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It ^i .^i ... ? / i HYD ^#'1-, ii' M 'Ww'.' '■I T] A niGEST OF TH DISTINGl THE VOLUNTARY GKATIT TYPH AS IT OCCUURE R i I m l3 t'il» /^ waB j * *as<-w* . . . '&^-- ■■p Q HYDROTHEBAl'EUTICS. votaries, kings, princes, and the most lionourable of the earth ; and has lived to see the remedial virtues of water recognized and supported alike by the learned and the unlearned, the wealthy and the influential classes of his own and of other lands. During one year, no less than 2603 persons subjected themselves to hydropathic treatment at Graefenbcrg and its vicinity, of whom above 800 were from the higher classes of society, as will be seen from the follow- ing extract from the "Bathing List"— 1 Royal Highness, 1 Duke, 1 Duchess, 22 Princes and Princesses, 149 Counts and Countesses, 88 Barons and Baronesses, 14 Generals, 53 Officers of the Staff, 196 Cap- tains and Subaltern Officers, 104 high and low Civil Officers, 65 Divines, 46 Artists, and 87 Physicians, experienced the curative efficacy of the treatment, and spread the fame of its discoverer to every part of the Old World, casting at the same time a few feeble sparks across the broad Atlantic, to struggle into existence in the New. The Old World, then, has become awakened to the importance of the subject. Already have many of the most distinguished English physicians and surgeons given it their confidence and support. The governments of France, Prussia and Austria, have extended to it the protection of authority. Medical committees have been appointed to investigate its merits, and much against their inclination, have been compelled by the force of truth to report favourably of it ; and medical societies, for its further investigation and spread, are already formed throughout Europe. Are we, then, to do nothing in the matter? or is a little learned bigotry among us to scowl down the opinions of the world, and trample under foot the best interests of the mass ? No ; I cannot for a moment believe the people of Canada will endure it, and should think meanly of my countrymen if they would submit to be the votaries of darkness and error, while the simplicity of light and truth is open to them. It is high time that the medical profession was purged from that dark mysticism which obscures its otherwise noble principles, which, when rightly under- stood have no other object than the investigation of truth, for the purpose of relieving human misery. It is now a little more than three years since my attentioi\was first directed to the Water Cure. I was then a student at the University of New York, and had frequent opportunities of witnessing the comparative curative powers of medicine and water. The former, in probably the best regulated hospital in America, under the skilful direction of justly distin- guished physicians and surgeons ; and the latter, under the direction of a very clever, though comparatively speaking less eminent physician. I have seen those restored to health in a few weeks, by the agency of water alone, who had spent months within the walls of the hospital without deriving the least benefit, and who had gone forth pronounced incurable by the congregated wisdom of the faculty. By the same power I have seen broken-down constitutions, from excesses in living and vicious indul- eences, restored almost to their wonted strength. The meagre form and wan countenance of the scrofulous subject, lost in the fully developed muscular buoyancy of health ; vertigo, ringing in the ears, flushed coua- HYDHOTHRRAPEUTICS. 8 tenance and partial insensibility, indicating the ptemonitory stage of apoplexy, subdued in a few hours ; and the subject of a confirmed case of apoplexy, awaken, as though from the sleep of death ; dangerous internal hemorrhages stayed in their onset ; typhus fever cut short within the first three days of its duration ; and the ravings of the inebriate and the maniac lulled into quiescence, as though by the spell of magic. And shall any man after this tell me, that the remedy is powerless, or that it is not capable of producing the most important curative results ? Many members of the medical profession, jealous of the rising popu- larity of this new practice, have already attempted to bring it into disrepute ; and have endeavoured, by every means within their power, to affix the stain of empiricism upon the character of its advocates. Such efforts, futile in effect, must have arisen from an ignorance of that which they so unjustly criticise, or an unwillingness to acknowledge merit m others which they do not possess themselves. But the learned may pour forth their eloquence in opposition to Hydropathy, and ingeniously disguise the sophisms of alopathy ; the iguorant promulgate their stupid dogmas ; wit exhaust her satire ; bigotry and self-conceit affect a con- tempt for that which they do not understand; and self-interest link together the combined energies of the whole ; yet they will not prevail, even though the thunder of their eloquence awaken those passions in our nature which should for ever remain dormant — though the brilliancy and point of their wit should dazzle as the lightning's flash, or pierce deeply the tender sensibilities of our nature, or though their insuperable self- conceit and vanity should equal that of the fabled frog. Still, firm as the ocean cliff" amid the raging billows, the advocates of Hydropathy will stand immoveable upon their foundations of truth and nature, and smile with derision on the puerile efforts of their enemies. Wc seek net to awaken your passions or to dazzle your understanding — to wound your sensibilities or to flatter your vanity, but we appeal to that reason which is given for the government of your actions. We ask you to scrutinize in canuour our pretensions, and to pronounce their doom. If they do not meet your approbation, we ask you not to receive them ; but if they be founded upon the rock of sound philosophy, proved and supported by experience, then we claim as a right your cordial support and pro- tection. Yet let it not be supposed, that while advocating the just merits of water, the author of these pages would claim for it an universal application, or denounce everything else as dangerous or insuflScient in the cure of disease. On the contrary, he has too often witnessed the valuable efficacy of other agents, when timely and judiciously administered; and it is and ever has been his practice to avail himself of every aid, in the restoration of health, which an enlightened experience has sanctioned and approved. With the honourable and enlightened members of the profession, therefore, he can have no controversy. They are too sensible of the deep responsibility and of the great imperfection of the means at present at their disposal for combating disease, and must hail with pleasure every addition to those means which experience shall u ■j iiSMtttEfcMSAKndlK IIYDROTHERAPEUT1C8. prove capable of diminishiiiR the sum of human misery. The depart- ment of Therapeutics i» confcsscHy the reproach of mcdicme. Tim has arisen from tlic exehisive devotion of the most able members of the profession to the studj of anutomy, pathology, clumistry, pliysiology, diuKiiosis, prognosis, &c., while to Therapeutics the light of philosophy has scarcely yet extended, or raised it above the foundations of arbitrary opinion. Of the bullv of medicaments in daily use, tliere is a great want of accurate information of their really useful principles, as well as of the pathological states that indicate their use. The truth of this observation is demonstrated every day in tiie melancholy disasters to human lite, which is doomed to fall a leritice to daring empirUism on the one hand, and the want of more definite and effectual remedial means on the other, to arrest the Protean forms of disease, Into tie New York City Hospital, during tiie winter of 1846-7, typhus fever was introduced by European immigration. Among a great number of cases, I will select those of five sisters, German your.'? women. They bore the marks of belonging to the middling classes of bociety, and of having been previously to the attack in a state of robust health. They were placed early under treatment the most skilful ; yet in the course of two or three weeks, each was successively remove.l to the dead house ! _ 'Ihe insidious destroyer having laughed to scorn the impotency of medical skill,— and this, too, when directed by the most eminent of the profession, and in an institution pre-eminent for the possession of every advantage that wealth, science and humanity could procure. This fact, which is but one of a thousand similar that might be adduced, both in Canada and elsewhere, would surely call for humility in the members of our profession, and cun never justify that haughty, self-sutficient bearing, which scorns truth, and disdains invcstig'ition. . , The enlightened treatment of disease must be founded on sound views of pathology, accurate observation, profound reflection, and an intimate acquaintance with the modus operandi of our remedial agents. Without these we are but the vain practitioners of a conjectural art ; — we fight our enemy in the dark, wound what we should protect, irritate what we intend to soothe, and justly deserve the epithet of "licensed manslayers." The times we live in are indeed pregnant with signs of momentous imnort. Society is heaving to its basis, and the human intellect has received an impulee that will allow it no longer to venerate systems because of their antiquity, but only on account of their utility. It is worse than idle, then,— it is immoral, to desire that the merits of the Water Cure should be put down without a hearing— without a trial. — " He that judgeth a matter before he heareth it, is not wise." The Water Cure is a necessary result of the labours of the immortal Liebig. It is acknowledged by all intelligent men, that it is not physic or the physician that cures, but the functions of the living organism. It is the unshackled play of its physiological actions alone that accomplishes both the restoration and the preservation of health. That water can be made to produce every salutary physiological action, and consequently every curative effort of the economy in a very large number of diseases, I «v HYOHOTHEHAPEUTIC», 9 ia susceptible of the clearest demonstration ; and these too, in a manner beyond all coniparisoii more certiiinly, safely, cttieaciou«l> and promptly, than the udministriition of drugs ean do ! The false cry of danger will not now avail. The reports of coninntteet of the most liarmd public bodies of France, IVussia and Austria, have already settled that question. It is notoiious tiiat ei«lity.scven sick phvsicians visited (;ra'tcnl)urK in one year, and that most of them letl tlieir complaints behind them throuj^ii the simple agency of Water alone. The writer of these puj;es mi[i;ht indeed adduce a volume of testimony m its favor, from the most eminent IJritish physicians of the day — but as the limits of his pamphlet forbid this, he must rest satisfied with aubjoh.ing the following. He will merely observe, that he trusts that the high standitiR, the weight and character of the testimony adduced, will supply the necessity for a greater amount. EUROPEAN AUTHORITIES. Thf Opiniom of Sir Charles Scuoamorb, M. D., F. R. S. "I take the liberty of reconnnending to the heads of the profession not to entertain any strong prejudices agninst the Water Cure treatment : however laudably desirous they may be to exercise a conservative principle on behalf of their patients, and of society at large, let them not decide without examination, or pronounce a verdict without a candid hearing of the cause. I have always been of opinion, that a physician should consider himself a student to the latest moment of his life, for the wisest must still have something to learn. It appears to me that Hydropathy is of the hit;hest impi)rtance to the whole c'vilized world. Its principles are, I am sure, founded on nature and truth, and rest, therefore, on an iimnutable basis. The practice may be occasionally abused, and then evil, instead of good, result. 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 humanity, nor to medical science, if I did not give my testimony in its recom- mendation. In regard to the opposition of a great part of the medical world to this innovation on the ordinary practice of physic, looking at human nature, we must attribute a little of it to its interference with settled interests. " In its progress, the condition of the patient improves in an evident and sensible manner. The skin, from being pale and sallow, acquires a ruddy hue ; the muscles become fuller and firmer ; fat decreases ; and many are glad to lose a corpulent abdomen. In young, growing persons, it is soon made visible that the capacity of the chest increases, whence the lungs have fuller play, and a brighter bloom appears on the cheeks. '4 V' n^^ ^f*' I ■ ! i 6 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS, Exercise, at first a difficulty, now becomes a pleasure. The mind partakes ^ully in these benefits of the body ; the senses become more acute, the faculties more energetic ; and buoyant spirits take the place of langour, depression and ennui. " I much fear that, from the facility and apparent simplicity of the practice, and the temptation to pecuniary gain, persons without the qualification of medical education will be induced, not only to form Water establishments, but conduct them altogether, and boldly undertake the responsibility of the public liealth. In no illiberal spirit, but from honest feelings, 1 protest against this monstrous pretension and error. Diagnosis is most essential. Who that is untaught and inexperienced can understand the different kinds and the many phases of disease ? And without such discriminaii ., and also a judicious estimate of the powers of the individual to bear treatment, how can its amount be properly prescribed ? A second Priessnitz, a man of so much original genius and powers of observation, with so vast an experience derived in so extraor- dinary a manner, is not, perhaps, again to be lound ; and I hope, therefore, that his example will not be considered a precedent that Hydropathy shall be practised by other persons wholly unacquainted with cither the exterior or the interior of the human body, and the complicated functions of the animal economy. " In the formation of any Hydropathic Establishment, Water, as to its quantity and quality, must be the first consideration." The Opinions of Hebbeet Mayo, Esq., Senior Surgeon of the Middlesex Hospital. Sir Charles Scudamore visited Mr. Mayo, at the time the latter was going through the Water Cure. He says, " I asked Mr. Mayo if, during his observation of the Water Cure treatment for upwards of a year, he had ever witnessed any accident to occur from it. He assured me, not a single one ; 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 subverted." Sir Charles Scudamore further observes, " I am happy in the opportunity of meeting with my friond Mr. Mayo, whom I 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 Lhat he could never obtain rest without the aid of a large dose of opium. He then suffered also very much from 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 signs of inflammation, and reduced to their natural size. The patient was satisfied with his well-doing, and praised the Water Cure as having saved him trom being a cripple." When Mr. Mayo went to the Water Cure he was considered in a hopeless state, and of course for years had ^ \\ /--"N HYDROTHEBAPEUTICS. / experienced all the benefits to be derived from all the best medical and Buvgical advice in London. The Opinions of Erasmus Wilson, M. D., F. R. S., Coimdting Surgeon to the St. Pancras Infirmary, and Professor of Anatomy and Physio- logy in the Middlesex Hospital Medical School. The following passage is selected from a late edition of Dr. Wilson's celebrated work on " the skin, &c," republished by Messrs. Appleton, of New York. Dr. W. is justly acknowledged to be one of the staunchest supporters of medical science. He is too keen an observer to have been deceived, and we can hardly suspect hira of encouraging empiricism. Yet he tells us, that " the water practice has effected important results in the treatment of disease," and will, he trusts, be instrumental in restoring to medicine one of her most valuable and important auxiliaries. " Medical men may be iealous that these benefits have been conjured from the vasty deep b/oiher hands than those of the high priests of Therapeia ; but they have no just reason of complaint, the treatment of disease by water hf.s been neglected, &c., &c. * * * . . . , is true, Priessnitz has brought it to extraordinary perfection without the knowledge of anatomy, physiology, &c. ; but he would have done infinitely more had he received a medical education. I| is true, that with the Water Cure every person can eat infinitely more than under ether circumstances. Water counteracts any evil effects. * * * The wet sheet is the chef d'ceuvre of Priessnitz. It possesses at the same time a sedative, soothing and soporific property, calmincr the pulse, removing feverish heat from the surf^ice, and allaying pain and irritation. * * * The wet bandage is serj useful in dyspeptic disorders ; it is based on the soundest physiological principles, is safe and easily tried. * * * I have been familiar with the wet compress (or bandage) in different shapes for many years, and have seen the most beneficial and surprising results follow from its use." Dr. W. next proceeds to examine the various modes of employing water as a remedial agent— explains at length the philosophy of the cold bath— recommends it in the treatment of a great variety of diseases, and concludes by "hoping that the day is not far distant when we shall see such institutions (Water Cure Establishments) in the ■neighbourhood of all our large cities, and at our watering places." This y .;s already taken place in 1 '.ngland, and on the continent of Europe, and is fast being consummated in our neighbouring republic. Cannot Toronto, or eveu Canada, support one Institution f The Opinions of A. CoDRTNiiY, Esq., Surgeon, Eoyal Navy. «« I am convinced that Water, judiciously used, will cure nif.ny complaints— that it will cure diseases that cannot be cured by medicines is my certain belief ; but if it can cure a variety of complaints, it is by being used ia manifold ways, aud great judgment, skiU, consideration and 4 M II I *,• , ■ ■ i i - 5- : f 1 ' ; 8 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. hi.'J:! "riny:f;oX;r^^^^^^^^^^^ his profession, cured judgment, who says " Pr^:^Z '^'^^nt' '"' '^ '^""•"'"^ «"^ editor for six years o" a ,np,i;,.. • ',1 ''''" ^'^'^''^ standing, and of this novelty and co,; ", ' ^.^i^^^,;^' ^ "^ "^ «-' « Ht.le niistr'u'stful to reform the medica) a-^and v « ^ 1 ^ others .hose authors pretend that which I saw with n.y 1^ 1^ Tt^K^ ""''^'"'- «"'' S'>, establishments, struck mJ as i will' , ^''•'^.'•:"^"'-S' '"'"d other similar seen an old intermittent fever cured bvp', .'\r '-^^'on'^l'ment. I have any other remedy. I ha^^seen ^.n f ^^ '"'''' ^^'''^""^ 1"^"^"^' or fever, rheumatism, gout scroA." Zh V '"'"i'*'?' ""^" P"'^'' "-^o"« throat, syphilis, ti^Ll ^ ^^'t'd oIT n "''«•'' ^.""^'^'"* ' °^ ^^e the glands, swelling of the Hver Jd '"l cTT f '''""^ ' ^""'°"^« '" other diseases, cured bv simple col w u ""^ '"''''''y^ ^"'1 "''-^nv remedy whatever, and in rcomp.r fivlh ri °"' '^' "^ "' ''"^ ^'^eV nianner for the constitutL r; "o IdVav" """' k"" ^ '""''^ ^^^'"-^'^ «>eans whatever. Cold Witer 1 nil . f'" °''*"'"^'^ ^>^ ^^Y other and externally ; butti" metlocUf t^ . '" ''>" 'I'-'^eases internally individual and the cJe ^ wfe! "'"" '' ^-•■-J- -cording to the and sometimes as ^ ^l^Vros^t^XaT:::^^^ " ' "^■"'■^'^'^' I have, you would not doubt „,o';e tL?n n vself " ' '""^ "''"'^^^^ ^^''«* It IS doubtful whether whh nil "Oseit. the art ofhealit.g, ^l^^ ::^s^ Z!:Z:7' *° '"°^^ ^'"^^ "^^ «^ our practice is anything but a din -u "f ''"'' ^'""'''''''^ -''"^ ^^at glance at the long cataLue of d so ,' «"■• «"-^«^«S we have but to opprobiutn of our art. ''' ''^''^' ''""■'''" ^o this day, the ^^l^h^^:iXt'''' ^ '^^"^^'-^ ^««-^ethe declared that he h d '„o [ifl mTd" '^ '^""'^ ''^ ^'^ P^°^--- knew thei.- manner of ^"tion no t "1 • "'' ^^K'"'"' ' '''''*' ^« "-'the in the use of them, or, i o L": I'^Zt^" f ^^'^"'^ direct him life without rudder or compass Ann. ^ •'^ ^''" ''""""? «» his Sir William Knighton, observe ' At IZ 'T"" '" ^°^''''''^' ^''^ ^^^^ in n,any arts and sciences impn^emen h X 1^""^^' ^''^^ ^'^-g^' progression from the first, in others it hZ I '" '" ''"^ ^^ regular we look back to ancient exceliencel fh .'' ""^ ^''' ^'"^ ^''"-' «nd Medicine seems to be of ho ,, Lid , T""!"' "«* """"'^^^ -''h awe. proportion to its antiquity Th^ 1 arts whose -mprovement bears no has been better illustrated thlm. \''"''"'fy *^"^' '-although anatomy understood." ' *^" """^'"^ "'^'^'^'^ -"'arged, and chemistry ^r^^i^^f::^:^:^, t ^'^ '-' ^"^-^ ^^^ ^••^'^- '^ HYDROTHEBAPBUTICS. M iystem, however wild and visionary it may at first sight appear, before they attempt to enter a protest against it. For my own part, I have with astonishment and regret oberved the flippant manner in which medical men in general, and some of our medical journalists likewise, treat re;illy important discoveries ; and how in particular tliey have hitherto treated the facts brought forward in proof of the success of hydriatism. Like drowning men catching at straws, they catch at and hold up to ridicule evjry little occurrence that they think may tell against the system (though such occurrences in general are nothing more or less than the results of ignorance in those who administer the remedy) while on the subject of the numerous cures effected they are silent. Hut what say the relatives, the friends, and the sufferers themselves to the long, long list of diseases which have for centuries set drugs at defiance ? What say these persons ? Shall a system which can appeal to the testimonies of clergymen and mfedical men, of peasants and of princes, for its success in those very diseases which have hitherto set medicines at defiance, — shall such a system be rejected ? Shall those who have long smarted under diseases the most agonizing, without reaping any benefit whatever from medicines— who have been for years flying from one medical man to another, in the vain expectation of finding a cure — shall those martyrs to disease who have sought relief fruitlessly from other sources, be denied the benefit of a system which has effected so much ? Shall he, to whom returning seasons bring no relief, be withheld from the trial of a system whose efficacy has exceeded all anticipation, I rnight say all credibility ? Medical men, whether allopathists or hydriatists have, it is to be hoped, the same end in view, the prevention^ atid cure of disease, and the good of their fellow creatures ; and cannot, in justice, or with a show of reason, be at enmity with one another. The thing is not personal. No medical man, I am sure, who has th- good of his fellow men in view, will be backward in recommending to those whose diseases he cannot relieve by the usual medicines, a trial of a system which aims at the same end as his, and which has effected cures in many cases where medicines had failed to give any relief whatever. Dr. Wilson's " Stomach Complaints and Drug Diseases " may also be of much greater service to the purchaser than the money they would cost. The latter contains a fine expose of the opposition of Dr. Hastings, of Worcester — " of the true cause of his opposition to, and dread of the progress of the Water Cure, a cause which indeed appears to lie at the bottom of all opposition to it. But I need say no more on this head— grovelling cupidity, and gross ignorance of the various ways in which the water is used, are the reigning characteristics in every argument brought against the system. " Men may just as well argue that black is white, as argue against the Water Cure. In gout, rheumatism, indigestion, bilious complaints, nervous affections, inflammatory, cutaneous, and many other forms of disease, the facts are so numerous < i its infinitely superior eflScacy and safety over drugs, that all the fine-spun theories and cunningly devised I l! ! , ^T. 1"^°^ the effects of cold bathing, Dr. Forbes says, he considers the cold bath one of the most valuable remedies we possess, viewed either as a hygienic or curative agent, and would recommend its use in the vanous forms of general debility which show themselves in childhood and youth, either as congenital constitutional peculiarities, or as the conse- quence of previous disease. As a preventive of the numerous diseases produced by cold, or rather by the variations of temperature, the cold bath, in one or other of its forms, excels all other measures. In the numerous family of the catarrhal disorders, it is almost the only preventive of value. Dr. Forbes thinks the cold bath applicable to the whole class of nervous diseases, properly so called, and particularly in those slight anomalous nervous affections so constantly met with in practice, and under such varieties of form. It is a useful remedy in chorea, hysteria, and some cases of epilepsy; in loss of voice, smell, taste, &c.; certain forms of hypochondriasis ; local paralytic affections, such as loss of power in the sphmcters of the bladder or anus; long standing cases of palsy t . i HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 11 in chronic affections of the mucous membranes, attended with discharges, ■uch as leucorrhoea, gonorrhoea, &c. ; in chronic catarrh, particularly in the dry catarrh ; and in those forms which seem to depend on a relaxed more than an irritated state of the bronchial membrane ; in passive hemorrhage, as epistaxis and menorrhagia, in amenorrhcea, in nervous or functional dyspepsia, and in mania. In no disease is the cold bath more beneficial than in the intervals of asthma. It is likewise useful in the latter stages of hooping cough, and in the intervals of uncomplicated ague; in rheumatism, fever; in cases of a debilitated and relaxed habit. &c. &c. The warm bath, he informs us, is useful in cases of mild disorders, such as fatigue after great muscular exertion— after long-continued mental excitement and loss of sleep ; irregular dctcrmiuations of blood, particu- larly congestions in the internal organs, and recession of it from the surface and extremities ; nervous irritations of all kinds, and disposition to spasmodic affections ; a dry and harsh state of the skin, either with a disposition to feverishness, or with coldness of the surface ; the reverse state, of relaxation of the skin, with a disposition to clamminess and cold perspiration ; and among tfie more serious forms of disease, the following chronic nervous diseases of a spasmodic kind, under certain qualifications, such as cramps, spasms, convulsions of various kinds, and particularly the convulsive affections of infants, whether depending upon idiopathic or sympathetic irritation of the nervous system. Of this kind are the numerous forms of neuralgia, including sciatica and lumbago, gastralgia and colic ; also gall stone, nephralgia, stone in the ureter, bladder, urethra, &c. Certain acute inflammations, more especially of the mucous mem- branes of the abdominal and pelvic viscera, when* accompanied by great pam, as entiritis, gastritis, inflammations excited by and accompanying gall stone and urinary calculi, some forms of dysentery, diarrhoea, 'cystitis, hysteritis, &c. That it is also beneficial in that extensive class of diseases of the intestinal mucous membrane, named chronic gastroenteritis by the French writers, and indicated in different cases by the common symptoms of dyspepsia, constipation, diarrhoea, &c. ; also chronic inflam- Tiations or irritations of the uterus vagina, bladder, kidney, dysmenorrhcea, dysury, amenorrhcea, leucorrhoea, &c. ; and is strikingly beneficial in those affections of the stomach and bowels, which are commonly ranged under the head oi dyspepsia. It is also useful in gout, general disorder of the system from long-protracted dyspepsia and loaded bowels, diabetes, chlorosis, rheumatism, the local seu- v'.v of gout, nodosity and other chronic affections of the joints, partial paralytic affections, muscular con- tractions, &c. A great number, as well as a great variety of chronic diseases of the skin, both idiopathic and sympathetic, are greatly bene- fitted by the warm bath, in one or other of its forms. In fevers of long standing, marked by much nervous irritation, harsh dry skin, &c., the warm bath of low temperature, or the tepid bath, is very beneficial. Many other diseases, he adds, may be mentioned, in which the warm bath is occasionally found to be a very valuable remedy. 13 HYDROTHEHAPEUTICS, fi TTie experience of De. Robert Halls, of Colchester, England, •'During niy residence as a student at Edinburgh, I had an opportunity of seeing several cases of petechial typhus treated, under the direction of Dr. Gregory, by the external application of cold waf^r. The success attending the practice, made nie resolve at that time to adopt it when- ever I should have an opportunity. I am obliged to Mr, Hutcheson, Surgeon to the Surrey Fencibles, who permitted me to attend his hospital in Colchester, in which a very malignant fever prevailed for two or three months during tlie spring of the present year. For some time previous to the appearance of the fever, the small pox had been very common, and proved more fatal than I had ever known it. A few soldiers had died of it in the hospital owing, principally, I believe, to the obstinacy with which they persisted in the use of strong liquors, and i(> the heat of the atmosphere, in which, notwithstanding every effort of the surgeon, they were kept. It is probable that these deaths, by dispiriting such patients as were seized with typhus, rendered the effects of the fever more violent. It would be needless for me to recount the symptoms of typhus. The cases which I saw were not in any respect singular; except that like those of Edinburgh of a few years back, they began with catarrhal sy..iptoms, accompanied with acute pain in the side, occasionally so violent as to call for blisters ; which generally afforded relief, and promoted the expectoration. In almost every case extremely copious petechijE were observed very early in the disease, numerous, of a dark colour, and extended over the whole body. Several of the patients assured me — and I certainly did not attempt to undeceive them — that ' it was nothing but the itch.' The pulse, in two or three instances, where the pneumonic symptoms were most violent, was, during the first three or four days strong and bounding, notwithstanding the petechijE were at that time very copious. It generally, however, sank quickly. There were some trifling varieties in different cases, but I do not think it important to notice them. " In all, I prescribed the washing of the whole body with cold water and vinegar twice a day, and never without marked advantage, — in some instances more, in others less permanent. At first, where the pain in the side and other catarrhal symptoms were urgent, I directed, with hesitatioa, the use of the cold watc As the fever, however, on the whole appeared the disease from which most was to be apprehended, I thought myself authorized in making the experiment ; and I had very soon the most complete conviction that I had nothing to fear. The pain in the side, cough, &c., far from being aggravated, were in every case relieved. The effects which I more particularly observed as ensuing from this application, were the following : " The number and livid appearance of the pctechiae were universally lessened. The pulse, when weak and frequent, became slower and stronger . the skin moist and soft. The head was more free' from delirium. Sleep was procured. The appetite often returned, and in some cases thirst was produced. It may appear singular that I should ■ r*! iw^ ^*-.A.- IIYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 13 fi^ #\ mention the production of thirst as among the favourable effects of thi» remedy. I conceive it to have arisen from the diminution of the delirium, which rendered the patients sensible of thirst, to which previously, notwithstanding the very hard and parched state of the tongue, they had been altogether insensible. Of all the cases treated in the above manner (not less, I believe, that* twenty) I did not lose one ; nor do I recollect any instance of a relapse. The termination of the fc^ er was marked by no evident crisis. No medicines were given except an occasional opiate with ether, or a laxative injection, as circumstances appeared to point out the use of the one or the other." Of R. Hall, M.D., of London. " In the last volume of the Annals of Medicine, an account is given by Dr. Brown, of Bath, respecting the salutary effects of cold applications to the head in insanity. I have also experienced beneficial effects from the use of the same remedy in similar cases. Dr. Brown justly observes, that this is an old practice, and that it has often failed. Its failure, however, I concur with him in attributing, in a great measure, to the manner of its employment, and to the want of a due perseverance in its use. In several cases of incipient, and in one case of confirmed insanity, from the assiduous employment of cold applications to the head, I have witnessed the happiest effects. Cloths dipped in the coldest water, or artificially rendered so after being gently wrung, were kept constantly applied to the head, and renewed as they acquired heat, until a sense of cold and chillness were induced and propagated over the whole system, which seldom failed to produce relief, and prove the harbinger of returning rationality ; after which, for the most part, an occasional recurrence to this remedy was only found necessary. Not unfrequently this mode of applying cold to the head was interchanged with the effusion of cold water out of an appropriate vessel, and from a considerable height." Of William B. Carpenteb, M.D., F.R S., Professor of Physiology in the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and Lecturer on Natural History and Comparative Anatomy at St. Thomas's Hospital. " No solid substances can ever be taken up by the roots of plants until they have been dissolved in the water which they imlibe ; and all the matters which are taken into the stomachs of animals must be reduced to an equally liquid state before they can be carried by its circulation into the several parts of the body, to whose nourishment it is to be applied. Hence, in all living beings there is a demand for liquid, as the solvent or vehicle by which these solid matters, of which the remainder of the structure is composed, are introduced into it. We may just as well go without solid food as without drink. If the most nutritious substances were conveyed into the stomach, and that organ could not povr forth a liquid secretion capable of dissolving it, the mass of bread ill 1 •■I i 1 1^ \ ■4 14 HYDKOTHERAPEUTICS. would be of no more use than if it had been stone. And if, when taken into the blood vessels, the solid matter be not sufficiently diluted with liquid to enable it to flow freely through them, it would at the same time produce the general stagnation of the circulating cunent, and would be incapable of serving any purpose in the nutrition of the body. But, further, the various waste products of that decay of the tissues which has been several times alluded to as being necessarily connected with their activity, as parts of the living animal, must be conveyed out of the body either in a liquid or a gaseous form. A considerable portion of them is carried off, as we have seen, by the process of respiration, or ' breathing ; but there still remains a large amount which has to be separated from the blood by the two great plands, the liver and the kidneys, and by a number of smaller glands, which are thickly scattered over the lining of the intestines, and over the surface of the skin. The purpose of these bodies is to draw off from the blood whatever substances are unfit to circulate in its current, and to get rid of them from the svstem : and in doing so, they necessarily draw off" at the same time the liquid in which these substances are dissolved. Hence, there is a continued loss of fluid from the living body, besides that which would be naturally carried off by evaporation from its soft and moist surface. — And this loss is largely increased in many instances, as we shall presently see, by the exhalation of an additional quantity of vapour from the skin for the purpose of keeping the temperature of the body down to its proper standard, when the external air, joined to that produced within itself; would, otherwise, raise it too high. Hence, a continual supply of liquid is necessary to keep up the amount of it which the body ought to contain ; and as none of the warm blooded animals can be reduced by the loss of that from their fluid to the same torpidity as that into which certain of the cold-blooded tribes pass, any considerable deprivation of it is fatal to thero. Hence we find that animals which are entirely deprived both of food and water die much sooner than those which, though deprived of food, are allowed as much water as they require. And most of those unfortunate human beings who have suffered from the extremity of thirst as well as hunger, declare that the former is the hardest to be borne. Its maddening effects were never more remarkable than in the dreadful scene of the ' Black Hole of Calcutta,' referred to on a former occasion. The human skin, like the leaves of plants, is continually giving off a large quantity of watery vapour, which passes away quite insensibly to ourselves unless the surrounding air be loaded with moisture. And a considerable quantity of water in the shape of vapour is also earned away in the breath. We become aware of the presence of the latter, when we breathe against a window on a cold day ; for the glass, being chilled by the outer air, cools down the breath which comes in contact with it, and causes its moisture to be deposited on its surface. When several persons are shut up in a coach or railway carriage on a frosty day, the moisture which is exhaled from their lungs and skin quickly forms a thick layer upon the glass, which is renewed almost as soon as it is wi"ed away. The whole quantity of liquid which thus passes from the HYDROTHEBAPEUTICS. 16 human body in the state of vapour, seems to average about two pound, human Doayn ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^j^^^ ^^^ j^^^y ,, over- Teated'dtherin consequ ' ce of violent exertion, or of the high temperature ofte s^rro nd^^ I"this case it iscxudcdupon the «kin faster than it an b. ca He off as vapour by the atmosphere, and it accumulates m drop forcing the sensible perspiration, the quantity of «h.ch n>ay be fncreased under particular drcun.stanees, to an enormous extent Now he eWef object o'fthis pouring out of water from the surface of the body s to keep down its temperature within the proper Inmts. Whenever Uh!h„ little raised by any external heat that does not absolutely burn Tt And titT, hit persons who have aecuston^d themselves to Lafn th'heat of Vurnacl, stoves, ^^ -n-ma. for some Um^ situations in which the mercury rises to oOO « /.f '^""!i' * hermometer,-a temperature nearly sufficient to bod q^-'^sdver But f TeTody be exposed for a short time to air not many degress ho t than itself but already loaded with watery vapour, no eoohng effect 19 produ ed by the perspiration, because the liquid poured out from the sWn cannot^ be dissolved by the air, and carried off by .t so that ff the S'eireatbekcpt up. the temperature of the bodyltselfisraisedaoo^^ Uq natural standard, and death is the result. ''^"He we see that all organized bodies require a continua Isupp y of r A Tn thP first Dlace as one of the principal materials of the bodily fX;^- and second ;,te vehicle for the introduction of the sol d part oftSirfid wt^^^^^ thirdly, as the vehicle for cIrrvTnVoff those products of the continual waste of the system which rrspira^ory process does not remove ; and, fourthly, as the means of keeS "ow7the temperature of the body, when the external andinternal supply of heat would otherwise raise it above its natural standard. Of C. T. Cooke, Esq., Surgeon. « As it is pretty well known that I have been spending the last fortnight at Ma ver" Sy for the benefit of my health, and partly for the purpose of ^tu ring practically into the natureof the means now e"PM-g he for the prevention of diseases, and for the recovery of health, it is not what my own convietions are upon the subj.- . than by requesting you to i ;l 111 ! I 16 HYDROTHEKAPEUTICS. J are; 1. Drinking cold water. 2. Cold bathing after patsive sweating. 3. Cold bathing without sweating. 4. The wet sheet. 6. The wet sheet bath. 6. Partial bathing of particular parts. 7. Douche, or spout bath. 8. Cooling compresses. 9. Animating bandages. 10. Frictions. " These are all modified in their use according to the circumstances of each particular case ; and I have no hesitation in saying, require the exercise of as much judgment and discretion, as any pther mode of medical ministration. " To you, who so well know what a life of suffering mine has been, it will be no matter of surprise to hear that I should have been obliged to leave home for the purpose of rest and quiet ; nor will you wonder that I should have come to this place with the view to give fair trial to the extraordinary use of a simple remedy, having, as you also know, tried every ordinary remedy in vain. I am also anxious to ascertain by personal obser- vation and experience, for the benefit of others as well aa myself, what are the real pretensions of what is called ' The Water Care' to the estimation which it ao loudly claims from the profession, and the public. To you, and to myself, it will be no marvel if it should substantiate those claims. You have always in your own case, as well as in your practice, given to the skin its fair share of attention, and in my little book on the management of health and life, published as long ago as 182G, are to be found the two passages I have quoted and enclosed for you. It was a pleasure to me to hear, before I left home, that you had spoken favorably of Dr. Wilson's mode of ministering to disorder and disease ; and I am still further gratified, by finding patients of yours under his care, who bear testimony to your liberality of feeling on the subject. As yet, I cannot speak of myself as being better, but you know the nature of my ailment, and will not expect too much, any more than I do, from even this mode of relief combined though it be with what I so much need — comparative repose from labour. " If I am spared to return, it will be a great gratification to me to tell you all I have witnessed, and all I have experienced of the eff"ect8 of Dr. Wilson's varied application of his one remedy. I have already beheld much that would have surprised me, if I had not long since learned that the simplest means are the best in the hands' of a minisier naturcB ; or the minister of God had not, from a very early period of my life, defined the practice of medicine (in its unsophisticated sense) to be * good common sense directed to a particular object,' and I might add, that object a blessed and blessing one. " If you should feel inclined to take a drive over any day whilst I am here, I should be glad to see you, and to have the pleasure of introducing you to the author of ' A Practical Treatise on the Cure of Diseases by Water, &c. &c.' " Of John King, M.D. " Calling one morning on a clerical friend, I found laid upon the table of his study one or two works on Hydropathy. I need scarcely add, the ) i) SS.4 ■ii?,1 HYDR0THEHAPEUTIC8. 17 .u^ect wa. of sufficient i"tere.t to ^fl^d a IengtJ.ned t^^^^^^ .• ^ Hn Iahv no mv triend 8 residence, lue rcMuii v'u- conversation. Un leaving niy int-nu "isms" fluid possessing no spec.hc P'-''P^^^>' J^, " ^"^ J,^ to be considered the sciences of medicine, "-^"I"/ ^f^^^^^i^ ^^S^^ned profeBsion,-a as vague, unmeaning terms in the honorable ana i i uiember of which I >vas proud to b"- "^y- "^^^^^^ which I had devoted the best part ot my hte should ever V This could never be ! ....nUv nresented itself for "It was not long before another opportunity preseniea "J*^ u was iiui i B ,.,, ,.^.,,1 ..uj,„rbine tope was again, naturally, conversing -f^ "^y <^^-"'^' ^"'^^i ^^^ .itaTJ." of which I must candidly resumed and discussed, at the tcnnmat on o ^ acknowledge, some of "^y ^'^^^^^^ ^^:^^i:::nU.n on ^ fixed determination to peruse every work wmcn subject, with an unbiassed feeling. resolutions,— that » 'ri,„ ro«„lt of mv invest Ration produced these resoiuuuuo, .„d i»ter,mlly, co»ld not be product.^ ol '^"3;"^;„.„<, ;„ effect. felt almost sceptical as to its reality, uu .^ ^^^ unadulterated truth, cleans the -pd fl id wh^ h I^had ,^^^^^^^ self-evident as the rays of the noon day su^^^ the Esculapian art, its into operation this most valuable ^^^l^.^^j^,^ ^^^tem. Dyspepsia, vivifying and tonic effect ^IJZtP^ disten'sfo'n after meVs,'cid with its accompaniments, Hatuienc}, paimui ui !,„„„„ to the TlLn.. .-^ . mo., unpleasant .y,np.on> ^-er ' ^ ^J ™^^^^^^^^^^^^ d„pep.ie, . d„.,e.™g, -'"S,-- 7 To i u2re Ihis, I -viU approaching to ayncope ^"''eWvman from ^.hom I received th. •imply n^ctte a '"'^ "'j,,," "^^ ™g d i^ Ms ministerial duties, he abstraction of blood, both genera and ocal, the <^^^^^ andother most P-rf^J " ^ff t^ln" bX "t^^ -ffi'-"^ it-eXandtd-gatheS'slt^h enongh to resume hi. profession.. t . -I 1 'ii ! ki •i 18 HYDROTHBHAPEUTICA. — no application of blisters — and not one particle of medicine was taken. He was Judiciously treated under the hydropathic plan, and in three or Jbur (layn he was able to walk out, and was completely restored 1 "We may venture to hope that as soon an this most invaluable mode of treatment (hydropathy) becomes more fully appreciated and universally adopted, pulmonary affections, at their commencement, as well as the various cases of liver and stomach complaints, will be radical!;' cured.-— A corresponding decrease, as there has been of late a proportionate increase, of disease, may be rationally and fairly anticipated. UoubtlesF, we ought to admire with adoration and gratitude the infinite wisdom and goodness of the all-wise Creator of the universe, in supplying our wants BO munificently, with so inestimable a fluid, so pure and so plentiful as Water." " Facts are chicls that winna dinp, And daurna be disputed." — Burns. Of Thomas Smethurst, M.D. " My object is to shew, that in Water we have one of the most powerful therapeutic agents yet discovered ; that its effect in curing diseases is wonderful, and that a general adoption, now that it has taken root, cannot fail to take place in many and most diseases. " Many, and no doubt the majority, of my medical readers, are still opposed to the Water Cure, and look upon it with a prejudiced eye ; many more among the public have yet to be convinced of its benefits ; but it cannot be otherwise. As with every great truth,^ it is slow in forcing itself upon the mind, but in the end, truth must prevail. " Some medical men, desirous to give Water a trial, have tried and found it wanting, through mismanagement, lack of perseverance in them- selves, or in their patients ; and occasionally adding a dose of their own, by which the cure was either interrupted or defeated. The Water Cure requires patience, perseverance, and a knowledge of its great effects ; without these it is impossible to succeed. It requires careful study, and I doubt not, that by a proper and due cultivation, hydropathia may become even more briluant in its results. The use of medicines, according to the present VUipatbic principle, in going through the Water Cure, is to be utterly repu*U^t>.d, chieflv because all the functions of the organism are kept in comyJ i:- . .;tiv;'y whilst under the treatment, as far as the existing vital po<'.\ t in ^he individual treated admits of this ; and that such being the case, t\\> remedies administered may have a different effect to what was anticipated, or wished for. V ^ " In concluding the article, we may yet add in praise of Priessnitz, that his riches (£150,000) have not, as too often happens, inflated his pride ; but that he is the same humble, modest and unassuming man, respected and esteemed by his neigbbouis for his humanity and benevolence." ^.d I1YDROT1IBRAFBUTIC9. 0/ G. H. IIeatiicotb, M.D. 19 " The term ' quackery' has of course been applied to this new •yitPin. The charge is of formidable sound, it must be grauted, but it istinpty ^ound after all ; it is unsupported by a single argument ; it >• based up^n no reasoning whatever ; and even though it be the opinion of a physician, it is an opinion so stated, as unsubstantial as those dark Bpots which are engendered in the human vision by looking at the sun— it is an obscuration from intolerable light. There is no obscurity in the system itself ; but there are eyes which cannot bear to look upon it. I, too, am a physician, (excuse a little egotism,) I have the honor of having been granted that degree both by the College of Physicians in Edinburgh, and by tlie College of Physicians in London. " The principle of hydropathy is that of the eradication of disease by various curative actions' of the vital functions, which it has the power to excite, by the various modes in wliich it can be applied ; so that the remedial power of this system approaches us nearly to a panacea as mankind perhaps is ever destined to obtain. " The principle of allopathy is that of the eradication ofone suffering by another diverse and derivative. It is an awkward principle. A physician has said, ' formerly medicines were prescribed, less for the disease thau the name of the disease. Having personified disease into some mysterious living being, tiicy prescribed medicine, as it were with a view of killing that disease by poison ! That which was called a dose of medicine to the patient, was thought to be n dose of poison to the disease. It often poisoned both the disease and the patient.' It is an awkward principle, and like Russell's political purge for constitutional obstructions, it produces ' untoward events.' But when we reflect upon the multitude of these medicines — when we consider that each class has a regiment of species, and that every day recruiting goes on, adding some new individual to this medicinal army, what must be the natural inference of an intelligent mind ? What but that the old soldiers are no longer found efficient ; that at last they are good for nothing, and must give way to raw recruits. So that in fact the general himself, the general practitioner, is laid under the necessity of healing without medicines — at least, without the former army with which he attacked the disease in the last invasion. But more than this, and worse, not unfrequently his army mutinies ; his mercurial regiment, for instance, goes over to the side of the enemy — itself becomes a disease, and both the general and the constitution are at length overcome, either by the unexpected dereliction of the traitorous arug, or by the protracted state of the intestine war. It has ever been hazardous to employ mercurial troops. " This is a figurative illustration, it is true ; but it is a just expression of undoubted facts, " That with regard to the use of medicines, it has been discovered thatvthe principal functions of the body, indirectly excited by medicRl agents, can be directly excited by applications of cold water. il i -v ^.d 20 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. •' Particularly that perspiration, the most critical function of the body, both in health and disease, can be commanded by the processes of hydro- pathy, in a manner which no medicine haa ever yet accomplished. " That there is evidence, that diseases wrhich have not been remedied by medicine have been cured by this new system. " That in acute diseases, the rapidity of the cure is more remarkable ; and that the rcmedj leaves no convalescent state of debility. " Thus the principle c!' hydropathy is, to lead us away from the vain and absurd task of contending against one disease by the introduction of another ; and to point out to us the imniateri-il and inherent curative power itself, which operates, not by seeking a foreign and external power to introduce into the body, but by taking away out of the body that which diseases it, through the instrumentality of its inherent force created in the midst of those natural elements which it has power to control aj long as the Creator wills. I think this is the just expression of the modus operandi of the processes of hydropathy." Of James Freeman, M.D. " Hydropathy has been too much regarded as simple and uniform in its operation. The truth is, that it effects almost every change which drugs can effect, only by safer and more certain means. For instance, the internal purging of calomel, aloes and scammony, is substituted by the external purging of the dry blanket, or wet sheet ; the counter-irritation of a blister or mustard poultice is replaced by a similar power exercised by the compress ; the tonic effects of cinchona, gentian or iron, are represented by those of the cold bath, douche, or sitz bath. This comparison might be further pursued if necessary. " The application of hydropathy, thus regarded, requires as much skill and knowledge as any other remedial method. What it really professes is, to possess more power than other remedies; to leave the system not only radically cured of all morbid taint, but unimpaired by the injurious effects produced by drugs ; to remove an old disease without superinducing a new one, and without communicating to the patient an unwholesome habit of body, as too often follows the use of opium, calomel, aperients, &c., and more than all, to be able to cure or relieve many diseases in which other treatment has failed, even when employed by its most eminent professors. " In order to shew more forcibly the fact, that hydropathy operates in a manner accordant with scientific medical principles, let us illustrate the above remarks ' ' supposed case. Take, for instance. Chronic Rheumatism. In tins malady the morbid phenomena are combatted by the solvent and eliminating action of daily perspiring, &c., &c. ; instead of the cupping and mercurializing of other systems, this is seconded by the counter-irritation of douches and compresses, which represent the blisters, liniments, and ointments of the apothecary. The cure is completed by the tonic action of cold bathing, appropriate diet, water beverage, and exercise, which answers to the bitters and other miuseous tonics usually ...^iH^: HYDUOTHEBAPEUTICS. 21 Rdministered. Is not this strictly consistent with the best principles of medicine ? If space permitted, the same might be shewn of most other diseabes." Of A. F. Thompson, M.D., F.L.S., Professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics, in the London University. I extract the following from the article on Refrigerants, in the Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, by Dr. Thompson. He says, " Refrigerants operating on the sensibility of the body are few ; but they M-e more directly refrigerant than those which have been already notif • d {i. e. drugs). Cool air, the first of these, is so agreeable to the feelings in a heated state of the body, that observation alone might have led to its early employment as a remedial agent ; and nothing marks more strikingly the perversity of mankind than the opposition of physicians to the indulgence of the instinctive desire for this remedy in fever patients." " If cool air be beneficial in the above mentioned condition of the body, cold water and ice are still more so. * * When cold water and ice are employed as curative agents, their influence may be obtained either by internal administration, or by their application to the surface ; in both" cases their effects are extended by sympathy over the system, but they are modified by the manner m which these agents are used. If the body be inuuersed in the cold bath, the most striking effect is the shock of nervous impression, which produces the vascular reaction -so beneficial as a tonic * * * The shock and reaction caused by cold effusion is as considerable as when the .did bath is used ; but it is more transitory, and thereibre is a more useful refrigerant.— Sponging with cold water, as far as a simple refrigerating effect is desired, is preferable to either the cold bath or affusion ; there is no shock ; the fluid merely cools the surface, and by perseverance in the cold sponging, the cooling effect is rendered permanent. *^ * The sedative and refrigeming influence of evaporating lotions is not confined to the part to which they are applied, but extends to other parts of the body, even to the interior, as for instance, to the bra^in, to the contents of the abdomen, and to the joints." Dr. Thompson next proceeds to speak of a few of the diseases in which Water is applicable. The following is a synopsis of his remarks. He recommends it in local inflammations on the surface of the body ; in deep seated inflammations, as those of the brain and its membranes, arid says, " These applications (cold) have been lately recommended in other internal inflammations, as those of the thorax (including the lungs, heart, and investing membranes) and abdomen, (or of the bowels, liver, kidneys, &c.) and under proper circumstances, have been found highly beneficial." In all external hemorrhages where it is unnecessary to take up vessels, cold water is the best astringent ; and in all internal hemorrhages of an active nature. In fevers, refrigerants under every form are the most valuable set of therapeutical agents. In inflammatory fever the advantages to be derived from them are well understood. The 1 ii 22 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. cold affusion is admirably adapted for rapidly abstracting the stimulus of heat, diminishing general excitement, and operating as a powerful sedative. In fevers of a typhoid type, the disease has been cut short by the cold affusion. " InSyuochus, oi inflammatory fever of a typhoid character, cold affusion is chiefly applicable to the early stages ; and indeed no form of remedy is more advantageous when there are no local determinations. " In remittent fevers, cold affusion may be employed with great benefit. In yellow fever, the safety of the patient frequently depends solely on its early application. " In most eruptive fevers, except measles, the body should be freely exposed to cool air ; and the cold affusion may be safely aud advan- tageously prescribed ; nor should the presence of the eruption operate as a reason against its employment. The Hindoo physicians plunge their patients during the eruption oi small pox in cold water, and with the best results. It diminishes fever, lessens the number of the pustules, and is said Xo prevent pitting" In scarlatina Dr. T. has been long in the habit of employing the cold affusion during the height of the eruption, and has seen the severity of the disease instantly checked by it. In intermittent fever {fever and 'ague) the affusion should be used in the hot stage of the paroxysm, and continued until the body returns to its natural temperature. " It is unnecessary," continues Dr. T., " to discuss the nature of the various diseases in which refrigerants are indicated. In one local disease, phrenitis, their advantageous effects are very conspicuous ; the most furious delirium is quickly subdued by allowing cold water to drop on the head." Of Of Edwaed Bablow, M.D., Physician to the Bath United Hospital , and Infirmary, ♦' Cleanliness" says Dr. Barrow, " is essential to the health of infants, the functions of the skin being of high importance, and requiring to be kept in due activity. The body should be washed all over once a day at least ; and impurities should never be allowed to remain for any time in contact with, the skin. At first, the water used should be tepid, but after a few months the temperature should be gradually lowered, until cold be employed, unless there be such extreme delicacy and deficient reaction as to render this hazardous. Children bear well the transient application of cold, which in general is succeeded by a genial glow both refreshing and invigorating. Many weakly children are renovated in health and strength by a daily plunge in a cold bath." Dr. B. considers the daily use of the cold bath one of the best means which can be resorted to in imparting vigour to feeblj children, and in counteracting a tendency to deformity ; and that cold bathing under proper restrictions is a powerful tonic in all cases of " local or constitu- tional debility," irrespective of age. HYDROTHEnAPEUTlCS, 23 Of Sir Astlet Cooper, Bart., F.R.S., Surgeon to His late Majesty, William IV. " The means by which I preserve my own health are temperance, early rising, aiid sponging my body every morning with Cold Water, a practice I have pursued for thirty years ; and though I go from this heated theatre into the squares of the hospital in the severest winter nights, with merely silk