Читать книгу The Kneipp Cure - Sebastian Kneipp Kneipp - Страница 16

These baths also are divided into cold and warm full-baths. Both kinds are useful for healthy as well as for sick persons.

1. The cold full-bath can be taken in two different ways, either by the patient standing or lying with his whole body under the water; or, to prevent the perceptible pressure of the water on the lungs, (although there is never any danger attached to it) he may go into the water up to the armholes, so that the top of the lungs remains free; then the upper part of the body is quickly washed with the hand or with a coarse towel.

The shortest time for such a cold full-bath is half a minute, the longest, which should not be exceeded, 3 minutes.

I shall be obliged to speak of this, my particular view, several times hereafter. Here I will only remark that, about 20 years ago, I was of another opinion myself, that I advised baths of a longer duration, and supposed that water-cure-institutions could not deviate from the best method.

My experience of long years and my daily practice upon myself and others have long since taught me better. These, my teachers, brought me to the firm conviction that regarding cold-water-baths the right and true principle is this:

The shorter the bath, the better the effect. To remain one minute in the cold - water - bath is wiser and safer than to remain there for 5 minutes.

Whether it be for the use of healthy or sick persons, I reject every bath of more than 3 minutes duration.

This conviction to which innumerable facts have brought me, and which have since then confirmed me in it, explains my own opinion on the rugged applications used in hydropathic establishments, as well as on the oftentimes thoughtless bathing in summer time.

As regards the latter point, there are people who once, or even twice a day, remain for half an hour and more in the water. If this is done by able swimmers who move about vigorously during the time, and who can take good, nourishing food after bathing, I have less objection. Their robust nature will soon make up for that which the bath has taken. But to land-rats, who, without real movement, creep about in the water for half an hour like toilsomely moving tortoises, such a tormenting bath is not only of no use, but it injures, and if often, too often repeated, it injures much; such baths are relaxing and fatiguing. Instead of being useful to nature, to the organism, they harm it; instead of strengthening and nourishing, they consume.

1 .The cold full bath

a. The cold full-bath for the healthy.

I have many times received admonitions at known and unknown hands, telling me that I ought to consider how the applications of cold water were synonymous with extraction of warmth, how such an extraction was very hurtful to persons who are poor of blood, and how much nervousness was being increased by it.

I agree with every word, if the too rugged applications described above are meant; but my applications of which we are now speaking, the cold-water-baths, I recommend to all healthy persons at every season, summer and winter, and I assert that precisely these baths contribute in a substantial manner to the maintaining and strengthening of health; they purify the skin; they increase the action of the skin; they refresh, vivify and strengthen the whole organism. In winter these baths ought not to exceed the number of two a week; one is sufficient every week, in some circumstances, every fortnight.

There are still two more points to be mentioned here.

The hardening against the different influences, the changes of temperature, (weather, seasons), plays an important part in keeping healthy. Unhappy he whose lungs, neck or head are injured by every wind, every breeze, who is obliged to consult the vane the whole year round, to see what kind of wind is about. It is a matter of indifference to the tree in the open air, whether there is storm or calm, heat or cold. It braves wind and weather; it is hardened. Let a healthy man try our bath and he will resemble the strong tree.

One cause of fear and anxiety on account of this cold-water-applications, cannot easily be taken away from many; I am inclined to call it a fixed idea of extraction of warmth. The cold weakens and must weaken, they say, unless a feeling of warmth immediately follows the application. Quite true; I agree with them. But on the other hand I assert that, not to speak of the amount of exercise, which according to our principles is regularly and strictly prescribed after every application of cold water, our cold-water-baths do not deprive nature of warmth, but on the contrary they support and foster it. Let me only ask one question: If a weak man, effeminated by a continual sedentary life, and afraid to venture out in winter time except in case of utmost need, is by the baths and ablutions all at once so hardened, that he takes walks in every weather without fear, if he scarcely feels even the sharpest cold, must not the natural warmth have increased in him? Should all that be nothing but imagination and deception?

One instance out of many may be given here.

A gentleman of high position, who was more than 60 years of age, had an excessive aversion for water. When going out, every care was taken not to forget one of his indispensable wrappers; all possible and impossible colds, etc. could of course be the consequences of such a forgetfulness.

