The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-05-12
DESCRIBED ELLIOT a3es
STREET INSTITUTION
IL -. GIG 49,,
Published With Editorial Comment in
New York Tribune Old Paper
Containing the Story Found Re-
Gently by Brattlebpfp Woman. -


the present generation know of what
the water cure treatment consisted at
that institution, which was famed in its
day and to which many noted persons /
came and were curedl-Or benefited. 1t
is is a coincidence that an old news |
paper containing a34detailed deserlp- |
ton of the water cure treatment, writ I!
ten by Dr. Robert z Wesselhoeft, the
proprietor, should be found by a Brat |
tlebOro woman. While Miss Emma
Dutton of this town was on a recent |
visit to Mrs. James Dalton, formerly |
of Brattleboro, in Washington.sG opns, |
she saw on the ground an old and
somewhat damaged newspaper, which
had been thrown away with some rub |
bish and had lain eut--a4l winter AM
article headed "Account of the Water
Cure attracted her attention and she
preserved the paper and brought it
home. 1t is a copy of Wilson & Co. :
Dispatch, large four-page monthly
newspaper, published in New York
! July :, 1915. About two columns in'l
very fine print are devoted to the sub
iect of the water cure, copied from
the New York Tribune, of which lIor-
ace Greeley was proprietor. The great
er part of the space is given up to a
/ letter containing a full account of
/ the water cure method of treating
/ disease, written in Brattleboro to Mr..
/ Greeley by DR.. Wesselhoeft, who was
! Il member of a family which became
/ prominent in the history of this town.
/ The letter is prefaced by half cal
umn of editorial comment l... s... 1....
The editorial says of DR.. Wesselhoeft
in introducing the subject: As. a
" young man he was distinguished for
H his attachments. and, sharing the inn
pulse whose repression in Germany
sent Follen, Beck and others to be our
EansTuct0rS, was thought worthy of
some wears Imprisonment in his own
land. - The prison physicians became
interested in him and taught him what
he knew of the art of healing. Further
on the editorial says: With regard
to DR.. Wesselhoeft as practitioner,
we must, from personal knowledge, pay
him our tribute as to a man of eX
tensive and various knowledge and re
sources, a most patient and sagacious
observer of symptoms, one of the few
physicians we have seen of sufficient
ly enlarged capacity to be student of
| character in the patient, instead of
| treating him as mere machine, and
l a man of perfect honor and candOr who
4
| In his letter to Mr.. Greeley, DIR.
| Wesselhoeft says the use. of water as
a remedy for diseases has been known
to all nations, but it has been reserved
for our country to, enIare its use. This
most simple and sffeetual method of
healing was not Invented by learned
men. An unlearnSH peasant, Vincent
Priessnitz, living III Graefenberg, a
small place on n Thigh ridge of the
Suedetes mountainf remote from med,
isal assistance, wds the originator OF
the water cure Theory and was regard
cd with contempt by regular physi
] clans. But at the time the letter wa,
: written, 1845, society Of physician,
\ in Germany had cuftTvateTt@ the methoC
five years and many water cure estab
4 hshments had sprung up Throughout
Europe.
In the wilderness 81 fis nativ,
mountains PriessnitH h@1 his Shut - ",
see, too the letter says, som
larger houses, destined to receive sucl
patients as may takes up their abod
with him. Phiessnitz is of the Opinion
that, the colder the water the more et
fcacious its operation; an opinio
which has proved tssie ms principle, -
applied with good Judgment as-to tn
nature of the disease and constitution
al tendency of the patient -. r.. &.
~r The letter continues: - similar ei
:" Establishment, Sir, have got up in thi
III place. The temperature is milder tina
de at Graefenberg, or seven on the. Sc;
shore of New England. About 200
inhabitants are settled around an
above hill. hordered blythe Connect
cut river Fresh springs issue fro
all the hills. The water Is the puri
could find among several hundre
springs | have visited and tested. fro
- Virginia up the White Mountain
within 200 miles from the seacoast
is only here that ] have not foul
them impregnated with sulphate
lime. Even the fine, cold springs
Lebanon, and 80 miles around. she
this obnoxious mixture to gre
1. amount, as every one may convin
himself by testing one tumbler full
this water by a few drops of mira
of silver.
Is II have here bought house on ]
liot street and fitted it up for the
ception of a small number of patien
with a plunging bath for ladies a
q another for gentlemen, hip-bat
" shower, and a douche bath for sin
of ! limbs, and, still more, for the eyes.
douche is erected outside the hol
with another kind of shower bath,
suing the water in spray. New sprii
can be opened and1 new -fouches
any power or height can and will.
er formed as soon as required Most be
II tiful and natural walks lead to ei
] spring within a mile. Hills and or
--- 1870 ~ f'tse'enk va. = = y o
RE- mere y ~ spo'',.foq ~ 4fipoat WI
THE walk or yisit - 'iFo ~
THE DR.. wesselhoeft then describes
emit hnd of his treatnant In his est