offer a few remarks.  I cannot
resist the conviction that, however much we  may ren-
der our attention  to the ingenious reasonings which be-
long to  this modern chemistry, we are bound to keep in
view the higher importance and still greater influence of
vital force and nervous energy, as  compared with sim-
ply chemical action; or, at least, Ave must always view
every chemical action  and process  in the  human body
as intimately united  and identified Avith the vital* func-
tion, which is itself very complicated in its nature, and
too mysterious indeed for our perfect comprehension.
    Liebig  observes, " the act of  the waste of matter is
called the change of matter.   It occurs in consequence

   * As a proof that the vital power of vegetables has an influence
upon their secretions which is not explained by modern chemistry,
it may be mentioned that bamboos, canes, the corn plants, and some
others, are covered with a  thin epidermis, consisting of pure flint
or silica, which is evident from analysis!   The stems of these plants,
when burned, will produce a vitreous  substance, arising from the
fusion of the silica which they contain.  This is indeed a wonder-
ful chemistry of nature, in  connection with vital action. 
      SCUDAMORE ON THE AVATER-TREATMENT.   175

of the absorption of oxygen into the substance of living
parts.   This absorption of oxygen occurs only when the
resistance which the vital force of living parts  opposes
to the chemical action of  the oxygen is  weaker than
that chemical action ;  and this weaker  resistance is
determined by the abstraction of heat, or by the expend-
iture in mechanical  motions of the available force of
living parts."  " Disease occurs when the sum  of vital
force Avhich tends to neutralize all causes of disturbance
(in other Avords, when the resistance offered by the vital
force) is Aveaker than the acting cause  of disturbance."
  "In medicine, every abnormal condition of supply
or waste in all parts, or in a single part of the body, is
called disease."  " The globules of arterial blood, in
their passage through the capillaries, yield oxygen' to
certain constituents of the body.  A small portion of
this oxygen serves to produce  the change of matter,
and determines the separation of living parts, and their
conversion  into lifeless  compounds, as well as the for-
mation of secretions ajid excretions."
  It is evident that chemical action—pure chemistry—
does play a very active part in the various processes of
the  human body concerned  in its waste.   But let  us
always carefully keep in view that it is subservient to
a higher department  of function, namely, vital  force,
Avhich is again connected with, and largely depending
on, the nervous principle, or energy, as we may choose
to term it.
  Our bodies are always undergoing change by means
of the removal of old and  deposit of new matter ; but 
 176          THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

 it takes place so  slowly as to  be imperceptible to our
 senses ; except that it is more manifest in growing chil-
 dren ;  for in childhood,  as Liebig observes " more is
 supplied than is Avasted."  When so much excitement
 is given to every function of the body, as in the full
 employment of the Water-Cure treatment, we cease to
 be surprised  at the great effects Avhich are  produced.
 Liebig observed to me in our conversation :  " By means
 of the Water-Cure treatment a change  of matter is
 effected in a greater  degree in  six weeks than would
 happen in the ordinary course of nature in three years."
 Hence arises an additional reason why good judgment
 is required to proportion the amount of treatment to the
 constitutional powers of the individual.
   It is pleasing to observe  the kind of change which is
 produced on the body by the pursuance of the Water-
 Cure for a sufficient time.   In its favorable progress,
 the physical condition of the patient improves in an evi-
 dent and sensible manner.   The skin, from being pale
 or  sallow, acquires  a ruddy hue ; the  muscles become
 fuller and firmer ; fat decreases, and many are glad to
 lose a corpulent abdomen.  In young, groAving persons,
 it is  soon made visible that the capacity of the  chest
 increases,  whence  the lungs  have  fuller play and  a
 brighter bloom  appears in the  cheeks.   Exercise, at
 first  a  difficulty, now  becomes  a pleasure.   The mind
 partakes fully in these benefits  of the body ; the senses
 become more  acute; the faculties more energetic; and
buoyant spirits take the  place  of languor, depression,
and ennui. 
      SCUDAMORE ON  THE  WATER-TREATMENT.   177

  I have to address some observations equally to the
timid and the  bold.  Many, on hearing the subject of
the  Water-Cure  mentioned, shudder with horror, and
think it  another  name for  certain  danger or sudden
death.  Others, on the contrary, view it as too simple,
think the process cheap and easy, and desire to treat
themselves.  The separate employment of any one of
the processes may not suit the taste and feelings  of the
individual, but cannot be considered unsafe, unless used
under improper circumstances.   The  shower-bath,  or
plunging-bath, or  douche  may not be appropriate to a
case ; but who would speak of either as dangerous,  in
a general sense ?   The rubbing down with a wet sheet
(abreibung) is a far milder proceeding  than any of the
other three  modes of applying cold just mentioned.  I
daily made  diligent inquiry at Graefenberg whether ac-:
cidents ever happened from any part of the treatment.
I have related  all  the casualties which I could  hear of.
How feAv are they!  and those few attributable to the
errors and carelessness  of the individuals, and throwing
no deserved reproach on the water treatment itself.
  On the other hand,  the practice is not to be lightly
undertaken  by invalids;  and it  is  only the voice of
kind Avarning  to  say that they ought  not to  attempt
self-treatment.   So-called  local  diseases, but  which
are really constitutional, require general treatment.  I
heard lately of a  gentleman treating his knee, affected
with a rheumatic  inflammation  of the joint, by cloths
constantly wetted with cold water, without employing
              8* 
178            THE WATER-TREATMENT.
any  constitutional  measures.  Within  thirty hours a
fatal metastasis to  the brain took place!
   The  agreement  and good  effects of each and every
process  depend on  nice  and  correct management.
How much more, then, of the whole  systematic treat-
ment !   A competent bath attendant is of the great-
est  importance.   There  must be, in order to success
and the avoidance of accident, a good head to direct,
and a good hand to execute.
   I  much  fear that, from  the  facility  and  apparent
simplicity  of the practice, and the temptation to pecu-
niary gain, persons without the qualification of medical
education will be induced, not only to form water estab-
lishments, but conduct them  altogether, and boldly un-
dertake the responsibility of  the public health.  In no
illiberal spirit, but  from honest  feelings, I protest
against this monstrous pretension and error.  Diagno-
sis is most essential.   Who that is untaught and inex-
perienced can  understand the different kinds, and the
many phases of disease ?  And without such  discrimi-
nation,  and also judicious estimate of the powers of the
individual  to  bear treatment, Iioav  can its amount be
properly prescribed 1   A second Priessnitz, a man of
so much original   genius and powers of  observation,
with so vast an experience derived in so extraordinary
a  manner, is  not,  perhaps, again to be found; and  I
hope, therefore, that  his example will  not be consid-
ered a precedent that  hydropathy shall be practised by
other persons,  wholly unacquainted with  either  the 
       SCUDAMORE ON THK  WATER-TREATMENT.    179

exterior or the  interior  of  the  human body, and  the
complicated functions of the animal economy.*
   The principles of the  Water-Cure treatment are, I
am sure, founded  in nature and truth, and rest, there-
fore,  on  an immutable basis.   The practice may be
occasionally abused, and then evil, instead of good, re-
sult.   If I could  think  that  such a consequence was
necessary, I would not for one moment  be its advocate.
But, convinced as I am  that we  have  in our  power a
new and  most efficacious  agent for the  alleviation and
cure of disease in  various forms, and, in proper hands,
as  safe  as  effectual, I should be no friend  to human-
ity, nor to medical science, if I did  not  give  my testi-
mony  in its recommendation.
   The established practice! of physic is not to be set
  * The partial  exercise of hydropathy by benevolent persons, or
the half-working of the system in incomplete  establishments, do
not come within the whole force of my criticism.  There is as much
difference between  using the water treatment on a small scale, in
this manner, and the employment of the complete system, as prac-
tised at Graefenberg, as between  taking two or three doses of med-
icine, and undergoing an active course of strong remedies.  In the
little way of treatment there would not be much risk of doing
harm, but a cure of important disease could scarcely be effected.
I confess myself disgusted with any prospectus which holds out the
idea of treating cancer with success.
   f An invalid  of rank, at Graefenberg, had  adopted the water
treatment on account of an obstinate intermittent, to which he had
long been subject.  It returned occasionally, even in the mountain
 air. In a severe attack  the water processes  were employed,  as
 usual, for the relief of the paroxysm;  but his physician, who was
 domesticated with him, did not  hesitnte to give him free doses of
 I'l'-uninc, in older to prevent the return of the ague : and the result'
 wns most n:itisf.;etory. 
180           THE WATER-TREATMENT.
 aside, as  some enthusiasts at Graefenberg would de-
 clare !  It would be absurd to think of it;  but if the
 occasion for the use of medicines can be lessened, there
 must be a consequent increase of human comfort.  Bo-
 sides, the  inadmissible diseases for the treatment, con-
 venience  as well as  preference, will  induce the large
 majority, every day,  to meet their ailments  by medical
 help rather than by hydropathic means.   Not that my
 present inquiry relates  to mere policy, or  partial in-
 terest of any kind—no; it is  one of deep and impor-
 tant truth, and to which I desire that justice should be
 done.
    Hitherto I  have  been considering  the  value of the
 Water-Cure treatment  for those who can make their
 choice  of means, and can command  every  comfort in
 health and sickness.  Before I leave  the subject let me
 treat of the poor and needy, who are afflicted with dis-
 ease, and under so  many forms of suffering,  that might
 be treated by hydropathy with certain success.  I ap-
 peal to the rich and  the benevolent  to take into con-
 sideration  the practicability of forming a hydropathic
 hospital, in a healthy locality, in the  vicinity  of Lon-
 don, where the greatest  good  might be  rendered  to
 suffering  humanity,  at a smaller cost, probably, than
 hospitals in general  can be conducted.
   It will be a  fortunate  circumstance for the public
health,  if  the  increasing  popularity of  hydropathic
principles  should  lead to a more familiar  and  regular
use of some mode of bathing or free ablution amongst
the community, the  lower  orders especially, than has 
•
      SCUDAMORE  ON THE WATER-TREATMENT.   181

hitherto  existed.   The  number and  severity of skin-
diseases  would  become  materially  lessened.    But,
also, when we render health  and tone to the skin, Ave
almost close a large avenue to numerous forms of  dis-
ease.
  Small parts of the hydropathic treatment  are appli-
cable  for  every-day use, to  all constitutions, and to
persons  of  every age, and the practice of  which, in
conjunction Avith  temperance,  could  not fail to produce
the  most important and happy.results for the Avelfare
of the rising generation.
  The Water-Cure patient, who may have been blessed
with recovery from  disease and long-suffering, should
be mindful of all the rules of Hygeia for the rest of
life.   If he relapse  into the  same errors, Avhich may
have led to his loss of health, has he any right or title
to expect a permanent cure 1
  In reflecting upon the  virtues of water as  a remedy,
when  properly applied, for the  alleviation or cure of
many  forms of disease,  we find another occasion  of
gratitude to the Great Creator s who  has  in his benefi-
cence provided so convenient an antidote for  numerous
evils which " flesh is heir to."
  The careful study of nature i3 essential to the mak-
ing of a physician ; and he who attentively follows her
precepts will the  most readily be conducted to a know-
ledge of disease, and the rational method of  cure.
        Naturae proecepta colit, morbosque medetur,
        Filaque Parcarum lentius ire docet. 
                       p
182             THE WATER-TREATMENT.
                     APPENDIX.

        VISIT TO PROFESSOR LIEBIG, AT GIESSEN.

  In company with my friend, Dr. Buxton, I made a long detour from
Fulda to Giessen, for the sole purpose  of paying a visit to Liebig,
and learning the sentiments of that distinguished chemical philoso-
pher on the subject of the Water-Cure.  We had the satisfaction of
enjoying a long interview with him; and I owe him great acknow-
ledgment for his exceeding kindness and courtesy on that occasion,
He had formed a high opinion of Priessnitz and his system.  I have
already detailed many of the observations which he made.  Hi;
comprehended the great rationale of the treatment of chronic dis-
ease in  a few words, " change of matter;" and thus the removal of
morbid matter, and the substitution of new that is healthy.  " But,"
lie added, pithily,  " there are other modes—the continued use of
purgatives, and a  walk to Milan."
  I am  well convinced, from long experience, that in the distinct
use of medicine  for important chronic diseases, the persevering use
of alteratives and aperients comprises the only effectual method of
cure, diet and  regimen also being regulated.  In this way I have
been often  successful  in  the  treatment of the  more aggravated
cases of chronic gout,  chronic  rheumatism with sciatica, chronic
hepatitis, and other  maladies which had taken their deep hold of
the  system.  Let  it  not be supposed, therefore, that I lose my re-
spect for the practice of physic in the approbation which I bestow
on  the  new system;  but I do very deliberately declare that there
are states and conditions of disease, especially those of a gouty and
rheumatic nature, in which I would prefer  the Water-Cure treat-
ment to any other, used either distinctly, or in alliance with some
medicine.   The  " walk to Milan" reminds me of the physician who
sent a nervous  patient to a very distant part of Scotland, on the
pretence that he would there find one who was  particularly sue-
cessful  in his description of case.  He  searched for him in vain,
and on his return  vented  his displeasure on the physician for the
cheat: but he was cured ! 
       SCUDAMORE  ON THE  WATER-TREATMENT.   lbo

  We conversed on  the subject of diet.  Liebig  remarked that
coffee impeded the digestion of food for an hour or two, its carbon-
aceous principle requiring oxygen; that green tea should be looked
upon as poison.  He  was himself much in the habit of taking black
tea; but, for the AVatcr-Cure, considered milk and water the fittest
beverage, morning and  evening, and that no wine should be used,
water only.  AVhen  he  wished to study for a continuance, he took
coffee, to delay the return of hunger.   The smoking of cigars  he
condemned as prejudicial to health, much gaseous carbon being in-
juriously inhaled, and unduly robbing the system of oxygen.

