The Water of Life: A Treatise on Urine Therapy (Paperback)

by J.W. Armstrong (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A treatise on urine therapy.

About the Author
As a young man during WW1, J W Armstrong was diagnosed as suffering from TB. Following two years of unsuccessful medical treatment, he started a course of urine therapy and was cured within two months. Following this success, he was encouraged to set up his own private practice and includes many of his patients' remarkable case studies in this book. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 136 pages
• Publisher: Random House UK (December 3, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0850320526
• ISBN-13: 978-0850320527
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #432,420 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

89 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wise and wonderful book., May 30, 2001

By	tepi "tepi" - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

THE WATER OF LIFE : A Treatise on Urine Therapy by John W. Armstrong. Saffron Walden, Essex : The C. W. Daniel Co.Ltd., 2nd Edition 1971, Twelfth Impression, 1998.

Since its first publication in 1945, 'The Water of Life' has achieved something of the status of a classic. Having just finished reading it, I can understand why. Armstrong, who was a British naturopath, was a very modest man who never intended to write his book. But after repeated requests, and after considering that he had a duty to his fellow men and women to reveal the details of the miraculous therapy he had discovered, he went ahead, and we should all be intensely thankful that he did. The book is a goldmine of good sense, practical advice, brief though fascinating case studies, and astute observations on a wide range of matters.

His discovery - or perhaps rediscovery is a better word, since urine therapy was and is known and practised in many cultures and is even known to the animals - came about in a curious way. As a young man he suffered from consumption, had been passed through the hands of a whole slew of orthodox medical practitioners, none of whom had been able to cure him, and some of whom made his condition worse.

But he seems to have been a religious man, and one day, while pondering Proverbs V.xv : "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well," he had a flash of inspiration which led him to link this passage with a few tales he'd heard about the curative properties of urine. Could this reference to "waters," he wondered, be a reference to the body's own water - urine? Having nothing to lose, he decided to give it a try.

He began drinking his own urine, was restored to health, and went on to lead a vigorous and productive life by helping to restore the health of many others, both human and animal. Incidentally, one of the interesting features of his book, which indicates something of his kindly and unselfish nature, is that he has included a Chapter XVI 'Urine-Therapy on Animals.'

In 'The Water of Life' he has provided details of the threefold 'urine fast' method he worked out, details which will be found enough to go on by mature adults of average intelligence who have a bit of common sense.

The most important point to understand, which he emphasizes throughout, is that one should NEVER attempt to use or ingest any substance other than urine and pure water - whether chemicals, drugs, alcohol, denatured foods, etc., - when undergoing a urine fast or 'penance' as he liked to call it.

The whole idea is to allow NATURE to take her course with as little interference from us as possible. A fast of urine and pure water, plus frequent, lengthy, and thorough urine massages, and, if necessary, the application of urine compresses, would, he felt, cure pretty well anyone of almost anything if undertaken long enough for the body to rid itself of toxins.

Armstrong's 'The Water of Life' is a very rich book, crammed with fascinating and useful information, and interwoven with brief case histories of almost every conceivable ailment. I couldnt even begin to do justice here to the wealth of ideas it contains.

Four books on urine therapy are currently available : those of Armstrong, Martha Christy, Coen van der Kroon, and Flora Peschek-Bohmer. Of these, the Peschek-Bohmer may be ignored as being both superficial and highly misleading on essential matters. The remaining three all serve to complement each other in different ways, with one providing what the other lacks or hasn't gone into as fully.

The serious practitioner would be unwise to overlook Armstrong. True, his is an early book and we know more about the actual constituents of urine and how it does its work today. But he was a unique character, and in his own way he was a very wise man, and I think he will always have a lot to teach us all.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellant, January 19, 2007

By	Tell_it_true "honesty_counts" (the real world) - See all my reviews

My fear has flown out the window, I'm convinced. Very easy to read guidelines for applying urine therapies, with testimonials.

28 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars U T makes total sense. We daily overlook nature's gifts., April 15, 1999

By A Customer

The universe keeps gifting us with blessings and we often miss them. Our education or culturization gets in the way. I really think the best things in life are free. The Water of Life by John Armstrong is a beginning, an opening door, that will hopefully change opinions. The cases presented are not only interesting they are convincing. My biggest complaint, is that there are not enough specifics for implementing. e.g. For application to the head/hair. How long should it remain on the hair. Should the hair then be shampooed, or just rinsed?