cheerfulness, to a great age.* Water alone is sufficient and effectual for all the purposes of human wants in drink. Strong liquors were never destined for common use. They were formerly kept (here in England) as other medicines are, in apothecaries' shops, and prescribed by physicians, as they do Diascordium and Venice treacle. And it were as just and reasonable to see men (and if they go on, it is not impossible I may hear of it, since laudanum is already taken into feasts and entertainments) sit down to a dish of Venice treacle, or Sir Walter Raleigh's confection, with a bottle of Hysteric cordial, as to a dish of crawfish-soup or venison pasty, with a bottle of Hermitage, of Tockay, or which some prefer, a bowl of punch. Wine is now become as common as water; and the better sort scarce ever dilute their food with any other liquor. And we see by daily experience, that (as natural causes always produce their proper effects) their blood becomes inflamed into gout, stone, and rheumatism, raging fevers and pleurisies; their passions are enraged into quarrels, murder, and blasphemy; their juices are dried up, and their solids scorched, shrivelled, or bloated." WATER was the drink provided by the beneficent Creator for our first parents in Eden, and throughout the scriptures we find the most powerful evidence that it should be preferred before all others. In the book of Daniel, first chapter, sixteenth verse, are these remarkable words:-"Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenance be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat, and as thou seest deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children that did eat the portion of the king's meat. Thus Melzar took away the portion of their meat, AND THE WINE THAT THEY SHOULD DRINK." Looking further through the BIBLE, we find the most satisfactory evidence in recommendation of water as the all-sufficient beverage. It was the drink provided by the beneficent Creator for our first parents. When the king of Israel made "great provisions" for the Syrian army, the drink was water. When * Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty; For in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors to my blood; Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility: Therefore my age is a lusty winter, Frosty, but kindly. O, that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains! that we should with joy, revel, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts! O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee-devil!! SHAKSPEARE. Abraham sent away Hagar, he gave her a bottle of water. The angel that came to Hagar in the wilderness, pointed her to a place of water. When Rebecca received the offer of marriage, she gave to Abraham's servant water. Gideon's three hundred valiant soldiers drank water. At Nabal's feast of sheep-shearing, the drink provided was water. Elijah, when fed by ravens, drank water; and when he came to the widow of Zidon, asked only for water. When the angel brought him his provisions for the journey to Horeb, the liquid in the cruise was water. Good Obadiah fed the one hundred prophets on bread and water. Job's traveller went to the stream for water. The king of Assyria promised the Jews, that on submission they should eat their own vine, and drink the water of their own cisterns. The Israelites promised to the Edomites to purchase water. Timothy's usual drink was water, the "little wine" being prescribed medicinally. John the Baptist took water. At the well of Samaria, both Jacob and Jesus drank water. King Saul in the cave had water. Samson and his mother drank water, and WATER is the element chosen by God to typify the choicest blessings of the heavenly world. Notwithstanding that theory and practice have demonstrated in every possible way that water is best, yet the majority of mankind have yet but a faint idea of the extent of its salubrious effects when taken in proper quantity internally, or applied in different ways externally. In the former this arises from the practice of taking hot tea, coffee, wine, spirits, and irritating medicines, &c., from an early age. The long indulgence in these fictitious habits • Chorus. - Desire of wine and all delicious drinks, Which many a famous warrior overturns, Against the eastern ray, translucent, pure, I drunk, from the celestial juice allaying wines, And strongest drinks, our chief support of health, When God, with these forbidden, made choice to rear His mighty champion, strong above compare, Samson Agonistes.-MILTON. TASSO has also the same idea in the following beautiful lines: O liquidi cristalli, onde s'estingua Del Mondo Creato.-Giorno iii. stan. 8. 