Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1845-11-20

sion 10 experience the wonderful effect Of the Wa
Ter Cure in acute cnses SLOW in chronic diseases,
ITS beneficial operation 10 acute is immediate. In
twenty-iOur hours all fever had subsidized and on
the third day resumed my Journey, relieved from
every symptom that had before prognostcated te-
dlous and perhaps alarming illness .rt.
And now came gradually, yet perceptibly the
good effects Of the system had undergone; flesh
and weight returned the sense Of health became
conscious and steady; had every reason to bless
the hour when first sought the springs Of Malvern.
And here, must observe that il often happens that
the patient makes but slight apparent improvement,
when under the cure, compared with that which
occurs subsequently. A water-doctor Of repute at
Brussels, indeed, said frankly TO grumbling pa
tieni i do not expect you 10 be well while here
It is only on leaving me that you will know if /
have cured yor.'
III is as the frame RECEIVERS from the agitation il
undeTgoes, thatit gathers round it power utterly
unknown 10 u before--Bs the plant watered by the
rains Of one season. betrays in the next the effect
Of the grateful dews
L had always suffered so severely in Winter, that
the severity Of our last gave apprehensions,
aud resolved 10 seek shelter from my fears at my
beloved Malvern. here passed the most incem-
eni period Of the winter, not only perfectly free
from the colds, rheums, and catarrhs, which had
hitherto visited me with the SHOWS, but in the en-
joyment Of excellent health; and am persuaded
that for those who delicate, and who suffer
much during the winter, there is no place where
the cold Is so little felt at WateT-cure estab-
lshment. | am persuaded also, and in this am
horne out by the experience OF most water DOCTORS
that the cure is most rapid and eeciual during the
cold season--from autumn through the winter
am thoroughly convinced that consumption in its
earlier stages can be more easily cured, and the
predisposiiioB more permanently eradicaied by
winter spent at Malvern, under the care Of Doctor
Wilson, than by the timorous fight to Pisa Ma
deria. IL is by hardening rather than defending
the tissues that we best secure them from disease
And now to sum up, and to dismiss the egoiist-
cal revelations, desire in no way TO oyercolor my
own case; do not say that when first went to
the water cure was affected with any disease i'm
mediately menacing TO life say only that | was
in that prolonged and chronic state Of III health
which made life at the best extremely precsrious--
! do not say that had any malady which the fac
ulty could pronounce incurabe--I say only that
the most eminent men Of the faculty had failed 10
cure me. do not affect to boast Of
perfect and complete deverance from all my all
ments-I cannot declare that constitution natur-
ally delicate has been rendered Herculesn, that
the wear and tear Of whole manhood have been
thoroughly repaired. What might have been the
case had not taken the cure at intervals had re-
manned al it steadily for six or eight months with
out interruption cannot do more than conjecture,
but strong is my belief that the result would have
been completely successful that promise myself
whenever can spare the leisure, long renewal Of
the system. These admissions made what have |
gained meanwhile 10 justify my enlOgies and my
gratitude AN immense accumulation of the cap
ndf Of health. Formerly il was my iavorile and
querulous question to those who much Of me-
Did you ever know me twelve hours without pain
or Illness! Now, instead Of these being my con-
slant companions, they but my occasional visit
ors. compare my old state and my present to
the poverty of a man who has a shilling in his pock-
ct, and whose poverty is therefore struggle for
lie, with the occasional distresses OF a man Of
5OOOL year, who sees but an appendage endan-
gered or luxury abridged. All the good that
have gained, is wholly unlike what have ever de-
rived either from medicine or the German mineral
baths in the first place, il does not relieve single
malady alone, il pervades the whole frame in the
second place, far from subsding, it seems TO in
crease by time. so that may reasonably hope that
the latter part OF my life, instead Of being in
firm than the former. will become-so far as free
dom from suffering, and the calm enjoyment Of ex-
iernal life are concerned-my real, my Younger |
youth And il is this profound conviction which |
has induced me to volunteer these details, in the
hope Il trust pure and kindly one) to induce
those, who more less have suffered as have
done, fly to the same rich aud hountiful resour-
ces. We ransaek The ends Of the earth for drugs
and minerals-we extract our potions-but around
US, Nature, the great mother, profTers the Hygean
iount, unsealed and accessible TO all. Wherever
the stream gdes pure wherever the spring sparkles
fresh. there, for the vast proportion Of the maadies
which Art produces, Nature yields the benignant
healing.
II remains for me to say, merely as an observer,
and solely with such authority as an observer alto
gether dsinterested, but without the least pretence
TO professional SCIENCE may fairly claim, what class
Of diseases have seen least and most tractble 10
the operations of the water cure, and how far en-
thusiasts appear 10 have over estimated, how far |
scepics have underyalued the effects Of water as
medicament. There are those (most of the water
doctors especially who contend that all medicine
by drugs is unnecessary-that water internally and
outwardly applied sDiices in skilful management
for all complaints-thal the time will come when
the drug doctor will cease TO receive a fee, when
the apothecary will close his shop, and the water
cure be adopted in every hospital and by every
family. Dreams aud absuTdtiesl Even granting
that the water cure were capable Of all the wonders
ascribed TO it, its process is slow in most chronic
cases-it requires such complete abstraction from
care and businessii takes the active man so thor
oughy out of his Of life, that vast proper
ton of those engaged in worldly pursuits cannot
hope TO find the requisite leisure, There are also
a large number of complaints (perhaps the MAORI
ty) which yield easily to sparing use OF drugs
under moderately competent practitioner that the
convenient plan Of sending TO the next chemist for
your pill or potion never be superseded, is
perhaps desirable that il should be, Moreover, as
far as have seen, there complaints durable by
medicine which the water cure utterly fails 10
reach.
The disorders wherein hydropahy appears to me
TO be least effectual are first neuralgia pains, es-
pecialy the monster pain Of the Tic Doloureux.--
Not one instance Of cure in the latter by hydro
puthy has come under my own observation, and