“It is a vital stimulus, and is more essential to our existence
than aliment.”
Liebig, the celebrated physiological chemist, bears similar testimony,
viz.—“It increases the appetite.”
Are these effects consistent with lowering the tone of the stomach? are
they not, on the contrary, the strongest evidence of the TONIC effects
of water?
Some objectors say, “water drinking thins the blood.” After demolishing
these objections by arguments which we regret we have not space to
quote, Dr. Gully concludes his observations as follows;—
“But the whole assertion regarding thin blood proceeds on grounds
that betray intense ignorance, both of physiology and of the water
cure. It supposes that the whole water imbibed enters into, and
remains in the circulating blood, quasi water, that no chemical
transformation of it takes place in the body at all: this is
ignorance of physiology. And it supposes that ALL who are treated
by water are told to drink the same, and that a large quantity,
without discrimination of the individual cases of disease
presented: this is ignorance of the water cure. So between the
horns of this compound ignorance, and of wilful misrepresentation,
we leave the declaimers about the ‘thinning of the blood.’”
It is a curious fact that in all the medical works which treat of
anaemia, or bloodlessness, “allusion is never once made to
water-drinking as a known cause—not even to the possibility of its
being a cause of it.”
In so flagrant a case of thin blood, why has this principal cause been
omitted? It is further curious that this injurious effect of water was
never invented, much less preached, until Hydropathy was found to be
making inconvenient strides in public favour.
Is the reader aware that eighty per cent. of water enters into the
composition of healthy blood, without making any allowance for the
enormous quantity required for the various secretions?
Granting, however, for the sake of argument, that all, and more than
these objectors urge, were true, we still have a kind of feeling that
water is more congenial to the system than prussic acid, or even
iodine. But we may be wrong.
Perhaps there is no disease which would appear, at first sight, so
little suited for Hydropathic treatment as cholera; [15] that disease
for the successful treatment of which we have been hitherto accustomed
to consider stimulants and hot applications of all kinds as
indispensably necessary, and yet there is no disease, in the treatment
of which Hydropathy has been more successful.
The principles of its treatment, by the water system, are so sensibly
and rationally put forward in the pamphlet entitled, “An Address, &c.,”
that, as we think, the greatest sceptic must be convinced of the truth
of the doctrines it propounds, we strongly recommend its perusal to our
readers. Of the many cases treated by the author, ALL, we are told,
recovered, whilst not a single instance of secondary fever—the
invariable accompaniment of the Allopathic treatment, and only
secondary in danger to the disease itself—occurred. The necessary
prevalence of this secondary fever in the one case, and its absence in
the other, are beautifully explained, on natural principles, at pages 9
and 10. Though the pamphlet in question is anonymous, and the author
has taken some pains to explain his reason for concealing his name, yet
he has unwittingly betrayed his identity in the following extract from
a letter from Lieut.-Colonel Cummins, C.M., who, having tried the
system as an amateur, in America, thus writes of it:—
“Tell Barter that his system has lately become the universal
practice in the Southern States, for cholera; and since its
adoption, although it is, of course, but imperfectly carried out,
the mortality is not one-fourth.
“I never saw cholera of so frightful a character; that at Quebec,
which you recollect was so near doing for me, was nothing to it;
the violence of the spasms was such that blood oozed out through
all the pores of the skin, especially with the niggers. It did not
give the slightest warning; the men often fell while at work, and
before four hours were dead.”
The following statement, extracted from a letter written by Mr. James
Morgan of Cork, and which appeared in the Limerick Chronicle, 4th
April, 1849, affords a remarkable instance of the beneficial effects of
fresh air and cold water, so strongly insisted upon by Dr. Barter, and
corroborating the practice which, on theoretical grounds, he
recommends:
“In a temporary cholera hospital at Gloucester, there were sixteen
patients, one of whom was an interesting young female, between
fifteen and sixteen years of age, for whose recovery the attending
physician (Dr. Shute) was most anxious. On leaving the hospital in
the evening, the girl was in collapse, and quite blue; he called
the nursetender, and bade her be attentive to her, and give her
whatever she may call for, as all hopes had vanished. In the course
of the night the nurse went to increase the fire which was near the
girl’s berth in the ward; but she begged the woman not to do so, as
she was almost suffocated, and, at the same time, asked for a
drink. The nurse brought her a bowl of tea, which was rejected, but
she requested water. Remembering the doctor’s directions, the
nurse, not without some reluctance and apprehension, brought her a
pint mug full of water, which she drank with avidity; and continued
to call for water about every five minutes, until she had taken two
gallons of it; when she fell into a profound sleep, in which she
was found by the doctor in the morning, when her natural complexion
reappeared, and she was, to his astonishment, in a state of
convalescence. Having with amazement elevated his eyes, exclaiming,
‘this is something like a miracle!’ he called the nursetender, who
related what had taken place; and perceiving the window open over
the patient’s berth, he asked why it was not shut? and was told by
the attendant, that it was left open at the earnest desire of the
girl. The doctor immediately ordered all the windows of the ward to
be opened, the heavy bed covering on the patients to be removed,
and replaced by light rugs; directed that no drink should be given
but cold water, and the result was, that the whole sixteen persons
were cured of cholera; one, however, died of consecutive fever,
produced by eating too much chicken and drinking too much broth
whilst convalescent. The case was reported to the Government Board
of Health, then sitting in London; and similar treatment was
pursued by all the medical men in and about Gloucester with the
most complete success. The report, names of the doctors, and all
the correspondence are minutely detailed in the columns of the
Chronicle in the year 1832.
