Miscellany: The Cold Water Cure

The following letter from H. C. Wright, formerlyaCongregalional Minister of N. England, l the Editor of the Liberator, will interest our renden. The system of Uydropathy, orcure by Cold Water, is unknown in this country, but has been introducid into England to c considerable eitent. Graeffenbehg, Silesia, Austria, ) March. 13, 1S44. $ Dxar Friend: - I havt been hcre under the wter-cure nine weeks. During that wliole time, the weather lins been cxtremely cold- so cold that ice has formed around my bath. into which J plunge twice a day; and ice, at this moment, hatigg around the Douchis, in inasses from ten to iifteen fcet in length, and larger than a nian's body. During the whuleof nine weeks, we have not had more than fifteen dnys of fair weaiher, put it all together. Tempesta have come howling down from the Bohemian niountains, which lio to the South 8ome 15 or 20 miles, e weeping over Graeffbnberg with great fury, dnving the now in clouds befóre theni, till they are lost on the plains o." Prnssia, that are open before us at the North. The people say that the winter has been uncommouly severe. It reqnires the contani exercise of a desperate resolution to carry on tha cure amid such snow and ice. With such o tempemture, to have our bodies packed up, twice a day. in a sheet wrung out of waier, Trhoe temperature is down to freezing - (last evening, the sheet in which I was packed, thrce minutes before i Baw spread out on the snow before my winde w, (rozen stiff as ice)- to lie in that wet heet till I gei warm, and then go down into a bath-room, oft full of Bnow and ice, and tbere throvr all off", and smoking, plunge into that dreadful bath, and stay in it one or two minutes, thfcn to be rubbed dry, and have a long wet bandage tied around the wholo body - then dress, and go out and face these fierce, howling tempesta, the snow all blowing into your eyes, care. hair, neck, and bosom; and then to have to sil down in cold water, and there sit J5 minutes at a tim- Bure, such a fcarful process must kilt or air. Strange to ay, not one iiere seems to have the least fear of the former. It kills no one, it invtgorates and strengthens all, an3 produce a pretty thorough indignation in each ai himtelf, that he should ever have eubjected his body to the healing process generally pursued by the medical facuity. I am cortain that the proces) though so fearful that I a!m jst catch my bretth andshiver all over to think of it, haa done me great good. 1' told PreissnitB, st th onet. that my disoane w on my lunga - that my lungs were ulcerated ■ome - and that Í had thrown putrid' matter from them, and h at once aubjected ma UMÜte process. I wat afraid, at flrat, how it would goj but Preissnit bad confídence in his prescriptions, and so bare I, now, &e bas not yet put me uader the Douche, nd will nxn tül th wcatW i milder.Sure I tm, that all the tnorbid matter, secretee in my syatem, has been put in motion - not indeed yet routed out of the aystem, but routed from any particular loention in the system; and suie am that, by the time Ihnve gone through the or deal enough, thesa morbid sucretions will be entirely exoelled from tho body. The settled cougl that I had seeins to be broken up entirely, I do indeed, nw and then, get a Hule cold, as do al the patiënte, but the cold don't eeize upun tny lungs as colds uaed to do. And, besides, no one here seema to have the slighteat fear of a cold for the simple reason that every one focls tha there is here a certain and speedy remedy at hand A few hours break it all up, and scatter it to the wind. Sooffever - mo one here seems to have the least fear of fever, because every one feels an entire confidence in cold water as an antipode.- From what I have aeen hero, I can never again doubt that the fiercest of fevers are harm lesa, being absolulely under human control. - Recently, we have had two cases of moet inalignant fever. One was a man, taken with a'nervous, raging fever. In three days, the fever was entirely routed, and in a week, thé man appeeredagain in the saloon, eating like a ravenoua wolf whntever he liked; and though he look thin and was weak, yet you niiglu have soen him out breaeting the storms - which, in his weakness, would near tip him over at times. Four days ago, a vo man whj had taken cold during the day, and wae notaware of ;he enemy lurking in her, was seized in the night with a most violent fever. I 6aw her ia the morning,and alie looked exactly like a person In scarlet fever. A wet sheet was at once wrapped about her whole body. and changed and wet again every twenty or thirty minutes. Tuis was pursueci about twenty hours. and wator was applied in other ways. The next day, I 8aw her up and dressed, and looking as vvell and hearty as usual. Not a panicle of medicine was administered. I do notbelieve that out of the 300 pa tren ts now hcre, or out of several thousand8 that have been here, there ia one who lias the least fear of coldsor levers. Each seems to think. that, so iar as fcvers and colds are concerned, a ceriain remedy is alwaya at hand. I do tliink it is the diuy #f all who have young children, to learn to apply this remedy. How nany dis;astB ín little chíldren origínate n colds!