                    VISIT  TO BOPPART.
  Our next visit was  to the hydro therapeutic establishment of Ma-
rienberg, close to Boppart, on the banks of the  Rhine, conducted
by its proprietor, Dr. Schmitz.  From  that gentleman we received
the utmost politeness, liberality, and kind attention.   He showed
us over every part of his establishment, and was minute in his ex-
planations.  I had been told  that it was the handsomest in Europe,
und I saw every reason  to believe it.  From the  greatest arrange-
ment to the least, order, beauty, and neatness were alike displayed
The mechanism in the construction of the various baths was highly
ingenious,  particularly  that  used for the sitz-baths  and for the
shower douches.  There was, indeed, much worthy of imitation.   I
should think that about two-thirds only (at most) of the amount of
treatment are used at Marienberg as compared with that at Grae-
fenberg.   Upon this difference I shall not comment.  I asked Dr.
Schmitz whether he gave medicine.  He  said, " Yes, I am a physi-
cian, and  do so when I see occasion, which is  not  frequent."  To
weak patients, standing in need of, or  desiring, the indulgence, he
allowed chocolate for breakfast, and one or perhaps two glasses of
wine* after dinner;  but they must practise this deviation from the
general rule in their private  rooms, not at the table-d'hote.  *  *  *
  * It is habit, so much  more than necessity, which prompts us to  take wine
daily nt dinner.  For six weeks at Graefenberg, and  afterwards, I drank water
 only, and did not suffer any inconvenience from the privation. Shortly after my
arrival I was invited to a  dinner party of twelve, where water only was the
 beverage.  I was never in  more  cheerful society, or where the conversation
 wag mure nuiiniiteil 
184            THE WATER-TREATMENT.
   I am happy in the opportunity  of meeting  with  my friend  Mr
 Mayo, whom I had attended occasionally in London, when suffering
 most severely from chronic rheumatism.  I was extremely gratified
 to find him in a satisfactory state of improvement.  Formerly, the
 knees  and hands were inflamed, swollen, and painful, so that lie
 could never  obtain  rest without the  aid of a large dose of opium.
 He then suffered also very much from the inflammation and rigidity
 of the muscles  and  ligaments of the neck.  Upon  examination of
 the  knees  and hands,  I found them perfectly free from all sign of
 inflammation, and reduced to their natural size.  They  were  not
 tender to the handling; but Mr. Mayo was still apprehensive that
 if he tried to walk, he might bring back inflammation of the syno-
 vial membrane.  The  neck was in a much better  state, but still
 stiff.  He  had, from circumstances, suspended the greater  part of
 treatment  during the winter,  to  the regret  of Dr. Schmitz, who
 thought that if he could have  been more  assiduous, he might by
 that time have been  restored   The patient himself was, however,
 satisfied with his well-doing, and praised the Water-Cure as having
 saved him from being a cripple.  He was in  good general health
 and spirits, and full  enough of energy to take  charge of the health
 of others.
  I asked  Mr. Mayo if, during  his  observation of the Water-Cure
 treatment, for upwards of  a year, he had ever witnessed any acci-
 dent to occur from it.  He assured me not a single one, and that car-
 buncles did not  take place, as is supposed—only boils.  He  added,
 " This  new system of treatment more than doubles our power of
 doing good.  Of course it  will  meet with much opposition; but
 none, come from what quarter it  may, can  possibly prevent its
progress and its taking firm root.   It is like  truth, not to be sub-
verted." 
    DR.  H.  MAYO ON  THE WATER-TREATMENT.  185




                        V.

  DR.  HERBERT  MAYO  ON  THE   WATER-
                  TREATMENT,

  The cold-water cure is a highly artificial course of
treatment, which experience has shown to  be capable
of removing several diseases that Avere before intracta-
ble, and, generally, to  make a capital restorative for
impaired health.
  The  cold-water cure is a sort of training, of which,
when  conducted  with  caution  and judgment, many
more can avail themselves than one Avould  have  anti-
cipated.  When  overdone,  it  has occasionally led to
serious, nay, fatal consequences.   But there is so much
good in it as a Avhole, that for the most part its misuse
even, when not extravagant, leaves the patient  with a
surplus of benefit.
  The  cold-water  cure can hardly be said to contain
any neAV curative element;  almost all its means had
been tried and approved before, but they had not been
combined to form a system.
  The cold-water cure cannot do what medicine can;
neither can medicine do what the cold-water cure can.
The latter,  viewed rationally,  does not  come in to
supersede the former, but to  help it out where it was
at fault. 
186
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
  There is  nothing in the  cold-Avater cure at variance
Avith the use of  medicine, or to prevent  the  two being
employed in conjunction, where neither  alone would
meet  all the exigencies of  a case.   Then to consider
in the most general Avay, Avhat medicine can, and what
medicine cannot do, the better to fix  the place and de-
termine the therapeutic importance  of the  cold-Avater
cure.
   Acute inflammations of  important organs  constitute
the strongest ground a physician can take, by which to
exemplify the utility of his art.   In this  class of dis-
eases  the timely use  of blood-letting, calomel, tartar-
emetic saves many lives, by arresting  disorganizing
processes, which  left to  their natural course Avould
prove fatal.
   Another remarkable field in medical practice is that
of spasms,  pains,  irritation, and nervous  excitement;
that  is  to say, the large variety of  cases over Avhich
opium, as the most efficient representative of its class,
dominates.
   A  third  field comprises  different forms  of  morbid
diathesis, Avhether  congenital or from subsequent vitia-
tion of the body, in correcting which certain  drugs pos-
sess a specific influence, as mercury and iodine in syph-
ilis, colchicum in gout.
   The three classes  of remedial  agents, Avhich  have
been  thus specified,  like every  other good thing, are
liable to be misused, and much harm may  thence arise,
and  has often thence  arisen.   But a practitioner, nev-
ertheless, Avho  should  try  to combat disease without 
     DR. H.  MAYO ON THE AVATER-TREATMENT. 187

them, would resemble a boxer Avho should  enter the
prize-ring with his right arm tied behind him.
  When tonic remedies  are  required,  drugs are less
efficient; but, on the other hand, they are for the most
part innocuous.
  Where  alterative means are necessary, the  course
resorted to in English practice, hoAvever serviceable in
the main, is  not equally unexceptionable.  To get rid
of general and  local plethora, to rouse torpid actions,
to move secretion, to evacuate, purgative drugs are the
means generally employed.  But they are liable to fail,
and their continued use is not without bad consequences.
  The instances last  adverted to belong to the domain
of hydropathy.   If a tonic,  reductive,  or alterative
course is needed, the means which hydropathy brings  to
hand are far more  efficient and safe  than the  corre-
sponding courses of medicine.
  Then the place to be assigned to hydropathy in the
treatment of disease  nearly coincides  Avith the use of
mineral springs to  drink of or bathe in.  The  cold-
water  cure  comprises  the  same valuable accessories
which the practice of  visiting  mineral springs  holds
out, but it embodies them in a much more perfect and
efficient form.   It is not, however, pretended, at least
by me,  that  the cold-water cure can be brought to su-
persede the  use of mineral waters.  On the contrary,
I Iciioav  that the latter are occasionally of service Avhere
hydropathy  has failed.   The  two, justly viewed, are
distinct resources,  each available, as circumstances re-
quire, in aid of medicine.  But the compass  and reach 
188          THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

of hydropathy are Avider and more extensive (especially
Avhen its sedative  agency, hitherto not adverted to, i*
taken  into  account) than  those Ayhich  can be claimed
for mineral baths or Avaters;  the former method of
treatment is, besides, less empirical than the  latter;
its objects  are  more intelligible;  Avhat it does has a
more obvious and direct tendency to correct disordered
actions, and to  remove disease.
         *****
   There are four  principal intentions to which  the
means   that  the cold-water  cure embraces may be
made  subservient.   The  cold-water  cure  may be ren-
dered either  tonic, or reductive, or alterative, or seda-
tive.
   I. The  Tonic  Course.—Of this,  sweating forms
no part.  Cold bathing, with friction and exercise, and
cold water  drunk in moderation as  a stomach-bath, are
its elements.   There may be  considerable variety in
the application  of  these  means, even  with the single
object  at present contemplated.  To  take  examples
almost at random, the following  are  different plans,
Avhich I have ordered with advantage  to  patients, of
Avhom  the weaker could at the time only bear the first,
while others were only benefited by the last and most
stimulating.
   a. A  sitz-bath at eleven in the forenoon, for from
five to ten minutes, to be  repeated  in the afternoon.
   b. The douche in the fore and afternoon.
   [These, and the like formulae, are for  the class of
patients  who, however differing otherwise, agree  in this, 
    DR.  H.  MAVO ON THE WATER-TREATMENT.  189

that they are not strong enough for any curative disci-
pline  till they  have, as  it were, fully awakened their
vital powers  by being up and out,  breathing  the fresh
air, and  having begun to digest  a  nutritious  break-
fast.]
  c. Friction in the  wet sheet at six in  the morning,
and a sitz-bath  twice in the day.
  d. Packing in the  Avet sheet in the  morning  for an
hour,  followed  by friction in  the  Avet sheet, or cold
affusion; the  same  repeated, or  a  sitz-bath  in the
afternoon.
  e. The full bath for half a minute,  followed  imme-
diately by the douche  for three minutes  at six in the
morning.  The douche for five minutes at eleven a.m. ;
a flowing sitz-bath at five in  the  afternoon; rubbing
with the damp sheet  at nine, before going to bed.
  With  such and other variations in  the  use  of the
baths,  the  quantity  of water  drunk  and  of exercise
taken,  and  the  diet  of the patient, require  often to be
as scrupu^usly measured.
   To  what  classes of cases, it may next be  asked,  is
the tonic course of the  cold-water cure applicable ?
Without attempting to make a complete enumeration
of such cases, I may particularize  several  groups, and
the medical reader will have no  difficulty in  adding to
the catalogue.
  1. This  tonic course  may  be employed with  advan-
tage in cases of  general debility, left by  protracted ill-
nesses,  courses  of medicine, haemorrhages—in  short,
in general debility not the result of coexisting disease. 
190           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

  2.  In  debility depending  upon constitutional weak-
ness of  the circulation.
  3.  In  cases of deficient innervation, comprehending,
for instance, hysteria, in which the  use of cold affusion
is Avell knoAvn; mental  depression, with poAverlessness
to exert  the mind and body, except at capricious inter-
vals ; delirium  tremens, in Avhich  the  failure of ner-
vous energy has arisen from over-excitement by drink,
opium, tobacco; certain forms of palsy; palsy of one
side in persons not advanced in years, in Avhom the  head
derangement which caused the paralytic stroke is at an
end, and the  causes  Avhich produced that are no longer
in operation ; muscular Aveakness of the legs threaten-
ing  paraplegia.
  4. In children disposed to scrofula, and even in those
already  laboring under scrofulous disease, in the joints,
bones, or sub-cutaneous glands.   In such cases this
treatment is singularly beneficial.   It must not be re-
sorted to Avhen either the lungs or the mesenteric glands
are  the seat of  tubercle.
  5. In  muscular rheumatism, and in regular gout, in
certain habits.
  II. The Reductive  Course.—The basis of this
course  of  treatment is profuse  sweating,  with just
enough  cold bathing afterwards to prevent the debili-
tating effects of the former.   The  sweating  process is
repeated tAvice  in the day, or, under special  circum-
stances, is continued  for many hours.   In the former
case, sweating by adventitious heat is  often  to be re-
sorted to. 
    DR.  H. MAVO  ON THE WATER-TREATMENT.   191

  The cases in which  this course of treatment is re-
quired (among invalids who travel at least) are com-
paratively feAV; I have seen but  two cases in which it
was positively indicated  and carried into effect;  one,
where it Avould  have been good practice, and Avas  not
done; many in which it has been pursued, in my opin-
ion, improperly.
  A trivial error, common in hydropathic  practice,  is
to apply the reductive treatment to severe colds in the
head or on  the chest.   The error is encouraged by the
facts  that  trivial colds,  Avhich would soon get  Avell
spontaneously, are not  prevented doing so by hydropa-
thy, and that severe colds are often gone  through with
with less inconvenience to the patient Avhen  he  SAveats
and bathes than othenvise; for the sweating really re-
lieves the cold a little, and the cold  bath  which follows
is a temporary fillip, and makes the patient feel  better,
even if it protracts  his  cold.  A gentleman, who  is a
great  advocate  of hydropathy, and has  passed some
weeks of  the summers of  the last four or five years in
hydropathic establishments, told me that he went  last
summer (1844) to  Graefenberg, with little  the  matter
with him  but a cold, which he had accidentally caught,
but with a firm faith that Priessnitz would cure that for
him at once.  However, his cold lasted him three weeks
at Graefenberg.   Then I remember an  English  lady  at
Marienberg, one of the most undaunted followers of the
cold-water  cure whom I  have  knoAvn,  Avho  for a  cold
consented to be Avrapt up in the blanket tAvice a day for
a fortnight; but at the end of that time she was  no  bet- 
 192           THE  WATER-TREATMENT.

 ter, and was  compelled to give in by the weakness and
 giddiness which such violent perspirations had brought
 on.   The proper remedy for a severe cold is to keep
 for three or four days in a Avarm room, and  take light
 and great part liquid diet.   This I kneAv before I tried
 hydropathy, and therefore deservedly suffered when  I
 allowed myself to believe and to be lured to  try sweat-
 ing and cold  bathing as a substitute.  To impress this
 point the more strongly, I will narrate another case.
 A  patient  came to Marienberg in June, 1843, Avhilc  I
 Avas  yet  there, and because I was  there.  He brought
 with him a severe  cold and bronchitis, Avhich he had
 contracted on his journey, and which, being  a surgeon,
 he knew well enough how to treat.   But feeling a deli-
 cacy in Dr. Schmitz's  house as to the  use of  any rem-
 edy but hydropathy, and being, notwithstanding his past
 experience, still a staunch believer in the whole system,
 he put  himself into Dr. Schmitz's hands to be cured.
 Accordingly,  he was packed in the blankets, Avith a Avet
 bandage  applied round the chest, twice a day for three
 to four hours, and  profusely sweated; and  the  opera-
 tion  terminated by his being washed with cold  Avater,
 Avhich brought on, as  regularly as it  Avas used, suffo-
 cative fits of coughing.  However, he went on with this
 for three days, till  his condition really became alarm-
 ing, Avhich I led Dr. Schmitz to see, Avho then proposed
 that I should  take him under my own  care.   All that
 the poor felloAV wanted Avas warmth and  quiet—just te-
 be liberated from hydropathy.  So, ordering  him some
Avarm diluent, I left him to the repose he needed; and 
     DR.  H.  MAYO ON THE  WATER-TREATMENT.  193

