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

  • Freeman, James.
Date:
1842
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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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    hydropathic treatment, is demonstrated by mul- titudes of cases, which want of space alone pre- vents us from citing. We wish, however, to make a few remarks on the alleviating power of hydropathy. The public generally regard the water treatment too e.Kclusively as a means of cure. They forget that many cases which cannot be cured may be relieved. Most incurable cases of rheumatism, gout, paralysis, and chronic dyspepsia, are of this nature; and many such patients are found in all hydropathic establishments. The relief which they experience is almost certain and uni- versal. Nearly every such patient describes himself as better, very soon after adojiting the treatment; and the amount of amelioration is generally so great, that he is abundantly thankful for the trial which he has made of the new system. A question has been raised whether hydro- pathy is universal in its application ? I have no hesitation in replying to this question in the negative. In this I am supported by the most respectable writers, both French and German, as well as by the cautious practice of Priessnitz himself. The proper character of the water- cure is well expressed by Gross (L’Eau Fraiche, &c., p. 181), who says—“That which is now determined, and which e.xperience has proved by evidence, is, that cold water, without being a panacea, a universal remedy (which does not and never will exist), produces the most salutary effects in the treatment of diseases, not of this D