1013 



BATHING. 



BATHING. 



1014 



after exposure to the exciting cause ; as after travelling, or falling into 

 the water in winter. 



The local application of warm vapour is very serviceable in many 

 recent diseases. Catarrhs, sore throats of an inflammatory kind, 

 inflammations of the eyes and ears, are greatly alleviated by such 

 means. But when the lungs are inflamed, though Mudge's or other 

 inhaler is much recommended, yet the effort required to draw in the 

 vapour is injurious. The head, from which a flannel cloth may fall 

 down in such a way as to hinder the vapour from escaping, should be 

 held over a bason full of warm water, and the vapour inhaled in the 

 ordinary mode of respiration. The vapour-bath is very improper for 

 plethoric persons, those predisposed to congestion, or to apoplexy, and 

 also for individuals in a state of great debility. 



The employment of heated air, as an application to the body, causes 

 the primary action of heat to manifest itself more than the secondary. 

 The hot-air bath is therefore powerfully stimulant to the skin and 

 nervous system, and is of great service in all cases where the production 

 of animal heat is less than natural, as in the cold stage of fevers, and 

 exhaustion of the nervous power. It has been employed beneficially 

 in congestive fever, and after great and continual mental exertion. It 

 proved less useful in the Asiatic cholera than was anticipated. A con- 

 venient apparatus for applying it was invented by the late Dr. Gower, 

 called a Sudatorium. 



Medicated baths rarely possess greater power than that possessed by 

 the water alone ; but there are a few exceptions. The admixture of 

 common salt makes the water more stimulating and tonic. 



Sulphurous vapour-baths fall xinder the head of medicated baths, 

 and a few remarks may be here made respecting them. Nightmen, 

 and other individuals who live much in an atmosphere charged with 

 sulphurous exhalations, are rarely affected with chronic diseases of the 

 skin, while other trades seem to predispose to their development, such 

 as the baker's itch and grocer's iteh. It is chiefly for the cure of 



cutaneous diseases that the sulphurous vapour-baths are employed. 

 In many of these they are very useful, especially those belonging to 

 the genus scabies and genus impetigo of Bateman. A caution is 

 requisite for their safe employment, that the vapour should not be 

 applied to more than a fourth part of the body at one time, lest the 

 disease should be suddenly cured, and the internal organs suffer by the 

 repulsion. The person who uses the sulphurous vapour-bath must be 

 careful not to breathe any of the vapour. This kind of bath has been 

 used in rheumatic affections, some diseases of the stomach, and in 

 chronic paralysis. It may sometimes be a useful addition to internal 

 treatment, but alone can be of little avail, till the state of the internal 

 organs be improved, especially the liver, the action of which is almost 

 always faulty in gout and rheumatism. 



The nitro-muriatic bath of Scott is of use in chronic inflammation of 

 the liver, such as occurs in warm climates. The iron-baths in Nassau 

 and the Hartz are more tonie than the simple cold-bath, but none of 

 the iron can be absorbed at the low temperature of these baths ; it is 

 only, therefore, by their direct action upon the skin, and the sympathies 

 of this with the internal organs, that they are more beneficial. We 

 have no knowledge of the effects of the mineralised mud baths, 

 called by the Italians Lvtatura. (See Gairdner ' On Mineral Springs,' 

 p. 404.) 



Though unacquainted with the results of employing hot sand or 

 ashes, as done by the Turks, we can conceive them useful in allaying 

 cramps and neuralgic pains, as heat generally does in whatever way 

 applied. A collection of the opinions of ancient writers on the subject 

 was published in the sixteenth century. ('De balneis omnia quse 

 extant apud Graecos, Latinos, et Arabes,' fol. Venet. apud Junt. 1553.) 

 The best modern treatise is that of Marcard, in German, an abstract of 

 which may be found in Dr. Beddoes's ' Treatise on Consumption." A 

 French translation of it was published in 1802. The natural baths 

 will be treated of under the article WATERS, MINERAL. 



END OF VOLUME I. 



BRADBURY AND EVAK8, PRINTERS, WH1TEFHIAKS. 



