The Story of our Health Message

Priessnitz’s Discovery

Interest was revived in the subject as reports spread regarding marvelous cures effected by an Austrian peasant through the agency of cold water. Again it was an accidental circumstance that was the occasion for the rediscovery of the curative powers of water. Vincent Priessnitz (1799-1851), a lad of thirteen years living in Graefenberg, Austria, one day sprained his wrist. With his good hand he worked a pump and kept a stream of water running over the injured part. This brought alleviation of the pain. When he became tired of pumping, he devised the plan of continuing the relief, using wet cloths frequently dipped into cold water. Soon after this he crushed his thumb while working in the woods, and again found relief by the application of cold compresses. SHM 31.1

The report of these minor injuries, and of their relief by the use of cold water, probably would not have gone beyond a very small circle of acquaintances, except that these incidents were but preliminary to a more serious accident and a striking recovery from expected death. When young Priessnitz was sixteen years old, he was driving a pair of horses with a load of hay down a steep mountain road. The animals became frightened and began to run. The young man tried to stop them by holding the bridle reins, but he was knocked down, kicked by the horses, and run over by the heavy wagon. When stock was taken of his injuries, it was found that he had lost three teeth and, in addition to many wounds and bruises, had three broken ribs. A surgeon painfully probed the wounds, put bandages around his chest, and left, declaring that the wounds were incurable. SHM 31.2

Priessnitz tore off the bandages and applied cold cloths till the inflammation was subdued and the pain was alleviated. By pressing his abdomen against the window sills and inflating his lungs, he set the broken ribs, and resumed the cold treatment, making a speedy recovery. (Joel Shew, M.D., The Water Cure Manual, 266-277. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1852.) SHM 31.3

“Instead of being carried to the fields, he lived to write his name deep in water. Uneducated, not knowing what Hippocrates had written about hydrotherapy in the years B.C., but gifted with natural clinical insight and a first-class organizing ability, Priessnitz established a hydropathic institute at Graefenberg, which was soon crowded with health seekers from all parts of the world. ... In time many well-known physicians of unimpeachable standing sojourned at Graefenberg to learn from the untutored Priessnitz such practical thermotherapeutic procedures as the douche, the plunge, the dripping sheet, the dry blanket pack, the wet sheet pack, the foot bath, the sitz bath, the warm bath, and much else that was not written in books.”—Victor Robinson, M.D., The Story of Medicine, 394. New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1931. SHM 32.1