An attempt to picture conditions in the practice of medicine and in the health habits of the public would be incomplete were we to dwell only upon the "heroic" treatment and drugging by the physicians in the first part of the nineteenth century, or on the general ignorance regarding the laws of life on the part of the people who lived then. There were trends and movements in the direction of progress. Both in European countries and in the United States men were experimenting and were finding out better ways of living and of treating the sick. Prominent physicians were becoming enlightened and were sounding warnings against the common practice of administering powerful and toxic medicines. Other and more rational methods of treating the sick were meeting with gratifying success, and voices of reform were being heard with increasing attention.
The Hydropathic Movement
In the summer of 1777 William Wright, a physician of Jamaica, was sailing from that island in a ship bound for Liverpool. In treating a case of typhus fever, which ended fatally, he became infected and was very ill. He prescribed for himself the usual remedies, such as taking a "gentle vomit," followed by a "decoction of tamarinds," and "at bedtime, an opiate, joined with antimonial wine." He was perplexed because that even after taking a "drachm of Peruvian bark ... every hour for six hours successively," with an occasional glass of port wine, he felt no better. He experienced decided relief, however, when he went on deck; and he noted that the colder the air, the better he felt.
"This circumstance," he reported, "and the failure of every means I had tried encouraged me to put in practice on myself what I had often wished to try on others, in fevers similar to my own."
We can only imagine his feelings of mingled apprehension and of desperate hope as he waited the result of a cold douche--three buckets of sea water which he ordered thrown over his naked body. Though "the shock was great, [he] felt immediate relief." A few hours later his fever reappeared, and he repeated the treatment, and did it twice more on the following day. For the third day he recorded in his diary: "Every symptom vanished, but to prevent a relapse, I used the cold bath twice."
Soon another passenger was taken down with the same fever, and at his urgent request Dr. Wright ventured to give him the same treatment, and with the same gratifying result. (James Currie, M.D., Medical Reports on the Effects of Cold and Warm Water as a Remedy in Fever and Other Diseases, 1:1-4. London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davis, 1805.)
An Experiment With Typhus
Let us go back a few years further, in our story, to gratify a natural curiosity as to why Dr. Wright had "often wished to try on others" the cold douche for the relief of typhus fever. The surgeon on a ship calling at Jamaica had related to Dr. Wright a "queer thing that happened" on the voyage. "A serious epidemic of typhus fever had broken out among his crew," the bunkers were all filled with patients, and the supply of medicines was exhausted. Not finding room below, some of the sufferers were forced to stay on deck. Naturally the most hopeless cases were chosen to endure such exposure in the open air, where, with no medicine available for them, only death could be expected. When some of these fever-racked patients begged their companions to pour buckets of water over them, the physician consented, believing that the cold application would only the sooner end their sufferings.
The results were surprising. While the patients in their bunks, who were carefully protected from the cold air and kept warm with blankets, grew worse, and many died, most of their fellow sufferers who were lying on the hard deck, not only exposed to the heat of the sun but soaked with sea water, recovered. (Logan Clendenning, M.D., Behind the Doctor, 296, 297. New York: The Garden City Publishing Company, 1933.)
Dr. Wright, to whom this incident was related, kept it in mind and wondered, but feared the risk of a charge of malpractice that might have resulted if he should use such a method in his work. Now that he had tried it on himself and on another patient with gratifying results, he felt free to recommend it to others, and in the summer of 1778 he wrote for a medical journal an account of the successful treatment of fever by means of ablution. His article caught the eye and thoughtful attention of Dr. James Currie, of Liverpool, England, one of the staff physicians in the large hospital in that city, to whom we are indebted for the story of Dr. Wright's experience.
Soon after this an epidemic of typhus fever raged in Liverpool, and many cases were brought to the hospital. Dr. Currie's associates were shocked and horrified when he prescribed the cold water treatment for several of the cases under his care. But their horror was changed to astonishment when they beheld the remarkable curative effects of the treatment; for all recovered, and the mortality rate was still high among those treated according to the accepted methods.
After further study of the matter and after experimentation with various methods of applying water to the sick, Dr. Currie brought out in 1797 the book from which we have quoted. It was widely read and ran through several editions. But though it created an interest in the subject, it did not lead to the general adoption of hydropathy, as it was termed, by the medical profession; and after a few years the matter was largely forgotten.
Priessnitz's Discovery
Interest was revived in the subject as reports spread regarding marvelous cures effected by an Austrian peasant through the agency of cold water. Again it was an accidental circumstance that was the occasion for the rediscovery of the curative powers of water. Vincent Priessnitz (1799-1851), a lad of thirteen years living in Graefenberg, Austria, one day sprained his wrist. With his good hand he worked a pump and kept a stream of water running over the injured part. This brought alleviation of the pain. When he became tired of pumping, he devised the plan of continuing the relief, using wet cloths frequently dipped into cold water. Soon after this he crushed his thumb while working in the woods, and again found relief by the application of cold compresses.
