J
ao
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ.
Frontispiece.
LIFE OF
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
FOUNDER OF HYDROPATHY.
BY RICHARD METCALFE,
AUTHOR OF
1 SANITAS SANITATUM ET OMNIA SANITAS ' AND OTHER HYDROPATHIC
WORKS.
PUBLISHED BY
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD.,
4, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LONDON, E.G.
1898.
[All rights reserved.]
Price Five Shillings.
TO COLONEL AND MRS. HANS RIPPER.
/ dedicate this sketch of the life of youv late father,
Vincent Priessnitz, to you.
The profound respect that I have for the memory of
Vincent Priessnitz in whose steps I have been an ardent
and devoted follower for forty years has actuated me as
with a sense of duty to make this record of, and to bear my
testimony publicly to, his inborn medical genius.
Although the name of Vincent Priessnitz is not widely
known in England, you will feel gratified by my assurance
that Hydropathy is being increasingly resorted to in England,
and that several eminent English medical men recognise its
value.
I feel assured that in years to come your father's name
will hold a high position amongst the Masters of the art of
healing.
R. METCALFE.
2065795
' In proportion as any branch of study leads to important and
useful results in proportion as it gains ground in public estima-
tion in proportion as it tends to overthrow prevailing errors
in the same degree it may be expected to call forth angry
declamations from those who are trying to despise what they will
not learn, and wedded to prejudices which they cannot defend.
Galileo would probably have escaped persecution if his
discoveries could have been disproved, and his reasonings
refuted.' DR. WHATELKV.
PREFACE
IN compiling this work, I have been actuated
by a desire to do justice to the memory
of the founder of the hydropathic system
of treating the human body in disease. Although
Priessnitz was one of the great benefactors of
mankind, and one of the most astounding geniuses
of modern times, yet there has been no adequate
biography of him published in this country. But
his method of healing has been largely followed
in England.
On the Continent Priessnitz's name is a house-
hold word, and there are hundreds of establish-
ments where the water-cure is carried out on the
principles laid down by Priessnitz.
His treatment is recognised by very many
members of the medical profession on the Con-
tinent, whilst in England the medical profession,
with a few notable exceptions, ignores it.
I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to
the biography of Priessnitz by Dr. Selinger for
PREFACE
a good deal of detailed information.* This
biography was published shortly after the great
hydropathist's death. Dr. Selinger was in close
terms of intimacy with Priessnitz, and enjoyed
his confidence in matters whereon it was his
habit to observe silence. As regards the history
of the origin of the treatment at Graefenberg,
probably no one else could have written it with
the fulness Dr. Selinger has.
To Colonel Ripper (of the Austrian Army)
Priessnitz's son-in-law, I acknowledge my special
indebtedness for many facts, anecdotes, and par-
ticulars of treatment, for most of the accompany-
ing illustrations and family portraits, as well as
for the unvarying courtesy shown to me during
my visit to Graefenberg in 1895.
Vincent Paul Priessnitz, son of the founder of
hydropathy, born on June 22, 1847, died very
suddenly on June 30, 1884, of heart disease,
leaving one son, who attained his majority in
June, 1896.
During the period of more than forty years
of double trusteeship, Colonel Ripper made
numerous and valuable additions to the Graefen-
berg establishment. He was the chief promoter
of the excellent railway communications, which
* Selinger, J. E. M., " Vincenz Priessnitz. Eine Lebens-
beschreibung." Mit portrait und facsimile. Wien : Verlag
von Carl Gerold und Sohn. 1852. 8vo., pp. viii, and 208 and
wrapper.
vi
PREFACE
render Graefenberg easy of access from all
quarters, and he added considerably to the
accommodation and comfort of visitors.
He extended the network of forest paths, the
pride of the locality, and at his instigation
hundreds of hammocks were placed near these
paths in every direction. These hammocks form
quite a feature of the place, enabling visitors to
remain comfortably out-of-doors for the greater
part of the day, to inhale the health-giving air of
the pine forests.
Colonel Ripper founded the Sudeten Tourist
Association and the Mutual Aid Society of Bath
Attendants. He owns a unique library of works
on hydropathy, and many interesting documents
about Graefenberg during his father-in-law's life-
time.
I have to thank Mrs. Hughan, of Hughan
Castle, Graefenberg, for her hospitality and
courtesy during my visit ; and Miss M. Behr
for her translations of books and MSS. from the
German.
R. METCALFE.
PRIESSNITZ HOUSE,
RICHMOND HILL,
SURREY.
vn
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
INTRODUCTION .... I
I. BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS : 1799 1817 . 9
ii. HIS LIFE: 1817 1844 . . 19
III. HIS LIFE : 1845 . . . '32
iv. CLOSING YEARS: 1846 1848 . . 47
v. CLOSING YEARS: 1848 1851 . . 63
VI. MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE . . 77
VII. MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE . . 96
VIII. MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE . . Io8
IX. COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER . IJ 7
X. GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE . *33
XI. RECENT HYDROPATHY . . . 150
XII. RECENT HYDROPATHY . . .170
XIII. HYDROPATHIC BOOKS . . . 1 88
APPENDIX : HYDROPATHIC AUTHORS . . 204
INDEX . . . . . 209
ERRATA 212
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ . . . Frontispiece
SOFIE PRIESSNITZ. (ABOUT 1830) . To face />. 24
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ. (ABOUT 1830) . ,, 26
GRAEFENBERG IN 1839 . . ,, 28
DINING-HALL IN THE OLD CURHAUS . 44
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ' DAUGHTERS AND SON AND
SONS- AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW . To fdCC />. 66
PRIESSNITZ' GRANDCHILDREN . ,, 68
HOUSE WHERE PRIESSNITZ WAS BORN 76
MAUSOLEUM . . . . 76
PRIESSNITZ' FAVOURITE BATH-ATTENDANTS 84
THE TREATMENT . . . ,, Il6
GRAEFENBERG IN 1897 J 34
PRINCIPAL MONUMENTS AND SPRINGS . ,, 136
FREIWALDAU . . . . ,,138
VILLA AUSTRIA 144
CURHAUS ANNENHOF ,, 144
RESTAURANT SCHINDLER . . 146
DR. SCHINDLER'S CURHAUS . . ,, 146
HUGHAN CASTLE . * . ,,148
xi
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
DR. JOSEPH SCHINDLER . . To face p. IJO
KALTENLEUTGEBEN, NEAR VIENNA . ,, 172
PROFESSOR WINTERNITZ . . ,, 174
PROFESSOR WINTERNITZ' CURHAUS, KALTENLEUT-
GEBEN, NEAR VIENNA . . TofdCCp. 1746
DR. EDOUARD EMMEL ,, 176
DR. BENI-BARDE ,, 178
DR. BENI-BARDE'S ESTABLISHMENT AT AUTEUIL,
NEAR PARIS . . . To face p. 1786
JOHANN SCHROTH ,, 180
LINDEWIESE ... ,, 182
SCHROTH'S CURHAUS AT LINDEWIESE . ,, 184
x\i
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
INTRODUCTION
WATER applications have been used and
appreciated throughout the ages. Vin-
cent Priessnitz who earned the title " Father
of Hydropathy" was neither the discoverer of,
nor the first to use, water as a remedial agent in
disease.
That discovery was probably coeval with the
appearance of man in his present condition.
When we see that some of the lower animals pos-
sess an instinctive knowledge that water is good
for them when wounded, and in certain conditions
of sickness for they have been seen to seek that
element when they are suffering we should be
derogating from man's dignity and superior in-
tellectual endowments if we denied to him a
similar instinct and equal observing powers.
Histories that carry us back to remote ages
I B
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
show that the practice of water ablution, both for
sanitary and religious purposes, existed amongst
most ancient peoples.
Among the Jews bathing was enjoined by a
code of specific regulations, which served to secure
personal cleanliness and to convey the idea of
moral purity. The association of water with the
cure of disease is illustrated by Elisha's com-
mand to Naaman the Syrian to wash seven times in
Jordan ; by that of the Saviour to the blind man
to go and wash in the pool of Siloam ; and by the
resort of the sick to the pool of Bethesda. Among
the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, baths were
in common use. Most of us have heard of the
Greek gymnasia and the Roman thermae, in which
the plunge or affusion was largely employed as an
invigorator of the body.
Mahomet enjoined the use of the bath, and
wherever his followers are it is in daily use. In
almost all countries, hot or cold, civilized or
savage, some form of bathing has been and is
practised. Its utility for purposes of health,
cleanliness and comfort is practically acknow-
ledged everywhere.
The fathers of the healing art, whose names
have become familiar to us, were well aware of
the therapeutic virtues of water. Pythagoras (B.C.
530), and somewhat later Hippocrates (B.C. 460),
used water, with friction and rubbing, in spasms
2
INTRODUCTION
and diseases of the joints, and watery applications
in a great variety of diseases particularly pneu-
monia, gout and rheumatism. The successors of
these sages, up to the time of Galen (A.D. 131-200),
valued water in the treatment of disease. Galen
himself gave water the highest place in his list of
remedies. " Cold water," he says, " quickens the
action of the bowels, provided there be no con-
striction from spasms, when warm is to be used ;
cold drinks stop haemorrhages and sometimes
bring back heat ; cold drinks are good in con-
tinued and ardent fevers. They discharge the
peccant and redundant humours by stool, or by
vomiting, or by sweat." He recommends tepid
and warm water drinking, with hot baths, followed
by tepid or cold, in cases of biliousness, spasms,
fever of the stomach, hiccup, cholera morbus,
obstinate ophthalmia and plethora.
Not much is recorded of the use of water in
disease after Galen's time until the Arabian phy-
sicians Rhazes (923) and Avicenna (1036) are
found advocating the use of cold water in fevers,
measles, small-pox, vomiting, nausea and diar-
rhoea. About this time the Arabs were prosecuting
their researches in chemistry and pharmacy ; many
new drugs were introduced and water was ignored,
and, judging from the results of the Arabian treat-
ment of disease, not to the advantage of the
patients.
3 B 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Here and there, in the medical history of Europe,
there occurs the name of a doctor who recom-
mends water-drinking, washing, bathing, or swim-
ming, to preserve health and cure disease. But
there is nothing of special importance until the
beginning of the eighteenth century (1702),
when our countrymen, Sir John Floyer and Dr.
Baynard, published their " WTXPOAOrSI'A :
or the History of Cold Bathing, both Ancient and
Modern," the first part of which contains interesting
letters by Floyer, written between the years 1696
and 1702. In Italian, at Naples (1723), appeared
Lanzani's " Right Method of Using Cold Water in
Fever and Other Maladies, Internal and External."
Niccolo Lanzani mostly confines his advocacy
of water to its employment internally in fevers of
all kinds, for which he holds water-drinking to be
the best remedy.
About the same time appeared another inter-
esting book by a distinguished clergyman, John
Hancocke, D.D., Rector of St. Margaret's, Loth-
bury, London, Prebendary of Canterbury, entitled,
" Febrifugum Magnum, or Common Water the
Best Cure for Fevers and probably for the Plague"
(1722), in which he gives many instances of the
curative effects of water, used in cases of fever,
violent colds, etc., unassisted by any kind of
medicine. These publications, with the actual
practice of the authors, again drew attention to
4
INTRODUCTION
water as a remedial agent. Floyer and Baynard
employed water freely and with success in chronic
diseases, such as rheumatism, gout, paralysis,
indigestion, general debility and nervous affec-
tions. Externally, they administered the plunge
bath, and they gave copious doses of water in-
ternally.
About this time several pamphlets about water
treatment appeared. Amongst them was the
following :
"The Curiosities of Common Water; or, the
Advantages thereof in Preventing and Curing
Many Distempers, etc." By John Smith. (Lon-
don : 1723.)
Thomas Taylor, the " Water Poet," is respon-
sible for a pamphlet with the following title :
" Kick for kick and Cuff for cuff, a clear stage
and no favour ; or, a refutation of a bombastical,
scurrilous postscript, wrote by one who calls him-
self Gabriel John, others still will have it Daniel
Defoe, which he calls reflections on my Hudibras-
tick reply to his Flagellum or dry answer to Dr.
Hancocke's liquid book, etc. With two remark-
able instances of cures by common water, one of
a malignant fever and no less than seven in one
family of the pestilence." Published in London,
1723-
In German there appeared a book, " On the
Power and Effect of Cold Water" (1738), by
5
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
J. S. Hahn, who lived in the neighbourhood of
Graefenberg, and whose father, Dr. S. Hahn, was
a worshipper of cold water. This Hahn, though
he used other remedies, employed water so exten-
sively in curing diseases that he may be considered
a sort of hydropathist. He recommends cold
water in chronic diseases particularly ; also washing
in small-pox and eruptions of the skin, falling
baths in inflammation of the brain, douches in
maimings, cold injections in diarrhoea, injections
into the nostrils for colds, and into the ears for deaf-
ness, and footbaths in chronic injuries. Hahn's
work had, in 1754, passed through four editions.
It did not, however, succeed in winning over the
faculty to the cause of the water-cure ; and as
for the public of Germany, though they liked to
drink water, they did not care to have it applied
externally.
V. Perez, a Spanish physician, sought to cure
most diseases by the use of water, and he pub-
lished at Madrid, in 1753, a small 4to. book en-
titled, " El Promotor de la Salud de los Hombres,
sin dispendio el menor de sus caudales ; admirable
methodo de curar todo mal con brevedad, sequridad,
y a placer. Dissertacion historico, critico, medico,
pratica, en que se establece el aqua por remedio
universal de las dolencias."
Somewhat later, in England, Fred. Hoffman
published his ideas (London, 1761) with a some-
6
INTRODUCTION
what similar title : " An Essay on the Nature and
Properties of Water, showing its prodigious use ;
and proving it to be an universal medecine, both
for preventing and curing the diseases to which
the human body is subject."
About 1777, an English doctor Wright was
led to try the water-cure. Dr. Wright, having
caught fever from a sailor, undressed, threw a
cloak about him, and went on deck, where, doffing
his cloak, he had three pails of water thrown over
his head. Repeating the process as often as the
feverish heat returned, he quite recovered. After-
wards he treated fevers successfully in Edinburgh
by the cold affusion, and published a report of his
proceedings in the London Medical Journal (1786).
By the same method Dr. Currie, of Liverpool,
(1750-1805) treated with great success a contagious
fever which was prevalent in that town, and in
1797 made public his views and experiences, with
a list of cures effected by his measures. Though
he by no means anticipated the discoveries of the
founder of hydropathy, his reports on the effects
of water in fevers and other diseases are considered
to possess much practical value.
Dr. Currie found imitators both in England and
on the Continent, to whose names and achieve-
ments it would be tedious to refer. But in con-
nection with the therapeutic use of water it would
be unpardonable to omit mention of the name of
7
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
the great German physician, Hufeland, who may
be regarded as an apostle of bathing. After Hufe-
land, and before Priessnitz, by far the greatest
water-doctor was Professor Oertel, of Ansbach,
whose numerous writings on the subject became
quite popular. Oertel's motto, " Drink water in
abundance, the more the better; for it prevents
and cures all evils," found a large measure of
acceptance with the people of the Continent.
Water societies were formed in Germany, and
water was extensively used dietetically and medi-
cinally, with, as was supposed, admirable effect.
Still, there was no system, and what was done
was done very much at random.
It remained for one greater and more far-
sighted to grasp at once the whole secret of water
treatment, and to develop and systematize it in
one short life-time.
That man was Vincent Priessnitz.
CHAPTER I
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS : 1799 1817
IN Austrian Silesia, at the foot of the southern
mountains of Moravia, called the Sudetes, is
the prettily situated town of Freiwaldau, watered
by the two small rivers Biela and Scharitz.
Freiwaldau can be traced as far back as the
thirteenth century. It is said to derive its name
from Frei (open) and Waldau (space in a forest).
It has nearly six thousand inhabitants, mostly
weavers, and contains a celebrated linen manu-
factory. From Freiwaldau a road ascends to a
mountain called the Graefenberg " the pearl of
the Sudetes " one of the promontories of the
Hirschbad Kamm (Stag's Bath Ridge), which
forms part of the range of the Sudetes. The
Graefenberg rises to two thousand feet above the
level of the Baltic Sea.
There, towards the middle of last century, several
inhabitants of Freiwaldau settled on their pro-
perties, and whilst retaining their rights as citizens
9
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
of Freiwaldau, formed a colony of their own. This
was the origin of a new hamlet, which took its
name of Graefenberg from the mountain on which
it was founded.
In this hamlet of Graefenberg was born, at the
end of last century, a boy who was to become of
the greatest importance to humanity.
Vincent Priessnitz saw the light of day on
October 4, 1799, at Graefenberg, and was chris-
tened on the following day at the parish church
of Freiwaldau. His ancestors had lived for cen-
turies in that neighbourhood. The name of
Priessnitz occurs in old chronicles, and lives in
the legendary lore of Austrian Silesia. The spring
in the woods of the Hirschkamm, called the
Priessnitz Spring, has been known under that
name for two centuries. One of Vincent Priess-
nitz's ancestors was killed there by Swedish soldiers
in the Thirty Years' War. During his absence
they had invaded his house and carried away his
lovely daughter. He pursued, overtook them at
the above-named spring, and in the endeavour to
free his beloved child, lost his life in a most cruel
manner.
Vincent Priessnitz was the youngest of five
children. His father, one of the small farmers at
Graefenberg, was known as an able and experi-
enced man in his calling. His mother, a daughter
of a smith at Lindewiese, enjoyed the reputation
10
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817
of a hard - working, capable, and God - fearing
woman. She was, in a high degree, order-loving,
and enforced good principles on her children and
servants, whom she expected to begin their day's
work at four o'clock in the morning.
In order to learn reading and writing and the
rudiments of arithmetic, Vincent was sent to
school at Freiwaldau. Regular attendance at
school did not last long, for scarcely had he com-
pleted his sixth year when his elder brother, who
was to have taken over the farm work, died of
brain-fever in 1805. This sad event so grieved
his father that his eyes, which for some time had
been in a weak state, rapidly grew worse, and he
became totally blind, shortly after Vincent had
completed his eighth year, in 1807. His mother
now made the boy work much on the farm, so
that young Priessnitz could but seldom attend
school. Nevertheless, he became proficient in
reading and arithmetic, whereas in writing, which
requires a good deal of application, he remained
backward. During his whole life it was a great
exertion, and it required considerable self-control
on his part to wield a pen.
Already, at this early age, Priessnitz showed
unusual abilities, especially an excellent memory,
acute perception, and a remarkably vivid and
happy power of observation. He lived a great
deal out of doors, and early remarked the effect
ii
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
which changes of temperature had, not only on
himself, but on plants and on the animals con-
fided to his care. As he noted with accuracy
manifestations of life in the animal world, it did
not escape his observation that wounded or other-
wise maimed animals plunged their injured lirnbs
into cold water.
When resting beneath the shade of a tree, near
his favourite Priessnitz-quelle, watching the herd
confided to his care, he observed an incident which
(he used to say) first turned his attention to the
effects of cold water. Sitting day-dreaming there,
his attention was attracted by seeing a young roe,
which had been shot through the thigh, drag itself
with difficulty to the source of the spring. Then
he saw how it managed to get its wounded thigh
in such a position as to have it entirely covered
with the flowing water. Priessnitz, with breath-
less interest, scarcely daring to move, watched the
poor creature. He saw it return at short intervals
to renew the bath during the day ; it probably did
so also during the night. Great was his joy to
observe the animal improve from day to day, till
it finally got well.
In his leisure hours, of which he had not many,
the boy Vincent was fond of roaming in the neigh-
bourhood not far from his father's property. Many
times he may have quenched his thirst with a
draught of the pure, delicious water from the
12
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817
spring, and it is not unlikely that even then he
realized how life-giving and refreshing the water
from this clear mountain-spring was ; if tired, he
rested by the pleasant waters, and listened to the
sounds which spoke to him in a language at once
familiar and yet mysterious. There it was that
the fancy came of an unseen being, whispering
into his ears words whose meaning he could not
understand. And strange, unfamiliar feelings rilled
the lad's heart, and his spirit seemed to soar away
and above the ordinary surroundings, to dwell in
the magic land of dreams and aspirations.
In the Silesian valley lived several men of the
people who enjoyed a certain reputation for having
effected successful cures. One of them treated
different diseases with herbs ; another set fractured
legs, another broken ribs. Especially clever in
the manipulation of fractured legs and ribs was
Ignatz Weisser, who lived over against the mill in
the village of Sandhuebel ; he was well known for
many miles round, and was much sought after.
It happened that on winter evenings the conversa-
tion in old Priessnitz's parlour sometimes turned
on the cures effected by these men, while Vincent
in a dark corner of the room listened. The vague
ideas which had passed through his mind on those
occasions were destined ere long to take shape,
and to become illumined by a vivid light.
With young Priessnitz's natural tendency and
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
special disposition for practical observation, it
was to be foreseen that these vague aspirations
would give way by degrees to definite practical
aims. He had from an early age been occupied
with agricultural pursuits, and his clear and pene-
trating mind found ample opportunity for obser-
vations of varied kinds. Thus he noticed that
domestic animals, and those employed for farming
purposes, soon recovered from their ailments when
treated with cold water. After repeated experi-
ments on injuries resulting from various causes,
he resolved to try the effect of cold-water applica-
tions on himself. This met with the happiest
results. In consequence, he began to advise others
to use cold water for the cure of bruises or other
hurts, and thus became, at the age of fifteen
(1814), a kind of medical adviser to his neigh-
bours. Priessnitz worked his father's farm with
circumspection and activity. Nearly the whole
of the outside management lay on his youthful
shoulders, as his blind father was unable to render
much assistance. His life was more than once
endangered while accomplishing some arduous
task. On one occasion he had driven into the
forest on his sledge to bring it home laden with
wood, and was guiding the horse to re-enter the
yard, when he slipped, and the heavily loaded
sledge went over part of his body. Owing to the
fortunate presence of a labourer, who, seeing the
14
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817
coming danger, gave the sledge a vigorous push,
the youth's life was saved, and he escaped without
serious injury.
Another time he was driving a sledge loaded
with heavy beams. The road was slippery, and
he was driving fast. Suddenly the sledge struck
against a rock with such force that the heavy iron
axe which was lying on the sledge was sent
flying past the driver's face, almost grazing it.
On a third occasion Priessnitz was not so for-
tunate. It was in 1816, when he was in his
eighteenth year ; he was driving a large van loaded
with oats, destined for a neighbouring field. On
its way the horse shied, frightened by some trifling
cause, and took the bit between his teeth. Priess-
nitz tried to prevent his running away, when the
horse struck out so violently with his hind legs
that Priessnitz was thrown, and had his front
teeth knocked out, the heavy waggon passing right
over his body. The lad became unconscious, and
remained so until the surgeon arrived from Frei-
waldau, who pronounced his life in immediate
danger, adding that in the most favourable case he
would remain an invalid for life, unfit for any hard
work. This depressing verdict was a terrible blow to
Priessnitz. He who filled the blind father's place, on
whom rested the responsibility of working the farm
he was never to get well again. In this terrible
plight he had compresses made of herbs, stewed
15
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
in wine, according to the doctor's prescription.
However, instead of getting relief from the excru-
ciating pains, they increased, and became unbear-
able; so at last he tore the hot compress off, throwing
it aside in despair. Then he remembered how the
miller from Sandhuebel used to dress broken ribs.
Priessnitz had an oaken armchair brought, and
proceeded to place his abdomen on the edge of it,
holding his breath and pressing the abdomen up-
wards, until the broken ribs got back (as he
thought) into their natural position. He had cold
bandages fixed across the chest ; the acute pains
diminished, and he fell into a deep sleep. He
continued these compresses of linen towels, steeped
in cold water, well wrung out, changing the band-
ages at intervals, and drinking a good deal of cold
water, which prevented feverish symptoms being
set up, as is usual in fractures of this kind. After
several days, he was so far recovered as to be able
to superintend his work at the farm.*
* " Letters from Grafenberg," by John Gibbs, 1847.
Priessnitz related to Captain Claridge : " Having broken
two of my ribs, and a surgeon having told me that I never
could be cured so as to be fit for work again, I resolved to
endeavour to cure myself. My first care was to replace my
ribs, and this I did by leaning with my abdomen with all my
might against a chair, and holding my breath so as to swell
out my chest. The painful operation was attended with the
success I expected. The ribs being replaced, I applied wet
bandages to the part affected, drank plentifully of water, ate
sparingly, and remained in perfect repose. In ten days I
was able to get out."
16
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817
Priessnitz wore the wet compress for a year,
when he considered himself cured, and the only
trace the injuries left was a slight depression on
the left side of the chest, over the region of the
heart. While his quick recovery was due to the
constant application of wet bandages, yet there is
no doubt that some of the vital organs received a
permanent injury. ,
As an evidence of this, Priessnitz, after his
accident, never enjoyed such robust health as
before.
At the commencement of this century surgery
was at a low ebb, as compared with the present
day, and it would appear that Priessnitz's ribs
were not properly set and bandaged. I was given
to understand by his relatives that Priessnitz had
a strong piece of towelling sewn on tightly to keep
the ribs in position ; this was never removed till
the pain had ceased ; he wore a wet bandage over
it, re- wetted when dry. Notwithstanding Priess-
nitz's and the surgeon's efforts, the post-mortem
examination showed that the broken ribs had not
been properly set ; and it is fairly certain that had
Priessnitz carried out the surgeon's advice he
would have died from the injuries.
The mere fact of telling this youth of eighteen
that he would be an invalid all his life roused him
in self-defence to try what wet bandages and water-
drinking would do in his case, and the results
17 c
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
obtained fully justified the means employed. It
is fair to conclude that if the broken ribs had been
efficiently set, Priessnitz might have been spared
a great deal of suffering, and have lived long enough
to see his system established in every hospital, to
the benefit of surgery and humanity at large.
18
CHAPTER II
His LIFE : 1817 1844
PRIESSNITZ'S faith in the healing power of
cold water now became established. If
he heard of anyone having bruises, dislocations,
sprained limbs, or any other external injuries, he
lost no time in recommending cold water as the
means of obtaining a thorough and speedy cure ;
and in many cases he applied it himself.
As Priessnitz was generally fortunate in his
treatment, his reputation soon spread beyond his
own district, so that he was invited to Bohemia
and Moravia before he had completed his nine-
teenth year (1818). At that time he only used a
sponge for giving his ablutional treatment. The
youthful appearance of the doctor, the many cures
obtained by such simple means, made Priessnitz
appear in the light of a sorcerer in the eyes of the
peasant population.
As long as he gave his advice and cured people
19 c 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
gratis, he was looked upon by his neighbours as a
benefactor.
But when strangers came to seek advice and
help from this young water-doctor, and in return
gave substantial proofs of their gratitude, the
language of his former admirers underwent a
marked change. Many a one who came to Graef-
enberg to ask where the water-doctor lived had
for answer : "To the water-doctor you want to
go ? Why take the trouble to go to see that man ?
He is nothing but a quack !"
Envy and persecution were soon no longer con-
fined to the peasant population of the villages.
Medical men from Freiwaldau and the neighbour-
hood began to notice the young man, and became
aware of a rival who considerably reduced the
number of their patients. With the help of the
local authorities they contrived to put constant
difficulties and annoyances in his way.
Many of those whom Priessnitz had cured had
now to appear before the magistrates, where they
were questioned as to the nature of their com-
plaints, and as to the method employed by Priess-
nitz in curing them. This was done in order to
bring accusations against them. Amongst these
men was a miller named Franz Nietsche, whom
the doctors had given up, and who had been com-
pletely restored to health by Priessnitz from a
severe and tedious illness. The magistrate cross-
go
HIS LIFE: 18171844
questioned the miller, and he was ordered to say
who had cured him, it being known that he had
been treated by the doctors as well as by Priess-
nitz. The man, who looked well and hearty, re-
plied : " They all have helped me the doctors,
the apothecaries, and Priessnitz. The two former
helped me to get rid of my money, and Priessnitz
to get rid of my illness."
Amongst others, several priests accused the false
prophet, as they called him, and without investi-
gation into Priessnitz's proceedings, warned the
people against " the new superstition."
The curate of Vogelseifen, in Silesia, was ex-
ceedingly wroth when he heard of the Graefenberg
farmer's water-cures, and threatened to have him
imprisoned if ever he showed himself in church
amongst the congregation.
Yet shortly after this same pastor had cause to
alter his opinion entirely, both of the water-cure
and its inventor. The reverend gentleman had
been suffering for years from a chronic affection
which had baffled the skill of his doctors. Finally
a serious throat disease declared itself, together
with an affection of the liver. This brought him
so low that he was unable to take the journey to
some baths which the doctors had ordered for
him. In this plight he sent for Priessnitz, and
asked the much - abused water-doctor to help
him.
21
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
The young man's calm and dignified demeanour
made a favourable impression upon the priest,
and he placed himself entirely in the hands of
" the false prophet."
Priessnitz began to treat the reverend gentleman
without delay, and was so successful that his patient
was able to preach again after only a fortnight's
treatment.
Thus his former enemy became his warm and
sincere friend.
He now advised Priessnitz to study thoroughly
his profession, and placed books on medicine at
his disposal. Priessnitz took a few of them home,
and after an attentive perusal, returned them,
remarking that nothing he had read therein led
him to alter his own opinion, declining at the
same time to read any more books on the subject,
as he was afraid, so he expressed himself, that they
might warp his mind.
The pastor agreed with him, and became hence-
forth a zealous follower of the water-cure, and
from the same pulpit whence he had previously
attacked so fiercely and accused so unjustly the
innocent man, he owned his error, asking Priess-
nitz's forgiveness before the whole assembly.
It has been asserted by an eminent authority
on hygienic medicine that Priessnitz owed his
wonderful experience to his ignorance of medical
science. This ignorance was to his great advan-
22
HIS LIFE: 18171844
tage, for what does the history of medicine offer
but a discouraging picture of the instability of
principles, a series of theories succeeding each
other without any one of them being able to
content an upright spirit, or satisfy an inquiring
mind ?
Without wishing to infer that medical training
is not an advantage, it is pretty clear that in
Priessnitz's case it was unnecessary, and it is
fair to conclude that, but for such laymen, the
public would never have heard of hydropathy
from our recognised schools of medicine.
About the year 1822 the old wooden house
where his parents and himself had lived was
pulled down, and replaced by a stone building.
Priessnitz's time was much taken up with
attending persons who had purposely come to
Graefenberg to be cured by his treatment. The
ever-increasing number of strangers coming from
all parts for the cure made it necessary to build
houses to receive them. Priessnitz tried, as much
as lay in his power, to meet this want, and had
a large stone building erected, as well as several
smaller wooden ones.
During his mother's lifetime Priessnitz had
her invaluable aid in the management of the
household, but unfortunately he lost his good
mother in 1826. She died from an accident,
having been tossed by a bull.
23
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
The difficulties which arose for Priessnitz in
the household management after his mother's
death were, however, not of long duration. The
same clear judgment, the same art, which brought
blessings on so many, and which had already
brought him fame and worldly goods, was also
destined to lay the foundation of his domestic
happiness.
In the neighbouring village of Boehmischdorf,
the wife of the much respected and wealthy
magistrate had for many years suffered from gout.
