Life of Vincent Priessnitz, founder of hydropathy online

J



ao





VINCENT PRIESSNITZ.



Frontispiece.



LIFE OF

VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

FOUNDER OF HYDROPATHY.



BY RICHARD METCALFE,

AUTHOR OF

1 SANITAS SANITATUM ET OMNIA SANITAS ' AND OTHER HYDROPATHIC
WORKS.



PUBLISHED BY

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LTD.,

4, STATIONERS' HALL COURT, LONDON, E.G.

1898.

[All rights reserved.]

Price Five Shillings.



TO COLONEL AND MRS. HANS RIPPER.

/ dedicate this sketch of the life of youv late father,
Vincent Priessnitz, to you.

The profound respect that I have for the memory of
Vincent Priessnitz in whose steps I have been an ardent
and devoted follower for forty years has actuated me as
with a sense of duty to make this record of, and to bear my
testimony publicly to, his inborn medical genius.

Although the name of Vincent Priessnitz is not widely
known in England, you will feel gratified by my assurance
that Hydropathy is being increasingly resorted to in England,
and that several eminent English medical men recognise its
value.

I feel assured that in years to come your father's name
will hold a high position amongst the Masters of the art of
healing.

R. METCALFE.



2065795



' In proportion as any branch of study leads to important and
useful results in proportion as it gains ground in public estima-
tion in proportion as it tends to overthrow prevailing errors
in the same degree it may be expected to call forth angry
declamations from those who are trying to despise what they will
not learn, and wedded to prejudices which they cannot defend.
Galileo would probably have escaped persecution if his
discoveries could have been disproved, and his reasonings
refuted.' DR. WHATELKV.



PREFACE



IN compiling this work, I have been actuated
by a desire to do justice to the memory
of the founder of the hydropathic system
of treating the human body in disease. Although
Priessnitz was one of the great benefactors of
mankind, and one of the most astounding geniuses
of modern times, yet there has been no adequate
biography of him published in this country. But
his method of healing has been largely followed
in England.

On the Continent Priessnitz's name is a house-
hold word, and there are hundreds of establish-
ments where the water-cure is carried out on the
principles laid down by Priessnitz.

His treatment is recognised by very many
members of the medical profession on the Con-
tinent, whilst in England the medical profession,
with a few notable exceptions, ignores it.

I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to
the biography of Priessnitz by Dr. Selinger for



PREFACE

a good deal of detailed information.* This
biography was published shortly after the great
hydropathist's death. Dr. Selinger was in close
terms of intimacy with Priessnitz, and enjoyed
his confidence in matters whereon it was his
habit to observe silence. As regards the history
of the origin of the treatment at Graefenberg,
probably no one else could have written it with
the fulness Dr. Selinger has.

To Colonel Ripper (of the Austrian Army)
Priessnitz's son-in-law, I acknowledge my special
indebtedness for many facts, anecdotes, and par-
ticulars of treatment, for most of the accompany-
ing illustrations and family portraits, as well as
for the unvarying courtesy shown to me during
my visit to Graefenberg in 1895.

Vincent Paul Priessnitz, son of the founder of
hydropathy, born on June 22, 1847, died very
suddenly on June 30, 1884, of heart disease,
leaving one son, who attained his majority in
June, 1896.

During the period of more than forty years
of double trusteeship, Colonel Ripper made
numerous and valuable additions to the Graefen-
berg establishment. He was the chief promoter
of the excellent railway communications, which

* Selinger, J. E. M., " Vincenz Priessnitz. Eine Lebens-
beschreibung." Mit portrait und facsimile. Wien : Verlag
von Carl Gerold und Sohn. 1852. 8vo., pp. viii, and 208 and
wrapper.

vi



PREFACE

render Graefenberg easy of access from all
quarters, and he added considerably to the
accommodation and comfort of visitors.

He extended the network of forest paths, the
pride of the locality, and at his instigation
hundreds of hammocks were placed near these
paths in every direction. These hammocks form
quite a feature of the place, enabling visitors to
remain comfortably out-of-doors for the greater
part of the day, to inhale the health-giving air of
the pine forests.

Colonel Ripper founded the Sudeten Tourist
Association and the Mutual Aid Society of Bath
Attendants. He owns a unique library of works
on hydropathy, and many interesting documents
about Graefenberg during his father-in-law's life-
time.

I have to thank Mrs. Hughan, of Hughan
Castle, Graefenberg, for her hospitality and
courtesy during my visit ; and Miss M. Behr
for her translations of books and MSS. from the

German.

