410 HYDROPATHY. 



given place to the Turkish, Russian and Moliere baths of to-cUy. 

 In private practice too, even compresses are more frequently applied 

 hot than formerly, and the drinking of cold water has given place 

 to water as hot as can be swallowed. 



This change will be apparent by comparing the early works on 

 hydropathy with the treatment recommended in the following 

 pages, which is the result of nearly thirty years experience of 

 myself and others. 



To the non -professional reader a word of caution will not be 

 ont of place. It is an error to suppose that when hygienic agencies 

 aione are employed in the treatment of disease they are therefore 

 entirely harmless. Not many poisons are capable of producing 

 more serious disturbances than some of the applications of water 

 when used improperly, and this holds true, to a greater or less 

 degree, of all the other appliances of the hydropathic system. In 

 the use of the minor measures such as the foot-bath and compresses 

 to local parts, a wide latitude may be given, but the heroic measures, 

 such as the wet-sheet pack, general douche, plunge and shower baths, 

 must be used with great care. 



The fundamental point to keep in view in treatment is to 

 equalize the circulation. Cold parts should be warmed and increased 

 temperature in other parts reduced, and this reduction of tempera- 

 ture is not necessarily to be accomplished by the application of cold, 

 for this is not always the most effective way of accomplishing the 

 object in view. Increased heat is always accompanied with a cor- 

 responding increase of circulation and consequent congestion, and 

 although the distention of the bloodvessels and capillaries are 

 primarily caused by disturbances in the nerve centers, the very fact 

 of distention when continued for a time produces temporary paraly- 

 sis of the muscular and other contractile tissues, such as takes place 

 in the bladder when the urine is retained too long, and the local 

 application of a wet compress, even when warm, if undisturbed for 

 a time restores the tone of the vessels by removing some of the 

 more solid constituents of the blood, by the well known law of 

 endosmosis and exosmosis, and thus an important aid is given to 

 the vital forces in their efforts to restore healthy action. 



The armamentarium or materia medica of hydropathy consists 

 of all hygienic agencies ; but it is obvious that the subjects cover too 

 wide a field to treat in a work of this kind, so that I snail be obliged 

 to confine myself to the use of water, with here and there an allu- 

 sion to the others as the case may demand, and before taking up 

 the treatment of the various diseases, the following description of 

 the hydropathic measures should be carefully studied. 



Few, if any physicians of the present day confine their treat- 

 ment to the hydropathic appliances alone, but use medicines to a 

 greater or lesser degree. For reasons that need not be discussed here, 

 and although I prefer the use of the properly selected medicines in 

 connection with the hygienic measures. I decidedly recommend the 



