SHEW, Joel, physician, born in Providence, Saratoga County, New York, 13 November 1816; died in Oyster Bay, New York, 6 October, 1855. After studying medicine and receiving his degree, he visited the water-cure establishment of Dr. Vincent Priessnitz, which was founded in 1826 in Grafenberg, Austrian Silesia, and became an advocate of Priessnitz's system, which he introduced into the United States. He was physician in the first hydropathic institution opened in New York in 1844, and in 1845 became manager of a similar establishment in New Lebanon Springs, New York He contributed to "The Water-Cure Journal," and was the author of several works on water treatment, including "Hydropathy, or the Water-Cure" (New York, 1844); "Cholera treated by Water" (1848); "Children : their Hydropathic Management" (1852) ; and "The Hydropathic Family Physician " (1854).