labouring under these complaints, cases of cure might be adduced _ad
infinitum_: suffice it to say, that hydropathy in their cure is
omnipotent. Buboes and chancres, when taken in their infancy, are
eradicated from the system in a few weeks, sometimes days, without the
debilitating effects attendant upon other deceitful remedies.
XCIV.--SCROFULA AND VACCINATION.
Priessnitz, when asked what he conceived to be the cause of such an
increase of scrofula as is said to have taken place of late years, said,
he attributed it to vaccination, syphilis and drugs.
When vaccination is performed without producing its desired effect, the
virus remains in the system, and when it proceeds favourably, it is a
question if it is ever thoroughly ejected.
Every practitioner knows the difficulty that exists of finding children
from which to take matter where no taint is in the blood. The child
subjected to vaccination is not only exposed to the sins of his own
forefathers, but also to those of the stranger.
The consequences attendant upon syphilis, and the evil results of
mineral poisons, are such as to lead us to believe that Priessnitz'
opinion is not without foundation. I am doubtful whether scrofula is
ever cured,[7] though whilst at Gräfenberg I saw many obstinate cases
relieved. Children who arrived there perfect cripples, were enabled to
use their limbs like other people. I think I may in great truth say,
that in all cases the enemy received a check, and the general health of
the patient was improved.
[7] Mrs. Outas' child was cured.
A patient states, that previous to inoculation his family were well; but
since that operation they have been scrofulous. He came to Gräfenberg
some years ago from Dartres, when Priessnitz told him to go home, give
up all beverages but water, use cold baths daily, and he would be well;
though incredulous, he followed the advice, and in two years was
perfectly cured.
For scrofula, the whole treatment must be persevered in for a long time.
XCV.--PILES.
Piles are caused by an accumulation of blood in the vessels which merge
into the large intestines; they either discharge blood, or are confined
to a swelling of the veins, in otherwise healthy subjects. Hydropathy
effects a radical cure of this complaint, whilst medical remedies are
only temporary, and often lead to serious consequences.
_Treatment._--Morning, three rubbing-sheets and sitz-bath, twenty
minutes; noon, the same; afternoon, the same, and an additional
sitz-bath, making four sitz-baths during the day. At night, a
rubbing-sheet but no sitz-bath, as it is too late to walk after it. Body
bandage; much water to be drunk; douche four to eight minutes in the
middle of the day, if possible.
Out of the general treatment, persons troubled with piles may take
sitz-baths and wear a bandage on the part affected.
A patient having piles and sore eyes, was advised neither to take
sitz-baths or eye-baths. When Priessnitz was asked the reason, he said,
"Because you have too much bad matter in your system, which I am afraid
of attracting to those parts."
In a common attack of piles, two or three sitz-baths a-day, fifteen
minutes each, and wearing a bandage upon the part at night, will afford
relief.
Persons subject to piles should especially avoid all heating and
stimulating drinks.
XCVI.--RUPTURE.
I knew of a case of double rupture, in an officer 34 years of age, which
was perfectly cured at Gräfenberg in three years. Another case of single
rupture was cured in nine months, and a recent one cured in four months.
There can be no doubt of the complete omnipotence of Hydropathy over
this malady; its cure is only a matter of time. It is difficult to lay
down any prescribed treatment, as the chief aim of the practitioner must
be to bring his patient into fine health. All organic action is
contraction; all strength depends upon the power of the different parts
of the body to contract, and nothing will aid the operation so much as
the different appliances here made use of. As a rule, I observed that
when rupture exudes, the sweating process should be resorted to; when
perspiration has broken out, gently rub the part with the hand until the
rupture is gone in again. Bandages are worn continually.
XCVII.--CHILBLAINS.
Rub the feet or hands affected for a quarter of an hour in tepid water
three times a-day, and bandage the leg from ankle to knee if in the
feet. If in the hand, the arm from wrist to elbow.
XCVIII.--COLD FEET.
Take a shallow foot-bath, cold, one inch deep, before going to bed, for
fifteen minutes; let the feet be well rubbed the whole time, then walk
about the room bare-footed for half an hour, so that re-action may take
place, or they will be colder than before.
XCIX.--ERUPTION, SCABS, AND SORES ON THE ARMS.