Doctors and chemists had long tried in vain to
alleviate the unhappy woman's sufferings. As
nobody was able to do anything for her, she
consented at last, although reluctantly, to consult
Priessnitz. In this way he was enabled to see
their charming daughter, for whom he felt a
sincere and growing attachment. His modest
and manly ways won him the daughter's heart,
while his successful treatment made him the
friend of the parents.
February 5, 1828, was the happy, long-looked-
for day on which the beloved Sophie became his
wife, and thus was brought about the fulfilment
of the dearest wish of his heart.
Priessnitz had not been mistaken in his choice,
for by the side of his excellent wife he found
a haven of rest from the storms of adverse cir-
cumstances which from time to time burst over
24
SOFIE PRIESSNITZ.
(ABOUT 1830.)
To face p. 24.
HIS LIFE: 18171844
his head during his much - agitated career. A
rare treasure was this amiable and superior
woman. To a temperament at once natural and
gay was joined the gentleness of disposition of
a Christian spirit, whilst she showed herself full
of judgment and foresight in the management of
her large and complicated household.
Priessnitz's acute observation and growing ex-
perience made him more and more successful in
the exercise of his art. Not only was there a
rapid increase in the number of strangers seeking
relief at Graefenberg, but many were the calls
to visit patients in different parts of the country
who were unable to leave their homes. As far
as lay in his power he responded to these calls,
and thereby frequently encountered dangers likely
to cause the loss of limb and life.
He had been visiting a patient at Altstadt in
Moravia. The season was far advanced, the
morning raw and cold, as he mounted his horse
to start on his journey home. The road lay
across a bridge made slippery by the early frost.
He had scarcely gone half-way over when his
horse slipped, rolled over, and threw its rider
into the depths below. Priessnitz, to his astonish-
ment, found himself standing on his feet, and saw
how his horse had rolled over again, and then also
got on to its feet. He picked up his hat, which
he found lying close by, scaled the height to the
25
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
bridge, mounted his horse, and continued his
journey.
By reason of his great success and the original
method of his cures, he became the object of
antagonism and of repeated attacks by members
of the medical profession whom he had superseded.
In the year 1829, at which period began the
printing of yearly lists of the visitors at Graefen-
berg, an accusation was brought against Priessnitz,
charging him with being a quack doctor, who,
in opposition to the laws of the country, under-
took to treat patients without being authorized
to practise by proper license from a faculty or
other Government authority.
The Freiwaldau magistrate sentenced the
accused to several days' imprisonment, with the
additional punishment of fasting.
The appeal Priessnitz made to the higher court
was followed by suspension of the verdict, and
as, in the meanwhile, satisfactory reports relative
to his character and medical treatment had arrived
from the highest quarters, he obtained in the
year 1831 an official permission to conduct a
hydropathic establishment.
This establishment was only to be used for
cleansing purposes, and only visitors residing in
the neighbourhood were to be received.
However, patients whom the doctors had given
up, and who had come from distant parts with
26
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ.
(ABOUT 1830.)
To face p. 26.
HIS LIFE: 18171844
letters of recommendation, were not easily to be
got rid of. And such sufferers arrived in in-
creasing numbers, especially after the publication
of a pamphlet by Dr. A. H. Kroeber, of Breslau,
which loudly proclaimed the reputation of this
Silesian restorer of health.*
Renewed complaints from the doctors, and in-
quiries on the part of the Government of one of
the German States, determined the Imperial
Home Office in Vienna to send one of its officials,
Baron Turkheim, to Graefenberg, with the com-
mission to investigate personally the state of affairs
on the spot.
Court Councillor Turkheim, a man of scientific
education, high culture, as well as a State official,
was decidedly a proper person to undertake a
mission of such far-reaching importance, and to
judge, of the actual state of affairs with im-
partiality.
Upon his arrival at Freiwaldau, during the
summer of 1838, Baron Turkheim was welcomed
by several ladies belonging to Vienna society, and
they, together with a number of gentlemen occu-
pying high positions in the Empire, gave him a
satisfactory report about Priessnitz and his method
* " Priessnitz in Graefenberg, and his Method of using Cold
Water in the Various Diseases of the Human Body," by
Dr. A. H. Kroeber. Published by Joseph Max and Co.,
Breslau, 1833. In the German language.
27
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
of healing. He verified all he had heard as he
became personally acquainted with Priessnitz, and
ascertained beyond doubt that nobody was less of
a quack or an impostor. He observed that, pro-
fessionally, Priessnitz strictly adhered to the simple
laws of health, and used cold water in various
ways as his sole healing agent, to the exclusion of
all so-called medicines ; at the same time either
making use of his own unique experience, based
upon observation, or following the inspirations of
his genius.
Baron Turkheim made on Priessnitz and his
establishment a favourable report. We give a few
extracts from this report on the Silesian " Natur-
arzt " (physician of Nature), which shows that the
writer was a man of noble character and sound
judgment. His conduct in this matter will cause
his name ever to be honourably associated with
that of Priessnitz.*
" That Priessnitz is no ordinary man even his
enemies must admit. He is no impostor, but is
filled with the purest zeal to help others whenever
he is able to do so ; and he is particularly fitted to
do this. The number of those who call Priessnitz
* James Wilson, M.D., "The Water Cure," 1842.
Baron Turkheim, being at a medical society in Vienna,
was asked what he thought of the new charlatanism ; he
replied : " Priessnitz is no impostor, he beats us in his
prognosis, and is more successful in his practice. Believe
me, you have much to learn from this 'countryman.'"
28
w
HIS LIFE: 18171844
a quack, and a man of selfish motives, only consti-
tute a small minority, and are mostly doctors and
surgeons from the surrounding districts whose
incomes are reduced by his practice, and who
therefore get up complaints against him.
" Unassuming, modest, ever ready to give his
patients help, untiring by day and night, obliging,
firm and consistent in his actions, Priessnitz pos-
sesses qualities which are inadmissible in an
impostor. Notwithstanding the most careful in-
vestigations, I have been unable to trace a single
instance wherein he was actuated by selfish
motives. Whether his establishment has imper-
fections, whether he has restored to health many
or only a few, whether the complaints which he
has pronounced cured have returned after a longer
or shorter period, it remains certain that his
method of treatment in its details will always
continue to be one of great importance in the
domain of the art of healing. This new cure and
this extraordinary man, therefore, deserve the full
attention of the Government ; moreover, any
serious interference would be entirely misplaced."
On the question whether the establishment at
Graefenberg should be allowed to go on, or whether
it ought to be closed, Baron Turkheim reported :
" The Imperial Commission has pronounced
unanimously against closing the Graefenberg
establishment, as it has proved itself efficient in
29
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
many cases, as no ill after-effects could be traced,
and as the few cases of death are not sufficient
reason for so doing, seeing that such cases occur
constantly elsewhere and under the care of
ordinary practitioners. To close this establish-
ment would have a bad moral effect on the minds
of the public, who have become familiarized with
the great reputation it has won both at home and
abroad. This is a point which deserves full con-
sideration. Finally, it is both difficult and un-
advisable to prohibit new treatments, and such
a course of action might possibly have a de-
moralizing effect on the Austrian people.
" I, for my part, fully share this opinion, and
admit all the motives brought forth by the Com-
mission against closing the Graefenberg estab-
lishment."
This report, as made by Baron Turkheim to
the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna, had beneficial
results, both for Priessnitz and for adherents to
the water-cure.
An order was issued in 1838 to the effect that
Vincent Priessnitz was to enjoy the same privi-
leges as members of the medical faculty in regard
to the practice of hygienic remedies. In other
words, a license to practise was granted to him by
the sovereign of his own country, an honour that
has not been granted to anybody since the foun-
dation of our medical colleges.
30
HIS LIFE: 18171844
From that time Priessnitz had to suffer, it is
true, occasionally from private annoyances, but
never again was he subjected to those public
attacks by medical men which had formerly em-
bittered his life. He was henceforth free to
exercise his method of curing without inter-
ference, and gained daily new friends and admirers
amongst all nations.
CHAPTER III
His LIFE: 1845
IN the autumn of 1845, Freiwaldau and Graefen-
berg were visited by his Imperial Highness
the Archduke Franz Karl. This patron and
promoter of institutions dedicated to the welfare
of mankind arrived at Graefenberg on Septem-
ber 27. He received there with great amiability a
deputation from the visitors, and accepted an
address presented to him by the deputation.
The members of this deputation were :
Don T. M. Gutierez Estrada, ex-Minister of
Foreign Affairs in Mexico ;
Count Czaski, Field-Marshal in Poland ;
Count Schaffgotsch, Gentleman-in-Waiting of
the Royal Prussian Court ;
Baron Sotzbeck, Gentleman-in-Waiting of the
Court of Bavaria ;
G. H. O. Moor, Captain of the 35th Regiment
of the Line ;
T. La Moile, French ex-Consul in Ireland.
32
HIS LIFE: 1845
The address was in French, and ran thus :
" We, the undersigned, born in different coun-
tries, and who at present are enjoying the hos-
pitality and protection of a kindly Government,
joyfully seize the opportunity of your Highness's
presence here to offer to your Highness our most
respectful homage.
" We cannot refrain from giving expression to
the feeling of deep gratitude which animates all
present, for the grace accorded by your Highness's
exalted house to a method of healing which has
brought blessings on all here present, as well as
those absent ones who at different times have
returned with health renewed to their native coun-
tries. The establishments of Graefenberg and
Freiwaldau have enjoyed for a considerable time
the protection of a paternal Government, and
your Imperial Highness has not deemed them
unworthy of a personal visit to witness the efficacy
of a treatment which is spreading daily, and thus
saving the human race from the double curse of
intemperance and premature decay.
" At all times, and in all parts of the world, cold
water has been tried as a remedy, and as such has
been approved by eminent physicians. The in-
habitants of Europe in the olden time made occa-
sional attempts to pierce the darkness of prejudice
and unscrupulousness, by making use of the
33 D
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
neglected but marvellous power of this gift of
Nature.
" But these attempts were few, and at long
intervals, thus only affording transitory glimpses
of light.
" To Austria is destined the honour of calling
her own the immortal discoverer of a new and
efficient method of healing.
" A farmer, born in an obscure hamlet Priess-
nitz obeying the calls of his genius, like all great
men, was able to overcome all difficulties, and to
mount rapidly the path to fame and distinction.
His keen and inquiring mind pierced the hidden
secrets of Nature. By untiring observation and
by experience only he brought to light facts which
the science of centuries had been unable to dis-
cover.
" His marvellous cures were known at first only
in the neighbouring districts, but by degrees his
ever-increasing reputation spread to all parts of
the world, shedding a brilliant light on the name
of Priessnitz. Sufferers from every country came
to submit, so to say, blindly to his treatment.
" Even a large number of the disciples of ^Escu-
lapius renounced their old prejudices to drink
wisdom at the new spring of science ; thus has
the rustic cottage of Priessnitz become the refuge
of suffering mankind, and his simple dwelling the
cradle of a new creed.
34
HIS LIFE: 1845
" Far from being intoxicated by his great suc-
cess and unexpected fortune, Priessnitz remained
true to his simple habits, and never altered his
mode of life. His only ambition was the accom-
plishment of his great work, and we do not know
whether to admire more his rare genius, his per-
severance, or his modesty.
" Full of admiration for the cold-water treat-
ment and of gratitude to its illustrious inventor,
we do not hesitate respectfully to offer this address
to your Royal and Imperial Highness, as we have
no doubt that your Highness's visit will be of great
importance towards furthering the development
and propagation of this beneficent treatment, the
blessings of which have been felt by all here pre-
sent."
*****
In the evening a ball was given at Graefenberg,
which was attended by his Imperial Highness.
Amongst the guests of distinction were the Duchess
of Anhalt-Koethen and the Prince-Bishop of Bres-
lau, Baron of Diepenbrook.
On the following day the Archduke Franz Karl
visited the Graefenberg establishments and in-
spected the douches, baths, etc.
He entered the large dining-hall while the
patients were at breakfast, showed great interest
in the arrangements, and took his leave amid the
enthusiastic cheers of all present.
35 D 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Priessnitz, who had explained the use of the
different appliances, and answered the Archduke's
questions on various matters in his accustomed
quiet and dignified manner, received repeated
marks of encouragement and approval from his
august visitor.
Besides the Archduke Franz Karl, several other
princes visited Graefenberg, including the King of
Saxony, who desired to become acquainted with
the extraordinary man who had been the means
of displaying one of Nature's most precious secrets.
People suffering from serious and distressing
diseases came from all parts of the world to this
modern Delphi, to regain, if not always health, at
least alleviation from their sufferings, under the
directions and salutary influence of its high-priest.
At times Graefenberg presented a strange and
interesting spectacle as the gathering-place of
many nationalities.
These unusual doings in and near Graefenberg,
especially the Archduke Franz Karl's visit, drew
the higher authorities' attention to Priessnitz's
sphere of action, but this time with a very different
result to that on previous occasions. People sud-
denly remembered the excellent services this man
had rendered during the cholera epidemic which
some years previously had decimated Graefenberg
and the neighbourhood, while not one fatal case
was recorded amongst those who had been treated
36
HIS LIFE: 1845
by Priessnitz. There could no longer exist any
doubt as to the efficacy of the cold-water cure,
and that Priessnitz, as the inventor of a new
system, deserved to be ranked amongst the bene-
factors of suffering humanity.
It was often remarked that his private and public
life, his family and social relations, were animated
by a modest, manly, and Christian spirit.
Priessnitz's beneficent influence was not only
felt by those who came to seek renewed health
and strength under his care : the poorer popula-
tion of Graefenberg and the surrounding districts
owed to him the great improvement which by
degrees took place in their circumstances.
In his earlier years, when the boy Priessnitz
looked on the fields and homesteads of his native
village, and those of the neighbouring districts,
his eye met no cheering picture. The fields were
stony, and only here and there a poor crop covered
them sparingly. Emaciated cows tried almost in
vain to feed on the neglected meadows. In the
garden plots scarcely a fruit-tree was to be seen,
and the cottages insufficiently sheltered a hungry
population.
Very different was the scene on which he looked
in later years from the so-called " Haeuschen."
Rich cornfields dotted the landscape, herds of
cattle were browsing on well-drained meadows ;
gardens, gay with flowers, and orchards filled with
37
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
fruit-laden trees, spoke of thrift and well-being,
and men and women could be seen working with
cheerful and happy faces. In place of the cottages
had risen dwellings of stone. Agriculture had
been improved in all its branches ; industry and
trade were enlarged; and all this was owing to
the influence of one man.
The great and undeniable services which Priess-
nitz had rendered to the State and to humanity
were now proclaimed by his admirers and patrons
in high places, and the just and benevolent Em-
peror Ferdinand presented him with the large
gold medal for civil merit.*
In May, 1846, the Mayor of Troppau fastened
this acknowledgment of distinction on Priessnitz's
breast, in the Town Hall of Freiwaldau, before a
large assembly. It was a day of general rejoicing
and festivity. A Te Deum was sung in the parish
church, and was attended by a large congregation.
In the evening a brilliant ball at Graefenberg con-
cluded the day's proceedings, and host and guests
shared in the general happiness and satisfaction.
With all his rare gifts and qualities, with all
the numerous distinctions lavished upon him, and
the fame which made his name known all over
the civilized world, Priessnitz remained modest
and unassuming to a rare degree. Not even
* The highest mark of distinction in Austria, awarded to
only a very limited number of recipients.
38
HIS LIFE: 1845
a letter addressed to " Vincent Priessnitz, in
Europe," which reached him from South America,
affected him.
Priessnitz's personal appearance was that of
a man of simple, and yet strong and powerful,
character. His whole demeanour bore the stamp
of energy ; the expression of his face showed the
thinker and the keen observer. He impressed
one as a man who recognised the importance
of his calling. This calling was evidently no
other than that of a physician, which brought
him a posthumous reputation, which will endure
through all coming ages.
He dressed with simplicity. He generally wore
a gray coat or a blouse, gray trousers, a light cap,
and short boots. It was only on Sundays and
high festivals that he assumed the dress of the
inhabitants of towns. The mark of distinction
received from his sovereign was reserved for gala-
days, and nobody could persuade him to wear the
smallest ribbon on ordinary occasions.
There were patients every year who took pleasure
in seizing any opportunity to give some marks
of affection and gratitude to their much-honoured
physician. But if Priessnitz by chance heard
anything of their intentions beforehand he always
prevented the carrying out of their plans.
Such was the case on October 4 of the year
1846. The visitors wished to celebrate Priessnitz's
39
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
birthday by some special festivities, for the kind
and unselfish man objected to anything which
entailed extra expense upon his patients.
Nevertheless, a few of his warmest friends and
admirers resolved not to let the day pass without
giving some expression to their feeling.
On his entering the great hall, he was greeted
with loud acclamations and cheers. During a
pause of the band towards the end of the dinner,
a number of the members of the Freiwaldau Com-
mittee rose and asked the assembled company for
a few minutes' attention. Instantly all conver-
sation ceased, and Dr. Selinger, who occupied
a seat at his host's side, got up, and after a
few introductory words made the following
speech :
" We live in a month rich with glorious
memories. It is not my intention to point out
their importance to those here assembled, but I
cannot refrain from mentioning to-day, the fourth of
"October, which is of such high significance to us all.
It is the day on which, years ago, the Almighty
Creator presented the world with one of His chosen
children. On that day He confided to that child
a sacred mission, bidding him grow and prosper,
and, when the time had come, to go out amongst
his fellow-men, preaching to the suffering and
weak ones the new Gospel of health. And so
it came to pass, at the appointed time, the chosen
40
HIS LIFE: 1845
man appeared like a ministering angel, healing
the sick and suffering of his people. His wise
counsel has become a staff for the weak ones to
lean upon ; his prompt and active help is like
a sheet-anchor for the despairing ones, and his
name is the symbol of healing and aiding for all
those who stand in need of such.
" And this name shall I tell it you ? It is a
name which has become known in every part of
the world. It is as familiar on the distant shores
of the Mississippi and Orinoco as on those of our
own Rhine and Danube. The valleys of the
Pyrenees have heard its sound, as well as the
mountains of Scandinavia. It is the name of a
man who has been deemed worthy of the greatest
mark of distinction by his Imperial Master, the
august sovereign of this country a name which
has found its place already in the book of con-
temporary history, but which future records will
exalt yet more. We also have been attracted by
it to this small village small in size, but great
in fame. Almost every nationality of the whole
civilized world is represented here, and whatever
differences may divide us, one common tie binds
us together the tie of deep and heartfelt grati-
tude ; and so I may hope to find an echo in
everyone's heart here present when I say : * Long
live Priessnitz !' "
Loud and ringing cheers interrupted the
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
speaker, and " Vivats " and enthusiastic cries
in all languages filled the hall.
The large assembly now became much excited,
and everyone pressed round their beloved physician
to give expression to their feelings of gratitude
and respect.
Priessnitz was visibly affected, embraced his
friend, and thanked the assembly, but never again
did he appear in the large hall at dinner on his
birthday.
The following Sunday, October n, was a day
of great solemnity in Freiwaldau and the neigh-
bouring districts.
His Grace the Prince-Bishop of Breslau was
going to celebrate on that day the rite of Confirma-
tion. A large number of the visitors at Graefen-
berg seized this opportunity to offer the venerable
ecclesiastic a solemn welcome.
At the express wish of the Graefenberg colony,
Dr. Selinger received the Bishop with an address.
He said in this address that all nations had come
to these parts to seek help and advice from the
renowned physician Priessnitz; that they were
constantly reminded when enjoying Nature among
the lovely mountains and forests of the neighbour-
hood, or getting rest and refreshment at the
numerous health-giving springs, that they were
enjoying the hospitality of a high-minded and
unprejudiced monarch, the promoter and patron
42
HIS LIFE: 1845
of the water-cure. This feeling of gratitude had
made them desirous of giving it expression on
the present occasion of his Grace's presence at
Freiwaldau.
The Bishop, a man of great culture, answered
in an appropriate speech, expressing his apprecia-
tion of the visitors' feelings, and hoping that they
would derive as much benefit from the water-cure
as he himself had done nine years before. Finally,
he looked round for Priessnitz, whom he at last
discovered at a distance effacing himself in the
crowd. The Prince beckoned to him to approach,
and shook hands with him.
In church, before the beginning of the Con-
firmation, the Bishop, in a short address to the
congregation, mentioned that he owed his health
to the exertions of one of them, and that he was
glad to be able to show his gratitude by the
solemnization of the rite of Confirmation that
day.
With all his modesty and simplicity, Priessnitz
was quite aware of his high destination. His
noble self-reliance protected him against all petty
embarrassment and timidity, and enhanced his
often-admired presence of mind, which never for-
sook him on any occasion.
A Prince of a reigning house one day admired
the pretty and tasteful arrangement of banners
and arms presents of different patients in the
43
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
dining-hall at Graefenberg,* when a French abbe,
otherwise neatly dressed, entered bare-headed and
bare-footed. The Prince, who was conversing
with Priessnitz, noticed this peculiar appearance,
and smilingly asked his host :
" Are your patients in the habit of going about
in this fashion ?"
" Yes, your Royal Highness," answered Priess-
nitz, "always, when they suffer from cold feet."
There is no doubt that Priessnitz had great
reason to dislike the medical profession. He did
not hate it, but neither did he love it. Medical
men were not personally sympathetic to him, and,
considering how different to his were their ideas
on the preservation of the health of mankind, this
antipathy can easily be understood. If one had
seen how cruelly some of these gentlemen behaved
towards this excellent man, how clumsy they often
showed themselves in their professional capacity,
one would not be surprised at the want of sym-
pathy and confidence on his part.
There were some whose reputation had never
travelled beyond the confines of their native vil-
lage, and who gave themselves airs of such over-
bearing vanity in the presence of the celebrated
* Besides these beautifully worked and costly banners,
about thirty in number, presented by patients of as many
different nationalities, this hall is decorated now with fine
life-size portraits of the Emperor Francis Joseph I. and
Vincent Priessnitz.
HIS LIFE: 1845
physician, that only a Priessnitz could have re-
frained from giving vent to just anger.
Another would perhaps, when taking a walk
some fine morning with one of the patients under
treatment, condescend to inspect the douches and
springs of Graefenberg and the neighbourhood,
and would forthwith send into the world a pamph-
let or an article to announce that he had been
initiated by Priessnitz himself into the practice of
the water-cure.
A third, under the mask of an admirer, would
try to get access to the master of Graefenberg,
afterwards only to deride and mock him behind
his back.
A fourth, who had been cured from some long-
standing and weary illness by the kind-hearted
Priessnitz, would get admission into the houses of
rich and influential people, pretending there to
serve his benefactor and propagate the water
treatment ; instead of which, his object once
attained, he proclaimed the difficulties and draw-
backs of the treatment, and promised to cure with
drugs long-standing sufferings in the shortest
space of time.
Priessnitz's worst pupils were medical men. It
is difficult for people to free themselves from an
acquired method and to start an entirely new
one.
" Doctors have learned too much," Priessnitz
45
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
used to say. " If they wish to become good
water-doctors, they must begin by forgetting a
great deal of their previous experience in the
treatment of diseases by medicine. Doctors have
neither knowledge of, nor faith in, the healing
virtue of cold water, and therefore do not use it
with the necessary confidence."
The knowledge of this filled Priessnitz with
apprehension, and he often said sadly to his
friends : " If, after my death, my establishment
should fall into the hands of a doctor, it will soon
be ruined."
46
CHAPTER IV
CLOSING YEARS : 1846 1848
THE years of 1846-47 were years of famine
in the greater part of Europe.
This was a time of deep unhappiness for
Priessnitz, whose loving heart bled to witness so
much misery. If the number of sufferers was
great, the number of those who looked on in idle
selfishness was not less considerable. Instead of
coming forward to relieve the unfortunate ones,
who often were driven from place to place to seek
food and shelter, men and women of means pre-
ferred to retire into their own comfortable houses,
keeping their money safely under lock and key,
while around them people were crying for help
and dying of want and exposure. Priessnitz
listened to this cry of distress, and came forward
to give his help in a way which deserves not to be
forgotten.
Between 100 and 200, and at the time of
greatest need 300, people received food daily in
47
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
his house. Never a day passed without Priessnitz
and his wife helping from forty to fifty persons in
some way to tide over this terrible time. One
may safely ascribe to their untiring exertions in
the cause of the poor and needy the quiet and
order which reigned throughout Graefenberg and
the neighbouring districts during these critical
years.
The year 1847 threatened to be a fatal one for
Priessnitz. In consequence of the unusual heat
of the preceding summer, frequent night-duty,
arduous attendance on severe cases, and the per-
nicious habit of prescribing during mealtimes,
Priessnitz felt weak, and suffered for some time.
The separation from his beloved daughter Sophie
brought on a catastrophe. Sophie had been mar-
ried on January 26, 1847, m the parish church of
Freiwaldau, to a Hungarian nobleman, Joseph
von Ujhazy, proprietor of the estate Budamir,
near Kaschau.
On the following day the young couple took
leave of their dear ones to go on their wedding
tour. The parting from this deeply-loved child
had a depressing effect on Priessnitz. The same
day, after dinner, on leaving the large hall for his
private apartments, he fell down unconscious in
the corridor.
The news of the occurrence spread rapidly
through the establishment. A panic seized the
48
CLOSING YEARS : 18461848
assembled visitors ; they lost presence of mind,
and it was thought advisable to send for a Danish
doctor, who lived close by in the Graefenberg
colony.
Meanwhile the insensible Priessnitz had been
taken into his secretary's room. When the doctor
arrived and wanted to see the patient, one of the
visitors, Baron von R., peremptorily refused his
admittance, declaring that in this establishment
no other treatment but the water-cure should be
made use of.
And so it happened that two students of the
water-treatment were enabled to give evidence of
their ability. One was Mr. Bochin, Priessnitz's
secretary, the other a Mr. Matezki, a former
patient ; both had studied under Priessnitz for a
considerable time.
After friction with the hands, wetted with water,
and with the help of two bathing attendants, and
some other appliances, they had the unspeakable
satisfaction, after several hours' exertion, to see,
towards midnight, their beloved master out of
danger. After having recovered consciousness,
Priessnitz was able to prescribe how to treat the
scarlet fever which had now declared itself. These
prescriptions were carried out so successfully that
he was able to resume his work in less than a
week, and to pay his accustomed visits to Frei-
waidau, to the intense delight of his patients.
49 E
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
The general happiness at his speedy recovery
was indescribable. A feeling of how irreparable
the loss of their physician would be struck terror
in his patients' hearts, and the thought of his
death and its probable consequences filled the
inhabitants with trouble and apprehension.
The thanksgiving service, held on this occasion
at the Freiwaldau parish church, was therefore
attended by a large and deeply-moved congrega-
tion.
In January, 1848, his wife left him for some
time to pay a visit to her daughter Sophie in
Hungary. Although Priessnitz had all his children,
except his eldest daughter, with him, he missed
his dearly-loved wife painfully. During the whole
time of her unwonted absence from home Priess-
nitz was in a state of agitation and unrest, and
could scarcely await her return. It seemed to
him as if his guardian angel had forsaken him.
On Madame Priessnitz's journey home she
narrowly escaped a terrible accident, that was
averted by the courage and presence of mind of
the postilion and conductor of the postchaise,
which was coming down a slippery mountain road
with great speed. Arriving at the foot of the
mountain more dead than alive with fright, she
had the unspeakable joy of finding her husband,
who, with deepest emotion, folded her in his arms.
The sunny and peaceful days which Priessnitz
50
CLOSING YEARS: 18461848
was allowed to enjoy now in the midst of his
family were but few in number.
The spring of 1848, and with it the Revolution,
was approaching. To the religious and patriotic
Priessnitz this was a great blow, which altered the
tenor of his whole being. He, who never cared
much about politics, now spoke about them inces-
santly. With his strictly conservative opinions
and principles, the opposition he encountered
daily became to him the source of a constant and
bitter annoyance. To this was added anxiety
about his married daughter in Hungary, whom he
had not seen for fifteen months, and from whom
he had had no news for a considerable time. He
became irritable and suspicious, and lost his sunny
enjoyment of life, which he began to liken to a
bad dream. The strong and robust man became
weak and languid, and when, after the termination
of the civil war in 1849, his daughter Sophie came
to see her beloved parents, she found the dear
father ailing and much aged.
The Imperial Lieutenant Field Marshal, Prince
Edmund von Schwarzenberg, whose arm became
paralyzed after an apoplectic stroke, had made a
successful cure at Graefenberg. His Highness
Prince Adolph von Schwarzenberg, in a visit to
Graefenberg (brought about by the just-mentioned
circumstance), had arranged that for the period
of six months, from October i, 1849, till the end of
51 E 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
March, 1850, six sick officers of the Imperial Aus-
trian army should be treated gratis at Graefenberg.
For each one of those who left cured another was
to come to take his place.*
Priessnitz showed great kindness to these officers
and also took charge on his own account of eleven
sick soldiers, not only giving them advice and the
treatment gratis, but providing them with board
and lodging gratuitously.
The Minister of War wrote to Priessnitz a
flattering acknowledgment of his services, which
ran as follows :
" VIENNA,
" April 28, 1850.
" The report of the inspectors of the establish-
ment at Graefenberg certifies to the good effects
of your generous treatment of the six officers of
the Imperial Austrian Army who took the cold-
water cure at the expense of his Highness Prince
Adolph von Schwarzenberg, and that a similar
work of humanity has been undertaken by you in
regard to soldiers who, during the past winter,
have sought relief from their sufferings.
" The Ministry of War fully recognises your
great services and disinterested help to these
* This institution, called " Mecklenburgh House," because
it had originally been constructed for the Grand Duke of
Mecklenburgh, and which I saw during my visit to Graefen-
berg, is still carried on successfully.
52
CLOSING YEARS: 18461848
soldiers, and wishes to express its gratitude to
you.
" During the absence of the Minister of War,
" His representative,
" DEGENFELDT."
For the establishment of an Imperial Court of
Justice at Freiwaldau, Priessnitz gave a consider-
able sum of money. This patriotic act was
acknowledged by an autograph letter of thanks
from the Minister of Justice, Von Schmerling,
which reads as follows :
"VIENNA,
"June 12, 1850.
" The Imperial Administration of Justice for
Moravia and Silesia has notified to me the active
part that the population of Troppau are taking
in forming the new Law Courts for these districts,
and their generous contributions to that effect.
" I seize with pleasure the opportunity to express
my warmest thanks to you for the sacrifice you
have made by helping so largely to carry out this
patriotic work.
" SCHMERLING."
In July, 1850, Priessnitz was elected member
of the General Committee of Commissioners of
Freiwaldau. Notwithstanding his incessant occu-
pation, he never missed a sitting. He had the
53
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
well - being of his native town at heart, and
endeavoured as much as lay in his power, as
a member of the committee, to reduce the costs
of the administration of the commons to a
minimum. He disliked useless expense, and on
every occasion advocated thrift.
" Without thrift there is no getting on," he
used to say, and he felt satisfied when, by his
energetic and thoughtful opposition, he succeeded
in influencing his colleagues in the administration
to withhold their votes in the matter of unneces-
sary expenditure. Even during the last months
of his life he prevented the erection of some
buildings which were to be made at the expense
of the Commune fund. He declared that he was
suffering from a serious and incurable disease,
and that possibly his death might make a difference
in the existing favourable circumstances of Graefen-
berg and Freiwaldau.* During these discussions,
he always remained calm and collected, never
losing his temper, however much vexed and
agitated he might have felt at certain moments.