ï uu would be amusca to look into our saloon at meal times, especially at our dmners. Remeniber thieis a Hospital for all nations. Some Sftecn nations are now repreecnied in the saloon - come here to be curéd of discases that have genjeen given over, or nearly bo, by the msdica faculty. To see them at the table with ravcnous oppetites, eating food of the coarsesi and plainest tind - food that many of them would liardly have feit easy to have set before their servante at home; to see their countenances, to see them rubbing iheir hands to keep them warm, (lor but little artificial heat is allowed to enter the saloon) - to see them racing up and down the saloon between dishe8, (for at dinner we generaily have three - you would not dream that these people wereonthe sick list of mankind. Hope is the expression of every face - despair has no place in 3-raefFenberg. As to the crisis - every guest here ongs for a No onè fears it. no one pities )ou if you have one - all would rather envy you, congratúlate you on the success of your cure, and earne8tlycovet the same bleseing for themselves! And the more severe the crisis, the more certam and effectual the cure. Such is the feeling res)ecting the crisis. It is coneidered the dying gasp or groan of the disease. The disease is the enemy in the system to be routed -coli water ie the defender of the 6ystern; the disease the invoding enemy. The enemy obtains a lodgement in he citadel - the body. Cold water seeksto drive ïim out, pursues him round and round the sysem. The enemy, now in the head, now in the chest, lungs, heart, stoniach, legs. fcet, hands. ieie and there, and every where, seeke a refuge from his terrible foe, cold water, till he can find no more rest to the sole of his foot in the body, and then he darts out through the skin.s-nashing right through wherever it may chance to be, and iway he goes in a crisis, and the body is saved alive and well. Tt is really accounted a blessng to have n powerful crisis, by all the cured guests.Vincent Preissnitz is certainly nn cxtraordinary mnn - has a countennnce on which one loves to ook - a mnn oí unpretending simplicity, of quiet ook and demennor, but of dauntlees resoluti.-n ond unyielding firmness. If a patiënt puts himself undcr his control, and he assumes the responsibility of the case, the patiënt must conform. He is a man of very limited Ittok learning - preends to none, has none- says but little to his patientö - has no ílicory at all - and would be probably incapable of giving a written account of lis system. Cold air and cold water are the only emedieswiih which he attempt to combat disase. and be does not pretend that he can cure all lisenses with these. . But he makes his patiënt cork ior health. We can't sit down ín an easy hair,or stretch out on n soft sofa,in a warm room, vith a warm wrapper gown on, nnd take little u'cethinga, and be peited and comforted. and all lint! No - wc have to work. work, work no est dny or night - have but little heat, and no omfort8 at all, (comfort is unknown here, in nything.) Our fooa is plentiful, but of the oar8e8t kind.no tea, no coffee. nocondiments but uit- nulk and cold water for drink; dry, stale ye bread, butter, boiled beef, soup, fcc. for food. To cut our rye bread s a labor of no small magnitude, and each must cut for himself; - and to ee Barons. Counte, Princos, Cavnliers, Pricsts. Generáis, Doctors, and what not, all mixed up ogeiher, cutting and gnawing awny at this coarsc ood. like hurrgry wolvcs - you would suppost hat the genius of famine had come forth from the esert of Sahara, and was at our table. Justat resent, I huve a perfect hydrophobia. I have a orror or cold water. I ojn't get warm. But I m told it ia a good sign! Oh. dear mei Weakess, low spirit, shiverings and shakings, fever. eadache. toothache, a good uign! Wcll, I neto mij Inngs art geftlng weu, Karewen