History of Naturopathy: Lust, Kneipp and the Nature Cure Movement

This page is history, not medical advice. Serious or worsening symptoms need a doctor first. In a US emergency, call 911.

Nature cure in 19th-century Germany

A 2016 history article says the Natural Cure Movement of Germany began in the early 19th century. [3] Its supporters shared an emphasis on holism and vitalism, the idea of a life force. [3] Hydrotherapy, the use of water for health, spread through physicians and lay healers. [3] One encyclopedia entry dates a popular revival of water treatment to about 1829 and credits Vincenz Priessnitz. [4] Water treatment today is covered in hydrotherapy in naturopathic care.

Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897)

Kneipp was a German Catholic priest, born in 1821 in the Kingdom of Bavaria. [4] The same encyclopedia says his gentle methods differed from earlier water treatments he called "horse cures". [4] The Kneipp Cure rested on five main tenets: hydrotherapy, exercise, nutrition, herbalism, and the balance of mind and body. [3]

Historians describe him as unusual among nature cure supporters. He did not refuse vaccination and medication, and he sought recognition from the medical world by working with doctors who supported his methods. [3] Another author says Kneipp tried to bridge the gap with allopathic (conventional) medicine. [2] He also admitted that his treatments did not fall in line with current scientific understanding. [4] More on the European side is in nature cure, Kneipp and the European roots of naturopathy.

Benedict Lust and naturopathy in America

Lust was born in Baden, Germany. [5] In 1892 he moved to the United States as Kneipp's official water cure representative. [5] He was also a disciple of the German naturopath Adolf Just. [5] Around the turn of the century the Kneipp Societies in North America were renamed "Naturopathic Societies". [6]

Sources differ on the word itself. One encyclopedia says John Scheel coined "naturopathy" in 1895 and Lust bought it. [6] The same entry cites Merriam-Webster for a first print use in 1901. [6] We did not read the original records, so the exact origin of the term is not settled in the sources we read.

Timeline

Growth, decline and revival

The encyclopedia entry says that in the first three decades of the twentieth century, naturopaths became licensed under naturopathic or drugless practitioner laws in 25 states. [6] It describes a decline in later decades and names the 1910 Flexner Report, which criticized medical education, and the arrival of penicillin and other new medicines as contributing factors. [6] It also says only five states licensed naturopathy by 1958. [6] It reports a 1968 US government report that found naturopathy was not grounded in medical science and its education inadequate. [6] Interest revived in the United States and Canada from the 1970s. [6]

These statements come from one open-edit encyclopedia. The books it cites were not available to us, so treat the numbers as a guide and not as final.

What history can and cannot tell us

History explains where ideas came from and why professions look the way they do. It does not show whether a treatment works. The nature cure movement included holism and vitalism, [3] and a critic's view of vitalism is in the criticism page. The same historians note that the wider life reform movement campaigned for temperance, against tobacco and against vaccination, [3] while Kneipp himself accepted vaccination. [3] For vaccine facts, use health authorities: the World Health Organization calls vaccination a simple, safe, and effective way of protecting you against harmful diseases. [7]

Judge any treatment today on its own evidence. See why a long history of use is not proof and what naturopathy is today.