Priessnitz practised courtesy from habit and
conviction. Nobody could ever accuse him of
having said anything harsh or unpleasant to
anyone, and Ijis manners were unaffected and
full of calm dignity. He never interrupted when
* He referred, no doubt, to the consequences of the
injuries received in his youth, already mentioned.
54
CLOSING YEARS: 18461848
conversing with anybody, and his answers were
always clear and concise; when talking on any
special subject, he riveted the attention, and kept
up the interest of his listeners. He understood
better than anyone how to get on with almost
every class of people. He never hesitated when
answering professional questions. Like most men
of genius, the response seemed to come without
effort, generally, as the saying is, hitting the nail
on the head.
Although he was wont to clothe his thoughts
in a simple and homely garb, he often gave utter-
ance to profound truths, which, scientifically ex-
pressed, would have sounded grandiloquent. One
of his favourite axioms, which he was fond of
repeating, was : " A bad tool cannot do good
work," which, translated into medical language,
would be : "An unsound organ cannot act
properly."
Priessnitz possessed a keen sense of humour.
In fact, his wit had occasionally a sharp edge,
although his kindness of heart prevented his
saying anything harshly, or wounding people's
feelings. The following anecdotes may serve as
examples :
Count F., who was no stranger to the many
vagaries of hypochondria, remarked one day to
Priessnitz : " My dear sir, in your place, I would
make short work of all hypochondriacs." Smilingly
55
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Priessnitz answered : " In that case, I should
be obliged to begin with your Excellency."
The year 1848 had thrown its dark shadow on
the colony of Graefenberg. Many disquieting
rumours came from all sides. One night after
twelve o'clock the alarm bell of Freiwaldau re-
sounded loudly over the sleeping neighbourhood.
Patients, armed and unarmed, rushed out of their
houses, everybody was in a state of excitement.
People had been fearing for some days an assault
on the spinnery of Schoenberg by some revo-
lutionary rabble of the neighbouring districts. In
the midst of the general confusion Priessnitz re-
mained calm, and after having restored some
order, he organized a patrol, at the head of
which, armed only with a stout stick, he sallied
forth to encounter the rioters.
After several hours' vain search in every direc-
tion, Priessnitz came to the conclusion that they
had all been made victims of a hoax, and with
a sarcastic smile on his lips he led his patients
back to Graefenberg.
In January, 1850, a Baroness von was
attacked with small-pox. Quite covered with the
rash, and greatly suffering, Priessnitz found her
in bed. Without asking many questions, he
ordered compresses and packs to be administered
in a certain order, besides plenty of fresh air.
Some compresses he ordered to be made with
56
CLOSING YEARS: 18461848
special care, and on leaving called out to the
maids : " Be sure not to forget the compresses,
otherwise your mistress will get ill."
In 1851 a youth had been lying ill at a hospital
in Bohemia for more than six weeks. As he did
not get any better he expressed the wish to be
treated by Priessnitz, and was conveyed with
much trouble and great care to Freiwaldau.
Priessnitz, who had seen the young man some
months previously full of life and vigour, could
not refrain from showing his surprise in beholding
him almost worn to a skeleton. He calmly pre-
scribed for him, only remarking cursorily : " The
Bohemians are clever fellows : they keep the flesh
and send me the bones."
A young man of careless habits left behind him
debts of a compromising character. After his
departure from Graefenberg, the father of the
young man wrote to Priessnitz, trying to find all
kinds of empty excuses to shield his son's conduct,
at the same time not meeting the obligations the
latter had incurred. Priessnitz sent a reply con-
taining the following advice :
" Order two strong men to give to yourself and to
your son a thorough good whipping, and for each
blow dealt to your son, have two given to yourself."
Two women belonging to the lower middle-class
had come to Graefenberg to seek relief, not from
any affection of the tongue, but from some other
57
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
kind of disease. They lived, it is true, together
in a cottage, but were not united by the affection
which alone can make life pleasant. They never
could meet without quarrelling. One day, one of
them, unable to bear her friend's temper any
longer, came full of excitement to Priessnitz to
ask for his help. Priessnitz listened calmly to
the torrent of angry words with which she gave
vent to her injured feelings. Finally, perfectly
seriously, and without moving a muscle of his face,
he said in reply to he rquestion " What am I to
do, Herr Priessnitz ?" : " In future, when a cause
of disagreement arises between you and your friend,
instantly take some cold water into your mouth."
To another bad-tempered lady who used to tor-
ment her husband with unkind, cutting speeches,
he gave the advice frequently to take cold water
into her mouth, and to keep it there as long as
possible.
Priessnitz was essentially a man of action. As
such he detested half measures or procrastination
of any kind. If a thing was to be done, he did it
at once, and without hesitation. Letters, if ever
so many, had to be answered the same day.
Priessnitz did not admire abstract knowledge ;
in fact, he did not value it sufficiently. He only
respected men who combined thorough knowledge
with practical worth, and his most sincere venera-
tion was given to those rare natures who, in addi-
58
CLOSING YEARS: 18461848
tion, show greatness of soul and a strong character.
A true man himself, Priessnitz possessed manly
courage. He showed this in his frequent nightly
solitaty journeys, and in the dangers he encountered
so often while exercising the duties of his calling.
During the last ten years of his life Priessnitz
was inundated with all kinds of presents by grate-
ful patients in the shape of busts, portraits and
pictures.
We will only mention one of these, a charming
and highly-finished painting, the gift of a French-
man, who valued it especially as being the work
of his own much-loved sister. In the letter which
accompanied the present, this man of delicate
tact and feeling said : " This small picture is the
most precious thing I possess ; take it, dear and
honoured Mr. Priessnitz, as the expression of my
undying gratitude to you, who restored me to
health. I wish it were in my power to endow you
with immortality, so as to ensure your constant
services to the human race, whose good genius
you are."
In the year 1838 the entire district of Freiwaldau
had only one single letter-carrier to do the whole
of the service. He went twice a week from Frei-
waldau to Johannesburg, and took the letters from
those two towns to Zuckmantel, which boasted of
the only Imperial Post Office for the Austrian part
of the principality of Neisse.
59
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Through Priessnitz a considerable change was
brought about in these arrangements. The cele-
brated physician was sought by a number of people,
who wanted either to be treated by him or to
simply make his acquaintance. Soon the letter-
carrier gave place to an Imperial letter collection.
This also proved insufficient after a short time,
and the necessity for a special post-office at Frei-
waldau became apparent. The Imperial post-
master employed six horses in the beginning, but
after a few years was obliged to keep at least
twenty horses to carry on the daily service with
Hahnstadt and Neisse.
Freiwaldau, which had not paid anything
hitherto to the Imperial Austrian Post, now added
considerably to its revenue.
During the six months from June i till Novem-
ber 30 of the year 1851, a net profit of 5,673 florins
was handed over to the Imperial Government by
the Freiwaldau postmaster.
The poor relief fund of Freiwaldau, at the time
of Priessnitz's death, possessed a capital of more
than 14,000 florins, and this considerable sum of
money for so small a town was owing to Priess-
nitz's personal charity and beneficent influence in
general. The poor in Boehmischdorf, his wife's
native town, owed a great deal to him, and when
the good monks of Teschen told, with tears of
gratitude in their eyes, of those kind people who
60
CLOSING YEARS: 18461848
had helped them to collect large sums of money
with which they brought relief to many hundreds
of sufferers, they remembered as foremost amongst
them the noble master of Graefenberg.
The concentration in a small village of persons
of all nationalities,* of all ranks of society, from
the cultured to the simple, with the peculiar
mode of living, made Graefenberg during the
space of twenty years one of the most extra-
ordinary spots in the civilized world. It opened
a large field of observation and varied experience
of high interest to the philosopher, as well as to
the man of the world and the philanthropist.
The visitors' list of the year 1846 contains the
following :
From Lower Austria, go ; from Hungary, 73 ;
* A medical man staying at Graefenberg says : " In the
year 1842 the number of patients amounted to about twelve
hundred. This group was composed of Austrians, Prussians,
Russians, Poles, etc., and among them forty-six English,
which latter comprised Sir Augustus d'Este, General Sir
John Wilson, Colonel Bowen, four English physicians, etc."
R. T. Claridge, Esq. (" Hydropathy ; or, the Water-Cure
as practised by V. Priessnitz," 1842), in his preface says :
" That the aid of this second Hippocrates has been sought
from 1829 to the present time (1842) by upwards of seven
thousand invalids, the greater part of whom were of the
better orders of society.
" We constantly wished that certain noble characters in
our own country whom we knew to be suffering from chronic
complaints were acquainted with this mode of treatment,
being fully persuaded that they would be radically cured if
they adopted it."
61
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
from Bohemia, 50 ; from Styria, 16 ; from Croatia,
3 ; from Transylvania, 2 ; from Tyrol, i ; from
Prussia, 225 ; from Hamburg, 72 ; from Bavaria,
9 ; from Saxony, 6 ; from Wurtemberg, i ; from
the rest of Germany, 21 ; from England, 107 ;
from Scotland, 8 ; from Ireland, 4 ; from Russian
Poland, 141 ; from Russia, 42 ; from Denmark,
28 ; from Italy, 26 ; from Turkey, 19 ; from France,
ii ; from Belgium, 4 ; from Switzerland, 4 ; from
Sweden, 3 ; from Portugal, 3 ; from Wallachia, 2 ;
from Greece, i ; from Norway, i ; from Australia,
i ; from America, 18 visitors.
In the year 1847 the Graefenberg list was as
follows :
From Moravia, 33 ; Bohemia, 78 ; Poland, 156 ;
Silesia, 30 ; Austria, 133 ; Prussia, 187 ; Hamburg,
52 ; Styria, 13 ; Saxony, 7 ; Mecklenburg, 4 ;
Bavaria, 3 ; rest of Germany, 28 ; Hungary, 112 ;
Croatia, 4 ; Transylvania, 3 ; Wallachia, 4 ; Russia,
37 ; Slavonia, 5 ; Italy, 40 ; England, 94 ; Scot-
land, 7 ; Ireland, 2 ; France, 13 ; Switzerland, 2 ;
Denmark, 22 ; Sweden, 3 ; Norway, i ; Belgium,
3 ; Holland, i ; Finland, i ; Lapland, 3 ; Spain,
3 ; Turkey, 4 ; North America, 29 ; Brazil, i ;
Peru, 2 ; Egypt, 4 ; Arabia, i visitor. During the
years 1849, 1850, and 1851, the number of yearly
visitors varied from 1,100 to 1,400.
62
CHAPTER V
CLOSING YEARS: 1848 1851
AS we have remarked already, Priessnitz's
business began early in the day and ended
late. In the evening he liked to gather round
him some of the older patients, and to listen to
their reading aloud if the articles were not long-
winded and high-flown. The conversation on
these evenings was often interesting and attractive.
If Priessnitz made any remarks, they were gener-
ally short and to the point, and showed an original
and powerful mind, as well as a profound know-
ledge of human nature and keen observation.
Priessnitz was a conscientious Roman Catholic,
and was without prejudice against those belonging
to other denominations. He considered religion
indispensable to every right - thinking human
being.
He was an excellent husband and father. To
appreciate the full extent of his considerate and
winning disposition, one had to see him at home
63
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
in the midst of his family. How happy he was
when surrounded by the faithful companion of
his life, his six daughters, and his only son !
How he valued every hour he could spend in
their society ! These happy hours were but too
few. His professional duties deprived him of the
enjoyment of those hours which are generally
sacred to family intercourse.
Priessnitz was not able to attend to the educa-
tion of his children, neither could his wife take
charge of them, her whole time being devoted to
the management of the extensive establishments.
He was much concerned at his inability in this
grave matter, and tried long and in vain to find
a lady to whose care he could conscientiously
entrust the education of his daughters. At last
he was fortunate enough, through his profession,
to meet with the very person for whom he had
sought so long.
Miss Rosalie Kaltfeld, who had been governess
in a nobleman's family, came to Graefenberg in
the year 1841 for the water-cure. There she
made the acquaintance of the family, and became
a great favourite with every member of the
Priessnitz household.
Priessnitz decided to engage her as governess
to his children, and he never had cause to repent
of this step, for she more than fulfilled all his
expectations. With the exception of the two
64
CLOSING YEARS : 18481851
elder daughters, Sophie and Theresa, the other
children were all educated at Johannesburg, and
came only on high festivals to Graefenberg with
their governess.
Priessnitz's only son, Vincent Paul Priessnitz,
when quite a boy, showed a special predilection
for cold water. Whenever he felt unwell, he was
quite ready to become his own physician, pre-
scribing either a cold compress, a dripping-sheet,
or some other application. He was able to
distinguish the effect of each of these with
accuracy, and to say to his nurse when the
occasion occurred: "I want a dripping - sheet.
I must have another compress. That does me
good."
In the summer of 1851 little Vincent had the
small-pox, and the father, sure of succeeding,
treated the child with cold water, having saved
a great number of patients from that malignant
disease. Vincent got well, and was stronger and
better than before.
During the cure, the little boy, only four years
old, showed more courage, and was more reason-
able, than many a grown-up person.
Vincent Paul Priessnitz died in early manhood,
leaving two children one son, the present owner
of the Priessnitz property at Graefenberg, and
a daughter.
The only other grandchild is the daughter of
65 F
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Colonel Ripper, mentioned in this biography, and
of Marie (nee Priessnitz), his wife.
Accompanying this chapter are the portraits of
all Priessnitz's children and children by marriage,
as well as of the grandchildren, of whom only one
(Colonel Ripper's daughter) is married at the
present time.
Priessnitz's last days were a fit ending to such
a nobly-spent life. Since his illness in the year
1847 Priessnitz had failed to recover his usual
health. The exigencies of his arduous calling
never left him sufficient time for thorough rest.
He was affected by the baneful influences of the
terrible years of 1848-49. The wickedness, the
hypocrisy, the evidences of every kind of im-
moralityof which the history of those years
gives so many instances had a crushing effect
on his whole being, and he lost his equanimity
of mind and even of temper.
He became depressed, and looked on affairs in
general from the dark side. The welfare of the
middle classes seemed to him seriously imperilled,
and the future full of danger for all ranks of
society.
" Truth and confidence are no more." " People
are no longer taught to obey." " Those in authority
have forgotten how to deal out punishment with
justice, or to reward merit where it is due."
These sentiments he expressed frequently to
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CLOSING YEARS: 18481851
those about him. In vain some of his friends
tried to draw his attention to signs of improve-
ment which occasionally made themselves felt
amidst the general darkness and confusion. He
persisted in saying : " If God does not help,
everything must go to ruin."
Under such injurious influences Priessnitz passed
the year from the winter of 1850 to the following
winter of 1851, the former being an unusually
mild one. Notwithstanding the favourable weather,
he said to one of his patients : " Never has a
winter been so trying to me."
Priessnitz soon realized that his life was seriously
threatened. He remarked to one of his oldest
friends, Landrath Spinner, who out of respectful
gratitude often came to stay with him : " I believe
that the end is approaching ; I do not think that
my complaint can be cured."
A bad cough, which seized him each time he
took his bath early in the morning, caused anxiety
to his friends. Notwithstanding the weak state
of his health, Priessnitz was as assiduous in the
discharge of his professional duties as during his
best days. At last, at the instance of his family,
he subjected himself to special treatment, which
benefited him, but did not restore to him the
looks of a healthy man.
In July, 1851, Priessnitz declared that from the
following November he should be obliged to give
67 F 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
up attending patients at Freiwaldau. " I can do
no more," he told one of his patients who lived
in the town, " otherwise I shall ruin myself com-
pletely, and then shall be unable to help any-
body." After repeated remarks on his part of a
similar nature, a feeling of concern spread through
the neighbourhood of Graefenberg. The inhabi-
tants of Freiwaldau still hoped that the misfortune
might be averted by united entreaties on their
part. In October, 1851, Dr. Selinger came by
special invitation to see his friend. He found
Priessnitz much altered, pale, emaciated, and
considerably aged. During his guest's stay he
rallied somewhat, and was cheerful and talka-
tive.
Those last days at Graefenberg remained a
treasured memory to Dr. Selinger, who had the
privilege of spending them with his never-to-be-
forgotten friend.
The news of Miss Kaltfeld's serious illness at
Budamir, whither she had gone with all the
Priessnitz children, except little Vincent, on a
visit to his eldest daughter, Sophie, upset the
anxious father, who exclaimed : " My God, what
will become of my children if she dies !" The
suspense, however, did not last long, for after
three days a reassuring letter came to inform him
that his daughter had undertaken the treatment
of the case, and saved the patient's life. The
68
PRIESSNITZ' GRANDCHILDREN.
(i) Wilma Priessnitz. (2) Vincenz Priessnitz.
(3) Captain Hans Friedrich. (4) Zdenka Friedrich.
To face p.
CLOSING YEARS: 18481851
letter contained besides all the details of the cure,
and Priessnitz, full of just pride, exclaimed joy-
fully : " Sophie has presence of mind. She has
done well !"
On October 7, the day of farewell to his friend,
Dr. Selinger felt deeply and strangely moved.
He repeatedly pressed Priessnitz to his heart with
these words : " May God keep and bless you,
dear Priessnitz !" " If I get through the winter,"
he replied, " I shall last a long while yet. Good-
bye, and God bless you !"
He did not get through the winter : the end
was not far off then. They never saw each other
again alive.
On October 8 Priessnitz felt so ill that he went
to bed. After several days, during which he
prescribed for himself, he became better and got
up, but a relapse soon followed. The patients'
constant demand upon his strength did not leave
him sufficient rest and quiet. His wife's anxiety
having now become so great, she wrote for her
children to return home at once, and on October 23
they all came, including the eldest daughter,
Frau von Ujhazy.
It is impossible to paint the feelings of joy and
of sadness as one child after another was folded
in the loving father's embrace, and for the moment
the latter seemed to forget his sufferings in the
happiness of reunion with his dear ones. This
69
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
happy change lasted for some days ; the patient
seemed to improve hourly, and was able, after a
few days, to appear in the large hall, where his
presence was greeted with joy. He came on three
consecutive evenings. On the third evening he
looked wonderfully well, and was unusually cheerful
and talkative. He spoke a great deal about the
new building which he was going to undertake in
1852, and of which the plans had already been
prepared. After some remarks on the building he
said : " I am going to treat myself thoroughly ; if
eruptions on the skin show themselves (crisis), I
can yet get well ; if not, there will be no building."
On the next day he went early in the morning
to Johannesburg to transact some business. The
day was damp and foggy. He returned late at
night, having caught a chill, and went to bed,
feeling unwell. Soon after a swelling showed itself
on the feet, which made him anxious. He again
took to his bed. He got up several times during
the day, and in order to get warm after a cold
bath, went from his room on the first-floor to one
on the ground-floor to saw some wood.
His wife and two elder daughters, who prin-
cipally took care of their dear invalid, could not
always hide their anxiety when in his presence.
It made him unhappy to witness their sadness
and their tear-stained faces, and he repeatedly
said : " Do not fret, my beloved ones, I shall get
70
CLOSING YEARS: 18481851
well again. Is there not a God in heaven, and
cold water to help me ?"
Nevertheless, he grew weaker and weaker, while
his eyes shone with an almost supernatural gleam.
One day, his wife, fearing the worst, asked him
whether he would like to see a doctor. " No,"
Priessnitz answered, with a clear and determined
voice.
These last days showed how devoted he was to
his principles. Notwithstanding rapidly-increas-
ing exhaustion, he cheerfully prescribed for every
patient who came to consult him. On the eve
of his death his wife again asked him : " Dear
husband, shall I send for a doctor ?" " No, dear
child," he again said, with the utmost calm, but
without hesitation.
On November 28, 1851, he wanted to go down-
stairs at five o'clock in the morning to saw wood
after his cold bath, but yielding to his wife's
entreaties not to go down, she had the wood and
appliances for sawing brought into his sitting-
room, and about nine o'clock he went once more
to the sawing-machine to warm himself, but soon
pushed it aside, saying : " Take that away ; I shall
not require it any more." These pathetic words
made the most painful impression on the assembled
family. About two o'clock in the afternoon the
poor wife stood near the bed where her fast-
sinking husband lay, asking in a voice full of
7*
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
repressed despair : " Will you not see a doctor ?"
A scarcely audible " No " came from the lips of
the dying man.
A few minutes after four o'clock he suddenly
got up from his couch, dressed himself in a long,
warm gown, and seated himself perfectly upright
upon a chair near the window. There once
more he looked out upon the beautiful hillside
woods, which during his whole life he had
deeply loved, and his spirit seemed entirely lost
in thought. A little later he shivered, and asked
to be rubbed with a wet sheet, and then with very
little assistance went back to his bed. Scarcely
had he been placed in a horizontal position when
the muscles of the left side of the face and his
hands became convulsed a last breath and
Priessnitz was dead. The soul of one of the
noblest of men had returned to its Creator.
Priessnitz left a clause in his will desiring a
post-mortem examination of his body. Several
doctors and many of the patients were present at
this ceremony.
The left lung was found to be affected, the liver
abnormal, the kidneys also diseased. The brain
was found to be of considerable weight, and beau-
tifully shaped. The cause of the internal havoc
was probably the accident which he had in his
youth, when the heavy van passed over his body
72
CLOSING YEARS: 18481851
and broke his ribs. Until then he had been,
according to his sister's declaration, a perfectly
sound and healthy boy.
The day of the funeral was retarded, owing to
circumstances which necessitated rather com-
plicated arrangements.
The patients decided to send a deputation,
chosen from amongst their own number, to the
Prince-Bishop of Breslau, to invite him to officiate
at the funeral, which they wished to be as impres-
sive as possible, so as to testify to their love and
veneration for their deeply-regretted physician.
His Eminence, who had been cured of terrible
sufferings himself by Priessnitz's care and devo-
tion, received the deputation, deeply moved, and
regretted being unable just then to come to Frei-
waldau, nor could he send his suffragan, who was
lying dangerously ill himself.
The deputation returned the following day,
bearing an autograph letter from his Eminence,
addressed to the widow, as follows :
" To the Afflicted Widow of Vincent Priessnitz :
" DEAR MRS. PRIESSNITZ,
" To my great sorrow I have heard of the
sudden death of our dear and honoured Priessnitz,
and I cannot refrain from expressing to you my
deep and heartfelt sympathy. It is, alas ! no
consolation to you to know, what has certainly
73
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
never been said before of any man in private life,
nay, scarcely of any reigning prince, that his name
has gone forth to the most distant parts of the
world as benefactor of the human race, and that
therefore he will be mourned by thousands and
hundreds of thousands. Your loss being shared
by so many only testifies to the magnitude of
your misfortune. As a true Christian woman,
however, you know from whom to seek help and
comfort, and I pray that God may give you and
your family strength and courage to submit to
His will without murmur, and that He may reward
the great and good man, now taken from us, for all
he has done to alleviate the sufferings of his fellow-
creatures, and for the help he has given to the
poor and unfortunate ones of his native country."
On the morning of the fourth of December a
large crowd of people filled the wide space in front
of Priessnitz's house. From all parts of the neigh-
bouring districts men, women and children of all
classes had come to assist at the mournful cere-
mony, to pay the last honour to him who had at
one time or another been their benefactor.
Soon after nine o'clock began the ceremony of
the consecration of the body, which lasted about
an hour. The coffin, covered with a velvet pall,
was then carried from the house, and placed on a
sledge arranged for that purpose. The family and
74
CLOSING YEARS: 18481851
relations of the deceased, full of grief, followed.
A procession was formed. It slowly and solemnly
wended its way towards Freiwaldau.
All was silence. No sound was audible save
the rushing of water from the springs, which
seemed to send their last farewell to him who had
drawn them forth from their quiet to minister to
the health of Europe. The sun, which had been
hidden behind heavy clouds, now for a few moments
shone radiantly on the misty landscape, soon,
however, to disappear, and a heavy snowfall added
to the deeply melancholy scene.
The road from Graefenberg to Freiwaldau,
about three miles long, was thronged with people.
The first had reached Freiwaldau before the last
had left Graefenberg. The procession was formed
at the entrance of the town, headed by thirty
priests, and amidst the tolling of bells went to
the large square in front of the parish church.
A number of inhabitants of Freiwaldau lifted
the coffin from the sledge, carried it into the
church, and placed it in front of the high altar.
A mass for the dead was now celebrated by several
priests, accompanied by beautiful music. Towards
noon the mass was concluded, and the procession
formed again. Twelve patients now carried the
coffin into the centre of the large square, where it
was taken up by twelve inhabitants of Freiwaldau,
who carried it, followed by the procession, and
75
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
amidst the solemn sounds of appropriate music,
to the cemetery. The family and nearest relations
formed a group round the grave, and behind them
stood the representatives of every nation of Europe
and North and South America, as well as mourners
from Graefenberg, Freiwaldau, and many other
towns and districts.
The priest who had conducted the procession
now pronounced the benediction, and at the last
words, " Requiescat in pace," patients and citizens
lowered the coffin with the remains of one of the
noblest of men to its resting-place.
There was no long speech to praise and exalt
the merits of the deceased. Nothing but the few
words full of meaning, " Requiescat in pace,"
were pronounced over the remains of a man whose
life had been one long act of goodness and of
blessing to others, of duty and charity and love
of God, which will bear fruit for all coming genera-
tions, who will each in turn from grateful hearts
join in a never ending,
" REQUIESCAT IN PACE."*
* In the year 1853 Priessnitz's body was removed to the
Mausoleum mentioned in one of the following chapters,
where he lies beside his wife.
Mrs. Priessnitz survived her husband barely three years.
Grief at her great loss had enfeebled her health, and she
died of dysentery while staying in Hungary with her eldest
daughter, Frau von Ujhazy. Mrs. Priessnitz was born on
September 17, 1805, and died on August 31, 1854.
7 6
W
(^
w
B
CHAPTER VI
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
IT is not often that one man makes such a
change in the world as Priessnitz did. We
find many men who have an influence while they
live, but they no sooner pass away than their
influence vanishes too. In short, their influence
was personal, not vital. It touched actions only,
not principles. Therein we see the difference
between Priessnitz and others.
What were the means which raised Priessnitz
to such eminence ? One is astonished at their
simplicity. He did not attain this eminence by
painful and unceasing plodding only, but rather
by the intelligent development of all his powers,
by the careful training of his heart and affections,
and finally by the exercise of judgment in making
use of all these gifts and acquirements.
Priessnitz took up the water-cure where the
two Hahns and Oertel had left it, and thereon
built up his system. The two elder doctors feared
77
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
that the prolonged use of cold water might cause
eruptions and skin sores. Priessnitz, on the
contrary, tried in many cases to cause them to
appear, and after their appearance continued his
treatment with perseverance until the patient
showed no longer any signs of throwing out these
eruptions.*
The precision with which Priessnitz diagnosed
surprised many patients. They looked upon him
almost as one endowed with supernatural power.
Let me give here a few instances of his judgment :
A gentleman from Vienna had called together
a number of eminent physicians to have a con-
sultation on the state of his health. The doctors
were unanimous in advising him to try the water-
cure, and wrote down an opinion of his case.
With this document in his pocket the patient
arrived at Graefenberg. He gave a short account
of his illness without mentioning the medical
opinion. Priessnitz, without replying, looked
steadily at him for several minutes, and then
gave utterance to exactly the same opinion at
which the doctors had arrived after four hours
of earnest deliberation. Full of admiration, the
sufferer exclaimed : " How is it possible ?"
* Sir Charles Scudamore on " The ' Crisis ' in the Water-
Cure " (" Water-Cure Journal," Malvern, vol. i., 1847-48) :
" The very important matter of ' crisis ' is always sought
for with much solicitude by Priessnitz and patients."
7 8
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
Another gentleman arrived from Vienna after
having been brought very low by the ordinary
medical treatment he had undergone. Priessnitz
listened patiently to his complaints, and said
quietly : " You suffer from relaxation of the in-
testines. You will get well, but you must submit
to all you are told, and do it." The patient did
so, and soon left in perfect health.
The Chaplain of the Prussian Embassy in
Rome, Von Pabst, went, according to the advice
of five doctors, to Graefenberg, having been
treated for affection of the liver. He arrived
late one evening at Graefenberg, introduced
himself in a dimly-lighted room to Priessnitz,
told the history of his sufferings, and confessed
that he had come under protest, and only on
the doctors' advice, to try the water-cure, but
that he had made up his mind to go in for it
seriously. Priessnitz looked at him for awhile,
and at last said : " You do not suffer from the
liver only : your complaint is piles. You will see
it yourself in a few weeks." The result of the
treatment was as Priessnitz had predicted.
Priessnitz was never deceived by a blooming
appearance as to the state of a person's health,
and he gave proof of this in many instances.
One day some gentlemen were praising and
admiring the great beauty and healthy appearance
of a young girl who had come to stay with a
79
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
suffering relative, who was undergoing the water-
treatment. " Only appearance," said Priessnitz;
" in a week's time that young lady will be seriously
ill." He had predicted exactly what happened,
and it was many months before the young girl
was well again.
The following cases have been furnished by the
kindness of Mr. M. B. Tristram, who was under
Priessnitz in the year 1849, only two years before
the founder of hydropathy died :*
A captain of artillery in the Austrian army con-
sulted Priessnitz on some constant and severe
pains in the head from which he was suffering.
They were the effects of a cannon-ball passing in
close proximity to that part of his body. Priess-
nitz informed the young officer's relations that the
brain was irreparably injured, and that although
the patient was able to work out abstruse mathe-
matical problems, as before his accident, he would
die suddenly before long, which he did.
An English lady, married to an Italian noble-
man, came to Graefenberg to consult Priessnitz
about the health of one of her daughters, supposed
* " During my forty years' practice in London, I have come
in contact with a number of people who were under Priess-
nitz's treatment at Graefenberg, and could give endless cases
did space permit. However, I give the above in preference,
as Mr. Tristram, with his son and daughter, are now under-
going treatment in my establishment." R. M., December,
1896.
80
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
to be suffering from spinal disease. On entering
the room, Priessnitz at once said : " Yes, your
daughter is very ill ; in fact, she is so bad that I
am not certain to be able to cure her." The
mother interrupted him, saying : " You are mis-
taken : the one you are looking at is in perfect
health, very strong, a good walker and rider, and
has never had a day's illness in her life." " I
repeat," said Priessnitz, "that this young lady is
very seriously affected, and it will be advisable to
let her begin the cure at once. In a fortnight's
time the disease, which exists now in a latent form,
will then declare itself, and she will lose the use
of her limbs. As to her sister, I can promise to
set her right in a very short time."
Priessnitz's prognostication was fulfilled. For-
tunately, however, for the young lady, the treat-
ment proved so successful that after a few months
she was radically cured, and is living at the pre-
sent time and enjoying good health.
As regards his own case, Mr. Tristram says :
" After a stay of about a year in Ceylon, I was
ordered home by my doctor, being in a very bad
state of health, owing to repeated attacks of mala-
rial fever, followed by a bad attack of cholera. I
joined my parents, then residing at Florence, and
after a year and a half spent in that city and at
the baths of Lucca, my doctor gave me up in
despair, saying that he could do nothing more for
81 G
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
me, and, in fact, I was worse than when I first
went to him. He then recommended me to try
the water-cure, as being the only treatment likely
to benefit me.