A child had tried sulphur bandages and all other conceivable means:--
Morning, noon, and afternoon, packing-sheet and tepid-bath; the latter
after a few days changed to the cold-bath; bandages night and day; cure
effected in a few weeks.
C.--CONSUMPTION.
Until the age of fifteen or sixteen Priessnitz conceives this complaint
to be always curable. Very often when parties are supposed to be
consumptive, they are not so. A young lady arrived at Gräfenberg during
my stay there. I thought she had delayed it too long; she appeared in
the last stage of consumption. Priessnitz however took the case--and,
principally with rubbing-sheets, administered three times a-day,
effected an extraordinary cure in two months. I saw this lady
afterwards at Florence, and was quite surprised to see what an extremely
fine woman she had become.
There was also a young lady suffering under the following
symptoms:--great debility, very thin, weak eyes, little or no appetite,
and a short cough, which would awaken her about four o'clock in the
morning, and trouble her the whole day. She was considered by M.D.'s as
consumptive. Priessnitz took a different view of the case, and as she
was cured in two months he was right. Her treatment was as follows:--
Morning, packing-sheet and plunge bath, the tepid-bath having been used
only for a short time; at ten o'clock, douche; at eleven, rubbing-sheet
and eye-bath; at five, packing-sheet and bath; chest, waist, and
forehead bandaged every night; waist bandaged always.
_Consumption of the Nerves._--A gentleman aged 30, came to Gräfenberg in
a most deplorable state, supported on one side by his wife, on the other
by his servant. Second night he was taken alarmingly ill, with a fever
and a stoppage in his bowels. He was too weak for a packing-sheet or
tepid-bath, therefore twelve rubbing-sheets were administered within
three hours; and two head-baths during the intermediate times. When a
change for the better took place, enemas were applied and relief
afforded. The next day patient was out of doors. I left Gräfenberg about
this time, therefore do not know if he recovered.
_Spitting Blood._--A young lady was subjected to spitting blood, pain at
the chest, and general debility. Priessnitz doubted if the lungs were
affected, and tried packing-sheet and tepid-bath, which patient was
found too weak to support. Then rubbing-sheets twice a day; patient
still too weak. Then rubbing-sheet, and tepid sitz-bath ten minutes.
Feverish excitement and loss of appetite came on. Back of head put into
cold water for quarter of an hour; to be repeated several times a day.
Bandage at all times down the middle of the breast and round the waist.
When spitting of blood came on, then cold foot-baths were resorted to.
Patient tried the treatment for a month, but was not much improved by
it.
On leaving, Priessnitz advised her to spend the winter in Italy, to eat
nothing but bread and grapes, and to use cold ablutions.
CI.--INSANITY.
This disease, Priessnitz says is curable, when it proceeds from bodily
suffering or disease; but when caused by mental suffering or misfortune,
is generally incurable. I witnessed the treatment of a case of
aberration of mind at Gräfenberg; the patient was put into a tepid-bath,
held there, and rubbed for nine hours and a half; he was then put to
bed, and next morning awoke perfectly composed.
_Hydrophobia._--Dr. Short in 1656, published a work, in which he stated,
that with cold water, he had cured the bite of mad dogs and dropsy.
Priessnitz says he never treated the human subject for this complaint,
but that he had cured a dog, by tying him up and throwing a large number
of pails of water over him. At first it caused him to shiver a great
deal, proving the absence of fever to any extent. When dry the aspersion
was repeated; the shivering diminished at each successive aspersion,
until it was entirely allayed. If, on throwing a dog, thus treated,
bread, and he will eat it, it is a sign he is cured. Dr. Sully, of
Wivelscombe, in a work published some years ago, states, that he dropped
water constantly on the wounded part, and that it invariably acted as a
preventive. My impression is, that hydropathy is adapted to the cure of
this complaint.
CII.--CHOLERA.
Spasmodic or pestilential cholera first appeared in England in 1831, and
in France in 1832; great difference of opinion exists as to its cause,
and hardly two practitioners agree as to the best way to effect a cure.
