Mr. Lambkin being tired of the old-fashioned regular practice
George Cruikshank
1844
Steel-engraving
9.9 cm high by 9 cm wide, framed
Nineteenth illustration for The Bachelor’s Own Book; Or, The Progress Of Mr. Lambkin (Gent.), in the Pursuit Of Pleasure And Amusement, p. 42 (left-hand side of the tenth plate).
[Click on image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
Mr. Lambkin being tired of the old-fashioned regular practice, and being so fortunate as to live in the days when the real properties of Water are discovered, places himself under a Disciple of the immortal Priessnitz.
In describing the various miracle cures that Lambkin considers to address his malaise, in the above caption Cruikshank alludes to Vincent Preissnitz (1799-1851), originator of the Hydropathy therapeutic treatment. With the founding of a hydropathy clinic in Gräfenberg in Silesian Austria in 1826, the farm-boy-turned physician gained international celebrity, and by 1840 had acquired 1600 patients from all over Europe, including other physicians, members of the nobility, and leading military officers.
Treatment length at Preissnitz's clinic varied. Much of his theory was about inducing the above mentioned crisis, which could happen quickly, or could occur after three to four years. In accordance with the simplistic nature of hydropathy, a large part of the treatment was based on living a simple lifestyle.These lifestyle adjustments included dietary changes such as eating only very coarse food, such as jerky and bread, and of course drinking large quantities of water. Preissnitz's treatments also included a great deal of less strenuous exercise, mostly including walking. ["Hydrotherapy"]
Cruikshank signals Lambkin's purchasing a "hard-trotter" with which to subject himself to vigorous outdoor exercise (a cornerstone of the Priessnitz "preventive" model) by the riding-boots on the floor and the whip on the top-hat (lower right) in this frame, although it is likely that he is not taking the water regimen and horseback-riding at the same time. The bed-ridden Lambkin looks far gone in the Priessnitz frame, — indeed, he has almost disappeared here, being just a head — and suddenly much stronger in the companion illustration, Mr. Lambkin buys a regular hard trotter (page 43). Looming large on the wall, the poster provides an animated water-pump that is personified as "Herr von Priessnitz." Cruikshank signifies the copious, eight-drafts a day of water that the treatment imposes upon the patient by the presence of a large water-jug and drinking-glass on the dressing-table, right. The commode at the foot of the bed is further evidence of Lambkin's lamentable state.
Embedded details: poster of a Priessnitz Waterpump
In the bedroom illustration, dominated by the poster advertising the Priessnitz water treatment, Cruikshank focuses on just one aspect of the hydrotherapeutic technique, involving wrapping the patient in a wet nightgown and disregarding other aspects of the treatment, including spas, bathing, and drinking copious draughts of water. The topicality of Cruikshank's allusion to the Priessnitz treatments stems from the lecture tours and publications of the English Priessnitz disciple Captain R. T. Claridge, who, having witnessed the hydrotherapeutic method first-hand at Grafenberg in 1841, publicized the Cold Water system or Cold Water cure in the years just prior to Cruikshank's drawing the Lambkin illustrations. The popularity of the Priessnitz method in the English-speaking world at the time stemmed from Claridge's Hydropathy; or The Cold Water Cure, as practiced by Vincent Priessnitz... (1842 & 1843).
Cruikshank, George. The Bachelor’s Own Book; Or, The Progress Of Mr. Lambkin, In The Pursuit Of Pleasure And Amusement. Glasgow: David Bryce, 1844, rpt. 1880.
Janik, Erika. "The Feminist Origins of 'Eight Cups a Day': The water-healing quackery that empowered women’s medicine." Excerpted from Marketplace of the Marvelous: The Strange Origins of Modern Medicine. Science: The State of the Universe. 9 February 2014. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/02/hydropathy_water_healing_quack_medicine_empowered_the_women_s_health_profession.html
"Hydrotherapy." Wikipedia. Accessed 22 May 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrotherapy#Vincent_Preissnitz_(1799%E2%80%931851)
Last modified 26 May 2018