stockings on my legs, yet I scarcely ever have a cold. " In deep seated inflammation, as in that of the brain, and in determi- nation of blood to the bead, the application of ice to the scalp is of signal service, " This experiment led me to an examination of the principles of the nction of the cold bath; and I found that when a person in health takes a cold bath, not being accustomed to it, it produces irritation, and some- times renders the pulse irregular ; but on the contrary, when a person in a state of irritability and weakness, with a feeling of heat about him, goes into a cold bath, it tranquillizes the nervous system, and therefore is beneficial. It absorbs the superfluous heat, lessens nervous irritability, and reduces the pulse when quickened, nearly to its natural standard. " I had injured my health by being too much in the dissecting room, and I discharged a considerable quantity of blood from my stomach, and fever was the consequience. In this condition I vvent into the country for the benefit of a pure atmosphere ; and I there had frequent opportunity of noticing the influence of cold on an irritable pulse in my own person. When my pulse was quick and irritable, and my skin was heated, if I used a cold bath in the morning, on that day my pulse was slower and the superfluou? heat was removed ; so that the body was much cooler than on the preceding day, or on the succeeding day, when the bath was not used. Thus, where there is great irritability of the nervous system, and where the heart is sending the blood with accelerited motion through the different channels, cold will prove invigorating, by lessening the first of these affections, and reducing the latter to the natural standard. " The manner, therefore, in which cold relieves inflammation when locally applied, is by abstracting heat, by lessening the diameters of the vessels, and by diminishing nervous irritability." My own experience entirely corresponds with that of Sir Astley Cooper, in the effects of the cold bath- In the treatment of typhus fever I have in several instances known persons go to sleep while in the bath, who were previously in a state of delirium ; and who had not enjoyed rest for several days. ' Such is the controlling influence it has over the nervous system. Of M. Bribrre ©b Boismont. — Read before the Academy of Medicine, Paris. — From the Revue Medicale, 1846. M. Boismont, in his paper on insanity, has the following, which I take 1 m ' 'M: 24 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. pleasure in laying before you. Not that I am willing to avow myself an advocate for the treatment (in its details) which he recommends, but because I haVe seen many maniacs restored to their friends and to the world who, but for the judicious use ofj water, would, in all probability, have been to this day incarcerated within the musty walls of a lunatic asylum. " 1st. All the acute forms of insanity, and especially of mania, may be cured in a space of time varying from one to two weeks. ' " 2nd. The treatment consists in the employment of prolonged baths and irrigations. " 3rd. The duration of the bath should be, in general, from eleven to twelve hours, but it may be extended to fifteen or eighteen. " 4th. The irrigations of the head, by a gentle stream of water, should be continued during the entire continuance of the bath, unless the patient becomes composed, when they may be suspended. "5 th. When the patient has taken from eight to ten baths without marked amelioration, they must be suspended to be resumed at a future period. q , " 6th. The temperature of the baths should be from 82" to 86 and that of the irrigations 60°. " 7th Of all the forms of insanity, acute mania best yields to this treatment ; then simple acute delirium, delirium tremens, puerperal menia, and melancholy monomania, with acute symptoms ; but in several of these forms of disease the cures are neither so rapid nor so permanent as in acute mania. , • %v, " 8th. Chronic mania with acute symptoms, and chronic mama witn agitation, may be ameliorat-.d but not in general cured by this treatment." Of John Balbirnie, M.D. " An ardent spirit of inquiry, a keen sifting of old systems, with a wide publicity to new discoveries, are peculiar features of the tunes we live in Truth cannot now be scowled down by the frowns of authority, nor put out of countenance by the jeers of ridicule. Personal feehngs and considerations now less than ever oppose the progress of scientific improvement, and the moral and physical amelioration of society. Appeals to the vague fears and prejudices of the public, veneration lor precedent, and respect for the mere sanctions of time or custom or fashion, are found but shallow substitutes for sound reasoning. Calumny and detraction are not now received as logic, nor personalities and abuse as arsuments. Such weapons are repudiated by a good cause, and fail to bolster up a bad one. The zeal of party only stirs up the angry passions of human nature. The zeal of science, on the contrary, nurtures the amenities of conduct, and reproves the asperities of controversy. « These reflections are suggested by the reception and progress of the Water Cure. This great innovation on modern practice, at variance with established usages, and opposed to long dominant prejudices-- neither suggested ty the lights of science nor imported from the seats of refinement— has nevertheless happily emerged from the ordeal of ridicule, UYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 2d misrepresentation, and abuse, which it is the fate of all new remedies— if not of every boon of humanity — to encounter. The indifference that for a while induced neglect, and the prejudice that repelled inves- tigation, have given place to a dispassionate inquiry into matters of fact, and to that moral greatness that stoops to confess, and retract its error. Discussion has only confirmed the merits of the new treatment, and settled its pretensions on an impregnable basis. Its claims, extensively to diminish the sum of human suffering, have been substantiated, and the result is, that it is now as widely diffusing its benefits as are the wants of society it meets, and the defects of medical practice it supplies. " The voice of experience, and the researches of the philosopher, alike unite to justify this popularity. A " great cloud of witnesses'' has arisen up in its behalf, not only on the continent of Europe, but in our own country, trophies of its power to cure when all the usual resources of the healing art, in the most skilful hands have failed. Deception has not been, and could not he practised. The New Treatment is not carried out in a corner, hut in the open lii^ht of day, and challenging the investigation of all men. The darkness, mysticism and manoeuvre, in which quackery hides its head and enacts its deeds, have no part in it. " The derision thrown upon the external application and internal use of cold water as a remedial agent, could only originate in an utter ignorance of the true principles of physiology, and of the objects and rationale of a philosophic treatment of disease. The processes of the Water Cure moreover are reducible to a sounder scientific system, and are more m accordance with the latest discoveries regarding the phenomena of healthy and diseased 'actions, than the uncertain, contradictory, and random practice of physic. If the doctrines of the schools therefore are to be the guides of practice, the Water Cure, as being in stricter conformity with physiology and pathology, has greater claims to the favor of the public, and the confidence of the physician. " The professional opposition to tlie new treatment is gratuitous, alike without grace and without reason. The same cold water applications that pretend to shock as dangerous innovations, are but the revival of obsolete practices once in vogue in our own country, in Germany, and in the south of Europe ; and are but an enforcement of the recommenda- tions of modern chemistry. The sanguine predictions of Dr. Currie and his coadjutors, are now being realized. The practice of the professional censurers of Priessnitz and his professional followers, only differs m degree, not in kind. j /. r • j " The dangers of treatment — the risks arising from defects of judg- ment, clearly preponderate on the side of the old practice. " In drug-medication, errors of diagnosis are often fatal ; in the Water Cure they are always innocent. In the treatment by medicine, present disease is often removed by sowing the seeds of future malady ; temporary relief is often bought at the expense of permanent inconvenience ; healthy action is not unusually restored to one organ by taking it away from another. These results cannot occur in the Water Cure. Drugs attack the constitution through diseased localities -, the Water Cure attacks ■i . 26 HYDROTHEKAPEUTICS. diseased localities through the general constitution. In the one case the organ to be attacked is left to nature ; in the other it is selected by art. In the Old Treatment, the wrong organ is sometimes chosen for attack, and thc/y/w muloru7n exasperated; in the New Treatment, the wants and resources of the constitution call forth the efforts of nature m the right direction, and limit tlve extent of her operations. In drug medication the result of unsuccessful practice is worse than no treatment ; tor functional disturbance is often aggravated into organic disease. In the Water Treatment, where a cure is not accomplished, the disease is not exasperated but always mitigated. The Water Cure is always consistent with its own principles ; the drug medication often wants principles altogether, or runs diametrically counter to them. The one has many remedies, all of them uncertain ; the other boasts of but one, and that simple and efficacious, the mode and dose of the remedy determining the kind of action The administration of medicine is guided by the uncer- tain rules of art ; the practice of the Water Cure is a close imitation of nature In the drug treatment the remedy is abhorred ; in the Water ' Cure it is enjoyed ! the first chill and shock of the bath being followed by the glow and reaction of invigorated vitality. " The imperfections therefore of the old system give room for the improvements of the new, and justify the preference of the more efficient rctncdv. " The non-accordance of the Water Cure with the received thera- peutical canons of the schools, is no valid criterion by which to test the merits of the new system. The medical treatment of diseases, in fact, is overlaid with fallacies. What between the proverbial errors of diagnosis —the mistake of morbid causation, and the temptation to be misled by hasty conclusions ;— what between the almost universal adulteration of drugs, or the spoiling of them by accident, or errors of chemical manipulation ;— what between the disagreement as to their doses, and the uncertainty as to their operation ;— what between their modified action as affected by age, constitution, temperament, habits, diet, season, climate, &c., there is no certainty of prescription, no accurate calculation of results, no exact appreciation of cause and effect. Wherein, for example, have the triumphs of German Spas and our own mineral waters been most trumpeted forth ? In dyspeptic, nervous, and hypochon- driacal disorders, complaints which drugs can never cure, and which are greatly influenced by adventitious causes, as mental emotions, social circumstances, the anxieties of business, confined air, late hours, luxurious dinners, and bodily inactivity. But at Spa business is laid aside ; the patient lives by rule, keeps early hours, continues most of the day in the open air. The result is the speedy re-establishment of health. Medicine and medicated water gets the credit, while in fact the cure is brought about, not in consequence, but in spite of the treatment ; and the patient has really been benefitted to the extent that he has been unconsciously put under the discipline of the Water Cure. And inasmuch as the full processes have not been carried out, the patient, in a majority of cases, is but only partially ♦ patched up.' il V r-^. HYDROTHRRAPEUTItS. 27 / N " Clean cold water \a the only physical agent that exercises the most certain, safe, and salutary control over all the functions of the living organism. It most effectually and speedily quells inflammation, subdues fever, opens the obstructed pores, maintains perspiration, and soothes morbid sensibility. Pure water, pure air, and plain food, with water (simple or saline) variously applied to tlie skin, in conjunction with active bodily exercise, arc the great sources of acquired health, and the means of throwing off disease. For it is neither physic nor the physician that heals ; neither drugs nor cold water can remove the proximate cause— the material conditions of the disease. The Inherent Conservative Powers of the Living Organism are the only agents in restoration. The aim of all scientific treatment must be, to give the fullest scope and highest activity to all the vital and vegetative processes— to second the efforts of nature to throw off diseased action— to counteract disturbing agents, or to eject them from the economy. « Animal life, according to the incomparable researches of the first of living philosophers, Liebig, consists in the transformations effected by the various combinations of the elements of food and oxygen. The processes of the Water Cure bring about more efficiently than any other means these fa.ourable conditions. The appetite is speedily improved ; the exercise is increased proportionably ; the elements of the transformation in question are afforded in greater quantity. The result is, an exaltation of vitality, whereby the powers of the system have full play for the work of altering morbid conditions, breaking up obstructions, restoring secretions, and eliminating diseased secretions from the system ; thus producing more rapid transformations, renewing the blood, and compacting the solids by healthier depositions of new material. "The diseases wherein the Water Cure achieves its greatest triumphs have hitherto been the opprobium of medicine, and of its professors. These are, the protean class of nervous disorders, the so-called stomach and bilious complaints (organs more sinned against than sinning), the host of anomalous and nondescript ailments, the results of the excessive wear and tear of the body and mind, produced by the competition of business and the collisions of modern society, chronic gout and rheumatism, scrofula, syphilis and mercurial diseases ; the causes and physical conditions of apoplexy, palsy, general vitiated habit, &c. " But the power claimed and possessed by the new treatment, of exalting the energies of the living organism, is not to be applied indiscriminately, immoderately, or iii a routine manner. The age, temperament and constitution cf the patient— the season of the year— climate— the nature, seat, and source of the complaint— are the guides of the mode of treatment, and the measure of its extent. It is also to be distinctly remembered, that the Water Cure is chiefly applicable to functional disorders, and not to organic diseases. And it is a consolatory fact to know, that in cases of confirmed indigestion, bilious and liver complaints, nervousness and hypochondriasis, organic disease is of comparatively rare occurrence. ^ '28 HYDROTHEBAPEUTICS. " The alleged danger of the crisis is a mere chimera— a phantom con- iured up to terrify the weak, or to stagger the strong. Properly to apply, however, the processes of the Water Cure-to ensure at once the satety of the patient, and the success of the remedy-it must be in the hands ofa practical physician, intimately versed in the sound and morbid structure of man, and possessing hubito of careful observation of disease, accurate diagnosis and profound reflection. The amount and kind of treatment necessary in a given case, is determined by the existing bodily cond, ion as deduced from a strict interrogation of all the functions, and a faithful investigation of the previous history of the disease. In tins way alone can the precipe nature, seat and extent, of the internal derangement be known and the amount of constitutional power wherewith to throw off morbid action be determined. _ ir. . ^ -.u "The condition of treatment, as regard:; the patient himself, is to with- draw the organism as much as possible from all sources of unnatural or excessive stimulations. For this reason, repose of the passions is neces- sarv; the turmoil of business and the excitements ol study are to be avoided; aU dietetic stimulants, alcohol and fermented liquors, arc ^^''" The Water Cure, when adopted by the profession generally, will be the death blow to quacks and quackery. The coneoctors of the various hum- bugs, to be expected in such a country as this, have now seen their beat days ; and it is to be expected that a more honest set will succeed them. The trading speculators in the Water Cure and their doctor .eivants, real or pretended, arc not excluded from this category. ^ "So far as-great names give a sanction to a system, the Water Cure is not without some of the most eminent in science and the most distin- Kuished in practice. Not to mention a host of physicians and professors on the continent, with the illustrious Liebig at their head, it may be enough to cite some names of well deserved note in our own country- Sir Charles Scudamore, Drs. Wilson, Gully, Jf"««"'Adair, Crawford Hume, Weatherhead, Freeman, Smethurst, Heathcote, Mr. Herbert Mayo Mr. Courtney, Mr. Abdy and many others. The French Prussian and Austrian governments have now given their public approval to the system, the reports of their respective commissions sent to Gra^feuburg to investi- gate its merits having given a favourable verdict. « A remedy that has proved so potent in untramed and unskilled hands, affords a legitimate prospect of much greater success, when wielded by men of cultivated minds and devoted to the practice of the heahng art. Of James Manbt Gullt, M. D. "In order to make more clear the views which observation has led me to adopt concerning the mode of action of the Water Cure and which I have advanced, I will recapitulate the subject of each of the foregoing numerical heads, which are aU connected by a chain of expenence and ""^^"L^The power of nature is advanced as the only truly curative power. '"f-W^^-d .tltUffiX-Olttf-'J*^*-^***^ HYDHOTHERAPEUTICS. 29 " II The Water Cure is Blicwn to be that form of .nedica art which i8 best" adapted to aid nature in her curative efforts, and the least hable to interfere with and thwart tliem. •^♦^^wh.lrRw " III. The first step towards aiding that power ot na ure, is to withdraw from the organs all mental and bodily irritations. J his constitutes the iiflmitlnr means of the VVater Cure. ^"Iv We her. enquire the seat and centre of that power of nature which is liberated from oppression, and excited ^^^ -;-"' ^^.„^'f, "^ ^ drawal of mental and bodily irritants. And we find it to be m the gan glionie system of nerves dispersed throughout the body but havmg U« central portion in the viscera, which are thus the sympathizing centre for all diseased actions in the body. , «r » /i „„ ;„ rhmnxc » V. Hence it becomes essential, in applying the Water Cure in chronu. diseases, to enquue minutely into the organic ^-jf >';'^" ^^.^'^^^ "^'^^''^f And we find that to be a condition of excessive blood, m the shape ol chronic irritation, inflammation, congestion and obstruction "VI. It therefore is of consequence to avoid the i"^'^"^/ "^^ J?^ further to increase the quantity of blood in the viscera, and to employ hose which tend to bring it from the viscera, t--'l«!^--.Xd\:rived in consequence of the excess of blood in the viscera, have l>^" ^cprived of a sufficiency of it. This is especially the tact .'^^ [^f;^;J^^^^ the vitality of which is the most seriously compromised by the internal congestion' To the skin, therefore, the second series of means are »p- nlied • these arc the positioe means of the W ater Cure. P' » VII IVeats of the organic power of the skin, its connection by gan- glionie influence with other parts, and how it acts directly upon the viscera, and indirectly on them through the bram. n.^ativP means " VIII The viscera, liberated from oppression by the negative means, and aided by the positive means of the Water Cure, acquire sufficient powe to rid'them'selves of their excess of blood by sending it towards fhe skin, and by outpouring of secretions from the stomach, liver, lower bowels, &c. . .. (,,„ v>ir +Vif>ap " IX The removal of internal irritation, congestion, &c., by tnese means enables the nutritive viscera to form better blood and better soMs Tnd b^ means of these solids to eff-ect and-maintam a better distribution "'J'rWhilft'h: Sd is thus being better distributed -d 'formed of a better kind, the eliminavion of the old morbid "ood is being effected by another means of the Water Cure, namely, water drinkmg. This it does by xpediting those chemical changes of the body, which are known to tike place under the influence of the vital orgamc power of the body, and which in a certain time change the whole of its fluids and solids. A and exercise other positive means of the Water Cure, assist in these chmkrchanges These means therefore should be apphed according asthrdisease'to be treated impUes -al-distribution of bbod a on^ o that, with the addition of diseased blood. It is m this latter case, that they are more particularly and largely demanded. •'XL Making its first impressions therefore on the nutritive or gan- 1 i 80 HTDROTlIEnAPRUTICS. giionio Bystem of nerves, the water treatment in its nltimatc action has a triple result — to cause a better distribution of blood, to indute the formation of better blood, and to purify the Mood. These stand in cause and effect as they arc mentioned; the better distribution loading to better blood makiniT, and this giving the body power to sustain the increased waste which is requisite to purify the whole mass of blood. A visible evidence of these results is sometimes exhibited in the form of u crisis, but this is not essential, and the treatment which tends to cause it is for the most part better postponed for one less vehement in character, although equally efficacious in result. " Rr'gulated by these views of the action of the Water Cure, I have found it a safe and successful mode of treatment in a number of chronic disorders, the major part of which are mentioned in this volume. I fear that my views, and the practice founded on them, will be considered heterodox by those who are of opinion that water cures everything and can possiblv do no harm ; who therefore prescribe pretty nearly the same routine of violent processes and huge water drinking to every patient, whatever his malady or his organic condition; who in short are " «'«^pr doctors'' and nothing more. But this is not to be controlled. Facts have stared me in the face for four years, which demonstrate the possibility of avoiding a great number of disagreables by a scientific adaptation of the appliances of the Water Cure to the organic capabilities of each patient, arid of arriving at a successful termination quite as surely as if the patient had been aU day in water, and water all day in him. Besides, it is folly to suppose, that improvement is never to be made in this mode of treat- ing disease; that as Pricssnitz originated it, so it is to remain through all time. . ■ i • u u *' Pricssnitz is far too clear in mental vision, and original in thought himself, to stick fast in one routine, for in the course of his long experie^ice he has considerably varied his practice, and it is satisfactory to know, that now, after more than twenty years' experience, his treatment has lost almost all the violence which characterized it in former years, and that he too, finds he can do as much with much milder means. With kewmess to observe, he has the tact to adapt his practice to the facts which observa- tion imposes on him. Not so" the small persons, who run over to Grjefen- burg for a few weeks, and return to practice the sarie processes on delicate Englishwomen and Englishmen with sensitive and care-worn brains, which they had there seen practised on phlegmatic Germans and hard headed Poles, and who, though they fancy themselves Priessnitz, and come back ♦ Doctors,' are in reality as much one as the other. From such I am compelled to differ in my ideas of the best manner of applying the Water Cure, and I am also compelled to hold, that its employmerU requires as much nicety and determination as any other plan of treatment, and may not safely be trusted to a routine. Knowledge of sound phjsiology and pathology are never more required than in the practice of the Water Cure, and in no system of treatment will the great truths of those sciences find more ample and beautiful confirmation." L .^#;^i; lIYDROTHlinArEUTlCS. 31 Opinionfi 0/ Jame8 Wil90w, M.D., of Malvern, England. "Amongst my earliest recollections, arc those of my mot, -r Riving tnedicines and lotions to the poor; she was a kind of Lady Houniilul.nnd I can distinctly recall, when I must have been about five or six years old, a side table on which there was something like a soup plate piled with pence; and by its side lotions, draughts and pills; these were lor the poor. Slie was the most tcnd(;r of mothers, and with the best intentions, I was very nearly spoilt by indulgence and pliysic. I never could ascer- tain the fact, but I have little doubt but the first thing that greeted my unfortunate stomach on entering into this 'wicked world' was a dose o castor oil. To this day, port wine reminds me so strongly of powdered bark that I dislike it; and black currant jelly is still my aversion, for the very name brings with it visions of rhubarb, calomel, jalap and chmg lozenges. By this svstem of management, at ten years of age I was a juvenile dyspeptic, with a nervous system already morbidly excited, read- ing works of imagination with avidity, with an irritated brain and slightly inflamed stomach. At fifteen I had lost my parents, and may say was without controul. I entered the medical profession, and for more than seven years was seldom absent from the hospital or dissecting room; this, combined with every inattention to diet and exercise, and taking at the same time stimulants and medicines of every kind, considerably advanced the stomach and nervous complaints which had been commenced in my "' "After taking my degrees, I allowed myself no interval of rest— the worst possible economy of time I could have adopted— but purcha«ed half of a large practice in London, entering into a partnership— imdwitory forming a part. For about seven years I was actively engaged in this, with as little attention as ever to diet and stimulants. By this time I had become really an ailing man ; I was always on the physicking list myself- the dressing table was covered with pill-boxes and various draughts always ready. Day after day came the melancholy debate, whether it would be better to take the compound rhubarb or the compound colocynth pills, with or without the blue, or would it not be better still to try the cold drawn ' (castor oil), or rhubarb and magnesia. This irritating contention cenerally ended in my taking what, from my feelings of discomfort, 1 afterwards thought was the wrong dose. The truth is, all was wrong. As may be guessed, I consul cd all my medical friends, and gave their methods a trial I rubbed in tartar emetic till I had a crop of boils, 'the plague of Job' without the patience, and took mercury until my breath wasfcetid, and my gums sore. By this time I had established some serious diseases ; I had a stomach and liver complaint with chronic duodenitis, an mveterate skin disease, and tic doloureux. My nerves were completely shaken, accompanied with despondency and nervous apprehensions, and irritability beyond bearing. I was indeed an old man before my time; I under- stood Ecclesiastes, and felt that 'all was vanity and vexation of spirit. Id this deplorable state I abandoned London, and for several years wan- 'm 1 I 9. t'"' 32 HYDROTIIKRAl'RUTICS. (It-red iiboiit the continent, pafsing my time principally in Germnny and Italy ; I conHulted all the leading men in most of the capital cities of Europe, and was still no better. I read again and again every work that could enligliteii me on my complaints, and ended fr<»m personal experience and conviction in ffiiunf^ up vuuliciiie. A few leeches, with warm fomen- tations and dieting, afforded me more relief than anything; in fact I believe these last remedies preserved mo. My ailments for a long time had become a morbid study for myself, and I am now persuaded, that except for closely observing the phenomena of disease in my own person, I never could have untlerstood many nervous complaints, and the real pro- perties of ma.iy drugs. There are many men of talent and great experience, who from getting into a routine, and having nerves of iron and the diges- tion of an ostrich, camiot trace the eomiection of many painful diseases, or be persuaded of their source ; they overlook some of the most real and distressing eompli'ints, or call them fanciful. At this period I had heard of the Water Cure, and soon afterwards a work on the subject lell into my hands. Having long contemplated such a thing, I thougiit I under- stood it, and at once decided on a trial. I should mention, that for more than twelve months before 1 went to tiic Water Cure I had rejected my dimier three or four times a week, not from sickness but from the distress I experienced some hours alter taking it ; there was also inveterate con- stipation. I was very thin, and my calves completely gone. It was altogether tiftccn months before I was perfectly cured of the skin disease, that being the last to disappear. " During nearly ten months that I remained at Gracfenburg, I pursued the treatment with great diligence, and at some other establishments afterwards more lightly. It consisted principally in the wet sheet, pack- ing shallow bath, sitz bath, and sometimes the douche. The compress on the abdomen being also regularly worn, as well as a compress on the skiu disease as far as I could manage it. During the first three weeks of my treatment I suffered from the water turning excessively acid, and from my being sometimes obliged to reject it; but towards the end o^ the month a good appetite set in, after having been for years without the sensation. I soon got to relish hard cow beef and veal a day old, with all the et ccteras of the Graifenburg table, caring more for the quantity than the quality. In the third week 1 had a sleeping attack, which lasted for about six days ; I nearly fell asleep on my walk, and was frequently obliged to lie down and sleep two hours before and two hours after dinner, and to go to bed at nine in the evening. At the expiration of the fifth month 1 had gained sixteen pounds. In the midst of this a crisis of boils appeared on the right leg, and the pain in the right side over the liver, which was still distinctly felt on pressure, was remarkably relieved. There was another curious result ; two years previously I had contracted at Naples an irritation of the lachrymal gland of the right eye, and from that time, as soon as I went out into the open air, I could throw as many tears as I pleased out of the eye by a jerk of the head ; it had never stop- ped, though I had tried several remedies. I soon however observed that it was aggravated when uiy stutuiich auu duouenuiT: were worse. 