But above all other parts of his body, this gentleman's neck was so sensitive, that he scarcely knew how to take enough care of it or to wrap it up sufficiently. At last the „Barbarian" came upon him, and with a certain mischievous joy prescribed our cold full-baths. The gentleman obeyed. . And the consequences? They were exceedingly favorable. Even after a few days the first woolen shirt was stripped off; soon the second followed the first, and by and by the woolen wrappers for the neck shared the same fate. He felt himself so steeled against climate and weather by these baths, that the day on which he was prevented from taking one seemed to him but incomplete. And he took them not only in a non-heated room, but, even in October, during his daily walk, he took them in a river, the cold water of which was more welcome to him than that in the bath prepared for him at home.

The chief questions we have to answer are these:

1. In what condition, in what disposition must a healthy person be, to make use of such cold full-baths with good effect?

2. How long is a healthy person allowed to remain in the bath?

3. Which season is the best to begin this cure for hardening?

The good disposition for the cold full-bath requires chiefly that the whole body be perfectly warm. Therefore a person, who, by staying in a warm room, by working or walking is thoroughly warmed, is in the right condition.

The cold full-bath should never be taken when a person is cold, suffering from cold feet, or shivering; he must beforehand thoroughly warm himself by walking etc. On the contrary, when in a state of perspiration, when heated (I am speaking of healthy persons,) as it were bathed in perspiration, our full-bath may be taken without the least fear.

There is scarcely anything so much feared, even by quiet, thoughtful and intelligent men, as going into the cold water, when heated or perspiring freely. And yet, nothing is more harmless. Yea, I venture deliberately to assert, according to my experience of long years, that the greater the perspiration, the better, the more efficacious the bath.

Countless persons, who beforehand had thought that with such a „horse-cure" they must immediately get a stroke, have lost all fear, all anxiety, all prejudice after the first trial.

What man, when coming home from work with his face and hands bathed in perspiration, would have the least fear to wash them, perhaps even his chest and feet as well? Everyone does so; for it is very refreshing and comforting. Should not the effect on the whole body, as a necessary conclusion, be the same? Should a thing which is of excellent effect for single parts of the body, which is a benefit to them, be a disadvantage, an injury to the whole?

I believe that the fear of the bad effect of cold baths when taken in perspiration, proceeds from the facts that many persons, who, bathed in sweat, have suddenly come into the cold, or into the fresh air, especially into draught, have sometimes entirely ruined their health for life.

That is quite true. I own still more, namely that many persons in a state of perspiration, have got the germs of serious sufferings by the cold water. But which was to blame, the perspiration or the water? Neither! As with everything else in life, here also it depends before all not upon the „What", but upon the „How", i.e. in our case, how people in perspiration use the cold water. A delirious man can do unspeakable harm with a simple knife. Unreasonable application can turn the best gift to the greatest evil. It is only remarkable that in such cases, it is always the good gift which is condemned, and not the blamable misuse made of it. The whole then depends upon the „How" in application. If anyone is headstrong in this matter, he may also bear the consequences, which he has frivolously caused.

Now we come to the reply to the second question: How long may a healthy person remain in the cold full-bath?

A gentleman to whom I had ordered two such baths a week, came to me a fortnight afterwards, lamenting that his state had become much worse; he was like a lump of ice. His appearance was that of a great sufferer, and I could not understand how the water should, all at once, have left me in the lurch. I asked him, if he made the application strictly according to my prescription. His answer was: Most strictly; I have even done more than what you ordered me to do; instead of one minute, I have remained in the water for five minutes; but then I could not possibly get warm again." During the following weeks he made use of the baths in the right manner, and soon got back his former natural warmth and freshness.

This single case represents all the cases in which it is supposed that the water has done harm. It is not the water, but the application, which plays its part badly; it is the careless and inaccurate people who are the culprits. But, as is usually the case, the innocent water must bear the guilt.

The person who is about to take the cold full-bath, undresses quickly and lies down in the prepared bath for one minute. Should he be perspiring, he sits down in the bath, i.e. he goes into the water only up to the stomach and washes the upper part of his body quickly and vigorously. Then he dips under up to the neck for a moment, goes out of the water immediately, and redresses without drying, as quickly as possible. A laborer may take up his work again; others must (at least for a quarter of an hour) take exercise, until the body is thoroughly dry and properly warmed. It is quite a matter of indifference whether that be done in a room, or in the open air; for my part I always prefer the open air, even in autumn and winter.

