Anxious to make my countrymen acquainted with a system which had benefited thousands, and from which I had personally derived great advantage, immediately on my return home I published a work suggested by my visit to Gräfenberg, which proved to be actually the first that had appeared in England on the subject. Many English were thus induced to undertake a journey to see Priessnitz, and several books shortly afterwards came out, attesting the writer's high opinion of his skill, with their faith in the efficacy of his method. The number of English pilgrims to the Hygeian temple increased; and it is at present one of their favorite resorts. In 1848, a letter numerously signed was sent to America, and was inserted in the _New York Tribune_. "To the Editor of the Tribune. "Sir, _Gräfenberg, 14th August, 1849._ "The undersigned, desirous to alleviate suffering, and to promote the health and comfort of human beings, wish to call attention to the Water-cure as practised by Vincent Priessnitz. Not a particle of medicine is ever administered in any form or quantity. No bleeding, blistering, or leeching is ever employed. "It is not pretended that the Water-cure is a universal specific for all diseases; but there are sufficient facts to prove that all diseases curable, and many incurable by any known means, can be healed by a proper application of the Water-cure, which the following cases will demonstrate. "Count Mitrowski, an Austrian nobleman, aged fifty-four, who had long been afflicted with gout, and whose name we are permitted to use, was found insensible in his bed in an apoplectic fit. Some medical men were quickly in attendance and Priessnitz was sent for. The professional men considered the Count past recovery; and one of them said that he would throw his drugs away and become an hydropathist if this patient was restored. It was proposed by some to bleed the invalid, to which Priessnitz objected, if he was to bear any part of the responsibility. So far gone was the patient, and so nearly extinct did vitality appear, that a priest administered the extreme unction, and according to the custom of the country, a lighted candle was placed in each hand of the apparently dead man. By cold water treatment alone under the sagacious direction of Priessnitz, this gentleman recovered consciousness on the _third day_, drove out in a phaeton on the fourth, and gradually returned to his former habits.