1 he '^•^ ^ ^^.4 UVnitotnp.HAr«KtJT(ds- 88 «tatc of my eye had been remjirked by iniiny of my follow patients, and it created u little sensation wlien I appcurud witliout tcarn, or the usual whiti; handliorcliief wliicli I liad always in my hand to apply to the eye. It stopped suddeidy tlie day atkr tiie crisis, and many came to look at ' the cure of the English doctor's eye.' In ten days it returned, and ran as badly as ever, and the handkerchii'f was again in constant reiiuisition. This failure produced despoiulency in many hypochondriacs, who wcrO Kcalons in pointing out to others tliat my eye was as bad as ever, and that the Water tJurc was alter all good for nothing; liowevcr a fortnight atlcr this disappouitment I had another eruption of boils on the liver and leg, tlic tears were again dried up and tliey have stopped from tliat day to this. The dull pain also, wliich for seven or eight years I had felt more or less in the right side, also disappeared. Tlie skin diseas.' however waa still there, although the itching was materially diminished, and the skui nmch less hard and leathery. I was told from the lirst that this would be a slow business; 1 persevered, and at the end of llfteen months the surface of the skin was smooth and without blemish. My colour had become healthy, and I had gained thirlji pounds of Hush. " During the time I was going through the cure, the quantity of water I inibibed averaged twelve half-pints a day. On one occasion I drank thirty tumblers of water from the spring before breakfast; I was perfectly Well all the day afterwards, and felt no effect further than an irresistible appetite. I was making a variety of experiments ut the time, having become quite well, and this was nothing more. I do not think it would be advisable for patients to repeat such experiments. The compresses worn on the stomach at one period of my treatment, at intervals used to be covered with a deep blue secretion, at other times it was thick and glutinous; I also had a severe attack of fever. The evening that I removed from the Gra;fcnburg hill to the little town of Friwaldou and had just got into bed (having a crisis upon me), the town was on iire. The wind blew a gale, and the wooden houses and roofs carried on the fire like a field of dry reeds. The whole thmg was so sudden that I had to throw my traps out of the window and hurry out. After being up all night and wet, the next day I found myself in a burning fevor with intense headache, and pain in all the limbs. I immediately turned to, had four wet sheets running for a quarter, half and three-quarters of an hour each, and then a shallow bath ; in three hours I repeated the process and agarn before ten at night. The following morning I was better, but had still headache and fever. I went on with the treatment, and on the third day was out and well, hungry and hearty. I then heard that Priessnit^'j, who had been wet to the skin all the night of the fire, had also an. attack of the fever, and had been passing his time, as I had been, in wet sheets. I have no doubt he felt as safe, comfortable, composed and refreshed as I did in this great and merciful discovery. "Some time after this, I had intense jaundice from the passage of gall stones ; a lady observed, 'that I looked like an orange in u white pocket handkerchief.' I lay an hour twice a day in the wet sheets, with sitz baths, shallow baths, compress and iomcutatious; the uhcel^i aud tom- E ii il 34 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. press were tinted yellow. The skin was clear again in ten daj-s and the relief I experienced from the different processes very great. Twelve months last autumn 1 had a severe attack of influenza, and many in this village were laid up with it; wet sheets again, with the accompaniments, and I was enabled to visit my patients regularly, without au hour's con- finement. "It is now three years since I have taken a dose of medicine, and in the interval have done some hard work in fulfilling my vow, to aid with all my means in establishing the Water Cure in my native land; added to which I have endured no small amount of irritation, misrepresentation and abuse; nevertheless I am quite well, and with the blessing of Provi- dence trust to continue so, and to have as many patients to attend to as will be consistent with my self-preservation. Under these circumstances, would the gentle and candid reader advise me to abandon the Water Cure and return to the practice of medicine? " It is imagined by persons who have not witnessed the operation of the water treatment, that some of its means are attended with danger. It is supposed that weak persons, and delicate constitutions, are unable to undergo the operation without injury. Nothing is more groundless than this fear ; many thousand persons are annually submitted to its appli- cation in the various establishments of Germany. Among uiem are individuals of e\ery age, of both sexes, of all varieties of constitution and temperament, presenting every possible gradation of physical power, even to the most infirm, and labouring under every description of disease. Among this large number, which comprehends every diversity that the human frame is capable of presenting, accidents are much less frequent than under any other mode of treatment : indeed, they are almost unheard of. Let it not be imagined that the Water Cure is disagreeable, or that the patient has anything to ' go through' in submitting to its operation. "When its use is once commenced, when the skin Jias overcome its first surinking from contact with cold water, and the glow of reaction has been once experienced, it will not be pronounced painful or unpleasant. On the contrary, it is exceedingly agreeable. It is the most common of all events at hydropathic establishments, to hear patients speak of their delightful sensations ; and if chance occupation or absence prevent tho taking of a bath at the usual hour, the loss is always regarded as a de- privation of one of the principal enjoyments of the day. A drug is a substance capable of exciting a change in the organs or functions of the animal frame; the term comprehends all substances answering to that definition. There is therefore considerable truth in the remark of Dr. Frankel, (Aerztliche Bermerkeingen, &c., p. 7., et seq.) that water, as employed by Priessnitz, is as powerful as any drug in the pharmacopceia, since it maybe stimulant or sedative, tonic or depressmg, astringent or aperient, sudorific, diuretic, &c., according to the manner of its administration. Thus far there is a similarity between water and drugs, but there the resemblance ceases ; they are essentially different in the fact that water is alwaya harmless, whilst most drugs are more or less HYDnoTllERAPEUTICS, 35 V s injurious in their immediate or subsequent effects. To satisfy our readers of this latter truth, it is sufficient to enumerate the names of arsenic, opium, turpentine, prussic acid, corrosive sublimate, calomel, tox glove, hemlock, henbane and iodine, as drugs frequently employed m medical treatment. " Besides the injurious properties of drugs themselves, the public are exposed to another, but no less serious danger, from pecuhar methods ot administering them. Thus we find one man professing to cure a class of diseases by a remedy which another pronounces poisonous. (Lhristison on Poisons, Art. Digitalis.) . "The nauseous (lualitics of drugs is another objection to their adminis- tration. There is no doubt that much mischief is often perpetrated by the disgusting doses which are forced upon children and patients in a prostrate condition, as, for instance, in the last stages of fever. " A fourth reason for endeavouring to find a substitute for drugs, is, the uncertainty of the benefit of some of those most commonly exhibited. We find nation disputing with nation on the use of a drug, as if they were discussing a point in politics, or any other department of science in which assertion, and not proof, is the manner of arguing. (Compare the treatment of thoracic inflammation, by Lawrence, with any English writer on the same subject ; particularly with reference to mercury. See, also, Hope on the Heart, where he says, speaking of the established treat- ment of aneurism, ' / wotdd rather take the chance of the disease than the treatment .'') . , , n , " The fifth and crowning objection to drugs, is, that they are generally useless. AH their beneficial effects may be obtained fiom water. The two following facts will illustrate this statement : — " An English gentleman, of the writer's acquaintance, suffermg from a painful disease, had been in the habit of frequently taking opium to procure relief. After the second day of his residence in a hydropathic establishment he was able to reanquish this habit entu-ely, although at that time his malady was not otherwise improved. ^ "Another English gentleman, many months a companion of the writer, had taken active doses of purgative medicine nearly every day^for a year, by the advice of an eminent London physician. He was affected with ' torpor of the bowels and liver.' He went to a water estabhshment last summer, and has not taken a dose of medicine since. His bowels are now perfectly regular. What drugs effect by a violent local action, water effects by ita healthful influences upon the system m general. Of Des. Mundb, Oektel and Hirschel. — By F. Gr(eteb. " By what means does water act upon animal organization ? *' This is now the que&tion, and the answer will be, that it is done by its solvent power and its freshness. ' Water,' to use the words of the deserving Dr. Hahn ' is among all fluid bodies, best adapted to enter into the finest arteries, fibres, and nerves of the human body, nay, into the gg HyPROTIIEUAPEUTlCS, n,o«t minute capillary vessels scarcely visible throngh the Jgnifying glass, and to move therein. As these are constantly in need of a supply of fluids if they are not to exsiccate and to collapse it.s water winch we can and ought to make use of for replenishing the body, and keepmg U in its natural state, and in young people for its growth. " It acts by dissolving and dissipating, aud thereby prevents and dispels those disquamations and obstipations which arise J" ?""7~/j sedentary life, of too nourishing diet, and after partaking of too nchand ^"^:t;h:™ takes away the destructive power of thc^e ^rid Jiuces which develop themselves in consequence of dissipation, of "^dulging m unhealthy and heating beverages, and the mad enjoyment of sexual '^"'iu dissolving and attenuating power alone would, nevertheless be unable to produce these effects, unless at the same time water showed its enlivening refieshing and strengthening efficacy by means of its coolness " Warm baths may be most beneficially used in many kinds of sufferings, and experience speaks in their flwour; but for preventing disea es, for the bricing and roborating of the body, forhardening ourselves t h "ater is the mosf excellent means,-nay, it is this coM water which more than all artificial productions, improves and preserves he freshne s of Se that fundamental condition of hcauty. It is the simple exercise n openlir, and the enjoyment of fresh water, presented by tjie near well, Xeh r ncers the families of fiirmers and working men in the country so much more blooming and healthy, than the children of the "chcr -Imb ' tants of cities, spoiled by coffee, tea, and other luxuries. \Uter gives anpetiVe even for simple, cheap and coarse food ; and the old proverb 'salt and bread turn the checks red" is true, as far as the dnnkmg of frpsh water is not neglected. . , '\Crtakenintotheeavityofthemouth,whichit shows its beneficial influence by strengthening the gums, and keejnng hem from becoming loose, by washing from off the teeth ;---««27d and other impurities, and preserving them white, firm, healthy and sW Running down along the sides of the jaws and the oesophagus i stiengtlLs these parts, and lessens the disposition to inflammation and ""rr,;^;:;Ttt stomach, it first unfolds its purifying, thinning dissolving and strengthening qualities. As it dissolves the food and p™^^^^ it a good alimentary juice, so it also dissolves every thmg rXs and noxiou! contained in salty, earthy and -n^j;---;"!;: ^^^^^^ and expels them in vapour, sweat and urme Whilst is pta cooling propertv renders it the most appropriate drink agamst thirst, it is at the same time the most excellent means for promoting digestion, ana preventing obstructions and constii)ations. „„,.:«„„ the ^ M It furthermore refreshes, animates, strengthens and purifies the bowels, heart, lungs, liver, kidneys, &c. It procures for the blood and all the juices an equal a;d free passage through all the vessels, even to the smiuest tubes in the ways of secretion It forwards and effects usual! V the excretion of everything useless and injurious. t i ^. *#, HVDUOTHKIIAPKUTICS. 37 » Bv au unobstructed digestion, and a regular c.rculation of blood, of course altbe muscles and nerves are invigorated; in short, all vUal anc. Tod ly fl ons obtain, by means of cold water, a free and regular course and thus health, the harmony of all the functions ot hte, is unproved m *'^"tat«ns from all the realms of nature, simple and compound, have at all times been recommended as preventives agamst disease , but there are no speciiic preventives upon which you can uncondi- Uona iy rely. It is temperance and drinking of water, which muted w th bodny exercise in open air, produce that serenity of mmd and Tmpart that vigor of body, which are the best safeguards against those ZZl powers called diseases ; and which, but too often, are nothing but melt 'or immediate consequences of the neglect of the laws of nature. Dointing out a simple mode of livh.g, and drinkmg ot water. ^ " witer has this preference before other remedies, that it benefits ""VexVlo'thrmilk of the mother, water is the best nourishment for the suckling-for the mother, herself, the best beverage. \Mien the mother can give no suck, water, with fresh goat's milk,iB preferable to al t^a decoctbns. Drinking of water, and frequent bathmg, united with the use of open air, most surely prevent rickets, scrofulas and the I cUning of children. Parents that constantly have the tea kettle over the fire, and hope to quiet the crying children by means ot warm tea, will exncrience iust the contrary result. , . . , ^"ZToyl and girls, drinking of water and cold bathmg is the purest source of vigorous life and beauty. "Growing young men ought to flee intoxicating liquors, and especially brandriike poison ; it makes them miserable, weak and stuped ; and warm heathfg drinks, make them voluptuous and sensual, or relax and spoil the u f ;1 nf the skin Water gives strength and good spirits. ''"Mature tet-reincHne'd to inflamm^^^^^ obstructions ; and against these very evils an appropriate use of cold water with a regular diet, proves preventive and salutary. » with regard to the different temperaments, cold water promotes the circuktbn of blood in the viscous and mucous phlegmUic t d.sso ves and Xels the stuffs and obstructions which render the life of the thick- ZMmelanchok one a torment. The cMeric, suffering with a vicious sSon of bile,'has his great heat moderated by it, is assisted in his sec etions, and has his irascible and effervescent temper quieted ; and to l^otvgiU it imparts that equanimity which best guards agamst excess " " Thudt operates also upongeneralmorality ; and the happiest and most innocentcations of antiquity were vater drinkers, amiable in peace, and singing- defence of their country. Without entering here upon h domestic and economical advantages, it may safely ^^-^i--^; - morality and temperance, fundamental virtues in the We of families as wel las natbns, a'nd conditions for the development of all mental and bodily powers, will be equally promoted by the mcreasmg use of cold water. m fV 1 3d HYDROTHERAPEIJTICS. "The house well, or neighbouring spring, will impart health and welfare, and become even the source of wealth, whilst the rivulet or river will refresh youth and old age, and brace them by the healthiest of exercises. " We cannot conclude without casting a particular look upon manu- facturing districts, and all conditions of life that imply a sedentary occupa- tion. In the enjoyment of water, the industrious and poor workiiig man or factory girl, the designer or painter, &c., closely confined for long hours, find refreshment and strength. The cup of fresh water secures to the seam- stress or embroidess employed in lace and nmslin, equally exciting her eyes and chest, strength, beauty and hilarity. Good coffee is indeed a stimu- lant and animating drink, but by frequent use weakening the more. Let every working person, in particular the sedentary, drink water frequently, and apply daily ablutions, and they will prevent manifold sufferings. " Batiiing is a constituent part of national education, and ought, particularly in populous places, to be cultivated among the gymnastic exercises of youth. " Its effect manifests itself especially upon the skin. The skin is the natural dress of man ; the covering in which he walked innocent and harmless in paradise. It not only serves him as a cover, and protects him from influences from without ; but it is at the same time the seat of the sense of touch and feeling, the most comprehensive of all senses ; as the ends of the nerves — organs of sensitiveness — as well as the yielding and absorbing mouths of arteries and veins, terminate in the numberless little vessels of the skin. " By the millions of little openings (pores) with which it is thickly sown in every part, the finest fluids, useless for the nutrition of the body, are removed. If these fluids should remain in the body, various diseases would be the unavoidable consequence. The better the evaporation proceeds, the more open the pores of the skin, the less we have to fear from rheumatisms, catarrhs, and other evils — nay, it may be explained how the most dangerous diseases can be obviated in a short time, by a strong and copious perspiration. " But in what other way can these evaporating pores be kept so free and open, and this cutaneous life be preserved ^o beneficially as by a regular purification with fresh water in washing and bathing ? "' It purifies,' to use liufeland's words, ' not merely the skin, but freshens and exhilarates soul and body ; it strengMiens and preserves against the changing influences of air and weather ; keeps the solid parts supple, and the joints pliable ; it preserves the vigor of youth, and keeps off the debility of old age. It is a precious means for preserving health when used with the necessary precautions.' " Swimming, particularly up stream, is a healthy and useful exercise. The stay in the bath of cold water may last from five to fifteen minutes. " For the female sex baths are not less useful. Cold baths and washiiigs are the best cosmetics ; they give strength to the skin, redness and freshness to the cheeks and lips, invigorate the growth of the hair, and impart to the muscles that fullness and roundness, the funda- mental condition of health. Therefore the establishment of public ladies' baths would be of signal importance. *-*h HYDllOTIIKUAPEUTICS. 89 •' Bathing in cold water, althougli inthe beginning, perhapa, disagree- able by chill and even oppression of the chest, soon produces a beneficial warmth, and a feeling of internal strength and comfoit. " Russia gives here a fine example, and the pure tact of the people ensures decorum. Hoth sexes use at different hours tlie same bathing place ; and the holy feeling of decency watches the baths of the women. " Mothers in particular, ought never to neglect bathing their children. It is the surest means of preventing crippling, rickets, scrofulas, itch and vermin. Every tub will afford the opportunity, and the watering pot, moistening and refreshing the plants, will show the same effect upon children. ^ In some degree, the bath may be supplied by washings with cold water, whilst the cases, where warm baths are preferable, will be indicated by the physician." Observations on Hijdropathij, by Edward Johnson, M.D., of Stamtead Bury Hydropathic Institution, England. " It is now more than three years since I went into Silesian Austria for the purpose of witnessing the details, and ascertaining the merits of , what is called the Water Cure. Ever since that time I have been constantly engaged in practising it, and have had ample opportunities of testing its efficacy in a number and variety of cases ; and it is my intention here to detail the rcsidts of my own observation and experience with regard to the remedial powers of tnis peculiar treatment. " When it is considered that this treatment consists mainly in the frequent use of cold baths of various kinds— in restoring and promoting the natural functions of that much neglected organ, the skin, by frequent sweating under accumulated bed clothes, and by the wet sheet vapor bath for the wet sheet is neither more nor less than a very neat, conve- nient and mild vapor bath— in almost constant exposure to the healthful influence of a salubrious air— in strict attention to diet — in daily systematic exercise on foot or on horseback, or both regulated according to each patient's strenPth — in complete mental repose— in early rising and early retirement — ^the absence of all unwholesome causes of excite- ment, &c. &c. When this is considered, and when it is further remem- bered that every one of these things separately has always been strongly insisted upon by all medical men of all ages, as highly conducive to health, and possessing a certain amount of remedial power — when, I say, all this is remembered, there will scarcely be any, 1 think, who will not acknowledge that this treatment must possess at least some degree of remedial virtue. For if each of the several parts of which the whole treatment consists, be acknowledged on all hands to possess in itself a curative influence, certainly, when they are all brought to bear upon the aystem at one and the same time, this curative influence cannot be dimin- ished, but must, on the contrary, be vastly increased. " The whole treatment, however, is neither applicable to all diseases, nor can it be safely administered to all constitutions. Neither can it r 'm 40 HYOnOTHERAPEUTICS. ever supersede the legitimate use of medicine, or the lancet ; nor would I admit into my house any persou who would not permit me to have recourse to these, should any sudden emergency or undo'.'! • r^a'jion arise, which, in my judgment, called for their use. " But that there is a very large numher of diseases, .11. 1 seased conditions, in which drugs are worse than useless, hut which can be per- fectly cured by this treatment, I am as certain as I am of my own existence. And this fact I am about to demonstrate, by the publication of certain cases, with names and addresses of the persons in whom they occurred. These nineteen eases, incontestably authentic as they are, are just as efficacious as nineteen thousand would be, to prove tliat the treatment by which they were cured does possess a certain mnoiint of curative power. The great questions are, therefore, what are those particular diseases to which this particular treatment is not applicable ? and what, in these cases, is its umoimt of curative power? Is it greater or less than that of drugs ? and what advantages has this mode of cure over that of the old method in those diseases which are capable of cure by either. " I have said, the ichole treatment is not applicable to all diseases, and all constitutions ; but I may safely add that there is no disease to which it is not applicable in part — for there certainly is no disease which will not be more or less benefitted by attention to diet, mental repose, ahnost constant exposure to a salubrious air, ^rcat attention to the state of the skin, daily exercise, &c. &c., all of which constitute important parts of the treatment. It is a great error to suppose that this treatment consists merely in perpetual sweatings and bathings, although, when these can be safely borne, they constitute the fundamental part of it. It is capable of great modification, therefore, and must always be so modified as to suit the particular circumstances of each particular case. "I verily believe that there is no single remedy, except the lancet, capable of conferring such signal service in acute diseases as the wet sheet. And the time must inevitably come, when medical men can no longer hold out against the use of this most simpb, neat, safe, efficacious and common sense remedy. But seeing that few cases are at present submitted to this treatment, except the oldest and most inveterate — and those in which every other earthly plan has been tried in vain — it should be no great matter of surprise, if this plan also should occasionally fail. It would be, under these circumstances, a miracle indeed if it succeeded always. " From my own observation and experience, I believe the hydropathic treatment, (by which I mean, of course, the whole treatment) when not applied with too much severity, to be in its nature essentially tonic and alterative — permanently tonic, because it produces its tonic effects by filling the system with abundance of new and healthy blood — by strength- ening the nervous system and muscular fibre of the heart, and by constringiug the capillary blood vessels, and therefore by strengthening the whole circulating system. These are effects which, when once produced, must be permanent, and not temporary, like the tonic effects usually produced by drug tonics. In a word, it builds up ami consolidates the HYDIIOTHERAPEUTICS. 4t V whole system. And it is also alterative, because it exercises a remarkable infliu'uce in promoting and restoring all the secretions, especially those of the skill and bowela. This fact is one of the most incontestable proofs of its remedial virtues, and one, too, which must be of itself sufficient in the mind of every medical man to account for the curative influence which this treatment clainis to possess. " This treatment, which, when administered as a whole, and with a full diet, ' builds up and consolidates the body' as I have before said, can be so modified by a stricter attention to that part of it which consists in a system of dieting, as to pull down the body whenever it becomes necessary ; to empty the weakened and engorged capillaries of their congested contents by cutting off the supplies. Tliis is a sort of natural and slow bleeding, in wliicli, liowever, the nutritious and vital parts of the blood arc retained, and only its impure and watery parts are lost. The congested capillaries, it is true, may be emptied by large artificial bleed- ings by tlie lancet ; but then this cannot be effected without drawing off the vital purls of the blood at the same time, to the manifest and great injury of the general health. "The immediate effects of cold bathing, sweating and exercise, clearly are to waste the body ; but if the stomach be well supplied with abun- dance of good food, the daily waste is daily re-supplied. And as the powers of digestion are at the same time always augmented, and the appetite greatly increased, the daily supply is greater than the daily waste, and thus the body is built up. But if, under these circumstances, the supplies be CH^o^'— that is, if the amount of food be judiciously reduced according to the patient's strength, so that the waste exceed the supplies, then it is clear that the volume of the blood, and the bulk of the body, may be reduced to almost any given extent ; and that, too, by only getting rid of such parts of the body as are not necessary to life, while all that is necessary is still retained — a sort of concentrated essence as it were — to become the foundation of the after process of ' building up,' by means of a more generous diet. It is something like beginning life afresh. Or it may be comparfd, in effect, to putting a man's blood through a filtti ing machine, and then exercising extreme caution against the introduction oi impurities, until the full quantity shall have been gradually and slowly restored by an improved and well regulated diet. " Another marked and prominent feature in this treatment is its great efficacy in allaying morbid sensibiliti/, nervous excitement and irritation. It is to this that I ascribe its almost never failing success in restoring the suppressed secretions. No fact in the whole history of medical science is better established than this, viz : that the immediate effect of nervous excitement is always to arrest the secretions. To remove this excitement, therefore, is to remove the arrest of the secretions — in other words, to restore them." The following are the cases referred to before, as having been treated successfully by Dr. Johnson, at his Hydropathic Institution, Stanstead- bury, England. -,:- i I « 42 HYDROTHEltAPEUTICS. 1. Mr. Peel. — Disease of the hip. Restored to the use of his limb after using crutches for fifteen years. 2. Mrs. Coulter. — Abdominal abscesses. 3. Rev. E. Price.— Enlargement and chronic inflammation of the knee joint. 4. Miss Wallis. — Nervous debility, with hysteria and cramps of the stomach rnd bowels. 5. Mr. Foster. — Psoriasis (a scaly disease) of the whole body. 6. Mrs. Scarland. — Psoriasis of thirty -Jive ye&ra standing. 7. Mr. Gibb. — Skin disease. 8. Sergeant Lord. — Rheumatism. 9. A little boy.- -Erysipelatous inflammation of the face and neck. 10. Miss Pilkington. — Dysentery. 11. Mr. Roe. — Inflammatory Rheumatism. 12. Mrs. Ackland. — Chronic Rheumatism. 13. Joseph Hayes. — Shattered constitution, and extreme debility. 14. Mr. Berdoe. — Indigestion and Constipation. 1.5. Mrs. Heys. — Severe sprain and sciatica. 16. E. S. Caley, Esq., M.P., N.R.Y. — Disease of the heart, liver and stomach. 