ion 



liATHINO. 



BATIIIV;. 



10U 



be found. In OHM of nervous exhaustion from intense 

 liter*/}- employment, or official or parliamentary dutim, the warm 

 tUi w of gta service, mure particularly when, iu addition to the 

 warm bath, the cold douche it employed, directed U|KHI the head i.-i a 

 few seconds, while UM patient it in the bath. In th, mil. I. -r eases of 

 uuuia it has been found of great UM. 



In cami of contraction* of the juiiiu from rheumatic r p-nty 

 iulUuiiusUoii, the warm bath, or, what is better, the local vnjwur i itli, 

 is of service in restoring the Mxihility ..f the limb. 



It nay be briefly stated that the warm bath i* touch more service- 

 able when there U a tendency to disease, constitutional or act- 

 or in convalescence, than in any other circumstances. It is tl. 

 raUwr to be considered u a preventive than remedial measure. But 

 iU value in thin jtoint of view u very great; and it u to be regretted 

 that it U not sufficiently appreciated and used. It is exceedingly bene- 

 ficial as a mean) of allaying the irritation of the vascular system, which 

 occur* in young persons disposed to consumption, when the disease U 

 beginning alowly to impair the integrity and healthfulness of the lungs 

 or other important organs. To prevent the development of the morbid 

 deposit in the lung* is of infinite inijwrtance ; and this will be best 

 accomplished by keeping up a more rigorous action of the skin. The 

 bath mutt be persevered in for a length of time. Prop, i 1 

 room* abould exist in every well-constructed house ; but as this is 

 rarely the cue in this country, a good substitute may be obtained by 

 using some of the recently-invented bathing-machines, which combine 

 facilities for using the different kinds of bath in the same apparatus. Tin- 

 best which we have seen U tliat made by Read, Regent Circus, which 

 pOMMMs an apparatus for applying the douche while in the warm bath, 

 and may be used as a cold, a shower, a warm, a douche, or a vapour- 

 bath. Baths should be attached to all Urge manufactories, as a refresh- 

 ment for the workmen, to ensure cleanliness, and as a means of warding 

 off many diseases : in lead- works, painters' and plumbers' establishments, 

 they would protect the men from painters' colic ; and iu other estab- 

 lishments, they would preserve the workmen from ninny cutaneous 

 ilisfm " A multitude of chronic inflammations of the skin are pro- 

 duced by uncleanliness, or other agents, which directly irritate the 

 akin ; and it is to the want of cleanliness in the inferior classes that 

 Willan attributes the frequency of cutaneous diseases in London. In 

 France, advantages are placed within the reach of the poor, to which 

 the rich alone aspire iu other countries. The number of gratuitous 

 baths which are given at the hospitals of St. Louis and La Charite* is 

 truly prodigious : in 1822 it amounted to 127,752 for the out-jut ient.s 

 only of the hospital of St. Louis." (Rayer, ' On Diseases of t lie Skin.') 

 Why some portion of the funds of hospitals and dispensaries in London 

 and other large towns should not be applied in a similar way, we can 

 see no good objection : there is as much philanthropy and benevolence 

 in preventing disease as in curing it. The establishment of public 

 baths in London and other large towns has proved of incalculable 

 benefit Where waahhouses are attached to them, the advantage has 

 been still greater. 



A partial warm bath, such as the foot-bath, is of much service in 

 warding off many complaints. After getting the feet wet, plunging 

 them into warm water will often prevent any ill consequences; and 

 even when the first chill and slight shiverings, which usher in colds, 

 fevers, and other inflammatory complaints, have been felt, the disease 

 may be cut short by the use of a foot-bath, continued till free perspi- 

 ration occurs. In inflammatory diseases, where the head and throat 

 are much affected, the employment of a foot-bath, at a later period, 

 often gives great relief, by causing a revulsion of the blood from the 

 upper to the lower part of the body. 



Water of a temperature from 99 to the highest which can be 

 endured, U termed the hot-hath. When a person in health enters such 

 a bath.it greatly excite* the nervous ny.-t.-m, and. through that, the 

 heart and arteries ; causes heat and constriction of the skin, with di.- 

 turbance of the internal organs generally, but especially those of 

 secretion. This state of uneasiness is lessened by the breaking out of 

 perspiration, which is succeeded by great languor, torpor, and depo- 

 sition to sleep. In such a hath little absorption takes place through the 

 kin, and the body is found to have lost weight The hot-bath is a 

 powerful stimulant, and can never be uaed by ponxms in a state of 

 health. The same caulii -n which were stated under the head ..i' the 

 warm-bath apply to it in a greater degree. The few cases to whit -h it 

 U suited arc chronic affections of the nervous system, such as paralysis, 

 when all vascular fulness of the brain or spin il cord has b< en i 

 The waters of the King's Bath at Bath, and Home of the hot-baths on 

 the continent, are very beneficially employed in such cases; but 

 discrimination roust be made to suit the temperature to the degree of 

 sensibility remaining in the paralysed part. Where the power of 

 motion is lost, the scnntion is sometimes increased : hen- the hot- 

 bath would Iw very hurtful. On the other hand, the sensation may 

 be lust, while the power of motion remains: here equal care 

 must b 'observed not ! u*e too high a temperature. Krythcm.i. 

 erysipelas, mortification, or death may follow the uiw of too high 

 a temperature or a stay too prolonged even in a proper tem- 

 perature. 



