Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-01
Cures Effected by Means Of Brine
Baths and Exercise.
TIE PILGRIMAGE TO BAD NAUHEIM
As Good Results Can Be Obtained
in This Country,
HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS

Written for The Evening Star.
A cure has been found for heart disease.
No drugs are used in this treatment. AL
that is required of the patient is that he
shall take frequent baths, followed by GER
tain exercises, as in a gymnasium. Per-
sons who were unable to walk have been
cured by this simple treatment. 1t is
known as the resisted movement cure,
and It has made town famous. Bad Maui
helm, which is situated about twenty miles
from Frankfort, in Germany, is full of
heart disease patients, and it is the Mecca
toward which thousands of sufferers are
getting ready to travel This, however, Is
merely because these people can afford 70
so to headquarters; but it is fact that any
one can learn the treatment and have it
administered at home.
These facts ars reasonably important, for
II is calculated that the majority of per-
eons. In the United States at least have
some form Of heart disease. This is due to
the high pressure under which We live.
DR.. Thomas E. Satterthwate of New
York who is on the staff of the Post
Graduate and the Orthopaedic hospitals,
has been to Bad Nauheim to study the
treatment, and is now practicing it in
America. He was asked to describe it and
60 talk about some of the curious aspects
OF the great American malady- He said:
An AIl-Important Organ.
THE heart, being the central pumping
station for all the rapidly moving currents
of the human body. is naturally very sus-
cepttble to changes that may take place
in those currents II may vary greatly in
bulk during twentyfour hours. Its beat
may go down to fifty and up to 800. If a
man stands up or lies down, the difference
In his position Will cause his heart to vary
ten beats minute or $50 hour. When
We think that each one of these lost or
raEr 4 EEaF IL L
through the veins, We get some idea of
what slight changes in this organ may
mean to the body at large, for the above
change Is what takes place in a healthy
man; in a diseased man the difference be
comes much greater. 1t is curious, also.
that the heart sometimes mUrrlurS when
its owner is lying down IN a way that can
nor be detected when ne is standing. These
sounds vary with age and with health.
NierurGt studied them.
He placed number of fat pieces of gutta
peTcha, shaped like poker chips. on the
chests of men. women and children. He
piled these chips one above the other just
over the heart. until they formed solid
column. Than he placed his ear to the
top Of the pile and listened. If the sound
OF the heart could not be heard through
the pile, Nerordt removed the chips from
the toy of the pile one by one until it could
BE- heard In this way ne got a COMPARE
son Of the intensity of the sounds. He con-
hrnled the idea that different parts of the
heart made different sounds. There We're
two distinct sOundS-one d low-pitched Vi
bra'ing sound of about forty vibrations a
second; the other sound in the base clef
These observations were invaluable to 9TH
er Investigators. They We're enabled to
detect differences in hearts which before
that were not known to exist The treat
men of heart disease by sound became
an important matter in the medical pro-
iessioh. However, physicians knew more
OF the existence of the condition than
theE dld OF a means of aleviating it,
To Develop the Heart.
prof. Schott of Bad Nauheim. GERMANY.
began some years ago to treat heart dis
ease, not most physicians had treated
it-that Is with the fear that any exertion
might prove fatal-but with the idea that
as a physical organ the heart was suscepti-
Bile OF the same changes as would be any
other physical organ if surrounded by a
Ike condition. Schott and his brother were
led 10 these conclusions by an accident
1t appears that these men, while treating
reurastheHics some years ago, found that
in forcing the blood TO the nerve centers
the volume of the pulse was increased,
While at the same time its rate was di-
minlShed. As this result was desirable
when treating loss of compensation in
heart disease. they applied the method in
chronic cases with such satisfactory results
that II has been recognized and employed
by many OF the best practitioners in Eu-
rope
Prof. George Oliver of England had
shown that healthy arm, after being ex-
ercised. displaced more water in vessel
than II did before il was exercised. This
was attributed to the fact that the blood
thickened during exercise. Prof Schott, at
Nsuheim. knew that walking smartly
across room would often diminish the
rapidity and increase the force for the
time being of weakly acting heart He
decided to treat the heart for its develop
ment he would any other muscular ar
gan of the body He proceeded to treat It
from the standpoint of the relation of exer-
else to growth. All bodily organs which
are exercised grow; any organ which is not
exercised ceases its development. Prof.
schott determined to exercise the heart
Treatment by Resistance
THE treatment Involved. first, a series
OF preparatory baths in the waters of the
natural springs which exist in Nauheim.
The stimulating effect of these waters pre-
pares the sufferer for the exercise which
follows. The exercise involves every muscle
in The body. No apparatus is used. The
patient is told to make certain motions
winch bring certain muscles into play, but
when he tries To do it an attendant catches
him by the arm, the leg, whichever mart
is to be moved, and tries TO stop the move
ment- The patient must do il in spite of
the attendant the resistance causing
him more exertion than if he were left nm
INSTRUCTED. In consequence the houses of
Narheim seem at times TO be full of men
and women wrestling with one another
one man will be seen swinging his hards
over his head like a human windmill while
an attendant stands beside him on a chair
holding his wrists and trying to stop him
Another man will be found standing on one
leg and moving the other violently, while
an attendant holds on grimly to his ankle
and Will net be shaken of. Still another
standing with his back to the wall, seems
bent on falling fiat on his face in spite OF
the attendant, who persistently props him
up as he comes forward. Others around
about seem to be INDUCING in sparrinp
matches, the attendants I'm every case rf-
esting the movements of their charges All
Of these people are under treatment foI
heart disease.
In other parts Of the place men womer