The use of baths as a remedial agent (Balneology) is rapidly assuming the position of an exact science. When it is possible to get away from the extravagant and often misleading statements which are published regarding the medicinal properties of privately owned waters, it is evident that the placing of the value of this treatment on a strictly scientific basis is near at hand. It has been very aptly observed by Dr. Ferris, the State physician at Saratoga that:

Hydrotherapy is simply a part of the general practice of medicine, for its agencies may often be used to great advantage in place of vegetable or mineral drugs, and with better results; for, by means of these agencies, recuperation and restoration of vital processes are often secured in cases wherein drugs produce but a temporary condition, under cover of which nature is expected to assert herself. But its principles and practice should be well understood by those who prescribe its measures.