, 1901-01-25
OPEN-AIR CURE
IN THE ALPINE VILLAGE OF
VELDES.
walk About Sandy Paths BareheAdsd
Barofootsd and Observation-Disclosures
ple Food Eaten-Sun-Baths Of Forty
Minutes Duration-SIx Weeks Courss.

Away up in the Julian Alps, in the
midst Of al almost perfect solitude, is
the mountain village of Veldes. a
almost in the state Of our first parents.
It Is one of those cure" places Of
which there as so many Of various
kinds scattered over Europe. DR.. Ar
mold Rikli, a Swiss, Is the founder of
the cure and the moving and guild
ing spirit of the community of health
seekers. The theory Of the Veldes
cure is the exposure of the body to
light and air, tension and relaxation,
these latter to be produced by cold and
heat (perspiration), and the absolute
cleansing Of the body vita water. In
a sheltered valley beside Veldes Lake
lies the "air hut colony" absolutely
cut of from the rest of the world. Soon
after your arrival at Veldes to take the
"naturheil" you will find yourself the
inhabitant Of one of the huts, a three
sided structure Of n room, opening
toward the lake, and sparingly fur
nished. Here o will sleep, read,
write and rest. There is a brown Hol-
land curtain which you can draw at
will across the front of the hut, which
otherwise is open to the elements. In
the middle of the collection of huts
is the large common dining room, roof
ed over as a shelter from rain, but
with a floor Of gravel and open on
three sides to the weather. At five
O'Clock, or soon after, in the morning
the colony awakes and the people start
off for a walk to the air bath. These
"air baths" are Enclosures fenced in,
and surrounded with thick trees and
bushes. One is for the women patients
and n for the men. Once inside the
air baths and patients remove their
clothing and put on their bathing suits.
The men wear ordinary bathing
trunks, but the women put on gowns Of
diaphanous gauze and all the morning
they walk about the grass or up and
down the sandy paths, bareheaded and
barefooted and bare shouldered. The
temperature is about 60 degrees, but
no n seems to take cold. At
O'Clock an attendant brings to the in
closures long brown loaves Of bread,
pots Of honey and bottles Of milk.
Thereupon ensues an altogether" pic
mic, which is breakfast. This year the
proceedings Of the air baths were en-
livened by the visit Of several thou
sand little black bees. which put the
gauze-clad ladies in a fiutter. At nine
o'clock the patients put on their
clothes again and return to the lake
side, where they rest for a while and
then take the great sun bath. On the
roof of a large bath house the patients
lie naked, stretched out in the sur,
with their heads only protected. They
are left to bake there for forty min
utes. Then they are taken away and
wrapped in blankets until the perspi-
ration pours from the skin of the VIC
tim. After sweating for fifteen min
utes the patient Is plunged into a te-
pid bath and scrubbed and shampooed.
Lunch Of the most frugal description
follows. The afternoon Is occupied
mostly in recuperating from the eff
fects Of the treatment Of the morning,
and at $50 o'clock the colony assem-
bles for the first full meal Of the day.
But even this meal. at which one ia
allowed to eat his hll. is composed
entirely Of vegetable food, no meat be-
ing served. A course OF the cure" is
supposed to last six weeks.-New York
Press.