Whatever you do, my dear reader, do it rationally, and never transgress the right measure! Moreover the number of applications of a full-bath should not, as a rule, surpass that of three a week.

When should I best begin with these full-baths?

The important work of hardening the body, or which is the same thing, of protecting it against diseases, of making it able to resist them, can never begin too early. Begin at once - to-day; but begin with easier practices (see means of hardening). Otherwise you would probably lose courage! You may begin with our cold full-bath, as soon as you are strong enough, perhaps after a short preparation; if you are weak, after a longer preparation, according to circumstances.

This is a very important chapter. Be careful not to try to force anything, immediately, suddenly, with the strongest remedies; this would be, at least, an act of imprudence.

A man, ill with typhus, was advised by his doctor to go into cold water for a quarter of an hour. He did so, but got such a chill afterwards that he naturally would have nothing to do with such a bath in future. He cursed such a remedy. The decision of the competent judge was simply, that after such an experience, applications of water could not be used by that patient anymore; besides the patient was already lost. With this sentence of death they came to me. I advised them to try the water again, but instead of a quarter of an hour, to let the patient remain in it for 10 seconds only (in and out); the effect must be different. No sooner said than done, and in a few days the patient was well again.

On such occurrences, I have always to struggle with the temptation, that the water is purposely applied in such a rugged, incomprehensibly violent way, in order to make people frightened at this wet were-wolf, instead of inspiring them with confidence in the water. I am a strange man, I know; therefore such fancies will, I trust, be pardonable in me.

Those who are in earnest, may after the application of means of hardening, begin with the ablutions of the whole body (see ablutions), and take them, provided the washing does not agitate them, at night before going to sleep, or in the morning when rising. At night no time is lost, and also in the morning all is done in a minute. Those who cannot take some exercise either by working or walking directly after the application, ought to lie down again for a quarter of an hour to get dry and warm again. This practice undertaken from 2 to 4 times a week, which is sufficient, or daily, is the best preparation for our cold full-bath. Only try it! The first unpleasantness will soon be followed by a feeling of comfort and ease, and that of which you were afraid before, will soon become almost a necessity to you.

A gentleman of my acquaintance took his full-bath every night for 18 years. I had not ordered him to do so, but he would by no means give up this practice. During these 18 years he did not have an hour's illness. Others who went into the bath 2 or 3 times a night, had to be detained from it; I had to forbid it to them. If the practice had been hard or insupportable, as people often cry out, they would surely have omitted it.

Those who are in earnest about hardening themselves, about preserving and increasing their strength, should fix their attention on the cold full-bath; but they must not let it rest simply with the resolution.

Vigorous nations, generations, families, have always been true friends of the cold water; and precisely of my full-bath. The more the present age gets the character and name of effeminate, the higher time is it to turn back to the sound, natural views and principles of old.

There are still many families, especially such of high rank, distinguished men, who keep my water-cures as a family tradition, as it were, and a means of education, exceedingly important in the care of health, and who wish to secure it to their race, to their posterity. We need not therefore be ashamed of our business.

b. The cold full-bath for the sick.

It is carefully mentioned in the third part with the special diseases, when and how often this bath is to be used. A few remarks of a more general character may find room here.

A strong nature, a healthy organism, is able of itself to evacuate the morbid matters which try to settle in the body. But the diseased body, weakened by illness, must be helped, in order to enable it to do its work by itself again.

This assistance is often given by the cold full-bath, which in such a case serves as an excellent crutch or staff, as a means of strengthening.

Its chief application, however, is found with the so called , hot diseases", i.e. with all those diseases which have violent fevers as their forerunners and companions. The most dangerous ones are those of 39° to 40° and above; they take away all strength, burn down, as it were, the cottage of the human body. Many a patient, whom the illness has spared, becomes a victim to weakness. To look on, to wait for what may come of this terrible fire, seems to me to be dangerous and of grave consequences. Of what good are „a spoonful every hour", or the expensive quinine, the cheap antipyrine, or the poisonous mixture of digitalis, the consequences of which, for the stomach, all of us know? With such fire, all medicaments are, and always will be, very insignificant remedies and febrifuges. Of what use lastly are all those artificial intoxicating physics which are administered to, or injected into, the patient, which really intoxicate him, so that he no longer knows, feels or perceives anything?