1  found the next morning that, exhausted as he was, he
had slept Avell Avithout using the opiate I had placed at
his  bedside.   He Avoke refreshed, his cough looser, his
chest  less sore; and, living on tea and broth for a feAv
days, he was  convalescent.
  The reductive course in hydropathic treatment prom-
ises to be of signal value in the cases which on intelligible
medical grounds require it, of which the most prominent
are the asthenic forms of gout and  rheumatism;  but
when not so required, it strains  the system and is lia-
ble to be very mischievous.   And there is this source
of delusion attending it: persons of fair strength, in
whom it is employed  without  any occasion, are not at
the first  the  worse for it; but with keener appetites
and invigorated powers of digestion, at first even gain
flesh while they are pursuing  it..  After a while they,
unaccountably  to themselves, fall away through what
first agreed Avith them, and  lose  flesh, strength,  and
tone of health.
   III. The  Alterative Course.—The basis of  this
mode  of treatment  is  the employment of the  two an-
tagonist means of sweating and cold bathing  in coun-
terbalancing  proportions ; to produce free perspiration,
but not to reduce by  it; to give tone by cold  bathing,
but not to stimulate; to bring the other secretions to a
wholesome state by  exciting moderate action of the
skin;  to give tone to  the stomach and alimentary canal
by draughts  of cold water;  to promote all the  vital ac-
tions  by moderate exercise: these are the intentions of
the alterative course.
               0 
194
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
  Thus, the patient is to be packed every morning in
the blanket, or in the blanket and wet sheet alternate-
ly, till perspiration commences, and then to have water
poured on him, or  to take the plunge-bath.   This, with
attention to the accessories of hydropathy, and drinking
a feAV tumblers of spring-water at appropriate hours,
constitutes the essential of the alterative course.  And
it certainly seems difficult to imagine a course of treat-
ment, on  the one  hand, less  exceptionable on  any
oround ; on the other, better calculated to work a sal-
utary change  in the blood and  the  system.   Certainly
the  ordinary  resources of medicine, the  small dose of
blue pill  at  night,  the tonic  aperient  draught in  the
morning,  or  a course of alkalies and sarsaparilla, or
what not, however useful these means, when others are
not to be had, are-not only experimentally, but to one's
common sense, resources that  promise  less than  the
simple hydropathic course above specified.  For it is
to be borne in mind that the function of the stomach,
and  the action of the bowels, on which so much  turns
in  the restoration of health, are invariably improved
by hydropathy, and that these effects are obtained with-
out nauseating the one organ or heating the other.
   Then Avhat  I  have specified  as  constituting  the
proper alterative  course in  hydropathy, simple as it is,
contains all  that is necessary for  the restoration of a
vast variety of cases.   And  there  are many and many
patients, the  progress of whom towards recovery is ma-
terially retarded  by  complicating  the  treatment,  and
subjecting them to increased discipline.  As the phy- 
DR. H.  MAYO ON  THE  WATER-TREATMENT.   195
sician is often pressed  by the patient himself to alloAV
him to do more than is right in his natural anxiety to
get on faster toAvards  health, and as the hydropathist
bimselt' may be supposed to have a  bias  in favor of
employing many baths, the patient seldom escapes with
so little discipline.
   Often, again, more treatment either is at first requi-
site, or shortly becomes so.   The alterative course has
often to be shaped to one or  other additional character.
It has to be rendered, often,  alterative and tonic—when
sitz-baths, douches, river-baths have to play their part
in the fore  and afternoon, following the early morning
discipline ;  or  it  may  require  to be rendered  altera-
tive and revulsive, of which long-continued  frictions in
the half-bath are  the characteristic element.  Then let
me briefly specify what the  cases are, which are likely
to derive  benefit from an alterative hydropathic course.
   There  are many who have started in life with every
promise of enduring health and strength, yet who, " nel
mezzo del  cammin,"   either  from  over-exertion of
 thought, or anxiety, neglect of proper relaxation,  ne-
 glect of exercise,  living in confined air, errors of diet—
 from some or all of these causes combined, have found
 that promise defeated.  Their spirits have lost their
 elasticity, their  temper has become irritable, mental
 exertion  is often  an effort, and  leaves them unstrung
 and exhausted : they experience headache  and loss of
 sleep, the  appetite  and  digestion are capricious, the
 bowels torpid, they look out of health, and with no pos-
 itive illness are  yet  standing on the threshold of dis- 
196
THE WATER-TREATMENT'.
ease.   Head disorder, confirmed dyspepsia, irregular
gout, this or that  local ailment may come out of such
a beginning, and convert them into permanent invalids,
or, at the lightest  event, throAV them temporarily out of
their career of active life and useful exertion.
   To the large class whom this outline  embraces, the
invention of hydropathic   establishments is a signal
benefit.   Two, or three, or four months of the cold-
water  cure will serve,  not to patch up  these threat-
enings of disorder (which is just what ordinary expe-
dients  do), but to restore  the  patient  to  sound and
solid health, Avith the comfortable conviction, derived
from the thorough restoration he  has obtained,  that by
attending always  more or less to the  rules of hydropa-
thy, or, if  need be, resorting, from time to  time, to its
strict discipline, he may preserve the renewed  blessing
of health Avithout relinquishing an active career in life.
   Gout has hitherto been one of the "opprobria medico-
rum."   Sydenham could only console the patients whom
he could not cure with the  remark that the Avise and the
 Avealthy are its surest subjects.   Now hydropathy can
 eradicate gout; and this, not only in incipient cases, but
 in all but a feAV extreme cases of old standing and great
 inveteracy.  And the method  is the  simplest  in the
 world;  all that  is generally needed  is  the alterative
 course of the cold-water cure.   *   *   *   The great
 use of hydropathy in gout is to  eradicate the complaint
 —not to subdue Avhat are called  fits of gout.   Over
 these, indeed, it has great  power, and in some instances
 reductively, in others sedatively.  But, in general, it is 
     DR.  H.  MAYO ON THE AVATER-TREATMENT.  197

better to subdue a fit of the gout supervening under hy-
dropathic practice by the assistance of opium and colchi-
cum, without interrupting the general treatment.  The
fit is then disposed of  more quickly, and at less suffer-
ing to the patient, while the radical cure of  the  com-
plaint goes on as before.   I am aware that the sound-
ness of this  advice will be questioned  by many who
have had experience of hydropathy. " In that case my
reply is, try and compare both systems before you con-
demn mine.
   Constitutional  rheumatism,  irregular  gout,  blind
gout, dumb  gout, general  gout, or by whatever  name
this troublesome complaint is in preference designated,
yields equally well and surely Avith regular gout to the
cold-water cure.   *   *   *  Finally, there  are  cases
of  pure scrofula  to which the alterative  hydropathic
course  is properly applicable.   Generally, however,
where I have seen sweating  employed  as  part of the
 treatment of scrofula, it has been manifestly injurious.
   Diseases of organs to which the alterative hydro-
pathic  course is applicable.—Indigestion, congestion
 and disordered action of the liver, torpor of the boAv-
 els, local disorders  of the rectum,  urinary diseases,
 uterine  complaints,   nervous  disorders,  paraplegia,
 hemiplegia,  etc.   In lighter head disorder,  nervous
 headache, headache from  determination of blood, and
 their  complications,  it is  evident  how  much is to be
 expected from an alterative  hydropathic  course, eon-
 joined  with the  use  of sitz-baths, foot-baths, and  the
 like. 
198
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
   Disorders of the skin are  not the best cases for hy-
dropathy, inasmuch as the hydropathic means all tend
to irritate the skin.  Nevertheless, as disorders of the
skin are often the result of general  derangement of
health, many are  thus cured.  Their treatment re-
quires a very light hand, and the frequent substitution
of warm or tepid baths for the cold bath.
   IV. The Sedative Course presents the following
varieties :  it may consist in—
   1.  Cold affusion.
   2.  General or partial immersion in cold water for a
period from half a  minute to three hours or more.
   3.  Packing in the wet sheet, to be reneAved  as soon
as the bodily heat has reached its full pitch again—for
instance, every twenty minutes for several hours con-
secutively.
   4.  Long-continued immersion  in  cold water, suc-
ceeded by packing  in the blanket.
   The cases admitting the  application of the sedative
course are fevers,  inflammations, spasmodic  affections
of the voluntary muscles, mental excitement, delirium,
insanity.
   The application  of cold affusion in fevers,  and in the
exanthemata,  was  made by Dr. Currie,  on  so  exten-
sive a  scale, and  crowned with such success, as to make
it a matter of wonder that physicians who  united in
believing and  applauding his  statements should have
been afraid to adopt his practice.  I have little doubt
that Dr. Currie's  method  is  preferable to  the more
elaborate hydropathic  manner  of applying cold in fe- 
    DR.  H. MAYO  ON THE WATER-TREATMENT.  199

vers, when the object is  to cut the fever short.   On
the other hand, in the advanced  stages  of fever, and
for the exanthemata, it is probable that packing in the
wet sheet may prove the best practice.
   Again, in rheumatic fever, it is probable  that  reit-
erated packings in the wet sheet, each prolonged till
perspiration has  begun, are the proper basis of treat-
ment.   The same, it may be anticipated, will be found
to be  the appropriate practice, if  hydropathy be appli-
cable  to  the treatment of  hectic fever and symptomatic
fevers generally.
   The  efficacy of  hydropathy in inflammation is far
more  questionable than in fever.  Yet in inflammation
of the brain, and  of  the  abdomen, in some  cases  of
acute phlegmon, as of the hand after wounds in dissec-
tion,  there is no  doubt that the  continued application
of ice,  or iced water, has been  of the most  salutary
effect.   But it appears to me  that this whole field has
to be gone over aneAV.   It is probable that more  cases
of acute inflammation can be treated by the direct ap-
plication of cold  than one would  have ventured to ima-
 gine  possible.   Priessnitz is  said to have cured  croup
 in an advanced stage by taking thus all heat out of the
 body of  a child  but  that necessary barely to keep it
 alive.   Till the  experiment  has  been scientifically
 tried, we do not know how  far  it may answer  to let
 heat  instead of letting blood in inflammations.
   The efficacy of the cold bath in spasmodic  affections
 has been occasionally evinced in tetanus.   But what 
200           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

would be the effect of repeated  packings in the wet
sheet Avrung out of iced Avater 1
   It  cannot  be doubted  that a judicious  employment
of hydropathy, in cases of insanity, Avould be of ser-
vice.   But its use  must, of course, be secondary  to
general management and  moral discipline.   So the ex-
periment can only be well conducted in an  establish-
ment appropriated to the care of the insane.
   I look back at what I have written  and consider it
in a  double light;  in reference to medicine, and  in
reference to pure hydropathy.  In reference to medi-
cine I am  fully satisfied.  I have shown, with no at-
tempt at a falsely  scientific coloring,  but simply and
practically, how many  cases  which Avere  imperfectly
relieved  by medicine, can be  restored by a system  of
cold bathing, and certain accessories used upon the in-
telligible principles  of ordinary medical treatment.   In
reference to the cold-water cure  I  am  less  satisfied.
I believe,  indeed, that I have spoken  the truth; and
that in sifting  and  classifying  its different  agencies,
and ordering them as auxiliaries of medicine,  and part
and  parcel of one healing art,  I am fairly reclaiming
for medicine her own.   *   *   *   Still, I am not sat-
isfied to cut down hydropathy to the rules and  minis-
tration of  medical  practice without a tribute  to the
genius of the inventor.   I believe that the therapeutic
inventions  of  Priessnitz  will prove of  great  benefit to 
     DR. H. MAYO  ON THE WATER-TREATMENT.  201

humanity.   *   *   *  I  do not profess,  however,  to
do the same things  that he does.   I do not adopt and
use his cold-water cure without modifications which  he
would repudiate as  hostile to the spirit of  his method.
But I take its elements and employ them in my own
way.  Perhaps,  if  the prescribed  routine had suited
my own case,  I  might have been misled by it.  But
my OAvn case was too serious, and  could  not be cured
by the system with its errors;  it happened  to require
and admit of a part only of the routine treatment; and
in following this vieAv, and looking to see how much
each individual  case  of  serious  disease requires, the
system has  disappeared, and, in the place  of the cold-
water cure, I discern only a more extended and scien-
tific use of cold bathing.
              9* 
 
dr. houghton's  observations.       203
                       VI.

OBSERVATIONS ON HYGIENE AND  THE WATER-
                 TREATMENT.

        BY ROLAND S. HOUGHTON, A.M., M.D.

  Sir Bulwer Lytton, in the commencement of his
Confessions of a. Water Patient, vividly portrays  the
physical life of the literary brotherhood.  Addressing
himself with his usual grace to his successor in the edi-
torial chair  of The  New Monthly,  the  author of
Harold—mindful of the fate of Campbell,  Hood, and
Theodore Hook—gives  utterance to  an outburst of
eloquence in which many  a home-truth literally shines
forth in " words that burn."   " Here we are,"  he ex-
claims, " in these days of cant and jargon, preaching
up 'the  education of the mind,' forcing our children
under melon-frames, and  babbling to the laborer and
mechanic, ' Read, and read, and read,' as if God had
not given us muscles, and nerves, and bodies, subjected
to exquisite pains as pleasures—as if the body were not
to be cared for and cultivated as  well as  the mind;
as if health were no blessing, instead of that capital
good, Avithout which all other blessings—save the hope
of health eternal—groAV flat and joyless ; as if the en-
joyment of the Avorld in which we are, was not far more
closely linked Avith our physical than our mental selves ; 
204           THE avater-treatment.

as if we were better than maimed and imperfect men so
long as our nerves are  jaded and prostrate, our senses  *
dim  and  heavy, our  relationship Avith nature abridged
and thwarted by the jaundiced eye, and failing limb, and
trembling hand—the apothecary's  shop between us and
the sun !  For the mind, we admit that, to  render  it
strong and clear,  habit and discipline are required; how
deal we (especially  we, Mr.  Editor, of the London
world—Ave of the literary  craft—we of  the restless,
striving brotherhood), how deal we with the body 1  We
carry it  on' with us, as a  post-horse,  from stage to
stage.   Does it flag!  No rest!   ' Give it ale, or the
spur!1   We begin to  feel the frame break under us;
we administer a drug,  gain a temporary relief, shift the
disorder from one part to another—forget our ailments
in our excitements, and when  we pause at last, thor-
oughly shattered, with complaints grown  chronic, dis-
eases fastening to the organs, send for  the doctors in
good earnest, and die as your predecessors  and your
rival died, under combinations of long-neglected mala-
dies, which could never have been known had we done
for the body  what we  do for the mind—made it strong
by discipline and maintained it firm by  habit."
   Farther on in the  narrative, our author tells us that,
in preparing to  struggle  against "the  longa cohors"
of his  own complaints, he determined to have some in-
sight into a  knowledge he had never  attained since
manhood—the knoavledge of health.   A frank ad-
mission !—and yet one that legions  and  myriads might
make with as much  truth and sincerity.   It is a very 
           dr. houcihton's  observations.       205

 common opinion  that  there is no such science as the
 science of human life, and that health and disease are
 essentially lawless in their nature.   Born and  brought
 up with the most  vague and indefinite  ideas of the
 structure of the human frame  and  its  physiological
 uses, and carefully educated in a manner so tenderly
 luxurious as actually  to foster this ignorance, a very
 large portion of the community has arrived at the be-
 lief  that health is a mere matter of chance and  good
 luck, and disease an active principle of evil within—an
 imp  or demon  which  must be killed  or  exorcised by
 means  of some cabalistic mummery, or some empirical
 compound supposed to possess great potency and virtue,
 and profound discrimination!   There is many an intel-
 ligent,  estimable, and distinguished personage in our
 country who is grossly ignorant and  infatuated  with
 regard  to the subject of health and disease, and medi-
 cinal treatment.  Look in almost any newspaper, glance
 over its advertising columns, and who are most loud and
 enthusiastic  in praise of the  new panacea, the last pa-
 tented pill, and the most recent (and " genuine") extract
 of sarsaparilla 1  Are  they  not too frequently  " edu-
 cated"  men—members of the  clerical calling, for in-
 stance, more " philanthropic" than discreet 1  Are there
 not members of the bar who are sometimes equally out
 of their element 1  Professor Dickson mentions a judge
in one of our Southern States Avho had contracted the
habit of taking an incredibly large number of cathartic
piils  as regularly  every morning as his breakfast; and
we frequently hear of individuals who are  sadly addict- 
206
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
ed to dosing themselves, and swallowing in particular
combinations of calomel, jalap, and gamboge, to an ex-
tent that is really monstrous.   Instances of  this kind
are so exceedingly common as hardly to need mention-
ing ;  but in this  connection it may not be improper for
me to advert briefly to one or two recent and melan-
choly cases strikingly in point, as tending  to  illustrate
the  absolute madness of such a mode of life.  There
are doubtless many in the community who recollect with
what profound sorrow the whole country heard of the
sudden death  at Boston,  a few years  ago,  of Hugh
Savinton Legare, one of the most accomplished  schol-
ars, jurists, and  statesmen our country has  ever pro-
duced.   It is now perfectly well settled that the fatal
termination in this case was OAving to the long-continued
use of purgative medicines  in  large  quantities, and
among them some of the most violent drastic-cathartics.
A terrible disorder, of which I may perhaps give  some
definite  idea by styling it a double  knot in the  intes-
tinal canal, was the result of this practice:  a malady
wholly beyond the  reach of  the ablest members  of the
healing  fraternity.   In the  case of Mr. Legare, out-
raged nature finally sank under an  unequal conflict;
and  thus  fell an illustrious victim to that  absurd and
miserable  feeling which  holds it to be manly  and intel-
lectual to  exalt the mind  at the expense of the  body;
to cultivate the one to the top of perfection, and either
slight the other with persistent neglect, or force it  to
unnatural  action by  any  means whatever, no matter
how harsh.  I remember having also seen it stated that 
dr. houghton's observations.       207
Joseph Story, the  learned,  amiable,  and  excellent
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States for
the Eastern District,  Avhose death succeeded  only  tAvo
or three years afterwards, perished of a similar disorder.
Strange that the learned expounders and the nice ob-
servers of the  constitution  of  our government  should
so persistently violate the laws  of  their own being!  I
am fully aAvare that such sudden deaths  are commonly
regarded as " melancholy dispensations of Providence;"
but is there not reason to believe that this phrase is by
far too often and  too lightly employed 1  Is there any
cause whatever for especial wonder, in the two  instances
just cited, that the  distinguished subjects  came to an
end so fearful 1  Do we not see in the result  merely a
just retribution for  an obstinate  violation of the laws
of nature; or is it so very difficult  to  arrive at a  cor-
rect conclusion that we are forced  to believe in a super-
natural cause of death 1   Can any intelligent, candid
mind hesitate  on  such a point for a moment 1  Have
we any reason to suppose that  the sublime  Intelligence
which  fashioned  the  beautiful  fabric Ave call " man,"
would place it in the  world subject to no fixed rules of
action, much less create it for the purpose of  becoming
its capricious  destroyer 1   With  such light as we now
have  on the subject of health and disease, is it not
strange in the extreme, that when we are thus called
upon to mourn the loss of valuable  lives—lives of men
whom our country can ill afford to spare—and who die
mainly from their blind refusal to believe that  there is
such a science as the  science of human life,  with its 
208           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