" I was suffering from constant attacks of fever ;
my right arm had become almost powerless ; I
had an ulcerated throat, to which caustic was
applied twice a week, and I was altogether broken
down in health at the age of twenty-three. I
started for Graefenberg in 1848. On addressing
Priessnitz, he said that he did not require any
description of my symptoms, but that he would
see me in my bath the next morning. Accord-
ingly, I found him in the bath-room next morning.
I had to plunge into a tub of cold water for a few
seconds, then dry myself by flapping my sheet
with the help of the bathman.
" Then Priessnitz examined me carefully, not
allowing me to say a word. He then told me the
various ills I was suffering from, without missing
a single one. I was ordered a wet-sheet pack,
followed by a plunge into the big tub. That was
early in the morning. At n a.m. I had to take a
cold hip-bath for twenty minutes. In the after-
noon I had a rubbing with a dripping-sheet for
several minutes. I was ordered to go bare-necked
and very slightly clad, and after my treatment
had to walk briskly out of doors to obtain a good
reaction. Towards the latter end of my cure I
82
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
took a douche of icy-cold water, falling in a stream
from a height of twelve feet. I was completely
cured at the end of a little over two months. I
remained, however, a whole year at Graefenberg,
finding the life and society so pleasant, and the
place suiting me so well. I found there people
from all countries, and amongst them many of my
own countrymen. I had, therefore, many oppor-
tunities of judging hydropathic treatment, which
left no doubt in my mind as to its great value.
" I was amazed at Priessnitz's extraordinaty
ability in diagnosing human ailments, and at his
power of adapting the treatment to suit each
chronic case that came to him."
Priessnitz's mode of diagnosing his cases was
unique. He always superintended the administra-
tion of the first treatment given to a patient of
either sex, and in the majority of cases he pre-
scribed the treatment there and then, without
again attending personally to the treatment. In
difficult cases, however, he frequently saw the
treatment given, in order to observe the reaction-
ary powers of the skin.
I must say, judging from my own experience,
that nothing will afford a hydropathic practitioner
so much evidence of how the patient is progressing
as observing the skin while undergoing treatment,
and I am convinced that the success of Priessnitz
was due to his keen and penetrating power of
83 G 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
observation, coupled with his individual attention
to patients.
The observations which Priessnitz made at the
first bath enabled him to decide whether the
patient was fit or unfit for the water-cure. If the
skin, after the bath, was warm and supple, and if
the patient felt comfortable and refreshed, he was
a good subject for the cure. If, on the contrary,
the patient's skin remained dry and cold after the
first bath, and failed to show any heightened
activity, or if the patient felt weak and exhausted,
or his suffering limbs remained insensible to the
touch, then these symptoms were deemed of bad
augury for his progress towards health.*
Simultaneously with -the recognition of a disease,
there arose in Priessnitz's mind a distinct idea
of the mode of treatment in each case.
Priessnitz says : " When I examine a patient's
appearance, especially his eyes and his skin, I
see before me a picture, so to say, of his diseased
state ; I see what is the matter with him, and at
the same time the exact means to overcome the
disease which causes his sufferings. I then pre-
scribe accordingly."
His prescriptions were given verbally in presence
of the attendants. Both patient and attendant
* These cases, which were a difficulty with Priessnitz, are
now easily and successfully dealt with by the use of hot-air
baths as a preliminary to general cold treatment.
84
PRIESSNITZ' FAVOURITE BATH-ATTENDANTS.
(i) Attendant Habicht. (2) Anna Stiller. (3) Matern Priessnitz.
(4) Josef Hackenberg. (5) Pauline Koenig.
To face p. 84.
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
were under obligation faithfully to carry out these
orders. The attendant was forbidden to listen
to any objections or remonstrances from the
patient, who was only allowed any change in the
treatment by the express orders of Priessnitz
himself. It was the attendant's duty also to
report any deviation or non-observance on the
patient's part. If anybody showed signs of in-
subordination to these rules, or did he return to
his old and prejudicial ways of living, or, worse
still, tried some new method of his own, Priessnitz
told him kindly of the danger of doing so. When,
however, these remonstrances were ignored, the
unruly visitor was requested to leave the estab-
lishment.
The number of visits which Priessnitz paid to
his patients was determined by the nature and
gravity of their disease. If the malady was not
very serious or deep-seated, their doctor's first
visit was often his last.
In serious cases his patients could always count
on Priessnitz's careful and devoted attention.
He then came often, and it was deeply interesting
to watch the gifted man's behaviour on those
occasions. Silently he listened to the loudest
complaints, and if they were the result of imaginary
evils or self-indulgent habits, he prescribed calmly
and firmly the necessary treatment.
Patients who showed no energy to overcome
85
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
difficulties, persons of cowardly disposition, with
no strength of will or self-control, were not his
favourites, and he respected them but little. " To
use the water-cure, a person must have force of
will," he was wont to say. " Those who have
a weak character, or show no inclination to
strengthen it, had better remain away from the
water-cure." Of a lady who was not disposed
to submit to certain necessary hardships, and
thought the fare much too simple, he said : " She
would like me to offer her the whole water-cure
in a coffee-cup !"
True suffering met with sincere and warm
sympathy from Priessnitz. He tried by kind and
encouraging words to reconcile the sufferer to the
discomforts and hardships of the treatment. " It
is true," he often said, " my patients have a hard
time of it, but one cannot do too much for one's
health."
Priessnitz was admirable in moments of danger ;
he then displayed an unfailing energy, nursing the
sufferer himself if necessary, and preserving an
unalterable calm and confidence, which had the
happiest effect on the patient's mind, giving him
courage and confidence in his physician's ability.
In some cases he was like one inspired. Let
me give a few instances :
Mrs. E., who visited Graefenberg in the year
1839, suffered from chronic vertigo. One day the
86
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
cry was heard: "Mrs. E. is dead; she has had
an epileptic attack !" The lady had fallen uncon-
scious to the ground on the way to her apart-
ment and was cold and rigid. Priessnitz, who had
hastened to the spot, had her carried to her room,
put in a bath, and rubbed with wetted hands
uninterruptedly by four persons, adding his own
personal help. After five hours' unceasing rubbing
the tired-out attendants exclaimed : "It is use-
less : she is dead !" " No," replied Priessnitz
calmly, "she is not dead, but life is ebbing away.
Continue your work !" And until long after mid-
night the rubbing was continued, when Priessnitz,
feeling the pulse, joyfully exclaimed : " The victory
is ours ! Only go on rubbing ; at about three
o'clock she will become conscious."
About that hour Mrs. E. awoke. Soon after
she took some exercise in the fresh morning air,
dined in the large hall, and enjoyed good health
for many years after.
In one of the most distant houses of the colony
one of Priessnitz's special friends lay dangerously
ill with typhus fever. One evening, notwithstand-
ing every effort, he became worse and worse.
Priessnitz began to despair of his recovery, and
expressed the opinion to those present that death
would most likely ensue the same night. At
eleven o'clock, on Priessnitz's return home, he
paced restlessly up and down his room, and at
87
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
last went to bed. After a few moments' sleep he
jumped out of bed, called for his horse, and
hastened to the dying man's house.
Arrived there, he proceeded to give different
directions, and after two hours' unceasing labour,
in which he took an active part, the patient began
to show some signs of mending. As soon as
Priessnitz perceived this, he exclaimed : " Thank
God, he is saved !"
In some critical cases Priessnitz, with full
confidence in his principal remedy, did not
hesitate to have recourse to heroic treatment.
Amongst many others, his own child his eldest
daughter Sophie herself was treated in this way.
She had not quite recovered from an attack
of ague, when one cold night in autumn she was
awakened by cries of " Fire !" The sudden shock
caused her acute pains in the region of the chest.
Priessnitz, who had been employed during the
whole night in helping to extinguish the fire,
could only after all danger was over turn his
attention to his daughter. He prescribed wet
packs, followed by a tepid bath, and finally a
full bath of cold water. As the sufferer did not
get any better, he ordered dripping -sheets and
sitz-baths. But Sophie complained of increased
pains and difficulty in breathing. Priessnitz now
made her remain from three to four minutes in a
cold bath, followed by a bath of tepid water.
88
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
This treatment was repeated very many times
after each attack that day, whereupon the pains
and difficulty of breathing disappeared, and the
feeling of complete recovery began.
Most of the different maladies to which men are
subject, and often in their most repulsive forms,
had come under Priessnitz's experience. He tried
to trace innumerable diseases and infirmities to
their source, and to gain distinct fundamental
ideas as to the mode of treatment which ought to
guide a physician. He arrived on both points at
very original conclusions.*
The principal causes of disease and degeneration
in Europe were, in Priessnitz's opinion, immorality
and the poisoning of the system through the intro-
duction into the stomach of mineral medicines.
Medicines administered to alleviate disease have
the effect of augmenting existing trouble, because
the body cannot assimilate them, and they are
partially absorbed to the injury of the tissues of
the body.
The physician's duty is to try to get rid of
foreign matters from the body, and to substitute
* A distinguished medical man, while visiting Graefen-
berg, makes the following observations : " I hope my medical
and other readers will not run away with the idea that there
is no theory in Priessnitz's doings, and that it is all chance
work. They could not be more mistaken. I have convinced
myself at Graefenberg that Priessnitz has a reason for all he
does."
89
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
sound and healthy matter, and thus to enable the
human body to perform its functions regularly and
without hindrance. This can best be done by
suitable food, air, exercise, rest and water, which
are the natural requirements of man.
" The human body must be strengthened and
not weakened," said Priessnitz. " When the body
is sufficiently strong, it allows no pernicious
matters to remain in the system : it throws them
out."*
Priessnitz had not allowed his son to be vacci-
nated. He considered vaccination an encroach-
ment on Nature's salutary ways, and therefore
as a misfortune for mankind. " Small-pox," he
said, " is only dangerous and disfiguring because
people are wrongly treated. Vaccination seldom
* Edward Johnson, M.D., in his "Theory and Principles
of Hydropathy "(1852), draws an interesting parallel between
Baron Liebig and Priessnitz, showing how they both came
to the same conclusion as regards some of the great general
truths on the principles of hydropathy. He says : "The most
elaborate experiments and a vast amount of the most scien-
tific learning have taught Liebig ; strong powers of general
reasoning, acute observation, and long experience have
taught Priessnitz. The two have arrived at the same goal
by different roads. Priessnitz cannot give to his knowledge
a scientific expression ; but when Priessnitz declares, as he
does, that the application of cold water cures diseases by
strengthening general health and fortifying the system, and
when Liebig declares, as he does, that the abstraction of
heat cures diseases by exalting and accelerating the trans-
formation of tissues, the two do but give expression to the
same fact in different language."
9
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
eliminates from the system the noxious matter ac-
cumulated therein. This matter is the foundation
of scrofula, herpetic eruptions, hip disease, and
other complaints. Those who have been vacci-
nated easily fall victims to those diseases. To
anyone who disbelieves my statement, I am ready
to show thousands of letters to prove the truth
of it."
" Physicians abroad," he continued, " do not
believe that small-pox has ever been seen at Graef-
enberg ; neither do they believe that this disease
can be cured with cold water. There are, how-
ever, several medical men whom I have called on
purpose to witness the proceedings, and they can
confirm the fact of small-pox cases at Graefenberg,
and also that I have cured them all ; that never a
small-pox patient has died here ; that there has
never been any disfigurement ; and, further, that
every symptom of the special illness for which
these persons came to Graefenberg disappeared
at the same time."
On being questioned how he treated these
patients, he replied : " I usually had them put,
three times a day, into linen sheets wrung out of
cold water, and changed every thirty minutes until
the fever abated ; then had them bathed in tepid
water (62 to 64 Fahr.). I gave the patients good
nourishing diet and cold water to drink. They
were, of course, at liberty to change their linen,
9 1
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
but the windows had to remain open. With this
treatment the sick ones all recovered, and scarcely
ever an attendant caught the disease."
Simple as Priessnitz's fundamental ideas were,
the means which he employed in his treatment,
and by which he effected the marvellous cures,
have since astonished the world. These means,
in connection with those ideas, were : Cold water,
adequate food, exercise in the open air, and rubbing
with the flat hand.
Next to fresh air and light, Priessnitz found his
principal healing agent in water. He saw no
growth, no well-being, no life, without water. In
scientific knowledge of the chemical components
of this so-called element there were many far in
advance of him ; but no one in the world could
touch him as regards an intimate knowledge of
the effects of water upon the animal organism.
His vast experience had revealed to him the great
healing-power of water, and his desire to serve
humanity by alleviating its sufferings had shown
him the varied ways in which it might be applied.
In some cases he made use of it in order to
dissolve certain matters, in others to strengthen
and to soothe the system, and, in others again, he
used it with great success to allay inflammation.
He prescribed water to be taken internally as well
as applied externally.
As a beverage, cold water is refreshing to the
92
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
human body. It dilutes the blood, refreshes and
purifies it, stimulates the appetite, and promotes
digestion, dissolves foreign matters, and vivifies
the whole organism.
Priessnitz recommended the drinking of cold
water, and in some cases prescribed large quan-
tities of it.
Externally, he brought the water in contact with
the body in various ways : by means of douches,
cold full-baths, tepid and sitz-baths, foot, head
and eye baths, and other partial baths. Also
through packing in wet-sheets, compresses, band-
ages, and finally through injections.
The cold-water bath in the large bath and the
douche he prescribed in cases where he wanted
to give a shock to the whole system, and bring
about a better circulation. The douche he ordered
specially in deep-seated affections, in obstinate
cases of insufficient circulation, and to bring about
a crisis.
When he wanted to quiet the cerebro-spinal
nerves by accelerating the circulation in the abdo-
men, he usually ordered a tepid or cold sitz-bath.
If his object was to bring the blood to the surface
so as to obtain a good reaction in an anaemic or
weakly body, he prescribed a rubbing with the wet-
sheet, accompanied by friction. A linen sheet,
dipped in cold water, was well wrung out and put
round the patient, who was in an upright position,
93
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
and who had wetted previousl)' his face and chest.
The attendant then rubbed, quickly and briskly,
each separate part. The packing in wet-sheets
generally preceded water ablutions. It served to
soothe the body as well as to draw out noxious
matters. It had, besides, the object of promoting
the action of the skin, and thus making the after-
bath more effective. The sheets the patients were
packed in, after having been used, were frequently
marked with different coloured spots, and had a
strong and most offensive odour.
If a patient suffered from a hard and dry skin,
or was inclined to be feverish, Priessnitz ordered
several packs to succeed each other before the
bath. For the pack a thick blanket was spread
over the mattress, a well-wrung-out sheet put on
the top, the patient tightly wrapped in this sheet
and blanket, besides being carefully covered with
more blankets, and thus left for thirty or forty
minutes.
The waist bandage, which had rendered Priess-
nitz such good service in his youth after his serious
accident, was prescribed to all who suffered from
complaints in the abdominal regions. In fact,
nearly all his patients had to wear this bandage
to facilitate digestion, and aid the action of the
bowels, and to draw to the surface rashes in
other words, a crisis.
This bandage, called " Neptune's belt " by the
94,
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
patients, was a linen or cotton strip a little over
a quarter of a yard wide, and long enough to go
three times round the body. A third part of it
is wrung tightly out of cold water. When dry,
it is re-wetted, and is in many cases worn night
and day. Many adherents of the water - cure
continue to wear these bandages long after they
have left Graefenberg. If Priessnitz discerned
some local trouble which was not merely a
symptom of some other disease, but independent
thereof (as cystic tumours), he ordered cold com-
presses. The compress has the same effect on
each separate part as the pack has on the whole
body : it tends to draw deleterious matter to the
surface.
Notwithstanding the great apparent simplicity
of these various applications, it is not easy to
choose in each case the appropriate one.
Priessnitz scarcely ever failed in choosing the
right one.
Through Priessnitz, who tried the curative
effects of cold water on himself, and on many
thousands of patients, the water-cure has been,
and will be, handed down to posterity.
95
CHAPTER VII
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE continued.
PRIESSNITZ resorted extensively to rubbing
with the flat hand. He recognised the
beneficial effects of manipulative friction as a
curative agent.
Personally, Priessnitz exercised a powerful
influence on his patients, both by his look and
by the touch of his hand.
One of his earnest looks was sufficient to make
a spoiled and enervated patient do things without
a murmur which under ordinary circumstances,
and under another doctor, would have called forth
energetic opposition, and even hysterical attacks.
There were, of course, many cases in which
Priessnitz, neither with his hands nor by any
other means, was able to succeed in doing good.
But as long as there remained hope, this man,
of essentially practical mind, tried to help the
sufferer, and many owed their lives to his untiring
energy. A Countess T. was amongst the number.
96
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
This lady had been given up by her doctors, and
was on her way to Graefenberg as a last hope.
She had arrived at Freiwaldau in such a state
of collapse as to cause fears that her illness might
at any moment terminate fatally. Priessnitz,
with the help of attendants, tried in vain to
restore vitality to her rigid body, using means
which had proved successful in similar cases.
Suddenly he asked the countess's maid how her
mistress had felt during the journey. On hearing
that the lady had been comparatively well, he
at once ordered a carriage. The sufferer was
carefully put into it, and driven about for several
hours in the night air. Before her return con-
sciousness was restored, and the countess was
so far recovered as to allow Priessnitz to begin
the actual treatment. The means he now em-
ployed proved so successful, that a few months
later the lady had completely recovered, and
eventually became the mother of several healthy
children.
The extreme simplicity of the treatment has
misled many. Such prescribe, perhaps with the
help of a printed manual, for themselves and
others. Bitter disappointment has often been
the result of such proceedings. After very few
experiments, it will become apparent to anyone
that the hydropathic treatment must be regulated
by the requirements of every individual case. It
97 H
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
is not a matter of small importance how to apply
water. For instance, a headache can be cured
by applying cold water; but whether to use a
foot-bath or a head-bath or a compress has to
be determined by the origin of the headache,
whether it proceeds from local anaemia, or from
too plentiful feeding, from a chill, or from over-
heating, whether from too much or too little
sleep. Many an enthusiastic believer in the
water-cure has been turned against it through
his own injudicious treatment. Priessnitz often
complained about this matter, and argued against
books on the water-cure being used by the public.
A doctor in Breslau had treated two children
suffering from scarlet fever with cold water so
clumsily that both died, and the unhappy father
published the whole case in a leading paper. One
of his patients read this article to Priessnitz, asking
him if he knew Dr. B. " Oh yes," was the reply ;
" he has been at Graefenberg some time, to study
the water-cure."
" If all your pupils are like him, they cannot
give you much satisfaction," remarked another
visitor.
" It is too vexing," said Priessnitz : " it is always
professors of medicine who are my worst pupils."
There is not much harm done in dabbling with
water in slight matters, such as contusions or
bruises, but it is very different in serious cases,
98
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
where a crisis is brought about by the efforts of the
internal organs to eject noxious matters from the
body. The symptoms preceding a crisis are often
alarming to the layman. The patient feels very
uncomfortable, becomes depressed, and loses his
appetite, complains of sleeplessness, of hot and
cold shivers, and often is seized with violent fever.
The novice in hydropathy loses presence of mind
in such cases ; the non-medical man becomes
completely helpless ; the doctor has recourse to
his accustomed remedies, without much success
under existing circumstances. Priessnitz, on the
contrary, showed his real greatness in these
moments. However alarming or unexpected the
symptoms, either before or after the crisis, might
be, he never lost presence of mind, nor calmness
and confidence. His vast experience had taught
him how to deal with them.* Frequently he was
heard to say : " Anything brought forth by water,
the water will cure !"
" It is terrible how I suffer," a patient belonging
to the upper classes said one day. " My nerves
* John Gibbs, "Letters from Graefenberg ": It is prin-
cipally in the treatment of these symptoms that Priessnitz
should be seen ; then his tact, his penetration, his presence
of mind, and his master hand, cannot but excite feelings of
admiration ; then will be displayed his unparalleled calm
assurance ; then he will show how successfully he can master
the storm and distance the danger, and this by means of the
cold water which has caused it.
99 H 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
are in a perpetual state of irritation. I fear a
nervous fever may ensue."
Priessnitz looked a few seconds at the faint-
hearted patient, who cowered under that calm
gaze, and then said smilingly : " If only you could
get a good regular nervous fever, that is exactly
what I have been wanting for you : that would be
the best kind of crisis for you, and you would
then get well in a short time."
The poor nervous patient looked tremblingly
at Priessnitz, and murmured scarcely audibly :
But "
Priessnitz instantly comforted him, saying :
" You imagine you would die ! Don't be afraid :
nobody has yet died with me of nervous fever."
During the summer of the year 1851 a young
lady of unusual beauty became blind. The whole
colony deplored this misfortune, for she had en-
deared herself to many through the charm and
sweetness of her disposition. The parents were
in despair. Priessnitz tried to comfort them by
assuring them that in this case it was only a crisis,
and that by the autumn she would be well, and
have regained her sight.
Their confidence thus restored, they waited
patiently for the fulfilment of the great doctor's
words. But week after week passed, and no im-
provement took place. The month of August had
come ; the hope of recovery had in the meanwhile
100
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
grown fainter and fainter. On the other hand,
the necessity for leaving Graefenberg became
urgent. Finally, the departure was fixed for the
Monday of the ensuing week. On the Sunday
the blind girl expressed a wish for the last time
to visit the Prussian spring, a spot she had
often visited with much pleasure before she lost
her sight. Accordingly, the father and mother
accompanied their child to the spring. Full of
sad and anxious thoughts, they rested on the
marble seat in the shade of those magnificent firs,
when a sudden glad cry roused them from their
reverie : " Father, mother, I can see !" How
can one describe the feeling of deep gratitude
with which these three happy people returned to
Graefenberg and to their benefactor ?
It was not only in moments of danger that
Priessnitz showed his strength of mind. Each
day, when prescribing for his patients, he gave the
impression of an interesting personality. He had
no special hour or place for seeing his patients.
He prescribed at night and by day, out of doors
or in his house, in the street, in the sick-room, at
balls, at meals. Wherever he showed himself he
was immediately surrounded by patients, or some
attendants came who had either some report to
make or orders to ask for. On these occasions he
seldom entered into conversation, and was chary
of words. Many complaints have been made on
101
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
this subject. It is no doubt desirable to be ex-
plicit when prescribing ; with a little detailed
explanation on his part many a mistake might
have been avoided.
Priessnitz's crisis was an extra-functional effort
of the internal organs to get rid of morbid matter.
It was set in motion by a deliberate, methodical
treatment developed and pursued by Vincent
Priessnitz termed by the scientific world,
" Hydrotherapia " which comprises all "natural"
remedial means, but chiefly the regulated use
externally of pure water, of fresh air, of skin fric-
tions and kneadings, of clothing, and internally of
simple diet, of pure water-drinking, of injections,
all used in judicious conjunction with open air
(preferably hillside walking) exercise, and open air
rest.
Crisis, effected by the water-cure, assumes many
forms, some of which I may mention : Efflo-
rescence of the skin, scattered itching eruptions,
feverishness, critical sweating of glutinous acid or
foetid matter, boils, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea,
vicarious discharge from the liver and kidneys,
local eruptions, and several other minor disturb-
ances of the body, which are difficult to enumerate,
but can easily be detected by a skilful hydropathic
practitioner.
Briefly stated, a series of abnormal symptoms
constitutes an acute disease. These symptoms
102
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
are due to a morbid condition of some of the
organs of the body.
If the efforts employed to get rid of the derange-
ment be only partially successful, the symptoms
become more or less of a permanent character,
and the disease is then termed chronic. Disease
is curable when and just in so far as the system is
or can be made sufficiently strong to eject all
morbid matter, and to rebuild healthily the parts
where the morbid matter rested ; but disease is
incurable when any serious change of structure
has taken place.
The aim of treatment should be to aid the
development of the latent powers of the system
to rid its organs of mischief. That mischief
usually consists in the congestion or anaemia of
some internal organ to the detriment of other
parts of the body. The circulation of the blood
is under the influence of the nervous system,
whose power and efforts must be directed to
strengthen and arouse the vascular structures to
dissipate all morbid matter ; hence curative action
is effected through the instrumentality of the
nervous system. Violent and sudden stimulation
of the nerves is followed by exhaustion, inflam-
mation, and congestion ; but the gradual and
judiciously regulated stimulation of the nervous
system by hydropathic means conduces to the
development and maintenance of its strength.
103
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Organic life depends for its existence upon pure
water, pure air, proper diet, regulated exercise
and rest ; and these are the chief agents in effect-
ing the cure of disease, inasmuch as they aid the
normal efforts of the body through the instru-
mentality of the nerve force.
In the due apportionment of these agents,
according to the powers of the constitution and
the phases of disease as ascertained by medical
examination, consists the scientific and the safe
practice of the water-cure.
The result of hydropathic treatment is shown
in one of the following ways :
1. The re-establishment of obstructed and sup-
pressed secretions ;
2. The elimination of diseased matters through
the bowels, kidneys, or skin ;
3. The formation of a critical action of some
sort on the skin.
Such results constitute the crisis of the water-
cure.
The crisis, being the result of the intrinsic
efforts of the vital organs, is to be viewed as the
signal of their relief.
A crisis being the evidence of cure of the internal
disease, no recurrence of the latter is to be appre-
hended unless the morbid causes are reapplied.
It is, however, possible, and in a great number
of cases it happens, that complete recovery from
104
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
disease is effected by a slow process, without any
perceptible evidence of a crisis, either external or
internal.
The skilful manner in which Priessnitz applied
his treatment so as to induce a crisis, and the
medical intelligence exhibited in regulating his
applications to each patient so as to achieve a
successful issue, were unique. It is questionable
whether there has ever been another man born
possessing the same amount of insight and
originality in dealing with human ailments.
Mr. John Greaves, of Leamington, published
a reprint of the work by Sir John Floyer, M.D.,
and Dr. Baynard, in 1844, after having been
restored to complete health, as a grateful acknow-
ledgment of what hydropathic treatment had
done for him. The following is an extract from
the preface :
" In my seventieth year I was induced by the
earnest recommendations of a much - esteemed
friend, who had, during a residence of upwards
of twelve months at Graefenberg, witnessed the
wonderful power of the system, to place myself
in the Prestbury Hydropathic Establishment,
Cheshire.
" I was labouring under a serious affection of
the heart, of long standing, great general debility,
irregularity of all the secretions, dropsy in my
legs, and fearful despondency. I was cased in
105
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
flannel, and doomed to almost total inaction.
Many were the warnings I received from medical
advisers and friends against the application of
the cold-water system ; but having already ex-
perienced the incompetency of medicine to arrest
the progress of my disease, I resolved to judge for
myself.
" On the 24th of October, eight days after
having commenced the treatment, I was enabled
to discontinue the use of flannel next the skin,
where I had worn it for thirty years, my digestion
was restored, and the whole character of my
feelings was undergoing a change. It was now
plain that those who had learnedly declaimed
so much against hydropathy could have had no
practical knowledge of its scientific application.
The manner in which one part of the treatment
followed another, without offering the slightest
shock to my system, secured my confidence.
" In less than ten weeks the dropsy in the legs
had entirely disappeared, a numbness only re-
maining which continued gradually to yield, and
ultimately, on January n, I was enabled to return
home with a constitution renovated, the functions
of the body regular, and my mind free from those
depressed emotions under which it had so long
laboured. What has been thus blessedly accom-
plished for me at Prestbury may likewise be
effected for others, not at Prestbury only, but
106
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
at any establishment where the air is equally
salubrious, the water equally pure, and the
system equally well administered. Nine months
have now elapsed since I took leave of Prestbury,
during which time I have continued to enjoy
uninterrupted health of body and tranquillity of
mind."
" The principle of scientific hydropathy that
is, the renewal of the body by water and food
the increase of growth secondary to the increase
of moulting is no quackery. It is not an under-
hand mode of doing nothing . . . but a bond fide
use of a powerful agent." SIR T. KING CHAMBERS,
F.R.C.P., etc., " Renewal of Life," p. 369.
107
CHAPTER VIII
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE continued
ONE powerful remedy which helped Priess-
nitz in his cures was the pure air of
Graefenberg.
Fresh air is, like water, essential to the well-
being of mankind, and the quality of the air lived
in not only exercises an immediate effect on the
process of respiration, but on the action of the
blood, and influences considerably the mental dis-
position. Vitiated air weakens the nerves, inter-
feres with the digestion, and encourages hypo-
chondria, while pure air facilitates all the functions
and makes folk light-hearted and cheerful. This
was the reason why Priessnitz insisted so ener-
getically on abundant fresh air for his patients.
He advised them to be careful to ensure good
ventilation in their dwellings in all seasons, night
and day. If he found in a sick-room doors and
windows closed, he mildly remonstrated, and, if
necessary, he sharply reproved such injurious
108
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
habits. He often opened a window himself to
give access to the outer air. He was pleased
when his patients spent the greater part of the
day out of doors, and it was surprising to see the
rapid progress those made who, during the water-
cure, went out of doors as much as possible. To
assure the complete success of a cure it is not
only necessary to be out of doors, but to take a
great deal of bodily exercise.*
Exercise is necessary to ensure warmth after a
cold or tepid bath. Those who from various
reasons were unable to move about sufficiently,
had to split and saw wood, and were ordered
gymnastic exercise.
When able to do so, patients were encouraged
to take long walks in the early morning (during
the summer months they started at 4 a.m.). A
stranger would have been surprised to see Graef-
enberg at that time : everybody seemed to be
about, and an active life reigned throughout the
colony. It seemed, indeed, especially dedicated
to the regeneration of poor ailing mankind. Moun-
tain scenery, as a rule, makes a deeper impression
on the hearts of men than a flat, monotonous
* Priessnitz did not approve of warm or heavy clothing
for his patients. Nobody, even in winter, which is very
severe at Graefenberg, was allowed to wear flannel under-
clothing. People went about with their necks bare, and the
men wore no ties, and only a few wore waistcoats. Plentiful
exercise in the open air had to supply the necessary warmth.
109
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
country, and this is especially the case with Graef-
enberg. An indescribably poetic charm pervades
this lovely spot ; the mountains are not rugged,
nor of excessive height, and beautiful pine-woods
cover them up to their summit. And these woods
how cool and balmy !* How richly peopled
with legends of past centuries ! How soothing to
body and mind to dwell amongst their shade,
never to be forgotten by those who have once
been there ! Nor must the delicious water of the
Graefenberg springs be ignored. In other coun-
tries the tired wanderer often sighs for the clear
water of a mountain stream to assuage his thirst
and refresh his weary limbs. Not so at Graefen-
berg. Here every hundred yards the bountiful
earth sends the most delicious water forth for your
refreshment unstintingly.
Priessnitz prescribed for the benefit of his
patients a simple and nourishing diet of vegetable
and animal food.
Scientific men are generally agreed that the
higher animals, and especially man, require for
their food varied kinds of nourishment.
By experience Priessnitz arrived at the same
conclusions. For breakfast he ordered milk and
bread-and-butter, which contain most of the neces-
* The Graefenberg forests are the property of the Archi-
episcopal See of Breslau, with free and unlimited access for
the public.
110
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
sary ingredients. Milk alone, being composed of
sugar and the component parts of butter and
cheese, contains sufficient nourishment in itself to
be a universal food. The aromatic wood straw-
berries, which are gathered in quantities in the
pine-forests from the middle of May to the middle
of October, form an indispensable item of the
Graefenberg breakfast, to which are added honey
and fresh eggs.
