Life at the water cure : facts and fancies noted down during a month at Malvern : a diary / by R.J. Lane ... and ... Confessions of a water-patient by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.

Date:
1851
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Life at the water cure : facts and fancies noted down during a month at Malvern : a diary / by R.J. Lane ... and ... Confessions of a water-patient by Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    PREFACE. Dr. Wilson’s, Great Malvern, Sept. 1850. Dating from tliis house—where I have been for three weeks, jiacking, bathing, doucheing, and sitzing; reading, writing, thinking, and reconsidering; asking questions, and noting down answers; accompanied in iny walks by a flower-loving child, who climbs the steepest paths, paces the sheep-tracks, and runs from height to height to greet the Sun’s lirst ray; and asso- <dated at home with about seventy patients, of whom some sixty (ladies and gentlemen in about equal })roportion) join the general meal—and these comprising a party, distinguished In- high rank, professional honours, and mental culture, with those who are the strength of the nation—from the merchant prince to the ])rovincial man of business; all congregated for one great object—the regaining health and learning how to kee]) it, and living together in good fellowship, without formality or exclusiveness: From this retreat—with every deliberate con- viction ten-fold confirmed by all that I read, and hear, and see; From my quiet room—as the sweet breath of a Malvern autumn fans me through the open window, I send forth this edition. It will be seen that I have made considerable additions ; cut away repetitions and other superfluities; and done what I could to render my diary more amusing. For the spirit tliat has in- fluenced me in all this, I appeal to an authority no less weighty than Samuel Johnson, who apologised for writing a long letter by pleading that he had not time to write a short one. I now ha.ve time to compress and strengthen what was done in much hurry and excitement, and in the days and nights of a fortnight. The luxury of rest and peace that I enjoy in this house, leads to the conviction that there is no condition of being so conformable to the physiological laws as the whole discipline of a Water Cure Establishment. I know of no other lavrs and regulatians that may be rendered so entirely subservient to fixed intervals for the routine of rest—exercise—early hours— and wl^olesorne diet; involving in its alternations, healthv appetite—sound digestion—sweet sleep—buoyant spirits. In short—a Water Cure Establishment is the only where a man does, or can, devote himself altogether to his health. One is supposed to escape, for the time, from all worldly cares: and this, under the initiatory treatment generally demands no effort. He needs not be worried bv tavern bills nor indefinite travelling expenses, nor even carry a purse. He has time for intellectual luxuries, beyond those that arise, un- bidden, from a healthy tone of body : with home comforts of every kind.
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