7 produces an unhealthy state of feeling, attended with the fear that cold water would produce unpleasant sensations, and some in. jury to the stomach; there is, therefore, a barrier to its use, made up of fear, dislike, prejudice, and custom. But when this formidable barrier can be leaped over, or broken down, by a little reasoning and reflection, after a few essays the individual finds, and is convinced that he has been deprived of a great source of pleasure, and of one of the most powerful conducers to health. By the great change in the feelings, the greater aptitude for mental and bodily exertion, the marked accession of cheerfulness and gaiety, from taking water, all these changes in a short time make a convert. The relish for food, and the greater quantity that can be taken, and easily digested, the light and refreshing sleep without disturbing dreams-these, with the former, make him an advocate. improved skin and complexion, conferring the freshness of youth, the clear eyes, the sweet and wholesome breath--all these, united to the foregoing, produce a zealous disciple, wishing others to share his benefits. By the proper use of cold water, the whole apparatus of digestion, from the teeth to the liver, is improved, and resists decay.* The What can exceed the beauty, freshness, and purity of a glass of water taken from the spring? It leaves no mawkish taste behind it, no fictitious or unpleasant odour. When it is taken during a walk before breakfast, after a bath or general ablution, it cleanses all the passages, purifying the mouth, and filling it with sweet and pleasant fluids, making the individual, cheerful, hungry, and wide awake. What a contrast this is to creeping downstairs with the eyes half-closed, huddling up to the fire, and swallowing scalding nervous making tea or coffee, eating a few bits of toast, without appetite, and requiring some relish to make them go down! This drinking cold water moderately in the morning, as a general result, makes the pillbox and purgative draught a superfluity, for it dilutes the viscid secretions, such as bile, slimy matters, &c., that have collected during the night, and makes them pass off. The determination being already to the skin by the wet sheet, or sweating, and the bath, or by simple washing all over, the cold fluid being then taken into the stomach, at first lowers its temperature, and that of all the organs contained in the abdomen, helping Patients have often observed to me that they found, by drinking water alone, or during the Water Cure treatment, that the teeth were more free from tartar or incrustation, and that the office of cleaning them was a much lighter duty to perform. I may also mention for the benefit of sportsmen, that my friend Mr. Willoughby Wood, who hunts regularly, observed that since he had tried the Water Cure and drank water, the fences and gates, which once appeared formidable, had become remarkably small in his eyes, and that an old feeling of fatigue and exhaustion had also vanished. still more to lessen any irritation and heat, or undue collection of blood in these parts. The water is rapidly absorbed by the stomach, not digested as many suppose: and pure water does not escape into the alimentary canal. When it is all sucked up by the stomach, it goes into the general current of the circulation; mixing with the blood, it is first carried into the lungs, and then sent on by another set of tubes, the arteries, to the tips of the fingers and the points of the toes; and every intermediate part feels its benefits, giving new life and activity to everything it has come in contact with. It is then in great part thrown off, (mixed with waste matters,) by the skin, in invisible steam; by the kidneys, and by the breath. When a glass of water is swallowed, the stomach, by its motions, diffuses it over all its surface before it absorbs or takes it up, just as you would wash the face- and it has the same refreshing and beautifying effects, leaving it at a more natural temperature, and giving it a more healthy colour. It appears almost incredible with what rapidity cold water is taken up by the healthy stomach. I once, by way of experiment,* swallowed thirty tumblers of water from the spring before breakfast-each equal to halfpint-two of which I sometimes took at once. I was nearly three hours about it. At nine o'clock I was so hungry that I could hold out no longer, I had intended to have tried another dozen. When I went out at six, I had a wet bandage on the stomach, tightly applied, and covered by a thick dry one. When I went to breakfast, the abdomen was diminished in size, for my bandage no longer stuck so close. I never enjoyed a morning's walking more, and during the day felt perfectly well. At first, when the stomach is much out of order, and the patient has not been accustomed to drink water, it is well to begin as GRADUALLY as he pleases. He soon gets to like it, not from thirst as is supposed, but from its refreshing effects, just as people take wine or spirits without being thirsty, to relieve a low feeling, or produce a tipsy one. Often when sitting down to my bread and butter, milk and strawberries, with an appetite that would have made dry bread delicious, I could not help comparing my state to that I could vividly recall, after taking two pills over night, and a whiteno, a black draught in the morning. What a contrast in every sense of the word-in the moral as well as the physical man-one as unwholesome, irritating, and depressing, as *At this time, be it remarked, I had recovered and was in high health, and going through a course of experiments; I should mention, that after the twentieth tumbler, I felt a slight dizziness, accompanied with a tipsy feeling; but not in any way disagreeable; it disappeared on taking breakfast. Patients should not make such attempts, but rather be on the right side, of doing too little rather than too much. the other was