According to his arrangement, the dinner at
Graefenberg consisted generally of one course of
meat and vegetables, and of one course of what in
this country would be called a milk-pudding. On
Fridays was added to this a course of trout, and
on Sundays a second course of meat. The bread
was the ordinary mixed household bread, made of
coarse rye flour, mixed with a little leaven of
groats.*
He used to say : " The groat leaven in the bread
is the same for the human body as the little stones
are for poultry, and the sand-grains for birds."
Together with an otherwise well-regulated diet,
this bread proves to be very beneficial to patients
suffering from troubles of the bowels, and it cured
young Prince Lichtenstein entirely of chronic
constipation. This prince derived the greatest
advantage from the diet prescribed for him by
* Latterly the excellent Graham bread has taken its place,
III
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Priessnitz, as well as from the cold-water treat-
ment in general.
Some patients took their food nearly, others
quite, cold. Priessnitz made an observation
which a century earlier the celebrated Hahn had
made before him. Animals whose intestines
resemble closely those of the human body, when
fed with warm fodder, become weak and tender.
He had therefore a great objection to anything
being taken hot, and soup was banished altogether
from the Graefenberg dinner-table.
During cold-water treatment, as we have already
remarked, the entire organism is in a heightened
state of activity. The process of secretion is ac-
celerated, as well as the circulation of the blood
to the capillaries, and the natural result is the
sensation of increased appetite.*
* When hydropathy was first introduced into England, a
similar diet was observed with the same excellent results,
although the food was perhaps a trifle less rough, and better
prepared. People have complained that Priessnitz paid little
attention to the quality of the food, insisting especially on
the quantity consumed. As far as my opinion is concerned,
I rather endorse the plan of quantity versus quality. The
fact of the heightened state of activity of the whole organism
during the water-cure makes it of primary importance that
the waste of the body should not exceed the supply ; so,
judging from his great success, it seems evident that Priess-
nitz's view on the subject was correct. In most hydropathic
establishments on the Continent the same strict rules as to
diet are observed, whilst in England, I am sorry to say,
many of our so-called hydros are really hotels and boarding-
112
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
The gigantic appetite of his patients, the wish
on Priessnitz's part to allow them fully to satisfy
it, and finally the colossal provision therefor in
the kitchen, made meals at Graefenberg a curious
and unique spectacle.
The large dining -hall contained three, four,
and, during the summer season, five large tables.
Between three and four hundred persons of both
sexes, of all ages, classes, and nations, assembled
there at meal-time (2 p.m.). Soon after the first
bell they began to drop in. To fill up the time
till dinner was served, some played battledore
and shuttlecock, laughing and shouting ; others
ran up and down the hall to get warm after their
cold sitz - baths. Some exercised their mental
digestion by reading bits from the daily papers
of all nations, which covered a large round table,
while others conversed in tones which, amidst
the hubbub, were not of the softest.*
Soon after the second bell appeared the waitresses
with the dishes. They were welcomed by the
hungry crowd, and as each hastened to his or
her own place at table, the huge hall was for
houses, providing elaborate menus with every imaginable
delicacy. R. M.
* John Gibbs, "Letters from Graefenberg": At dinner
were between two and three hundred persons of all ages and
all ranks who, with perhaps a dozen exceptions, were in-
valids, a circumstance which no one unacquainted with the
fact would have suspected.
113 I
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
a few moments the scene of much activity. Once
arrived at their destination, only one idea took
possession of each individual. All convention-
ality was forgotten, the exigencies of polite society
were, so to say, buried in oblivion, and man's
primitive condition, only bent on satisfying hunger,
triumphed for a short time over all other con-
siderations. The simple costermonger entirely
ignored his neighbour, the ex-Minister of State,
and the fiery Southerner seemed unaware of
having at his side a lovely and delicate daughter
of Albion. Hunger, the autocrat, reigned supreme,
and everyone was bent on paying homage to the
mighty sovereign.*
Priessnitz enjoyed seeing his patients eat as
much as possible yea, even more than enough
sometimes. Dr. Selinger, who on this point did
not share his friend's ideas, and did not approve
of the ways of some of the visitors, ventured to
remark on it occasionally. But Priessnitz always
took the hungry patients' part, and could never
be made to see that over-eating could do harm
while under the water-cure.
* R. T. Claridge, Esq. : " I can testify that what I
saw at the dinner-table at Graefenberg surpassed all my
expectations, for everybody ate with such appetites and in
such quantities that, but for my conviction of being amongst
invalids labouring under all kinds of diseases (most of which
were thought incurable by the most celebrated and clever of
the faculty), I should have thought they were a number of
workmen, perfectly robust and healthy."
114
MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE
The cold-water cure makes great demands on
the patient's energy and perseverance, and imposes
on him much self-denial and self-control. It
is interesting to note how differently persons
of different nationalities, of different sex and
classes of society, behaved during the treatment.
After many years' experience and observation,
Priessnitz made the following remarks on this
subject :
The least energy and perseverance is shown
by Israelites and Russians. Next come Danes
and Swedes, while greater endurance is shown
by Germans and Magyars. After these follow
Spaniards, Italians, Americans, English, French,
and Poles.
In general, patients from southern climates
make quicker and more thorough cures than
patients from cold countries. Once the fear of
cold water is overcome, women are more perse-
vering and courageous than men. The clergy
lose the necessary courage soonest ; men belong-
ing to the military profession latest.
The greatest opposition to the water-cure is
found amongst the middle classes and poor people.
The well-to-do tradesman despises it as being
cheap, and therefore worthless. The poor man
is suspicious, fearing that water instead of medicine
is prescribed in order to save the expense. But
the praise of many thousand persons who have
115 12
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
regained their health at Graefenberg has re-
sounded in all parts of the globe.
In the eleven years 1831 - 1841 over 7,219
strangers visited Graefenberg for the water-cure.
A majority of these cases were considered very
bad or hopeless by their medical attendants, and
yet only thirty -eight deaths occurred amongst
them, the average age at death being over forty
years, and most of these cases were of an utterly
hopeless nature on their arrival at Graefenberg,
where they insisted on remaining, when Priessnitz
unwillingly acceded to their entreaties to try and
relieve some of the symptoms.*
* James Wilson, "The Water-Cure," 4th edition, London,
1842. Condensed from pp. 30-32.
116
X
3
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_ol C
CHAPTER IX
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
IN this chapter I give a full translation of
Colonel Ripper's famous " open missive
letter," which has now passed through nearly
fifty editions. It contains a complete and in-
teresting account of Priessnitz's mode of treat-
ment, and of the applications as used by him.
This document is of special interest, as it shows
that the hydropathist, Father Kneipp, from whose
great work in aid of suffering humanity we have
no wish to detract, is not, as he has been called,
a new health apostle, but an able and enthusiastic
follower of his great predecessor, Vincent Priess-
nitz, whose work he took up where Priessnitz
left it. Father Kneipp has chosen to invest old
well-known appliances, which he uses with new
names. The obscure " little book," which re-
vealed to him the excellency of the water treat-
ment, and by means of which he saved his own
life, as he tells us himself, was, no doubt, one
117
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
of the many pamphlets or handbooks on the
subject which appeared during Priessnitz's life-
time. Hydropathy had been introduced into this
country, and the appliances which Father Kneipp
claims as his own invention were in use in the
United Kingdom where the hydropathic system
was carried out in its entirety before Father
Kneipp was heard of.
The herb-cure which Father Kneipp includes in
his " new treatment " had also been practised
with a certain amount of success, as I ascertained
during my recent visit to Graefenberg, curiously
enough in that same district, by a man of humble
birth, a contemporary of Vincent Priessnitz.
" {Forty-third Edition^
" Open Missive Letter to Father Kneipp by Colonel
Ripper.
" GRAEFENBERG,
"September, 1893.
" Nothing is further from me in writing these
lines than any feeling of animosity ; on the con-
trary, as son-in-law of Vincent Priessnitz, I feel
grateful to you for having given a fresh impulse to
hydropathy, and I fully recognise your merit in
having achieved so many successful cures.
" But nevertheless I owe it to the memory of
my father-in-law, whose whole life, from his earliest
manhood, was devoted to the interest of suffering
118
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
humanity, to address you the following lines. Not
only myself, but a great number of admirers and
friends of the method of healing by water, which
is solely based on the laws of Nature, have been
painfully impressed by the fact of your omitting
to mention, even by a word, in any of the twenty-
two editions of your work, ' My Water-Cure,' the
founder and inventor of the water-cure, Vincent
Priessnitz.*
" The recognition by you of the merits of the
Father of Hydropathy would not have diminished
your own fame in any way ; on the contrary, it
would have enhanced it.
" I do not for a moment entertain the idea that
you wish to be looked upon as the messenger of a
new gospel of healing, although you so carefully
avoid mentioning in any way Priessnitz and his
method of curing with water. By ignoring your
great and far-famed predecessor, you do not, believe
me, reverend sir, add to your own greatness. The
cause of hydropathy and its adherents would have
been much furthered if you had contented your-
self with adding to the fair edifice as you found it.
People expected that at least you would have
shown sufficient courtesy to the memory of Priess-
nitz to mention his name honourably in the lectures
* Having carefully read this book, which is perhaps not
generally known in England, I corroborate the above state-
ment.
119
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
you gave in Austria, whose son he is, a son of
whom his country has a right to be justly proud.
You preferred, however, not to do so. When, in
your twenty-eighth year, you were struck down
with sickness, so serious as to be given up by the
doctors, a booklet fell into your hands, as you
state on page 2 of your work, ' quite accidentally,'
in the year 1848, which treated of the water-cure,
and through which, after studying it, you entirely
cured yourself.*
" As the work named is rather voluminous, con-
taining 290 pages, and therefore cannot be called
a ' small unsightly booklet,' I herewith, in the
interest of historical truth and justice, ask you to
name the book and its real title. Might it not
rather have been one of the numerous booklets or
pamphlets which appeared before 1848 on Priess-
nitz and his method of healing in Germany, and
especially in Bavaria and elsewhere ?
" Priessnitz, like yourself, cured himself when
given up by the doctors, with the only difference
that he had no book on the water-cure to help him,
but only his own great and powerful mind, which
inspired him to read the book of Nature, and there-
from to learn and understand the truth.
* Some people thought this book had been a work by
Dr. J. S. Hahn : " Instructions on the Power and Effect of
Cold Water," published at Breslau and Leipzig by Daniel
Pietsch, 1749, m tne German language.
120
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
" Only through his own exertions, not suddenly,
only by degrees, and through continued experi-
ments, Priessnitz acquired his knowledge of the
different ways of applying cold water. In the
beginning of his career he used a sponge, with
which he bathed the parts injured by contu-
sions, or otherwise wounded, applying also com-
presses.
" Later on, when sought by people suffering from
gout, he let them perspire, covered with feather
beds, and after that he gave them first tepid and
then cold baths, in a big washtub, letting them
be well rubbed whilst in the bath.
" Mr. T. Knur, from Kuchelnau, near Ratibor in
Prussian Silesia, a gentleman in the employ of
Prince Lichnowski, wrote, in 1830, a detailed
account of this matter to Professor Oertel, of
Anspach, who quotes it in his work in German,
' The Latest Water-Cures ' (Part III., page 17,
published by F. Campe, Nuremberg, 1830).
" In consequence of complaints made by a local
doctor, the suspected sponge and some of the
Graefenberg water were chemically analyzed in
the presence of the Freiwaldau magistrates.
Nothing unusual was discovered either in water
or sponge ; nevertheless Priessnitz was forbidden
the use of the latter. From that time forward
Priessnitz only used the flat hand to rub his
patients, and was even more successful than before,
121
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
as now ' life came upon life,' or ' flesh upon flesh,'
as he quaintly expressed himself.
" In order not to make the patient's skin sore
with protracted rubbing, Priessnitz had a linen
sheet, wrung out more or less dry, wrapped round
the patient, either in a sitting or reclining posi-
tion. Out of this proceeding evolved eventually
the very efficient and frequently used friction with
a wet -sheet (' abreibung '), the slapping with the
wet-sheet ('abklatschen '), and stripping off the wet-
sheet (' abstreifen '). Later on Priessnitz ordered
some patients to be wrapped in blankets and
well covered over with feather beds, to promote
perspiration by a dry process. Previous to the
wrapping in blankets, the suffering parts of the
patient's body were covered with a wet compress
in order to stimulate the action of the skin on the
inert and suffering limbs, which, after some time,
always proved successful.
" One of the patients, who, with the exception of
his head, which in consequence of congestions was
in a permanent state of perspiration, could not be
got to perspire, although covered with numerous
blankets and feather beds, gave Priessnitz the idea
to try what might be called a compress on a large
scale, and to obtain for the entire body the same
result as had partially been achieved with the
compress.
" He ordered the patient to be wrapped entirely,
122
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
with the exception of the head, in a well-wrung-
out wet sheet, the blanket and the bedding to
be arranged as usual afterwards. While in this
pack the patient's head, which was hot and per-
spiring, was bathed constantly with cold water.
After some time of this treatment Priessnitz suc-
ceeded in getting this patient into regular perspi-
rations, which resulted by degrees in a complete
cure. The outcome of this experience was the
perspiring in wet-sheets, and what is known as
the pack.*
" Owing to mistakes and disobedience on the
part of some patients, Priessnitz discovered many
different hydropathic appliances ; but solely by
his own observations and keen insight did he come
to these conclusions, the outcome of which were :
The head-bath, the cold full bath, the tepid,
* Drs. James Wilson and Manby Gully (father of the
present Speaker of the House of Commons), in their in-
teresting book, "The Practice of the Water-Cure," published
at Malvern in 1846, call the pack "the crowning discovery
of the water-cure"; and, further, "Whatever additional
discoveries may be made, or improvements introduced
into the practice of the water-cure, Priessnitz will always
deserve the credit of having established and put together
a system of treatment which, when contemplated by the
physiological eye, is beautiful in its power, efficacy, and
simplicity, but whose value can only be appreciated to its
fullest extent by those who understand and have made the
human body their study, and at the same time are enabled to
compare it with the results of medicinal treatment by having
practised both."
123
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
shallow, sitz, eye, foot, leg, arm, elbow, hand,
mouth, nose, sole, dew, air-water,* sun, and
alternating baths ; the half-bath, the douches, as
well as various kinds of compresses, such as (a)
The damp anti-inflammatory; (b) the soothing,
warming ; (c) the warmth-producing compress ;
the abdominal, eye, cross bandages ; the compress
on the calf of the leg, and on other parts of the
body. Furthermore, various injections, and also
that most useful and beneficial rubbing in and
after the bath.
" As mentioned already, Priessnitz invented the
sweating, not only in dry blankets, but also in
wet-sheets, also the slight perspiration to warm
the body up. Furthermore, the half and three-
quarter packs, which only leave the arms free,
the trunk pack, and for nervous and delicate
persons the beneficent and shallow tepid bath
immediately after getting out of bed. He ordered
in some cases sponging of the whole body, and
of separate parts ; the pouring over of cold water ;
enemas ; the temporary wearing of wet shirts by
night and by day, and in certain cases patients
had to go bareheaded and barefooted. His
principle was to strengthen the body, in order
to enable it to eject noxious matters. He
recognised also the existence of purely nervous
diseases.
* With open windows, to obtain plentiful access of oxygen.
124
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
" Another rule of his was to use in acute diseases
only tepid, never cold, water, with the exception
of a few, amongst which was cholera.
" Special care was bestowed on people with an
impaired circulation, which he endeavoured to
restore to a normal state by means based on
the laws of Nature. He ordered those patients a
strong or a mild nourishing diet. Some dyspeptic
patients were put on an entirely cold diet. A
separate table with suitable and easily-digested
food was kept for them. Some patients received
a strong, some a mild, treatment only once a
day.*
" He disapproved of alcoholic drinks, and ordered
patients who were unable to digest milk to drink
coffee made of corn.
" In some cases, especially gout and syphilis, he
forbade animal food, and to those suffering from
abdominal disorders he ordered coarse black rye
bread.
" One of his principal rules was never to order
a bath without ascertaining that the patient's
* The usual number of treatments at Graefenberg in
Priessnitz's time was three : the first took place early in the
morning, the second about eleven o'clock a.m., and the third
in the course of the afternoon. Treatment, however, as has
been shown in several cases, especially in the one of his
own daughter Sophie, and which must appear severe in the
extreme to the ordinary mind, differed very much, according
to the requirements of each individual patient. R. M.
125
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
body contained sufficient warmth to produce a
thorough reaction. For the same reason, he
never allowed one bath to follow another before
the reaction produced by the first bath had fully
taken place.
" His healing agents were water, suitable diet,
and out - of - door exercise. He once said to
Kalliwoda, Prior of the convent Raigern in
Moravia : ' If I had no water, I should cure
with air alone.'*
"And may I ask who was the first to open
windows in sick-rooms, and to order patients
fresh air day and night ? Who else but the
peasant boy, Vincent Priessnitz, who through
numberless marvellous cures obtained the fame
which is actually his, to whom the gratitude of
thousands of people of every nation, restored by
him to health and well-being, has erected on the
Graefenberg those splendid monuments in stone
and bronze which bear witness to his greatness.
" He was the inventor of the anti-inflammatory,
vivifying, strengthening, calming, and tone-giving
treatment, and of the fundamental principle of
* Dr. James Wilson says, in his " Practice of the Water-
Cure": " Priessnitz, after an experience of twenty-five years,
considers the quality of the air and water of more conse-
quence than the shape, colour, and material of the bath, or
the size and comfort of the rooms. There is no reason,
however, why the patient should not have large, airy rooms,
and every rational English comfort."
126
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
hydriation, namely, that the cold bath is only refresh-
ing and beneficial when the skin is warm or per-
spiring.
" Every word I have written here is the absolute
truth, and I am prepared to give the proofs of it
if necessary. I have at my disposal a whole
literature of hydropathy, of more than one hundred
volumes, nearly all on Priessnitz and his work.
Amongst them one, in German, by Dr. Schnitzlein,
called ' Observations and Experiments to establish
the Water-Cure ' (published by G. Franz, Munich).
The author stayed at Graefenberg in 1837, as
well as Professor Hamer in 1838, both sent by
the Bavarian Government. The celebrated hydro-
path, Dr. Oertel, of Anspach, did not mind the
trouble of a long journey to Graefenberg, at a
time when there were no railways, in order to
gather information from Priessnitz himself; whereas
you, reverend sir, did not think it worth your
while during your recent stay at Neisse, a town
situated only one and a half hours by rail from
Graefenberg, to visit a spot which is justly called
the cradle of hydropathy, and where its noble
founder has found his last resting-place.
" You replied to the gentleman who suggested
this visit to you : ' I have my own Woerishofen !'
I can assure you that you would have found much
to interest you at Graefenberg which has never
reached the ears of the general public, and which,
127
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
in spite of Woerishofen, would have amply repaid
you for the small trouble. You might have shown
more respect to Graefenberg and its immortal
master, as your fundamental principles and the
whole of your water-cure, only under different
names, are taken from Priessnitz. Where ideas
and principles are identical, different appellations
and modifications are of little importance.
" Your ' Spanish cloak ' is nothing else but the
* pack ' (also called ' wickel ') invented by Priess-
nitz.
" Your ' unterwickel,' the three-quarter or half-
pack.
" Your 'short wickel,' the trunk pack.
" Your ' water -jet,' mild, partial douches in
ordinary use at Graefenberg.
" Your ' lightning jet,' the great douche with
concentrated jet.
" Your ' water-walking or treading,' the leg and
sole baths.
" Even the ' not drying ' after any of the water-
treatments which you so much recommend, and
which is looked upon as something quite new in
hydropathy, has been practised by Professor Oertel
himself, according to his work, 'The Newest
Water-Cures ' (page 27), as early as the year 1830.
(He ordered patients to be put to bed without
having been dried previously.)
" Priessnitz himself ordered patients suffering
128
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
from throat complaints, when out walking, to wash
their throat and back of neck at the springs, and
to continue their walk, and let the water evaporate
without drying it with a towel.
" Priessnitz left a new system of healing based
on the laws of Nature, and which is therefore true
and scientific, and which has been recognised by
numerous qualified doctors as such. You tell the
world nothing new in your book, but I think it is
a great and noble act, reverend sir, that you, a
respected and influential man, have done in leading
erring mankind back into the right path, which
had been, before you, trodden by Vincent Priess-
nitz.
" The heartiest thanks are, however, due to all
the hydropaths of Germany who, under great
difficulties, have not only enabled hydropathy to
hold its own, but have done so much to spread it
over this country.
" I remain, reverend sir,
" Respectfully and obediently yours,
" HANS RIPPER."
Father Kneipp died on June 17, 1897, at the
age of seventy-six, at Woerishofen in Bavaria.
He was born at Stephanried, May 17, 1821. He
took orders in 1852, and in 1881 was placed in
charge of the parish of Woerishofen, where he
laboured up to the time of his death in the dual
129 K
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
capacity of pastor of souls and healer of bodies.
Although but little can be added to Colonel Ripper's
exhaustive letter on Father Kneipp's system, we
feel that some words of acknowledgment are due
to a man who has so largely, and, we must add,
so disinterestedly, contributed to the well-being of
a great number of his contemporaries.
Professor Herkomer, R.A., in his interesting
appreciation of Father Kneipp in the Daily Graphic,
London, June 18, 1897, says : " In reading over
his book, I cannot find much that is original in
Herr Kneipp's use of water : that was all done by
the inventor, the inspired peasant Priessnitz, and
it may have been Herr Kneipp's good fortune to
find a copy of this man's book in that royal
library, as I fancy that book has long been rare."
The query as to where Father Kneipp got his
information from is simply in a nutshell. There
is no doubt whatever that the treatise referred to
was an account of Priessnitz's work at Graefenberg.
This fact is borne out by the description of appli-
ances given in Herr Kneipp's book entitled, " My
Water-Cure," being the same even in details as
those used by Priessnitz. Between the years 1833
and 1848 there was a very large number of books
and pamphlets published ; a list of many of them
is given in a subsequent chapter.
Owing to the perusal of one of these pamphlets
(accidentally discovered) discoursing upon the
130
COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER
powerful curative effects of water appliances,
Father Kneipp resolved to try the treatment. It
appears that when a young man he was very deli-
cate and predisposed to contract consumption ;
and to make a long story short, we are informed
that he cured himself. It is well to note here that
the starting-point of both Vincent Priessnitz's and
Father Kneipp's career was from practical ex-
perience of the water-treatment on their own
bodies, prescribed without having had any pre-
vious medical training ; and apart from the slight
difference between these two men's modes of treat-
ment, they gained for themselves a wider reputa-
tion in the field of hydrotherapeutics than any
other two medical men have ever done.
Between the years 1848 and 1881 hundreds of
books were published that spread the fame of
Priessnitz all over the world ; but until Father
Kneipp took charge of the parish of Woerishofen,
in 1881, he (Kneipp) had never been heard of.
Father Kneipp's real and great merit was in his
firm and enthusiastic belief in a natural and simple
mode of life for everybody, whether in good or in
bad health. Furthermore, being convinced of the
curative power of water, air and sunshine, he suc-
ceeded by the systematic carrying into practice of
his principles, by great energy, and with much
skill, to restore thousands of persons of every class
of society to health and strength, impressing upon
131 K 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
the world at large the great truth that man, if he
wishes to enjoy health of mind and body, must
observe the laws of Nature, and obey her teachings
conscientiously throughout his natural life. Father
Kneipp also had great faith in the efficacy of
herbs, and in his book the description of his reme-
dies and medicinal preparations is most quaint
and reminiscent of the times and customs of the
Middle Ages, all his applications being directed,
as he says, " towards purifying the blood and
saps." Botanical medicines are far from obsolete,
for we see with interest that Dr. Fernie's book,
" Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Use of
Cure,"* has reached its second edition.
* W. T. Fernie, " Herbal Simples." John Bright and Co.,
Bristol, 1895 ; 2nd edition, 1897, pp. xxiv., 652.
132
CHAPTER X
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
ON my visit to Graefenberg in the autumn
of 1895, I was struck by the beauty of
its scenery, as well as by its favourable meteoro-
logical conditions.
The fine forest (principally of pine-trees) in
close proximity to the establishments, and the
world - famed " spring territory," cover nearly
thirty English square miles, and are provided
with well-kept and extensive roads. The fragrant
odour of these gigantic pines constitutes, so to
say, a natural inhalatorium.
He who will add to his pleasant experiences,
let him go and visit one morning in early summer
or autumn the Graefenberg woods and their
springs.* Let him take a refreshing draught at
the House Spring before starting, then go to the
* Nearly all the fountains at Graefenberg were erected to
the memory of Priessnitz many before his death, and several
since.
133
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
pine-wood close by, and, passing the Marien-
Joseph and Ferdinand Springs, seek to reach the
Priessnitz Spring, which boasts of the best water,
finally choosing the Bernstein, with its lovely view,
as his goal. He will find frequent opportunity to
refresh himself on his way to that rugged peak
at the Ladies', the Gold, the Louisa, the Vienna,
and the Ice Springs. Or he may pursue the
steep path leading to the Bohemian Spring, and
from there to the Hirschkamm. After having
tasted the crystal water of the last-named spring,
and thereby gathered new strength, he may
extend his walk to the Spring of Friendship, to
the German Spring the highest in altitude of all
the springs, with its mighty water-jet and from
there proceed to the rock called " Oswald's Joy."
On that mountain he will be rewarded for his
exertion by a magnificent panorama. Not to be
forgotten are the Sophien Spring and the lovely
Prussian and Pine Springs. From that point the
road leads to the Hirschbad Spring, the Springs
of Good Hope, and the Jager Spring. On his
way back to Graefenberg the wanderer will wend
his way through majestic pine-woods, passing the
Styrian and Finnish Springs, the Diamond and
Vincent Springs, and his whole being will be
refreshed ; he will feel the blood coursing through
his veins with new vigour ; he will realize that
his hope of renewed health is not a vain fancy ;
134
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
his heart will be filled with gratitude, and his
soul with joy.
The excellent roadway ascending from Frei-
waldau to Graefenberg, about a mile's distance,
was built in 1846 by several grateful inhabitants
of Hamburg cured by Priessnitz, and thus it
derives its name of " Hamburger Steg " (Hamburg
Path).
A few minutes' walk brings the pedestrian to
a shelter with the cheery words, " Glueck auf"
(Good luck to you) ! From this point the eye
embraces the sunny Biele valley, with the
villages of Buchelsdorf, Adelsdorf, Thomasdorf,
and Waldenburg. To the south-west rises the
stately mountain -range of the Altvater, which
forms part of the Sudeten mountains. To the
south-east rise the Bielekamm (Biele Ridge) and
the Goldkamm, which derived its name from gold-
mines which were worked for several centuries,
but which are now abandoned. To the west lies
the Staritz Valley, with the villages of Nieder-
Lindewiese, the seat of the well-known " Schroth "
establishment, and to the east lie Freiwaldau,
Boehmischdorf, and several other hamlets.
The next resting-place on this charming road
is " Gilbert Stone," with the words full of mean-
ing "You must be patient," addressed by
Priessnitz in 1844 to Mr. Thomas Marley Gilbert,
one of his English patients we dare say only one
135
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
of many to whom this advice was given. Here
one gets the first glimpse of " the colony," the
oldest part of Graefenberg. The path now winds
for a short time through rich pasture-land, and
soon the attention is arrested by the " French
Monument," a stately fountain in the shape of a
granite pyramid bearing the inscription, " Au genie
de 1'eau froide," erected by the grateful French.
On entering Graefenberg proper, we pass a
building devoted to public amusements, which
boasts of a splendid kegelbahn (bowling-green)
a popular game amongst the Germans.
Facing the band-stand, at the further end of
the public promenade, is the famous Bohemian
monument representing Hygeia on a marble
pyramid, the pedestal base showing on one side
a portrait in high relief of Priessnitz, and the
other side bearing an inscription in the Bohemian
language, which translated into English is :
" Water above all !
"To water we owe our being, growth, and
health, and what Thales of yore foresaw dimly,
Priessnitz has triumphantly brought to light."
From this point a delightful and extensive
panorama lies before the spectator's eye, embracing
the country for many miles around far into the
fertile plains of Prussian Silesia.
On turning to the right, the road leads to the
so-called " Priessnitz Koppe," a gentle elevation,
136
To face p. 136.
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
one of the loveliest spots in this beautiful place,
and a favourite walk with the Graefenberg visitors,
because in some parts it is sheltered almost entirely
from wind. Many an enthusiastic admirer of
Nature has extolled the beauties of this favoured
spot, and the well-known author, Heinrich Laube,
who, fifty years ago, sought and found health under
Priessnitz' s care, has awarded it a special chapter
in his " Travelling Sketches."
In walking round the " Koppe," one comes to
the " Mausoleum," a chapel, in the crypt of which
Priessnitz and his wife are placed.
On the lonely footpath on the mountain-side
overlooking Freiwaldau stands on a pedestal of
granite a majestic bronze lion, the work of the
sculptor Schwanthaler. It was erected in 1839, a
gift of grateful Hungarians, and bears an appro-
priate inscription.
In the pine-wood, through which lies the path
to the douches, rises over a clear mountain spring
a fine marble monument, the gift of Prussian
visitors, bearing the inscription in letters of gold,
" To the immortal Priessnitz The grateful Prus-
sians."
On the Philosophen Steg (Philosopher's Path)
stands the finest of all the monuments, the " King
Carol Quelle " (King Charles's Spring), a gift of
King Charles of Roumania, erected by him in the
year 1888.
137
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
We might fill pages with the enumeration of
many more of these springs, and extol the merits
of the delicious quality of their water ; we might
enlarge on the description of the innumerable
lovely walks and well-kept roads leading from one
charming view to another. But we are afraid to
exhaust our reader's patience, and will only add
that the average temperature of the totality of
springs, forty-four in number, ranges from 37 to
45 Fahr., and that the ." Hausquelle " (House
Spring), which draws its fine water partly from the
Vincent Spring (named after Priessnitz's only son),
and the Bohemian Spring, was a joint gift of all
the patients and visitors assembled during one
season to their benefactor Priessnitz.
The climate of Graefenberg is temperate, the
winds being mostly westerly and southerly, and
the thermometer very rarely rises above 76 Fahr.
The daily mean summer temperature is about
55 Fahr. ; the average temperature of the whole
year about 43 Fahr. The ozone contained in the
air equals 8*7, Linder's scale.
The soil on the entire Graefenberg territory is
gravel, which renders outdoor exercise possible
even after heavy rainfalls.
Notwithstanding these favourable climatic con-
ditions, there are, even in summer, many days of
inclement weather, while in winter, which Priess-
nitz considered the best time for the cure of chronic
138
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
complaints,* those days occasionally extend to
weeks ; the daily exercise in the open air, so neces-
sary in hydropathic treatment, being thus fre-
quently interrupted. It seems to me that the
Graefenberg authorities have not advanced as
other health resorts have done, in meeting the
general wants of the invalid population.
A covered way, or winter-garden, affording suffi-
cient protection against the weather, would meet
this difficulty in a satisfactory manner.