R. METCALFE.

PRIESSNITZ HOUSE,

RICHMOND HILL,
SURREY.



vn



CONTENTS



CHAPTER PAGE

INTRODUCTION .... I

I. BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS : 1799 1817 . 9

ii. HIS LIFE: 1817 1844 . . 19

III. HIS LIFE : 1845 . . . '32

iv. CLOSING YEARS: 1846 1848 . . 47

v. CLOSING YEARS: 1848 1851 . . 63

VI. MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE . . 77

VII. MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE . . 96

VIII. MEDICAL VIEWS AND PROCEDURE . . Io8

IX. COLONEL RIPPER'S LETTER . IJ 7

X. GRAEFENBERG AND ITS CURE . *33

XI. RECENT HYDROPATHY . . . 150

XII. RECENT HYDROPATHY . . .170

XIII. HYDROPATHIC BOOKS . . . 1 88

APPENDIX : HYDROPATHIC AUTHORS . . 204

INDEX . . . . . 209

ERRATA 212



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ . . . Frontispiece

SOFIE PRIESSNITZ. (ABOUT 1830) . To face />. 24

VINCENT PRIESSNITZ. (ABOUT 1830) . ,, 26

GRAEFENBERG IN 1839 . . ,, 28

DINING-HALL IN THE OLD CURHAUS . 44

VINCENT PRIESSNITZ' DAUGHTERS AND SON AND

SONS- AND DAUGHTER-IN-LAW . To fdCC />. 66

PRIESSNITZ' GRANDCHILDREN . ,, 68

HOUSE WHERE PRIESSNITZ WAS BORN 76

MAUSOLEUM . . . . 76
PRIESSNITZ' FAVOURITE BATH-ATTENDANTS 84

THE TREATMENT . . . ,, Il6

GRAEFENBERG IN 1897 J 34

PRINCIPAL MONUMENTS AND SPRINGS . ,, 136

FREIWALDAU . . . . ,,138

VILLA AUSTRIA 144

CURHAUS ANNENHOF ,, 144

RESTAURANT SCHINDLER . . 146

DR. SCHINDLER'S CURHAUS . . ,, 146

HUGHAN CASTLE . * . ,,148

xi



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

DR. JOSEPH SCHINDLER . . To face p. IJO

KALTENLEUTGEBEN, NEAR VIENNA . ,, 172

PROFESSOR WINTERNITZ . . ,, 174
PROFESSOR WINTERNITZ' CURHAUS, KALTENLEUT-
GEBEN, NEAR VIENNA . . TofdCCp. 1746

DR. EDOUARD EMMEL ,, 176

DR. BENI-BARDE ,, 178
DR. BENI-BARDE'S ESTABLISHMENT AT AUTEUIL,

NEAR PARIS . . . To face p. 1786

JOHANN SCHROTH ,, 180

LINDEWIESE ... ,, 182

SCHROTH'S CURHAUS AT LINDEWIESE . ,, 184



x\i



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ



INTRODUCTION

WATER applications have been used and
appreciated throughout the ages. Vin-
cent Priessnitz who earned the title " Father
of Hydropathy" was neither the discoverer of,
nor the first to use, water as a remedial agent in
disease.

That discovery was probably coeval with the
appearance of man in his present condition.
When we see that some of the lower animals pos-
sess an instinctive knowledge that water is good
for them when wounded, and in certain conditions
of sickness for they have been seen to seek that
element when they are suffering we should be
derogating from man's dignity and superior in-
tellectual endowments if we denied to him a
similar instinct and equal observing powers.

Histories that carry us back to remote ages

I B



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

show that the practice of water ablution, both for
sanitary and religious purposes, existed amongst
most ancient peoples.

Among the Jews bathing was enjoined by a
code of specific regulations, which served to secure
personal cleanliness and to convey the idea of
moral purity. The association of water with the
cure of disease is illustrated by Elisha's com-
mand to Naaman the Syrian to wash seven times in
Jordan ; by that of the Saviour to the blind man
to go and wash in the pool of Siloam ; and by the
resort of the sick to the pool of Bethesda. Among
the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, baths were
in common use. Most of us have heard of the
Greek gymnasia and the Roman thermae, in which
the plunge or affusion was largely employed as an
invigorator of the body.

Mahomet enjoined the use of the bath, and
wherever his followers are it is in daily use. In
almost all countries, hot or cold, civilized or
savage, some form of bathing has been and is
practised. Its utility for purposes of health,
cleanliness and comfort is practically acknow-
ledged everywhere.

