The Story of our Health Message

Water Cures Gain Popularity

If we are led to wonder at the unusual success of such treatment, we should bear in mind that its effectiveness is to be contrasted, not with modern methods, but with the general practice of bleeding and drugging universally practiced at that time. SHM 33.1

The phenomenal success of Priessnitz was followed by the rapid appearance of many “water cures” on the continent of Europe, in Great Britain, and in the United States. Books were written, journals were started, and lecturers took the field, extolling the great benefits of hydrotherapy. The profusion of books on the subject is evidenced by those listed in the Library of Congress at Washington, D.C. The list includes more than sixty volumes written between 1843 and 1863 and represents writers not only in English-speaking countries, but also in Germany, France, Austria, Poland, and Italy. SHM 33.2

There are two American physicians who should find special mention in this connection, not only because of their endorsement and successful practice of hydrotherapy, but because of their leadership in medical reform. Later we shall have occasion to mention them in their influence upon, and association with, Seventh-day Adventists in their endeavors to find and to practice true health reform principles. SHM 33.3

Dr. James C. Jackson (1811-1895), of New York State, was among the pioneers in the United States who lost faith in the efficacy of drugs and discontinued their use in medical practice. After practicing twenty years as a physician, he wrote: SHM 33.4

“In my entire practice I have never given a dose of medicine; not so much as I should have administered had I taken the homeopathic pellet of the seven millionth dilution, and dissolving it in Lake Superior, given my patients of its water. ... SHM 34.1

“I have used in the treatment of my patients the following substances or instrumentalities: first, air; second, food; third, water; fourth, sunlight; fifth, dress; sixth, exercise; seventh, sleep; eighth, rest; ninth, social influences; tenth, mental and moral forces.”—James C. Jackson, M.D., How to Treat the Sick Without Medicine, 25, 26. New York: Fowler and Wells, 1868. SHM 34.2