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PHILOSOPHY OF THE WATER CURE. The Philos...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Fenimork Cooi'ek, The American Novelist,...
The English Review has an article on Ernest Jones ' s poetry , written in the most liberal spirit , enthusiastic in its eulogies of his genius while condemning his politics . The reviewer can afford to be told that we think him more enthusiastic than discriminating , and that we repudiate the charge of having " patronized" Mr . Jones in our article on his Poems . We paid that tribute to his power which we considered to he his due . If we do not
agree with the reviewer in ranking Mr . Jones above Byron and Scott , is that a reason for assuming our criticism to be " patronage" ? The reader will smile when he hears of a Church of England Tory like the English Review upbraiding the Leader for not being ecstatic over a Chartist Poet ! In the Rambler there is an able and amusing paper on " Animal Magnetism , " wherein the writer brings that science to the bar of ecclesiastical authority . The Church has spoken j Catholics are
called upon to listen . The writer is perfectly consistent . But to the Protestant mind it does seem strange that a question of science should be referred to that eminently unscientific authority—a Pope ! One cannot help recalling Galileo . One cannot help recalling the numerous scientific errors of the Church . In the present case , the Church has wisely refrained from committing itself : it says nothing as to the truth or falsehood of Mesmerism , it only enters a caveat against sinful abuse thereof . Other magazines next week .
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Philosophy Of The Water Cure. The Philos...
PHILOSOPHY OF THE WATER CURE . The Philosophy of the JVater Cure ; a Development of the True Principles of Health and Longevity . By John Balbirnie , M . A ., M . D . Simpkin and Marshall . Tins Journal is not a Medical Journal , and cannot , therefore , pretend to " authority" on Medical questions ; but it would fall short of its purpose if it neglected any great movement that occupies the minds of intelligent men . On this ground we have examined the pretensions of Homoeopathy and of Mesmerismj not pronouncing dogmatically , but rather seeking to furnish the reader with such information on the present condition of those theories as may ultimately guide him to some conclusion of his own . We have given willing hearing to
arguments on these subject * -, our own attitude being simply that of inquirers , not of advocates . We now propose to examine Hydropathy in the same spirit . The necessities of journalism may coerce us occasionally into a more trenchant manner than seems consistent with the spirit of simple inquiry , but we tmst to generous interpretations . Our examination of Hydropathy will be limited to its philosophical pretensions : without pronouncing on its empirical merit , we may treat it as we would treat any other theory coining before us with claims to range itself amongst the generalizations of positive science . Not , unfamiliar with physiological speculation , and not unversed in philosophy , we trust to be allowed to speak on this . subject without stepping beyond
our province . The work we have selected as the text for this article , is remarkable for the precision of its views , and the literary excellence of its exposition . Dr . Balbmiie has only to remove from its pages everything resembling asperity in his opposition to drug implication and medical practitioners—he lias only to mollify the antagonism which all innovators are
prone to encourage , moved thereto by the scorn of the orthodox , who call them quacks—and his little work will become a model of hydropathic exposition . In clear , succinct paragraphs it . sets forth tin ; Rationale of the , Water Cure , founded on the theory of Animal Life and the principles- of Pathology—explains the physiological action and curative ( ( frets of Water—and the processes of the Water ( - ' lire in its administration ol remedies .
