The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-12-22
A REMARKABLE PANACEA.
The Free Cure Of Father Kneipp, of
Voerishofen, the Latest
Fashionable Fad.
Walking Barefoot in Wet Grass,
Gold Water or Fresh
- Snow.
a Cold Bath without Drying, a Farinace-
Gus Diet. Moderate Eating Among
the Many Means Employed.

the Many Means Employed.
The latest panacea for the ills Of human
ity is the 'scure' of Father kneipp, of Voc
rishofen, and to seek it is now the fash
ionahle fad of the day, says the New York
Tribune Munich letter. For some years the
system has been gaining favor. But now
that Baron Nathaniel Rothschild has come
to Voerishofen. all the grand monde of vi
emma will follow in his train and the OBJ
scure hamlet will rival Carlsbad and Gas
tein in fame. The curious part of the
whole business is that no one is making or
will make any money out of it. Father
Kneipp makes MO charge whatever for
treatment. Wealthy patients, however.
pay a fee of twenty-five cents day for the
use of the "Kur Anstalt," and that is all.
Jffthey wish full board they pay fifty cents.
AS for the villagers they follow their
pastors example, and only accept from the
visitors who lodge in their cabins he
smallest possible sum. just enough to m Get
actual expenses. Whether they will al
WAYS remain SO simple and unmercenary is
problem.
The head of this remarkable institution.
Sebastian Kneipp, is the village priest.
Half a century ago he was very III. The
doctors said he must surely die. Then. he
says, he invented a system of self-cure
which speedily restored him to entire
health. He devoted the whole of his life
since to developing and pcrfecting his sys-
tenn. He began by curing himself. Now
he cures Others The little village is crowd
ed with people who come from near and far
to take his advice, which is given gratis, for
he devotes his life to lighting disease ac-
cording to the system which he has found
in his own case. and in those of hundreds
of his patients, to effect u marvellous cure.
He is. himself, at past seventy, rs sturdy
and fresh in body and mind as man in
the prime of life, and he attributes his Won
derful health to the rule by which he lives.
Father Kneipp does not believe in wear
ing wool or flannel next to the skins he de-
clares that it renders the skin delicate, and
his great aim is to harden and inyigorate--
not, be ii observed, by violent means, which
he strongly deprecates but by natural and
gradual ones. He recommends that all un.
derclothihg be made of very coarse linen,
the roughness of which stimulates the skin
without enervating it as wool does, and.
moreover, possesses the advantage of al
lowing the perspiration to pass through it
quickly. Wool, he says, often induces rheu-
matism, and is only advisable for outer
clothes. Water plays an important part in
Father kneipp's system; but his mode of
water cure differs greatly from that usually
KNOWN uuu0I VIC AdluC VI llc
prefers cold to warm water but employs it
cautiously and allows old or nervous per-
sons to use tepid water. Before everY-
thing he enjoins rapidity in bathing. Ac-
cording to him, cold bath, including IN
dressing and dressing, should only last five
minutes This seems an impossible period
in which to take bath. 1t is, however.
explained by the next, and one of the most
startling rules in the kneipp methods: the
patient ID forbidden to attempt to dry him
self after bath, but is told to put his
coarse nnderclothes straight on to his wet
body, then his outer Clothes and then to
take at least a quarter of an hours exercise.
Father Kneipp declares that three DROPS OF
water left on the skin serve as fuel for the
inner warmth, which uses them as material
to form rapid and intense glow of heat all
over the body, assisted by the activity OF
the skin induced by the coarseness of the
linen in contact with it.
Another means of hardening and invigor-
a.ing the body and promoting circulation
adopted by Father kneipp is the practice of
walking or running bare footed in wet grass,
in cold water or in freshly fallen snow.
Voerishofen lies in a valley, in the midst OF
green meadows, which seem to have been
made especially for this form of exercise,
and are constantly occupied by the patients
taking their daily runs with naked feet.
The exercise at first lasts only five minutes,
but the period is gradually increased to
half an hour. At the end of the prescribed
time, the patient is ordered to put on dry
socks (made of coarse yarn, precisely SINH
lar to that of which the linen for the under
clothing is manufactured without drying
his feet, then his boots, and then take II
smart walk. BY this exercise in freshly
fallen snow Father Kneipp entirely cured II
woman of chilblains and a girl of tooth
ache. These are only typical cases among
numerous similar cases.
Father Knelpp is great on the diet ques
ton, and Eliminates furlously againss the
amount of tea and coffee drank bv the pres
ent generation, to which indulgence he at
tributes the enormous prevalence of ner-
vousness ana nervous diseases. He objects
to the great quantity of meat usually con-
sumed, the proportion of which, in relation
to to other foods, he considers far too a-ge.
The nourishment he recommends consists
chiefly of bread, fruit, veget ables and milk.
He approves of meat and wine but IN mod
Grafton. He particularly praises the FARM
aceous dishes, and dishes composed W lolly
of vegetables peculiar to tho Vieue:e cock
cry and little known elsewhere. klthou III
Bayarlan he IS no great admlrer CT beer,
and prefers wine rs stimulant. Hest:ong-
~ recommends brown bread, for which
he gives recipe especially adapted for
dyspeptic patents. His two particular
''fancies" in the way of food, thos
which he considers the healthiest ana
most nourishing. are peas and sauerkraut.
most nourlshlng are peas and sauerkraut.
There are few better meals he says, tn III
plenty of fresh fruit and a piece of bead
Three meals day, he maintains. are sutti.
cient. If more are taken the stomach has
not time to recover fronl one process of di
Restion before it is called upon to begin an
other. The more moderate a man eats TIE
more chance he has of keeping his DIGESTIVE
organs in good order, and retaining them 81
to old age. He advises his patients t,
drink before eating. never while eating
and after eating only if very decided tbirs
be felt, and then but moderately. He I'd
vocates hard be DIS and cool. well-ventilate.
bedrooms. He does not In the least objec
to smoking in moderation. In fact, he ap
proves of the use, but not the abuse, of al
good things. except tea and coffee. whlc
he does not consider at all good thin IS
He is much looked up to by the med
profession, and many doctors go 1
Noerlshofen to study his method.
The World Enriched.
The facilities of the present day for IL
production of everything that will condu,
TO the material welfare and comfort
mankind a1pooat mill ta1 h.