Bath treatments at “The Clifton Springs Sanitarium Company”
By Jim Conners, village historian
The Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic is a direct descendent of the 1850 Clifton Springs Water Cure, founded by Dr. Henry Foster. A lot has changed in the last 153 years of continuous service at the hospital and there will be many changes in the future. To help understand some of the changes about to happen at the hospital with the expansion of “The Springs of Clifton,” we should take a look at the history of the baths at the hospital.
Medical practices varied in the early 1800s as physicians learned about the various types of medicine and medical practices. At the time, approved practices consisted of bleeding, purging, blistering, sweating and the like, along with the use of powerful drugs. Dr. Foster’s medical specialty was in the field of homoeopathy at a time when there was a call for a more natural and progressive medical practices. He believed a physician needed to cure the whole person – and that meant a plan to address the body, mind and spirit.
Clifton Springs was originally known as Sulphur Springs because of the mineral springs that run through the town. Even the Native Americans believed the waters had curative powers. Early settlers built baths at the springs to take advantage of the mineral water and collect it for medicinal purposes.
It was these sulfur waters that drew Dr. Foster to Clifton Springs in 1849 to open the Clifton Springs Water Cure. By using both fresh and sulfur water for hydropathical purposes, and later the introduction of electricity, different types of baths became an integral part of the patients’ medical program. The baths were used in various forms for over 100 years.
There were several types of baths the attending physician would prescribe based on his diagnosis: Nautheim baths, Turkish baths, Turkish salt rubs, vapor bath, needle baths, compressed air baths, sulfur baths, shallow sulfur baths, plain baths, electrothermal, electro-chemical, chest weights, cupping pump, falling douche, rising douche, spinal douche, electrical (galvanic, faradic or static), fomentation (spinal), sitz and foot baths, ice bags, massages, machine massages, Monroe massages, head massages, sheet packs, and soda and salt, among others. These, along with well-planned diets and exercise, were all part of curing patients’ physical ailments.
As the knowledge of medicine grew and practices changed, so did the Clifton Springs Water Cure, which became the Clifton Springs Sanitarium in 1871 and then The Clifton Springs Hospital & Clinic. With the changes came the end of the sulfur baths. However, sometimes the ways of the past emerge as part of the present. With the growth of The Springs of Clifton, part of the Clifton Springs Hospital and Clinic, the community has seen a rebirth of the once-popular sulfur baths.