Every Man His Own Doctor: The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and CattleClaridge, R. T. (Richard Tappin)
Science
Every Man His Own Doctor: The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and Cattle
Claridge, R. T. (Richard Tappin)
Hydrotherapy; Veterinary medicine
A patient having piles and sore eyes, was advised neither to take
sitz-baths or eye-baths. When Priessnitz was asked the reason, he said,
"Because you have too much bad matter in your system, which I am afraid
of attracting to those parts."
In a common attack of piles, two or three sitz-baths a-day, fifteen
minutes each, and wearing a bandage upon the part at night, will afford
relief.
Persons subject to piles should especially avoid all heating and
stimulating drinks.
XCVI.--RUPTURE.
I knew of a case of double rupture, in an officer 34 years of age, which
was perfectly cured at Gräfenberg in three years. Another case of single
rupture was cured in nine months, and a recent one cured in four months.
There can be no doubt of the complete omnipotence of Hydropathy over
this malady; its cure is only a matter of time. It is difficult to lay
down any prescribed treatment, as the chief aim of the practitioner must
be to bring his patient into fine health. All organic action is
contraction; all strength depends upon the power of the different parts
of the body to contract, and nothing will aid the operation so much as
the different appliances here made use of. As a rule, I observed that
when rupture exudes, the sweating process should be resorted to; when
perspiration has broken out, gently rub the part with the hand until the
rupture is gone in again. Bandages are worn continually.
XCVII.--CHILBLAINS.
Rub the feet or hands affected for a quarter of an hour in tepid water
three times a-day, and bandage the leg from ankle to knee if in the
feet. If in the hand, the arm from wrist to elbow.
XCVIII.--COLD FEET.
Take a shallow foot-bath, cold, one inch deep, before going to bed, for
fifteen minutes; let the feet be well rubbed the whole time, then walk
about the room bare-footed for half an hour, so that re-action may take
place, or they will be colder than before.
XCIX.--ERUPTION, SCABS, AND SORES ON THE ARMS.
A child had tried sulphur bandages and all other conceivable means:--
Morning, noon, and afternoon, packing-sheet and tepid-bath; the latter
after a few days changed to the cold-bath; bandages night and day; cure
effected in a few weeks.
C.--CONSUMPTION.
Until the age of fifteen or sixteen Priessnitz conceives this complaint
to be always curable. Very often when parties are supposed to be
consumptive, they are not so. A young lady arrived at Gräfenberg during
my stay there. I thought she had delayed it too long; she appeared in
the last stage of consumption. Priessnitz however took the case--and,
principally with rubbing-sheets, administered three times a-day,
effected an extraordinary cure in two months. I saw this lady
afterwards at Florence, and was quite surprised to see what an extremely
fine woman she had become.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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