My water-cure : tested for more than 35 years and published for the cure of diseases and the preservation of health / by Sebastian Kneipp ; translated from his 36th German edition.

  • Sebastian Kneipp
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: My water-cure : tested for more than 35 years and published for the cure of diseases and the preservation of health / by Sebastian Kneipp ; translated from his 36th German edition. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    -when overheated, even in a warm room; a catarrh would be the inevitable consequence. As a rule for all it may be said that the shortest time for exercise after an application ought to be at least 15 minutes. The kind of exercise taken, whether working, walking, etc., is of no consequence. Concerning those applications which require the pa- tient to be in bed, especially the wet sheets and bandages, instructions are given in their proper place, as well as particulars for every special practice. If a patient falls asleep during such an application, he should not be dis- turbed, even if the prescribed time has expired; for nature itself is the best and most exact alarm here, as in every other great or small need. If sheets are ordered, they are not meant to be of fine linen, but strong, and if possible, of coarse hempen cloth. Poor people might use instead of these a worn out bed-tick, a hempen flour-sack, or such like. For washing the body, which is prescribed often, the best thing is also a rather coarse piece of linen or hemp. For reasons which I have mentioned briefly in the introduction, I oppose woollen clothing next to the skin; but I prefer woollen material for covering, with the icy water - bandages, for example. It produces speedy and abundant warmth, for which purpose it is unsurpassed. For the same reason I recommend feather-beds as cove- rings with such applications. The violent rubbing or brushing is entirely exclu- ded from my system; its first purpose, the producing of warmth, is accomplished in a more proportionate and equal way by the not-wiping; its second purpose, the opening of the pores, the increasing of the activity of the skin, is effected by the coarse linen or hemp, and with the advantage that it works not only for minutes like a brush, but day and night without cost of time and labour. V* hen „ vigorous washing is spoken of, it is simply meant a quick washing of the entire part under treatment. The main point is to get wet, not to get rubbed. There is still another point which I should like to mention here. Most people do not like the applications
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