Sudden retrocession or rcpubiion of some cutaneous or eruptive 

 liseam U relieved by the use of a hot bath for a few minutes, the 

 eruption often coming out favourably after it. Some chronic cuta- 



neous diseases, in which great thickening or torpor of the skin exists, 

 are benefited by the hot-bath. 



Vapour-baths are either natural or artificial. Several natural \ . 

 baths exist in the Nea|..lit:in States, in Swit. u the 



ountry of the lirisonM), anil in Ischia. The artificial in are 



much in use in tl, i in Uussi., .1 are public, or 



intended for several persons to use at the same time ; and occasionally 

 in Britain, where they are always solitary or for a single indi 

 The Russian baths are described in Lyall's ' Character of the i; u**ians,' 

 Pp. 112-116. The nUina tiers of benches, like an 



amphitheatre, the seat* nearest the bottom being the coolest, those 

 higher up hotter. The temperature varies from 1 1. 

 sons ooniiiieni -ing the use of mich baths occupy the lower seats, and 

 ascend as they become accustomed t. tlmn. While .p. -. .1 i 

 va|iour, the body is washed or rublx-d with soap or bran, and 1 

 with fresh birch-twigs. The head i surrounded with a cold cloth, or 

 cold water i* dashed over the h. ad. When the j>, r.-on does not wi-h to 

 breathe the heated vapour, a sponge which has been dip; 



held to the mouth and nose. On lirst employing the vajmur- 

 bath, the person usually remains about lifted) minutes, but afterwards 

 1 1 arters of an hour, and at Pfeffers, the temperature of which is 

 only 100, sometimes four, eight, ten, or sixteen hours. After coming 

 out of the bath, the bather goes into a room heated with dry air, 

 where he is nibbed, puts on a flannel dress, anil then reposes u]-m i 

 conch for some tim- may drink warm drinks to promo' 



lion. 



-oon," bays Dr. E. I). ..* the inhabitants of these 



northern nations have endured the high temperature of tln-ir \apom 

 baths, which is so great that Englishmen would not eoncci\. 

 to exist an instant in them, they stand naked, covered itli pn 

 perspiration, cooling themselves iu the open air. In summer they 

 plunge into cold water, and in winter they roll about in the 

 without sustaining injury, or even catching cold. When the Hussions 

 leave a bath of this kind, they moreover drink CM] ,-htB of 



mead, as cold as it con bo procured." f Travel* in < art i. 



p. 1 Hi. The absence of all risk in exposing the person to Mich ex- 

 tremes of temperature is explained by the experiments of I >r Kd wards, 

 who found that "after an exposure to cold, sufficient to diminish the 

 powci of producing heat, continuance in a high temperature toads to 

 the recovery of this power: for in exposing animals to successive 

 applications of cold, their temperature will fall the more slowly the 

 longer they shall have been subjected to the inlln. nnlli. 



It follows, therefore, that the effect of the application oi 

 degree of heat is continued after the cessation of the cause. Hence, 

 we gee that those who are liable to frequent exposure to severe cold 

 are rendered more capable of supporting it, by subjecting them 

 in the intervals to a high temperature, a practice adopted by northern 

 nations, and justified by facts." (Edwards on the ' Influei 

 I'hysical Agents on Life,' p. 125.) 



The vapour-bath is distinguished from all other means of intro- 

 ducing more heat into the body, chiefly by the circumstance, that as 

 a portion of the vapour is converted into water, by coming iu contact 

 with the surface of the body, it communicates a quantity of sensible 

 caloric to it. It is without doubt the most powerful means of supply- 

 ing a great heat to tl: portion of the surface of the body, 



internal as well as external : for when breathed, the extensive surface 

 forming the interior of the lungs is influenced by it in the Kim- 

 as the skin. On the skin it exerts a peculiar imh; es not 



cause that constriction of the skin, which follows the application of ' 

 dry air, nor does it exert that pressure upon the surface, which, in the 

 case of warm water, retards the breaking out of the perspiration. On 

 the contrary, moisture of the skin, followed by prol'u.-. per- pir.it ion, 

 occurs immediately upon entering the \apour bath. 



In Russia, where Mich Inths are used on a largo scale. their employ 

 mentis not found to Ix; productive of weakness. The siibse.pi.nt 

 exposure to cold restores the tone of the skin which had been 

 and the process leaves the person with a gen. ral sense of good health. 

 strength and power, both of the internal organs and of the skin 

 " These practice*," says Dr. ( larkc. seem to delight them, and t 

 strength to their constitution." 



The vapour bath, by attracting the blood more speedily to tl: 

 lace, and by U-ing followed by more profuse perspir.iii 

 pow, -i fid than the warm water-bath. It is employed :ui a remedy in 

 gout and rheumatism, and iu the nuio pu-nocs ,,t 



when they have assumed tin' chronic form. M 



and gouty contraction of the joints have been re \cd by , 



in the use of vapour-baths, as employed by the eontineir 

 In scrofulous diseases, especially when they affect the .-kin and tin' 

 glands, benefit is derived from the va]>ur-Kith, mile-, then- be a 

 manifest tendency (,, active inflammation, and great irritability < 

 net \.nis system. In some chronic affections of the m-n 

 especially wh. I with the i imperfect development 



of cutaneous diseases, the \ a pour-loth is of great use; and : 

 some affections of the respiratory organs, such a dry catarrh, asthma. 

 spasms of the muscles of respiration, if these arc not. complicated with 

 inflammation or organic disease of ti heart 



The use of the vapour-bath would be found to ward off many 

 diseases resulting from exposure to cold, if had recourse to ii 