The report of these minor injuries, and of their relief by the use of cold water, probably would not have gone beyond a very small circle of acquaintances, except that these incidents were but preliminary to a more serious accident and a striking recovery from expected death. When young Priessnitz was sixteen years old, he was driving a pair of horses with a load of hay down a steep mountain road. The animals became frightened and began to run. The young man tried to stop them by holding the bridle reins, but he was knocked down, kicked by the horses, and run over by the heavy wagon. When stock was taken of his injuries, it was found that he had lost three teeth and, in addition to many wounds and bruises, had three broken ribs. A surgeon painfully probed the wounds, put bandages around his chest, and left, declaring that the wounds were incurable.
Priessnitz tore off the bandages and applied cold cloths till the inflammation was subdued and the pain was alleviated. By pressing his abdomen against the window sills and inflating his lungs, he set the broken ribs, and resumed the cold treatment, making a speedy recovery. (Joel Shew, M.D., The Water Cure Manual, 266-277. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1852.)
"Instead of being carried to the fields, he lived to write his name deep in water. Uneducated, not knowing what Hippocrates had written about hydrotherapy in the years B.C., but gifted with natural clinical insight and a first-class organizing ability, Priessnitz established a hydropathic institute at Graefenberg, which was soon crowded with health seekers from all parts of the world. ... In time many well-known physicians of unimpeachable standing sojourned at Graefenberg to learn from the untutored Priessnitz such practical thermotherapeutic procedures as the douche, the plunge, the dripping sheet, the dry blanket pack, the wet sheet pack, the foot bath, the sitz bath, the warm bath, and much else that was not written in books."--Victor Robinson, M.D., The Story of Medicine, 394. New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1931.
Active Opposition to Priessnitz
There was active opposition to Priessnitz by contemporary physicians. He was repeatedly brought before the courts and charged with practicing medicine without qualifications or government license; but he had popular support, and the judges freed him upon his defense that he used no other means than pure water. One writer, who visited the place and viewed the proceedings with a prejudiced eye, says:
"It is by no means agreeable to be roused from a comfortable sleep in the depth of winter, morning after morning, by candlelight, to be enveloped in a piercing cold moist sheet, and afterwards rubbed in a tub of cold water until nearly every particle of warmth is abstracted from the body; and then to repeat this in the afternoon, or to alternate it with a sweat in a blanket for two or three tedious hours--well may it be said, therefore, that the 'water cure' requires much enduring fortitude and strength of constitution, both to overcome the repugnance naturally felt, and to resist the congestion likely to ensue."--Robert Hay Graham, M.D., Graefenberg: A True Report of the Water Cure, 34. London: Longmans, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1844.
Water Cures Gain Popularity
If we are led to wonder at the unusual success of such treatment, we should bear in mind that its effectiveness is to be contrasted, not with modern methods, but with the general practice of bleeding and drugging universally practiced at that time.
The phenomenal success of Priessnitz was followed by the rapid appearance of many "water cures" on the continent of Europe, in Great Britain, and in the United States. Books were written, journals were started, and lecturers took the field, extolling the great benefits of hydrotherapy. The profusion of books on the subject is evidenced by those listed in the Library of Congress at Washington, D.C. The list includes more than sixty volumes written between 1843 and 1863 and represents writers not only in English-speaking countries, but also in Germany, France, Austria, Poland, and Italy.
There are two American physicians who should find special mention in this connection, not only because of their endorsement and successful practice of hydrotherapy, but because of their leadership in medical reform. Later we shall have occasion to mention them in their influence upon, and association with, Seventh-day Adventists in their endeavors to find and to practice true health reform principles.
Dr. James C. Jackson (1811-1895), of New York State, was among the pioneers in the United States who lost faith in the efficacy of drugs and discontinued their use in medical practice. After practicing twenty years as a physician, he wrote:
"In my entire practice I have never given a dose of medicine; not so much as I should have administered had I taken the homeopathic pellet of the seven millionth dilution, and dissolving it in Lake Superior, given my patients of its water. ...
"I have used in the treatment of my patients the following substances or instrumentalities: first, air; second, food; third, water; fourth, sunlight; fifth, dress; sixth, exercise; seventh, sleep; eighth, rest; ninth, social influences; tenth, mental and moral forces."--James C. Jackson, M.D., How to Treat the Sick Without Medicine, 25, 26. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1868.
Dr. Jackson at Dansville, New York
In 1858 Dr. Jackson leased for three years, and then purchased, a water cure establishment located at Dansville, New York. This he enlarged and transformed into an institution for the rational care of the sick, where he might treat them in harmony with these principles. Because of its location, it was named "Our Home on the Hillside." A woman physician, Dr. Harriet Austin, an adopted daughter, was associated with him in the institution and in the editorial work on a monthly magazine, The Laws of Life. Dr. Jackson wrote a number of books, besides pamphlets and tracts, and lectured in many places. It is probable that he, more than any other single individual, exercised a wide-spread influence in behalf of early hygienic reform in the United States.
