Morning journal and courier., 1890-12-09
FATHER KNEIPP,s CURES.
Going Barefooted Seems TO be the
Chief Feature OF His System.

From the London Standard
If diseases are multiplying and compli-
eating, as most people think, it must be
owned that the inventors of ''eures" keep
up with them fairly. The name of our
latest benefactor is Sebastian Kneipp, his
dwelling place the hamlet of Vorishofen,
near Augsburg, and his state of life that
of parish priest. All three he has made
famous throughout the Austrian empire
and beyond. Each year for a long time
past the little village has been more and
more crowded by invalids of every rank.
Herr Kneipp has built an hotel lately, at
which the charge per diem for board and
lodging is two shillings, paid by such as
can afford the extravaganza. There is no
fee for treatment, no sale of medicines, no
recommendation of patent articles, no in
genious device to extract the sufferers
cash. Wealthy patients are expected to
contribute for the support of their poorer
brethren. Medical men not only send pa
tents from Vienna itself; doctors come to
study the good priests methods on the
spot. These methods are, in brief, a re-
turn to nature. Herr Kneipp is satisfied
that people generally consume an undue
proportion of meat, and he recommends
more vegetables. White bread he detests:
coffee he strongly disapproves; tea is his
| special abomination. Invalids may smoke
and drink wine if they please.
Fifty years ago the good priest of Vor-
ishofen became convinced that the soft
| ness of our skins, above all of our feet, is
the root of all bodily evils Therefore. to
begin with, flannel be banished, together
with all wooden materials for underwear.
He has devised or introduced a very coarse
linen which scratches the skin mildly and
4 keeps it aglow. while flannel enervates it
sKneipp linen" is commonly manufac.
| tured now in Munich and Stuttgart Con.
slant plunging in cold water is the second
rule. 1t must be mere plunge, and to
| dry the body is forbidden; throwing on
his clothes with the utmost speed, a pa.
/ tent starts to run for a quarter of an
hour, if he be able-at least he takes
| strong exercise. AT the end of that time
his dip, his moistened linen, and his
| scratched skin, together have generated
| an intense warmth vastly wholesome.
The feet in especial must be hardened.
l English doctors have begun to protest
against the usage of covering this part of
the body from early years. As soon as q
| child can walk its feet are encased in ma
terials more OF less calculated to exclude
the air; and so they remain for life, ex-
| cepting only the hours passed in coddling
and softening them under blankets.
1t is this mischief which Herr Kneipp
sets himself to remedy. His patients
4 men, women and children-run barefoot
through snow, when snow can be found
at other times in wet grass or cold water.
Half an hour of this exercise is prescribed,
but the limit is reached gradually; then
the invalid hurries on his socks-of linen
and his boots, and sets off briskly for q
walk. 1t is needless to quote multitude
of successful cures. Weak brethren may
be impressed by the case of Rothschild
which has carried the fame of Herr KneipI
| to these islands.