Some persons think, as many would get well without medical aid as with
it; and this conjecture is supported by what took place on its
visitation in Dublin. The numbers attacked were so great, that for the
humble class, large tents were erected outside the city, and the medical
men were so harassed by their own connexions within it, that the poor
were left very much to fate. On comparing notes of the mortality that
took place, it was found, that the number of deaths of those who
received medical aid, and those who were deprived of it, were about
equal. Pages might be employed in enumerating instances related, in
which the cholera was cured by cold water, though administered without
reference to any hydropathic rules. In 1832, Cholera made great ravages
in Silesia, when numbers at Freywaldau and the neighbourhood, fell
victims. Priessnitz's patients did not escape, though they avoided its
fatal consequences. A friend of mine, who was at Gräfenberg at the time,
assures me that in cholera, Priessnitz never lost a case, though
seventeen of his patients, and many persons in the neighbourhood, were
treated by him. My landlord at Freywaldau, confirmed the last of these
statements, and said that his daughter fell a victim, who, he felt
persuaded, would have recovered, had she been treated with water instead
of drugs.
To ward off this disease, and place the system, if attacked, in the best
condition to resist it, we ask the dispassionate reader, are not
hydropathic rules in accordance with reason and common sense?
There are three different stages in cholera; the first is that of a
common diarrhœa, accompanied with oppression of the chest, anxiety, and
collapse of the face; if neglected, it assumes a more serious form, the
pulse becomes weak, and there is a difficulty of respiration.
The second stage is ushered in by giddiness, great depression of pulse
and of the vital energies, with spasms, accompanied by purging and
vomitings.
In the third stage, the patient is suddenly laid prostrate, serous
fluid, in large quantities, is discharged from the bowels and stomach,
with cramps and spasms, hardly any pulse, and difficult respiration.
Under ordinary treatment, this frequently terminates life in a few
hours.
To those who have witnessed the wonderful results of the Water-cure
treatment in cholic, diarrhœa, &c., it must be evident, that in the
primary stages of this malady, the treatment resorted to in those
complaints, would be perfectly effectual; and that cholera, in its worst
and most fearful form, is to be successfully combated by no other than
hydropathic means.
If, after visiting a contagious case, Mr. Priessnitz feels at all
uncomfortable, he takes a packing-sheet and tepid-bath.
_Asiatic Cholera._--On the first appearance of Cholera symptoms, which
are generally those of languor and chilliness, do not wait for a
development, but apply most vigorously a rubbing-sheet; then dry the
body, and administer a clyster of cold water. In two or three minutes
repeat the rubbing-sheet and clyster, wait five minutes and repeat the
same a third time. Then a cold sitz-bath, letting two attendants rub the
patient with hands dipped in water, particularly on the abdomen, the
whole time; water should be drunk whilst in the sitz-bath, until patient
vomits; when cramps in the stomach and vomiting have subsided, place a
large bandage round the body, and put him to bed well covered up. After
sleeping, apply a tepid-bath with friction for some time. If not cured,
renew the whole operation.
If, after the sitz-bath, cholera appears on the advance, warm a blanket,
and pack the patient as in the sweating process; if he remains therein
several hours, and the symptoms do not decrease, renew the whole
proceedings, and again try to produce perspiration; when effected, keep
it up two or three hours. After this a tepid-bath 62° with friction. The
success of the treatment very much depends upon drinking abundantly of
water. The bandages used, should be doubled or trebled, and changed
often. If patient is unable to stand or sit upright, lay him on a bed,
and let several attendants rub him all over with wet hands.
Extract from a letter from Dr. Gibbs to the editor of the "Water-cure
Journal."
