A Shadow of Orthodoxy? An Epistemology of British Hydropathy, 1840–1858

Abstract

Hydropathy and its Historians During the 1820s Vincent Priessnitz established Grafenberg' as the first centre for hydropathy, his novel modification ofwater-based therapies.As word ofthe seemingly miraculous cure spread, spiralling numbers of patients journeyed from across Europe, and further afield, to place themselves under Priessnitz's care.2It was not, however, until the early 1840s that hydropathy impinged upon the consciousness of Britain's medical practitioners and valetudinarians.While short reviews describing the new therapy appeared in the medical press in 1841,3 it was Captain Claridge who was responsible for mobilizing British interest in the water cure.In 1842 he published an account of his experiences as a patient of Priessnitz, and followed this with a tireless lecture tour around the British Isles.4His descriptions of hydropathy appealed to a public whose ardour remained undimmed for any therapy that promised relief from disease.The bulk of the medical practitioners were less convinced.Some reacted

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 8 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.