412 THE WET DRESS. 



upper edge is first brought down on the chest so as to be tight and 

 smooth over the shoulder and neck ; a turn is then made so as 

 to bring the remaining part over the other shoulder where it is 

 tucked in snugly, as well as down the whole length of the body 

 as before. The blankets are then, one by one, brought over the 

 person in the same way, and tucked under from "head to foot," 

 and then comforts in the same manner, if such are used. After 

 the first blanket is wrapped over the patient, it and the enclosed 

 sheet are to be brought up and laid beside one of the legs, where 

 they are to be covered over with the other wraps ; this is to prevent 

 the feet from becoming cold by having them also wrapped snug and 

 tight. It is best always to place a wet towel covered with a dry 

 one on the patient's head while he is packed, or if it does not chill 

 too much, tne dry towel may be left off. This is the ordinary way 

 of taking a " pack " in chronic disease. 



THE WET DRESS. 



A modification of the wet sheet, and in some respects an 

 improvement, is to have a coarse linen or cotton dress made with 

 large arms, so that one may take the application without help. The 

 dress once applied, the patient lays himself upon blankets, in which 

 he wraps himself just sufficiently to become comfortable. Or he 

 may have flannel dresses to put on over the wet, and then lie in a 

 common bed. In this application the air is not excluded from the 

 surface to anything like the same extent as in the common tight 

 pack. Hence, a patient may remain in it half or the whole*of the 

 night if he choose, being careful to become neither too warm nor 

 too cold. Re-wetting it once or twice in the night will be of service. 

 Often in a single night a bad cold may be thrown off in this simple 

 way. 



THE HALF-PACK. 



Patients not infrequently present themselves in whom the 

 reactive energy is so low that a " half-pack," as it is called, will be 

 tolerated, while the entire sheet would abstract too much caloric 

 from the body. In such cases the sheet is applied so as to extend 

 only from the armpits, or at most, from the neck to the hips, leav- 

 ing the lower extremities, as it were, in the dry pack. Sometimes, 

 also, the sheet is allowed to extend to the ankles, not including the 

 feet. Packing the trunk of the body in wet towels acts upon the 

 same principle as the partial or half pack, and is in many cases a 

 valuable preliminary measure. These precautions it is well to 

 observe wnere a feeble patient, who has suffered long from chronic 

 disease, is beginning with the envelopment. 



THE FOLDED WET SHEET. 



As a modification of the wet-sheet principle, I have often used 

 in domestic practice the following application : A common sheet 