own fixed principles and rules of action, and that any
and every infringement upon those laAVS AYhich the Cre-
ator has  established with  such consummate Avisdom, is
sure  to be followed, sooner or later, by  some  equally
fixed  and precise penalty: is it not strange in the ex-
treme, that such calamities  can be  regarded as direct,
especial, " divine visitations?"   What possible ground
can we discover for thus distinguishing  between divine
and physical laws ?  Are they not one and the same ?
Were they not pre-ordained  for our guidance at the
creation  of the  world  by the same Almighty Power ?
And have they not continued in force up to the present
moment ?  Why then  should we resort to doctrines so
thoroughly imbued with weakness and credulity, if not
absolute impiety ?  Do they not savor  more of the old
heathen superstition so general in the days when it Avas
implicitly believed, that the gods descended from above
in their own proper persons to wreak their cruel, unre-
lenting  vengeance upon their human victims, than  of
the Christian theory  of an  active,  merciful, superin-
tending Providence, manifesting itself no longer through
the agency of  direct miracles, but  through the quiet,
regular operation of natural laws 1   I do not think it is
too much to say that, if  we were closely to scrutinize
the daily habits of the unfortunate " victims" of the
many so-called "divine dispensations," in almost every
instance (and the exceptions would only serve to confirm
the rule), we should promptly discover some aberration
from correct habits and  principles of life, of a nature
amply sufficient to account for the fatal  termination in 
          dr.  iiougtiton's  observations.       209

each one  of such  cases,  Avithout uttering calumnies
upon the  laAvs of nature.   I cannot believe that an
all-wise and all-merciful God would resort to a miracle
to accomplish what the follies  of man  are every day
effecting without one;  and I do not deem it unjust or
irreverent to style  those  Avho are  so constantly on the
alert to discover supernatural  causes of death, blind
worshippers  in the temples of false gods, when the sub-
limely simple laAvs of health  are so plain to every one
of barely ordinary intelligence and capacity that  " he
who runs may read."
  There is nothing lawless in human life; there are
laws of health and  disease as clearly defined as those
which govern the planets in their wanderings and  keep
the universe in order—as fixed and unalterable as those
which regulate heat and  light and the electric fluid—
as firm and unchanging as those which control the tides.
There is not a single process, healthy or morbid, in the
functions of life, which does  not closely follow its own
especial laws of action.  Nature does not more intensely
abhor a vacuum than any thing  which tends toAvards
anarchy and chaos  in  the human constitution ;  ever
acting as our "benign mother," her vigilance is unceas-
ing, her kindness untiring; her  silent forces are con-
tinually on the watch to preserve, or defend, or repair,
so exquisitely organized is the human system, so admi-
rably contrived to discharge  every natural function du-
ring the allotted period of human existence, so finely   •
endowed with intelligence to  warn, control,  and deter-
mine our steps; our mental and physical organizations 
    210           THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.

    are each so perfect and healthy as originally constituted,
    and so simple and clear are the laws which have been
    pre-ordained for our guidance, that we are  forced to
    arrive at a conclusion (Avhich to a wise man Avould look
    like a truism),  that our life on this earth  is  naturally
    one of confirmed health, and that every thing like dis-
    ease is the necessary penalty of physical disobedience.
    I am not  disposed, hoAvever,  to  push this doctrine to
    the verge of  ultraism;  I do not believe that disease is,
    in all cases, " synonymous with guilt,"  or that all ill-
    health should be denounced as " sin;" and no one can
    be more ready than I am to make all reasonable  allow-
    ances for peculiarities of constitution and  morbid sus-
    ceptibility arising from  local residence or hereditary
    transmission.   Still, the  proposition that  I have laid
    down, is one  that is  based upon  unquestionable  truth,
    notwithstanding cases may (and often do) arise in  which
    some difficulty may be experienced in making a close
    application.
      It is  sad  to think how very few persons  have  any
    thing like a correct idea of what is meant by "a high
    state of health."  The eccentric Mr.  Abernethy is said
    to have expressed the belief that  there was not  in his
    day a  single  healthy  person  in London!   A similar
    opinion has also been put forth with regard to our own
    country!   Such assertions, however, may   seem too
    broad and  sweeping to  those  Avho  have no  clear  and
,   distinct ideas upon  the subject;  but they will wear a
    very different aspect to those  who correctly appreciate
    the laAvs of nature and the value of judicious hygienic 
          dr. hougiiton's observations.       211

management.  It is a common objection, I know, that
u life is too short" to enable one to devote the requisite
time and attention to *he care of " mere health," and
that the exacting usages of modern society, the multi-
plied claims of business avocations, and  the pressing
urgency of domestic duties all conspire together against
putting into practice what every one will  admit  to be
" a very good theory."  This is the usual way of " beg-
ging the question," to say nothing of its evincing that
kind of  fondness for error which  is so peculiar a pro-
clivity of poor human nature.   The  subject is one of
such interest, however, that  I venture  to brave the
charges  of prolixity  and  pedantry for the  purpose of
taking it up and considering it in detail.
   We understand by the term " healthy organization,"
the physical condition of  the  human being as he was
originally constituted by the Supreme Creator.   From
the moment of the earliest inception of life, the  phys-
iological nature  of  every human being  has been pre-
ordained with the Avisest forethought and most  sublime
simplicity.   If we trace the  progressive  development
of the human being  from the primal form of existence
to the full maturity of growth, we cannot but be wholly
at a loss to appreciate adequately the consummate wis-
dom which has controlled every step—regulated  every
process.  The nice  adaptation of parts,  the accurate
distribution of functions, and  the wonderful provisions
by Avhich harmony has been induced and sympathy se-
cured between the  several organs constituting the one
symmetrical whole—all these  are only a few of the con- 
212           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

siderations which tend to elucidate the true province of
nature.   The human frame is  the very perfection of
earthly beauty, simplicity, and symmetry.  The Venus
of the Palazzo di Medici and the  Belvidere Apollo of
the old sculptors still remain in our own day the unri-
valled types of  a godlike (but still  merely human)
beauty.   There  are thousands of seemingly complica-
ted details  Avhich go to make up the  grand  sum-total
Avhich we call the animal economy; but the  system it-
self, in whole or  in part, is unequalled and  inimitable
as regards  simplicity  and  symmetry  of construction.
What instrument has  ever been designed  by plodding
philosopher or scheming sage more symmetrical than
the hand?   What daring optician will strive to out-
rival  the eye ?
   The intelligent student of human anatomy is always
enthusiastic on  a theme like this.   The very skeleton
itself is to him no image of foul corruption, or grinning,
ghastly horror.   In its component parts he sees nothing
but  " organs of  support" (as Wilson  describes  them),
" giving  firmness and  strength to the  entire  fabric, af-
fording points of connection to muscles, and  bestowing
individual character upon  the body." He  finds that
the bones form "hollow cylinders in the limbs, admira-
bly calculated  by their conformation  and structure to
resist violence  and support weight;"  in the head  and
trunk he sees that their arched  formation is  peculiarly
fitted to protect  the important and delicate organs be-
neath ;  in one  place he  finds them acting as pulleys,
in another as levers;  and all, Avherever they arc situa- 
dr. Houghton's observations.        213
ted, most ingeniously contrived  " to fulfil every move-
ment Avhich may tend to the preservation of the crea-
ture, or be conducive to his welfare."  The joints by
which these bones  are articulated together, the liga-
ments by which they are bound  in place, and the mus-
cles attached to their various surfaces  and prominent
points, so as at once to invest and protect them, Avhile
they at the same time fulfil  their principal office as the
moving organs of the animal frame, next demand and
receive his  closest scrutiny and most profound admira-
tion.  He finds utility every where present, with no at-
tending superfluity ; for nature  is never knoAvn to ex-
ceed or fall  short  of the  exact requisite ; all such
extremes she carefully avoids, and all such errors—no
matter Avhether they be of omission or commission.   He
sees that each muscle  is assigned especially to its own
specific duty, while bands " of various extent and thick-
ness are distributed through the different regions of the
body for the purpose of investing or protecting the softer
and more delicate organs."   Passing next to the arte-
ries which run their course  from the grand central or-
gan, the heart, and tracing  them in fancy to their final
termination in the minute capillaries, Avhence the veins
in their turn arise, carrying the impure fluid  back to
the right auricle, he  is lost in  astonishment (and who
would not be ?) at the stupendous machinery of the cir-
culation of the blood.   Glancing next at the  nervous
system, which  suffers  so terribly in  " wear and tear"
amid the absorbing cares of a literary and professional
career, the more he examines the less he wonders that 
214
THE WATER-TREATiAlKNT.
all  human efforts to explain its  mode of  action have
proved utterly futile !   He finds that avc  knoAV literally
nothing of the manner in Avhich  impressions are  con-
veyed to  "the organ  of the mind," from  all parts of
the system, and  the principles  of motion and sensibil-
ity  sent forth from the same kingly organ to its  subor-
dinate  instruments.    On attentively considering  the
organs  of  sense, or  those " instruments  by Avliich  the
animal frame is brought into relation  Avith  surrounding
nature," our anatomist finds that  he can  conceive of
nothing  more  exquisitely delicate or philosophically
beautiful.   The organ of voice  is,  also, a study  of
itself; the lungs, with their  air-tubes, and every thing
pertaining to the function of respiration, likewise con-
stitute a theme for curiosity and wonder ; and the far-
ther he proceeds in his minute researches—the more
he examines  the silent processes  by which nature car-
ries on the functions  of life—nourishing all parts  ac-
cording to their just measure, promptly removing aught
that is  Avorthless or effete, and carefully repairing  all
breach or damage (though how it is all done  no mind can
tell!)—the more he pursues such researches as these,
the greater will be his admiration and awe, so  " fear-
fully and wonderfully  are  we made!"
   After a survey like  this, it is not difficult for a mind
that is  properly  constituted  to  arrive at  the conclusion
Avhich I have already set forth, that  " our life  on  this
earth is naturally one  of confirmed health," and that
" every thing like disease is the necessary penalty of
physical disobedience."  It is readily  apparent that  the
k 
          dr.  houghton's  observations.       215

original constitution of our  race  was perfectly sound,
and especially adapted to fulfil every one of our natural
wants during  the  allotted  period of human existence ;
in other words, that our  physical  organization was ori-
ginally healthy.   None of  the organs of sense or natu-
ral  instincts  of our race,  in the early period of the
world's history, could possibly have been in any respect
polluted or depraved;  and Ave certainly were originally
endowed beyond all other creatures  with both  physical
and mental capacities for the proper regulation of our
daily habits and Avalks in life.  The ingenuity of man
in the earliest stage of his  existence could have found
no occasion for seeking out  new means of indulgence,
and created no new tastes and  appetites to  sway his
career  as  with a  rod  of iron.  The  functions of life
were always  discharged  with their  wonted  regularity,
as long as the dictates of reason and nature were faith-
fully obeyed ;  and  disease, and sickness, and  physical
suffering of every  description were wholly unknoAvn.
These  were the days  when  Adam  and  Eve  were  in
paradise.
  It would not be  akin to my present purpose, however,
to trace from this  point the departure  of our race from
simplicity of life and obedience to natural laAvs, to the
present period of unlimited physical indulgence and
consequent physical suffering.  I have  mainly to do with
the world  as it is ; and my  present object will have been
fully accomplished if I have  clearly  established my ori-
ginal positions by  such brief references to the world  as
it was.  I iioav turn to a concise consideration of  those 
216           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

rules of life Avhich are usually comprehended under the
name of Hygiene.
  The daughter of iEsculapius, Hygieia, participated
with her sire in the divine  honors that were paid him
in " heathen"  Greece.   We Avorship  no Goddess  of
Health at the present day;  we  have  other things  to
adore—money, politics, railroads, and  steamships—in
this   nineteenth  century of  " Enlightened Christen-
dom."   In our very medical books, the laws of nature,
from whose general neglect  the great mass of our phys-
ical  woes and  miseries derive their origin, are  curtly
considered  under the singular designation of " non-
naturals."   Under the general  term res non-naturalcs
the ancient physicians comprehended  " air, meat and
drink, sleep and watching,  motion and  rest, the reten-
tions and excretions, and the affections of the mind;
or, in other Avords, those principal matters which do
not enter into the composition of the  body, but at the
same time  are necessary to  its  existence."  In what
respect, hoAvever,  all these necessaries  arc " non-
natural" it would be of very  doubtful profit to stop
to inquire :  I therefore proceed  to consider the hygienic
value of each member of this class in its proper order:
   uAir."—It would hardly seem necessary to advert
to the importance of thorough ventilation in all  kinds
of edifices, public  or private, railroad  cars, ships, and
public  conveyances of every description,  in  order  to
secure a constant supply of pure, fresh air; and yet it
is a matter so commonly neglected that thorough ven-
tilation Avould  seem  to be  a rare exception, and  close,
A 
          dr.  houghton's observations.       217