17. Mr. Nettlingham. — Determination of blood to the head. 18. Mrs. Hicks. — Swollen leg. 19. Lieut. Col. B, — Acute rheumatism, obstinate constipation, and affection of the cerebral nerves. Of course, the names of the patients and their diseases are only mentioned above. For the particule-rs of each case, we refer the reader to Dr. Johnson's " Results of Hydropathy." "Nowhere are nineteen cases, whose fair and honest authenticity cannot, with any show of reason, be denied or doubted. If the number and variety were greater, that circumstance would prove a greater and more extended remedial power in the treatment ; but nineteen thousand could not more effectually prove that it does possess a certain amount of reme- dial agency than is proved by these nineteen. Here, then, again recurs the question : What are those particular diseased conditions over which this mode of cure possesses the most influence ? It must be remembered, too, that these nineteen cases are not all of them the best specimen! of those which I have cured. I have not been allowed to pick and choose my cases for publication. I could only publish those which I could procure permission to publish. It must also never be forgotten, that nearly all the cases which come under this peculiar treatment, are of the oldest and most obstinate kind, and cases which had already proved themselves to be incurable by any other known means ; and moreover, that not one person in twenty will give the treatment sufficient time to produce its full effects. " What, then, are the diseases to which it is chiefly applicable ? I have treated and cured simple palpitation of the heart from nervous weakness, and excessive irritability. I have cured some cases of hysteria, habitual spasms of the stomach and bowels, chronic rheumatism, rheumatism of HYDUOTHEnAPEUTICS. 49 the head, psoriasis and other skin diseases, indigestion, and many painful affections depending on obscure causes. " I have had several gentlemen from India, with constitutions much injured by a long ujsidence in a hot climate, and the too plentiful use ct mercury. Over caslbs of this kind, I have found the treatment invariably to exercise a most marked and beneficial influence. I have now in my house the worst case of syphilitic rupia I ever saw ; and it is getting well with great rapidity. I have also in my house another case of psoriasis— psoriasis gyrata. The disease occupies the whole body— both trunk and limbs— and it is improving fast, although it has only been under my treatment one month. ^ " I have used it with great success in nervous debility, in lumbago, in disease of the knee joint, in periodical bilious attacks, in both suppression and retention of the monthly secretion, in erysipelas, in some scrofulous affections, in eruptions on the legs, in ecthyma.(a skin disease), in several nervous disorders, in various affections of head, and in a great variety of anomalous diseases which cannot be reduced to any class and which defy all nomenclature. I have also cured sciatica, depending on inflammation of the sheath of the sciatic nerve : and for habitual constipation, and all ordinary forms of rheumatism, I have found it as nearly a specific as any human icmedy can ever hope to be. " I have had several children under my care at Stansteadbury house, And I have found this treatment of infinite advantage in strengthening the constitution of delicate children with a scrofulous tendency, and of young persons in whom consumption is apprehended, but in whom it has not yet developed itself I have the deepest and most conscientious conviction, that many thousands of lives might be saved from the ravages of this fatal disorder by timely submission, for a few months, to this method of improving, consolidating and hardening the system. Two or three cases of this latter kind I have successfully treated. " The treatment is, as I have before said, a tonic— a natural tonic, It is also an alterative, seeing that it promotes and restores all the secre- tions and excretions, especiaUy those of the skin, liver, uterus and bowels; and thus cleanses the system. It allays nervous and painful irritations, and morbid sensibility, as is proved by Mr. Peel's case ; and is therefore an anodyne. It is perfectly compatible with any kind of medicine which any particular case may demand. It is much more than this, for I say, and I say it hardily, and in the most unqualified language, that if there be any drug which possesses a curative influence over any disease, the curative influence of that drug over that disease will be increased a hundred fold if its use be conjoined with this treatment. All my experience proves this— but ray experience is not necessary to prove it— at least not to medical men. For as we have seen, the treatment allays fever and nervous irritability, improves digestion, and keeps all the secretions in a healthy state of activity, — and so important is this, that in order to effect these objects, medical men are constantly obliged to give their patients several other drugs, as calomel, potash, and various aperient medicines, in addition to the particular drug 44 HYDUOTIIKUAI'KUTICS. which is to cure the partkultir disease for which it is administered, Thus, if a patient apply to his physician for psoriasis, that physician will probably give him arsenic for that disease. But in addition to the arsenic, he will also be sure to order him sundry doses of blue pill, extract of colocynth, &c. &c., to be taken occasionally, or every other night, in order to knrp hit secretions goiiiff—cspcdnWy those of the liver and bowels — for the secretion from the skin is generally quite overlooked. " In the majority of cases to which this treatment is applicable, all drugs are unnecessary, especially aperient and medicinal drugs. But yet there are some iu which medicines may be given with advantage. "Seeing, then, that the hydropathic treatment is in its nature tonic, .alterative and anodyne — and that it is all these, my experience has amply satisfied me — to what particular class of disorders are we warranted in believing it applicable, in addition to those particular instances of disease, its power of curing which, my own practice has already demonstrated ? My opinion, founded, not upon any speculative views, but solely on what I have observed of its ert'ects, and upon a multitude of corroborative little facts which are every now and then disclosing themselves — my opinion is, I say, that it is capable of curing all that class of diseased conditions, (and it is a very large one) in which the one thing needful is, to restore the secretions, and give power to ti\e system — all that class of disnses depending on nervous debility, and irritability, arising from an over- excited or over-tasked stomach — all disorders depending upon an impure condition of the blood— all diseases depending upon congestion of the blood— all functional diseases not depending upon disorganization, or mechar'cal local irritation — all local diseases which are kept up by a want of sufficient power in the general system to heal the lesion, or restore the healthy functiqns of the part. In constipation, indigestion, chronic rheumatism, many skin diseases, indolent ulcers, nervous debility, torpid liver, habitual spasms, many forms of headache, determination of blood to the head, suppression or retention of the monthly secretion, chlorosis, many painful affections of nerves, I believe it to be by far the most cer- tain remedy yet discovered, and that in some of these, as rheumatisnn, constipation, some forms of indigestion, spasms, torpid liver, &c., i^ is almost a specific. When it is possible to give up twelve or eighteen months to the prosecution of this treatment, and where there is no distortion of joints, I believe it quite capable of curing the gout completely and permanently. " In addition to all these, I am firmly and deeply convinced, that there are many diseases which cannot be cured by this treatment alone, but which can be cured by the two combined. " The hydropathic treatment has this peculiar and great advantage over drug treatment, viz., that when it fails to cure the particular disease for which it is administered, it never fails to leave the general health and strength more or less improved; whereds drugs, under like circumstances, never fail to leave the general health ivorse than they found it. " I believe that this treatment, when rationally practised by educated medical men, is a perfectly intelligible treatment (which the drug treat- IIYDnOTIIP.IlAPEUTICS. 45 ment docs not even pretend to be), opposed indeed to eommon prejudice, but in strict accordniice with common sense and medicul science; and that it only becomcis quackery, just as the practice of medicine becomes quackery, viz., in the hands of tlie ignorant, who push it to an absurd extent, and claim for it a miraculous amount of efficacy to which nothinR human can be justly entitled. Nor do I believe it jiossihfv fctr medical men to doubt its c(fifncij, although they may differ as to its amount or degree. Nor do 1 believe that the great body of medical men are really opposed to its me, but only to its ahu.sr. On the contrary, I believe that they need oidy to see it divested of all its German mysticism, and to feel assured that it will be practised in a rational and professional manner, to induce them to recognize and recommend it in all that multitude of chronic ailments, for which they arc now accustomed to send tlic sufferers to all sorts of English and foreign watering places, where the most that can be expected is a little alleviation. I am as certain as I can be of anything, that a great number of these might be permanently cured by a few months' submission to a rational hydropathic treatment." Of Thomas J. Ghaiiam, M.D., ^c, Mpmher of the Royal College of Suri;eons, London. " The system of treating diseases by cold water is now attracting con- siderable attention in this kingdom, and regarding it as a valuable auxiliary to medical practice, I have pleasure in describing its principal baths and manipulations, hoping that some of my afflicted readers may gather from this account of it, such hints as will be very serviceable in augmenting their strength, and relieving their disorders. " I have devoted much time to the study of hydropathy, and have seen a great many cases treated by this new method, besides those treated at Epsom under my sole care. " The principal remedial means employed in ihe " water cure, " are the sudorific process, the cold bath, the shallow bath, the wet sheet, the sitz bath, the wet bandage, the douche, and the foot bath. " Sweating, which is a very important part of the treatment, to be beneficial, must be adapted in its duration to the nature of the disease, and the con- stitution of the individual. "The cold bath is generally taken after sweating, by thjse patients who have sufficient vigour for reaction ; strange as it may appear to many, I consider the determination towards the skin induced by the perspiring, to be a great advantage prior to the use of the cold bath, because the inter- nal organs are thereby relieved, and the shock has quite a different effect on them, from what it would have if they were not first thus soothed and invigorated. " The shallow bath is a bath of great service in numerous cases. With cold water it is very serviceable in general debility ; and with tepid water in local inflammations and fever. In my opinion, this kind of bath is not so frequently employed in the German mode of practice as it ought to be. • i 46 HYDROTHP.RAPEIITICS. It is a most valuable remedy, nnd there arc few cases of debility in which it is not indicated; and in which it will fail to prove invigorating, and either to relievn or aire chronic infiammntorij action. " The sitz l)ath is muiuestionably a remedy of great power in all disor- ders of the abdomen and hmd. It draws the bad humours from the hcaa a K<:.a|tKir niavr ♦fk ..II ♦Krt r..n#.t?f«n» T* «n.«nAn n I 48 HYDR0Ti""ra Thft iirst natieut, whom I did not brauui r^- \ HYDnOTHF.nAPEUTICS. 69 not expect would more than survive over the following tiny, I had plunged for one minute into a cold bath. A rain trough, under the caves of the liouse, was his bijth tub. At the expiration of the minute, lu; was taken out, dried and placed in bed. I then left, to visit another family, pro- mising to return in an hour. On ^calling again, I found, to my great surprise, that the paticiU had pone to deep soon after he was removed to bed, and had not yet awakened. After giving directions to repeat the bath in tlie afternoon, if he seemed better — or no worse, 1 again left, promising to call early in tlic morning. " 16//i. — Tlie patient seems much better — the afternoon bath was given as directed. His pulse is stronger, and less frequent. Ordered his face, hands and mouth to be well cleansed with cold water fretjucntly, and the bath to be repe ced three times during the day, if no symptoms of prostration come on. "17//(. — Marked improvement — speech partially returned — less heat of body — pulse stronger — delirium almost entirely gene — tongue and mouth cleaner and less offensive. " 1 8//(. — Still improving — perfectly conscious, and was able to thank me for what 1 had done for him. " 1 Wi. Pronounced him convalescent : yet he has been raised from^ Death's door without one grain of medicine, or drop of wine or brandy ! " On the morning of the 18tli, finding that no improvement had taken place ill the other two patients, notwithstanding that they had taken brandy freely, I ordered the brandy to be discontinued, and the cold baths resorted to. From this moment they began to recover ; and on the 24th (the ninth day of my attendance), all were so far restored as to require only good nursing. ' These were i\\c first cases of fever in which I adopted the cooling plan under my own direction, .ind on my own responsibility ; though I had seen the happiest effects from it in the hands of a New York physician. I felt many scruples in adopting principles so much at variance with the precepts of my " alma mater," and was not over anxious to brook the prejudices of the public, should my patients die ; but the hopeless con- dition of the first-mentioned case, induced me to wave all personal considerations. I resolved to try the experiment ; and that experiment restored the diseased and emaciated frame of the sick man to its wonted health and vigour, gave back to a helpless female her partner, and turned the house of sorrow into a house of joy. "July 20th, 1 847. — Visited a family of thirteen persona, eleven of whom I found sick with the emigrant fever. They are emigrants, and arrived from Toronto ten days ago. In eontiequence of the fever, they have been obliged to seek shelter in an old barn, where I found them stretched upon straw mattresses, laid upon the rude floor, with scarcely anything to cover them. Miserable as is their condition, still it is far better than that of the cases just narrated. They have a large roomy building; and a free circulation of air prevents re-contamination, by carrying ofiF the poisonous effluvia as fast as it is generated." The treat- ment resorted to was aa follows : — tubs of cold water were placed upon 60 HYDROTIIEnAPEirTICS. ft i 'i ! the floor every njorning, in which the patients were obliged to wash their bodies, or be washed by their attendants, at least three or four times a day ; and cold water, as drink, was given freely. Under this treat- ment, at the end of a week, nine out of the eleven had recovered ; and on the second of Aupust, thirteen days from the first vihit, the last patient loft the b..rn convalcRcent. Yet during the whole perod, 1 neither gave calomel, Dover's powder, nitre solution, soda powders, brnndy toddy nor wine : all recovered under the use of the simple agent — water ! The other cases of fever, treated by me in the country on the cooling plan, have nothing of peculiar interest : suffice it to say, that all recovered without the use of a grain of medicine, I appeal to the opinions of the public for a decision, whether the above facts arc not sufficient to ground my belief in the practice on an immutable basis Y In Toronto, the same success has attended it ; and many there are, who at this moment can rejoice in health and vigour, who in my opinion would have sunk, in defiance of any and all the combined agents of the Materia Mcdica. So strong is my confidence in this remedy, that I expose myself to contagion with the positive certainty, that should I contract the ft vor, I have within my reach almost a specific for it. How different are my feelings now, to what they were prior to my knowledge of its efficacy ! I then dreaded every exposure ; feeling, like many of my medical brethren, little confidence m the rer^edies I was prescribing, and a dread of fhe conse(iuences of an attack. In chronic diseases, cold water is a most powerful auxiliary to other means ; and in asthma, acts like a charm. Of the latter disease, I have seen many cases of ten and f/tcen years' standing cured by it in a few months ; and I am not at this moment aware of its ever having failed to give marked relief. But great care is required in its administration : life might be sacrificed by imprudence in this rerpect. The disease must be discovered, and all the powers of life carefully investigated. In the early stages of consumption, chronic cough, and bronchitis, I know of no medicinal agent that porsibly can supply its place. These diseases are generally of a very intractable nature, and resist for a long period of time all treatment. But where no serious organic lesion has already taken place, the cases are few which will not be much improved, if not entirely cured by a proper use of water, diet and exercise. There is scarcely a disease of the lungs which docs not anse from neglected colds. Mankind are -but too apt to reason falsely in this respect : they think, because colds appear simple in tWir natuie and soon pass off, that they are of little consequence; but let me rtuxn all those who thus trifle with these fell destroyers of our species, that ti;ey are laying the founda- tions for serious, if not for fatal inflammations — for consumption, asthma, and a long train of diseases, which once indexed, either destroy life or ruin the constitution. And how easily they can be prevented. J>ery morning, on rising from your bed, take a shower bath, with water ^at the temperature of the season ; or if tliis be not practicable, at least sponge your bod-v with cold water, particularly the chest, neck and .shoulders, and -oUow by fricliou with a coarse towei for a few miiiuics. HYDHOTHERAPEUTICS. 61 drinking n Rlass of cold water before exposing yourself to the open '.Ir. This done, you may go forth with perfect impunity ; and, in the language of Sir Astlcy Cooper, you " will scarcely ever have a cold." In the treatment of epilepsy, it has long been used with success in France and CJerniaiiy, particularly in that fbrni of the disease charac- terized by general plethora or fulness of the system, and great tendency of blood to the brain. In chorea, or St. Vitus' dance, hysteria, hypo- chondriiiais and nervous debility, water ih a powerful agent, cH'ecting a removal of these diseases after long standing, and after almost every medicine known has been tried in vain. Hut here we often meet with cases in which cold water would prove very injurious, but which may be judiciously treated by wnnn. In many diseases of the spine, accompanied by distortion and paralysis, cold water is useful ; though it is generally necessary to commence with water at about SS'^, gradually lowering the temperature to any degree^ recpured. In partial paralysis of the muscles, arms or face, or loss of vital energy in the nerves of special sense, such as of taste, smell, hearmg, &c., the coldest water is required ; while in opposite conditions, as those of increased sensibility and irritability, as neuralgia, sciatica and the like, the temperature requires to be varied to suit each case ; some require it of a high temperature, while others cannot bear water above 40'^ to be applied to their bodies, and will even endure it ice cold with benefit and satisfaction. In acute inflammations of the brain and investing membranes, and of the organs within the chest and abdomen, to the extent of my observa- tion, the water practice is not only safe, but decidedly superior to the one generally adopted by medical men. Water possesses the singular property of fulfilling the most opposite indications. Stimulating or depressing, astringing or relaxing the living fibre, at the will of the physician ; with it we can purge, vomit, and stimulate, produce diapho- resis, diuresis, depletion and derivation, and render it refrigerant, deobstruent, sedative and anodyne. Who can doubt the efficacy of a remedy, possessing such power and adaptation to the conditions of the system, in acute inflammations. If the pulse is too high, we can reduce it mlhnut imsting the strength of the patient, far more speedily, certainly and efficaciously, than can be done by blood-letting. If there be internal congestion, we can produce congestion oithe surface, and thereby relieve the internal parts. If the bowels are confined, we can purge without the aid of noxious drugs. If the pores of the skin arc closed, we can produce copious perspiration, without the aid of hot bottles or diaphoretic medi- cines. If the secretion from the kidneys is suppressed or diminished, we can increase it without giving diuretics. The water treatment acts by drawing from the affected organs ; and by opening all the natural outlets of the system, allows nature to rid herself of effete matters, and re-establishes the equilibrium of health. In rheumatism, the success of hydropathic treatment has been much greater than the most sanguine hopes of the writer, reasoning " a prion," Jed him to expect. Manv rsersnns who were confined to bed, or obliged y.-^ 62 HYDROTHEnAPEUTlCS. to hobble about on crutches, and who had suffered from this most distressing disease for years, have been perfectly restored ; and others, who could not devote the time necessary for complete recovery, have been greatly benefitted without the aid of a grain of medicine. But in the ♦reatment of this disease and its brother, gout, the greatest care is neces- sary. The applications require to be changed in every case ; and scarcely two cases will be found in which the same treatment is applicable. In dropsical diseases water is equally applicable, effecting a removal of the secreted fluid by overcoming obstructions, promoting absorption, and by invigorating the general health. In chronic affections of the stomach and bowels, such as dyspepsia, chronic inflammation, constipation, colics and the like, the Water Treat- ment is invaluable. " Drugs may relieve symptoms ; but they never yet have ceated, and they never can create, a healthy stomaeli, or confer a vigorous digestion." The water treatment attacks the disease through and on behalf of the constitution ; and in all curable cases effects a perfect restoration of the healthy tone of the affected organs. In skin diseases, the most difficult class of complaints we are called upon to treat. Water is little short of a specific; but a much longer period of time is required than is generally allotted for the cure of other diseases. In eruptive fevers, such as small pox, scarlet fever and measles, it is highly recommended by European authorities. In measles, the writer has uses cold applications in about twenty cases with the happiest effects ; and has had many cases of scarlet fever under treatment, all of which recovered much sooner than they would have done under medical treat- ment, and without an unfavorable symptom. Sir Charles Scudamore mentions a female patient of Priessnitz, whom he saw dancing with the scarlet eruption upon her body. She was at that time under treatment, and recovered in a few days without any unpleasant result. Here, then, we have a few of the diseases in which the Il^drothcrapeutic, or water treatment, is pre-eminent as a means of cure. I might have mentioned many more on the authority of others, but in recommending it to the public, could not conscientiously advise the adoption of this peculiar practice in the treatment of diseases which I had not already submitted !o the test of experience. Had space permitted, its recom- mendation to each form of disease would have been illustrated hy cases ; but the large amount of respectable authority adduced will, I trust, be deemed sufficient to satisfy the most sceptical. Should, however, any honest sceptic, in the simplicity of his prudence, desire more unquestion- able evidence than mere assertion, or even the strcngly corroborrative testimony of 'he respectable European and American authority contained in this little work, he has only to make known his wishes, to be satisfied, by receiving the names and addresses of numerous patients, whom he will be at liberty to examine and cross-examine at pleasure. Were such inves- tigation made to-morrow, and the results piiblished to the world, I would venture to predict, that so Ur from militating against the Water-Cure / '- UYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 63 practice, they would more firmly establish it in the confidence of the public. Yet another w>rd to sceptics — medical or otherwise— and I have done. If you will not believe, from the assertions and arguments of the writer — from the published opinions of distinguished medical men — and from the positive statements of those who have cast themselves into the hygeian fount, bathed, and become whole, I will propose to you a more direct method of ascertaining the merits of this treatment. Have you a relative or friend who is afflicted with any serious disease — an affection of the liver— for which he has been blistered, cupped and purged almost out of existence ; or has be asthma, with a formidable array of anti-spasmo- dics or anti-asthmatics always at hand to give temporary relief— dyspepsia, with an equal number of stomacliic cordials, and dinner pills, to aid the digestion of his food, and alhiy irritation. Or has he that great bug-bear Chroiiic Jilivumatism, for tiie cure of which he has tried a scoi . of physi- cians, and exhausted all the anti-rheumatics in the plentiful provision of their drug resources ; or the no less dreaded constitutional debility, for which he has expended a small fortune in tonic mixtures, sarsaparilla and ginger syrup, not to mention the glasses of good wine, and mugs- of generous" porter, kindly prescribed by his good-hearted physician, as it were, to mollify over the ever-attendant evils of his wearisome existence. Has he any of these diseases, and can find no cure in medicine ; and is he despairing of recovery ? If so, let him try l^he xmlcr cure ; and my word for it, the result will scatter your fears and doubts to the winds of heaven. I do not tell you that all will be restored to health ; but I can say with every confidence, that the majority will be cured, all heneJUted, and none injured by the trial. AMERICAN AUTHORITIES. The Opinions of Charles A. Lee, A.M., M.D., Professor of General Pathology and Materia Medica in the Buffalo University, and m Geneva Medical College, Editor of the New York Journal of Medicine and Collateral Sciences. It is with pleasure I can add the testimony of Professor Lee of New York, the talented editor of the New York Medical Journal and of many standard works in our market— among which the names of "Pereiraon Food and Diet," " Paris Pharraacologia," and " Bacchus, may be men- tioned. The latter will be found a valuable addition to every private library. But the learned professor evidently has no desire to see hydro- pathic institutions established in the country, and thinks the treatment may, and wiU be, employed more advantageously at home (i. e. in cities). u I'- 64 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS, This opinion, however, he must have put forth without properly considering the subject. When we find the public taking as deep an interest in the preservation of health, as they now do in things of, comparatively speaking, no importance ; when we find every family in possession of the necessary baths and bathing apparatus ; then, and not till then, can we hope to introduce it extensively into private practice. But even the possession of these essentials, will not do away with the necessity for, nor the superior efficacy of pleasantly located establishments — as pure air, exer- cise and retirement from the bustle and anxiety of city life, are of the utmost importance in the treatment of many diseases. Speaking of the " water cure " practice, he says — " Dr. Johnson is the proprietor of a hydropathic establishment at Stanstead-Bury, England, and the authoi' of two or three medical works of some merit. He is evidently no ultraist, for he states his object to be to preserve all that is good of the drug treatment and unite it to all that is good of the water treatment — using both, abusing neither ; such, we take it, is the aim of every honest medical man. We shall quote a few passages, from which may be gathered some of the views of the author, who, it should be stated, studied the 'water cure' under Prcissnitz himself * * * The idea that water can only be properly used at a hydropathic esta- blishment is absurd. It may and probably will be employed more advantageously at home. It would, doubtless, be a fine thing for the proprietors of these water institutions, if they could persuade the public to believe that no one understood the use of water but themselves ; but we apprehend there is no great danger of such a result. We believe it to be the duty of the profession generally to study more closely the effects of the various applications of water as a remedial agent, with a view to its more general employment in the treatment of disease." Speaking of the Albany Orphan Asylum, Dr. Lee says, " The institution was established about the close of the year 1829. Shortly after its establishment it ccptained seventy children, and subsequently many more. For the first three years the diet of the inmates consisted of fine bread, rice, Indian puddings, potatoes and other vegetables, and fruit with milk ; to which was added flesh or flesh soup once a day. Considerable attention was also paid to bathing and cleanliness, and to clothing, air and exercise. Bathing, however, was performed in a perfect manner only once in three weeks. Many were received in poor health, and not a few continued sicklVt " In the fall of 1 833 the diet and regimen of the inmates were mate- rially changed. Daily ablution of the whole body, in the use of the cold, shower or sponge bath, or, in cases of spinal disease, the tepid bath, was one of the first steps taken ; then the fine bread was laid aside for that made of unbolted wheat meal, and soon afler flesh and flesh soups were wholly banished ; and thus they continued to advance, till in about three months more they had come fully upon the vegetable system, and had adopted reformed habits in regard to sleeping, air, clothing, exercise, &c. They continued on this course till August, 1836, when the results were as follows : — During the first three years in which the old system was y '- IIYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 65 followed from four to six children were continually on the sick list, and sometimes more. A physician was needed once, twice or three times a week uniformly, and deaths were frequent. During this period (three years) there were between thirty and forty deaths. After the new system was fairly adopted, the nursery was soon entirely vacated, and the services of the nurse and physician no longer needed; and for more than two years no case of sickness or death took place. In the succeeding twelve months there were three deaths, but they were new inmates, were diseased when admitted, and two of them were idiots. The report of the managers says—' Under the system of dietetics the health of the children has not only been preserved, but those who came to the asylum weakly have become healthy and strong, and greatly increased in activity, cheerfulness and happiness.' The superintendents also state that, 'since the new regimen has been fully adopted there has been a remarkable increase of health, strength, activity, vivacity, cheerfulness and contentment among the children. The change of temper is very great. They have become less turbulent, irritable, pcevi.h and discontented, and far more manage- able, gentle, peaceable and kind to each other.' One of them further adds, ' there has been a great increase in their mental activity and power ; the quickness and acumen of their perception, the vigour of their appre- hension, and the power of their retention, daily astonish me.' " In relation to the above experiment, we may remark, that the results appear to us to be owing more to the changes under the general regimen, air, cleanliness, bathing, exercise, &c., than to the substitution of vegetable for animal food. We have often known the same improvement take place among children in private families by the daily use of the shower bath, without making any alteration in their manner of living. The experi- ment, however, is a very valuable one, as it shows the great advantages that flow from a well regulated system of air, exercise and bathing." How beautifully does the above experiment illustrate the great value of water as a preservative of health ; and how fully does it establish the proposition advanced by the writer, while speaking ot he hygienic efficacy of water — viz., that with proper diet, air, exercise, cleanliness and bathing, nineteen-twentieths of the ills to which we are subject might be totally eradicated ; and that the great majority of those who now die in early and middle life might, by the means of prevention within the reach of all, be preserved to a good old age. Here we have the proof. During the first three years of the asylum, by the ignorance or neglect of the managers, or by both combined, between thirty and forty poor helpless orphans found a premature grave ; and the guardians of these little inno- cents even consoled themselves with the consciousness of having done all that could be done, and that such was the dispensation of Providence. Thus they would make the throne of heaven answerable for the ignorance and follies of sublunary mortals. But, fortunately for humanity, during the next three years only three deaths occurred, simply from the adoption of a better system of dietetics, air, exercise, cleanliness, and from the daily use of cold or tepid baths, the necessary accompaniments of perfect health. 