An aquatics colleague writing about water's healing power, introduced me to a piece of American health history that I had missed, when she referenced the 1930s book below. It would be a good read for anyone who wants to understand how some of the ideas still active in spas (especially under American influence) gained popularity.
My partner had the 1975 (5th edition) of this book in his library, since it was a survival bible for many an Ozarks-bound back-to-the-lander. It sounds as if it still is an important reference for health conscious people seeking self-sufficiency, though the language and some of the ideas are definitely those of the last century.
Back to Eden: The Classic Guide to Herbal Medicine, Natural Foods and Home Remedies by Jethro Kloss (original edition copyright 1939 Jethro Kloss. Authentic Kloss Family Edition copyright the heir of Jethro Kloss 1975, 5th edn, Woodbridge Press Publishing Company).
Kloss was a staunch Christian - he believed that God gave health to the good and the sinful in equal measure, and that it is Nature that is the Grand and Great Healer. Most of his book is devoted to herbal and dietary remedies emphasizing home self-care. He was associated with Seventh-Day-Adventist John Harvey Kellogg's Sanitarium at Battle Creek, Michigan, and followed very similar health practices.
Kellogg and Kloss both promoted the use of hydrotherapy. Their ideas were based on water cure (a synonym for hydropathy and later hydrotherapy) practices developed in the early 19th century in Europe, mostly involving cold water. The Americans used both hot and cold treatments and combined hydrotherapy with other therapeutic modalities.
Read more on this Wikipedia link for Water Cure, which has many good references.
The most recent edition of Kloss' book is published by Lotus Press, 2004. A description on Amazon reads: 'Now in its expanded, updated revised edition, this is the original classic text (with more than 5-million copies sold) that helped create the natural foods industry. It remains today one of the major texts on herbs, natural diet and lifestyle and wholistic health.'
I haven't seen the latest edition so I'm not sure how 'original text' and 'updated/revised' can exist side by side. I understand from the preface to volume I have, that there have been many unofficial copies of the original text which the Kloss family did not approve. When it comes to using the remedies, check the information against your own commonsense and current medical understanding.
Five of the 36 chapters in Kloss' original book are devoted to water though others reference its therapeutic use; below are a few extracts, from the copy I have, that caught my attention. The first extracts suggest a possible reason for the decline in interest in hydrotherapy, and also for a general dismissal nowadays of specific healing properties for different natural mineral waters - once a huge selling point for famed American spas like Eureka Springs (cold) and Hot Springs in Arkansas.
Chapter XIV History of Water Cure
The water cure spread to America [from Europe] about 1850 and until about 1854 prospered greatly, but the doctors would not stand for this as they did not want people to get hold of any remedy which was practical and non-expensive, that could be used in any home. About 1870 they had successfully prevented the water-cure practitioners from practicing in New York by a medical law. New York City was headquarters, and as soon as it was stopped there, its use was abandoned nearly everywhere for a while. (p. 106)
...
Of late years people have come to believe that there are remarkable virtues in certain spring waters. The claims that these waters are possessed of a wonderful healing virtue is not true. The healing virtue is in the moist heat that is gotten from it. The whole thing in a nutshell is that the use of water, combined with abundance of fresh air, sunshine, exercise, rest, recreation, and pleasant surroundings effects a cure. (p.106)
Chapter XV, Water
Mineral water. - These waters contain solutions of salts of magnesia, iron and others, as well as iodine, arsenic, and sulphur, which give them a medicinal taste and they have been much used for cures of chronic ailments. These waters are absolutely unfit for drinking and cooking purposes. They contain no particular value for cleansing. One would naturally know that water which is unfit to cleanse the outside of the the body, could not be of much benefit as an internal application. (p. 109)
Chapter XVI, Water - effects and treatment
The use of water aids all vital processes by increasing change of tissues....Therefore we see that when water is applied at proper temperature it is the most natural and powerful means of depressing or increasing the vital activities of the body.
[This chapter is mainly concerned with the effects of cold, hot and warm water on the body. The author recommends drinking only pure, soft (no or low mineral content) water.]
Chapter XVII, Water - its effect in sickness
There are very few agents that possess as many remedial properties as water.
[Listed effects for conditions that mainly describe general body system effects: Sedative (cold water), Anodyne (hot and warm water), Antispasmodic, Astrigent (cold water), Laxative, Eliminative, Diaphoretic, Alterative, Tonic (cool water), Stimulant (hot water), Derivative.]
Chapter XVIII, Baths
[Sixteen] 'Rules for bathing'.... 'Baths are one of the most powerful ways of affecting the human system in either health of disease.'
[Included are: Turkish bath, electric light bath, Sitz bath, foot bath, leg bath, bath for cleanliness,vapor bath, eye bath, ear bath, nose bath, salt glows.]
[Also of interest to bodyworkers:]
Chapter XIX, Compresses and Fomentations
Chapter XX, Massage
PS The phrase 'water cure' also became a description for a form of torture that was by 1900 well-established in the American army - it involved forcing someone to drink large quantities of water by which method it is possible to kill someone. This is actually a very old form of torture documented back to at least the 15th century!
