Medical reflections on the water cure. / By James Freeman, M. D. Physician to the Cheltenham Hydropathic Institution.

  • Freeman, James.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical reflections on the water cure. / By James Freeman, M. D. Physician to the Cheltenham Hydropathic Institution. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    article by M. Ratier, in the Dictionnaire de MSe- cine et de Chirurgie:—“ Consider^e comme moyen thdrapeutique, I’eau est d’une efficacitd incontest- able ; c’est bien souvent a elle seule que sont dues certaines gudrisons dont on fait honneur u toute autre chose, Elle diminue la chaleur fdbrile, elle active les secretions et les exhalations, et en modifie evidemment les produits. 11 y aurait de I’avantage <\ ce que les medecins repandissent dans le public ces idees, et u ce qu’ils ne prescri- vissent pas, en ayant I’air d’y attacher une grande importance, des tisanes, aux quelles ils n’attribuent eux m^mes aucune efficacite; il faudrait que I’on ne refusat pas, ainsi que Ton a souvent occasion de le voir, un verre d’eau pure et fraiche i\ un malade qui le sollicite instamment pour appaiser la soif qui le devore. Oa pent dire sans exageration qu’il est peu de maladies dont Veau, employee convenahlement, ne puisse etre le remkle, ou dans lesquelles elle ne puisse concourir piiissamment a la gue'rison”* • So great is tlie importance of the above passage, that we shall probably be excused for appending a translation, for the use of tliose to whom tlie Frencli language may not be familiar :—“ Considered as a remedial means, water pos- sesses an incontestable efficacy : to it are often due cures of M-hicli other remedies have the honour. It diminishes febrile heat, excites the secretions and exhalations, and sensibly modifies their products. It were better that physicians dis- seminated these ideas among the public, and that they ceased to prescribe, with the air of attaching importance to them, potions to which they themselves do not attribute any effect: It is not proper, as is so often done, to refuse a glass of pure