Dr. R.T. Trail (1812-1877) was another physician who entirely discontinued the use of drugs in his practice. His emergence as a health reformer preceded by a few years that of Dr. Jackson. Of Dr. Trail and his associates in this field, a physician writing in 1871 says in a retrospective view of the progress of reform:
"Twenty-five years ago Drs. Jennings, Trail, and Shew were about the only men of science who dared openly to question the utility of drugs or to advocate the simple laws of health. ... Drugopathy seemed to becloud all light and weigh down all hope. At that time the laborers, including writers and speakers, were not over half a dozen; while now, they are counted by hundreds. Then, but few would listen, or read, or believe; while now, by a large and increasing class of the best minds in our country, no lectures elicit more attention, nor matter is read with so much interest, as hygienic literature. ... Then, there were no facilities for a sound education as to the nature of disease or its true remedy; while now, and for years past, Dr. Trall has been conducting with marked success his college, chartered by the legislature of New York, and fully authorized to confer diplomas as other like institutions."--W. Perkins, M.D., in The Health Reformer, March, 1871, pp. 185, 186.
The Water Cure Journal
In 1845 the voice of the hydropathic movement in the United States began to be heard in a monthly periodical known as The Water Cure Journal and Herald of Reform, which, according to its claims, was "devoted to physiology, hydropathy, and the laws of life." Its objective was "to promulgate the philosophy and practice of hydropathy; embracing the true principles of health and longevity, together with directions for the application of water, air, exercise, and diet, to all the various diseases with which mankind are affected."
By 1851 the journal was enlarged and improved. In its twenty-four pages were departments on food and diet, physical exercise, and other important features relating to health. By the end of the same year its editors boasted a circulation of 30,000 copies. They claimed that more than a thousand allopathic physicians were subscribers, and that many of these were, when sick, resorting to hydropathic institutions for treatment. The Water Cure Journal, December, 1851, pp. 161, 162. Of such institutions, there were advertised or mentioned in The Water Cure Journal no fewer than fifty, each one being headed by a medical doctor. The "oldest and most extensive" of them was conducted by Dr. Trail himself in New York City. Ibid., September, 1852, p. 73. The editorial page of The Water Cure Journal was filled with articles by Dr. Trall, who was the principal contributor. Other articles are signed by such writers as Drs. William Alcott, Joel Shew, J.C. Jackson, T.M. Antisell, O.M. Gleason, E.A. Kittredge, and T.L. Nichols.
The last named, with his wife, Mrs. Gove Nichols, who was a former schoolteacher, opened in New York City (September, 1851) the American Hydropathic Institute, which was established for "the instruction of qualified persons of both sexes, in all branches of a thorough medical education, including the principles and practice of water cure, in acute or chronic diseases, surgery, and obstetrics." Ibid., 11:91, April, 1851. Three or four years later this gave way to the Hygieo-pathic Medical School, which was headed by Dr. Trail. A charter from the New York legislature empowered the school to confer upon its graduates the title of doctor of medicine. The students were taught to discard all drugs and to rely entirely upon natural remedies. In 1867 the work was transferred from New York City to Florence Heights, New Jersey, where it functioned for several years under the name of the Hygieo-Therapeutic College. The enrollment was not large, for only twenty students were graduated at the end of the twentieth term of six months, in 1870. The Health Reformer, July, 1870, p. 3. But the graduates year by year spread the principles wherever they located for practice.
One of the textbooks used in the training of the medical students in these early educational medical institutions was a comprehensive work of 960 pages, The Hydropathic Encyclopedia, prepared by Dr. Trail in 1851. It ran through several editions and found its way into many homes, where it helped greatly in educating the public in physiology, hygiene, and the rational care of the sick.
Pioneers in Health Reform
Such men as Drs. Jackson and Trail recognized the therapeutic value of water, and they also saw that it was but one of the remedial agencies provided by nature for the alleviation of suffering. Their practice and their institutions survived, but those failed who made the "water cure" their main dependence, and their names are largely lost in oblivion.
It is also worthy of note that some of these health reformers recognized the relationship between obedience to the laws of life and Christian character. Thus Dr. J.C. Jackson wrote:
"There are two classes of persons engaged in the discussion of questions pertaining to human welfare as embodied in the health reform. First, those who relate themselves to it from the side of science and natural law only. Second, those who in addition thereto are quickened in their activities from a sense of the duty which Christ imposes to consecrate and sanctify their bodies as well as their souls to His service. We belong to the latter class, and our hope in presenting health considerations to the people originates mainly from the latter point."--"The Christian Aspect of the Health Reformation," in Laws of Life, 6:22, February, 1863.
With such a background of reform, and with able exponents of health principles, the way was prepared in the providence of God for impressing upon the minds of Seventh-day Adventists the importance of physical reform as an adjunct to their message setting forth the pressing need for the restoration of Bible truths and the keeping of God's commandments.