Apart from moral and religious views, it is indeed a miserable sight to see a patient lying half asleep, or rather half tipsy, with disfigured features, with distorted eyes! Can that do any good? Against such fever-fires nothing can help but extinguishing. Fire is extinguished by water, and so also the fire in the whole body where, as it were, everything is in flames, is best extinguished by the full-bath. If it is repeated at every blazing up, i.e. as often as the heat, the agitation increases in the beginning of the fever, perhaps every half hour), it will, with early application, soon master the fire (see inflammations, scarlet fever, typhus etc.)

I was told some time ago that in large public hospitals the bath was often applied to poor patients who could not afford the expensive quinine; I was glad to see in the news-papers lately that, especially in large military hospitals, in Austria, people had begun again to treat certain diseases like typhus with water. But why only typhus? I should like to ask. Why not, with logical necessity, all those diseases, which grow up like poisonous fruits, out of the mushrooms of fever?

Many are in great expectation to see this going on, among them also professional men.

One remark which perhaps belongs more to the ablutions, may find place here. All patients are not able to use the full-bath; many of them are, perhaps, already so much weakened, that they can neither move nor turn themselves, nor be lifted out of bed; but must they on this account resign the application of cold water? By no means. Our applications are so manifold, and every kind of application has so many degrees or steps, that those who are most healthy, as well as those grievously ill, can easily find what is suitable for them. The only thing is to make a good selection.

Those who are afflicted with serious illness, who, on account of excessive weakness are unable to use the cold full-bath, may take the whole-ablution as a substitute; and this can easily be done in bed by every patient, even the weakest. How to make it, is explained where the ablutions are spoken of. Like the whole- bath they are to be repeated as often as the heat or agitation reaches a high degree.

It is precisely with such grievously affected patients, who are, as it were, chained to the bed, that doubly great care must be taken not to make the great mistake of a too rugged application; it would always increase the evil. I could name a person who was bed-ridden for eleven years, and who during the whole time, was attended by a physician. Water-cures too, had been tried, but all in vain. The physician, when he found that this person had been cured by me in six weeks, declared that it seemed to him like a miracle. He came to see me and wished to know what had been done. The whole proceeding was the more incomprehensible to him, as in his opinion there was not the least activity in the body, and all his applications of water had remained unsuccessful. I told the gentleman how simple the proceeding was, and how still more simple the water-applications were. We both acknowledged that a glimmering pine-torch was not to be extinguished by a fire-engine; his water-cure had been too rugged, mine was mild, slow and according to the capability of endurance of the wretched body.

It has often excited my pity to hear, or to read, how in many institutions and homes, people are fastened to their beds for ten, or twenty and more years. They are indeed worthy of pity!

But I cannot understand it and never could, except in some few very rare cases. The bible, too, has its patient of 38 years.

I am quite sure that very many of the bed-keepers, could be helped out of it by the simplest water-applications, if only continued with perseverance and punctuality.

2. The warm full-bath

like the cold one is useful both for the healthy and the sick.

The manner of taking it is twofold.

The one bath (a) is sufficiently filled with warm water to cover the whole of the body, and in this the person remains for 25 to 30 minutes. At the end of that time the other bath (b), filled with cold water, is, quickly entered, the person dipping in up to the head, but not with the head. If no second bath is there, the whole body is washed as quickly as possible with cold water. This cold bath, or cold washing, must be filled in one minute. The clothes are then put on, quickly, without drying, and exercise taken for at least half an hour, either in the room or in the open air, until one feels quite dry and warm.

Country people may immediately return to their work. The water for this first bath must have a temperature of 26° to 28°, for aged persons 28° to 30° R. It is advisable to measure carefully and accurately with a thermometer, which is easily obtained. But it is not sufficient to put the quicksilver-tube into the warm water, and take it out again at once; it must remain in the water for a while. It is only by the standing still of the quicksilver that it can be decided whether a sufficient length of time has been taken for the measurement, and if the latter is correct. Those who prepare a bath, should do it earnestly, being aware of their responsibility. Indifference and carelessness are nowhere less pardonable than in such important services of charity.

The second way to take this bath, is the following.