"You cannot have forgotten the consternation of the profession when this
fearful disease invaded us in 1832. Neither can you be ignorant that the
faculty, generally, are as ill prepared to contend with it now as they
were in former years; but for the information of those who may not be as
well acquainted with such matters as you must be, I beg to make an
extract from the minutes of the proceedings at a meeting of the Western
Medical and Surgical Association, as reported in the _Lancet_ of
September 19, 1846. In the course of a discussion on the treatment of
cholera, Dr. Cahill said, that he 'positively felt a creeping of the
skin at the relation of the enormities which had been perpetrated by
practitioners upon their patients. When he listened to the recital of
practitioners who described the extravagant cases of mercury and of
opium which they administered, he could not refrain from fancying that
he was witnessing the orgies of so many Indian savages, whilst counting
the scalps of their victims. He thought it a pity that the invention of
such a system of torture should not experience the fate of the inventor
of the brazen bull, and illustrate upon his own person the efficacy of
his infernal ingenuity. He believed that in the majority of persons who
died of Asiatic cholera, death was the consequence of the treatment
rather than of the disease. He had seen above a thousand cases of
Asiatic cholera; and in no instance had he seen any benefit from any
mode of treatment. On the contrary, he had seen persons die of
narcotism, who would have survived if left to the _vis medicatrix
naturæ_. He had seen others die of absorption of air through the veins
when the saline fluid was ejected; and he knew many who had had the
extraordinary luck to escape both the doctor and the disease, yet
rendered miserable for the remainder of life by the effects of the
immense doses of mercury which had been given to them during the cholera
paroxysms. In fact, it was afflicting to contemplate the sufferings
which the rash and empirical practice of the profession in the
management of this epidemic had created.' The learned gentleman likewise
said 'With respect to cholera, since nothing was known of its nature,
and no treatment had any influence over it, the best plan was to do as
little as possible: give carrara, soda, or pump-water, with a little
laudanum, perhaps in the diarrhœal stage, and the patient would not be
deprived of the chance which nature had given him.'
"It is to be presumed that the doctor had not seen this disease treated
by the Water-cure, under the operation of which, if I am correctly
informed, and as I can readily believe, results very different from
those, which he witnessed, were obtained. It is stated that more than
twenty cases were successfully treated by Priessnitz, and between thirty
and forty at Breslau, by a clergyman, whose name I regret that I have
forgotten; and it is added that neither practitioner lost a patient by
death. The treatment adopted by each of them was nearly the same; the
principal difference between them being, that the one employed the
sitz-bath, and the other the shallow tepid-bath.
["]If on the appearance of the premonitory symptoms, judicious treatment
be promptly adopted, it seems not improbable that the disease may be
cut short. Those symptoms may be any combination of the
following:--shivering, dizziness, a ringing noise in the ears, a small
quick pulse, accelerated respiration, languor, præcordial anxiety, a
cold white tongue, nausea, vomiting, severe gripings, and watery
diarrhœa. If it be not checked, the disease quickly passes into the
second or algid stage; the circulation becomes feeble, the blood is
drained of its fluid, the muscles are contracted and cramped, the tongue
is colder and whiter, the thirst becomes burning, the lips livid; the
features contracted, the extremities shrivelled, and the skin cold,
clammy, and discoloured.
"Little is known respecting the nature of this disease; but the most
rational opinion seems to be, that it owes its origin to a poison
pervading the blood; deranging the balance between the arterial and
venous circulation, impairing the nervous energy, and impeding all the
functions of the various organs, excepting the secretions from the
stomach and bowels; the preternatural excitement of which would seem to
indicate an effort of nature to expel the disturbing causes from the
system. This opinion obtains additional probability from the fact, which
often has been observed, that the more profuse is the diarrhœa, the less
fatal is the disease.
"Cholera may suddenly appear without manifesting any, or at least with
very slight, premonitory symptoms; especially where the patient is
labouring under any serious affection of the brain, lungs, or
air-passages, when it will sometimes graft itself on the primary
disease, and aggravate all its most various symptoms.
"On the first manifestation of premonitory symptoms, immediate recourse
should be had to repeated friction in a wrung-out sheet, as in the
earlier stages of fever. This will tend to stimulate the nervous energy,
and to maintain or re-establish the balance of circulation between the
arterial and venous systems; will counteract the disposition to internal
congestion by promoting cuticular circulation; will aid the lungs by
freeing the exhalants of the skin, and will forward the elimination of
the virus through the same channels.
"But it will not be sufficient merely to attempt to resist the
encroachments of the disease; the efforts of nature to expel the cause
of it, also claim assistance. To this end cold or tepid water should be
freely drunk to facilitate the vomiting, to dilute and weaken the
action of the poison, to stimulate the kidneys, and to supply the waste
of fluid in the blood. Dr. Rutty, in his synopsis, says, 'It [the
drinking of water][Transcriber's note: author's insertion] has also
frequently been found efficacious in stopping violent vomitings and
purgings, partly as a diluent, and partly as a bracer to the fibres; and
in violent, deplorable choleras, cold water is recommended by the
ancients, and at this time is ordered by Spanish physicians with good
success, though Celsus orders it warm.'
