Experience with Hydrotherapeutic Methods in Chile by W. A. R.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 3, 1907

Experience with Hydrotherapeutic Methods in Chile

By W. A. R.

ARNOLD KRUMM HELLER, physician of the German Sanitarium in Santiago, Chile, writes as follows:—

“When I came to Ariquipa on the first of March, 1905, I took a small apartment in the central part of the city. I then sought patients for massage. I found several sick persons for hydrotherapeutic treatment. Some of these were very bad cases, but I restored them to health. This came to the ears of the prefect (first political authority in the department); and at this time the bubonic plague was in Port Molendo.

“Accepting the invitation of the prefect, I gave a public lecture at Ariquipa, and about four thousand persons attended. As a result, the other doctors began using the water treatment, and they had the victory over the plague in the Port.”

“The day after the speech, and as long as I was in Ariquipa, I had an income of four pounds daily, and in addition to this forty or fifty persons were treated free of charge. The largest number of patients treated in one day was one hundred and forty, and the least was one hundred and thirty.”

“The prefect decreed that I could employ the nature-cure as a hydrotherapeutic physician, so the field in Ariquipa is open to any one of my colleagues.

“Ariquipa is, in consequence of its peculiar climate and the attitude of the people, one of the best cities for our system that I have ever seen. In spite of the opposition of the doctors, and the small fees that I asked for my services, I received two hundred pounds, not counting one hundred pounds that I paid for my expenses.”

The preceding is quoted in the hope that it may inspire some of our medical workers to make Chile their field of labor. It gives a good idea of the opening there is for hydrotherapeutic effort in the South American field.

W. A. R.