[SARATOGA SPRINGS WATER CURE] A Wet-Sheet Pack Poem & Adverts

Bedortha, N.; May, Carrie. [SARATOGA SPRINGS WATER CURE] A Wet-Sheet Pack & Adverts for Saratoga Springs Water-Cure, and Eclectic & Hygienic Institute. (Saratoga Springs): Saratoga Springs Water-Cure, and Eclectic & Hygienic Institute, c. 1856. [11569]

Single sheet of yellow paper, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, printed on both sides, old folds, creases, edge-worn. Fair. Single Sheet.

This ephemeral piece consists of adverts and testimonials for the Saratoga Springs Water-Cure, and Eclectic & Hygienic Institute on one side, and the poem "A Wet-Sheet Pack" on the other.

The poem was first published in the Water-Cure Journal.  This journal was published in the latter part of the 1840s.  It describes the tight wrapping process of the "Water Cure," the feelings experienced by the treatment, and the results.  

"Do not think of stirring, Head, or foot, or hand; You must bide your time out - You can not burst a band.  

"Still 't is quite delightful, Lying at your ease; You're in such a happy mood, any thing will please.  

"Acting like an opiate, Easing all your pain, Calming down your bounding pulse, Cooling off your brain."

The other side is an advertisement for the Institute, the proprietor at the time being N. Bedortha, M. D. It was located on Broadway, "nearly opposite the celebrated Congress Spring."  At the time this sheet was printed, it was in its seventh year of operation. We believe this to be the same newly-established "Water Cure Institute" mentioned in The Union Journal of Medicine, 1849, Vol. I. p. 146. 

All kinds of conditions are promised a cure: Rheumatism, Gout, Neuralgia, Dyspepsia, Liver Complaint, Consumption, Asthma, Sick Headache, Spinal and Nervous diseases, Small Pox, Measles, &c., &c.  

Dr. Bedortha's assistants are Dr. M. J. Whiton;  Dr. H. A. Benton, Electrician, "The Electro-Chemical Baths, and Electricity, are important agencies of the Cure."; Dr. G. T. Blake, "Celebrated for curing Cancers and Tumors, without the knife and with little or no pain..."

In 1860 Dr. Bedortha published Practical Medication, or the Invalid's Guide, with Directions for the Treatment of Disease.  It emphasized hydrotherapy and balneology (baths) as curatives for disease.

Norman Bedortha, M.D. (1811-1883), b. West Springfield, Massachusetts; d. Aiken, South Carolina.  He belonged to what was known as the Eclectic school of physicians, a practice that emphasized herbal remedies and other means of encouraging the body to heal itself.

Dr. Bedortha established a sanitarium in Lebanon Springs N. Y., and moved to Saratoga Springs, N. Y. in the early 1850s to continue his healing methods at his Saratoga Springs Water-Cure, and Eclectic & Hygienic Institute.  After several years of success, a firecracker during the Fourth of July celebration of 1864 caused a blaze that demolished many buildings, including Dr. Bedortha's Institute.  He continued his practice in Saratoga Springs, albeit in different facilities.  We find a December 31st, 1875 advert in The Daily Saratogian stating that his Office and Water Cure was then located in the Continental Hotel on Washington Street.