The fathers of the healing art, whose names
have become familiar to us, were well aware of
the therapeutic virtues of water. Pythagoras (B.C.
530), and somewhat later Hippocrates (B.C. 460),
used water, with friction and rubbing, in spasms

2



INTRODUCTION

and diseases of the joints, and watery applications
in a great variety of diseases particularly pneu-
monia, gout and rheumatism. The successors of
these sages, up to the time of Galen (A.D. 131-200),
valued water in the treatment of disease. Galen
himself gave water the highest place in his list of
remedies. " Cold water," he says, " quickens the
action of the bowels, provided there be no con-
striction from spasms, when warm is to be used ;
cold drinks stop haemorrhages and sometimes
bring back heat ; cold drinks are good in con-
tinued and ardent fevers. They discharge the
peccant and redundant humours by stool, or by
vomiting, or by sweat." He recommends tepid
and warm water drinking, with hot baths, followed
by tepid or cold, in cases of biliousness, spasms,
fever of the stomach, hiccup, cholera morbus,
obstinate ophthalmia and plethora.

Not much is recorded of the use of water in
disease after Galen's time until the Arabian phy-
sicians Rhazes (923) and Avicenna (1036) are
found advocating the use of cold water in fevers,
measles, small-pox, vomiting, nausea and diar-
rhoea. About this time the Arabs were prosecuting
their researches in chemistry and pharmacy ; many
new drugs were introduced and water was ignored,
and, judging from the results of the Arabian treat-
ment of disease, not to the advantage of the
patients.

3 B 2



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

Here and there, in the medical history of Europe,
there occurs the name of a doctor who recom-
mends water-drinking, washing, bathing, or swim-
ming, to preserve health and cure disease. But
there is nothing of special importance until the
beginning of the eighteenth century (1702),
when our countrymen, Sir John Floyer and Dr.
Baynard, published their " WTXPOAOrSI'A :
or the History of Cold Bathing, both Ancient and
Modern," the first part of which contains interesting
letters by Floyer, written between the years 1696
and 1702. In Italian, at Naples (1723), appeared
Lanzani's " Right Method of Using Cold Water in
Fever and Other Maladies, Internal and External."

Niccolo Lanzani mostly confines his advocacy
of water to its employment internally in fevers of
all kinds, for which he holds water-drinking to be
the best remedy.

About the same time appeared another inter-
esting book by a distinguished clergyman, John
Hancocke, D.D., Rector of St. Margaret's, Loth-
bury, London, Prebendary of Canterbury, entitled,
" Febrifugum Magnum, or Common Water the
Best Cure for Fevers and probably for the Plague"
(1722), in which he gives many instances of the
curative effects of water, used in cases of fever,
violent colds, etc., unassisted by any kind of
medicine. These publications, with the actual
practice of the authors, again drew attention to

4



INTRODUCTION

water as a remedial agent. Floyer and Baynard
employed water freely and with success in chronic
diseases, such as rheumatism, gout, paralysis,
indigestion, general debility and nervous affec-
tions. Externally, they administered the plunge
bath, and they gave copious doses of water in-
ternally.

About this time several pamphlets about water
treatment appeared. Amongst them was the
following :

"The Curiosities of Common Water; or, the
Advantages thereof in Preventing and Curing
Many Distempers, etc." By John Smith. (Lon-
don : 1723.)

Thomas Taylor, the " Water Poet," is respon-
sible for a pamphlet with the following title :
" Kick for kick and Cuff for cuff, a clear stage
and no favour ; or, a refutation of a bombastical,
scurrilous postscript, wrote by one who calls him-
self Gabriel John, others still will have it Daniel
Defoe, which he calls reflections on my Hudibras-
tick reply to his Flagellum or dry answer to Dr.
Hancocke's liquid book, etc. With two remark-
able instances of cures by common water, one of
a malignant fever and no less than seven in one
family of the pestilence." Published in London,

1723-

In German there appeared a book, " On the
Power and Effect of Cold Water" (1738), by

5



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

J. S. Hahn, who lived in the neighbourhood of
Graefenberg, and whose father, Dr. S. Hahn, was
a worshipper of cold water. This Hahn, though
he used other remedies, employed water so exten-
sively in curing diseases that he may be considered
a sort of hydropathist. He recommends cold
water in chronic diseases particularly ; also washing
in small-pox and eruptions of the skin, falling
baths in inflammation of the brain, douches in
maimings, cold injections in diarrhoea, injections
into the nostrils for colds, and into the ears for deaf-
ness, and footbaths in chronic injuries. Hahn's
work had, in 1754, passed through four editions.
It did not, however, succeed in winning over the
faculty to the cause of the water-cure ; and as
for the public of Germany, though they liked to
drink water, they did not care to have it applied
externally.

