Charlevoix county herald., 1914-10-10
COLD WATER BATHS
TO CURE INSANITY
Wisconsin State Hospital Gets
Radical Results In The Treat
ment of Mental Diseases
PLAN TESTED FOR SIX YEARS
More Effective Than Drugs or Re-
straint, And Assists Says Head
of Big Institution.

Mendoza, WtS.-Dr Charles GOrSt,
superintendent of the Wisconsin State
Hospital for the Insane, introduced six
years ago the water cure" or hydro
therapy, the most modern and efiica-
cation of water and heat.
cation of kater and heat
I'VE find the water method effec-
tive" said Or. Gorst, VASTLY more eff
fective than the old drug-and-restraint
treatment The water mehod seems
to move the patient quite surely to-
ward recovery, often permanent re-
covery, while the old methods some
times seemed to do harm. Drugs and
restraints are not entirely abandoned,
but the water method is used wher-
ever possible, as being a better and
more natural method. There is no par
ticular merit in restraint, except to
keep the patient from violently harm
ing himself or others. Binding a pa
tient hand and foot does not cure the
diseased brain. But when patients
excitement is soothed away by the con-
tinuous bath or the pack, progress is
made in the direction of cure.
I'VE have here at Mendoza three
continuous bath apparatus on the male
side and four on the female side. We
also have half a dozen pack beds on
each side of the hospital. This APP
paratus is used great deal. In these
places there is always something go
;r Jt ;e no
the relative value of the new and old
methods, but we are certain the water
cure is excellent"
"Hydro-therapy is simple" says DR..
Gorst.
Insanity induced by overworx,
is caused by collection in the system
of poisons which put the nervous sys-
tenn out of killer. The fine nerves on
the outer surfaces are the first to feel
the blight: they fail to properly con-
troll the blood capilliaries, and the cir
culation system is demoralized, and
the victims brain either becomes con-
gested with too much blood or acne
mic with too little The former state
is accompanied by raving and vio-
lence: the latter by depression and
acute melancholia.
1.-The action of water at varying tenn
peratures, and of the stream and cleo
trio baths, equaliZed the circulation
by stimulation. The muscular strain
about the capilliaries is relieved, they
are relaxed and the blood flow is nor
malized.
Mature is assisted in performing its
functions and the patient is restored
ination of the toxins.
Dull aenemic patients are stimu-
lated and excited ones quoted.
There is always a practical assur-
ance of cure where the brain tissues
have not actually been destroyed, or
in cases of inherited mental defects.
And even such patients are quieted
and relieved by the treatments"
Tub baths, where the patients lie in
tepid water from two to ten hours
per day; electric light and steam
baths; hot packs; water percussion
obtained by playing a spray against
the body, and vibratory treatments
are the agencies utilized.
Music, recreation, sun baths in open
courts and wards, dances and kindly
guidance of recovering minds COM
plete the restoration.
"Eighty-five per cent of the insanity
caused by overwork, shock, grief, alco-
holism or excuses is durable by n.y.
drotherapy," says DR.. f. p. Clark Of
the California State Hospital.
The water cure is used extensively
in many hospitals. One of the places
where it is remarkably successful is
the Government Hospital for the In
sane at Washington. All over the
country for the past ten or fifteen
years the mtehod has been growing
in favor. 1t was employed in Germany
as long as quarter of century ago.
When first mentioned in this country
it was thought by many uniformed
persons to be cruel practice. The
fact is that thousands of afflicted men
and women now, feeling their manical
excitements coming on, beg of their
attendants to give them the water
treatments, and many patients are
able to get relief by administering the
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