Priessnitz's favourite sudorific for inducing per-
spiration was natural exercise, but he found that it
was neither sufficient nor even practicable in many
cases of delicate people, and so he had frequent
recourse to the tedious artificial sweating process
of the blanket-pack, which was the only artificial
sweating process employed by Priessnitz.
As a matter of course, medical science should
move on in the same ratio as other sciences do ;
* It must be borne in mind that much depends upon the
waste and repair of the whole system. Priessnitz meant that
patients suffering from chronic ailments, who are able to bear
the cold, stand a better chance of complete cure during the
winter, because the keen air acts as a strong tonic, whereas
the heat of summer tends rather to enervate the system and
thereby to diminish its power of recuperation. Priessnitz
did not include in this class of patients those who, with no
organic disease, suffer from a greater or lesser degree of
chronic debility. In these cases he considered that the treat-
ment was attended with better results in milder weather.
From my own practice of more that forty years, I have
been led to confirm and to entirely agree with these views.
139
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
thus the followers of Priessnitz have made some
important additions to hydropathy in respect to
the sudorifics by the introduction of the hot-air
bath, etc. ; by these additions the crises have been
considerably modified in their severity all round.
Though now for the most part superseded as a
general sudorific, the blanket-pack is still capable
of doing good service in special cases. These are,
for instance, sluggish or phlegmatic constitutions,
in which the circulation has been for years in a
state of torpor, with such symptoms as icy-cold
extremities, blue and purple skin, chilblains, with
slight oedema, languid circulation and inaction of
the liver, kidneys and bowels, a condition of body
which is unfavourably acted upon by high tem-
perature prematurely applied. A more gradual
sweating process is required in such cases, and
the blanket " tuck-up," with hot bottles, etc., being
the most convenient, and being attended with no
risk, may be resorted to with advantage. It retains
about the body its own heat by a process of gradual
accumulation, so avoiding the risk attendant upon
a sudden and powerful stimulation.
As an eliminator of morbific matter, however,
the blanket has serious defects. In the first place,
its comparatively low temperature renders its
action feeble, and when the secretions have been
brought to the surface they are, by being so long
in close contact with the skin, liable to pass and
140
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
repass through the skin as through a mucous
membrane ; the enhanced activity of the circula-
tion accelerating this physiological action.
In the second place, the patient is compelled to
breathe offensive exhalations escaping from the
upper part of the envelope ; and thirdly, eruptions
are apt to be formed on the skin through the long-
continued irritation. These defects greatly detract
from the value of the blanket-pack, and I accord-
ingly prefer confining its functions to those of a
mild " heatent," preparatory to cool or cold appli-
cations, except in the cases already specified.
The lamp - bath has for its chief merit the
expeditious character of the process, which is got
through in from twenty to thirty minutes, instead
of occupying, like the blanket-pack, from three
to four hours. It is, besides, easily modified in
a variety of ways to meet the several conditions
subjected to its influence. It has its drawbacks,
however. The space included for the heated air,
whether by box, blanket, or mackintosh, is small,
and soon becomes filled with noxious elements
from the person, as well as from the process of
combustion. The heat rises to the upper part
of the body, and the air is more or less burnt
to support the flame ; and as it would thus be
intolerable to the lungs, it cannot be grateful to
what is, in point of fact, another lung the skin.
The vapour -bath is eminently soothing and
141
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
agreeable to the skin, and in some diseases of
that organ is preferable to any other sweating
process. In point of speed it is even more con-
venient than the lamp-bath, producing sufficient
perspiration in ten or fifteen minutes. It requires,
however, to be managed with caution, as when
overheated it unduly excites the action of the
heart, and relaxes the skin by too much sodden-
ing.
Over all these " minor sudorifics " the Turkish
hot-air bath possesses a very marked superiority.
It is free from the objections of tediousness, un-
equal action of heat, noxious atmosphere, and
relaxing moisture. It has been called " the short
way to the water-cure," and, looking to results,
not without reason. Under the stimulus of the
heated oxygen, the system is roused to action,
the circulation is accelerated, and the exhalation
from skin and lung increased. There is a physio-
logical tumult in which every organ has its action
quickened, and the large amount of pure heated
oxygen drawn into the system by the lungs and
skin greatly aids in the decomposition of carbon,
the augmentation of waste, and the elimination
of foreign matter. While the effete and unhealthy
elements are loosened by other hydropathic
measures, the hot-air bath sweeps them away
out of the circulation, as it is set in motion,
through the skin, kidneys, and bowels; hence
142
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
the old Graefenberg crisis is now anticipated
during the course of treatment.
Had Priessnitz lived longer, I have no doubt
that he would have added to his wonderful and
extensive system the beneficent and invaluable
appliance of hot-air rooms, so common now in
hydropathic establishments, and generally known
as Turkish baths. His keen and far-seeing mind
would have grasped the incalculable advantage
of this powerful adjunct to hydropathy.
The advantage of the hot-air bath is not un-
frequently exhibited to the hydropathic practitioner
in a striking manner. On a cold, foggy, un-
bearable day, such as we often experience in
Europe, a patient, wet and weary, presents him-
self for cool or cold appliances. He is not warm
enough for the particular process, and he has
not spirit enough left to try to rouse up the
circulation by open-air exercise. He is taken
and prepared for the process by the Turkish bath,
and sufficient heat developed in him to secure
reaction after the process, which thus becomes
altogether enjoyable, as well as effective. In this
way the bath acts as a splendid counteractive to
climate, and as a substitute for exercise.
By a judicious use of the Turkish bath
hydropathy is put within the reach of almost
everyone not suffering from an incurable organic
143
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
disease, and even those would find alleviation
from their sufferings. It enables all those suffer-
ing from rheumatism and diseases of the respira-
tory organs, as well as that large class known
as " delicate people," and who are unable to take
a sufficient amount of exercise in order to promote
the perspiration necessary before cold or tepid
water applications, to perspire easily and without
exertion, thus securing for them the full benefit
arising from cold or tepid water applications.
The same might be said of thousands nay, tens
of thousands whose occupations prevent them
from taking regular daily exercise.
It is to be regretted that the Turkish bath has
not yet found its way to Graefenberg, but I
have every reason to believe that as Priessnitz's
young and able grandson has now taken the
management of the establishment into his own
hands, and as there is every prospect that
Graefenberg, which at present forms part of the
Freiwaldau community, will shortly become an
independent borough, it will not be long before
the Turkish bath and a few other improvements,
which, in the interest of the public, I have men-
tioned, will find their way to Graefenberg, thus
reinstating it as the first and foremost hydropathic
health resort in Austria and Central Europe.
I was sorry to notice that the practice estab-
lished by Priessnitz of his patients having their
144
VILLA AUSTRIA.
CURHAUS ANNENHOF.
To face p. 144.
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
meals together in the common dining-hall has
now fallen into disuse at Graefenberg.
Priessnitz considered it of the utmost import-
ance that patients should have their meals under
the immediate supervision of their doctor, and
that no food should appear at the table but such
as is suitable for invalids undergoing treatment.
Although this rule entailed upon Priessnitz,
and especially upon his excellent wife, an immense
amount of extra work, as well as of care and
thought, he never would consent to any relaxa-
tion of it, but repeatedly rejected offers by which
not only a great load of care and responsibility
would have been removed, but considerable
pecuniary advantage have been gained. The
same rule prevails in our English hydropathic
establishments, and the advantages arising from
this practice are too obvious to require a detailed
review.
At Graefenberg, at the present time, this im-
portant question is not sufficiently considered,
and patients are allowed to choose their own
restaurant. The lack of control over the
cuisine of such restaurants, hotels and boarding
and private houses as the numerous patients
patronize must inevitably lead to many mistakes
on the part of both visitor and caterer, which
under Priessnitz's own plan would be more easily
avoidable.
145 L
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
During Priessnitz's lifetime Graefenberg was
difficult of access. There being no railway
within a long distance of the place, invalids had
to travel there by stage-coaches ; but during the
last fifteen or twenty years access to Graefen-
berg has been facilitated by a branch railway
line. The accommodation at Graefenberg is
still limited ; the number of visitors is greatest
during the summer months, and the major portion
of them undergo the water-cure on similar lines to
those followed in the time of Priessnitz. From
what I could gather during my visit, the cases on
the whole are not so severe now as in the time of
Priessnitz.
For the benefit of English visitors to Graefen-
berg, we give a few hints as to the routes from
London, as well as some local information.
There are two good routes from England, one
via Breslau, the other via Vienna ; the distance is
about the same either way.
i. From Liverpool Street via Harwich, Hook
of Holland, to Breslau, with option of stopping at
Hamburg, Berlin or Dresden. From Breslau to
Graefenberg is about five hours' journey by rail,
stopping at the following places : Brieg, Neisse,
Deutsch Wette, and Ziegenhals, the frontier town
between Prussian and Austrian Silesia, and where
the luggage is examined. From Ziegenhals to
Freiwaldau (Graefenberg) is about an hour by rail.
146
RESTAURANT SCHINDLER.
DR. SCHIXDLER'S CURHAUS.
Tffa.cc p. 146.
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
2. Via Dover, Calais, Cologne, Vienna. From
Vienna is about nine hours' journey by rail, stopping
at Prerau, Olmiitz, Sternberg and Haunsdorf to
Freiwaldau.
Best Hotels at Freiwaldau. Bahnhof Hotel (Sta-
tion Hotel) ; Krone (Crown) keeps the best table
d'hote in the whole neighbourhood ; Kaiser von
Oesterreich (Emperor of Austria) ; Kronprinz
(Crown Prince), and others.
From Freiwaldau to Graefenberg is the distance
of a twenty minutes' drive.
Principal Houses at Graefenberg. The Annenhof
(very good) ; the offices of the Kurcommission
(bathing administration) are in this building.
They give addresses of rooms and other informa-
tion to visitors. Villa Adelheid (equally good ;
same proprietor), with post and telegraph-
office. (Five deliveries daily in summer, three in
winter ; telegraphic service every day from 8 a.m.
to 7 p.m.) Villa Austria; Exners Curhaus;
Stefaniehof; Villa Silesia, Villa Polonia, and
many others. Belonging to the Priessnitz family
are Grosses Curhaus (large curehouse), with in-
spector's office. If visitors prefer living in one of
the five Priessnitz houses, they must apply at this
office. This large building has thirty-eight good
rooms ; reading-rooms, where the administration
keeps for the use of visitors more than forty daily
papers and magazines in different languages; a
147 L 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
circulating library of about five thousand volumes ;
and an assembly hall (Kursaal). This beautiful hall
is the identical large dining-hall used by Priessnitz,
and which is mentioned in his " Life." Neues
Curhaus, having the best hydropathic appliances
in Graefenberg; Priessnitz Geburtshaus (native
place), surrounded by a pretty garden.
There are also several houses belonging to Dr.
Schindler's widow. They are five in number, with
fine and extensive grounds, besides several other
houses.
An excellent private road, the Hughanweg,
ascends up to the forest. Half-way up stands the
fine Hughan Castle, the property of Mrs. Louisa
Hughan, a wealthy and charitable lady, for many
years a summer resident at Graefenberg.
Amusements. A special committee, chosen by
the visitors, takes charge of the arrangements for
concerts, theatricals, dances, picnics, etc. The
large Kursaal in the Grosses Curhaus is used for
this purpose, and has a piano kept for the use of
visitors.
Sometimes the building erected by the late
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg is used. It boasts of
a beautiful Kegelbahn (bowling-place), a gift from
the same august personage.
A band plays twice a day in the stand on the
promenade, and in wet weather at the Kursaal.
Cur-taxes. It is a general custom in Continental
148
w
GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE
watering-places to levy (by order of the local
administration) a small tax on every visitor, to
defray general expenses, such as the band, keeping
in good order and embellishing the place, etc. A
percentage of 15 per cent, to 20 per cent, is devoted
to the support of the local poor.
For visitors exceeding a stay of five days at
Graefenberg proper : 155. for one person, 225. for
two persons, and 285. for three or more persons
belonging to the same family. At the Colony,
Freiwaldau, and Boehmischdorf, 75., us., and 135.
respectively.
There is no central place for treatment at Graef-
enberg, as is the case in most other hydros. Every
house has its special water-service, direct from
the springs, and on each floor are bath-rooms as
well as movable baths, which are easily wheeled
in and out of bedrooms. Sitz-baths at Graefen-
berg are always given in bedrooms.
Three doctors (hydropathists) practise at Graef-
enberg : Dr. Eduard Emmel, at the Annenhof,
all the year round ; Dr. Hosann, at the Grosses
Curhaus, all the year ; Dr. Rudolph Habschek, at
the Doctorhaus, from May to October.
149
CHAPTER XI
RECENT HYDROPATHY
IN these times of feverish activity, when events
follow each other with almost startling
rapidity, we are apt to forget those to whose
life-work and unselfish devotion the world owes
its advancement. Our debt of gratitude to their
memory we can only in part repay by handing
down to posterity the knowledge of our bene-
factor's life-work in all its integrity.
Priessnitz was a man of genius, one of the few
distinguished men of this century.
Let us recall to mind the almost complete
ignorance of the world sixty years ago regarding
the ordinary elementary laws of hygiene.
Cleanliness in its wider sense, diet, out-of-door
exercise, well-ventilated dwellings, etc., were, to
the majority of people, the wealthier classes not
excepted, nothing but meaningless words.
It would be out of place to draw a true picture
of the state of abject misery of the inhabitants
150
RECENT HYDROPATHY
of the poorer quarters of our large towns, and
how diseases in their most terrible form decimated
our over - crowded cities. And unfortunately
things were not much better in many rural
districts.
What did the majority of the medical faculty
do to improve such a state of things ? Did the
reckless use of medicines help to strengthen en-
feebled constitutions, or did those innumerable
salves, ointments, and decoctions restore life and
activity to the emaciated limbs due to long physical
suffering ? And, worst of all, what was the result
on the sufferer's shattered frame of that too
common practice of blood-letting, and of the
abuse of alcoholic stimulants ?
Far from alleviating sufferings, the common use
of powerful medicines increased them tenfold.
What wonder that people, in their helplessness
and despair, resorted to that curse of mankind,
excessive alcoholic drink ?
A small tenant farmer's son was destined to
promote the great work of regeneration, and we
have seen how nobly he responded to this Divine
mission ; how, far from the noise and turmoil of
the great world, he devoted his life to the study
and practice of treating diseased persons by
hygienic means.
Envy and wounded vanity have been unable to
suppress the facts that Priessnitz was the first to
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
systematize and promote a new method of healing,
and that his system of treatment has achieved
the most wonderful success. In looking back to
former attempts at employing the water-cure, for
instance, to the often successful cures achieved
by the two Hahns, father and son, during the
first half of last century, scientific men will only
be more confirmed in their admiration of Priess-
nitz's marvellous power.
He overcame the many difficulties with which
his path was strewn, restoring thousands and
tens of thousands to health, activity, and vigour,
and leaving behind him a system of hygienic
medicine which was perfect as far as it went,
because it acquiesced with the laws of organic
welfare.
The benefits arising from his ministrations are
felt by all classes of society. To him we owe the
erection of the first public bath and wash-houses in
England*
If posterity should ever wish to honour by a
special mark of distinction those good and noble
men who have been a blessing to humanity, it
* One of Priessnitz's patients, a man of prominent position
in the city of London, who had been cured at Graefenberg,
was one of the first to agitate for the "Baths and Wash-
houses " movement in this country. This gentleman attended
a meeting at the Mansion House held by the Lord Mayor in
1844, which resulted in the establishment of the first public
baths and wash-houses in Glasshouse Yard, London.
152
RECENT HYDROPATHY
certainly will not forget the great Silesian
physician.
The life of this man became, so to say, the
symbol of what ought to be the life of a re-
generated race. Men of our time must learn to
recognise and respect the simple laws of natural
life which make toward organic welfare.
The life-work of Vincent Priessnitz presents
some cogent facts, viz. :
Firstly, that many complaints can be treated
effectually by measures not recognised in our
schools of medicine, and by men with no medical
degrees.
Secondly, that a good deal of so-called quackery
is a direct result of medical colleges not ad-
mitting and fairly trying any innovation that
has been developed either by accident or from
scientific investigation.
Thirdly, if medical professors were to turn their
attention more to hydrotherapeutics, and less to
physic, there would be less opportunity for so-
called quackery to trespass upon their preserves.
There is a disposition in the various medical
colleges throughout Europe to raise the standard
of medical examination. But, judging from the
past, this move is no evidence that the public
at large are going to derive any more benefit than
they have done since the days of Hippocrates,
i.e., so far as hygienic remedies are concerned.
153
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
In fact, I am afraid it will only make the coming
students more intolerant than their predecessors
regarding the simpler remedial measures. On the
Continent, and in America, the medical faculty
are more favourably disposed towards hydropathy
than in the British Isles.
I am pleased to see that Professor Kussmaul,
at the last sessions held at Heidelberg in 1896,
refused to sign the programme drawn up for
medical examinations owing to the paper not
containing hydrotherapeutic questions. Professor
Kussmaul has given his reasons in a pamphlet,*
a review of which appeared in the Echo, London,
December, 1896, which I append :
" The Nestor of German medicine, the famous
Professor and Privy Councillor Adolf Kussmaul,
of Heidelberg, has not a little startled his colleagues
by withholding his signature from the new pro-
gramme drawn up by the commissioners for
medical examinations.
" In a short pamphlet explaining his reasons
for his dissent, the professor throws the whole
weight of his authority into the scale of hydropathy.
It is not so much for what the new programme
contains, as for what it omits, says Dr. Kussmaul,
that he is unwilling to set his seal to it. The
time has come, he contends, in which every young
* Adolf Kussmaul, Emer. Professor der Universitat Strass-
burg. " Ueber den kommissarischen Entwurf zur Revision
der deutscher medizinischen Priifungsordnung Heidelberg."
Carl Winter's Universitatsbuchhandlung, 1897, 8vo., pp. 24
and wrapper.
RECENT HYDROPATHY
physician ought to be thoroughly schooled in the
priceless therapeutic value and application of
water, and in the scarcely less momentous func-
tion of pure air, in the healing of disease. ' It
is not only among the educated,' writes the learned
pathologist, ' but amongst all ranks of the people,
that a justifiable suspicion of drugs has now
penetrated. The physician's recipe is now de-
clining in credit and favour, and the old shyness
of water and fresh air disappearing, and the
conviction everywhere increasing that the most
effective means of hygiene lie in three simple
things rightly understood and applied air, water,
and diet.'
" The aged professor, who has lectured in his
time to so many thousands of medical apprentices,
gives a lively sketch of the young doctor, when
his education is supposed to be finished, going
forth from the university and the schools to his
work. ' He can diagnose exactly and correctly ;
he can distinguish precisely a dozen sorts of
bakterien from one another ; he is completely
skilled in his knowledge of the contents of the
chemical kitchen ; he can administer with dexterity
the minimal and maximal doses of the most
dangerous alkaloids ; the morpheum spiritze accom-
panies him in all his goings out and comings in.
But of hydropathy our young doctor, when he
leaves the schools, knows nothing at all.'
" Professor Kussmaul then pictures the con-
scientious young doctor as struck with amaze-
ment and vexation at the discovery that some
patient, whom his skill and science have failed
to help, has been cured by a water-doctor, who
has enjoyed no medical training, and whom he
can only regard as a pretender and quack.
" ' Here,' continues Dr. Kussmaul, ' lies the
155
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
weak point of our medical training. A revision
of the method and order of our studies is a pressing
necessity. Water has gained the favour and
confidence of the public in spite of us. Water,
in combination with a skilful dietetic treatment,
is the one great demand of the nerves, of the
blood, of the breathing, of the physiological system
in countless acute and chronic ailments.'
" It is certainly symptomatic of something like
a medical revolution, that a man of such great
distinction as a teacher and writer on pathology
in his old age, and as the result of arduous scien-
tific researches, should liberate himself so boldly
from the conservative traditions of his profession.
One thing may be regarded with satisfaction the
drug-doctor, propped up as he is by organization
within, and general newspaper authority from
without, is doomed."
The time for questioning the remedial efficacy
of hydropathy is past. Evidences of its therapeutic
power are to be met with everywhere in the form
of healthy Englishmen and Englishwomen, whose
ailments, apparently intractable, disappeared under
its kindly influence.
It is, however, generally supposed that its efficacy
is confined to those districts where mountain air
lends its aid in the treatment of disease. Many
persons who can vouch for having received signal
benefit from hydropathy have to add that they
sought its aid, if not amid the hills of Austrian
Silesia, where Priessnitz made his wonderful cures,
at any rate in some hilly country, it may be of
156
RECENT HYDROPATHY
Scotland, or Ireland, or of Worcestershire, Derby-
shire, or Yorkshire. And not unnaturally, perhaps,
it is supposed that only in such places is the water-
cure likely to be of benefit.
Were this supposition correct, the field of
usefulness open to hydropathy would be of com-
paratively small extent. Only the rich could take
advantage of it. Of the pent-up inhabitants of
our large towns, who, of all people, most need
hydropathic appliances, not more than two or
three per cent, could go where they were to be
had.
But is this supposition correct ? We answer
most assuredly " No." While we admit that pure
mountain air is one of the best of restoratives, we
must deny that hydropathy needs it more than
any other mode of treatment. And, further, we
maintain that no other therapeutic system can do
so well without this help, inasmuch as its measures
do more than any other to oxygenate the blood,
and to supply the place of mountain air.
To clear up this point a little, let us revert to
the origin of the water-cure. It " hails," as the
Americans would say, from Graefenberg, a very
healthy, mountainous district, which we have
already described. This, however, was but a
chance circumstance. It might just as well have
" hailed " from Putney, Poplar, or " Little Ped-
lington." The facts of the case are these : Priess-
157
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
nitz was born and brought up in the Graefenberg
district, and, like all his neighbours, was, in case
of accident or disease, treated in the ordinary way.
It so happened, however, that Priessnitz, while
suffering from the effects of a severe accident, was
declared by his medical attendant to be beyond
the hope of recovery. Having had a little pre-
vious experience in the use of wet bandages and
douchings, our patient resolved to try what hydro-
pathic treatment could do in this serious crisis.
He made a trial, and his trial was crowned with
success. Wet bandages skilfully applied cured
him.
Then he began to treat his neighbours in their
accidents or diseases, and here, too, he was suc-
cessful. It became evident that hydropathic ap-
pliances were better than ordinary medical means,
and so they came to be preferred.
This, however, had nothing to do with the
character of the district as respects soil, scenery,
air, population, or anything else. The district
was the same for both systems of treatment ; and
if the water-treatment proved the better, it must
have been owing to some virtue in itself. If the
virtue, then, be in the treatment itself, one locality
will do for it just as well as another the heart of
a great city just as well as the brow of a great
mountain.
That Priessnitz was of this opinion appears from
158
RECENT HYDROPATHY
the fact that after his fame had spread throughout
Europe, and people came to Graefenberg from all
quarters, he did not confine his practice of hydro-
pathy to that healthy region, but visited and
treated patients at their own homes in towns,
where similar success attended his manipulations.
There are some who would stultify Priessnitz by
making his saying, " Man muss Gebirge haben "
(One must have mountains), to mean that he
considered a mountainous region indispensable to
the successful practice of hydropathy. But, as
the facts above stated show, the whole career of
Priessnitz gives the lie to such a notion. His
meaning was simply this : that mountain air was
a very fine air for the health of men and animals.
In the same sense it may, with equal truth, be
said that " we must have plains and valleys,"
since if a country without hills is unhealthy, a
country without plains and valleys is barren, and
it will be of small benefit to either men or animals
if the mountain air gives them appetite while the
soil yields but a scanty fare.
There can be no doubt that it was in some
respects a misfortune to the cause of hydropathy
that such a locality as Graefenberg was the birth-
place of the system, for the cases occurring in the
neighbourhood were of course few, and only the
wealthy could afford to come from a distance.
Had the system been developed in a town or
159
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
populous district, the wider diffusion of the benefits
attending it, the enlarged experience gained, the
new. facts and principles brought to light, and the
energetic lay and professional support enlisted,
would all have told in favour of its adoption and
advancement. As a result, we should in all like-
lihood have first become acquainted with hydro-
pathy through the medium of our hospitals, in
which its measures would have proved a great
boon : if they had not quite superseded ordinary
medication, they would have found their way into
general practice.
As things have turned out, there has been a
putting of the cart before the horse, inasmuch as
hydropathy has been pressed upon the public by
laymen, while the public have, in their turn, com-
pelled the profession in some measure to recognise
its claims.
There is no reason why water-treatment should
not be practised in our large centres of the popula-
tion just as well as drug-treatment, each applica-
tion producing certain medical results immaterially,
whether it is on the hills of Scotland or in St.
Giles's.
The same causes that bring on disease in the
country bring it on in the town, viz., unhealthy
habits and unhealthy surroundings, and the water-
cure, which at once assails these causes, and which
at Graefenberg proved its great superiority to
160
RECENT HYDROPATHY
other treatment, is surely competent to deal with
their effects, wherever they may show themselves.
To Priessnitz, who never caused a line to be
written on his behalf, we are indebted for the
methodical development of the water-cure. He
energetically and quietly pursued a course of action
of his own in dealing with human ailments, and
the wide fame he acquired during his life was
owing to the cures of chronic diseases where other
remedial measures had failed. It may be truly
said that the unpopularity of hydrotherapeutics
with the medical faculty in England is mainly
due to the fear of breaking up their old machinery ;
but the time will come, sooner or later, when they
will have to recognise Priessnitz's remedies in their
schools of medicine. In Germany and Austria
the system has in a measure triumphed over the
complicated pharmaceutical medicaments, and
is being largely employed by general practitioners.
Unfortunately a large proportion of our medical
men of the old school look upon hydropathy as
quackery. I am quite prepared to admit that
there is as much quackery outside the medical
profession as within, but it must be borne in mind
that the distinction between quacks and respect-
able practitioners is one not so much of the reme-
dies used as of knowledge, of skill, and of honesty
in using them.
Dr. Lauder Brunton, referring in a course of
161 M
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
lectures* to the wet-sheet pack, says, on page 122 :
" The most striking example that I ever saw of
the use of cold water was in the case of a patient
suffering from pneumonia who was dying from
hyperpyrexia, without anyone knowing it, for it
was before the days of clinical thermometers in
this country.
" The patient was under the care of the late
Professor J. Hughes Bennett, whose boast it was
that he had never lost a case of uncomplicated
pneumonia since the time that he had discarded
the old method of blood-letting, and began that
of simply supporting the patient's strength. One
day, on going round, he was a good deal disgusted
to find that one of his patients suffering from
double pneumonia was apparently about to spoil
his statistics by dying. The man was completely
comatose, and apparently moribund. It seemed
as if nothing possibly could be done to help him,
and Professor Bennett was passing on to the next
bed when a Swedish doctor named Scolberg, who
happened to be attending Bennett's clinic, said
to the professor : ' May I treat the patient, Pro-
fessor Bennett ?' ' You can do what you like
with him,' was the answer. Forthwith Scolberg
* Lauder Brunton (T.), " Lectures on the Action of Medi-
cines : being the Course of Lectures on Pharmacology and
Therapeutics delivered at St. Bartholomew's Hospital during
the Summer Session of 1896.'' London: Macmillan and Co.,
1897.
162
RECENT HYDROPATHY
ordered in a big tub of cold water. All the bed-
clothes were pulled off. A wet-sheet was dipped
in the water, and the patient was wrapped in it.
In a few minutes it was taken off, and a second
cold sheet applied. How long this went on I
do not know, because, like all the rest who were
watching the process, I thought that it was
useless, and I went away to have my lunch. On
going back about an hour afterwards, simply from
curiosity to see whether the man were dead or
not, I was greatly astonished, instead of rinding
an empty bed as I expected, to see the patient
lying quiet and comfortable, apparently in an easy
slumber, and he went on from that time forward
without a bad symptom, and recovered perfectly
in due course. So a wet-sheet simply wrung out
of cold water, put upon the patient for a short
time, taken off again, dipped again, and frequently
renewed, tends to bring down the patient's
temperature."
Sir William Broadbent, writing on fever,*
states : " Of special measures for the reduction
of febrile heat when this is becoming dangerous,
either from its intensity or duration, the first to
be mentioned is the cool or cold bath. This
should be resorted to in all cases of hyperpyrexia,
* Quain (Sir R.), " A Dictionary of Medicine," by various
writers. Seventeenth thousand. London: Longmans, 1892.
Part I., article "Fever," pp. 511, 512.
163 M 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
from whatever cause ; its efficacy, first established
in the high temperature of acute rheumatism and
enteric fever, has been proved also in cases of
septic hyperpyrexia after ovariotomy, and even
in injuries to the brain. Here the water may
be positively cold. When the bath is employed
to control temperature, not dangerous from its
height, but from its duration, as in enteric fever,
it need not be lower than 70 or 65 Fahr."
The late Sir John Forbes wrote of hydropathy
as follows :
" The water-cure is a stomachic, since it in-
variably increases the appetite.
"It is a local calefacient in the wet - sheet,
covered by dry blankets and mackintosh.
"It is derivative; cold friction at one part,
by exciting increased action there, produces cor-
responding diminution elsewhere, the compress
frequently acting, if not like a blister, at least
like a mustard poultice.
" It is a local as well as a general counter-
irritant.
" It is essentially alterative in the continued
renewal of old matter ; its renewal is shown in
the maintenance of the same weight."
The late Dr. John Goodman very graphically
compares the hydropathic treatment with the allo-
pathic remedies and their supposed medical actions.
I reprint this comparison with some alterations :
164
RECENT HYDROPATHY
"Allopathic Alteratives. Mercury, iodine, pot-
assae hydriod., antimony, sarsaparilla.
"Hydropathic Alteratives. Wet-sheet packings,
local and general, hot-air baths, cold and cool
effusions.
"Allopathic Antiphlogistics. Alkalies and neu-
tral salts, calomel, antimony, venesection, leeches.
" Hydropathic Antiphlogistics are wet-sheet pack-
ings of short duration, tepid baths, ablutions, hot
fomentations, fever compresses, and long-continued
sitz-baths.
"Allopathic Anodynes. White poppy, lactuca,
humulus.
" Hydropathic Anodynes. For nerve pain, wet
friction and ablution, streams of water, douchings,
dripping-sheets, and half-baths, wet packing and
ablution, hot mustard spinal washes, followed by
gradual pail douches, wet compress to liver and
spine, with sweating-baths. Diet chiefly vegetable,
but nutritious.
"Allopathic Diaphoretics. Antimonials, ipeca-
cuanha, neutral salts, liq. ammon. acet., Dover's
powder.
" Hydropathic Diaphoretics. Cold-water drinks,
hot ditto, wet -sheet packings, dripping -sheets,
cooling compresses, hot-air bath, with or without
moisture.
"Allopathic Counter-irritants and Derivatives.
In medicine external appliances, issues and setons,
165
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
blisters, moxas, stimulant embrocations, cata-
plasms, and other irritants, mustard cataplasms
to the feet in fevers, application of leeches to
distant parts, etc. There is no remedy in medi-
cine that can act as a general derivative except the
warm bath with mustard.
" Hydropathic Counter-irritants and Derivatives
are mustard sheet-packs, chillis, and Coote's acetic
acid rubbed into the body, mustard rubbed into
the parts affected, hot brine, local and general
warm baths, hot air or sulphur, vapour baths with
cold or cool effusions.
