Let it not be supposed that even pure water cannot be employed excessively or injuriously. The legitimate consequences of continual bathing, and packings in wet envelopes, are exhaustion, debility, and early decay. Every such process, continued for any considerable length of time, is a direct tax upon the vital powers. The atoms which compose the substance of the body are prematurely hurried off—the structure is worn away by constant irrigation—the skin becomes shrivelled and looks old—the muscles become flaccid, and all the bodily organs become more or less attenuated and atrophied. The cheeks fall in, and the visage is haggard. Abundant examples of this kind may be found among those who have long been under hydropathic treatment. Priessnitz himself died at the age of 52, with all the marks of decrepitude and extreme old age. He undoubtedly shortened his own life by the continual application of water to his own person. His biographer tells us that on the 27th of November, 1851, he went through the water-cure process for the last time, and on the day following, being wholly exhausted, he