cleanly refreshing and exhilarating. It is necessary to observe, that most persons who are delicate or ailing, by getting up before their usual time, and walking before breakfast, produce lassitude, headache, and other disagreeables for the rest of the day; this unpleasant state does not occur if part of what I have described is done beforehand, and followed by a few tumblers of water. Simple as the mere act of drinking water may appear, there are a variety of diseased states in which its use requires discretion and management. There are cases in which it produces great disturbance, and others in which the progress towards cure is interfered with, by drinking too large a quantity, or at improper periods. The majority of people in large towns, from their mode of life, of eating and drinking, over-exertion and many unnatural habits, which would sooner be fatal, were it not for the wonderful power of the machine to accommodate itself, and resist such a complication of efforts to destroy it, have their stomachs and constitutions more or less in a disordered state, which water properly administered would go a great way to rectify. Abernethy went so far as to say, that in London there was not a perfectly healthy inhabitant, and from what I observed during many years of practice, I cannot say that he exaggerated in his statement. In truth, when admitted behind the scenes, we certainly do discover the melancholy fact, that every second person has some ailment more or less distressing to complain of. However, this state of things admits of great amelioration, and by very easy and simple meansthe judicious use of water. In fine, there is no agent applied to the human body, externally or internally, that has such influence in awakening all the vital powers to their greatest restorative capabilities, in arresting the progress of disease, or preventing, when inevitable, a fatal termination, as PURE WATER. Administered at various temperatures, it is the most powerful remedy we possess, the most manageable in its scientific application, the most easily obtained, and the most certain in its results. So varied are the modes in which it can be applied, that there is no remedy that can be made to produce so many diversified and opposite effects; a stimulant, a sedative, a diuretic, a sodorific, a derivative, an alterative, and a cleanser and restorative in the fullest sense of the terms. Unchaining all the powers of the constitution, giving nature a genial impetus, and leaving uncurbed her desire and efforts to heal; and all this without the necessity of straining any individual function; and after its most marvellous and mighty results in the most acute and dreaded diseases, leaving behind no trace of its operation, no mark or after-suffering, to point out where or how its This is effected in a very easy and simple manner. The bedding is removed, and a blanket of the largest size is spread out on the mattress. The patient lying down at full length, is enveloped in it as comfortably as possible, and so as to fit well about the neck and feet. The best covering over this is a small feather or down bed, with a light ticking, which must be tucked in about the neck and shoulders, and all the way down to the feet. It is well to elevate the head is high as the patient finds it convenient, or comfortable. In this state he is left till perspiration comes on. It is then allowed to continue for a longer or a shorter time, according to circumstances. It generally takes two or three hours before the patient is in full perspiration; but it is a good plan when it is slow, after the first hour, to begin rubbing the hands gently against each other, and up and down the sides, doing the same with the feet, but not so as to fatigue, or affect the breathing. As the packing-up takes place early in the morning. not to lose any part of the day, the patient has generally a good sleep for an hour or more. When perspiration has fairly set in, the window is sometimes thrown open, particularly in summer, and, from time to time, half a tumbler of cold water is given to drink. When it is considered that sufficient perspiration has taken place, the bed and blankets are thrown off, and the patient steps into a bath, (if it be in his room,) containing about a foot and a half of cold water, where he is well washed and rubbed, assisting himself as much as possible, but without being in a hurry. It is well, in some cases, to have a basin of cold water at the side, in which the patient just gives his hands, face, and breast a rub before he sits in the bath. When the large bath is used, the patient walks to it still enveloped in the blanket, a cloak thrown over if necessary; here he plunges in at once, if it is large enough. Sometimes it is necessary to have two baths, one with cold, the other having water with the chill taken off or even tepid. In this case, he enters first into the warmer bath, K and after a good rubbing, transfers himself quickly into the colder one; where the same thing takes place for a minute or two, returning again to the warmer one. Where the douche is in the house, it is sometimes made use of instead of the bath. After all these processes, he dresses quickly, and goes out to walk for an hour or longer, drinking from time to time a tumbler of water. This mode