The bath is filled as mentioned before, but the water has the temperature of 30° to 35°. With these baths 35° should never be exceeded, (when, and in which cases, they are to be applied, must always be said expressly,) but also no lower temperature taken than 28°; on the average I advise and prepare them myself with 31° to 33° R.

Thosu who take this bath go into the warm water not once, but three times, and also into the cold water three times. This is the so-called warm full-bath with threefold change. The whole bath takes precisely 33 minutes; the different changing is done as follows:

10 minutes in the warm bath,

1 minute in the cold bath

10 minutes in the warm bath

1 minute in the cold bath

10 minutes in the warm bath

1 minute in the cold bath

Without exception the proceeding must always be concluded by the cold bath. Healthy, strong people sit down in the cold-water-bath, and dip in slowly up to the head. Sensitive persons sit down and quickly wash chest and back without dipping under. A whole ablution answers the same purpose for those who are too much afraid of the cold bath. The head is never wetted; if it has become wet, it must be dried. Likewise after the last cold bath no other part of the body is to be dried except the hands, and these in order not to wet the clothes when redressing.

For the rest, especially as regards the necessary exercise after the bath, the same rules are to be observed as regarding the first baths.

I owe a few remarks here.

Warm baths alone, i.e. without subsequent cold baths or ablutions, are never prescribed by me. The higher degree of warmth, especially if it lasts and operates for a longer time, does not strengthen, but it weakens and relaxes the whole organism; it does not harden, but makes the skin still more sensitive to the cold; it does not protect, but it endangers.

The warm water opens the pores, and lets the cold air in, the consequences of which are to be seen even in the following hours. The cold baths or cold ablutions following the warm ones, act as a remedy to the latter; (I do not allow any application of warm water without the following cold one,) the fresh water strengthens, by lowering the higher temperature of the body; it refreshes by washing off, as it were, the superfluous heat; it protects by closing the pores, and making the skin more firm.

The same prejudice against the sudden cold following the warmth, meets us again here. It is precisely on account of the cold baths following, that the warm ones can, and must, be given at a higher temperature than is usual, or than I myself would agree to generally. The body is filled with so much warmth, armed as it were, that it is able to stand well the shock of the penetrating cold.

Those who are too much afraid of the cold bath at first, may take a whole ablution; they will thereby get courage. It depends entirely upon the first trial. Those who have once tried it, will never take a warm bath again without the following cold one, if only on account of the comfort it gives. To many who at first trembled with fear, but later on became used to the strange changing and liked it, I was obliged to trace strict limits to prevent the excess of good from turning to evil.

The prickling and crawling sensation on the skin, which is strongly felt upon going back to the warm bath, after the cold one, especially on the feet, need not frighten any one; later on it will seem like an agreeable rubbing.

For these two kinds of whole baths there is no necessity of preparations, e. g. to bring the body to the right temperature.

Here, as for all the warm baths, I never, or at least very seldom use warm water alone; decoctions of different herbs are always mixed with them.

a. The warm full-bath for the healthy.

If I order warm whole- baths for healthy persons, i.e. comparatively healthy, (healthy, but weak persons,) I do so only in case where such weakened people cannot make up their minds to take cold baths, and solely for the purpose of preparing and ripening them by this warm full-bath, with the cold one following, for the fresh cold bath.

My principles, and my practice, with reference to this are as follows:

I seldom, or almost never, order warm baths for quite healthy and strong natures, whose fresh, rosy complexion sparkles, as it were, with warmth and vital fire.

Nor do they desire them either, for they long for the cold water like a fish.

But I recommend them for younger people who are weak, poor of blood, and nervous, especially those who are inclined to cramps, rheumatism and such like complaints; and before all others to the mothers of families, who are worn out so early by every possible hardship. Such a bath with 28° R. and subsequent cold ablution, taken for 25 to 30 minutes, every month, would be sufficient for them.

For those who are inclined to articular disease, gout, podagra, two such baths a month would be better than one.

Younger persons should try the cold full-bath in summer time.

To aged, weak people I recommend at least one warm full-bath every month of 28° to 30° R., taken for the space of 25 minutes and concluding with a cold ablution, for cleanliness of the skin, for refreshment and for strengthening. They will feel quite renewed after each bath on account of the greater perspiration (activity of the skin) and the more vivid circulation of the blood.

b. The warm full-bath for the sick.

