author
Joel Shew
1816–1855
A reform-minded 19th-century doctor, he helped popularize the water-cure movement in the United States and wrote practical health guides for ordinary readers. His work sits at the crossroads of early alternative medicine, diet reform, and natural hygiene.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Born in Saratoga County, New York, in 1816, Joel Shew became one of the best-known American advocates of hydropathy, or the "water cure." After earning a medical degree, he studied the movement associated with Vincent Priessnitz in Graefenberg and helped introduce those ideas to American patients and readers.
Shew practiced as a physician and wrote a long list of health books, including Hand-book of Hydropathy and The Hydropathic Family Physician. He promoted water-based treatments along with broader habits of health reform, and he is also remembered as an early supporter of natural hygiene.
He died in 1855 at just 38 years old, but his books and public work made him an important figure in the spread of hydropathy in the United States.