foul air the  general rule.   Go to any private dwelling
or public  edifice,  and it  would  almost seem  to  have
been a cardinal object of the builder to exclude the at-
mosphere  as effectually as  possible.  The consequent
result is, that the  air in  such places  is breathed over
and over again ; rapidly becomes poisonous; Jieadache,
syncope, asphyxia, fever,  and  general constitutional
disturbance  are frequently produced,  and sometimes
the seeds are sown of some fearful and deadly disease.
The necessity of a  full and steady supply of pure fresh
air in order to maintain the health of the whole system,
to say nothing of its being absolutely indispensable for
the purpose  of keeping those delicate structures, the
human lungs, in a sound state, is, however, quite too
obvious to an intelligent  mind to require in this place
any detailed argument in support of that position.  With
regard to temperature I may add, in general terms, that
the great  object should  be to shun  either  extreme of
heat and  cold, and  to keep the surface as uniformly
comfortable as circumstances Avill permit in each  indi-
vidual  case.   So great, hoAvever, is the variety of con-
stitution with regard to warmth and  comfort, that a
very Avide margin must necessarily be left at every one's
discretion.   I leave  this subject with  only  one sugges-
tion :  it is infinitely more  conducive to vigorous health
to become hardened by exposure  to cold than over-sen-
sitive by indulgence in buckskin and flannels.
  11 Meat  and  Drink."—Dietetic  errors  notoriously
cause a great  majority of  diseases, or  else tend very
greatly to complicate their dangers.   Gross indulgence
              10 
218
THE WATER-TREATMENT.
in the luxuries of  the  table  has been proverbial in all
ages for its  deteriorating effects upon  both body and
soul: undoubtedly hastening the termination of life, de-
basing and brutalizing the nobler faculties of the mind,
and entailing upon the body an endless variety of phys-
ical pains.   Dietetic  excesses  may  be  said to regard
both quantity and quality.   It is an unquestionable fact
that too large an amount (of animal  food, especially) is
habitually consumed by the greater portion of the com-
munity—and particularly by literary and professional
men, and all other  persons  of  sedentary habits.   The
hours of taking food, also, are usually too frequent, ap-
proximating  each  other too  closely;  insomuch that, as
a  general rule, the stomach  has hardly had time to
struggle through with  its proper share of the burden of
digestion before it is forthwith called upon to resume
its labors.   The digestive organs of sedentary persons
(to say nothing of the brain and the nervous  system
generally) are sadly overtasked; and it is not to be
Avondered at that, in the long run, just as the  last  drop
breaks  the  camel's back, so, the endurance of nature,
long overstrained, finally gives Avay.  With regard  to
the quality of the food ordinarily consumed, it is gene-
rally too rich and too concentrated.   A due proportion
of innutritious matter should  always  be contained  in
our articles of diet.   An unansAverable argument from
analogy may here  be adduced in support of this position,
from the chemical composition of atmospheric air: it is
the oxygen alone which  arterializes  the  blood, and yet
nitrogen is mixed  with it, though solely to dilute it, very 
dr. Houghton's observations.       219
nearly in the  proportion of four parts to one.  Were
we  to  inhale  pure oxygen we  should "live  too  fast;"
the vital functions Avould be»fhorbidly accelerated; and
yet it is  precisely so, though in a less degree, Avith re-
gard to food.  The nutritive portion should, therefore,
always be  combined with a fair proportion  of innutri-
tious matter to temper its action and promote the  ease
of the digestive process.   There is an endless variety
of improper articles of diet in very common  use, but
my limits will  not admit of my going into any thing like
a detailed demonstration of their peculiar demerits.  I
cannot consent, hoAvever, to give in my adhesion  to any
one scheme of " dietetic  reform."   As  there are no
tAvo  leaves  on the self-same  tree  that  are precisely
alike, so  there are no two individuals in the whole Avide
world who have the same tastes and preferences.    It is
fanatical and  absurd to lay down a  rigid code of laws
minutely prescribing the exact quality and quantity of
articles of diet for general  use.   As well furnish each
and every man with a  coat  or hat of one uniform size
and shape  and style!  The nearest approach Ave can
make on  so delicate a point as this, is to define certain
leading general principles—such  as those inculcating
the necessity  of  moderation in  the pleasures  of the
table, regularity in the hours of taking food, and a rigid
abstinence from  the use of all highly-seasoned meats,
leaden pastry, and any other article of food  whose con-
sumption is followed by equally painful and  deleterious
consequences.   We can only caution our fellow-crea-
tures with all earnestness and solemnity that they ought 
 220           THE WATER-TREATMENT.

 never to neglect their accounts with their digestion : it
 is a terrible creditor when one falls into arrears, but an
 excellent friend on " cash payments."   On the subject
 of  beverages  I have but  little to  add.   As  the old
 Greek hath it, " water is the best thing ;"  but we
 cannot estimate too highly the luxury of milk, when
 we have no  reason to believe it a vile elaboration of
 distillery refuse, although it is comparatively harmless
 when a "joint production of the cow and the pump."
 The slow narcotics, tea and coffee, are bad enough at
 the best, but there is some little good sense in the pop-
 ular doctrine, that they are half-way substitutes, com-
 paratively speaking, for much worse  stimulants; still,
 far better would it be for the health of the community
 were they all  banished  from general use.   As  to  the
 consumption of these  beverages in such powerful doses
 as  to produce their full narcotic effect, no language  can
 be too  strong  in terms of condemnation.   On the sub-
 ject of " meat and drink," then, Ave come to the  conclu-
 sion that, in order to secure the highest state of  health
 of  the digestive  organs, our food should be sparing in
 quantity; plain, simple,  and unconcentrated in quality;
 and our habitual beverage constitutionally harmless,
 like water or milk.
   " Sleep and Watching."—In the beautiful economy
 of  nature  the  night has  been set  apart as the appro-
 priate  time for rest.   It is then that the  silent  forces
 of nature most successfully set about their task of re-
 storing the wasted  nervous power, repairing all  losses
occasioned  by  the occupations of the day and recruit- 
          dr. houghton's  observations.       221

ing each one of our exhausted energies.  It is needless
to dAvell  upon the  exceeding impropriety of observing
habitually  unseasonable  hours,  in  accordance  with
many of  the  habits of the times, when there is no ab-
solute necessity for  such a mode  of life;  but this is a
point which I willingly leave to the good  sense of the
reader.   As a general rule,  our sleep  should be regu-
lar, tranquil, sound, and precisely long  enough in dura-
tion to give nature a fair opportunity to accomplish her
work; but, to secure all this perfectly, the only sure
method is to carry out implicitly every law  of  nature
in detail.   On this last  point, especially, a wide mar-
gin should be left to the discretion of the  individual,
out of a reasonable regard for peculiarity of constitu-
tion : there  is no uniform,  rigid, and  unyielding rule
arbitrarily defining  the  duration of  sleep, to which
we should all be  required to  give  in our obedience.   It
is true that  we  have a  great  variety of  precepts to
choose from ; but the rules  I speak of are generally
characterized  by dogmatic  severity rather  than any
depth of  acquaintance  with hygienic laws  in their
widest application;  they are usually carried to some
one extreme or  other, which nature,  ever  kind and
generous, most religiously abhors.
   " Motion and  Rest."—It  is apparent from the phys-
ical constitution  of man, that habitual exercise is ab-
solutely essential to a high state of vigor and health—
not violent and irregular, but moderate and uniform—
and  general in its effects upon  the whole human sys-
tem.  Exercise is  by far the best tonic known to our 
222           the water-treatment.
art; and that kind is most  efficacious wliieh carries
along with  it a certain amount  of  mental diversion.
A long and laborious (because task-like)  Avalk is  far
less beneficial than one much shorter, but full  of relax-
ation and  amusement at every succeeding  step.  The
muscles  with which  nature  has  so  liberally  endoAved
us, as the servants of our will, were never designed  for
a life of inglorious ease;  for, under  all such circum-
stances,  they become weak,  puny, and shamefully  ef-
feminate ; nor, upon the other hand, should our bodily
powers or  our mental energies be kept constantly on
the stretch.  There  is a world of Avisdom in the trite
old line—
       *  *   *  " neque semper arcnm tendit Apollo."

The Python had ne'er been slain, and Niobe had ne'er
been  bereft of the children of her pride, had not the
archer-god sometimes  forsaken his bow for his  lute.
   There is no doubt that literary and professional men,
and all other persons of inactive personal habits, wrould
easily become free from most  of the besetting  ailments
of their class, if they would regularly vary the monot-
ony of their sedentary lives  by  a proper  amount  of
exercise, accurately adapted  to their  peculiar tastes,
strength, and inclination.   When all of these partic-
ulars have  been carefully adjusted, it is easy to pre-
dict a gradually improving state  of health,  in propor-
tion to the  regularity with  which the new  habits are
observed.
  " The Retentions   and   Excretions."—Under this 
           dr. houghton's  observations.       223

head we have briefly to consider the functions of nutri-
tion, and  the discharge from the system of all  useless
matter.  On the former point there is but little to be
said in this place.  In order to bring  about the proper
assimilation of food, we are  first to regulate its use in
accordance with the  proper quantity  and  quality, and
next to attend  faithfully to  the hygienic  laAvs  of  life,
such as those enjoining abundant exercise in the open
air, rigid  cleanliness, sound  sleep, and tranquillity of
mind.   " The term excretion is applied to those sub-
stances Avhich, Avhen separated from the blood,  are not
applied to any useful purpose in the animal economy."
Under this head are classed the  discharges from the
kidneys, the alimentary canal,  the lungs and their air-
tubes,  and the  external  surface  of  the  body.   The
whole of these are greatly affected by dietetic  habits,
and hygienic  management generally;  in fact, in a large
number of cases of severe diseases affecting these ex-
cretions, a thorough cure  may be effected  by merely
returning  to  a faithful observance of  the  simple laws
of nature.  The last one  named, or  the  sensible and
insensible transpiration through the skin, is especially
worthy of profound consideration,  although, from a va-
riety of causes which I have no room to dwell upon, it is
commonly regarded as of trivial importance.  " Amer-
icans," says Professor Dickson, " are  accused of  a na-
tional neglect of the  bath.  We  are  said to  content
ourselves—and  I speak not now of  the  poor, of the
laboring people, but of the  middle and upper orders,
the great masses  who  claim to have  attained a  high 
224           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

standard of social refinement—we are said, and I fear
with some truth, to content ourselves  rather with fre-
quent changes of  clothing than Avith  the  free use  of
water in ablution, for Avhich there can  be no substitute.
How far Ave may be behind our  Christian brethren  of
Europe, I will not pretend to pronounce; the great
' unwashed"' are affirmed to constitute  a numerous body
among  Teutons, Celts,  and  Anglo-Saxons abroad,  as
well as here;  but it is certain  that  avc  all compare
unfavorably Avith the older races of the East.  *  *   *
But surely, under  any contingencies, a  Christian should
wash his hands as often as a  Mussulman or a Hindoo.
 Cool springs and running streams abound almost every
where in our  inhabited  territory, whether of forest  or
prairie  land, and our chief cities are supplied with foun-
tains in royal munificence.  From neglect of these mat-
ters flows naturally  a culpable indifference to the neat-
ness of the clothing, the house, the table, and all other
 domestic arrangements.  All these points of habit are
 consistent, and we can  thus account  for the nuisance
 of the stained and slippery floors of the masticators of
 tobacco, which offend so many of our senses."   Home-
 truths all these, and yet expressed with plainness, and
 all proper moderation !  As a general rule, we cannot
 too carefully attend to the health  of  the skin.  When
 we barely consider  that there are, 2500  square inches
 of surface in a man of ordinary size,  7,000,000  pores,
 and  nearly  28 miles  of perspiratory tube,*  we may
  * See  the admirable Treatise on Healthy Skin, by Erasmus
 Wilson, MB 
          dr.  Houghton's  observations.       225

form some idea of the danger to be apprehended from
entirely neglecting so vast an organ of transpiration and
excretion ; but when we critically examine its structure;
its tAvo different  layers, the  outer and the inner; the
perspiratory apparatus; the  nature of  the oil-glands ;
and the influence of diet, clothing, exercise, and bathing
upon the health of the skin, no intelligent mind can fail
to be struck  with the need of rigidly observing those
hygienic  laws Avhich tend to preserve it in proper tone
and activity of function.   A very striking illustration
of the correctness of this position is cited by Professor
Dickson, from whom I  have  before quoted : " A little
boy covered Avith gold foil, to appear as the symbol of
the golden age, in a procession before Louis XIV., soon
died from closure of the cutaneous pores ; and so," he
adds,  "have  died, repeatedly,  animals smeared over
with an impervious  gummy solution or varnish, for ex-
periment's sake."  Facts like these can hardly fail to
have some little weight Avith those who eschew personal
ablution, and who Avould become hermetically sealed in
like manner,  were they left entirely to their own incli-
nations, and  did  not  social decency absolutely compel
them to shake off, now and then, their loathsome lethar-
gy of rankness and filth.
  " The Affections of  the Mind."—Mental emotions
have a singular  influence upon  bodily health.   Not a
few complaints originate solely in distress of mind or
the undue exercise of some one or more of the exciting
or depressing passions ; and the indication  being in
all such cases to remove the cause, no radical cure can
              10* 
226
THE AVATER-TREATMENT.
be anticipated until the mind itself is restored  to its
healthy tone.   Mental anxiety is often more dangerous
to combat than the disease Avhich it complicates; and
many a valuable  life  has been " fretted  out" by the
mind, when under other circumstances the body  could
easily have  been maintained  in a healthy state.  The
subject of mental  hygiene is, hoAvever, too vast to be
more than hinted at here.  I can only say in general
terms  that, other things being equal, every thing that
tends to invigorate  the general health of the body like-
wise tends  to give a  proper tone  and  elasticity to
the mind; the action is reciprocal and the benefit mu-
tual.
   Such, in brief, are some of the leading principles of
hygienic management, when the object in view is the
preservation of  health  and the prevention of disease.
They are plain and simple and readily appreciable  by
the  most ordinary capacity,  and may be easily  com-
plied with as rules of life and action by every  single in-
dividual of common intelligence.   Were all mankind to
folloAV them faithfully and  thoroughly, little need would
there be of  a medical  profession!  There is no proba-
bility, however, of  any such result in the present  state
of physical education ; and it would savor too strongly
of enthusiasm and romance to predict from present ap-
pearances that there is any such " good time  coming."
Still, I shall ever consider it the noblest department of
our " divine science"  to prevent disease;  and nothing
Avill  give me more  unmingled  pleasure than the know-
ledge that any  poor efforts of mine have contributed 
           dr.  houghton's  observations.       227

in any way whatever to promote  the diffusion of  the
KNOWLEDGE  OF HEALTH.
  I  come  now to speak of what is  termed  in "the
books" the vis medicatrix natures, or the great con-
servative tendency of the human constitution Avhen ex-
posed to disease, or suffering from its ravages.  I am
aAvare that it is maintained in many high quarters that
there is no such power; but it has  generally occurred
to me that the matter is one of  merely verbal criticism,
and that those who deny its existence under its learned
name, are  not wholly unwilling to recognize its presence
Avhen speaking of a "good constitution," or "persons
who  possess a good deal of vitality."  The idea, how-
ever, whether tangible (as I think) or wholly  intangi-
ble (as some  writers  maintain, to whose Aveight of  au-
thority I bow with all respect)—the idea set forth by
the term I have employed to designate this power is one
which should  arrest the earnest and  profound attention
of every thoughtful and philanthropic physician.   His
familiarity with this  subject  should be at least as  ex-
tensive as  his acquaintance with physiology; indeed, it
should be generally considered an indispensable adjunct;
for it is  not only upon his knoAvledge of what properly
constitutes the healthy state, but also of those  natural,
hygienic laws by whose close observance that healthy
state may  be  prolonged, and even heightened,  that the
sound physician will base  his chief hopes of success in
professional practice.   He must be able to discover, not
only  the proper diagnostic symptoms of  disease,  but
also the exact condition of the vital energy of  the  pa- 
228           THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

tient, as it  had been developed and controlled by his
previous habits of life.  He must not only learn Iioav to
ascertain accurately the " scrofulous diathesis,"  but
add  to this  knowledge an  intimate  acquaintance  with
Avhat properly constitutes  a  "high state of health,"
as distinguished  from "cacexia,"  or  that depraved
habit of body which is acquired by all avIio grossly ne-
glect the laws of hygiene and nature.  He will thus be
able to ascertain with almost complete precision the ex-
act kind of cases  which either expressly demands, or
as unequivocally contra-indicates the active interference
of his art;  he will readily become familiar Avith the cir-
cumstances which are most likely to  form an insupera-
ble  barrier  to  the recuperative struggles  of  nature,
when the vital powers have been assailed by disease;
and  he will  be at  little loss to know positively what re-
medial  agents  are  either beneficial or  deleterious  in
their various modes of employment.  With  such ac-
quirements  as these,  a physician may safely lay claim
to the character of an enlightened member of  a noble
profession.   Coolly disregarding the popular tendency
to underrate and even ridicule the power of  nature and
correct hygienic management, with respect to the  pre
vention  and cure of disease, he will not hesitate one
moment to enlist in his service two allies so potent for
good ; and by a judicious reliance upon the vis medica-
trix natures, or " the power and skill of nature's doc-
tors" (as this phrase,  now become  classical, has  been
rendered in  our vernacular), he will go very far as one
individual to redeem his  profession from a  stigma now 
           dr. houghton's observations.        229