In which cases of illness the warm full-bath is to be taken, is said where the various diseases are spoken of.

Both kinds are in use, and with due precaution and exactness there is nothing whatever to be feared. These baths aim at a twofold purpose: In the one case they increase the bodily warmth by a new supply of warmth; in the other they operate the evacuating and dissolving of materials which cannot be removed by the diseased body itself. The warm full-baths are prepared as:

Hay-flower baths,

Qat-straw

Pine-sprig

Mixed baths

The manner of preparing as well as the effect of the two first kinds of baths, have already been mentioned in the description of the warm sitting-bath.

I only wish to repeat a few points for precaution's sake:

aa. The hay-flower bath.

A small bag filled with hay-flowers is put in a kettle full of hot water and boiled with it for at least a quarter of an hour. Afterwards the whole decoction is poured into the prepared warm bath, which is then filled up with warm or cold water until it has reached the prescribed temperature. This bath, the easiest to prepare and the most frequently used, is indeed the most harmless, the normal bath for the warming of the body. Healthy people, too, may take it whenever they like. In my country there are many such water-men going about, surrounded by the odor of such hay-flowers. The coffee-brown water thoroughly opens the pores, and dissolves materials shut up in the body.

bb. The oat-straw bath.

A good bunch of oat-straw is boiled in a kettle of water for half an hour, then the decoction is used as above said.

cc. The pine-sprig bath.

It is prepared as follows: The sprigs (the fresher the better), small branches, even very resinous pine-cones, all cut in pieces, are thrown into hot water and boiled for half an hour, the rest as above said. This bath, too, is of good effect against diseases of the kidneys and bladder, but not so strong as the bath of oat-straw. Its chief effect is on the skin, which is brought to activity by it, and on the interior vessels which it strengthens. This fragrant and strengthening bath, is the proper bath for more aged people, as mentioned under a.)

dd. Mixed baths.

Mixed baths, I call those, which are made with decoctions of several herbs, when the due quantity of any of them cannot be had. I have mixed them mostly with decoctions of hay - flowers and oat-straw, having them boiled together. The oat-straw bath becomes the more fragrant for it. I know it will be said: The baths would be good, but the whole affair is too expensive and too troublesome. This objection of one of my readers, would be a just one, if I were to send him to Reichenhall, Carlsbad or any other bathing-place, or if I were to order him to buy the expensive black little bottles with extract of pine sprigs, and to pour out the half or third of the contents into every bath. But, as it is, nobody has the least reason to complain, to make an excuse, or even to object. Even the very poorest, can easily prepare all the baths, and in every case he will have the purest extract, which is nowhere to be had more genuine and unadulterated.

It was just for the good of poorer, and not wealthy people, that I have been looking out for these baths, in order that they should not be deprived of the benefit of a bath which is of so great influence on health in many cases. There is no necessity for journeys, but only a walk to the hay-rick, or barn, or at the utmost, to the neighboring wood. Nor, are there, for the baths, other expenses to be made than a few steps or a good word. Every farmer willingly gives hay-flowers and a bunch of oat-straw to the poor; no fir-tree refuses to give him its cones and twigs; a wooden tub is among the household furniture of every one, or in case of need, a neighbor would lend it willingly. This will be sufficient as regards the expense.

With regard to the trouble, I simply ask: Is it less troublesome to yourself and your relations, if, you are thrown on your sick-bed for weeks, or if your neglected, excessively weakened, and never refreshed body slowly faints away? There can be no question about trouble and labor. If anyone thinks it too much to fulfil the least of my prescriptions, I can only call him indolent and lazy. People of this kind would not, indeed, deserve such a bath.

3. The mineral-baths.

Here I must say a word about mineral-baths, as I have been asked to do so very often. My humble opinion on that point is this:

According to all the principles of my water-cure, I cannot agree with them, because I do not approve of anything forced and violent, whether effected from outward to inward, or directly to the inward. My verdict is, and always will be: The gentlest application is the best, let it relate to the water-cures, or to medicines, etc., and if I can obtain my purpose by one application only, I ought not to make use of a second one. We must help nature, help the diseased, or weakened organism gently, not rigidly and impetuously; we must, as it were, lead the sick body softly and gently by the hand, sometimes assist and support it more firmly, but not urge it too much, not drag and push it; we must not insist absolutely upon obtaining a certain thing by our remedies, but only co-operate with the body in accomplishing its work, and then give up this gentle, and gentlest co-operation, as soon as ever the body is able to help itself to proceed alone.