66 HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. Of Joel Shew, M.D., of New York, " Something upwards of four years ago it became ray privilege to commence in a small way, the introduction of the new system of water treatment in New York. A little more than three years since I prepared a work entitled 'Hydropathy, or the Water Cure,' and soon aft«r a cheaper one, designed for more general circulation, ' The Hand-book of Hydropathy.' These works have had considerable circulation, and the editions are now nearly exhausted. " The water treatment, so called, practised to a greater or less extent in all ages, but owing its origin as a distinct and permanent system to Vincent Priessnitz, is the greatest discovery, the greatest improvement that ever yet came to man. The learned may say of Priessnitz that his wonderful cures were easily effected — that it was not water but the imagination, the pure air, the exercise, the mental repose, the regularity of habits and the temperance observed ; or, that it was not by one circum- stance, but by a combination of favorable agencies, that these cures were performed. What well-informed physician does not know that all this is neither more nor less than Priessnitz and his followers advocate as true. One thing is certain : the practice of this man has been attended with a greater degree of success than that of any other individual who has ever lived. No honest physician acquainted with the career of Vincent Priessnitz will deny this. Facts are facts, and cannot be overthrown. " There are some striking facts relating to the progress of the * water cure.' Physicians admit the power of our means, and contend for medi- cine only as the exception to the rule. Yet it is notorious how little conridence they have in the profession at large, or in the remedial agents they daily prescribe to their patients, when disease knocks at their own door, " Priessnitz comes before the world with doctrines which he carried out in practice. He says practically, ' It is a law of nature, that in the sweat of thy brow thou shalt eat thy bread ;' the sluggard, the gormand, and the inebriate cannot have health at any price. Health, like truth and everything good, must be wrought for. Perform honest labour daily, be cleanly, be seasonable in your hours, drive away the ten thousand useless corroding cares of artififiial life. Be temperate in all your habits. Tea, coffee, tobacco, heating spices and exciting condiments, all act upon the same principle of drug substances and should be avoided, if you wish to enjoy happiness and health. " From being an humble farmer in circumstances, Priessnitz has, through industry and strict honesty, become very rich. He is now esti- mated to be worth nearly a million of dollars — yet all his wealth and honours make no difference in his appearance or actions. The past year the King of Austria presented him with the highest medal awarded by the government. Distinctions without number have been conferred upon him ; but be is still the same simple, plain, unpretending man. /'-. HYDROTHERAPEUTICS, 67 " Water is the most common and abundant of all material substances on the face of the earth. ' All hail to pure cold water, That bright rich gem from heaven ; And praise to the Creator For such a blessing given ; And since it comes in fullness, We'll prize it yet the more; For life, and health, and gladness, It spreads the wide earth o'er.' What is there in nature so beautiful as water? In the form of genial spring showers that fertilize and render fructiferous the earth — in the opening flower-buds — in glistening dew drops — in sparkling fountains — in rivulets — in spring streams — in cascades — and in the delicate tear-drop that moistens the cheek of woman, how beautiful is this agent, every where so abundant — pure, simple water ! "The earth becomes dry and parched; flowers cease to put forth their blossoms ; the trees yield no fruit ; the grass withers, and the plains become dusty. At length the clouds begin to gather ; the lambs are heard bleating upon the hills ; the cows gambol, and the fowls prepare their feathers. The showers descend, and all nature with one uplifted voice praises that Being who sends the blessed gift. «' The inebriate, at the midnight revel, quaffs deep of the intoxicating bowl. His brain becomes fevered, and his body ' ill at ease.' When he began his inebriation he would have scorned the sin jle beverage of nature ; but now his sensations are imperious, and he longs for that drink which alone is sufficient to quench his thirst. " A sick man has high, burning fever and delirium, which last for days. More earnestly than for all other blessings he begs for cold water to drink. In the belief that it is dangerous, he is denied. He grows worse : the tongue swells, the lips crack, and the pores become closed. In every breath that he puts forth, and in the exhalation that passes from his body, is being carried off its moisture ; yet, strange though it be, his thirst no one dares to quench. At last, In his sufferings, he breaks over all restraint, and drinks to the fullest extent of his desire. Before sleepless, he now passes into a profound sleep. Drenching perspiration not unfre- quently follows; and in the morning he awakens refreshed and in his right mind, and the power of his disease is broken up. " Thus we have in water abundance, simplicity, purity, feebleness, not less than terrific power, awful grandeur, sublimity, beauty ; the purest of all beverages, and the best of all means for healing the sick. Who can be sufficiently thankful for this, one of the best of heaven's gifts to our poor frail race — water !" /'-. 68 HYDhOTHEBAPEUTICS. The Opinions o/John Bell, M.D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine and Medical Jurisprudence^ Member of the Medical and Kappa Lambda Societies, and Fellow of the College of Physicians, Philadelphia, and of the Georgofioli Society of Florence, Sfc. ^-c. " It 18 a just subject of surprise," says Dr. Rcll, " that tlie practice of cold bathing, which is among the most ancient means of recreation and refreshment, and which has ever been received in the medical art as a remedy of considerable power, should still be under the dominion of fluctuating hypotheses, and be too often resorted to on the faith of the most remote analogies and perverted experience. But our wonder will be diminished by the reflection, that the circumstances under which it acquired celebrity in the eyes of the historical reader, and under which it has been so generally resorts- J '.o in all ages and countries, are well calculated to deceive as to its true character. Cold bathing was a part of the severest physical education of the Spartans, whose endurance of fatigue and privation is proverbial. We know that people in the earliest stages of society, engaged in war and the chase, or who led a pastoral life, and in whom there is found much bodily vigour, induced and sus- tained by regular labour, and simple aliment, have always been ready to plunge into the nearest stream, and recreate themselves with a natural cold bath. We learn that the Roman youth, while still panting and glowing with the sports of the Campus Martins, would jump into the Tiber, and thus make swimming succeed to the exercises on land. It is also a matter of familiar knowledge to us all, to find within the sphere of our acquaintance persons endowed with considerable bodily vigour, who make use habitually of the cold bath. " Among the disorders for which cold bathing has been recommended, and will be found of essential service, we have, first, a class of persons, becoming, with the advance of civilization, every year more numerous ; these suffer from sedentary life, devotion to the desk in business or study, and complain of a troublesome heat and dryness of the hands, and some- times of the feet, with accelerated pulse and thirst : their appetite is not good, nor is their sleep sound or refreshing. " 2nd. There are many persons who, though enjoying what i? often called full health, are liable to colds, rheumatic pains and stitches, from any slight exposure to cold or moist air. Their vascular and nervous systems are both excitable, and they are readily thrown into perspiration from even moderate exercise or warm apartments. In them, it is desi- rable so far to regulate the functions of the skin as to moderate its excitement, and prevent the consequent debility which follows this stnte. Cold bathing, properly regulated, accomplishes this purpose, and keeps the skin of a less uniform excitement, renders it less liable to sweat so freely from exposure to warmth, or by active exercise, and of course prevents the subsequent languor and susceptibility to morbid and enfeebling agencies. " 3rd. In fevers, so called by systematic writers, hemorrhages and U HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 60 inflammations, internal as well as external, the most enlightened and, it is to be hoped, numerous portion of the medical profession, now recog- nize in the regular application of cold water, an important auxiliary to, and on occasions a substitute for Mood letting. I shall not here enter into any retrospective view of the causes, whether from false theories among physicians, or ignorant prejudices among the people, which so long retarded the use of cold baths in fevers. The reform introduced by Sydenham, that of the cooling regimen, is but very imperfectly adhered to, when with the admission of cold fresh air into the apartments of the patient, is not coupled the ad linistration externally and internally of col i vFater. " 4th. One of the most interesting accounts of the use of cold water, in modern times, is that given by Samoilowitz, in his history of the plague at Moscow, in Russia (1771)." Dr. Bell then proceeds to relate the experience of Samoilowitz, illus- trating the same by cases ; from which it appears that water, in his hands, was almost a specific for that most terrific disease. "5th. The principles which ought to guide us in the use of the cold bath, in febrile disease, being understood by the reader, it will be sufficient for me to mention briefly the varieties of fever in which the remedy has been successfully resorted to. In scarlet fever, cold bathing has displayed the best effects. The skin, of an acrid heat, high membranous irritation, involving the capillary and nervous tissues, without corresponding excite- ment of the general blood-vessel system, is a state of things calling for the sedation of cold, without allowing of extensive sanguineous depletion. The cold bath operates with promptness and decisive effects, since the impression produced on the skin is felt almost at the same moment throughout the digestive mucous surface. Upwards of a century ago, the internal use of common cold water, in scarlet fever, small pox and measles, and instances of the efficacy ot this simple means to restore repelled eruption and bring on sweat, were pointed out ; and yet, to this very day, the traditional faith in exclusively internal drugging, and external heat, maintains its ascendency with the crowd, including many a physician. " Of late years, we have examples of the success attending the use of cold water to the skin in measles. Thaer mentions many remarkable instances. The eruption will frequently be found to follow immediately the application of the water, and whenever it does appear, the subsequent symptoms will be very much moderated in violence. " In fevers, vaguely called miliary and petechial — that is, in fevers in which petechial or miliary eruptions have been a common, though not an essential symptom — cold aff'usion has been used with great advantage. When resorted to at the first invasion of the fever, cold immersion will often cut it short, and prepare for prompt convalescence. Even when the disease is advanced, cold affusion will prove the most successful pallia- tive. " Cold, applied by means of a wet cloth to the back of the neck or to the scrotum, is a popular and very efficient remedy for stopping epistaxis, rr bleeding at the nose. 70 HYDROTHEnAPEUTlCS. " In hemoptysis, or spitting of blood from the lungs, the cold-bntb, so long deemed a hazardous application, has been tried by several distin- guished practitioners, with the best effects. «■ " In vomiting of blood, and in heniorrliagc from the bowels, and hemorr- hoids or piles, and uterine hemorrhage, although cold immersion is beneficial, yet, generally speaking, cold affusions or ablutions, with wet compresses over the part affected, will be found sufficient. In spitting or vomiting of blood, wet cloths applied over the stomach, frequently changed, will be found beneficial. In intestinal hemorrhage, over the abdomen generally ; in vesical hemorrhage, and in piles, to the sacrum, perineum and gronis, and by injections of pure cold water to the bowels. The further addition of cold cloths to the pubes is proper in bleeding from the bladder. In chronic uterine hemorrhage, a cold hip bath should be taken frequently. " In inflammations generally, cold directly applied to an inflamed part, or to a surface with which the former sympathises, will abstract the heat, already excessive ; and by its sedative effect, diminish excitement of the nervous and capillary tissues, and, of course, diminish the secretion of caloric and the diameter of the vessels, thus allowing the part to resume its former condition. " In burns, and external cutaneous inflammations of a somewhat similar character, such as erysipelas and sun- stroke, the practice of the external application of cold, rests on the principles already laid down. " Resembling sun-stroke in many respects, and like it also requiring the free use of cold affusions, is the poisoning by narcotic drugs, such as opium, henbane, stramonium, S)X. ; also in poisoning with prussic acid." Opinions and Experience of N. T. Calkinos, M.D., of New York. " Facts, carefully observed, collected and arranged, constitute the basis of all science. Such facts are rapidly establishing the scii. utific treat- ment of diseases by water — such facts are demonstrating the vastly important truth, that water, used with a discreet and persevering energy, in accordance with the true principles of physiology, and with judicious discrimination in varying conditions, is a universal cure. Some of those facts have been witnessed by the writer. " More than fifteen years ago, I commenced the following treatment in fever (continued) : the patient stood or sat in a large tub ; two persons, one before and the other behind> each armed with a bucket of cold water, made a simultaneous dash upon the breast and shoulders. Without drying, he was wrapped in blankets, put into bed and sweated. When the fever returned, the dash was repeated, or resort was had to cold ablutions. Frequent and very copious injections of tepid water, were found of much efficacy in the relief of those distn^ssing and oppressive feelings which constitute so much of a fever patient's misery. lie was then enjoined to drink largely of cold water, and cold wet cloths were kept applied to the burning feet, instead of stimulating them with mustard ii I HYDHOTllERAPEUTICS. 71 poultices. But little medicine was used, yet the practice was far more successful than any the writer iiad ever witnessed. "In 1833, my wife was so violently attacked with inflammatory rheumatism, that she was soon unable to move either of the lower extremities, and the pain was excruciating to an almost intolerable degree. I had them immersed in a tub of cold spring water, and a stream of the same was kept pouring on them for hours. In two days, without a particle of medicine, the disease was cured. " In the person of my son, I have recently cured, by the same means, and the additional use of the wet bandage, one of the most dangerous and obstinate local diseases known to physicians, viz., inflammation of the knee-joint. ^ • • " I am happy in being aff"orded the opportunity and privilege of givmg this testimony to the public, tlirough the reforming columns of a Water Cure Jounud, that in the treatment of various diseases, I have been far more successful with water as medicine, than the most consummate skdl can be with the whole armament of medicines known to the learned or the unlearned world." The Experience ofA.L. Bardwell, M.D., of Troy, K Y. ■ " I was very much afflicted with spinal affection for two years ; various means had been used for my relief, but to no good purpose. I went to New Lebanon Springs, and there, under the direction of Dr. Bedortha, underwent a regular process at the Water Cure Establishment. When I commenced it, I could scarcely walk, and was in such pain that I could not sleep night nor day. I commenced on the 18th of August, and in less than four weeks, I walked nine miles easier than I could have walked one when I began the treatment. I was entirely freed from pain. I stayed four weeks and three days at the establishment, and have since kept up the treatment to some extent, and continue to improve." Opinions and Experience of Benjamin Rush, M.D., late Professor of the Institutes, and of Clinical Medicine in the University of Pennsylvania. "In the treatment of bilious remittent fever," says Dr. Rush, "cold water was a most agreeable and powerful remedy. I directed it to be applied by means of napkins to the head, and to be injected into the bowels by way of glyster. It gave the same case to both, when in pain, which opium gives to pain from other causes. I also advised the washing of the face and hands, and sometimes the feet, with cold water, and always with advantage. It is by suffering the body to lie for some time in a bed of cold water, that the inhabitants of the island of Massuah cure the most violent bilious fevers.* When applied in this way, it gradually * Brace's Travels. 72 HYDROTHEHAPEirriCS abstracts the heat from the body, and thereby lessens the action of the system. It differs as much in its effects upon the body from the cold batfi, as rest in a cold room differs from exercise in the cold and open air. " 1 was first led to the practice of the partial application of coM wntcr to the body, in fevers of too m6ch force in the arterial system, by observing its good effects in active hemorrhages, and by recollecting the effects of a partial application of warm water to the feet in fevers of an opposite character. Cold water, when applied to the icet, as certainly reduces the pulse in force and frequency, as warm water, applied in tiie same way, produces contrary effects upon it. In an experinient, which was made at my request by one of my pupils, Ly placing the feet in cold pump water for a few minutes, the puisne was reduced 24 strokes in a minute, and became so weak as scarcely to be perceptible." Opinions o/ James John IIuntkh, M. D., of Neu nrket, C.W. "When the claims of the 'Water Cure' treatment were first advanced, in Europe, and to some extent in this country, I felt, in common with most members of the medical profession, strong prejudices against it, and doubted very nuich the propriety of introducing it into practice more extensively than the experience of the profession in general had found to be safe and efficacious. But the encouraging reports which were con- stantly being received, reports not written by the ignorant and designing, but by some of the brightest ornaments of our profession, declaring that water, at different temperatures and variously employed, was not only ca- pable of palliating, but of completely subduing many of the most serious and intractable diseases, some of which, chronic rheumatism, gout, neu- ralgia, liver complaints, incipient consumption, asthma, &c. &c., had been considered the opprobrium of medical science, these detached statements induced me to seek information from the writings of those who had wit- nessed and experienced its effects. I perused most of the available works written on the subject, but from them could come to m satisfac- tory conclusion as to its merits or demerits ; for, while some asserted that it was capable of entirely superseding the old practice, that it was a panacea for the cure of all the various forms of disease with which the human family are afflicted, and that only its adoption was necessary for man to become almost immortal— others, with more reason, assigned to it a more limited action, and considered it, what in reality it is, an auxi- liary remedy of vast power. In consequence of these conflicting opinions, I determined to subject the matter to the test of experience, by which all questions in medicine should be decided. The diseases which appeared to me most unlikely to be benefitted by its use, were typhus and bilious fevers, when uncomplicated with serious organic lesion. Both these forms of fever prevailed extensively in this section of the country. At first I was cautious in my cold applications, fearful lest congestion of important internal organs should take place, and serious if not fatal consequences follow ; but by degrees I became bolder, as I found my y..'- -..1 in.->. HYDnOTHEHAPEUTICS. 78 fears were groundless, and the improvement of my patients justifled my courtdence. 'nu- rapidity of fhc recoveries was such as I never before experienced in my own praeti^ie, or witnessed in tliat of the best regulated hospitals. In the great majority of instances, the improvement was so decided, as to leave no doubt in my mind, tliat it was to water, and o water Only, that 1 was indt hted for the salutary change, and in many instances tor the r. cover of my patients ; and I have no hesitation in saying, from what I have observed, that in the treatment of these diseases (typhus andbilious fevers) cold water, properly employed, is supo- rior to all the drugs containul in the Materia Mcdica ; and w" t I to refuse to adopt it under proper restrictions, I would be not only disre- garding the dictates of my <> vn conscience, but trifling with the best interests of my patients. "On the 4th of August, 1 was t died to visit the family of A.G . On my aniva), 1 found four persons ill with typhus fever of a low grade. Three • f these pc ons were in the last stage; the other one h I been sick abo. ' ten days. One of the first mentioned was beyond hope, and died a fe^ hours after my arrival. The remaining three were innnediately subjected to the cooling or hydropathic treatment. The effect was most salutary; it subdued the morbid and preternatural heat, lessened the frequency and force of the pulse, allayed the low muttering delirium and other symptoms of cerebral derangemc ;'. incident to these fevers, and produced in a few days a decide ' amelioration in their condition. These patients, all three, ultimaioly recovered, but not with equal rapidity ; for, while the one last afflicted and to whom the trt itmcnt was earliest applied speedily regained his usual health and strengt ,, the other two, who had been Ibur weeks ill previous to my first visit, recovered slowly, an were for two I) three days in a very precarious state, " On the 14th of August, five other members of the same fant'' wer taken ill. To these the treatment was immediately applitd, w ih the effect of arresting the disease at once and restoring them to health within the first week. Now I fc^ 1 tnfident, from the similarity of the symptoms and from the fact that all ere exposed to the same excitin cause, that the last patients were afflicted witl -esame diseasi as the tii:,t, and that the disease would have run the same tedious if not fatal course, had it not been for the timely use of water. "On the 2nd of October last, I was requested by the Boai • HYDR0T1IERAPEUTIC8 76 the catalogue of my woes. To such an extent was my nervous system affected, tliat I could not bend a joint witliout the risk of bringing on a violent and painful spasm in the part moved. And the least mental or corporeal excitement, or anything but the most simple diet, would induce auras that would painfUUy pervade the entire system as rapidly m electricity. " For the destruction of this hydra-headed monster, cold ivnier and low dirt alone have proved amply sufficient ; and in the course of six weeks I have increased in weight nearly twenty pounds, and have been restored almost to my wonted health and vigor, sufficiently so to recommence my professional duties, which, from ill health, I had been obliged to discon- tinue during the past two years. Such have been the effects of hydro- pathy on me ; and they have been nearly as effectual on Mrs. II., whose severe indisposition has had a longer continuance than mine. We are both now nearly restored to our former good health, and this too after the resources of medicine had failed in affording even temporary relief; and feel nothing necessary but a continuance in the same pleasant course to render its benefits permanent. " I have now spent upwards of twenty-six years in extensive practice of my profession, and during that period I have thrice spent six months in the best hospitals and colleges that this continent affords, to study modern improvements ; and I think I may say, I have spared neither time nor expense in the investigation of every thing new yet offered by the profession, for the alleviation of human misery, but, notwithstanding all these aids, simple water alone has proved, in my hands, much more effec- tual than their most potent agency." MISCELLANEOUS OPINIONS 6F DISTINGCISIIED WRITERS ON MEDICINE AND GENERAL SUBJECTS, ON TUB IMPORTANCE OF WATER A3 A BEVERAGE. " Pure and light waters are agreeable to the different natures and constitutions of all men. No remedy can more effectually secure health and prevent diseases than pure water. The drinking of water is serviceable in every complexion. Water proves agreeable to persons of all ages. Drinkers of water, provided it be pure and excellent, are more healthy and long-lived than such as drink wine or malt liquors; it generally gives them a better appetite, and renders them plump and fleshy. Those who drink water are observed to have much whiter and sounder teeth than others. Drinkers of water are brisker and more alert in all the actions both of mind and body than such as use malt liquors. Water is a remedy suited to all persons at all times; there is no better preservative fromdAstem- ih. g- 76 HYDROTKERAPEUTICS. pers ; it is assuredly serviceable loth in chronic and acute diseases, and its use answers to all iiidicatiom both of preservation and cure. The major part of the efficacy of mineral waters is, beyond all dispute, owing to the (juantity of pure elementary water they contain." — Hoffman. " Water drinkers are temperate in their actions, prudent and ingenious; they live safe from those diseases which affect the head, such as apo- plexies, palsies, pain, blindness, deafness, gout, convulsions, trembling and madness. Water resists putrefaction and cools burning heats and thirsts, and after dinner it helps digestion. To the use of this children ought to be bred from their cradles ; because all strong drinks are injurious to the constitution of children, whose spirits they inflame, and render them mad, foolish, tender, rash, and intemperate in their passions." — Sir John Floyer. " Simple water, such as nature affords it, is, without any addition, the proper drink of manhind. All drinks which supply the necessary liquid for the support of the functions of the animal economy, do it only by the quantity of elementary water they severally contain." — Cullen. " Water, as it is the most ancient, so it is the best and most common fluid for drink, and ought to be esteemed the most commodious for the preservatimi, of life and health ." — Parr. " If people would but accustom themselves to drink water, they would be more free from many diseases, such as tremblings, palsies, apoplexies, giddiness, pains in the head, gout, stone, dropsy, rheumatism, piles, and such like, which diseases are most among them that drink strong or arti- ficial drinks, and which water generally would prevent." — Dr. Pratt. " Water is of inestimable benefit to health ; and as it neithei stimu- lates the appetite to excess, nor can produce any perceptible effect upon the nerves, it is admirably adapted for diet, and we ought perhaps by right to make it our sole beverage, as it was with the first of mankind and still is with all the animals. Pure water dissolves the food more, and more readily, than that which is tinctured by any thing dissolved in it, and likewise absorbs better the acrimony from the juices ; that is to saj', it is more nutritious, and preserves the juices in their natural purity. It penetrates easily through the smallest vessels, and removes obstructions in them, nay, when taken in a large quantity, it is a very potent antidote to poison. From these main properties of water may be deduced all the surprising cures which have been effected by it in so many diseases" — Dr. Reid. " The sole primitive and mainly natural drink is water, which, when pure, whether from a spring or river, has nothing noxious in it, and is suitable and adapted to all sick persons and all stomachs, however deli- cate and infirm, unless through depraved habits fermented liquor should have become necessary. Pure spring water, when fresh and cold, is the best and most wholesome drink and the most grateful to those who are thirsty, whether they be sick or well; it quenches thirst, cools the body, dilutes and thereby obtunds acrimony, often promotes sweat, expels noyious matters, resists putrefaction, aids digestion, and in fine strengthens the stomach." — Dr. Gregory. Pt>n»<««~o<«<** HYDKOTHERAPEUTICS. 