Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1776

RUSSELL THATCHER TRALL (1812-1877) The hydropathic encyclopedia. Fowlers and Wells 1854 xi, viii [9]-463 [5] pp., 5 col. plates, 161 illus. 18.4 cm.

Along with Shew (see No. 1826), Trall was an early proponent of hydrotherapy and opened an establishment at New York City in 1844 soon after that of Shew's. Trall suffered poor health as a youth but went on to complete a medical degree in 1835 at Albany Medical College. Dissatisfied with the practice of allopathic medicine after nearly ten years of practice, Trall turned to hydropathy and played a major role in developing it into a comprehensive healing science with a philosophical basis. He maintained an active practice in New York City, frequently acted as a consultant, and lectured on hydropathy and health reform. He succeeded Shew as editor of the Water cure journal and wrote widely on the water cure and other health-related issues. Trall published the present work only four years after Shew's book on the same subject. The work's subtitle states that it is designed as "a guide to families and students and as a text-book for physicians." It was Trall's purpose to present a comprehensive treatise on all aspects of hydrotherapy and he commented in the Preface that he had consulted "nearly all that has been published in this country and Europe directly or remotely connected with Hydropathy. . . ." As a result the treatise covers a broad range of topics and includes anatomy, physiology, hygiene, dietetics, the practice and therapeutics of hydropathy, surgery, and midwifery. Volume II is lacking from the University of Iowa Libraries' copy.

See Related Record(s): 1826