THE KNEIPP SYSTEM.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XIX, Issue 27, 3 April 1891, Page 31

THE KNEIPP SYS T E M.

\jfHK latest panacea for the ills of humanity, says the New York Tribune, is the " cure " of Father Kaeipp, of Voerishofen, Germany, and to seek it is now the fashionable fad of the day. For some years the system has been gaining favour. Bat now th^t Bar™ Nathaniel Rothschild has come to Voerishofen, all the grand viondc of Vienna will follow in his train, and the obscure hamlet will rival Carlsbad and Gastein in fame. The curious pait of the business is that no one is making, or will make, any money out of it. Father Kneipp makes no charge for treatment. Wealthy patients, bowever, pay a fee of twenty-five cents a day for the usa of the " Kur Anstalt,'" and that is all. If they wish full board they pay fifty cents. As for the villagers, they follow their pastor's example, and only accept from the visitors who lodge in their cabins the smallest possible sum — just enough to meet actual expenses Whe< her they will always remain bo unmercenary is a problem. The head of this remarkable institution, Sebastian Kneipp, is the village priest. Half a century ago he was very ill. The doctors said he must surely die. Then, he cays, he invented a system of self-cure, which speedily restored him to entire health. He devoted the whole of his life since to developing and perfecting his system. He began by curing himself. Now he cures others, Tbe little village is crowded with people, who come from near and far to take his advice, which is given gratlt ; (or he devotes his life to fighting disease according to the system which he has found in his own case, and in those of hundreds of his p\tient9, to effect a marvellous cure. He is himself, at past seventy, as sturdy and fr^sh in body and mind as a man in the prime of life, and he attributes his wonderful health to the rules by which he lives. Father Kneipp does not believe in wearing wool or flannel next the skin ; he declares that it renders the skin delicate, and his great aim is to harden and invigorate — not, be it observed, by violent means, which he strongly deprecates, but by natural and gradual ones. He recommends tha f all under-clothing be made of very coarse linen, the roughness of which stimulates the skin without eneivating it, as wool do°s, and t moreover, possesses the advantage of allowing the perspiration to pas 3 through ie quickly. Wool, he says, often induces rheumatism, and is only advisab'e for outer-clothes. Water plays an important part in Father Kneipp's system, but his mode of water-cure differs greatly from that usually known under the rame of hydropathy. He prefers cold to warm water ; but employs it cautiously, and allows old and nervous persons to use t^pi i wat'?r. Before everything: he enjoins rapidity in bathing. According to him, a cold bath including undressing and diessing, should only lust five minute 0 . This seenier? an impossible period in which to take a bath. It i?, however, r\plained by the next and one of ibe most Et irtling rules m t'.i. X- c pp methoi ; the patient is forbidden to dry himself a'ter a bath, bat is told to put bis coarse lim-n underclothes straight on to bis wet body, tben his outer clothes, and then take at lens aquartirof an rum's exercise. Father Kneipp dechrcs that the drops of watT le'ton the ekin serve as fuel for the inner warmth, which uses them as material to form a rapid and inttus* glow of beat all over the b(dy, it>-sis'el by the ac'ivity of the skin induced by the coarseness of th'> hn n. Another means of hardening .md rnvgorating the body and promoting circulation hj Father Kneipp is the practice of walking or running baiet'ootcd hi wet grass in cold water, or in fres-hly fallen snow. Voeiisbofea lies in b valley, in the midst of erven meadows, which seem to have benb 'en made especially for this fjirn tf exercise, and are constantly occupied by the patieuts taking then daily runs with naked ftet. Tre exercise at first lasts only live minutes, but tbe peiioJ ia gradually increased to hu f an hour. At the end of tbe prescribed time the patient is ordeied to put on dry socks (tn de of cjarse ysir.i similar to that of whic'i tbe linen for the under-clothiDg is manufactured), without drying his fc.t, and 'hen take a smart walk. Father Kneipp is great on tnc d-ct qutVion, and fulminates furiously against vie amount of tea ani coffee drunk by the present generation, to which practice he attributes the moimous prevalence of nervousness and nervous diseases. H" also objects to the great quantity ot meat usually cousumed, the proportion of which, in relation to other foods, he considers far too largeThe nourishment he recommends consists cliufly of bread, fruit, vegetables and milk. He approves of meat and wine, but in moderation. He particularly praises the many farinaceous dishes, and dishes composed wholly of vegetables peculiar to Viennese cookery, and h tile known elsewhere. Although a Bavarian he is no creat dmirer of beer, and prefers wine as a stimulant. He s'rongly recommends 'bu)wa bead. for wmcli he a receipt specially adapted for dispeptic patients. His two particular " fancies "in the way of f >od, those which he conmdeis the hcalthiebt and most nourish in:, are peas and sauerkraut ! There are f^w better mea'e, he says, than plenty of fruit and a piece of bread. Three meals a day, tie says, are sufficient. He advises hia puients to drink before eating, never whiie eating, and after eaticg only if very decided thirst" be felt. He advocates hard beds, and cool, we'l-ventilated bed-rooms. He does not in the least object to emokiog in moderation, In fact, be approves of the utei

but not the abuse of all good things, except tea and coffee, which hz does not consider at all good. He is much looked up to by the medical profession, and many doctors go to Voorishofen to study his method.