 resting upon  it:  that, " instead of leading man back
 to the forsaken paths of nature, physicians have pre-
 ferred the easier plan  of ministering to this altered
 condition by the ingenious and stupendous system of
 modern therapeutics."*   When a rebuke  so severe as
 this is thus plainly addressed to the medical profession
 by one of its oavu members, it is exceedingly question-
 able, to say the least, whether the kind of knowledge
 which may be derived from studying nature  and  hy-
 giene has  ever been rated at its proper valuation within
 or without the healing fraternity ; and may we not find
 in it, besides, a correct  clue to the process  by which
 so many physicians are  converted  into mere  " routine
 practitioners," treating  all persons alike,  as if they
 were so many  patent machines, turned out by the  gross
 or the hundred from the same manufactory!   But  there
 is a gratifying change of opinion and  sentiment now
 gradually at work among intelligent minds in relation to
 this point.   Nature is -now more earnestly studied than
 ever before, and her laws  better obeyed ;  hygiene  is
 widening her  sway every hour; and we are beginning
 to discover very important agents for good growing out
 of a proper attention to the several " non-naturals" I
 have before described.  We are fast learning the value
 of pure air ;  a judicious diet; healthy digestion,  as-
 similation,  and excretion ;  sound sleep ; a uniformly
comfortable temperature of the  body; regular exercise,
 and tranquillity of mind.   We are beginning to discover
  * Dr. Kneeland's Boylston  Prize Essay on Hydropathy: Am.
Jour, of Med. Sciences for July, 1847. 
230           the  water-treatment.
that  the  elysium shadowed forth by the old classic
phrase, mens sana in corpore sano, is only to be attained
by  a  close observance of the laws  of  hygiene, both
physical and mental;  and such knowledge as Ave arc
thus  acquiring  may be said to establish these three
positions:
  I.  The  regular  observance of those habits of life
Avhich sound experience and ripe judgment have proved
to be instrumental in  preserving and invigorating the
general health, will so  far diminish the risk of exposure
as  to  render one  proof against almost every form of
disease.
  II.  Sickness  and suffering invariably result, sooner
or  later, from  neglect  of  the laws of nature  and  hy-
giene.
  III. Directly in proportion  to our neglect  of those
laws  will the powers  of nature decay, while  those of
disease will be strengthened.
  The career of Howard  the Philanthropist is a very
striking illustration of the truth of  the assertion that
the proper  observance of natural, hygienic laws will
render one proof against disease in almost every form.
We are told* that the personal  habits of Howard were
exceedingly singular in his day and generation, just as
they  would be, perhaps,  in our own.   " He bathed
daily in cold water; and  both  on rising  and  going to
bed swathed himself in  coarse  towels, Avet  with  the
coldest water;  in that  state  he  remained half an hour
or more, and then threw them off refreshed and invig-
                * Pratt's Gleanings, 1796. 
           dr. houghton'.s observations.       231

 orated, as he said, beyond measure.   He never put on
 a great coat in the coldest countries; and  he had not
 for the last  ten years of his existence ate any fish, flesh
 or fowl; nor sat down to his simple fare of tea, milk,
 and rusks all that time.  His journeys were continued
 from prison to prison, from one group of  wretched
 beings to another, night and day; and Avhen he could
 not  go in a  carriage, he would walk.   Such a thing as
 an  obstruction Avas out of the question."   In answer
 to those friends Avho (to use his  own Avords) " threAv
 away their  pity on his supposed  hardships,"  he would
 reply to this effect:  "A more  puny youngster than
 myself was  never seen; if I wet my feet  I was sure
 to take cold, and  I could not put  on my shirt without
 its  being aired.  I  therefore entered upon a reform
 of my constitution, and succeeded to such a degree,
 that I have neither had a cough, cold, the vapors, or
 any more disorder, since I surmounted the seasoning."
 No human  being  is known  to have exposed himself
 more greatly to the influence of pestilential causes than
 Howard.  " In the period  of  sixteen  or seventeen
 years,"  says his  biographer, " he travelled  between
 fifty and sixty thousand miles, for the sole  purpose of
 relieving the distresses of the most wretched of  the
 human race.  Plague  and pestilence  and  famine,  in-
 stead of being  evils that he shunned, were  those with
 which he was  most familiar.   To many of their hor-
rors  he voluntarily exposed himself—visiting the foul-
 est dungeons filled with malignant infection,  spending
forty days in a filthy and infected lazaretto,  plunging 
232          THE AVATER-TREATMENT.

into military encampments where the  plague was com-
mitting its  most  horrid  ravages,  and visiting  Avhere
none of his  conductors dared to accompany him ;" and
throughout all this he subsisted solely on his plain and
simple diet, carefully avoiding the use of  wine and al-
coholic drinks;  and such, moreover, " were the accu-
racy  of  his observations, and  the  soundness of  his
judgment,  that, although not  himself a physician, yet
he was more successful in treating the plague than any
of the physicians where  he  went."   With  such vast
opportunities for forming an opinion of the efficacy of
hygienic management,  no other  man has ever  been fa-
vored.  The following citation will  give a fair idea of
his conclusion on this  point, expressed as it  is  in his
own decided and emphatic language: " If we  would
trust more to Nature and suffer her to apply her own
remedies to cure her own diseases, the formidable cat-
alogue of maladies  would be reduced by one-half, at
least, of their present number."   It is likely, however,
to continue  long the main office of the medical profes-
sion to palliate disease rather  than prevent or cure it
radically.   So firmly fixed are  the  habits of life in a
population like ours, that  it is exceedingly  questionable
whether  the great majority  would  not unhesitatingly
prefer unlimited dosing and drugging every  day  of
their  lives rather  than submit  to any change, or part
with  any one habitual bodily indulgence.   It is  more
popular by far to swelter in  close  and stifling  rooms
than  breathe  pure, fresh,  invigorating  air;  to  be
dainty and  extravagant in diet, instead of aiming ever 
dr. houghton's observations.       233
 at healthful simplicity; to lead sedentary lives, or to
 lounge away existence in  unmeaning trivialities; and
 especially to neglect thorough personal cleanliness on
 the score of inability to find time to  attend to it—per-
 fumery and cosmetics being cultivated in their stead at
 far greater trouble and  infinitely more cost.   Mental
 excitement is, also, a passion  among  us : witness that
 morbid appetite for something new or strange that at-
 tracted so many thousands to  the Astor-Place riot at
 the very peril  of  life itself.  In fact,  such a thing as
 tranquillity of  mind is  generally voted an  unfailing
 diagnostic of the tamest  flatness or most  hopeless sim-
 plicity.  No wonder that  aberrations  of the intellect
 are so common  among a people like  ours, and no won-
 der that  when  the physician is  asked, as was Lady
 Macbeth's—
        " Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased ?"

 he should be so  often forced to answer,  in precisely his
 vein—
                    " Therein the patient
                Must minister to himself."
 Under existing  circumstances  there  are, therefore, a
 great many prejudices to be overcome by the enlightened
 practitioner, who aims  to effect a radical  cure through
 the aid of nature  and hygiene, instead  of contenting
himself with mere palliation.  It very often happens
that  the intelligent physician  is obliged to  resort to
some  clever artifice in  order to disguise the  simplicity
of a prescription, which an  invalid would absolutely re- 
234           THE avater-treatment.

fuse to follow, were he really aAvare of its exact nature.
Lay not  the  blame of this to the medical profession!
Does  not the fault lie rather in the blind  perverseness
of the patient ?
  The subject of  the healing power of nature is, in all
its extent, vividly  suggestive of a great variety of inter-
esting considerations; but I have here no space for pro-
longed investigation.   An exceedingly interesting  field
for inquiry lies open in the relation of the  curative pro-
cesses of nature to surgical treatment;  and I regret
that my  limits will only  permit  mo to glance over it in
haste.   What else is the practice of surgery but a close
pursuance of natural laAvs ?  That man is ever the saf-
est and most expert surgeon who most thoroughly studies
and  most closely  follows the ways of nature.   Such a
one finds that the various processes of inflammation, for
instance, are subject to certain  clear  and well-defined
laws, and that  it must be his  constant care either to
conduct those processes  to a healthy and natural termi-
nation, by studiously warding off all disturbing  causes,
or to modify their action whenever nature is unable, as
in cachectic cases, to conduct the cure alone and unaid-
ed.   The surgeon is, perhaps, the one of all others Avho
is best able to appreciate the  vis medicatrix naturce.
 He finds, sooner or later, that he must content himself
 with being a prompt and efficient ally of that wonder-
 ful  power;  that  the boasted  resources of his  art are
 mainly  subsidiary to  nature, and that without a most
 liberal allowance for her resources, and the nicest cal-
 culations based upon her powers, his greatest  skill will 
          dr.  houghton's observations.       235

be almost utterly vain.  In the treatment of external
wounds, fractures, dislocations, and arterial diseases, it
is his  office to supply certain necessary conditions, but
it is Nature alone who is able to heal.   It is the gross
disregard of this plain, simple  truth which every year
hurries so many unfortunates to untimely graves.  It
almost invariably happens, after any  dangerous acci-
dent, that there is a clamorous demand on the part of
the crowd, which always gathers around the  scene of
disaster, that the stunned and helpless sufferer  should
be immediately bled, as if there  were  some magical
charm  about blood-letting  that would  immediately re-
store life, and consciousness, and health; and practi-
tioners will sometimes be found who are base enough to
comply with a demand thus  preposterous, merely be-
cause it is popular.   The  consequence is, as  any sane
man might expect, that the sufferer dies (or, rather, is
killed); whereas his life might have been saved almost
to a moral certainty, had time been allowed for nature
to rally her  forces and prepare herself  to labor, with
her accustomed promptness,  in faithful co-operation
with the means and appliances of enlightened art.  A
great deal is to be learned from the following incident
in the life of Cornaro.  When seventy  years  old, he
happened  to be overturned in a coach and very serious-
ly injured.  " I received," he  says, " so many shocks
and bruises, that I was taken out with my head and all
the rest of my body terribly battered, and a dislocated
leg and arm.  When I  was brought  home,  the family
immediately sent for the physicians, who, on their ar- 
236
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
rival, seeing me in so bad a plight, concluded that with-
in three  days I should  die.  Nevertheless, they Avould
try Avhat good two things Avould do:  one was to bleed,
the other to purge me, and thereby prevent any humors
from  altering, as they every moment  expected, to such
a degree as to  ferment greatly and  bring on a high
fever.  But I, on the contrary, Avho kneAY that the sober
life I had led for many years  past, had so avoII united,
harmonized, and  disposed  my humors  as not to leave it
in their  power to ferment to  such a degree, refused to
be  either bled or purged.  I just caused my leg  and
arm to be  set, and suffered myself to be rubbed with
some oils which  they said were  proper on the occasion.
Thus, without ever  using  any other kind of remedy, 1
recovered, as  I  thought I should, without  feeling  any
alteration in myself, or any bad  effects from the acci-
dent—a thing which appeared miraculous  even  in the
eyes of  the physicians."   But a volume might be writ-
ten on a subject  so  expansive.   I am forced, however,
to content myself for the present with the brief  (and I
fear unsatisfactory) effort I have made  to establish these
two positions : 1st, That, other things being equal, every
one of ordinary intelligence can  easily attain and pre-
serve a  high  state  of  health, with only a reasonable
amount  of care  and perseverance, and, as a necessary
consequence,  with no  occasion  whatever for  the  em-
ployment of medicinal poisons;  and 2d, That Nature,
ever watchful, kind, and generous, is  the most faithful
and reliable physician within the reach of those  who
duly obey  her laAvs of life. 
dr. houghton's observations.       237
  I now pass on to the consideration of what seems to
my mind the most natural, safe, and philosophical mode
of medical treatment  yet known to our art: hygienic
MANAGEMENT AND  THE TREATMENT BY AVATER.   I do
not propose, however,  to enter into any detailed history
of the  career of hydropathy up  to  the  present time,
any minute description of  its several processes, or any
labored argument in support of its claims to a respect-
ful consideration from every intelligent member of the
healing fraternity.   Such a task would now prove more
than ever gratuitous, in view of  the  bold, manly, and
conclusive observations on this subject, of Drs. Forbes
and Wilson.  When  medical writers of their high posi-
tion become the voluntary champions of the hydropathic
treatment,  it can no longer  be denounced as " empiri-
cism," or disposed of with a sneer—most certainly not
by mere  routine  practitioner,  who  make "regular
treatment"  the mantle for  their lazy  indifference or
obstinate ignorance.
   Before  proceeding  to give some of my own views
 upon this subject, I would here repeat what I have said
 in the  preface: I have preferred to reproduce  the ad-
 mirable papers which compose the greater part of this
 volume, without notes or material abridgment, for the
 purpose of securing their distinguished  authors an un-
 interrupted hearing.   I reserve, however, the privilege
 of not holding myself rigidly bound to  endorse  every
 one of their peculiar  views.   There are  but few points,
 to be sure, to which I am disposed to take any excep-
 tion, and  these are  comparatively of  an unimportant 
238
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
nature; still, I cannot help  preferring not to " pin my
faith  upon any man's sleeve," but to keep myself  en-
tirely unfettered by all  bonds or chains, save  those  I
may see fit to assume of my OAvn free will.
  And here I Avould take occasion to express my de-
cided  dissent from  those  members  of the community
who denounce  so bitterly all "regular practitioners."
That there are  individual members of the profession
Avho are  sadly  deficient in the chief  requisites  for  the
proper exercise of their noble  calling—a good heart,
perfect integrity, and a frank, liberal, generous nature,
joined to a thorough  classical and medical education—
he must be a rash man who will venture to deny.   There
are unworthy members  of all professions.   Still,  the
community has very good cause  for entertaining a high
and unfeigned  respect for the honest and enlightened
members of the  profes*ion  as a body; for there  are
among them men Avho would adorn any calling—men as
upright and honorable as any  in  the world, for they
evince their sincerity in the plainest mode conceivable,
both living and dying by the  medical doctrines they pro-
fess and practise.  To style such men deliberate " poi-
soners" and " assassins"  is  the  height  of error  and
injustice; no matter what ill success may attend their
practice at times, such failures being plainly attributa-
ble, other things  being equal, to a false mode of educa-
tion, and to the habit of relying upon medicinal poisons
in preference to nature.   There is  a  strong reason,  be-
sides, for believing that a great  many patients  are  the
victims of  self-induced maladies ; and there is but  lit- 
           dr.  houghton's  observations.       239

