Letters from Graefenberg, in the years 1843, 1844, 1845, & 1846 : with the report, and extracts from the correspondence, of the Enniscorthy Hydropathic Society / by John Gibbs.

Date:
1847
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters from Graefenberg, in the years 1843, 1844, 1845, & 1846 : with the report, and extracts from the correspondence, of the Enniscorthy Hydropathic Society / by John Gibbs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    with, as had Galileo, Harvey, Newton, or Jenner, who were “martyrs to persecution from the ignorant, the prejudiced, and the self-interested,” and possibly he may live to see the day when his doctrines shall be as well vindicated as theirs have been. With many ac- knowledgements for past favours, I am, dear Sirs, yours very much obliged, ROBERT THOMAS RIDGE. Dunsinane, March 16th, 1844. LETTER III. To R. T. Ridge, Esq,, Hon. Sec., Enniscorthy Hydro- pathic Society. [Republished from the Wexford Papers.] “ Balneum in plerisque morbis confert.”—Hippocrates. Grcefenberg, Feb. 7, 1S44. Mr Dear Ridge,—You will readily believe that the statement cf the case, the details of which I have given you in my first letter, caused some change in the current of my thoughts. I consequently went up to Graefenberg more favourably disposed towards the cure than when I entered Freiwaldau, but still with my mind bent on the strictest investigation, and fully open to conviction, ac- cording to the facts which might be presented to it. On those facts I have based my opinions. In the first place, the number of patients, 339, in- cluding those in private lodgings, was conclusive evidence that Priessnitz’s high reputation, and the belief in the efficacy of the cure, had suffered no diminution in public estimation. Amongst the patients, besides Germans, were persons from almost every part of the world— French, English, Russians, Turks, Persians, Italians,