V. Perez, a Spanish physician, sought to cure
most diseases by the use of water, and he pub-
lished at Madrid, in 1753, a small 4to. book en-
titled, " El Promotor de la Salud de los Hombres,
sin dispendio el menor de sus caudales ; admirable
methodo de curar todo mal con brevedad, sequridad,
y a placer. Dissertacion historico, critico, medico,
pratica, en que se establece el aqua por remedio
universal de las dolencias."

Somewhat later, in England, Fred. Hoffman
published his ideas (London, 1761) with a some-

6



INTRODUCTION

what similar title : " An Essay on the Nature and
Properties of Water, showing its prodigious use ;
and proving it to be an universal medecine, both
for preventing and curing the diseases to which
the human body is subject."

About 1777, an English doctor Wright was
led to try the water-cure. Dr. Wright, having
caught fever from a sailor, undressed, threw a
cloak about him, and went on deck, where, doffing
his cloak, he had three pails of water thrown over
his head. Repeating the process as often as the
feverish heat returned, he quite recovered. After-
wards he treated fevers successfully in Edinburgh
by the cold affusion, and published a report of his
proceedings in the London Medical Journal (1786).
By the same method Dr. Currie, of Liverpool,
(1750-1805) treated with great success a contagious
fever which was prevalent in that town, and in
1797 made public his views and experiences, with
a list of cures effected by his measures. Though
he by no means anticipated the discoveries of the
founder of hydropathy, his reports on the effects
of water in fevers and other diseases are considered
to possess much practical value.

Dr. Currie found imitators both in England and
on the Continent, to whose names and achieve-
ments it would be tedious to refer. But in con-
nection with the therapeutic use of water it would
be unpardonable to omit mention of the name of

7



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

the great German physician, Hufeland, who may
be regarded as an apostle of bathing. After Hufe-
land, and before Priessnitz, by far the greatest
water-doctor was Professor Oertel, of Ansbach,
whose numerous writings on the subject became
quite popular. Oertel's motto, " Drink water in
abundance, the more the better; for it prevents
and cures all evils," found a large measure of
acceptance with the people of the Continent.
Water societies were formed in Germany, and
water was extensively used dietetically and medi-
cinally, with, as was supposed, admirable effect.
Still, there was no system, and what was done
was done very much at random.

It remained for one greater and more far-
sighted to grasp at once the whole secret of water
treatment, and to develop and systematize it in
one short life-time.

That man was Vincent Priessnitz.



CHAPTER I
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS : 1799 1817

IN Austrian Silesia, at the foot of the southern
mountains of Moravia, called the Sudetes, is
the prettily situated town of Freiwaldau, watered
by the two small rivers Biela and Scharitz.

Freiwaldau can be traced as far back as the
thirteenth century. It is said to derive its name
from Frei (open) and Waldau (space in a forest).
It has nearly six thousand inhabitants, mostly
weavers, and contains a celebrated linen manu-
factory. From Freiwaldau a road ascends to a
mountain called the Graefenberg " the pearl of
the Sudetes " one of the promontories of the
Hirschbad Kamm (Stag's Bath Ridge), which
forms part of the range of the Sudetes. The
Graefenberg rises to two thousand feet above the
level of the Baltic Sea.

There, towards the middle of last century, several
inhabitants of Freiwaldau settled on their pro-
perties, and whilst retaining their rights as citizens

9



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

of Freiwaldau, formed a colony of their own. This
was the origin of a new hamlet, which took its
name of Graefenberg from the mountain on which
it was founded.

In this hamlet of Graefenberg was born, at the
end of last century, a boy who was to become of
the greatest importance to humanity.

Vincent Priessnitz saw the light of day on
October 4, 1799, at Graefenberg, and was chris-
tened on the following day at the parish church
of Freiwaldau. His ancestors had lived for cen-
turies in that neighbourhood. The name of
Priessnitz occurs in old chronicles, and lives in
the legendary lore of Austrian Silesia. The spring
in the woods of the Hirschkamm, called the
Priessnitz Spring, has been known under that
name for two centuries. One of Vincent Priess-
nitz's ancestors was killed there by Swedish soldiers
in the Thirty Years' War. During his absence
they had invaded his house and carried away his
lovely daughter. He pursued, overtook them at
the above-named spring, and in the endeavour to
free his beloved child, lost his life in a most cruel
manner.

Vincent Priessnitz was the youngest of five
children. His father, one of the small farmers at
Graefenberg, was known as an able and experi-
enced man in his calling. His mother, a daughter
of a smith at Lindewiese, enjoyed the reputation

10



BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817

of a hard - working, capable, and God - fearing
woman. She was, in a high degree, order-loving,
and enforced good principles on her children and
servants, whom she expected to begin their day's
work at four o'clock in the morning.