77 " Without all peradventurc, wnter was the primitive original beverage, and it is the only fluid fitted for diluting, moistening and cooling — the ends of drink appointed by nature. Happy had it been for the race of mankind, if other mixed and artificial liquors had never been invented. It has been an agreeable appearance to me to observe with what freshness and vigour those who, though eating freely of flesh meat, yet drank notliing but this element, have lived in lu'dlh and cheerfulness to a great age. Water alone is sufiicicnt and effectual for all the purposes of human wants and drinks." — Dr. Chetne. " Cold water is the most proper beverage for man as well as for animals ; it cools, thins, and clears the blood ; it keeps the stomach, head, and nerves in order, and makes man more tranquil, serene and cheerful." — Faust. " Simple aqueous drinks promote digestion, by facilitating the solution of the solids and by serving as a vehicle to their divided parts. The least compound drinks are possessed in different degrees of the double property of dissolving solid aliments and stimulating the digestive organs. The purest water is rendered stimulating by the air which it contains in different proportions." — Dr. Richerand. " Water is beyond question the most natural drink — that of which man made use in times of prima;val manners. Those who take it in moderation enjoy to a very high degree all the faculties, as well moral as intellectual, and often obtain very advanced age." — Rostan. " Water drinkers are in general longer livers, are less subject to decay of the faculties, have better teeth and more regular appetites, than those who indulge in more stimulating diluents (tea, coffee, fermented drinks, &c.) for their common drink." — D".. Saunders. " Water alone is the proper drink of every animal" — Arbtithnot. " Water is, of all drinks, that which by its constant use is best fitted to aid in p;-olonging the life of man." — Londe. " The water drinker enjoys an exquisite sensibility of pa'.ate and relish for plain food, that a wine drinker has no idea of. Happy are the young and healthy, who arc wise enough to be convinced that water is the best drink and salt the best sauce." — Kitchener. " Young officers (and officers do not differ in this respect from other men) should drink nothing habitually but water, because it is decidedly the most conducive to vigorous health." — Dr. Barton. "Water is the most suitable drink for man, and does not chill the ardour of genius. Demosthenes' sole drink was water T — Zimmerman. " I maintain with confidence that spirituous liqu s do not lessen the effects of hard labour upon the body. Look at the horse, with every muscle of his body swelled from morning till night, in the plough or the team, does he make signs for spirituous liquors to enable him to cleave the earth or climb the hill ? No. He requires nothing but cool water and substantial food ; and the same is true of man." — Dr. Rush. " Man is the only animal accustomed to swallow unnatural drinks, or to abuie those which are natural ; and this is a fruitful source of a great variety of his bodily and mental evils." — Rees' Ctcloped. 78 HYDUOTHERAPEUTICS. " The waste of the fluid parts of our bodies requires the use of drink to repair it, and we derive a sensible gratification from quenching our thirst. Who has not observed the extreme satisfaction which children derive from quenching their thirst with pure water ? While we adhere to this simple beverage, we shall be sure to have an unerring prompter to remind us when we really re(}uire drink, but the moment we depart from pure water we loose this inestimable guide, and are left not to the real instincts of nature, but to an artificial taste, in deciding on actions inti- mately connected with health and long life. And this is true not only of fermented or distilled liquors, but in a less degree of any and every addition made to pure water to make it more palatable. Under the guidance of the instincts our Creator has implanted in us, we are safe ; but as soon as we leave these, and place ourselves under the direction of our own educated appetites, we are constantly liable to be led into danger." — Dr. Oliver. " Pure water is the fluid designed by nature for the nourishment of all bodies, whether animal or vegetable. W'ater drinkers are observed to be more healthy and long lived than others. In such, the fliculties of the mind and body are more strong, their teeth more white, their breath more sweet, and their sight more perfect, than in those who use artificial drinks, &c." — De. Leak. " Water is as well adapted to man's natural appetite as the physical wants of his organs. A natural thirst, and the pleasure derived from its gratification, were given us to secure to the vital machinery the supply of liquid necessary to its healthy movements. When this natural thirst occurs, no drink tastes so good and in truth none is so good as water ; none possesses adaptation so exact to the vital necessities of the organs." — Dr. Miisset. "The best drink is water : a liquor commonly despised, and even con- sidered as prejudicial. I will not hesitate, however, to declare it to be one of the greatest means for prolonging life. The element of water is the greatest and only promoter of digestion. By its coldness and fixed air it is an excellent strengthener and reviver of the stomach and nerves. It assists all tl^e secretions of the body, and is a powerful preventive of bile and putrefaction." — De. Hufeland. " If drink be merely required for allaying thirst and dryness, and dimi- nishing the tenacity and acrimony of the fluids, then is cold water, when limpid, light, and without smell and taste, and obtained from a clear r jn- ning stream, the best drink for a robust man. Food not too fat or gross, and water as drink, render our bodies the most firm and strong." — BOERHAAVE. " When men contented themselves with water, they had more health and strength; and at this day, those who drink strong liquors raise the heat of the stomach to excess, whereas water keeps it in due temper. Hot blood is the cause of flushes, rheums, ill digestion, pains in the limbs, headache, dimness of the sight, and especially of hysteric vapours." — Da. Duncan. " in regard to diet with a view to the preservation of health, no one %i Pk>ft~~'>»-* HYDROTHERAPEUTICS, 79 rule is of so much importance as to avoid all sorts of compound liquors. Water being the only wholesome beverage, the best solvent and diluent of the solid portions of our food, and furnishing the most simple, the most bland, and most manifestly the most suitable supply to the secretory vessels and general humidity of the body. In a word, good water is the only fit and salutary liquor for the ordinary uses of man ; all others are noxious, and that in proportion as they recede in their qualities from water. There is no animal (man excepted) that does not reject artificial liquors with disgust ; and from an impartial survey of human society in general, it will be found that those who use water only as their general beverage, are, cateris paribus, the most free from disease, and retain the vigour of life and its different functions to a more advanced age." — A Physician. A FEW EXTRACTS FROM THE PUnLISHED OPINIONS OF SOME OF THOSE WHO HAVE DEBITED BENEFIT FROM UyoROTUEEAPEUTIC TREATMENT. i I " Previous to coming to Malvern, I was considered by some of the most eminent of the faculty to be in a hopeless state. * * ♦ ♦ I was nearly reduced to a skeleton. The spasms of the stomach and about the heart seemed to threaten me with sudden death. In short, I did not consider my life safe from hour to hour. After nearly three months of treatment, my body is well covered with hard solid flesh, my appetite and sleep are good, and my other functions in excellent order." — F. Beauman, Rear Admiral. " During nine montiis before I came under hydropathic treatment, I was unable to move wit!\out my crutches ; and a great part of that nine months I passed in my bed, or on my sofa. My nights were restless, my pulse high, and my tongue charged. I am now turned sixty-three years, and have been subject to the gout for more than forty years. My knees, hands, ana other parts, vere so crippled that x had made up my mind to pass the rest of my days in my arm-chair, or to hobble about with my crutches. The treatment has so ameliorated my situation, that I can now go up and down stairs, with ease and comfort, without a stick, and the other day walked half a mile on the high road. My general health, I thank God, is as well as ever it was. I sleep well, my appetite is good, and 1 use my arras freely ; in fact, I feel myself comfortable and inde- pendent." — T. C. Marsh. " I have been severely afflicted, for the last sixteen or seventeen years, with a most violent tic doloureux in my face, and when I came under treatment was also suffering from stomach asthma, the liver complaint, and swelled and dropsical ankles, all of which are now perfectly removed, and my stomach is wonderfully restored to its former state of health, which had been upset for years by the powerful medicines given to remove the distressing tic doloureux." — Tuos. Stanton St. Clair, C. B. & K. li., Coluiiel. m wm oil HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. " 1. The Cadet, Prince Lichtenstein, of middle size and of a full and corpulent habit of body, had received, while on service in Italy, a gun-shot wound in the leg, which injured the tibia. The wound remained open for two years, generating into a foul and fistulous ulcer, and discharging foetid sanies, accompanied with caries of the bone. The surgeons of Vienna advised amputation, and as a last resort he went to Gnefenberg, and put himself under the care of Preidsnit/. The diseased or carious bone was gradually exfoliated. The ulcer, soon after the commencement of the treatment, assumed a healthy action and appearr nee, aud was nearly healed at the prince's departure. He fully recovered the use of his leg. " 2. A young Scotch gentleman had contracted syphilis two years before his visit to Gracfenberg, was treated with mercurial inunction, blue pills and corrosive sublimate. He had suffered from a mercurial eruption, and pains in the head, joints and spine, ulcerated sore throat, loss of appetite, and extreme emaciation. He was benefitted by the use of the hydroidate of potass and the compound decoction of sarsaparilla ; but the pains in his head and joints, loss of appetite, debility and emaciation, continued, combined with a hysterical affection, that caused him fre- quently to shed tears involuntarily. In this state he consulted Pricss- nitz, and went through the whole curriculum of the cure. The tu-at- mcnt caused a mercurial eruption, and promoted the discharge of the mercury accumulated in his system. I.i four months he was perfectly restored to health, and regained his strength, flesh and appetite. He frequently walked twenty or thirty miles a day, and was free from every pain. This was the best and most complete cure that fell under my observation." — R. H. Gbaham, M. D. Extract from a letter to Dr. Wilson, of Malvern, from the Most Noble the Mabquis of Anglesea. " Being convinced that if anything can relieve me from my most dreadful of all disorders, your skill, and zeal and great experience and prudence will bring me through ; I mark this latter word more particularly, because I hear of the most absurd and malicious reports being abroad of your having very nearly killed me. * * * * Since the time I came under your treatment, I have never for a single day had occasion to assist in any way whatever stubborn bowels, which reluctantly yielded for years and years to the most powerful and pernicious drugs. For six or eight and twenty years a desperate malady (tic doloureux) has been in full possession of me, and has probably been immensely aggravated by the swallowing of a mass of the most violent and offensive drugs. It IE no wonder, I say, that even water cannot in thirteen months effect a cure. But it has kept me in excellent and even robust general health ; and if, instead of being seventy-five, I v/as only fifty-five, I should not be without hope of your totally subduing the enemy. If I do outlive it, I shall owe if entirely to your system ; so persevere, my good doctor, as yon have hitherto done, and believe me you will have a confiding patient. 4 OL.*. HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 81 And may the admirable system you have introduced into this country go on and prosper through good report and bad report. f * * * Lady Adelaide is in high health, and a steady advocate of the Water Cure, and I hear most favourable reports of Lord Lichfield. &c. &c. " Anglesey." " I had stomach asthma and spasms of the stomach \x\ their severest forms, with indigestion and constipation of the bowels, and torpid liver of many years standing. I was treated with bleeding, leeching, blisters and medicines, but all my symptoms returned again with the same seve- rity. I then tried the mineral waters, with no benefit, suffering two severe attacks while taking them. In this miserable state, I determined to try hydropathic treatment. I am in every way more than satisfied with the result. After from three weeks to a month's treatment, 1 met by accident my friend the Rev. Mr. , who did not recognize me with my altered appearance. When I came under tieatmont, in August, I was clothed in flannel and wore a great coat, and was still chilly and cold. Now, in October, I am without fiaimel, wear a single light coat, and am warm and comfortable."— J. Douglass De Went, Captain 4Ath Regiment. " 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 letter, I suppose myoclf to be addressing those as thoroughly acquainted with the system as myself was at the first, and I deal therefore only in generals. " The first point which impressed and struck me, , as the extreme and utter innocence of the Water Cure in skilful hands. Certainly, when I went, I believed it to be a hill 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 flital. Now, I speak not aloiie of my own case, but of the immense 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 dange.ous symptom produced by the Water Cure, whether at Dr. Wilson's or the other hydropathic institutions which I afterwards visited. And though, unquestionably, fatal consrq-icpces might occur from gross mis- management, and as unquestio bly ■■ *fe so occurred at various esta- blishments, I am yet convinced thai .vater in itself is so friendly to the human body, that it requires ignorance and presumption to produce results really dangerous ; that a regular practitioner does more frequent mischief from the misapplication of even the simplest drugs, than a water doeinr of very moderate experience does or can do by the misapplication of his baths and frictions. And here I must observe, that those portions of the treatn)ent which appear to the uninitiated as the most perilous, are really the safest, and can be applied with the most impunity to the weakest constitutions ; whereas those which ar>peflr, f'-nm our greater familiarity with them, the least startling and raoat innocuous, are those 82 HYDROTIIERAPEUTICS. which require the greatest knowledge of general pathology, and of the inciividual constitution. " The next thing that struck mc, was the extraordinary ease with which, under this system, good habits arc acquired and bad habits relin- quished. The difficulty with which, under crtl.o'lox medical treatment, stimulants are abandoned, is hero not witnessed. Patients accustomed for half a century to live hard and higli, 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 drank nothing else all their lives. Others who have had recourse for years and years to medicine, their potion in the morning, their cordial at nooi:, their pill before dinner, their narcotic at bed time, cease to require these aids to life, as if by a charm. Nor this aione. Men to whom mental labour has been noncssary, who have existed on the excitement of the passions and the stir oi the intellect, who have felt — ■ these withdrawn — the prostration 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 secrec. Water thus skilfully administered is in itself a wonderful excitement ; it supplies the place of all others, it operates powerfully and rapidly upon the nerves, sometimes to calm them, somefimes to irritate, but always to oerupy. Hence follows a conse- quence 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 absorbs the past and futnre, there is a certain fresh- ness and youth, which pervade the spirits and live upon the enjoyment of the actual hour. Thus are 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 it interests and amuses is of a healthful 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 produces refreshing rest, and refreshing rest willing exercise. The extraordinary effect which water taken early in the mornir,g produces on the appetite, is well known amongst those who have tried it, even before the Water Cure was thought of: an appetite it should be the care of the skilful doetcr to cheek into moderate gratification. The powers of nutrition become singularly strengthened, 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 replac- ing, by healthful stimulants, the 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. 1 had fancied that, whether good or badj the system must be one of great hardship, extremely repug- HYDROTHERAPEUTICS. 83 nant 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 ailments or whatever may have been my cares, I have ever found exquisite pleasure in that sense of being which is, as it were, the conscience, the mirror of the soul. I have known hours of as much and as vivid happiness as perhaps can fall to the lot of man ; but, amongst all my most brilliant recollections, I can recal no periods of enjoynient 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 appre- ciated. The rise from a sleep as 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, wiiich made 80 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 below — the breeze that once would have been so keen and biting, now but exhilarating the blood and lifting the spirits into religious joy ; and this keen sentiment of present pleasure rounded by a hope, sanctioned by all 1 felt in myself, and by nearly all I witnessed in others, that the very present was but the step, the thresh- hold, into an unknown and delightful region of health and vigour ; a disaaae autl a care dropping from the frame and the heart at every stride. " I staid some nine or ten weeks at Mulvern, and business, from which I could not escape, obliging me to be iu the neighbourhood of town, I continued the system seven weeks longer under Dr. Weiss, of Petersham. During this latter period, the agreeable phenomena which had characte- rised the former, the cheerfulness, the Men aise, the consciousness of returning health, vanished, aad were succeeded by grtat irritation of the nerves, extreme fretfulness, and the usual characteristics (>f the constitu- tional disturbance to which I have referred. I had every reason, how- ever, to be satisfied with the skill and care of Dr. Weiss, who fully deserves the reputation he has acquired and the attachment entertained for him by his patients. Nor did my judgment ever despond or doubt of the ultimate benefit 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 gown— but neither the bleaching nor the loss of weight had" in the least impaired my strength ; on the con- trary, all the muscles had grown 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 Doctor Schmidt's magnificent hydropathic establish- ment, at Boppart; thither I caused myself to be conveyed, and now I had occasion to experience the wonderful effect of the Water Cure m acute cases. Slow in chronic, its beneficial operation in acute is imme- diate. In twenty-four hours all fever had subsided, and on the third day I resumed my journey, relieved from every symptom that had before prognosticated a tedious and perhaps alarming 'llness. I had altvays suffered bo severely in winter, that the severity of our last one gave me e4 HYDUOTIIERAPEUTICS. apprehonmonR, and I resolved to seek shelter from my fears at my beloved Malvern. I here passed the n.ost inelement period of the winter not only perfeetly free from the cold, rheum and catarrhs, which l'^^ /''therto visited n.e with the snows, but in the enjoyment of excellent health ; and 1 an. persuaded that, for those who are delicate and who suHer 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 m this I am borne out by the experience of most water doctors, that the cure is most ,,M)id and effectual during the cold season-from autumn, through the ^vimer. I am thoroughly convinced that consumption, in its earliest stascs, can be more easily cured and the predisposition more permanently eradicated, by a winter spent at Malvern, under tlie care of Doctor Wilson, than by the timorous flight to Pisa or Madeira. It is hy hardenuig rather than by defending the tissues, that we best secure them from ""The remedy is not desperate; it is simpler, I do not say than any dosr, but than any course of medicine ; it is infinitely more agreeable ; it admits no remedies for the con.plaint which are inimical to the constitu- tion: it bequeaths none of the maladies consequent on blue pill and n.ercury, on purgatives and drastics, on iodine and aconite, on leeches and the lancet. If it cure your complaint, it will assuredly strengthen your whole frame ; if it fails to cure your complaint, it can scarcely ail to improve y..ur 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 constantly happens, that the patients at a hydropathic establishment 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, ihus I would not only recommend it to those who are suffering from some grave disease, but to those who require merely the fillip, the alterative, or the bracing, which tthey now often seek in vain in country air or a watering place. For such, three weeks at Malvern will do more than three months at Brighton or Boulogne; for at the Water Cure the whole life is one remedy— the hours, the habits, the discipline, not incompatible with gaicty'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. " The Water Cure, as yet, has had this evident injustice— the patients resorting to it have mo'stly been desperate cases. So strong a notion prevails that it is a desperate remedy, that they only who have Jound all else fail have dragged themselves to the Bethesda pools. Ihat 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 1 1 he wonder is that the number of recoveries should be so great ; that every now and then we should be surprised by the man, whose untimely grave we pre- dicted when we last saw him, meeting us in the street ruddy and stal- wart, fresh from the springs of Grcefenberg, Boppart, Petersham, or Malvern."- i?x/racto//.>m the letter o/SiE Edward Lytton Bulwbb. II J It (83) THE TYPHUS, SHIP, OR EMIGRANT PEVER. Under this title T will endeavour to associate, with a brief outline of the disease, as many facts relating to its prevention and cure as possible, in order that ray description may prove valuable to all, should this country during the present season be visited with this pestilential scourge of the '^^To make the subject more clear to unprofessional readers, I will arrange the points deserving our consideration under the following heads : I. Symptoms, 2. Causes, predisposing and exciting. 3. Critical symp- toms. 4. Means of prevention. .5, Treatment. I The symptoms indicating typhus fever, are a disinclination for either mental or corporeal exertion. The patient feels a sensation of stupidity, indolence, or inability, accompanied by slight chills, hot flushes, yawning and stretching; his gait is unsteady, and he complains of aching pains in his legs, and not unfrcquently of nausea or sickness at the stomach ; hia face becomes flushed, his eyes suffused with blood, and nng.ng m the ears, dizziness and confusion of thought follow; the pulse is frequent, though generally sofY and feeble; the tongue, at first coated with a thin white fur, becomes, as the disease advances, of a brown colour ; blood oozes from the gums, and accumulates about the teeth, causmg the mouth to be very otfensive ; great thirst exists ; a craving for cold dnuks and loss of appetite. One of the earliest symptoms is that of an impairment ot the mind ; the patient, if able to go about, will frequently be found in an apathetic, stupid, dreamy forgetiulness, with his eyes fixed intently on some senseless and uninteresting object. This state is soon followed by delirium, at first only in the night, but which soon becomes continuous. When spoken to he can be roused to consciousness, but answers ques- tions with great hesitancy, and immediately elapses into the same state. He will gaze at you, while speaking, with an expressu>n of enquiry, appearing at the same time to be completely bewildered. 1 he skm is dry and hot from the first, the natural perspiration suppressed, and the secretion from the kidneys scanty and high coloured. These are a few of the more prominent symptoms, which distrngmsh this dreadful disease in its early stage or during the first eight or mne days of its duration. There are many others; but some ot them are less common, and others would only be recognized by the physician. II The causes of this disease, as of all others, may be divided mto two c\a..es-predisposing and excith^g. The first class are tl.ose peculiar conditions of the system which render it more liable io contract the disease on exposure to the second class, or exciting causes, which are those circumstances or agents which determine the nature of such disease. The following mav be considered predisposing causes : — Ist Prior to an attack of fever, or in fact of any disease, some func- tional derangement always exists, which derangement is more frequently • the cause of the disease that follows, than the effect of it. The bowels I 86 EMianANT FEVPIl. may be confined — tlie sccrotion fVoin tlie kidneys diniinislied, or perepim- tion checked, thereby retaining the impurities witiiin the body, und allowing them to circuhite again and again through tiic same ehainiels, until morbid flymptoms arc Het up in some organ of the body, when we pronounce the person ".virA." There is no truth in medicine better established than this, that persons in a state of perfect healtli — when the system receives a due supply uf proper food, and regularly casts ofi" all the refuse and disorganized matters ; when an ecpiilibrium exists between the conservative and destructive powers ; in fact, when all th(! fiuutionH of the economy are duly performed — enjoy an almost certain immunity aguinst disease, while any disturbance of this equilibrium will as assuredly render them liable on exposure. 2nd. I'heme of wine (mid all ftpirihtoitx li/piorx ) tends to increase the liability to the disease, by weakening the whole system, particularly when taken in excess and frequently repeated. 3rd. Fatigue from over exertion leaves tlie body in an unfavourable condition for resisting the assaults of the enemy ; but active exercise without fatigue is beneficial in preserving the equilibrium of health. 