[A moralist as balneologist. Felix Hemmerlis, 'Tractus de balneis naturalibus' (about 1420) and his reception in Germany].

It was about 1450 that the absence of balneological professional literature in Germany led the Swiss theologian and lawyer Felix Hemmerli to write a Latin treatise about the German hot springs. Hemmerli claimed that because of their greediness the medical experts did not write down their knowledge. In most of its parts Hemmerli's treatise is structured according to the empirical method of the Italian 14th century literature concerning baths, but the balneological text itself is embedded within a moralizing discourse. The reception of Hemmerli's treatise in Germany rejected its hostility towards the medical professionals; the translation of the text into German reduced its moralizing aspects and rendered an almost pure by medical text.