The domestic practice of hydropathy

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Preface To The Second Edition

In introducing this Second Edition of the Domestic Practice of Hydropathy to the public, I have but little to say.

The rapid sale of the first impression of one thousand copies, while it fully proves the growing respect and confidence* in which this new treatment is held, has left no time for the suggestion of any material alterations or additions. And, having received no such suggestions from those who have purchased and used the work, I would fain hope that no very important defects have hitherto been detected.

In the body of the book no opportunity has been let slip of insisting on the superiority, inmost cases, of a mild treatment over a severe one, and the much greater success to be expected, as a general rule, from the former than from the latter. I have also endeavoured to enforce the necessity of more care than is commonly exercised, not only in the discrimination of disease, but also in the

* This is further shown hy the fact that the present work has already been reprinted in America, together with my " Principles of Hydropathy," " Results of Hydropathy, " and " Life, Health, and Disease."

11 PREFACE.

adaptation of the particular hydropathic processes to particular cases of disease ; and have pointed out many of the evils which must arise, and given several melancholy instances of the mischief which have arisen, as well from too much treatment, as from the improper adaptation of the form of remedy to the form of disease.

Gladly, therefore, I seize on this additional opportunity of dwelling for a moment, once again, upon this most important part of the whole subject, viz. more care in the discrimination of diseases — more circumspection in the adaptation of particular Hydropathic processes to particular forms of disease — and the substitution, generally, of a milder treatment.

EDWARD JOHNSON.

Umberslade Hall, near Birmingham Oct. 15, 1819.

Dedication

To thee, mild-eyed and ministering Spirit, who sittest by the bed of Suffering, dropping balm into the bosom of Sickness — to thee, sweet Smoother of the pillow, who sheddest thy gentle dews on the parched lips of Anguish, and stillest the throbbings of his heart by the soft accents of thy voice — to thee, whose home is in Heaven, but who dwellest among men that thou mayst help them in their need — who rainest down thy sympathies into the troubled soul of Affliction, watering the desert with the gushings from thy fountains — to thee, the Comforter, who borrowest the smiles of Hope that thou mayst lighten the darkness of Despair — to thee, mild-eyed and gentle Humanity, I dedicate this book.

E. J.

" The profession of Medicine, having for its end the common good of mankind, knows nothing of national enmities, of political strife, of sectarian dissensions. Disease and pain the sole condition of its ministry, it is disquieted with no misgivings concerning the justice and honesty of its client's cause ; hut dispenses its peculiar benefits, without stint or scruple, to men of every country, and party, and rank, and religion, and to men of no religion at all. And, like the quality of Mercy, of which it is the favourite hand-maid, it ' blesseth him that gives and him that takes;' reading continually to our own hearts and understandings the most impressive lesBons, the most solemn warnings. It is ours to know in how many instances, forming indeed a vast majority of the whole, bodily suffering and sickness are the natural fruits of evil courses , of the sins of our fathers ; of our own unbridled passions ; of the malevolent spirit of others. We see, too, the uses of these judgments, which are mercifully designed to recall man from the strong allurements of vice, and the slumber of temporal prosperity ; teaching that it is good for us to be sometimes afflicted. ***** After

Preface

particular group of symptoms, or phase of disease, so well described that I could not make it clearer, I have taken it just as I found it. The works of Dr. Graves, Dr. Gregory, Dr. Watson, Dr. Copland, and a few others, have been chiefly consulted; and I have added whatever my own experience could furnish. I have everywhere preferred utility and perspicuity before all things else. I have also availed myself, in like manner, of such illustrative cases as seemed to me to be valuable. My main object has been to draw the picture of each disease as graphically and concisely as possible. But the symptoms of each disease will always vary somewhat in each individual case.

Such are the objects, and such the nature of the work which I now venture to lay before the public ; trusting that it may not be utterly without its use.

I have introduced several diseases which are never likely to become the subjects of se^-treatment. I have done so because I think it highly proper that the non-medical public should have some clear and definite, though general knowledge of the intrinsic nature of all diseases whatever ; for, in this whole matter, that public has a far greater interest at stake than anybody else. (See p. 243.)

I have just been very much gratified by the receipt of a Dutch work on hydropathy, as a present from its author, Dr. Waitz, a Dutch physician practising in Batavia, the capital of the Dutch settlement in Java, in the Indian Archipelago. After a cursory glance at the state of our knowledge concerning the curative influence of water anterior to Priessnitz, and an enumeration of those works on the subject of hydropathy, which he recommends to the perusal of his readers — those of Mauthner, Schuitzlein

PREFACE. xiii

Richter, Hirschel, Scouttetten, Champouillon, and my own on the Theory and Principles of the Water Cure — from which he has done me the honour to make extracts, and to recommend, in an especial manner, to the attention of his readers — the rest of the book is chiefly occupied by the detail of one hundred and seventeen cases treated hydropathically. Of these, there are fifty-two cases of fever, of which only three died ; and fourteen cases of dysentery and diarrhoea of which only one proved fatal. The results of the whole seem clearly to establish the fact which Dr. Waitz is desirous of proving, viz. that the blessings of hydropathy are not limited to the temperate latitudes, but may be shared by those whose dwelling-places are in tropical climates.

To those who may choose to take the Domestic Practice of Hydropathy as their guide, I particularly recommend the attentive perusal of the index, where they will meet with subjects in which they will be sure to find themselves more or less interested. They should also read carefully the General Directions, the article on Urine, and that on Stomach Symptoms.

Edward Johnson.