4th. Grief and fear have a similar effect. They depress the powers of resistance, destroy the appetite, and with it the nutrition of the whole body. These, with a want of due regard for cleanliness, are some of the con- ditions which render all liable to disease, and particularly so if the exciting cause be contagion ; and should be guarded against by all who know how to prize the blessing of health. The only primary or exciting cause of typhus fever, of which I shall speak, is the inhaling of concentrated animal exhalations, no matter whether such exhalations be from healthy or unhealthy persons. The first generally originates the disease : the latter causes its spread. Hence we find, that during the past season, typhus fever of a most inveterate character was generated on ship-board, in healthy crews, by confining too many persons within a small compass, without sufficient food, water, means of cleanliness or ventilation. During rough weather, the hatches of emigrant ships were of necessity closed, thereby cutting off' all access to the fresh air, and obliging the unfortunate emigrants to receive into their lungs, instead of pure air, the breath and other emanations expelled by themselves and their comrades in misery. If the inhalation of this impurity will generate the disease under such circumstances, how sedulously should we avoid allowing the same impurity to become concentrated within our own bodies, and to circu- late through our blood, which must be the case, to a greater or less extent, whenever the natural outlets are closed. Illustrations of the second form of infection, or that originated by inhaling emanations from the bodies of those labouring under the fever, need hardly be given ; the frequency of such contaminations renders their existence too well known to require mention here. III. The symptoms prognosticating &fuvourahle termination are, a great increase in the urinary secretion, with the deposition of a sediment ; the Pl.»»<.~ » 1/ KMIORAN. occuiTciUi of KpontoncoMs perspiration, lu. " "trcnsivo odour, and beiiiK ntteuded by an abatement in the 1 ' '■' body; moderate diiirrhn-u, with i decline of tli" head symptoiiiR mul trvor; the fornintiori of boilH or ubsccMses in diffei parts; and eruptions of tlie skin, par- ticularly those about tlic moui.. and cafH. All these discliarpes appi-ar to act critically, by riddinp; the system of noxious matters, in the same manner tiiat small-pox pustules throw offthe poisonous virus of that disease. One thing is certain — recovery from fever never takes place without the oecurrenet! of some critical discharge, and 8\icli discharge, whether it bo from the in, bowels, kidneys, .\e., undoubtedly tloes, in some way, purify the h_\ i from the tcbrilc poison. IV. To prevent the spread of this fever, all ilioae sanatory means which careful ol)servation and stntistical proof have found effi-jaeious in w.u ling oH' the ii\fection, should be recommonded by the profession, I rigidly observed by the public. It is by this means alone, and the iiiiprovement of our general health, that we can hope to allay those superstitious fears, which rising instinctively on the aproach of evil, tend to paralyze every natural (;ffort of the economy. The following rules for the preservation of health, will be found of service to all who have sutticieut restraint to refrain from the use of injurious articles of ibod and diet, and industry and [)erscveranec to follow out the recommendations. 1 . Rise curly, and do not retire late : keep good hours. 2. Avoid exposure to night air, unless well protected from its dampness. 3. Keep your body open, by cold or warm water lavements if neces- sary, but avoid, except in cases of extreme urgency, cathartic and other medicines. See that you perspire daily, and that other discharges are in proper quantity. 4. Let your diet be light and nutritious. Oatmeal or Indian meal will be found the best article for supper. Never use meat on going to bed. 5. Drink nothing but cold water. Avoid tea, coffee, and spirituous liquors of all kinds ; they are unnatural, derange and weaken the powers of the system, and strongly predispose t) disease. 6. In the summer season, Hnen clothing should be worn as much as possible, changed at least twice a week. 7. Never sleep in the same room with the clothes you have worn during the day. Hang them in an open hall. 8. Bathe your body daily in pure cold water, and follow each bath by friction with a coarse towel, and exercise. 9. Is your house in the vicinity of fever patients ? If so, take up your carpets and have your floors scoured every second day, and your doors, windows and frame work well washed at least twice a week. 1 0. Are your walls covered with paper ? If not, whitewash them with quick-lime, giving them a fresh coat every fortnight during the continu- ance of the disease in your neighbourhood. 11. Pay strict attention to ventilation — allow a free circulation of air through every part of your house. A window opened opposite a fire-place, .^.. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) i<. % '■^4 1.0 '" |{|{|M 11111== I.I 1.25 1.4 IlM 2.2 M 1.8 1.6 6" Photographic Sciences^ Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 .^ mf" % J^ 88 EMIGRANT FEVER. will establish a current of air through the chimney, an addition worth remembering. 12. Have you curtains on your beds or windows? If so, remove them ; they prevent the free circulation of air, and form lodgments for contagion. 13. Is your bed placed at the 8i(Je of the room, or in a comer? If so, remove it to the centre. 14. Change your bed-linens at least weekly. Or if you have the fever in your own house, ia addition to the above, the following must be observed :— 1 St. The sick chamber must be atript of everything not absolutely necessary for the comfort of the patient. Carpets, curtains, valances, table-covers, sofas and the like, are not only useless but injurious; therefore they should be removed. 2pd. The floors should be scoured daily, and sprinkled morning and evening with a solution of chloride of lime. 3rd. The beds should be made daily, and the linens well aired, and sprinkled with the solution. 4th. The windows and trame-work of the sick chamber should be washed every morning with the same solution, which is prepared as follows : — Dissolve one pound of chloride of lime in four gallons of water, and allo>^- it to settle. Then pour off the clear liquor and bottle for use. Shallow vessels, having large surfaces, and containing some of the same, should be placed in different parts of the room. 5th. All excrementitious matters must be removed as soon as voided. 6th. The face, hands and neck of the patient should be washed with a sponge and clean water thrice each day, and his linen should be changed every second day. Personal cleanliness is of the greatest importance. 7th. If possible, the patient should be removed to an adjoining room while the sick chamber is being purified. 8th. All bed and body linens should be dipped in the solution for a few minutes, and then put to steep in cold water, before being sent to the wash. V. Of the treatment, it is not my intention to enter into details, as such a course could not in any way benefit the general reader, for whom this little work is intended ; and medical men can readily consult those works designed for their "special use, should they deem the subject worthy of their consideration. But tlie object of my remarks will be to shew, in as strong a light as possible, the comparative merits of the two forma of treatment, adopted by their respective advocates, for the cure of this disease, viz., the allopathic, or drug and stimulating, and the hydrothe- rapeutic, or cooling, taking at the same time a brief glance at their respective results, as pointed out by observation and experience. In doing go I shall be enabled to give some of the reasons which influenced me in adopting the latter practice, so powerfuDy recommended to my mind by its constant companioubhip with that best of criterions, uninter- rupted success, in preference to the former, in which I had been educated. Ih the first place, the cause of fever I assume to be either a diseased RiinVMlMnnM*, EMIGRANT FEVER. 69 condition of the blood itself, or the circulation in it of a poison generated by the human body, under peculiar circumstances ; which poison, per- vading every part, produces a paralyzing effect upon the muscular, vascular, and nervous systems, thereby suspending the functions, and, by causing a congestion or stagnation of the blood in internal and vital organs, gives rise to those complications, which are so general, as to be errone- ously believed by many to be the cause, instead of the effects of the disease. Such being the nature of typhus fever, any means of cure, in order to be adequate to its purpose, must be capable of producing the following effects : — ' Ist. The restoration of the suspended functions. 2ud. The renjoval of internal congestions. 3rd. The elimination of the febrile poison from the blood. These are the indications requiring to be fulfilled ; and to determine the most desirable mode of treatment, we have only lo ascertain which will with the greatest facility and least injury fulfil them. The usual resources of the di-ug and stimulating treatment of this disease, are blood-letting, emetics, purgatives, diaphoretics, mercury, wine and brandy. Blood-letting is resorted to for two purposes. First, to relieve the brain, chest, or abdomen, from the congestion which almost invanably exists, and not unfrequentJy excites a low iorm of inflammation ; and second, to remove the morbific matter from the blood. Such, its advo- cates tell us, are the effects produced ; but how it produces them, and to what extent, they do not deem it necessary to enlighten us. I admit the fact, that it does to a very limited extent relieve the oppressed organs, by diminishing the quantity of blood contained in then^ but must contend that it does so at the sacrifice of the strength of the patient. A great majority of the emigrants who suffered from typhus during the past summer, were persons in a state of physical weakness when attacked, with less blood in the body than the healthy standard. If one part receives too much, other parts must receive too little, and this state certainly does not call for the removal of blood, but for some means capable of equalizing its distribution throughout. As regards the second object of blood-letting, that of removing the febrile poison, it is hardly necessary to expose its absurdity. The average quantity of blood contained in a human adult is twenty-fioe pounds, and one pound would be considered a good bleeding in this disease. How is it possible then, by the removal of so small a quantity, to purify the blood of the entire system. Emetics. These are given to t-leanse the stomach and produce sweat- ing, which latter they will sometimes effect by causing a determination of blood towards the skin. The first effect, that of unloading the stomach, is, in the great majority of cases, entirely unnecessary ; and the second, or sweating, of rare occurrence. If emetics are followed by perspiration, good will result from their use ; bnt as this is seldom effected, and as violent exertion without relief tends greatly to weaken and derange the system. ^ r 90 EMIGRANT FEVER. and to aggravate the head symptoms, the remedy is at best hazardous and uncertani, and should never be depended on while we have others not only more sunplc, but vastly more efficacious. Purffativcs are given to cleanse the bowels and produce an outlet for the waste and impure matters of the blood When they have accom- plished the first office, they have fulfilled the designs of nature and done all that is likely to be of service to the patient. Drug purgatives always weaken and irritate the bowels, in this disease ; while milder means, such as warm or tepid water clysters, give more relief and do no injury. Diaphoretics are medicines given with a view of inducing perspiration. Ihe olj.ct IS good, but the means injurious. Sweating by drugs is unnatural, and never gives permanent relief to the patient ; even tempo- rary abatement of the fever is seldom effected, while the agents themselves always do harm. Mercury. This powerful medicme is supposed, by its advocates, to exert some peculiar and unknown action on the system. It is called an alterative, because "it alters in some way the secretions ;" but how it alters them, is a question that many may ask, but few answer. It is this Ignorance of its operations which allows it so frequently to turn against the physician who has prescribed it, and inflict serious and unexpected injury upon his patient. I have witnessed the administration of mercury mat least one hundred cases of typhus fever; an.! though I have watched with solicitous care the results, I can confidently affirm that I never saw the least benefit follow its use. A distinguished physician of the New York hospital used to tell us with great good humour, after going through with all the remedies recom-' mended, and particularly mercury, that he could "accomplish more good with a hogshead of Croton water, than with a whole cart-load of medicines. Lastly. Wine and brandy stimulants. These appear to be the reira- dies most in favour with iiedical men in this country, and particularly in our own city, where, if I am correctly informed, they have been given, during the past season, in all stages of the disease ; while the profusion of hope and satisfaction created by their short-lived and deceitful benefits was allowed to remove from sight the unreasonable quantities permitted, the real conditions of the patients, and the almost certain ultimate result, of which the frequent visit of the dead-cart should have acted as a remembrancer. But this, and stranger abuses of these medicines, that I have heard of (which my desires would fain assure me, for the reputation of the profession, are untrue), I leave at rest, and proceed to investigate the claims of these remedial agents to our professional toleration or adoption, founded upon any mode of use whatever. Some physicians tell us that typhus fever is a disease of debility, and suggest the expediency of stimulation ; and hence, these, the most avail- able for such universal prescription, occupy such an important place in tne fever practice. But we consider that stimulants, used in the early stage of this disease, are neither expedient nor proper. It is not a disease of debility, nor is i PhntAfKARII* EMIGRANT FEVEH. 91 the body, under its power — until reduced by its continuance, as in any other sicki. s8 — in a debilitated state; but it h one oi langour and inaction, as will be rcmeuilcred from our previous narration of its symptoms; and thia apparent impotcncy lies, not in the absence of muscle from the limbs or blood from the veins, or a deficiency in passive vital strength, but in that the febrile venom which has procured admission into the life currents, has rendered them impure and clianj^cd their nature, disap- pointing the various parts of the body, and particularly ti;e brain, of their expected appropriations of animation and untainted support. The brain is fed vvith poisoned streams, instead of' its usual pure and invigorating supplies ; the cercbro-spinal axis, or brain and spinal chord, are thus injuriously affected and become deadened, stopping the flow of the nervous influence to every part of the dependent muscular machinery — thus breaking off the intercourse between the spiritual and corporeal natures of man. The blood rolls slowly, on accpunt of its clogging impu- rities. The mischief is con municatcd from the blood to the origin of the nerves — those delicate Imes of intcl' i,ence on which is poured out, from the sensorium commune, tiiat strange motive power which sets so quickly to work the obedient members ; and the nerves themselves un- strung. The muscles and membeis, althougli in their full possession of the same latent stren2;t!i 's before the disease, cannot now act with their wonted vigour, 'i'he incubus of a life, contaminated at its very fountain streams, rests hea.ily on the whole economy, mental and physical ! We perceive that the debility in this disease is not real. The veins are well filled "vith blood, and the muscular system still retains its former firmness and sufficiency. The apparent debiliti/ is but the consequence of the paralysing dissemination of the typhoid virus through, and its morbid action on, every organ and tissue in the body. Then, as there is yet left the power of resistance, it is very obvious that stimulation is not by any means advisable until the evil mutter be sepa- rated from the blood; for if you quicken the flow by a temporary excite- ment, while it remains there, you but assist the destroyer in the spread of the deleterious influence throughout the whole circulation — you only urge on the completion of the patient's malady. Again, the excitement produced by stimulants at that period of the fever is unnatural, and soon dies away, leaving the economy of life more fully at the mercy of the relentless enemj', as every transient stimulation, in its re -action, carries away so much the more of the patient's real strength. Could you carry off the cause of fever, while you deprive the patient of his strength, there might be offered some excuse for this practice ; but you only open out the powers of the body to renewed action, in order that the disease may be more certainly imparted to it, to sink again into its former languid state, but, unfortunately for the miserable sufferer, leaving the commu- nicated mischief to prey more secuicly, as its meets with fainter opposition, upon its helpless victim. And it must ippear to the reader, that the necessary repetition of the alcoholic dose, to keep up this spurious life, but further and further accomplishes the work of destruction. In the first stage of this fever, then, the patient always does much better w / 92 EMIGRANT FEVER. when left to the resources of a conservative nature, than when roused by the artificial stimulants of the usual practice to a state of extraordinary animation, only to relapse more deeply into depression, debility and fever. Rut although we might allow the use of stimulants in the latter stage of this disease, when the frame, though nearly freed from the febrile taint, has become completely exhausted by its efforts in resistance, still we would not admit wine and brandy for that purpose. Their effects upon the fevered system may be gathered from the following facts : — The best wine contains from twenty to twenty-five, and brandy from fifty to fifty-five per cent, of pure alcohol. They are valuable for their stimulative properties, just in proportion to their possession of this prin- ciple ; so that of the wine seventy-five or eighty, and of the brandy forty- five or fifty, per cent, of liquor taken into the system, is useless for the particular purpose of their employment, which, finding the outlets of the system closed, remains as a burden upon the economy. Alcohol, when received into the stomach, is rapidly absorbed into the circulation. Its elements combine with the oxygen, thereby forming a compound altogether incompatible with the proper operation of the oxygen. The globules of the blood becoming thereby deprived of the vivifying principle, it ioses its bright red colour, and the patient suffers partial asphyxia. And so readily does this pernicious combination extend to every extremity of the circulation, that pure alcohol has been distilled from the brain, liver, and every organ of the body, after its use. If the quantity of alcohol be large, the sanguii.eous system is deprived of its oxygen as completely, and the patient dies as speedily, as if left to breathe in an atmosphere altogether devoid of oxygen, or suffocafp in water. A small part of the alcohol admitted into the blood undergoes combus- tion in the lungs, and the heat thus generated increases instead of diminishing the fever. From the preceding facts, we perceive that alcoiiolic stimulation frus- trates the very professed object of its administration; robbing all the httle vitality that is left from the diseased blood, in exchange for a moment's intoxication, with false hope. And further, that not only is thi- spurious stimulation sought after, regardless of its fatal after-conse- quences, but it is used without a thought on the fact, that its partial action m the lungs infallibly creates more heat and gains for the fever a more fatal hold upon the patient. And an idea, which, although we would gladly shun it, presses upon us with imperious power, is of this melancholy cast— that many of the poor fevered wretches of last year's mortality, whom nature herself, if allowed, would have cured, were stimu- lated by this course to the death-lethargy, till the widening grave yawned to receive them, as tributes from ignorant or injudicious practice I There is still a further view of the subject, but which it is not impor- tant for me to press on my reader after the thoughts forced into existence by the foregoing, but at which we may glance. This is, the frequent It RhntntnMni>* i^i^^^m^m EMIGRANT FEVER. 98 impurity and adulterated nature of those matters offered to the sick, under the names of " wine and brandi/." We are all aware, that the great demand for these noxious drinks, in ordinary life, has called into their manvfncture all the ingenuity of clever cupidity. That the convivial toast and the wine-inspired laugh, alike with the supposed necessities of sickened humanity, are often cheated into existence by the idea of enjoyment and benefit, and fed by the use of the deadliest poisons, which only require to be a little more concen- trated in their forms, in order to change, by the power of diabolical magic, the hand of unconscious friendship, that proffers them, into the recognized hand of death. It is an agreeable infatuation, both to the ailing and the healthy, and we cherish it. Did but a warning voice tell of its true nature and effects, the invitation or advice to partake of it would meet its just doom in deprecation and disgrace. On the most advisable treatment to be adopted in this disease, I shall not dwell long. It is sin^ple in its nature, though in its details and application, when employed in accordance with scientific principles and the dictates of an enlightened experience, it requires as much skill, power of discrimination and sound judgment, as any other. It consists, in addition to cleanliness, ventilation and disinfection, in varied applications of water, externally and internally. Before any benefit can be derived from internal administrations, the external outlets of the system must be opened; to the restoration of which, therefore, the whole efforts of the treatment are first directed. Cold, applied to the entire surface of the fevered body, abstracts the superfluous heat and abates the violence of the fever. This is the moment seized upon as the most advantageous for restoring the functions of the skin and kidneys, to accomplish which the body is next enveloped in a universal fomentation ; and water, to dil'ite the Wood and produce a determination towards the skin, is given at the same time freely as drink. These applications are frequently varied and repeated, and always with benefit and gratification to the patient, until free perspiration breaks out, which is kept up and rendered profuse by the frequent and continued use of large quantities of cool soft water. Cold removes philosophically the feverish heat. Universal fomenta- tion opens the obstructed pores of the skin, and, by producing congestion of the surface of the body, relieves the internal organs ; and profuse perspiration and urination, which are generally excited within the first three days, joined to the frequent dilution of the blood by the internal use of water, aids the expulsion of the impurity from the system. Every indication is thus fulfilled without the use of one noxious agent, by the restoration and harmonious action of all the suspended functions of the economy. It is hardly necessary to dwell on the comparative results of these two forms of treatment, after what has already been said, in this work, in com- mendation of one, on account of its rational and natural foundation, its kindly operations, and the wonderful and almost unhoped-for benefits which it confers on those who trust it ; in contradistinction to the other, 94 KMlOnANT lEVKR. with the well-known consequences of its administration. But as com- parison is the only means by which those unac(iuainted with the various fads advanced by these rival systems, can judge of their respective merits, it may not be out of place to devote a few linos to a consideration of this portion of my subject, before leaving it with the public. The results of the drug and stimulating treatment — not only as evi- denced by its want' of success and utter disappointment of the few feeble hopes that were vested in it, among the unfortunate and destitute emigrants, but also, as we wore impressed with its inutility, when the blighting evil had seized upon respected and influential members of our own comjnunity, or we heard of its ravages amongst those whose circum- stances in life allowed to this practice wide opportunities for the exercise of its curative virtues, if it possessed any — call most urgently, as we desire to avoid tlio repetition of such evils, for a change. What that change shall be, I leave to be determined by the good sense and humanity of the profession, and the vigilant carefuhiess of those in whom our citizens have placed, to such an extent, the disposal of their health and lives. In taking this view, it ceases to be surprising that medical men, in attempting to resist its progress by a treatment founded in error, and practised almost without hope of success, should so readily give themselves up to despair on being attacked by it. This fact proves, perhaps as strongly as any can, their consciousness of the inefficiency of the remedial means generally adopted, and may be brought forward as another reason why we should try any other means holding out a better prospect of succesi. It has been my privilege to witness the use of stimulants, purgatives, emetics, mercury, &e., in a great number of cases, under the advice and direction of the able physicians of the IStew York City Hospital, and I can confidently aver, that nearly one half of the really dangerous eases died. In many instances, whole families were cut off, one member after another, and that too where no previous constitutional taint existed, nor anything unusual in the symptoms, to account for this dreadful mortality ; nor in the treatment either, unless we believe with the late Dr. Chcyne, of Dublin, that "with many an unfortunate emigrant, the immediate cause of death was not fever, but intoxication during the fever — while all who escaped were supposed to owe their recovery to wine ! " It may be argued, that hosjjital reports do not shew the mortality to have been so great ; but hospital reports are not in general the best criterions b_, which to judge of the success of any form of treatment. All the cases admitted to the hospital, are reported ; while generally one third, and frequently half of the admissions, require httle more than shelter, rest, and sufficient food and drink, for a week or ten days, to enable them to overcome the fatigue of their wearisome and distressing voyage ; and would recover more speedily out of the wards of the hospital, and without medicine or alcoholic stimulants, if allowed the same com- forts in other respects. In my own practice — which I admit has not been as extensive as that ..■„..:;jj ,' M«>w Wttnfnmttitm* EMIOHANT FEVER. 96 of many others, but still sufficiently so for all practical purposes — the results of the water treatment have been highly satisfactory. Of sixty-ont' cases treated by me, forty-four of them in the country and the remaining seventeen in private practice in this city, not a single death occurred from the fever ; and the loss of the only patient among them, was owing to imprudence while in a reduced state, yet recovering from the fever, which imprudence brought on complicited relapse. The duration of the complaint was in most cases shortened, delirium always controlled, and (he appetite and digestive powers of the stomach restored after the first few dai/a. The experience of Dr. James J. Hunter, of Newmarket, acquired not only in his attendance at the emigrant sheds in that village, but also from his private practice, fully corroborates these statements, as will be seen by reference to his opinions on this subject in a preceding part. And now, in conclusion, I think it useless to re-echo the loud call, which not the few remarks I have made, but facts of the most impressive character, and that have numbered themselves by thousands around us, have with their startling voices raised in reprobation of the ineffective efforts of the medical profession in their opposition to this dreaded visitant of our land. These — addressing themselves to the deeply- interested and jnprejudiced judgment, and energetic action, of every worthy citizen and inhabitant ot our province, in whose hand is placed any power — ask this simple question, Sh.ould not our hospital directors exchange a useless practice for one that is both rational and proved to be successful in fever treatment, and that at once ? And now, I would only remind all who feel themselves involved in this matter, that neither our country nor our country's God will hold those morally guiltless, who either at the shrine of indolent procrastination, or the pompous altar of unbending egotism, dare any longer to officiate in the dire sacrifice of the numbers of our fellow-beings who are marked to appease the rapacity of the pestilential monster — those who either ignorantly or criminally frustrate the attempted rescues of Nature, a.id then charge her with the fatal results ! 9\ FINIS. ^1 ^m^^^mmammem^mm ROBERT HUNTER, PHYSICIAN AND 8UR6eON, iUjiidence — Ckbrch St., nbablt oppositb thb Catholic Cathbdbai.. Office — CoENBB or Yomgb and Richmond Stbkets. „-j. IS-' •I" FtD^ing great annoyance as well a« Idas attend the collection of small , debit, scattered over the c^Hntry, I subjoin the following tariff of fees, for tha information of those visiting the city for medical advice. I atn induced to take this course, from the frequency of requests to •^edit persons totally unknown to me, and rebiding at a distance in the qoontry, as well as from a conviction that a system of credit benefits odther party, whil«.tt invariably entails trouble on both. • PersoDi in ipaigent circumstances, whether of town or country, known to myself, or bringing credible evidence of their inability to pay a fee, will at all times be entitled to adyice gratis, and also to regular attendance, if Aip«esaaryf i)«t in uo other cases will the following fees be varied. 1. For full investigation of a case of chronic disease, with written adviod and prescriptions, 25«. 4* #or ifull investigation, &c., with verbal advice, 15*. &f ,F &c., when subsequent treatment is required, 10*. *. For ibe fl^eiritlcA of strabotomy, for the cure of strabimtUf squiniiTig or ^ws*?^* j(gi|aranteed), 51. % In'%» treattticnt of lA acute diseases, requiring attendance from the first, bp^iil^. lor advice will be made; but the usual fees established '\q e«M^ "Hw be adhered to. %