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Oskar Diethelm Library, Weill Cornell Medical College

Hydrotherapy

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Différens appareils de douche. Joseph Guislain, Traité sur l'Aliénation Mentale et sur les Hospices des Aliénés. Amsterdam: J. van der Hey et Fils, 1826.

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Apparatus for giving the douche. Alexander Morison, Cases of mental disease, with practical observations. London: Longman & Highley, 1828.

It was not until the 19th century and the development of a significant number of institutions devoted to the treatment of psychiatric illness that hydrotherapy became a consistent feature of psychiatric treatment. With the construction of municipal water systems in cities, more locations had the infrastructure to support hydrotherapy. Elaborate hydrotherapy rooms began appearing in asylums such as the Bicêtre and Salpêtrière in Paris.