Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1846-02-28
From the Water Cure Journal.
HsToRY OF VINCENT PRIEssNITz.
BY CAPT. CLARIDGE.
(Concluded)

fTlessnltz nrst enOeaVOI IL 10 aleVlHte pain,
30 that the patients may avail themselves OF air
and exercise. How far this object is attained
may be judged from the circumstance that out
Of 500 or 600, the usual average number of pa.
tien,s under his charge, there are seldom do.
zen Of persons in bed at one time. If their com.
plant be fever, he is 70 completely master of
dom his room, for more than two or three days,
excepting in cases Of typus, a malady which
generally takes twelve or fourteen Gays TO era
dcate, but hardly ever longer. The same re.
mark will apply to rheumatism II the sufferer
can only reach Graefenberg, he may be sure OF
immediate RELIEF, such as elsewhere would be
called cure. and which is repeated many times
year; but the cure can only be regarded then
as just commenced. i, being Mr. P's object to
eradicate the cause of malady from the system.
What is understood by a cure at Gtseienberg,
is a perfect cleansing of the body of all impur.
ties, radical cure Of that which has been the
source of disease. Cases of no very long stand.
ing succumb 10 the treatment, sometimes in
two or three months, others resist for one or two
years. Supposing, for example, a young man
20 be attacked by gout let him apply to Priess.
nz, and he will be cured Immediately: but
another, who has inherited it from his family,
and who has been Jonuirant hmselffor a mum.
Der Of years, cannot expect to be made a new
man but with the exercise OF patience; yet he
will have this satisfaction, that during the cure
he will find himself. in other respects in per.
feet health, never be confined to his room, and
he able to take plenty of exercise. This obser.
walton is made from the reports Of several per.
sons who are now undergoing the cure these
all agree in the fact that though previous TO 90
ing there they had been bed-rlddcn for years,
they have never known what it was TO be con.
fined to their room for single day, or even
hour, since their arrival. Patients at Graefen-
berg, with hardly any exceptions, cat wei! and
sleep well, until they have what is called a
crisis, lie. till the disease comes to head.
Then we behold water warning against drugs
and their effects. The power the former is
so great, that nothing can resist it and the
latter must make their exit by some means or
other: by diarrhGa, by urine, by biles or ulcers,
or fever, &c. These to the invalid, at q dis.
tance. carry with them cause for fear; but at
| Graeienberg crisis is hailed with the greatest
| Joy as the harbinger of health 1t is at this
luncture that the genius of that extraordinary
man, Priessniiz, shows itself. He is never
seen to hesitate. nor does the patient ever want
confidence in him, for Pressntz was never
known TO fail when once the crisis, which i:
his object, is obtained, he can determine the ex
tent of the cure. and time needed for complet
ing it. All persons are expected to drink plen
tfully of water, the quanly depends upon cir
cumstances, some ten or twelve, (none less, ),
whilst others extend i, 10 twenty glasses a day
An inexperienced person would think that ea,
ing ad ibiium was irjudicious but Mr.. Piess
ni,z lays M restrict ons on his patients in thi
respect The consequence is, that the noun
tain air, the exercise, and the water, produce al
appetite, the satisfying OF which, under any othe
circumstances would be highly conducive 10 in
digestion but Mr.. Priessnitz persists in sayin!
that water will digest any thing, and that th'
evil of eating too much will correct itself as the
patient gets stronger, and approaches to conva
lescence. Whatever may be the state OF th'
patients disease, no surgical operations eve
: take place, nor arc patients, under any crcum
stances, subjected to the loss of blood, to blister
ing, or indeed any ofthe expedents resnrled L
under the allopathic system, If costiveness
Indigestion, or inactivity OF the organs, be tn
cause Of complaint. water speedily removes it
il fever, wet sheets and frequent immersion il
the bath have the desired effect.
The use of cold water, as we have alread
known from the remotest period, and the endea
vor 10 produce pPrspration in disease, is "a ol
as medicine itself, but it is to Priessnitz ha
we are indebted for the manner of eXctin
perspration without the aid of drugs, and I
keeoing it np at pleasure by cold water, dram
in more or less quantities, and for replenishin
the loss thus sustained, by plnnging the bod
into cold water when il is in this state. Tn
method is 80 diametrlcally opposed to lh'
which has been hitherto prac,sed, that at FIR
sight it would opoesr dangerous, and even il
l. sane. Nevertheless, none o! those inconven
= ences or evils have attended it, which the pr
n indeed might think it liable to. Far from thi
10 it has served, and does serve every day. 10 cu
l. the mos, aggravated diseases. The discover
Of the soothing. cooling and strengthening c
feet of the wet sheet, is of itself sufficient