Having Maid this much , we now address ourselves to the fundamental principles of Hydropathy in their relation to Physiology . I hire , and not elsewhere , must the battle be , fought . Short of satisfying the demands of positive science , Hydropathy becomes a mere empiricism , in which case it takes il , K place above or below the einpiiicium ol Morrison and Ilolloway . " Cures" and " eases " wean ; justified in rejecting as not pertinent . No religion is without its miracles , no quackery without , its cure . i . Cnly the ignorant test a religion by its miracles ; only the unscientific accept " cures " u « evidence of particular curative cauoution . It
requires but a moderate familiarity with the nature of organized beings to be made aware of this dominant and coercive fact , viz ., that the excessive complexity of the structure and interdependence of its parts , render " experiment , " in the scientific sense of the word , next to impossible ; consequently , that the clear , precise effect of any agent is for ever iudeterminate . In experiments on inorganic matter an appreciable effect can be noted , because it is possible to eliminate all the influences , except the one sought—you may change only one condition of the problem , and the change manifested in the
substance is the measure of the effect produced . Take a barometer from your garden and carry it to the summit of Hampstead-heath , and the only change being the change in the condition of the atmosphere , by that you demonstrate the weight of the atmosphere . But no simplification is possible in physiology . There is scarcely a case in which you are at liberty to modify one condition while leaving the others unaffected . The organization is a whole ; every action upon one of its parts causes a modification
of every other part , so that in an experiment we can scarcely say whether the effect is due to primary or secondary causes . To render this complexity greater , the physiological problem is increased in difficulty by the immense varieties in organizations —no two human beings are precisely organized alike ( as is the case with two barometers ) , no human being is the same at all times . The poison which destroys one , is to another but an agreeable sedative ; tobacco , which is to the youth the cause of horrible sickness , becomes in after years a luxury .
This consideration is enough to make one pause before accepting a " cure" as evidence . We can not accurately determine the effect of any one experiment , because we cannot isolate the organization from other influences . A man eats a mutton chop and a potato , with bread and pickles ; he digests them perfectly . Two days afterwards he eats similar food , and suffers from indigestion . Who can tell the precise influence ? Was it some difference in the mucous lining of his stomach ,
produced by a fit of anger on the day previous ? was it some slight variation in the condition of the mutton , or the potato , or the pickle ? No one can ascertain . Try as many experiments as you please—eliminate the bread , the pickle , the potato , the chop—you are still in the impossibility of fulfilling the first requisite of direct experiment , viz ., that of retaining all the conditions unchanged , except the one whose effect you wish to observe . Applied to the practice of drug medicament this is of the greatest importance . Dr . Balbirnie well says : —
" As regards the great bulk of the medicaments in daily use , and as respects even the simplest of them , we know nothing very accurate as to their really useful principles , the pathological states that indicate them , their doses , their modes of action , and effects , general or especial , primary or consecutive , local or constitutional ; not even in any one given disea . se . " If this be the case in regard to any single remedy in any single disease , how much more difficult must be the inquiry when the question is of some three or four or six contradictory ingredients combined into
one heterogeneous melange , and of their operation in a multitude of diseases ? I low far does not one drug or combination destroy the effect of another , if it does not alter its properties , so as to form a tertium quid Widely different in its effects from those intended , if it bo not absolutely pernicious ? So little has yet been determined iu this domain of medicine : and 30 wide a field yet remains to be explored ! Science has advanced in all other points : here it linn been stationary ; remaining , Have in a small nmnbor of cases , almost in the primeval uncertainty in which tho father of physic himself left it .
" It is only a dictate of common pense , that , to proscribe 11 remedy with confidence , and to employ it with skill and micccss , ils action must first , be sure ; and well-determined . Tho enlightened treatment of diseases must be founded , not , only on sound views of Pathology , directed hy .-iccurntc powers of observation , and habits of profound reflection , but on an intimate knowledge , or at least a satisfactory theory , of the modus operandi of the means we employ to combat ii .. Otherwise we ( i"lit . mi eiicinv in the dark : but it .. Otherwise we light an enemy in the dark ;