In order to learn reading and writing and the
rudiments of arithmetic, Vincent was sent to
school at Freiwaldau. Regular attendance at
school did not last long, for scarcely had he com-
pleted his sixth year when his elder brother, who
was to have taken over the farm work, died of
brain-fever in 1805. This sad event so grieved
his father that his eyes, which for some time had
been in a weak state, rapidly grew worse, and he
became totally blind, shortly after Vincent had
completed his eighth year, in 1807. His mother
now made the boy work much on the farm, so
that young Priessnitz could but seldom attend
school. Nevertheless, he became proficient in
reading and arithmetic, whereas in writing, which
requires a good deal of application, he remained
backward. During his whole life it was a great
exertion, and it required considerable self-control
on his part to wield a pen.

Already, at this early age, Priessnitz showed
unusual abilities, especially an excellent memory,
acute perception, and a remarkably vivid and
happy power of observation. He lived a great
deal out of doors, and early remarked the effect

ii



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

which changes of temperature had, not only on
himself, but on plants and on the animals con-
fided to his care. As he noted with accuracy
manifestations of life in the animal world, it did
not escape his observation that wounded or other-
wise maimed animals plunged their injured lirnbs
into cold water.

When resting beneath the shade of a tree, near
his favourite Priessnitz-quelle, watching the herd
confided to his care, he observed an incident which
(he used to say) first turned his attention to the
effects of cold water. Sitting day-dreaming there,
his attention was attracted by seeing a young roe,
which had been shot through the thigh, drag itself
with difficulty to the source of the spring. Then
he saw how it managed to get its wounded thigh
in such a position as to have it entirely covered
with the flowing water. Priessnitz, with breath-
less interest, scarcely daring to move, watched the
poor creature. He saw it return at short intervals
to renew the bath during the day ; it probably did
so also during the night. Great was his joy to
observe the animal improve from day to day, till
it finally got well.

In his leisure hours, of which he had not many,
the boy Vincent was fond of roaming in the neigh-
bourhood not far from his father's property. Many
times he may have quenched his thirst with a
draught of the pure, delicious water from the

12



BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817

spring, and it is not unlikely that even then he
realized how life-giving and refreshing the water
from this clear mountain-spring was ; if tired, he
rested by the pleasant waters, and listened to the
sounds which spoke to him in a language at once
familiar and yet mysterious. There it was that
the fancy came of an unseen being, whispering
into his ears words whose meaning he could not
understand. And strange, unfamiliar feelings rilled
the lad's heart, and his spirit seemed to soar away
and above the ordinary surroundings, to dwell in
the magic land of dreams and aspirations.

In the Silesian valley lived several men of the
people who enjoyed a certain reputation for having
effected successful cures. One of them treated
different diseases with herbs ; another set fractured
legs, another broken ribs. Especially clever in
the manipulation of fractured legs and ribs was
Ignatz Weisser, who lived over against the mill in
the village of Sandhuebel ; he was well known for
many miles round, and was much sought after.
It happened that on winter evenings the conversa-
tion in old Priessnitz's parlour sometimes turned
on the cures effected by these men, while Vincent
in a dark corner of the room listened. The vague
ideas which had passed through his mind on those
occasions were destined ere long to take shape,
and to become illumined by a vivid light.

With young Priessnitz's natural tendency and



VINCENT PRIESSNITZ

special disposition for practical observation, it
was to be foreseen that these vague aspirations
would give way by degrees to definite practical
aims. He had from an early age been occupied
with agricultural pursuits, and his clear and pene-
trating mind found ample opportunity for obser-
vations of varied kinds. Thus he noticed that
domestic animals, and those employed for farming
purposes, soon recovered from their ailments when
treated with cold water. After repeated experi-
ments on injuries resulting from various causes,
he resolved to try the effect of cold-water applica-
tions on himself. This met with the happiest
results. In consequence, he began to advise others
to use cold water for the cure of bruises or other
hurts, and thus became, at the age of fifteen
(1814), a kind of medical adviser to his neigh-
bours. Priessnitz worked his father's farm with
circumspection and activity. Nearly the whole
of the outside management lay on his youthful
shoulders, as his blind father was unable to render
much assistance. His life was more than once
endangered while accomplishing some arduous
task. On one occasion he had driven into the
forest on his sledge to bring it home laden with
wood, and was guiding the horse to re-enter the
yard, when he slipped, and the heavily loaded
sledge went over part of his body. Owing to the
fortunate presence of a labourer, who, seeing the
14



BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS: 17991817

coming danger, gave the sledge a vigorous push,
the youth's life was saved, and he escaped without