To give an instance of my system: no doubt it has not escaped any one's notice, that the everywhere known root and wire brushes, the rubbing cloth, etc., have no place in my water-cure. In former times, I used these things, though only in single cases, but I have since learnt that the water, by itself, without these more or less violent manipulations, (with them, the poor body has, besides all its work, also the trouble of bringing the kneaded, and brushed muscles, and the likewise worked skin, to order again) brings on the best effect, provided that it is applied rightly. According to my system the rubbing is done the whole day, and the whole night, by the rough linen or hemp shirt, which, once more, I heartily recommend.

The name ,mineral bath" already indicates a rigid effect. All these waters, whatever they are called, or wherever they are running, contain more or less, softer or sharper, salts. Such salt-waters, used interiorly, appear to me please pardon the expression - like using a rough brush and granulous sand to cleanse or to polish silver or still nobler metal. Silver and gold are delicate and tender. But is it not the same with the interior organs? One breath darkens the silver; rough means of cleansing hurt, injure it. Under such treatment it may become shining, for the brush and sand take away dust and dirt. Yes, only too thoroughly, and the silver vessels will not stand such treatment, or to speak more correctly such misuse for a long time. I need not explain further, nor say with what sensitive, soft, exceedingly noble metal such waters undertake their cleansing work.

And what does experience say to my assertion?

In large bathing - places the deceased are, for the most part, brought to the cemetery, to their last resting-place not at day time but at night; not with singing and music, but quite silently in order not to alarm, or to hurt the feelings of the other poor sufferers. But there are many, very many, carried there. Every year a considerable number of persons die in most of the different bathing-places. He or she, came here for the first time in such and such a year; it did him much good." But the old complaint came, and she or he went there again. In that year he was there for the second time," his relations say, but it did him less good. The complaint came back in a higher degree, and nevertheless he could not be dissuaded from going there for a third time. back visibly stronger; he seemed to be quite cured. But he only came back to die at home." To many the expenses of travelling are spared by an early death at home. This story, and other similar ones, I have been told innumerable times. He who only goes to such places for entertainment's, and for pleasure's sake, need not be afraid about the above said, he only needs to consult his purse, which is subjected to a merciless cure, and most thoroughly pumped out.

Even common people, country people whose head no longer stands on the right place, i.e. on the humble one, who try to imitate, the better, the learned, the educated and advanced men, do not go to a bathing - place; fortunately, they are prevented from doing so by the lightness of their purse, but they attempt many stupid things. Once a peasant came to me saying: „Well now, I have found out the best means of purifying the body; it is a kind of medicinal water, and I take it often." – „But what is it?" I asked him. With some hesitation he owned, that he dissolved a spoonful of salt in water and took this salt-water before breakfast. It did him good, he said, and he liked it better than the best mineral-water. (Of course, he was an enlightened man with a consumptive purse!) I admonished him; but he would not part with his self-invented cure. He continued to drink the salt-water for a while; but then he got disorder of the stomach and indigestion, poverty of blood, and at last he died, worn out and exhausted, in the best years of manhood.

So then, be always contented and reasonable, and never envy the rich and noble man, who seems to be in a better state and to have everything he wishes for. That would be foolish and not Christian-like.

Neither ought you to be jealous, if you see weak or consumptive people etc. go for a so-called change of climate to certain places, to Meran, South of France, Italy, or even to Africa, I always think that the best place for a fish is the water, the most splendid home for a bird is the open air, and the fresh nature. To me the most advantageous, the most favorable climate is the place and the country where God's creative power has formed me. Should the air become too sharp for me, well, then I will try to harden myself; if I fall ill, the water at home will serve me just as well as that of foreign countries. Is it God's will that I shall die, well, sooner or later it must come for all of us; and, as people say, the earth of the native country is less heavy, and in it the repose is better and more peaceful than elsewhere.

What, then, does experience tell us, concerning such mild and highly situated, airy places, experience which is every year proved anew? I simply put two questions: How many of those who, being really ill, fled there, have come back quite cured? How many have remained in the warmer climates, and have been buried there?

Therefore remain in your own country, support yourself honestly, and wash yourself daily!