"Allopathic Diuretics. Squills, digitalis, nitric
ether, acetate of potash, broom-tops, dandelion,
mercury.
" Hydropathic Diuretics. Copious water-drink-
ing, hot-air baths, sitz-baths, wet packing, etc.
No remedies act more powerfully on the kidneys
without injury. Copious drinking of barley-water
is good.
"Allopathic Expectorants. Ipecacuanha, mer-
cury, antimonials, squills, balsam of tolu.
" Hydropathic Expectorants. Mild ablution of
cold or tepid water chest -washings, graduated
according to debility of the case, chest compresses
worn constantly. Wet-sheet packing, mustard
trunk-packing, mild Turkish baths, liquid sulphur
shallow bath, wet hand-rubbing, and tepid sitz-
baths.
166
RECENT HYDROPATHY
"Allopathic Aperients Cathartics. Manna, mag-
nesia, rhubarb, confection of senna, sulphur, sul-
phate of magnesia, calomel, colocynth.
"Hydropathic Aperients. Water-drinking, water
enemas, wet-covered abdominal orspino-abdominal
compresses, and abdominal washings. Sitz-bath,
pail douche on the spine and abdomen, wet-sheet
packings and douching of the abdomen, shallow
baths, etc. Exercise regularly taken. Diet : Brown
bread and oatmeal, ripe fruits, etc.
"Allopathic Narcotics. Opium, belladonna,
conium, hyoscyamus.
" Hydropathic Narcotics. No remedy sooner
procures sleep than the wet-sheet packing and
hot fomentations to the stomach and bowels.
The tepid sitz-bath or general ablution at bed-
time is an admirable sleep-producer.
" A llopathic Tonics. Bark, iron, quinine, gentian,
columba, mineral acids.
" Hydropathic Tonics. Pure cold water is the
greatest tonic to the stomach that can be taken.
It dissolves obstacles in the intestine, and gives
tone. Water being easily absorbed, it easily
enters into the blood, and rapidly dissolves foreign
matter, which is readily carried off by the excretory
organs. No remedies are equal to cool or cold
baths as tonics in chronic diseases and general
debility. If judiciously prescribed and employed
they never disagree, but act on the whole body,
167
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
producing increased vital energy in every organ,
and entire renewal of the whole man to the extent
of which the constitutional powers are capable."
Such is a comparative view of the leading hydro-
pathic and allopathic methods, after a study of
which the reader will be able to form an opinion
of their respective merits as medical agents de-
signed to alleviate human sufferings.
The late Dr. Carpenter, Professor of Physiology
in the Royal Institution, says that the wet-sheet
pack used by the hydropathist is one of the most
powerful of all diaphoretics, and no person who
has watched its operations can deny that it is a
very valuable remedy. If its agency be fairly
tested, there is strong reason to believe that it
will be found to be the most valuable curative
means we possess in specific nervous diseases,
which depend upon the presence of morbid matter
in the blood, especially gout and chronic rheu-
matism, as well as that depressed state of the
general system which results from the wear and
tear of the body and mental powers.
Dr. Wilson counts the wet-sheet pack as an
antiphlogistic, or means of subduing fever in its
hot stage with active circulation. In this respect
it stands unrivalled, being unequalled in its sim-
plicity, safety, and efficacy. It is certainly the
noblest arm of the water-cure, causing little or no
loss of strength, and leaving behind it none of the
168
RECENT HYDROPATHY
debility which bleeding and strong medicines
occasion. Dr. Wilson puts the action of the
pack in a nutshell when he says : " It effectually
abstracts the morbid heat of the system, and
reduces the excited, nervous, and vascular actions,
producing all the coolness and calm necessary for
the moment, and by the very nature of this pro-
cess the degree of extraction of heat is fixed."
The first Lord Lytton, in his " Confessions
of a Water - Patient " (New Monthly Magazine,
London, 1845), writes of the wet-sheet pack as
follows : " The first momentary chill is promptly
succeeded by a gradual and vivifying warmth,
perfectly free from the irritation of dry heat ; a
delicious sense of ease is usually followed by a
sleep more agreeable than anodynes ever produced.
It seems a positive cruelty to be relieved from this
magic girdle in which pain is lulled and fever cooled,
and wakef ulness lapped in slumber"
169
CHAPTER XII
RECENT HYDROPATHY continued
PRIESSNITZ no sooner began to astonish
the world by his successes than he had
imitators and disciples. We read that in 1839 as
many as one hundred and twenty doctors went to
Graefenberg to study the water-cure.
Amongst the more successful of Priessnitz's
pupils were Munde, Rausse, and Schindler.
Rausse was the most energetic in propagating
the new method of healing in Germany. Munde
founded the first hydropathic establishment in
America, while Schindler became the master's
worthy successor at Graefenberg.
Dr. Josef Schindler was born on July 29, 1814.
After having studied for some time at Graefenberg,
he became convinced of the importance of the
water-cure as a remedial agent, and he resolved
to renounce the practice of allopathy. Although
attacked from all sides, nothing shook his convic-
tions, nor was the opposition of his relations and
170
DR. JOSEPH SCHINDLER.
To fate p. 170.
RECENT HYDROPATHY
friends able to alter his opinion. In 1839 he
founded a hydropathic establishment at Tiefen-
bach, in the Iser Mountains of Bohemia, where he
made many useful experiments. At the age of
forty, after Priessnitz's death, he was asked to take
the direction of the Graefenberg establishment,
and at the end of March, 1852, he went to Graef-
enberg to continue his great friend and master's
work.
He united a rare modesty to an even rarer
unselfishness, resembling Priessnitz himself in this
respect, as well as in some peculiarities of manner.
He could, however, only proceed gradually with
improving or modifying any of the established
methods, as certain people were so enthusiastic
in their admiration of Priessnitz as to reject all
innovation as wrong and harmful.
In 1858 Schindler, with the help of Baron L.
von der Decken-Himmelreich, published a perio-
dical for the propagation of the method of healing
and the care of health in general, based on all
natural means, called " Communications from
Graefenberg," which became popular, and won
many physicians to the method. His lectures on
health were interesting and successful, because
Schindler understood how to impart his knowledge
in a simple and unostentatious manner.
The number of his pupils was great, and some
of them have risen to distinction.
171
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Schindler's great merit consisted in having not
only kept intact Priessnitz's original method of pro-
ceeding, but also in having improved it in various
ways. He died, deeply regretted, on March 8, 1890.
It may be added that the Grand Duke of Meck-
lenburg-Schweringaveto his "dear Dr. Schindler"
the gold medal litteris et artibus.
Amongst other pioneers in the movement was
Dr. Joseph Weiss. Weiss was born in 1795 at
Breitenfurt, studied medicine in Vienna, and prac-
tised later in different parts of Austria, finally
settling at Freiwaldau.
He soon perceived the far-reaching importance
of Priessnitz's system, and after studying it with
care, he founded a hydro at Freiwaldau. This
was in 1835. His establishment enjoyed great
popularity until 1841, when Weiss was invited to
England to found one of the first hydropathic
establishments in this country, at Stand Stead-
bury, in Hertfordshire, where he administered
personally till the autumn of 1843.
In the following year he founded a new hydro
at Sudbrook Park, Richmond, Surrey. His health,
however, broke down, and in 1845 he confided the
direction of the establishment to a friend, hoping
to regain his health by a visit to the Continent,
and then to resume his duties at Sudbrook Park.
He died, however, of acute gout, at Freiwaldau,
in 1847.
172
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5
RECENT HYDROPATHY
His " Handbook on Hydropathy " appeared in
English, and was one of the first treatises on
hydropathy on a scientific basis. The University
of Oxford conferred upon the author, as an acknow-
ledgment of the merits of this work, the title of
Honorary Doctor. He was the author of several
other works on hydropathy in German.
Another early pupil of the founder of hydropathy
was Dr. Raisnick, who studied at Graefenberg,
came to England, and became the consulting phy-
sician at Ben Rhydding (opened in 1844).
Another Priessnitz student was Dr. Johann
Emmel, whose work led to important results.
He made, in 1835, the experiment of forming a
" Priessnitz Establishment " at Kaltenleutgeben,
a beautiful valley in the Wienerwald, a finely-
wooded tract within a short distance of Vienna.
At first, however, the difficulties were so great,
partly owing to the prejudice of the authorities,
that the place was closed. But it was soon re-
opened in consequence of the kindly intervention
of the Empress Maria Anna, and since that time
the Emmel establishment has made steady pro-
gress from year to year. It has, however, never
attained to the magnitude and importance of the
hydropathic establishment founded in this romantic
valley by Professor Winternitz in June, 1865.
Dr. Winternitz was born on March i, 1835, at
Josefstadt, in Bohemia. In 1858 he accompanied
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
the Empress of Austria to Corfu ; somewhat later
he practised in Prague as specialist in mental
diseases, and after that became assistant to
Oppolzer and Dulek. After having studied hydro-
pathy at Graefenberg, he founded his establish-
ment at Kaltenleutgeben. At that time Kalten-
leutgeben was but a modest little place, ignorant,
so to speak, of its own resources. It then con-
tained only one hundred and twenty cottages, and
there are now two hundred and forty-five more or
less substantial houses, many of them very good
indeed, in addition to which the place has most of
the conveniences of modern civilization, well-lit
streets, good restaurants, a public library, etc.
Kaltenleutgeben has for many years been a
favourite resort of the Viennese people. Latterly,
with increasing comforts and conveniences, the
number of visitors has become more and more
considerable, especially since the construction of
a branch line has placed it in connection with the
Austrian Southern Railway. Its chief importance,
however, lies in the fact of its being the most con-
siderable hydropathic establishment in Austria,
next to Graefenberg.
In 1865 the Winternitz establishment contained
only fifteen patients. Since then the number has
gone on steadily increasing, until at the present
moment there are twenty-one houses, with accom-
modation for three hundred and twenty patients.
174
To face /. 174.
RECENT HYDROPATHY
Kaltenleutgeben occupies the foremost rank
amongst hydropathic establishments. This must
be ascribed in the first place to the scientific
eminence of its founder, and in the second place
to its unexceptionable hygienic position. Able
managers are constantly adding to the comfort
and convenience of the community there. The
air is so pure and healthy that cholera has never
penetrated this valley. A cross erected at the
foot of the Gaisberg bears witness to this fact.
Dr. Winternitz's experience and knowledge have
raised the establishment to its present state of
prosperity, and his authority as a hydropathist is
now so widely recognised as to ensure absolute
success to any undertaking in which he may
engage. During the space of a quarter of a cen-
tury 12,800 patients have visited Kaltenleutgeben.
Seven hundred and thirty-five patients visited the
establishment in 1896.
It consists of fourteen villas and houses, three
large kur- and bath-houses, an institute for health
gymnastics, massage, and electric treatment,
besides several other buildings, amongst which
are the beautifully-fitted and admirably-managed
Kursaal, with reading and writing-rooms, a recrea-
tion-room, and a music-room.
The water-appliances as used at the hydro at
Kaltenleutgeben are essentially the same as
adopted by Priessnitz, with additions on a more
175
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
scientific basis. Professor Dr. Winternitz is,
moreover, the inventor of a number of entirely
new hydropathic appliances well known and used
throughout Germany.
Besides the application of electric baths, Swedish
gymnastics, massage, etc., diet is, in Dr. Winter-
nitz's establishment, considered of great import-
ance, such as the milk-cure, vegetable-cure, Weir-
Mitchell cure, etc.
Ziemssen's words convey the true expression of
the recognition of the merits of Professor Winter-
nitz from a scientific and professional point of
view : " We owe to Winternitz the greater part
of what we call to-day scientific hydrotherapy."
He is an Imperial Councillor and a Member of
the Administration of the Poloklinik at Vienna.
He is the possessor of numerous decorations, and
is an honorary member of several medical societies.
His book, " Hydrotherapy," is the most important
work of its kind.
Having made mention of Dr. Johann Emmel,
the founder of the first hydropathic establish-
ment at Kaltenleutgeben, it would be an unpar-
donable omission to overlook his talented son,
Dr. Emanuel Emmel, who has followed in his
father's footsteps, and is an enthusiastic disciple
of the water-treatment. He never took medicine
of any kind ; in two serious illnesses, which brought
him almost to death's door, he was cured by the
176
DR. EDOUARD EMMEL.
To /ace p. 176.
RECENT HYDROPATHY
water-treatment, and is convinced of the excellence
of the method.
Emmel had been designed from his early youth
to become his father's successor in the medical
profession. Circumstances, however, forced him,
after having completed his academical studies, to
enter the Austrian army. He took part in the
war of 1866. On his return, after the close of the
war, he fell ill again, and was obliged to retire
from active service. Once more the water-cure
was the means of restoring him to perfect health.
Nothing now prevented Emmel from giving
himself up entirely to the study of medicine, and
he qualified at Vienna.
The study of medicine did not diminish Emmel's
belief in the water-treatment, although he was of
opinion that in order to practise hydropathy with
success a thorough knowledge of anatomy, phy-
siology, and pathology is indispensable.
Dr. Emmel is now one of the resident doctors
at Graefenberg, a position which he has held for
some years, following in the footsteps of his two
great predecessors, Priessnitz and Schindler.
He is the author of a widely-known practical
manual on hydropathy.
An account of the progress of hydropathy on
the Continent would be incomplete without some
reference to Dr. Beni-Barde, who may be justly
designated the leader of scientific hydrotherapy in
177 N
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
France. Indeed, he occupies the same position
in that country that Professor Winternitz does in
Austria. He has improved and enlarged his
talented predecessor Dr. Fleury's somewhat im-
perfect method, and through patient research has
raised hydrotherapy to its present prominent posi-
tion in France.
In 1860 Dr. Beni-Barde took the direction of
Dr. Fleury's hydropathic establishment at Bellevue,
where he remained till 1865.
In that year he became director of the hydro-
pathic establishment at Auteuil, Paris, which
position he held until 1880.
In 1876 Dr. Beni - Barde founded a model
establishment of his own in Paris Rue de
Miromesnil the water being supplied by an
Artesian well thirty-five metres deep.
The establishment contains every hydrotherapeu-
tic appliance useful in nervous and chronic diseases.
Dr. Beni-Barde has annexed to his establish-
ment, under the direction of Professor D'Arsonval,
an electro-therapeutic installation, including special
electric baths, the solenoid, electric massage, etc.
Dr. Beni-Barde is consulting physician of the
hydropathic establishment at Auteuil, near the
Bois de Boulogne, where the patients are sent
who require the combined advantages of pure
fresh air, quiet, and rest, together with thera-
peutic treatment.
178
DR. BENI-BARDE.
To face p. 178.
RECENT HYDROPATHY
Dr. J. M. A. Beni-Barde is the author of several
works on hydrotherapy, amongst which the fore-
most is : " Theoretical and Practical Treatise on
Hydrotherapy, applied in Nervous and Chronic
Diseases." (In French ; Paris, 1874.)
The Auteuil establishment comprises three
detached buildings, which enable patients to
choose rooms of whatever aspect they may prefer.
An extensive garden, with beautiful old trees,
ensures the enjoyment of fresh air and quiet.
No mental cases are admitted.
There is an association, or union of associations,
which has branches and little knots of members
all through Germany and Austria. It is named
the Health Society, and is a direct outcome of
the teachings of Priessnitz. Its membership is
composed of those who are " in favour of a mode
of life and treatment in illness based only on the
laws of Nature," and they are counted by thou-
sands.
These societies, which in 1872 included only
nine affiliated branches, in 1895 numbered 393
branch societies with 49,170 members.
Each member pays a small sum yearly to the
funds of the association, for which he gets a
very substantial return in the form of a gratis
" cure " at one of the association's establishments
in case of sickness. The association issues an
illustrated monthly periodical entitled the Naturarzt
179 N 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
(the Nature Doctor), which has nearly sixty
thousand readers. In other ways the associa-
tion does much for the propagation of ideas in
regard to hydropathy and kindred subjects, in-
cluding the delivery of free lectures to small
societies.
Every two years the association holds a general
meeting or congress, at which all the societies
are represented by delegates. Papers are read,
new ideas are discussed, and, of course, as the
general public are invited to be present, much
valuable information on important matters apper-
taining to life and health is disseminated. Would
that in these matters we were as far advanced
in this country, and that it were possible to hold
biennial conferences on the subject of popular
hygiene !
I add some particulars of what has become
known as " Schroth's dietetic and hydrotherapic
treatment."
The system is hydropathic, inasmuch as beyond
dieting the wet-sheet pack is the only remedial
agent used.
Johann Schroth was born at Boehmischdorf on
February u, 1798. He was a contemporary of
Priessnitz, and distantly related to him. He
lived the life of a farmer, and died in 1856.
In 1817 he fractured his knee-joint on falling
from his horse. His treatment for this injury
1 80
JOHANN SCHROTH.
Tofacep. 180.
RECENT HYDROPATHY
led to the evolution of his system of treating
disease.
The Schroth system is carried out in his
establishment at Lindewiese in Silesia. His son,
Emanuel Schroth, conducted the establishment
after his father's death until 1890. From five
to six hundred patients are treated at the estab-
lishment every year. The system is simple, and
can easily be followed at home. Patients, when
beginning the semi-starvation diet, think that
they will die under it, but they do not : they
improve in health and strength.
The originality of the treatment consists in the
way in which the wet-sheet pack is used. It is
administered in conjunction with a spare vegetable
diet and systematic white-wine drinking. The
whole organism is dealt with on a defined system.
Individual conditions of body and separate diseases
are all treated similarly. The various local and
general symptoms of disease are but little con-
sidered, unless they menace the patient's life.
The diseases more especially amenable to the
treatment are those arising :
1. From inertness of the skin as an excretory
organ ;
2. From imperfect assimilation of food ;
3. From specific poisons that have entered the
body from without.
Schroth argues that in all these cases the body
181
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
has become a store - house for poisonous and
morbid matter.
The main principle of the treatment is accelera-
tion of tissue waste and of tissue renewal.
Moist heat is used to promote and regulate the
functional activity of the excretory organs. The
strict treatment is stimulating, and aims at in-
ducing a " feverish " condition of body, with the
object of wasting away tissue.
The chief difficulty in administering the treat-
ment consists in adjusting for each patient the
quantity and strength of the wine taken, and the
rate of drinking, so as to allow due time for its
absorption in such a manner as to maintain such
a degree of " feverishness " in the patient for such
length of time as may be necessary for the elimina-
tion of all morbid matters and structure from the
body whilst maintaining due and healthier tissue
renewal.
The Preparatory Treatment consists during the
first week :
1. In patients sleeping all night in a wet-sheet
pack. The arms are usually left free, and the
sheet is fourfold in thickness around the trunk.
In the morning the whole body is thoroughly
rubbed with a warm, dry towel, and the patient
remains in bed for half an hour afterwards. For
the morning ablution only tepid water is used.
2. In using a spare vegetable diet, consisting
182
RECENT HYDROPATHY
of one meal a day, the mid-day dinner, this being
of one dish only, a dryish soup, thick enough to
be eaten with a fork. It is made of grain or pulse
with butter or salt. Wheaten rolls lightly baked
are eaten in the morning, and when desired at
other times.
3. In drinking non-alcoholic tepid drinks, such
as barley-gruel, slightly sweetened and flavoured
with lemon, and only taken to quench decided
thirst.
During the second week, in addition to the
above, a glass of hot white wine, mixed with half
a glass of water and sweetened, is sipped between
3 and 4 p.m., whilst wheaten rolls are being eaten.
The wine is drunk hot, but not boiled ; must be
good and pure, but not old. The wine must be
sipped slowly, one glass per half-hour.
During the third week the afternoon wine must
be taken without the water, and two glasses are
to be taken instead of one.
This preparatory treatment is lengthened or
shortened, according to the nature of the illness
and the character of the patient.
Strict Treatment. This differs from the pre-
paratory treatment only as regards the character
and quantity of drink taken. The packs and diet
of the preparatory treatment are continued during
the strict treatment.
The strict treatment is begun by one whole day
183
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
of abstinence from wine-drinking. On the second
day the habitual wine and rolls are taken. On
the third day a morning glass of hot wine is
sipped, and rolls eaten. In the afternoon one
glass of hot wine is sipped, and then about one
whole bottle of cold wine is sipped, whilst rolls
are eaten. In the evening one glass of hot wine
is sipped, and rolls eaten.
Treatment in Nervoiis Diseases. In these cases
the treatment is largely soothing, stimulation being
approached by slow degrees. From three to six
weeks the drinks may be barley-gruel and sugared
water alternately. Then from three to six weeks
more hot or cold water with wine. Then one
day of abstinence is followed by a drinking day,
and the wine is by degrees taken purer until the
full treatment is attained.
The strict treatment arouses, perhaps many
times during its course, a crisis in the body, with
fever and perhaps acute local symptoms.
The preparatory treatment is then returned to,
and the wine-drinking is omitted.
Period of Rest. After some weeks of the strict
treatment, the patient, by acquiring a keen appetite
and good spirits, and by exhibiting a clean tongue,
earns a period of rest of from one to two weeks'
duration.
During this period of rest (i) a wet trunk-pack
is substituted for the whole pack at night ; (2) a
184
RECENT HYDROPATHY
cup of cocoa or coffee is given for breakfast ;
(3) white meats, poultry or game, fresh vegetables
and cooked fruits, are given for mid-day dinner,
and half a bottle of wine with dry biscuits in the
afternoon ; (4) during the second week a light
luncheon is given, with the object of keeping the
dinner smaller. All meals must be strictly moderate
in quantity. Nothing else is allowed except dry
bread.
After a fortnight, or sooner, should the appetite
diminish, or other discomfort arise, the strict
treatment is resumed.
The object of this period of rest is to build up
and reinvigorate the body, so that it will be better
able to bear a further course of strict treatment if
necessary.
Such is a bird's-eye view of the treatment pur-
sued by Schroth during a period of fifty years.
Invalids coming for the cure from all parts of the
world is, to say the least, a fair indication that the
remedies employed are attended with some success.
Dr. Schroth's treatment is adopted by eminent
medical men in various parts of Europe. As a
matter of course I do not include the medical men
in England, Ireland, and Scotland, inasmuch as it
would be infra dig. on their part to recognise such
"quackery" as Dr. Schroth's method of dealing
with their refuse. Individually, I am an eclectic
so far as remedial measures are concerned ; con-
185
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
sequently I am pleased to recognise every inno-
vation that is calculated to ameliorate human
suffering. Being actuated by these principles, I
have made it my business to look into everything
that turns up pertaining to medical remedies that
have been developed either by accident or by scien-
tific investigation.
About twenty-five years ago a gentleman called
at my establishment to see if he could have wet-
sheet packs according to Dr. Schroth's method.
The instructions were as follows : To be packed
in two suitable sized wet-sheets, well wrung out of
cold water ; fasting for three or four hours, followed
by a dry-sheet rub ; and to drink a small bottle of
white wine immediately after each pack.
This gentleman was suffering from septicaemia
of syphilitic nature ; he had ten applications, and
the improvement in the patient was marked. On
leaving, he declared that he had spent a fortune
in seeking for relief, adding that the ten packs,
together with the diet, had done him more good
than all previous remedies he had been under, and
as a result he had made up his mind to go to
Lindewiese to complete his cure.
This case made such a profound impression on
my mind that I was determined to visit Schroth's
establishment when an opportunity occurred, and
in 1895 I visited the place, and was very much
gratified with what I saw.
186
It should be borne in mind that the Graefenberg
and Lindewiese establishments are conducted very
differently from the way in which our fashionable
hydros are in this country. The major portion of
the visitors are medical men's refuse from all parts
of the globe, who flock there for treatment as a
last resource, having been given up as incurable,
and I have it from very good authority that a
majority of those who undergo the treatment return
home cured.
I think my readers will agree with me that it is
a rather curious anomaly that so-called quackery
has to come to the rescue of legalized medicine in
the manner I have described.
*****
In order to show the wide interest aroused by
Priessnitz's work during his lifetime, I give in the
next chapter a list of English works on and
relating to hydropathy published between 1820
and 1850, and also lists of hydropathic authors in
other languages during the same period.
187
CHAPTER XIII
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
English Works : 1820 1850.
CLARKE (SIR ARTHUR). " An Essay on
Warm, Cold, and Vapour-Bathing, with
Observations on Sea-Bathing, Diseases of the
Skin, Bilious Liver Complaints, and Dropsy."
Fifth edition. London : printed for Henry Colburn
and Co., and sold by John Gumming, and at the
Public Baths. Dublin, 1820. 8vo., pp. xii, 232.
" Cursory Remarks on Bathing," to which are
added observations on Sir Arthur Clarke's " Essay
on Bathing." London : printed for T. Boys,
7, Ludgate Hill, 1820. 8vo., pp. 58.
Elliott (R.). " Dissertation on Cold Bathing."
New York, 1821.
Bacon ( ). " On Cold Applications." Phila-
delphia, 1822.
Mahomed (S. D.). " Shampooing ; or, Benefits
Resulting from the Use of the Indian Medicated
iSS
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Vapour-Bath ... the Use of the Warm Bath
in Comparison with Steam or Vapour-Bathing."
Brighton : printed by E. H. Creasy, 1822. 8vo.,
pp. 134. Third edition. Brighton : printed
by William Fleet, Herald Office, 1838. 8vo.,
pp. xvi, 198.
Hunt ( ). " Dissertation on Cold Applica-
tions." Philadelphia, 1824.
Dewees (W. P.). " A Treatise on the Physical
and Medical Treatment of Children." London,
1826. (B. M.)
Syking (G. A.). " On the Effects of Drinking
Cold Water." Philadelphia, 1826.
Blackwell ( ). "On the Morbid Effects of
Drinking Cold Water." Philadelphia, 1829.
Culverwell (R. J.). " A Practical Treatise on
Bathing." London : published by the author,
Founders' Hall Court, Lothbury, 1829. 8vo.,
pp. xvi, 248. (R. M.)
Donnellan (M.). " Dissertation on the Effects
of Cold." Philadelphia, 1829.
Parks ( ). "On the Effects of Cold." Diss,
Philadelphia, 1829.
Bell (John). " On Baths and Mineral Waters."
In two parts: Part I., "A Full Account of the
Hygienic and Curative Powers of Cold, Tepid,
Warm, Hot, and Vapour-Baths, and of Sea-
Bathing." Part II., " Mineral Springs." Phila-
delphia, 1831.
189
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Smith (Th.) " On Inflammation." Philadelphia,
1831.
Waring (J.). "On the Effects of Drinking
Cold Water in Warm Weather." New York,
1831.
Whitlaw (Chas.). "A Treatise on the Causes
and Effects of Inflammation, Fever, Cancer,
Scrofula, and Nervous Affections, together with
Remarks on the Specific Action of His Patent
Medicated Vapour-Bath, and Rules for Diet and
Regimen." London, 1831.
Edwards (W. F.). " On the Influence of
Physical Agents on Life." Translated from the
French by Dr. Hodgkin and Dr. Fisher. London,
1832. (B. M.)
Balbirnie (J.). " The Pathology and Treatment
of the Functional Disorders and Organic Altera-
tions of the Uterus and its Appendages, with a
Series of New Cases Illustrating the Superior
Efficacy of an Exclusive Water- Practice." London,
1836. (Another edition in 1846.)
Johnson (E.). " Letters to Brother John ; or,
Life, Health, and Disease." London, 1837.
(B. M.) (Many later editions.)
Wilson (Jas.). " A Practical Treatise on the
Curative Effects of Simple and Medicated
Vapour," etc. London, 1837. 8vo., pp. xii,
146 ; 2 plates.
Culverwell (R. J.). " Hints on Bathing, con-
190
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
taining a Brief Exposition of the Medical Efficacy
and Salubrity of the Warm, Vapour, Shampooing,
Sulphur, and Shower-Baths." London, 1838.
Wright (M. B.). "A Lecture on the Physio-
logical and Therapeutical Uses of Water, Delivered
to the Students of the Ohio Medical College at
the Opening of the Session of 1839-40." Cincinnati,
1839. 8vo.
Hall (Marshall). " On the Diseases and De-
rangements of the Nervous System." London,
1841. (Chapter VI.) (B. M.)
Abdy (E. S.). "The Water-Cure. Cases of
Disease Cured by Cold Water." Translated from
the German, with remarks addressed to people of
common-sense. London, 1842. (B. M.)
Claridge (R. T.). " Hydropathy ; or, the Cold-
Water Cure as Practised by Vincent Priessnitz
at Graefenberg, Silesia, Austria." London: J.
Madden and Co., 1842. 8vo., pp. 318 ; i plate.
Freeman (J.). " Medical Reflections on the
Water-Cure." London, 1842. (B. M.)
Graeter (F.). " Hydriatics ; or, a Manual of
the Water-Cure, especially as Practised by V.
Priessnitz in Graefenberg." Compiled and trans-
lated from the writings of C. Munde, Dr. Oertel,
Dr. B. Hirschel, and other eyewitnesses and
practitioners. New York, 1842. (B. M.)
Gully (J. M.). "The Simple Treatment of
Disease deduced from the Methods of Expectancy
191
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
and Revulsion. . . ." London : J. Churchill,
1842. I2mo., pp. ii, viii, 198. (R. M.).
Priessnitz (Vincenz). " The Cold- Water Cure :
its Principles, Theory, and Practice, with Hints
for its Self-Application, and a Full Account of the
Wonderful Cures Performed by it at Graefenberg
... by the Inventor, V. Priessnitz." London,
1842. (B. M.)
Schlemmer (C. V.). " Hydropathy. The Cold-
Water Cure of Diseases : its Philosophy and Fact.
With Cases, proving how certainly this System
Benefits the Afflicted." In two Lectures : (i) For
the Healthy ; (2) For the Sick. Translated from
the German of Mr. C. V. Schlemmer, formerly
conductor of the first hydropathic establishment
in England, opened December, 1841, at Ham
Common, Surrey; at present sub-director in the
hydropathic establishment at Graefenberg House,
Stanstead Bury, near Hertford. Price is. London :
Madden and Co., Leadenhall Street; and Hatchard
and Son, Piccadilly, 1842. 8vo., pp. 34. (B. M.)
Weatherhead (G. H.). "On the Hydropathic
Cure of Gout." London, 1842. (B. M.)
Wilson (James). " The Water-Cure. A Prac-
tical Treatise on the Cure of Diseases by Water,
Air, Exercise, and Diet : being a New Mode of
restoring Injured Constitutions to Robust Health,
for the Radical Cure of Dyspeptic, Nervous, and
Liver Complaints, Tic-Douloureux, Gout, and
192
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Rheumatism, Scrofula, Syphilis, and their Con-
sequences, Diseases Peculiar to Women and
Children, Fevers, Inflammations," etc. Fourth
edition. London : John Churchill, 1842. 8vo.,
pp. xxx, 202. (R. M.)
Beamish (R.). "The Cold- Water Cure . . .
to which are added some Useful Hints . . .
together with a Notice of the Dipsopathic System
of Schrott at Lindiviese." Second edition. Lon-
don, 1843. (B. M.)
Beamish (R.). " Approximate Rationale of the
Cold- Water Cure as Practised by V. Priessnitz at
Graefenberg in Silesia, with an Account of Cases
successfully treated at Prestbury near Chelten-
ham." London, 1843. (B. M.)
Courtney (Ab.). " The Water-Cure : its Safety
and Rationality." London, 1843. (B. M.)