“Need more be offered upon the subject; and yet with such facts
upon record, ‘hot punch’ is now given to the poor patients in the
cholera hospitals in Limerick. Those pious and angelic Sisters of
Mercy, to whom you have alluded in the Chronicle, never, in all
probability, heard or read of the treatment of cholera as above
narrated; but ever attentive and observant as they are in the
performance of their hallowed vocation, they have not been
unmindful of the good effects of cold water. Nature prompts the
sufferer to call for it, and it should be always supplied. In
cholera, pure water is balsamic.
“As to the operation of cold water on the human system in cholera,
or the action of the system on water, I will not presume to
pronounce; but I may say that it is commonly supposed that when the
serum (one of the important constituents of the blood) is exhausted
by discharges, collapse takes place, and the livid hue of the
countenance follows; and everybody has heard of the experimental
operation of transfusion of warm water, combined with albumen and
soda, into the veins, to supply the absence of serum, in order to
give the vital current its natural and healthy flow: whether cold
water, from the oxygen it contains, and the necessary heat it is
therefore calculated to impart, is taken up rapidly by the
absorbents to cherish and feed the blood, and fill the channels of
circulation, so as to remove collapse in cholera, I shall leave
physiologists to determine; but it is indisputable that cholera
patients have anxiously asked for, and eagerly swallowed, copious
draughts of cold water, till their thirst was allayed, genial
warmth restored, agony banished, and the vital functions vivified
and invigorated.” * * * * *
The following extract is taken from Braithnorth’s “Retrospect of
Medicine,” a standard professional work:—
“I am acquainted with three persons, who, after they had been laid
out for dead, on being washed, previous to interment, in the open
court-yard, with water, to obtain which the ice had been broken,
recovered in consequence, and lived many years. I received from
Erycroon, in Turkey, a letter from our excellent Consul, Mr. Brant,
who states that Dr. Dixon, of that place, was then curing more
patients by friction, with ice or snow, than any other treatment.
The same practice is reported to have been the most effectual in
Russia.”
We make no comments on the foregoing, leaving the public to draw their
own conclusions from the facts stated. In setting the facts before
them, we feel we have done our duty; we leave the leaven to work in
their minds, and produce its own result on their future conduct.
In condemning the mistaken administration of hot stimulants, such as
“hot punch,” &c., Dr. Barter proceeds:—
“I never yet saw a patient that did not cry out for cold water; and
the confirmed dram-drinker can, with difficulty, be persuaded to
taste his favourite beverage; he objects more to brandy or punch
than the temperate do; this I have often remarked. I have seen a
patient travel for miles on an open car, through sleet and rain,
without any covering, and drinking cold water on the way, and
remarked that he did better than when treated with brandy, hot
tins, &c. In fact, I often saw such patients beg to be allowed out
again, they used to call loudly for cold water. ‘For the love and
honour of God, sir, get us a drink of cold water,’ was no
unfrequent request amongst them, and that pronounced with an
earnestness of manner most truly impressive; but, alas! in 1832,
this appeal was always refused, though in 1849 a step has been
taken in a right direction, and it is allowed, according to the
Sisters of Mercy, ‘in small quantities.’”
The truth will ere long be acknowledged, that it is our mode of life
that makes us fit subjects for cholera, and that it is our mode of
treating it alone, which makes the disease so dangerous. The wretch who
is cast uncared for in a ditch, exposed to all the inclemency of the
weather, with water alone to quench his burning thirst, has ten chances
to one in favour of his recovery, compared with the well-cared patient
who is dosed with brandy and the favourite specifics of the
apothecary’s shop. If we look at cholera, and divest our minds of its
accustomed mode of treatment, we will find that every symptom of the
disease points to the presence of some highly irritant poison in the
blood; and in the effort to expel this poison, the serum which contains
it, is drained from the system. What, therefore, can be more rational
than to supply the system with the materials of restoration, by giving
water in large quantities, and to stimulate its chemical combinations
by which the caloric of the system shall be restored, by the influence
of fresh air, water drinking, and cold bathing.