tie doubt that  quite a large  proportion of the " errors
in medicine" which are visited upon the heads of the
" regular practitioners," originate  solely in the  blind,
ignorant, and superstitious demand of the great mass
of the community for drug-palliation.  Whenever there
is a strong  demand, a ready  supply is sure to folloAV;
and it is not so very wonderful that, if people will  be
dosed and  drugged, practitioners can  easily be found,
who, in Dr. Kneeland's  phrase, are willing to " minis-
ter to this altered condition."  Again, I say, therefore,
to all one-sided  cavillers against the regular practition-
ers, " Do not blame the medical profession so much as
yourselves ; and if you are really desirous of reforming
your ways,  acquaint yourselves fully with the  anatomy
and physiology of the human  constitution, try to obtain
some definite knowledge of the laws of health; learn
to believe that all medicines are poisons, as every hon-
est and  intelligent physician will admit, and  there is
but little probability  of your ever being ' dosed and
drugged  to death,'  provided  you are  only faithful to
your task and  earnest in seeking out the whole of the
truth."
  The charge of " empiricism" is  a dreadful  bugbear
to a great many minds ; but in the  legitimate sense of
the term there is nothing about it peculiarly appalling.
Hooper says that an " empiric" is "one Avho  practises
the healing art upon experience and not theory." Now
this is all well enough, so far; no doubt every one would
sooner trust an  experienced  physician than one fresh
from the clouds; but  what  says Hooper farther on? 
210
THE" WATER-TREATMENT.
" This is the true meaning of the word empiric;  but it
is now applied, in a very opposite  sense, to  those who
deviate from the line of conduct  pursued by scientific
and regular practitioners,  and vend nostrums, or sound
their own praise in the public papers."  In other words,
" Empiricism"  does  not mean  "  empiricism,"  but
"quackery!"  A  very extensive signification truly!
But why not say " quackery" outright ?   It has a good,
loud,  sonorous twang, and carries along Avith it a very
fair idea of its meaning, while " empiricism" does not.
HoAvever, avc must take that definition, I suppose, which
popular usage has assigned  to the phrase ;  so noAv for
the gist of all these remarks.  I will  here bring to bear
a case exactly in point.   " When I was at college,"
says Dr. James  Wilson, of  the Water-Cure estab-
lishment at  Malvern, in England, (the same excellent
physician to Avhom Sir Bulwer Lytton is so grateful
in his " Confessions")—" When I was at college, from
over-work combined with other  imprudencies, I was
attacked with a fever of  a  mixed typhus  and bilious
character.   I was attended by Dr.  Stokes, a, o has
since  made himself known as one of  the most eminent
physicians of the  day, with  unremitting  kindness and
attention.   I was above a month in bed, leeched, blis-
tered, and my head shaved, and great quantities of cold
water were poured over the head.   There was an ex-
treme  state of debility for months afterwards.  From
what  I have seen and experienced since of similar states
of disease, there is no doubt but that a few wet sheets,
etc.,  etc., would  have sent me out walking in some 
           dr. houghton's  observations.       241

 days, with little or no debility.   I sent one of my books
 to Dr. Stokes by a  patient.  When it was presented
 with my grateful remembrances, he said, with a sigh,
 ' Ah !  I never taught Dr.  Wilson empiricism.'   Thus
 this distinguished physician, whose good opinion I have
 always coveted, in  the politest  way it could be  done,
 insinuated that I countenanced  quackery.   But I have
 learned patience ; and I have no hesitation  in predict-
 ing that, before two years are past and gone, Dr. Stokes
 will be practising in his hospital what he now deems a
 quackery.   I do this boldly, from the unbounded con-
 fidence I  have in his intelligence, vast medical knoAv-
 ledge, and that uncompromising rectitude wliieh in him
 is hereditary."   Now Dr. Stokes's allegation has  quite
 enough pith and point to render it well worth while to
 examine it in detail.  The  water treatment he places
 under  the ban  of  " empiricism"—that  is, in  plain
 English, quackery.   This  charge,  we  have seen,  as
 now understood, embraces three several indictments :
  I. The  hydropathist  is  accused  of  " vending nos-
trums."  " This word nostrum," says Hooper, " means
 our own, and is very significantly applied to all quack
 medicines, the composition  of which is kept a secret
 from the  public and known only  to  the  inventor."
 Perhaps this particular charge against the hydropathic
school may be a novel one to the reader ; still, it is one
that was brought indirectly,  some  years  ago,  against
Priessnitz himself.   It seems that " the paternal gov-
ernment of Vienna, in its  anxious care for  the health
r»f its subjects, sent a commission of medical  men  to
              11 
242
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
Graefenberg, to  inquire into the  real state  of affairs.
Fortunately for the Water-Cure,  old Baron Turkhcim,
the head of the medical department of the empire, Avas
also at the head of this—a man celebrated for his inde-
pendent spirit, his great learning,  and  scientific acquire-
ments.   He  stayed  some time at Graefenberg, and on
his return to Vienna, being at a medical society, he was
asked Avhat he thought of  " the new charlatanism ;" he
replied, " Priessnitz is an  honest  man and no impostor,
and his  mode  of treatment  is  more successful than
ours; believe me, gentlemen, you have much to  learn
from this countryman."  This made the sages of Vi-
enna still more  angry and violent against the Water-
Cure and its founder—shutting up the avenues of their
understanding against the evidence of their senses, not-
Avithstanding the  accumulated facts  which  presented
themselves  among their  patients,  avIio, leaving  them
with little hope, returned in perfect health.   The com-
mission analyzed the water to discover its mystic virtue;
but they Avere disappointed  to find  that it was nothing
more than pure spring water!   The  sponges he used
were also examined with great care, to see if they con-
tained any secret remedies.  After  this,  Priessnitz
threw away the sponges, and has never used them since,
finding  that rubbing with  hands—"flesh to flesh"—
Avas better.  (At the time I speak of, he was called the
SchAvamm,  or  sponge  doctor.)  He  Avas now  taken
under the protection of the government, and  additional
police placed at Freiwaldau, to note the number of pa-
tients, and  report the  deaths and other results of the 
           dr.  Houghton's  observatoins.       243

treatment.  To 1841  he had treated 7219 strangers,
and there had been 39 deaths.   Some of  these I found
by  the registry had died  before commencing the treat-
ment, and some others were reported in a forlorn state
before any thing Avas attempted."*   So  much  for the
charge of nostrum-vending—a charge which falls to the
ground of its own weight and stupidity.  [I might cavil
a little, in this  place, at the expense of some of  the
" regular  practitioners," for their use of such nostrums
as  James's  Powder;  but this  would  be  displaying a
little of a  spirit I despise ; so this is a point for retali-
ation I very cheerfully let drop.]
  II.  The hydropathist is also accused by implication
of "sounding his  own  praise in the  public papers."
This charge is hardly more tenable than the other.   It
is the open, avowed, and unblushing quack—the man
of pills, elixirs,  and panaceas—who  is most given to
this sort of thing; and  I have yet to learn that  such a
mode of self-trumpeting is a peculiar characteristic of
any respectable hydropathic physician.  Legitimate ad-
vertising and the  publication of  works on  the water
treatment  are  very different  affairs, of course, and do
not  properly come  under this particular " charge."  I
know  of no good reason  why  the  honest  physician
should not publish his card of  announcement as freely
as he pleases, under  the judicious restraint of public
opinion  and a proper  degree of self-respect; and with
regard to  the  publication of medical works, I  do not
know that there is any especial reason by which  this
                  * Dr. James AVilson. 
244
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
practice^should also be tabooed by the profession.   The
public generally regulate this matter for themselves. If
a Avork appears, for Avhich there is an existing demand,
the public will buy it;  if no one Avants it, it is quietly
left on the publishers' shelves.  In this connection, the
following citation from Dr. James Wilson is not wholly
mal a propos  : " Popular works on the  art of healing
are considered infra dignitatem, but I may be alloAV-
ed to think professional  dignity—even supposing it in-
fringed  upon—to be of  secondary consideration in this
matter, seeing that it will not assist in restoring a shat-
tered constitution, make a man happy in the possession
of sound digestive organs, cure gout and  rheumatism,
or prevent apoplexy and  consumption.   To write on
the Water-Cure for medical men  alone, would, at the
present moment, be a waste of good ink and paper; in
this I was confirmed by a recent visit from an old med-
ical friend, whose first complimentary question  was,
' Well,  are you here still, and is there really something
in the Water-Cure?'   I asked  if he had  not had the
curiosity to read any of the  works written on the  sub-
ject.   ' Not a syllable,'  was  his  reply.  In the mean-
time the multitude are  suffering, and to  a great extent
unnecessarily, under a variety of diseases, and if med-
ical men will not inquire for  them, they shall have the
opportunity of inquiring for themselves.    Facts  are
simple as Avell as stubborn things, and they can be  well
understood by persons to whom their rationale cannot
be fully explained."
   HI. The remaining  charge is one which really has 
dr. houghton's obsera'ations.       245
 some foundation : the hydropathist being  accused of
' " deviating from the line of conduct pursued by scien-
 tific and regular practitioners."  Herein lies the Avhole
 gist of the controversy.   The hydropathist is virtually
 " read out of church" because he treats disease by the
 application of pure, simple, fresh water in its many
 and various modes of employment—accomplishing (as
 he alleges) all the good effects he could hope for, with-
 out doing the constitution any harm whatever; while
 the  " regular practitioner"  treats disease by  drugs
 and poisons, which he admits do some mischief, while
 he insists upon it that they are absolutely necessary to
 the  restoration of health: a little harm  being done to
 bring about some great good.   The hydropathist con-
 tends that although he wields a single  weapon—in con-
 nection, of course, with hygienic management—yet  it is
 of Avondrous power in cool and brave and skilful hands ;
 nor does he admit that it is in any respect so harmless
  and inert as is vulgarly supposed; he believes that its
  abuse, like that of all strong remedies, is sure to be
  followed by dangerous and  possibly fatal results.  He
  maintains  that  he finds in pure, soft water the  true
  " fountain of youth," and  he invites  all without  dis-
  tinction to  come  freely and  partake  of its benignant
  healing.  To the young, especially, does he commend
  an intimacy with  the bright, sparkling  element, for he
  greatly prefers prevention to cure; and it is a pleasure
  to  him to teach the  plastic and untainted mind of in-
  genuous  youth how  to  preserve  the bloom of early
  freshness'and  beauty,  and how intimately  connected 
246
THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
are physical and mental purity and health.  Nor, while
successfully treating chronic complaints, does he  shrink
from  a contest with  acute diseases;  nay, he courts it
rather as  displaying to  advantage the  power  of  his
mode of cutting short such attacks ;  and to guide him
he has rules of philosophical beauty and mathematical
precision.  He rides no hobby and he follows no rou-
tine.   When he visits a patient he carefully determines
within his own mind  the  amount of vitality and  nicely
adapts  the treatment to his strength, always watching
for and promptly paying heed to  the silent importunity
of nature's supplications.  He  does  not fear at  any
time  to  allay parching thirst, or  to  cool doAvn great
heat;  in fine, he  treats  the  symptoms just as they
arise.   He stupifies  no nerves; nor  does he deprave
their function; he rather  aims  through them  to dc-
velope vital strength, and that not rashly by the undue
use  of any alcoholic or  medicinal  stimulants, but by
means  of a  safe  and  judicious  stimulation applied
through the surface  and its  internal continuation, by
means  of  air,  diet, exercise, and water.  He has so
educated his  faculties  that he  is able to  recognize
promptly the indications of nature ;  he finds her  al-
ways striving in acute disease to throw off the disorder
from the more important organ upon one of less  conse-
quence—the skin, the bowels, or perhaps the  kidneys,
He finds her generally competent for her task, Avhen
there is enough vital energy, but he is always ready to
assist her, by the active interference of his favorite
art, whenever her efforts  are likely to be unavailing. 
          dr.  houghton's observations.       247