Graham (T. J.). "A Few Pages on Hydro-
pathy, or the Cold - Water System." London,
1843. (B. M.)
Graham (T. J.). " The Cold- Water System, an
Essay Exhibiting the Real Merits and Most Safe
. . . Employment of this Excellent System in
Indigestion, Costiveness, Asthma, Cough," etc.
London, 1843. (B. M.)
Heathcote (G. H.). " Some Observations on
the Cold- Water Treatment as Witnessed at Graef-
enberg." London, 1843. (B. M.)
Johnson (E.). " Hydropathy. The Theory,
193 o
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Principles and Practice of the Water-Cure."
London, 1843. (B. M.) Third thousand. London:
Simpkin and Co., 1846. 8vo., pp. 194.
Johnson (E.). " The Water-Cure. A Lecture
on the Principles of Hydropathy." London, 1843.
(B. M.)
Scudamore (Sir Charles). "A Medical Visit
to Graefenberg, in ... 1843, for the Purpose of
Investigating the Merits of the Water-Cure Treat-
ment." London, 1843. (B. M.)
Smethurst (Thos.). " Hydrotherapia ; or, the
Water-Cure. . . . To which is added a Descrip-
tion of Graefenberg and the System there. . . .
Together with a Short Sketch of the History of
the Water-Cure . . . and Remarks on Sea-Bath-
ing." London, 1843. (B. M.)
Wilson (James). " The Water- Cure. Stomach
Complaints and Drug Diseases, their Causes, Con-
sequences and Cure by Water, Air, Exercise and
Diet. With an Engraving of Napoleon in the
Second Stage of Cancer of the Stomach. To
which is Appended two Letters to Dr. Hastings,
of Worcester, on the Results of the Water-Cure
at Malvern. . . ." London : J. Churchill, Princes
Street, Soho, 1843. 8vo., pp. xvi, 130. (R. M.)
Wilson (James) and Gully (J. M.). " The
Dangers of the Water-Cure and its Efficacy
Examined," etc. London : Cunningham and
Mortimer. 1843. i2mo., pp. xiv, 186.
194
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Wilson (J.) and Gully (J. M.). " A Prospectus
of the Water-Cure Establishment at Malvern under
the Management of J. W., M.D., and J. M. G.,
M.D. London : Cunningham and Mortimer, 1843.
I2mo., pp. iv, 32. (R. M.)
Feldmann (J. E.). " Theory and Practice of
Hydropathy . . . Physiologically and Pathologi-
cally Reviewed and Compared with the old
Medical Treatment." Dublin, 1843. 8vo. (B. M.)
Martin (E. G.). "Principles of Cold- Water
Treatment of Diseases, and its Application."
London, 1843. 8vo. (B. M.)
Weeding (Samuel). "The Wet Sheet: Ad-
dressed to the Medical Men of England. Cases
Illustrative of the Powerful and Curative Effect of
the Wet Sheet," etc. London [Ryde, printed],
1843. 8vo. (B. M.)
Claridge (R. T.). " Facts and Evidences in
Support of Hydropathy." London : J. Madden
and Co., 1844. 8vo. is. 6d.
Martin (E. G.). " Water-Treatment of Gout
and Rheumatism : the Reasons of its Failure in
these cases ; with Remarks on the Injurious
Effects of Iodine." London [Weymouth, printed],
1844. 8vo. (B. M.)
Graham (R. Hay). " Graefenberg ; or, A True
Report of the Water-Cure, with an Account of its
Antiquity." London, 1844: Longman and Co.,
1844. 8vo., pp. iv, 232.
195 o 2
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Greaves (John), Editor. " The History of Cold
Bathing, both Ancient and Modern, by Sir John
Floyer, Knt., and Dr. Edward Baynard. First
published about the year 1702. Manchester :
Republished by J. Gadsby, Newall's Buildings.
London : R. Groombridge, 5, Paternoster Row,
1844. Price is. 8vo., pp. 108. A reprint of
the fifth edition of 1722. (R. M.)
King (John). "Observations on Hydropathy;
or, the Cold- Water Cure, Elucidated by some Re-
markable Cases, as Witnessed by the Author
during his Residence at Graefenberg, Silesian Aus-
tria." London, 1844 (?). (B. M.)
Lee (Edwin). " The Cold-Water Cure." Re-
printed with additions from the last edition ot
" The Baths of Germany." London, 1844. (B. M.)
Shew (Joel). "Handbook of Hydropathy."
New York : Wiley and Putnam, 1844. I2mo.,
pp. 144.
Shew (Joel). " Facts in Hydropathy, or the
Water-Cure ; a Collection of Cases, with Details
of Treatment, showing the Safest and Most Effec-
tual Known Means to be Used in Gout, Rheu-
matism, Indigestion, Hypochondriasis, Fevers,
Consumption, etc., from various Authors." New
York : Burgess, Stringer and Co., 1844. I2mo.,
pp. 108.
Weiss (John). " The Handbook of Hydro-
pathy; with an Appendix on the Best Mode of
196
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Forming Hydros." London : J. Madden and Co.,
1844. 8vo., pp. xii, 438.
Wilson (James). " The Practice of the Water-
Cure, with Authenticated Evidence of its Efficacy
and Safety." Part I. London, 1844. (B. M.)
The Water-Cure Journal. Edited by Joel Shew.
New York, 1845-49.
Balbirnie (J.). " The Philosophy of the Water-
Cure; a Development of the True Principles of
Health and Longevity." Bath : Binns and Good-
win. London : Simpkin and Co., 1845. I2mo.,
pp. xl, 386.
Bodwell (J. C.). "Remarks on the Water-
Cure." Weymouth, 1845.
Courtney (Abraham). " Hydropathy Defended
by Facts ; or, the Cold- Water Cure Proved to be
as Safe in Practice as it is Rational in Theory."
London, 1845 (?).
Horsell (W.) " The Board of Health and Lon-
gevity ; or, Hydropathy for the People : Consisting
of Plain Observations on Drugs, Diet, Water, Air,
Exercise, etc." London : Houlston and Stoneman,
1845. i6mo., pp. 254.
Mayo (Herbert). "The Cold- Water Cure, its
Use and Misuse Examined." London, 1845. (B.M.)
Wright (H. C.) " Six Months at Graefenberg;
with Conversations in the Saloon on Non-resistance
and other Subjects. . . ." London : C. Gilpin,
1845. 8vo., pp. viii, 358. (R. M.)
197
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Bulwer-Lytton (E. G. E. L.), Baron Lytton.
" Confessions of a Water-Patient ; in a Letter to
W. H. Ainsworth. London, 1846. (B. M.)
Bushnan (J. S.). "Observations on Hydro-
pathy, with an Account of the Principal Cold-
Water Establishments of Germany." Berlin : A.
Asher and Co. Frankfort : C. Jugel. Neuwied :
A. G. van der Beck. London : J. Churchill, 1846.
i2mo., pp. xii, 188. (B. M.)
Gully (J. M.). " The Water-Cure in Chronic
Disease." London, 1846. (B. M.) (Second edition,
1847. Third edition, 1850. Fourth edition, 1851.
Fifth edition, 1856. Sixth edition, 1859.)
Lee (Edwin). "Hydropathy and Homoeopathy
Impartially Appreciated, with an Appendix of
Notes Illustrative of the Influence of the Mind
on the Body." The third editions combined.
London: Churchill, 1847. I2mo. (B. M.)
Feldmann (J. E.). " Cold- Water Cure, and
Results of Twenty Years' Medical Practice."
London, 1847. 8vo. (B. M.)
Ross (David). " Atmopathy and Hydropathy ;
or, How to Prevent and Cure Diseases by the
Application of Steam and Water." London
[Ipswich, printed] : Simpkin, 1848. i6mo. 2s. 6d.
(B. M.)
Johnson (Ed.). "Results of Hydropathy; or,
Constipation not a Disease of the Bowels ; Indi-
gestion not a Disease of the Stomach ; with an
198
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Exposition of the True Nature and Cause of these
Ailments, explaining the reason why they are
certainly Cured by the Hydropathic Treatment,"
etc. London : Simpkin and Co. Ipswich : J. M.
Burton, 1846. 8vo., pp. viii, 268. (B. M.)
Lane (R. J.). " Life at the Water-Cure ; or, A
Month at Malvern, a Diary. To which is added
the Sequel." London : Longmans, 1846. 8vo.,
pp. xiv, 386.
Lee (Edwin). " The Baths of Germany . . .
and an Appendix on the Cold- Water Cure." Third
reissue. London, 1846. (B. M.)
Gibbs (John), of Camberwell. " Letters from
Graefenberg, in ... 1843-46, with the Report
and Extracts from the Correspondence of the
Enniscorthy Hydropathic Society." London : C.
Gilpin, 1847. 8vo., pp. xxviii, 280.
Hartshorne (H.) " Water versus Hydropathy;
or, An Essay on Water, and its True Relations to
Medicine." Philadelphia: L. P. Smith, 1847.
8vo., pp. 132. (R. M.)
Shew (Joel). " The Water-Cure Manual . . .
with Descriptions of Diseases and the Hydropathic
Means to be Employed Therein." New York,
1847. (B. M.)
Veteran (By a). " Hints to the Sick, the Lame,
and the Lazy ; or, Passages in the Life of a Hydro-
pathist." London, 1847.
The Water-Cure Journal. Edited by J. M.
199
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Gully. London : No. i, August, 1847 ; No. 38,
September, 1850.
Balbirnie (J.). " Curability of Consumption ;
with Cases . . . Prospectus of the Water . . .
Cure Practised at Cheltenham." London, 1848.
(B. M.)
Forbes (Sir John). " Review of Hydropathy,
or the Water-Cure." From the London Quarterly
Journal, October, 1848. (Troy, New York).
Published by Dr. W. A. Hamilton, 1848. (B. M.)
Macleod (Wm.). " The Treatment of Small-
Pox, Measles, Scarlet Fever, etc., by the Water-
Cure and Homoeopathy." Manchester, 1848. (B.M.)
Meeker (C. H.). " Miscellanies to the Graef-
enberg Water-Cure ; or, A Demonstration of the
Advantages of the Hydropathic Method of Curing
Diseases as compared with the Medical." Trans-
lated (from the German of J. H. Rausse) by C. H.
Meeker. New York : published under the direc-
tion of Drs. Pierson and Meeker, 1848. i2mo.,
pp. xvi, 262. (B. M.)
" The Water-Cure in America ; 220 Cases of
Various Diseases Treated with Water by Drs.
Wesselhoefft, Shew, Bedertha, Schieferdecker, and
others." Edited by a Water-Patient. Second
edition. New York and London, 1848. (B. M.)
Blackie (J. S.). " The Water-Cure in Scotland ;
Five Letters from Dunoon, originally published
in the Aberdeen Herald. Aberdeen, 1849. (B. M.)
200
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Claridge (R. T.) " Cholera : its Prevention and
Cure by Hydropathy; with Observations on the
Treatment of Colic, Diarrhoea, and Dysentery."
London, 1849. (B. M.)
Claridge (R. T.). " Every Man his own Doctor,
the Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction Cure,
as Applicable to every Disease to which the Human
Frame is subject, and also to the Cure of Disease
in Horses and Cattle." London, 1849. (B. M.)
Francke (H. F.). " Outlines of a New Theory
of Disease Applied to Hydropathy." Translated
from the German by R. Baikie. London : Long-
man and Co., 1849. 8vo., pp. viii, 320.
Johnson (E.). "The Domestic Practice of
Hydropathy." London, 1849. (B. M.) (Many
later editions.)
Nichols (Mrs. M. S. G.). " Experience in Water-
Cure ; a Familiar Exposition of the Principles and
Results of Water-Treatment in the Cure of Acute
and Chronic Diseases Illustrated by Numerous
Cases in the Practice of the Author," etc. New
York, 1849. (B. M.)
Schieferdecker (C. C.). " Short Essay on the
Invariably Successful Treatment of Cholera with
Water." Philadelphia, 1849. (B. M.)
Shew (Joel). "The Cholera: its Causes, Pre-
vention and Cure ; showing the Inemcacy of Drug-
Treatment and the Superiority of the Water-Cure
in this Disease." New York, 1849. (B. M.)
201
VINCENT PRIESSNITZ
Shew (Joel). " The Water- Cure in Pregnancy
and Childbirth, with Cases Showing the Remark-
able Effects of Water in Mitigating the Pains . . .
of the Parturient State." New York, 1849. (B. M.)
Claridge (R. T.). " Familiar Guide to Hydro-
pathy." London: J. Madden and Co., 1849.
8vo. as. 6d.
Bell (John). " Dietetical and Medical Hy-
drology. A Treatise on Baths ; including Cold,
Sea, Warm, Hot, Vapour, Gas, and Mud Baths ;
also on the Watery Regimen, Hydropathy and
Pulmonary Inhalation ; with a Description of
Bathing in Ancient and Modern Times." Phila-
delphia, 1850.
Hunter (Robert). " Hydrotherapeutics ; or, A
Treatise on the Water-Cure." Toronto, 1850 (?).
Johnson (E.). " The History, Claims, and
Prospects of Hydropathy." London, 1850. (B.M.)
Johnson (E.). " The Hydropathic Treatment
of Diseases Peculiar to Women." London, 1850.
(B. M.)
Johnson (H. F.). " Researches into the Effects
of Cold Water upon the Healthy Body, to Illus-
trate its Action in Disease, in a Series of Experi-
ments Performed by the Author upon Himself
and Others." Manchester, 1850. (B. M.)
Nichols (T. L.). " Introduction to the Water-
Cure." New York, 1850 (?).
Nichols (Thos. L.). "The Curse Removed. A
202
HYDROPATHIC BOOKS
Statement of Facts Respecting the Efficacy of the
Water-Cure in the Treatment of Uterine Diseases,
and the Removal of the Pains and Perils of Preg-
nancy and Childbirth." New York : Office of the
Water-Cure Journal, 1850. i2mo., pp. 20.
Rausse (J. H.). " Errors of Physicians and
Others in the Practice of the Water-Cure." New
York, 1850 (?).
Shew (J.). " Hydropathy, or the Water-Cure :
its Principles, Processes, and Mode of Treatment,"
etc. Fourth edition. New York, 1850. i2mo.,
pp. 360. Vol. I. of the Water-Cure Library.
Trail (R. T.) " Hydropathy for the People."
New York, 1850 (?).
The following works I have failed to find fuller
information about :
Dr. Preshaw. " Wet Sheet."
Mrs. Shew. " Hydropathy for Ladies."
Mr. Wilmot. "Tribute."
203
APPENDIX
AUTHORS OF ENGLISH WORKS, 1820-50.
ABDY, E. S., 1842.
Bacon, , 1822.
Balbirnie, J., 1845-48.
Beamish, R., 1843.
Bell, J., 1831-50.
Blackie, J. S., 1849.
Blackwell, , 1829.
Bodwell, J. C., 1845.
Bulwer-Lytton, E.G.E.L.,
1846.
Bushnan, J. S., 1846.
Claridge, R. T., 1842-4-9.
Clarke, Sir A., 1820.
Courtney, Ab., 1843-45.
Culverwell, R. J., 1829-38.
' Cursory Remarks,' 1820.
Dewees, W. P., 1826.
Donnellan, M., 1829.
Elliott, R., 1821.
Edwards, W. F., 1832.
Feldmann, J. E., 1843-47.
Forbes, J., 1848.
Francke, H. F., 1849.
Freeman, J., 1842.
Gibbs, J., 1847.
Graeter, F., 1842.
Graham, T. J., 1843.
Graham, R. H., 1844.
Greaves, J., 1844.
! Gully, J. M., 1842-50.
| Hall, M., 1841.
Hartshorne, H., 1847.
Heathcote, G. H., 1843.
Horsell, W., 1845.
Hunt, , 1824.
Hunter, R., 1850.
Johnson, E., 1837-50.
Johnson, H. F., 1850.
King, J., 1844.
Lane, R. J., 1846.
Lee, E., 1844-6-7.
Macleod, W., 1848.
Mahomed, S. D., 1822-38.
Martin, E. G., 1843-44.
Mayo, H., 1845.
Meeker, C. H., 1848.
Nichols, M. S. G., 1849.
Nichols, S. L., 1850.
Parks, , 1829.
Priessnitz, V., 1842.
204
APPENDIX
Rausse, J. T H., 1848-50.
Ross, D., 1848.
Schieferdecker,C.C., 1849.
Schlemmer, C. V., 1842.
Scudamore, C., 1843.
Shew, J., 1844-50.
Smith, Th., 1831.
Smethurst, T., 1843.
Syking, G. A., 1826.
Trail, R. T., 1850.
' Veteran,' 1847.
Waring, J., 1831.
Water Cure Journal,
London, 1847-50.
Water Cure Journal, New
York, 1845-50.
Weatherhead, G.H., 1842.
Weeding, S., 1843.
Weiss, J., 1844.
Wesselhoefft, , 1848.
Whitlaw, .,1831.
Wilson,]., 1837-44.
Wright, M. B., 1839.
Wright, H. C., 1845.
AUTHORS OF GERMAN WORKS, 1820-50.
Amon, E. O., 1838.
Baumann, G. A., 1845.
Bayshoflfer, C. Th., 1837.
Beck, V. W., 1838.
Beckstein, , 1834-37.
Bergmann, A. L., 1838.
Bicking, F. A., 1842.
Brand, T., 1835.
Brandis, J. D., 1833.
Braune, , 1843.
Buchner, J. B., 1845.
Biirckner, , 1841.
Caspar, J. B., 1832.
Classen, H., 1840.
Cohn, S. D., 1843.
Colomb, M. von, 1850.
Dahne, R. F., 1821.
Decken-Himmelreich,
L. von der, 1845.
Dietrich, E. C. V., 1840.
Doering, , 1836.
Doussin - Doubreil, J. L.,
1828.
Dzondi, C. H., 1825.
Ehrenberg, H., 1840.
Erhard, , 1824.
Erismann, A., 1847.
Fabricius, , 1834.
Flittner, C. G., 1822.
Fraenkel, L., 1840-42.
Froelich, A. von, 1823-45.
Granichstadten, S. M.,
Gross, J. B., 1836-47.
Hahn, J. S., 1838.
Hahn, Th., 1850.
Hallmann, Ed., 1844-50.
Hancocke, J., 1834.
Heine, J. G., 1835.
Held-Ritt, E. von, 1837.
Helmenstreit, , 1839.
Hermann, , 1835.
Herzog, A., 1836.
Hirschel, B., 1840.
Hlawaczek, E., 1837.
Hoppe, J., 1840.
205
APPENDIX
Horner, , 1840.
Husemann, G., 1837.
Kahl, C., 1848.
Kapp, E., 1850.
Keyser, , 1841.
Kirchmayer, A., 1838.
Klencke, P. F. H., 1840.
Knolz, J. J., 1834.
Kobbe, T. von, 1841.
Kock, C. F., 1831.
Kock, K. A., 1838.
Kollert, , 1837.
Krausse, W., 1842.
Krober, A. H., 1833.
Kuehn, A., 1841.
Kuerter, R., 1841-44.
Kurtz, T. E., 1835.
Landa, , 1842.
Laube, H., .
Leupoldt, J. M., 1842.
Mauthner von Mautstein,
L. W., 1837.
Mayor, M. L., 1847.
Mediolanus, , 1847.
Meissner, F. L., 1832.
Michalovits, , 1842.
Moller, J. G., 1839.
Miiller, F., 1832.
Miiller, F. O. C., 1845.
Miiller, J. O., 1840.
Munde, C., 1837-47.
Neumann, A. C., 1846.
Neumann, C. G., 1845-47.
Niedenfuehr, M. C., 1850.
Oertel, E. F. C., 1829-40.
Oxann, , 1829.
Osiander, , 1829.
Ott, F. A., 1845.
Parow, W., 1841-44.
Petri, , 1841.
Plitt, H. O., 1845-47.
Putzer, J., 1847-50.
Raimann, F., 1844.
Raimund, J. K., 1845.
Rast, F. G. L., 1829-40.
Rausse, J. H., 1838-50.
Rechberg, , 1841.
Reich, G. C., 1831.
Reider, J. E. von, 1831.
Reuss, J. L, 1831.
Richter, A., 1834.
Richter, C. A. W., 1838.
Rickauer, G. J., 1838.
Rober, E., 1845.
Roder, A., 1841.
Roetel, , 1843-48.
Rover, , 1832.
Rul, M., .
Ruppricht, S., 1840.
Rust, J. N., 1832.
Sachs, L., 1849.
Sachs, S., 1845.
Sachs, J. J., 1838.
Schede, , 1833.
Schenk, C., 1843.
Schmethurst, T., 1847.
Schnackenberg, , 1841.
Schnaubert, H., 1840.
Schnitzlein, E., 1838.
Schreiber, D. G. M.,
1842.
Schroth, J., 1846.
Schubert, F., 1840.
Selinger, J. E. M., 1841.
Seyfart, G., 1846.
Siebenhaar, F. J., 1831.
Sinogowitz, H. S., 1840.
Stark, A., 1844.
Stecher, , 1840-44.
Steudel, E. G., 1842.
206
APPENDIX
Steudel, H., 1840.
Strahl, M., 1846.
Stuhlmann, , 1850.
Tarani, F., 1841.
Vetter, F. G. A., 1840.
Vierordt, C., 1845.
Vogel, M. J., 1828-45.
Weber, B., 1847.
Weiss, J., 1844.
Wriskopf, H., 1847.
Wendt, J., 1830-44.
Wichmann, , 1841.
Wulzinger, , 1839.
Zipperlen, J. B., 1844-47.
Zoczek, C., 1836.
Zorzeck, , 1831.
AUTHORS OF FRENCH WORKS, 1820-50.
Amussat, A. A., 1850.
Andral, G., 1836.
Bachelier, J., 1843.
Baldou, , 1841.
Beley, C., 1833.
Beunaiche de la Corbiere,
J. B., 1839.
Bigel, J., 1840.
Busquet, P. F., 1849.
Chabot, , 1830.
Chantelou, F., 1834.
Chapuis, J., 1844.
Corbel, S. J., 1837-45.
Delaveau, F. C., 1823.
Dieppedalle, L. F., 1844.
Dumay, C. S., 1830.
Duvard, J. M., 1834.
Edwards, Wm. F., 1824.
Engel, , 1840.
Geoffroy, , 1843.
Gillebert-Dhercourt, L. A.,
1845.
Guillet, M. J. J. M.,
1834.
Habets, , 1842.
Heidenhain, H., 1842.
James, C., 1846.
Joannes, , 1828.
Jolly, P., 1829.
Josse, , 1835.
Legrand, , 1843.
Lubansky, A., 1845-47.
Mayor, C., 1844.
Mayor, M. L., 1846.
Meglin, A., 1822.
Mestre, J. A., 1824.
Munde, C., 1842.
Pigeaire, J., 1842-47.
Poullain, , 1842.
Raymond, V., 1840.
Rochoux, , 1829.
Rouviere, , 1823.
Rowe, , 1824.
Sauvan, , 1840.
Schedel, H. E., 1845.
Scoutetten, R. H. J., 1843-
44-
Tanchou, S., 1821.
Van Housebrouck, ,
1841.
Van Swygenbooen, C.,
1842.
Vidart, P., 1849.
Wertheim, L., 1840.
207
APPENDIX
AUTHORS OF LATIN WORKS, 1820-50.
Black, , 1829.
Blaschka, J., 1842.
Bloch, H., 1839.
Breitenbiicher, H., 1844.
Bruggemann, A. F., 1824.
Cocchi, B., 1829.
Folcieri, F., 1835.
Fraenkel, L., 1830.
Fuellkruss, C. F., 1843.
Gritzner, E. T., 1841.
Griinhut, J., 1842.
Guentha, G. B., 1844.
Harvey, J., 1828.
Henckel, W., 1828.
Heyck, J. H. G., 1836.
Jackson, G., 1823.
Karass, C., 1845.
Kier, A., 1830.
Kitzing, G., 1839.
Knie, J. A., 1833.
Kurinsky, J., 1829.
Laband, L., 1826.
Leinveber, F. G., 1843.
Lenaert, F. J., 1823.
Leonhardi, F. M., 1843.
Levin, L., 1846.
Lienard, C., 1826.
Lorinser, R., 1823.
Matiegka, F., 1835.
Meyer, P., 1822.
Miiller, J., 1831.
Nolan, J., 1826.
Oertel, E. F. C., 1826.
Rothmann, F. L., 1823.
Sachs, A., 1825.
Schaforowsky, , 1834.
j Schmidt, T., 1847.
Stechern, A., 1842.
Stumpt, F. G., 1822.
I Tremmel, E., 1836.
i Wigand, , 1829.
Wiselius, S. J., 1825.
Zimmermann, H. H. F.,
1844.
AUTHORS OF WORKS IN OTHER
LANGUAGES, 1820-50.
Ascholin, J., 1832.
Bertini, , 1838.
Claridge, R. T., 1848.
Cocchi, A., 1824.
Egeberg, , 1841.
Kolaczkowsky, A., 1840.
Lichtenthal, P., 1838.
Raymond, V., 1841.
Stummes, J., 1842.
208
INDEX
I. GENERAL
ACTION of water, 3, 6, 89, 90,
92, 103, 112, 127
Anecdotes, 20, 44, 55-57, 100
Balls, 35, 38
Baths and wash-houses, 152
Blindness, 100, 101
Cases, 82, 87, 97, 100, 105
Causes of disease, 89
Cholera, 36, 125
Clothing, 109
Cold bath, principle of, 127
Cold feet, 44
Confirmation, 42
Corn-coffee, 125
Crisis, 70, 78, 99, 100, 102-105
Deaths, 116
Diet, no, in, 113, 114, 125,
H5
Doctors, 20, 27, 44-46, 98,
151, 153. 170
Establishments :
Auteuil, 179
Graefenberg, 177
Kaltenleutgeben, 174-176
Lindewiese, 181
Paris, 178
Exercise, 109
Fever, 7
Foreign patients, 61,62, 115
Freiwaldau, 9, 60
Fresh air, 108, 126, 156
Graefenberg, 9, 37, 47, 56,
59, 133-139, I46-H9
Health societies, 179, 180
Imperial commission, 27-30
Lamp bath, 141
Patients need will-power, 86,
US
Quackery, 153, 155, 161
Reaction, 125, 126
Schroth cure, 180-187
Simplicity of water- treatment,
92, 97
Small-pox, 65, 90, 91
Sudorifics, 139-141
Tepid water for acute diseases,
125
Turkish bath, 84, 142-144
Vapour bath, 141, 142
Water societies, 8, 179
Wet-sheet pack, 123, 163, 168,
169, 1 80
209
INDEX
II. NAMES
Anhalt-Koethen, 35
Archduke Franz Carl, 32, 33,
36
Baynard, 4, 105
Beni-Barde, 177-179
Bennett, 162
Bochin ( = Boehm), 49
Boehm, 49
Breslau, Bishop of, 35, 42, 73
Broadbent, 163
Brunton, Lauder, 161, 162
Bulwer-Lytton, 169
Carpenter, 168
Claridge, 16, 161
Currie, 7
Czaski, 32
D'Arsonval, 178
Decken-Himmelreich, 171
Degenfeld, 53
Diepenbrock, 35
Dulek, 174
Emmel, 149, 173, 176, 177
Fernie, 132
Fleury, 178
Floyer, 4, 105
Forbes, 164
Gibbs, 1 6, 113
Goodman, 164
Greaves, 105
Gully, 123
Gutierez-Estrada, 32
Habschek (=Hatschek), 149
Hahn, 5, 6, 77, 120
Hamer, 127
Hancocke, 4
Hatschek, 149
Herkomer, 130
Hoffman, 6
Hosann ( = Hosanu), 149
Hughan, 148
Johnson, 90
Kalliwoda, 126
Kaltfeld, 64, 68
Kneipp, 117-132
Kroeber, 27
Kussmaul, 154-156
La Moile, 32
Lanzani, 4
Laube, 137
Liebig, 90
Lotzbeck, 32
Matezki, 49
Mecklenburg, Duke, 52, 148,
172
Moor ( = Moore), 32
Munde, 170
Nietsche, 20
Oertel, 8, 77, 121, 127, 128
Oppolzer, 174
von Pabst, 79
Perez, 6
Quain, 163
Raisnick, 173
Rausse, 170
Ripper, 66, 117, 129
Schaffgotsch, 32
Schindler, 170, 171
Schmerling, 53
Schnitzlein, 127
Schroth, 180-187
Schwartzenberg, 51
Scolberg, 162
Scudamore, 78
Selinger, 40, 68, 69
Smith, 5
Sotzbeck ( = Lotzbeck), 32
Sponner, 67
Taylor, 5
Tristram, 80
210
Troppau, Mayor of, 38
Turkheim, 27-30
Ujhazy, 48, 76
Weiss, 172, 173
Weisser, 13
INDEX
Wilson, 28, 116, 123, 126, 168,
169
Winternitz, 173-178
Wright, 7
Ziemssen, 176
III. PRIESSNITZ
Accidents, 14-16, 25
Accused of illegal practice,
26, 121
Appearance, 39
Aspirations, 13, 14
Birth, 10
Birthday festivities, 40
Boyhood, 12
Character, 37, 55, 58, 63, 86
Daughter marries, 48
Death, 72
Diagnosis, 78-83
Disliked doctors, 44
Economy, 54
Elected commissioner, 53
Family, 64-66
Farm life, 14
Funeral, 73-75
Generosity, 47, 52, 60
Gold medal, 38
Humour, 55-57
Illnesses, 48, 49, 51, 66, 67,
69, 70
Influence, 96
Licensed to practise, 26, 30
Life-work, 151-153
Manners, 54
Marries, 24
Medical views, 89
Mother's death, 23
Observes patients' skins, 84
Observing powers, u, 25
123
Persecuted, 20, 27
Post-mortem, 17, 72
Prescriptions, 82, 84, 85, 101,
1 02
Presence of mind, 86, 99
Principles, 77
Pupils, 45, 49. 98
Reads medical books, 22
Remedies, 92-96, 102, 108,
121-124
Schooling, 1 1
Self-treatment, 16, 17, 49, 67
69, 70
Sentenced, 26
Son's death, 65
Sudorifics, 139
Sympathy, 86
Systematized water - treat-
ment, I, 151, 152, 161
Wife, 24, 76
THE END.
WilkesandCo., Printers, 88, Walwortk Road, London, S.E.
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ERRATA.
Page 32, line 15, /or " Sotzbeck ' read. " Lotzbeck."
Page 32, line 17, jor " G. H. O. Moor" read- "J. H. O.
Moore."
Page 48, line 19, /or " Budamir " read " Budamer."
Page 49, line 14, for " Bochin " read " Boehm."
Page 67, line 15, for " Spinner " read " Sponner."
Page 134, line 22, for " Jager" read "Jaeger."
Page 135, line 13, for " Buchelsdorf " read " Buechelsdorf."
Page 148, line 4, for " Neues " read " Neue."
Page 148, line 20, for " Grosses " read " Grosse."
Page 149, line 22, for " Hosann " read " Hosanu."
Page 149, line 23, for " Habschek" read " Hatschek."
Page 154, line 30, for " deutscher " read " deutschen."
Page 155, line 26, for " spiritze " read " spritze."
Page 176, line 25, for " Emanuel " read " Edouard."
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