hydropathy, therapeutic system that professes to cure all disease with water, either by bathing in it or by drinking it. Although water therapy is currently used to treat certain ailments, its effectiveness is generally accepted to be limited. Most authorities agree that many disease and injury conditions are indirectly improved by the relaxing effect of the patient’s immersion in water. Hydropathy as a formal therapeutic system came into vogue during the 19th century through the efforts of Vinzenz Priessnitz (1799–1851), a Silesian farmer who believed in the medicinal value of water from the wells on his land. See also hydrotherapy; spa.