we deal our blows inUiscriniinately 01 bootlessly--injuring what we should protect . —repelling where we wish to con iliute—and irritating where we intend to Soothe ; : we thus confess ourselves , indeed , the A ain practitioners of 11 conjectural art ; if we are not in too many instances but licensed nmnslayers — the not guiltless administrators of a public bane . What is blind cmplriciHin if it be not . the employment of remedies whose action in unknown or uncertain against dise « Hen whose renl nature is equally obscure ? Hut the Hcientifie practitioner of the Water Cure repels this insinuation on the justest , grounds . lio combats diseases , whose material conditions are among tho best ascertained I ' uvAh of science , with a remedy
whose action he can most accurately appreciat seconded by those hygeienic influences whose effect ' are known and certain . This is the only p art f Therapeutics which deserves the name of science the only part that can be administered without occJT sional qualms of conscience . " We are not yet prepared to endorse the concluding sentences of this passage , which involve an assumn . tion of the whole question of Hydropathy . Ou object was to show that " cures" and " cage ' s " «»
not evidence : if they are , we do not see how Homoeopathy , Hydropathy , or any other system , could make a stand against Allopathy , which for ' many centuries has been effecting cures . It is easy to say that in these cases "Nature righted herself " in spite of physic , but who does not see that the objection applies with tenfold force ] to Homoeopathy —and Hydropathy ? Dr . Balbirnie , indeed , would not admit this . He
says" The medical treatment of diseases , in fact i 8 overlaid with fallacies . What between the pro - verbial errors of diagnosis—the mistakes of morbid causation—and the temptation to be misled by hasty conclusions ;—what between the almost universal adulteration of drugs , or the spoiling of them by accidents , or errors of chemical manipulation;—what between the disagreement as to their doses , and the uncertainty as to their operation
;¦—what between their modified action as affected by age , constitution , temperament , habits , diets , season , climate , & c . —there is no certainty of prescriptionno accurate calculation of results—no exact appreciation of cause and effect . Wherein , for example , have the triumphs of German Spas , and our own mineral waters , been most trumpeted forth ? In dyspeptic , nervous , and hypochondriacal disorderscomplaints which drugs can never cure , and which are greatly influenced by adventitious causes ; as mental emotions—social circumstances—the
anxieties of business—confined air—late hours—luxurious dinners—and bodily inactivity . But at a Spa , business is laid aside—the patient lives by rule—keeps early hours—continues most of the day . in the open air . The result is , the speedy reestablishment of health . Medicine and medicated water get the credit ; while , in fact , the cure is brought about , not in consequence , but in spite , of the treatment ; and the patient is really benefited , to the extent that lie has been unconsciously put under the discipline ot the Water Cure . And , inasmuch as the full processes have not been carried out , the patient , in a majority of cases , is but only partially ' patched up .
But although he makes out a case against the Allopaths he does not prove his own . No ; the question of " cures " must be left to quacks ; it is the scientific principles we must examine . At the threshold of this inquiry we are met by an obstacle , to which we urge the reader ' s attention . That obstacle is the remnant of Metaphysical Method in the prosecution of science . In the Biographical History of Philosophy we have endeavoured to exemplify the incurable vices and incomin
petence of that Method , and to show how , proportion as it has given way to the positive Method , clear and seminal views have struggled into light . From Astronomy and Physics that method has long been banished ; but it still lingers amidst the mysteries of Chemistry and Physiology , baflhng all inquirers by its will-o ' -wisp vagaries . If the reader wishes for a striking example of metaphysical conception in Physiology , we refer him to the almost universal belief in a vis medic utrix nature
or supposed " Conservative Powers of the living <> ' - ganisin . " This conception is , as we said , ahnoHt universal ; not only do the vulgar talk about Natw « being her own Physician , not only do BridgW 1 ^ Treatises become rhetorical on tho " evidence ot design and beneficence of Providence" displayed m the efforts of Nature to eject from the system disturbing influences , and in the wonderful \ v < ry whereby , when a bone is broken , a new formation takes place—but even medical men and p hyriiologintj believe in Huh ?;/*• nwdicatrix . They have eeasci to believe in a vis inertia ; ; they laugh to scorn supposed " abhorence of a vacuum "; but they *¦•
cling to a vis medical ) tit : ! We hope to be doing some service in pointing out , the inadmissibility of this conception . ' T , not take us long ; and the bearing of it upon )" ( lropathy in important . . , . It is perfectly true that the living organism , / t ^_ the property of reparation and reproduction , ei ¦ *¦ of the whole or of purls . This is one of the Himi »« of physiological conceptions . Life in a perpeti ' reparation of waste matter ; but to assume aii . y ^ intention in thin reparation , i . s to quit the < J < "im 7 r | 1 ( . Science for that of Metaphysics or Theology- ( reparation of lesions is very wonderful , and does , j firKt sight , suggest a final cause . But look atf ? " j If the torn tissue and tho broken limb arc ro ]>«»
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1851, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101851/page/14/
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