The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1944-05-18

questions of general interest
only, and then only through
his column.
be obtained from hot and cold
water. Somebody in the house has
bad pain and you can't get the
doctor. The druggist won't sell
you any painkillers and aspirin
does not give relief. That is the
situation.
The house mother who has 10
treat the patient wrings her hands
and deplores the emergency sit
uation, the lack of doctors, the
hard-heartedness of the narcotic
laws and the patient goes on suf-
fering. And all the time if she has
sink with running water or a we'll
and a stove and few towels she
could give relief such as-rich PEG.
pie in the best of times went miles
and spent large fees to obtain.
Priessnitz's Discoveries
Long ago in the little Austrian
village Of Grafenberg a peasant
boy named Vincenz Priessnitz was
kicked by horse, thrown to the
ground and the heavy cart passed
over his chest fracturing some
ribs. The local doctor said he wa.
crippled for life. The boy could
not accept this verdict. He was
wracked with pain and bent over
with deformity, but his determine
ton to get well was strong.
AS he lay on his bed of pain he
remembered an experience Of his
childhood. He had gone out in the
mountain paths near his home and
lay down by a spring when he saw
young roe which had been shot
through the thigh drag itself into
the spring. 1t got the wounded
thigh in position so that it was
entirely covered by the cold flow
ing water. 1t appeared to obtain
relief. Day after day he returned
10 the spring and was rewarded by
seeing the wounded roe return also
and renew the bath. And day by
day he rejoiced TO see it improve
and finally regain its healthy
movements.
Young Vincenz had an oaken
arm chair brought to his bedside
and pressing his abdomen on it he
gradually in successive trials
forced his ribs back into place.
Then he had bandages wrung out
of cold water and laid over his
painful muscles. His discomfort
subsidized and before long he was
well and whole again.
He became a crusader for water
treatment. He applied his rem
edies 10 his neighbors who had
sprains and bruises or neuralgias.
His fame grew. Patients came to
him from all over Bohemia and
Moravia. Finally he was able to
build q magnificent hospital for
water treatment and his income
was enormous. AS he lay dying
he was urged to have a doctor;
but the doctors had never been
very kind to him. mo DOCTOR"
said the sick man. as there not
God and cold water?"
Bandage Simple to Apply
One Of his remedies is the Prizes
snitz bandage. Its application is
absurdly simple. For any pain
abdominal, chest, joint, sprains-
wiring a piece of cloth out of cold
water and lay it over the affected
part, and cover it snugly with a
larger towel pinned in place. l
have seen more than once an at
tack Of gallstones relieved this
way without morphine.
For insomnia a sheet wrung out
OF lukewarm water laid on the bed,
the patient put down on it and
wrapped in it from neck TO toes
and then covered with blankets
will often do more than half a
dozen hypnotic pills.
Affusions = cold water poured
from height over the back of a
patient-will relieve asthma and
a dozen other ailments.
| find in an issue of War Med
icine" for December 1913, a rec
ommendation for the hip bath"
TO tone up muscular fatigue. The
patient is seated in a chair, feet
on a high stool, and water sprayed
from a hose over the abdomen
from the umbilicus down. Start
ing with warm water the tempera-
ture was gradually increased for
five minutes and then increasingly
cold water was used. The result
was improvement in visual acuity,
muscle balance, in blood pressure
and increase in red blood cells.
The hot water bag and electric
pad are also in the armamentarium
of the "house mother"