  The " regular practitioner" has  his choice of reme-
dies  among  a thousand varieties.   He  has laid under
contribution  earth,  sea,  and  sky—mountain, valley,
and  plain—wood,  field, and  dell—the animal, vegeta-
ble, and  mineral  kingdoms, each and all—in order to
obtain his medicinal agents.   Of these he makes his
appropriate  selections, yet ere long he, too, resorts  to
his  single weapons Avhen frequent use has made  them
familiar to his  hand.   He knows that  his  medicines
are in reality poisons  and believes  them to be totally
unfit  for human  consumption  in time  of health, but
when disease has supervened he is fully of opinion that
he must introduce into the system some one or more of
them, simple or combined, as the case  may be, to ex^
orcise the demon  and  put the  monster  to flight.  He
knows that injury is done to the general health by the
use of his compounds, hut he holds  firmly to the  doc-
trine that an  evil which he deems trifling should not be
taken into account when the action of his specific has
been (as  he  thinks)  so prompt and  efficacious.   Does
his dose  prove  simply and solely palliative ?  He still
continues its  use.   Does it lose its power ?  He makes
a new  selection.   And so he goes on, with faith un-
wavering and judgment undisturbed, rejoicing in the
varied resources of his art, and seldom troubling his
mind with the  thought that his efforts very often  pro-
duce great " vexation  of  the  spirit," even  when  they
do not literally  " mortify the flesh."  Rarely indeed is
he so fortunate as to  avoid leaving  as a sequel to the
complaint he was called on to treat, a new disease far 
248
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
more serious and dangerous.   He thinketh that blood-
letting is the right  arm of the profession, and he obsti-
nately persisteth in  shutting  his eyes on  the grisly
monsters that follow in its train:  pain, feebleness, and
derangement of the  system—catarrh, headache, dys-
pepsia,  and  dropsy—a small, puny, Aviry  pulse, and
other symptoms  indicating ossification  or  some  other
change  about the  left valve of  the heart—precisely
such  effects as Magendie has proved to constitute the
result of profuse bleeding.  He resteth upon his mer-
curial as upon a two-edged sword ;  and so it is proved
at the cost of the patient: for every blow Avhich seems
to take  effect so charmingly on the disease,  strikes also
at the  constitution with equal force.  He hath pro-
found confidence  in iodine in scrofulous  cases, and
some indistinct  idea that it will Avork such  changes in
his patient by virtue  of  its •" alterant" action  as to
make a new man of him, all over.   Perhaps  his secret
delight  is  in  cod liver oil; he never stops to inquire
whether^ Providence or nature ever  designed that such
a substance as the  foul, rank, nauseous exudation from
decaying cod livers thrown together in heaps—no mat-
ter how nicely " clarified" afterwards—should, in any
contingency, be introduced into the human  stomach  :
he  is contented  to know that it is " fashionable in
phthisis," and he thinks that he too must use it, or he
will be set down by his professional  brethren as " not
well posted up."
   But  I have no inclination to pursue the parallel:  it
is an ungracious task,  and I em  not clear  in my own 
dr. houghton's observations.       249
mind  that it would prove of  any decided advantage
or contribute to the settlement of a  long-vexed ques-
tion.  Suffice it to admit  the  literal truth of the al-
legation Avhich  we  are  now  considering: there  is no
doubt that modern hydropathy is a direct deviation
from modern allopathy, if we are to include  in that
school only the  so-called " scientific  and regular prac-
titioners."   The question now arises, hoAvever, Whether
modern  allopathy is not itself a  deviation from  the
"regular  and  scientific" practice  of older  days?
Has it been always and invariably "true to its mis-
sion," or  has  it become itself " empirical"  by  de
parting  more and  more  from the ways of nature and
the judicious use of  a few  simple remedies,  and by
substituting in  their  stead the mere palliation of
symptoms by means  of the  most subtle and  danger-
ous poisons ?  Herein,  I conceive, lies the true point
at issue ;  and  if the citation  I  have made from  the
prize essay of Dr. Kneeland carries with it any weight,
modern  allopathy, in  spite of its "regular  and scien-
tific"  mantle,  stands  convicted  before  the world on
the very same charge it would  bring  against its  rival.
I do not  care,  however, to  prolong  this controversy.
I have  only ventured to say thus much on the  sub-
ject of  " empiricism,"  because it  is  one  on which
everv respectable physician  cannot but feel sensitive,
and because it is one upon which the  most clear  and
distinct ideas should be generally entertained.   I  have
only to add that if the hint I have thrown out with
regard to  allopathic " deviation" from a "regular  and
               11* 
250           THE  AVATER-TREATMENT.
scientific" mode of medical treatment were to be thor-
oughly followed up, it  is not  too much to say that
enough would be proved to  make all practitioners of
that school exceedingly chary of bandying a word so
significant and offensive.
  On the interesting subject of  the antiquity of the
water  treatment I have culled here and there a
few additions to the observations  on  that head which
have  already been  made by Drs. Forbes  and Wil-
son.  The  inhabitants  of the sultry climate  of  the
East  seem  to have resorted to bathing at a very early
period as a means  of bodily purification and invigora-
tion.   We read in the inspired writings  that Jacob
commanded his family to purify themselves before going
to Bethel to sacrifice ; and Job speaks of a like puri-
fication by  snow-water.   We read also of the daughter
of Pharaoh bathing in  the Nile ; as well  as  of  the
Mosaic  laws of  personal cleanliness;  and the delight-
ful pages of the old classic authors have made us fa-
miliar with many similar peculiarities.  Who that  has
pored over  them in  his  boyish days does not remem-
ber the  river-bathing of  Nausicaa and her companions,
and how the Amazons preserved  their resolute daring
by frequent baths  in the waters of the Thermodon?
Homer  has described  with pleasing minuteness  the
bathing of Ulysses and Diomedes—Andromache pre-
paring a warm  bath for Hector on his return from bat-
tle—and Penelope  as  resorting to the bath to relieve
the tedium of  her  solitude  and  sorrow.   Minerva is
represented as  having  imparted  fresh  vigor  to  the 
dr. houghton's  observations.       251
 wearied  Hercules  by similar  means;  and Vulcan is
 said to have offered him warm  baths in  place of other
 gifts.  Virgil describes the  bathing of  ;Eneas before
 his sacrifice  to  the gods  above, and the " aspersion"
 enjoined  in Dido's sacrifice  to the gods below.   The
 baths of the Assyrians, Medes, and Persians—of  the
 last  especially—Avere carried to a very high degree of
 luxury, insomuch that even Alexander the Great, famil-
 iar as he was with the voluptuous  baths  of Macedonia
 and Greece, was amazed at the magnificence of those
 of Darius.   The natural warm baths of  Bithyni* and
 Mytilene, mentioned by Pliny, and those  of the Etrus-
 cans, were  among  the most  early known, and exten-
 sively employed  for hygienic  purposes ;  and  I  hardly
 need advert to the Roman baths in the times of the
 emperors as far surpassing in sumptuous  grandeur any
 thing  known  even  at  the present  period.  So much
 for the antiquity of the habit of bathing, so " mightily
 neglected in modern days."  I now turn to  speak of
some  of  the  ancient   methods of  employing water
medicinally.
  The very "Father of Medicine," Hippocrates him-
self, was in the habit  of using this simple remedy in
his treatment of disease.  We are told  that, in order
to produce  diaphoresis, or perspiration, " he did not
resort to the use  of internal remedies,  but  merely
poured warm Avater over the head  and  body, and then
heaped clothes upon the patient, which would produce
the desired effect, without the irritation of the internal
organs, consequent upon the administration of powerful 
252
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
diaphoretics."   " Hippocrates," says Sir John Floyer,*
" advises us to be more careful in the use of cold things
than hot, because 'tis less agreeable to our natures;
yet he freely recommends cold applications in haemor-
rhages,  and  all inflammations while  recent; but  it
blackens old inflammations.   .   .   .   If he had de-
signed the description of cold baths and their effects,
he could not  have done it more plainly than in'the fol-
lowing words :  ' Both hot and cold Avater are good for
the tumors of the joints, and for podagrick pains Avith-
out fleers,  and most part of convulsions.   He that
pours upon any  part much cold water, extenuates it by
causing sweats, and stupifies  the pain, and a moderate
stupor takes away  pain.   Hot Avater extenuates the
same and softens them.   Both the hot  and cold baths
are good  for the gout, resolution  of any part, disten-
tions, convulsions, and such like; for  stiffness, trem-
bling, palsies, or slight apoplexies, and  such  like; for
lameness, torpors, loss of speech,  and suppressions of
the inferior parts.' "   " Hippocrates," adds Sir John
Floyer, " also recommends  temperate bathing for in-
flammations of the  lungs, and  pain of the back, sides,
and breast."  In another place Sir John says, as justly
as shrewdly, " Nature seems to have taught all nations
the use  of cold water, where the  art  of physic  has
never been  yet knoAvn, as  in  Tartary,  Muscovy, and
among the Indians;  so that we may esteem  the use of
cold, as well as hot baths, to  be from  the  dictates of
our natural  reason  and senses, whereby we are taught
      * History of Cold Bathing; Letter II.;  A.D. 1700. 
            dr.  Houghton's  observations.       253

 to heat  ourselves  by fire,  and cool our  overheated
 bodies  by water.   Cold baths were  older than Hippo-
 crates's art, not  the product of any hypotheses,  but
 established by  the  experience  of all  mankind in  the
 colder climates."
   I may add, in this connection, that Hippocrates was
 perhaps the earliest promulgator of the idea  set forth in
 the  term vis' medicatrix  natures.   " He advanced,"
 says Hooper, " an opinion  which has since very gener-
 ally prevailed, that there is a principle or power in the
 system, Avhich he called Nature, tending to the preser-
 vation of health  and the removal of disease.  He there-
 fore advised practitioners carefully to observe and pro-
 mote the efforts  of nature,  at the same time  correcting
 morbid  states by  their opposites, and endeavoring to
 bring back the fluids into their proper channels."   He
 seems to have deprecated  the rash and undue use  of
 medicinal  poisons, and to have relied  very greatly upon
 what is now termed  the " expectant" treatment.   In
 point of fact, Hippocrates was, to the extent of his
 knowledge, a very skilful  " hygienic and  hydropathic
 practitioner."
   Galen, Avho lived in  the second century,  and Avhose
 chief object in his writings appears  to have been (ac-
 cording  to Hooper) to illustrate those of Hippocrates,
 cured fevers Avith cold  baths; and  perhaps  it was  in
 this av ay that his " fortune" was "made,"  he having
 succeeded in curing of some such affections  the two
 sons of the Emperor Marcus  Aurelius.  Celsus, also,
recommended the  use of water in the  cure  of certain 
254
THE  WATER-TREATMENT.
diseases, and advised especially the Avashing of the head
with cold water to prevent rheums, pains of  that part
and of the eyes.  And here it may not be irrelevant
for me  to refer the  classical reader  to an Epistle of
Horace  to Numonius Vala.   I know it  is  one with
which most scholars are familiar, but I could  wish that
they would pay some little heed to the  thought which
lies imbedded in the epistle, and not devote all of their
attention  to  its peculiarities of style and  humor, and
scathing sarcasm.   Let them  laugh as much as they
please at  the portrait of " the diner out,"—
       " Scurra vagus, non qui certum prsesepe teneret,
         Impransus, non qui civem dignosceret hoste,"—

or at the  idea of the poet forcing  his unwilling horse
from the familiar road to the warm baths of Baiae, and
urging  him on towards  the cold  baths of Velia  and
Salernum; but let them bestow some little  reflection
upon the  reason of the thing and the motives  which in-
fluenced the  director  of his course.   For the benefit of
the uninitiated (and at the risk of being  set down as an
incorrigible pedant), I venture to  append a little  of
"the story."   It seems  that  the  Emperor Augustus
was once severely ill of some  gouty disease  or  rheu-
matic affection, and that he became reduced  to a state
of extreme emaciation under the treatment of his phy-
sician iEmilius, who made use of hot applications to so
great an extent that he even had  the curtains of the
imperial  bed made out of sheep-pelts.   Now in this
stage of the  difficulty, the "hydropathic"  physician of 
           dr. houghton's observations.       255

 those times, Antonius Musa, Avas " called in" to the
 emperor, and, contrary to the general usage of his  con-
 temporary practitioners,  treated  his imperial  patient
 with cold  baths and  affusions, gargles and  drinks, and
 with such  skill and  success, that he was in a -short
 time cured.   Antonius  Musa was subsequently pre-
 sented by  the  emperor, out of gratitude for his  ser-
 vices, Avith a large sum  of  money, exempted from all
 public  taxes, made free of Rome, allowed to wear  a
 gold ring, and honored with  a public statue in the tem-
 ple of iEsculapius.   The new remedy, the  cold bath,
 accordingly came wonderfully into vogue, and the warm
 baths which had hitherto been mainly employed, began
 to groAV cool in popular favor.   Antonius  Musa, who
 was  strongly attached to the system of treatment that
 had  saved  the  life of his imperial patient, prescribed
 the cold bath for Horace for some disease of the eye.*
 The poet  therefore addresses an epistle to his friend
 Numonius Vala, who  had been using for  some time the
 baths of Velia and Salernum, in order to obtain in-
 formation  respecting  the  climate  of  those  places, the
 manners of the inhabitants, etc.   But  to  pursue my
 epitome.
  Boerhaave, who flourished at Leyden in the early
part of the eighteenth century, recommends the use of
water to render the body firm and strong ; and  (singu-
lar to relate for a medical man!)  " being of a vigorous
  * The papers have lately announced the recovery of Mr. Justice
M'Kinley, of the Supreme Court  of the United States, from a aim.
ilar disease, find under similar treatment. 
256           THE  WATER-TREATMENT.

constitution and accustomed to much exercise abroad,
he met with little  interruption from illness" up to his
sixty-second year.   It is no more than fair to infer that
a great  share  of his " good fortune" (as some people
will term it), AYith regard  to his health, is to be attrib-
uted to his use of  the  element  he  had recommended.
Hoffman, of  Saxony,  a  contemporary  of Boerhaave,
also wrote on water as a curative agent:  " If there ex-
ists any thing in  the world"  (such is  his language)
u that can be  called a panacea, it  is pure avater :
first, because it will disagree with  nobody; secondly,
because  it is  the best preservative  against disease;
thirdly, because it  will cure agues and  chronic  com-
plaints ; and fourthly, because it responds to all  indi-
cations."  Dr. T. Sigismund Hahn, of  Silesia, wrote
a work " On the Curative Effects of Water," in 1738.
He gives instances of the remarkable cure by water of
St. Anthony's fire (erysipelas), small-pox, and  the
whole family of the  exanthemata, as  well as many cases
of insanity.   The Rev. John Wesley, the founder of
Methodism (and one of the most clear-sighted clergy-
men of  whom we have any record, with  regard to the
prevention and cure of  maladies), published a work in
1747, on the Water Treatment (which Avent through
thirty-four editions), called " Primitive Physic, or an
Easy and Natural Method of curing most Diseases."
But  one of the very best works on  the water treat-
ment  is  that of  James  Currie,  M.P., F.R.S.,
Fellow of the  Royal  College  of Physicians at Edin-
burgh, entitled as folloAvs : " Medical Reports of the 
           -dr. houghton's observations.       257

 Effects of Water, cold and warm, as a Remedy in
 Fever and other Diseases, Avhether  applied to the Sur-
 face of the Body or used Internally."  The work is in
 two volumes,* the  first of which includes " An inquiry
 into the circumstances that render  Cold  Drink, or the
 Cold  Bath, dangerous in Health; to which  are added
 observations on the nature of Fever, and on the effects
 of  opium,  alcohol,  and  inanition;." while  the second
 volume consists mainly of Dr. Currie's experience of
 his Remedy, subsequent  to the  second edition of the
 preceding volume,  and  of  important communications
 upon the same subject.   Dr. Forbes has already given
 the reader some idea of this work, Avhich is one of really
 philosophical beauty and completeness, unusual elegance
 with respect to style,  and the most  scientific precision
 as regards  the rules and  rationale of " the new treat-
 ment."  I  would that I could include in this compila-
 tion something further from the  pen of so pure a man
 as Dr.  James Currie, for he is a writer whose " ortho-
 doxy"  is unquestionable; but my limits compel  me to
 refrain from so doing, and to content myself Avith the
 hope that the public may call for a revival of his work
 at no distant day.
  Of Vincent Priessnitz it is needless for me to say
much in this place; his  career and  reputation  are fa-
miliar to the public, and  sufficient has  been reprinted
  * I believe it is now very rarely to be procured.  I have in my own
possession the Philadelphia edition of 1808, two volumes in one,
printed  from the fourth London edition, corrected and  enlarged;
"for James Humphreys, and for Benjamin and Thomas Kite." 
258           THE  avater-treatment.

in this compilation  to enable those of my readers  who
Avere unacquainted  with his system before to  form an
intelligent opinion of his merits.
   As an  appendix to my remarks on  the subject of
" empiricism," I trust  that this brief enumeration of
the medical writers, the "  cloud of Avitnesses" who have
clearly  testified from  the earliest times in favor of
water treatment, may not be deemed out  of place, or
wholly without value.   It  would be easy to expand and
extend the list, but I  have not felt disposed to run the
risk  of  thus wearying  the reader—especially since a
great deal of information about the ancient uses of
water is to be  gleaned from  the popular works on
hydropathy.
THE  END. 
                               THE



WATER-CURE     JOURNAL.

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  The Water-Cure Journal is published monthly, containing thirty-two oc-
tavo pages, illustrated with engravings, exhibiting the  Structure, Anatomy, and
Physiology of the Human Body, with familiar instructions to learners.  It is em-
phatically a Journal of Health, adapted to all classes, and designed to be a  com-
plete Family Guide, in all cases and in all diseases.  '
  Hydropathy will be fully unfolded, and so explained that all may apply it in
various diseases, even those not curable by any other means.  There  is no sys-
tem so simple, harmless, and universally applicable as  the Water-Cure.  Its ef-
fects are  almost miraculous, and  it has already been the  means of saving the
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Clothing, Air, and Exercise, showing their effects on both body and mind.
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"he that  runs may read."  We believe fully that man may prolong his life much
beyond the number of years usually attained. We propose to show how.
  To Invalids, no  matter of Vvhat disease, the principles of Hydropathy  may
safely be applied, and, in nine cases out  of ten, great benefit may be derived
therefrom.
  To those in Health.—Without health  even life itself is not desirable, unless
a remedy can be found.  To preserve health, no other  mode of living  can com-
pare with this system.  In  fact, were its rules observed and carried out, many
of our ills would be forever banished,  and succeeding generations grow up in
all the vigor of true manhood.  It will be a part of our duty to teach the world
liovv to preserve health, as well as cure disease.
  Water Cure at Home—Particular directions will be given for the treatment
of ordinary cases at Home, which will enable all, who may have occasion, to ap-
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  To Women and Mothers.—It is universally conceded by all intelligent prac-
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  To the Public.—We have obtained the co-operation of the  leading Hydrop-
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fession, and have secured the services of nearly all the medical reformers of the
land.
  To Practitioners.—This Journal will  represent the entire Hydropathic pro-
fession.  Reports of important cases, and  all other matters  pertaining to health,
will be laid before our readers.
  This Journal will be published monthly, containing thirty-two large pages of
the best  matter with reference to the application of this  system, adapted  to all
classes, on the following terms, in advance : Single copy one year, $1 00.

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Curiosities  of Common Water.    With
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Food  and Diet:   Containing an Analy-
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