"Enemata of pure water, tepid or cold, should likewise be freely
administered; the quantity administered to an infant at one time should
not exceed two ounces; four ounces would be sufficient for a child six
years old; eight ounces for a youth of fifteen, and fifteen or sixteen
ounces for an adult.
"But the principal process is _long and entire friction_, either in the
shallow tepid-bath or in the sitz-bath. The latter seems to deserve the
preference, inasmuch as it will more directly and powerfully aid nature
in her efforts; its primary action being that of a purgative, while a
less body of water will suffice, than could be made to fulfil the same
intention in a vessel of the shape and size of the half bath; but, if
the sitz-bath be employed, then friction with wet hands should be
applied to the extremities. Cold water may be used in the sitz-bath,
provided that there is nothing in the previous state of the patient to
contra-indicate its use; in which case tepid water must be employed.
Tepid water about 70° Fahr. may likewise be employed in the shallow
bath, as the body of water therein must be greater than the sitz-bath;
but warm applications are never indicated. Vapour-baths have been tried
to recall the circulation to the surface, but without effect. On this
point, Dr. Daun in his 'Medical Reports on Cholera,' says, 'O'Brien lay
on the steam couch for three hours before he expired, in a heat that I
am convinced would have raised a lifeless body to a temperature nearly,
if not equal, to that of a person in health; but his body preserved an
icy coldness to the last.' In this case friction in wrung-out sheets, or
in the shallow bath, or perhaps the stimulus of the cold dash, would
seem to be indicated.
"Cramps, in the extremities, should be combated with brisk friction,
with wet hands to the parts affected. It is often necessary to draw off
the urine with a catheter. Before the algid stage sets in, the heating
bandage round the body may be very beneficial; but during the algid
stage it should be omitted.
"The third stage or that of re-action, is marked by the following, among
other symptoms; the pulse becomes fuller and harder, the skin becomes
warm, and its livid discoloration disappears; the tongue becomes red and
warm, the cramps cease, diarrhœa decreases and stops, and the kidneys
begin to act. In this case it is well to encourage moderate diaphoresis
in the dry blanket.
"The predisposing causes to cholera are any excess in eating or
drinking, the habitual use of alcoholic liquors, unwholesome food,
sitting with wet feet, a neglected cold, uncleanliness, impure air,
deficient light or ventilation, and violent indulgence of the passions."
CIII.--COLDS, SORE THROATS, ETC.
_Influenza._--This complaint which commits such ravages, is always easy
of cure.
When a person feels heaviness in the head, sore throat, pain in bowels,
and lassitude, he should immediately be put in the packing-sheet until
quite hot, then a tepid bath for five or six minutes, and be well rubbed
all the time. This treatment to be repeated during the day. Drink
plentifully of water, wear a bandage round the waist and throat; if cold
and chilly, take two or three rubbing-sheets. To relieve the heaviness
of the head, resort to a foot-bath 62° for fifteen minutes. Influenza
generally succumbs to this treatment in two or three days.
_Sore Throat or Quinzy._--On the slightest symptoms of sore throat, rub
it well for five minutes with wet hands two or three times a day; hold
cold water constantly in the mouth, and with it gargle the throat, and
wear a bandage, this generally prevents the complaint proceeding
further; if it does not, more vigorous measures, such as those pointed
out for a cold, must be pursued. For Quinzy, the sweating process and
tepid-bath twice a day also, or two rubbing-sheets in the intermediate
time must be used, a bandage several times doubled and often changed,
applied round the throat and waist, and much water drank, gargled, and
held in the mouth.
_Heaviness after dinner._--Pour a bottle of water on the head, and take
head-baths occasionally.
_Bronchitis._--In all old affections of the throat a cure is doubtful,
it requires the discrimination of Priessnitz to determine which will and
which will not be benefited by the Water-cure.
I should say the majority of cases of bronchitis are beyond remedy. At
the same time, it cannot be denied that very extraordinary throat
affections are cured, especially when they arise from secondary
symptoms.