of producing perspiration, followed by the cold bath, was at first thought the greatest discovery, and the most essential modification of the Water Cure treatment. Stirring up the system, and producing purgation and waste by the skinstrengthening this again, as well as the internal organs, by the bath, was considered by Priessnitz and his partizans so powerful, simple, and harmless an operation, thatcombined with the other salutary adjuncts of the Cure,-no diseased state could resist it. For a long time this went on, and although in many cases, the results answered their expectations, in many others some disappointment, not to say mischief, took place. Priessnitz, however, was too keen an observer not to see in the end that he had been mistaken, and had carried it too far. There is now a numerous class of patients in which he does not use the sweating process, but he has not yet made all the reformation that I believe he will ultimately find necessary. Not so, many of his imitators in different parts of Germany, who continue to this day to practise the serious errors, which he has been gradually removing for several years. Conscious of the errors he has fallen into, and always reasoning and observing, he is more cautious, having learnt from experience that errors are more or less the lot of every system, and that an approach to perfection is only to be attained by constant thought and exertion. But he does not like to be reminded of the change in his practice. The application of the cold bath after a profuse perspiration, is thought by the many, and even by most medical men, to be highly dangerous; but, in fact, there is nothing more innocent or exempt from danger when directed by a competent practitioner; it is on the whole not more dangerous and certainly not as disagreeable as "two pills over night, and a black draught in the morning." The practice of taking a cold bath after sweating is of very ancient date, having been practised by the Russians and other northern nations from time immemorial, but with this important difference that they produced the sweating by the application of hot vapour. This makes a great difference from producing it by the effort of the internal organs and the concentration of animal heat; one is much more debilitating than the other, and the re-action after the bath is not so good or permanent. Added to this, there is the great objection of taking hot air or vapour into the lungs. I took a great many Russian baths at Vienna,-in some measure for experiment, and I am convinced of the immense difference of the two processes, when they come to be frequently repeated, as in the Water Cure. The safety of this process, as I have described it, (the contrivance of which is due to Priessnitz,) is owing to the comparative calm and absence of irritation in all the internal organs, or exhaustion of the nervous energy; the fresh air alone being inhaled by the lungs, and the cool liquid being introduced into the stomach,both of which increase the determination to the skin, and the sweating, when the latter has once commenced. When the body is in a state of perspiration, heated and excited by dancing, walking, singing, or talking, there is nothing so dangerous, more especially if the individual is weakly, or has chronic disease, than drinking largely of cold water, or entering a cold bath. We have numerous examples of the fatal effects of this imprudence. At Naples, during the extreme heat, and while the body is in a state of perspiration, one observes the inhabitants drinking iced water freely, at all the corners of the streets, but the perspiration they are in, is in a great measure a passive one, arising from, and kept up by the heat of the climate. A Polish gentleman told me that one of his countrymen, a young physician, having heard from so many quarters that hundreds were in the habit of taking the cold baths in a state of perspiration, he,-without thought or accurate inquiry,-after a long ride, exhausted and wet with perspiration, went and bathed in a river; he was attacked with apoplexy, which carried him off in a few days afterwards, showing that he did not understand, or was not aware of the different state the body is in, according to the mode of producing the perspiration. There is the same objection to the cold bath after James's powder or any sudorific medicine. Perspiration once set in, is allowed to continue from a period of half an hour to an hour. As a general rule, this perspiration must be put a stop to, as soon as the patient feels a sense of fatigue, and before any feeling of debility comes on. It would be but natural to suppose this process, continued day after day for months together-as has been the case with hundreds of invalids, would cause great debility, and pull down the individual to "the shadow of a shade;" but such is far from being the result in the majority of instances, where it is proper it should be used. Prince Lichtenstein told me that he had gone through this process nearly every day for eighteen months. When he commenced, he was weak, reduced in flesh, and in a deplorable state of health, from ten years' suffering with a leg doomed to amputation by all the 5 first surgeons in Europe. At the time I was speaking to him, (and he was still continuing the treatment,) he was in