Dr. Abbott was a professor of Clinical Medicine in the College of Medical Evangelists (now known as Loma Linda University Hospital) located in Loma Linda, California. When this book was first printed in 1912, Dr. Abbott wrote, "The urgent need of a nurses' textbook on hydrotherapy has induced the author to attempt to meet this need. The principles and curative effects are discussed in such simplified language as to be readily comprehended by the average nurse." The directions are simple enough for anyone to follow in their own home.

"The procedures of hydrotherapy... [are] excellent and may be said to contain the last word as to what may be done with water. What to use and how to use it are carefully set down and the most inexperienced novice could not fail to comprehend the instructions." -M. E. Cameron, R.N. American Journal of Nursing April 1912, Vol XII, #7, page 615