robust health, and in a condition to excite the envy of a first-rate pugilist. He had gained nearly three stones in weight, and the leg had made great advances towards complete recovery. In most cases where there is a determination of blood to the head, or where there is reason to suspect the existence of chronic disease in the brain, the sweating must be practised with very great care and discrimination. Where there is extensive chronic inflammation in the digestive mucous membrane,-in some cases of hypochondriasis, irritability of the heart, nervous debility, &c. &c., this process must be deferred, or not used at all. Where these contra-indications do not exist, and the sweating still produces a loss of flesh, or an increased state of irritability, when the patient does not feel well, and obtain full re-action after the bath, in such cases it is advisable to discontinue it. It is sometimes necessary to apply a wet compress on the forehead before and during the perspiration, changing it from time to time: and there are also cases where the patient is made to sweat in the wet sheet, but they are rare. Whenever there is the least tendency to fever, where the symptoms of a cold or influenza are coming on, the sweating process must not be attempted: it generally aggravates all the symptoms. In these states the patient must be placed in the wet sheet. I have observed that those whose skins are white and delicate, persons who have much fat, the gouty and rheumatic, sweat easily, and in great abundance. On the other hand, where the temperament is phlegmatic, where there is a tendency to piles, or congestion of the abdominal viscera, it is not so easy. Sometimes the perspiration is partial, not appearing at all on certain parts; this is supposed to arise from the existence of diseased action, or the accumulation of morbid matter in the part; when discovered, it is well, previously to enveloping the patient in the blanket, to apply a compress or bandage, wrung out of cold water, to the part. With the repetition of this process, great changes takes place; at first the perspiration small in quantity, clear in its nature, and difficult to be produced; as the patient advances it becomes more profuse, and impregnated with the most disagreeable odours -viscid and glutinous,-of a dark yellow and even brown coloar;-and sour, fetid, &c., in its smell. Sometimes there is no mistaking the smell of sulphur, at others it resembles the disagreeable odour that is produced by mercurial salivation. When these morbid phenomena appear, the perspiration may be considered of a critical nature. As a general rule, where there is no evident reason why this process should not be used, sweating followed by the cold bath, is not debilitating; what is lost in one way is repaired in another. The appetite is so much increased, and the functions of the skin and digestive organs so improved, that the loss of a little fluid by sweating has only a salutary effect. Fat is replaced by hard elastic flesh, and languor and debility give way to a state of cheerfulness and activity. Great, however, as the remedial powers, of this natural means of relieving the body and throwing off disease, may be made, much injury has in many instances occurred from its abuse: more particularly when combined with the plunge-bath and douche. Mr. Mayo mentioned a case by letter to one of my patients, in which the most serious injury was suffered by the nervous system, and the brain put in imminent danger, by the misapplication of these powerful remedies. On my way to Graefenberg I was tempted to visit an establishment beautifully situated; fortunately I only remained ten days. I was sweated, plunged, and douched, regularly, and knowing little practically of the system at that time, I obeyed orders: the result was a serious aggravation of all my distressing symptoms. During a period of above twelve months that I continued the Water Cure, I did not sweat once, as a prescription, and most properly so. It is necessary to bear in mind that it is not the mere pouring out of sweat that relieves or cures disease. What is desired to be done by the sweating process is to rouse the system to those efforts of cure which constitutes the peculiarity of treatment by the Water Cure. The sweat poured out is only an indication that these efforts have been made; in the same sense that the crisis is only an indication of similar efforts on a more continuous scale.* Hence, if we find that the process taxes the patient's powers, and especially his head, it is proper for the first time or two to take him out of the blankets and use the bath, when a considerable heat has accumulated in the skin, and before any sweat has flowed. In this manner we are enabled to coax, as it were, the skin into sweating, without exciting the brain and nerves in a harmful way; for after a few trials of this kind, the skin opens and gives out its fluids, without any injurious straining of the system. Another way to counteract the headache, which sometimes attends sweating, is to place a towel well wrung out of cold water, over the stomach and bowels, and then envelope the patient for the process. A brisk walk, or a light meal, taken two or three hours previously, ofttimes too curtail the See Dangers of Water Cure, &c. On the Crisis, page 91. |