VAPOUR BATH. 79 



before going out. The vitality of the skiu being 

 diminished, reaction cannot follow additional ex- 

 posure ; the circulation leaves the surface, and be- 

 comes still more internal ; and, if weakness exists 

 in the throat or chest, cold is the almost certain -re- 

 sult. Many suffer from ignorance of this principle. 



The vapour-bath is thus calculated to be exten- 

 sively useful, both as a preservative and as a reme 

 dial agent. Many a cold and many a rheumatic 

 attack arising from checked perspiration or long 

 exposure to the weather might be nipped in the bud 

 by its timely use. In chronic affections, not only 

 of the skin itself, but of the internal organs with 

 which the skin sympathizes most closely, as the 

 stomach and intestines, the judicious application of 

 the vapour-bath is productive of great relief. Even 

 in chronic pulmonary complaints, it is, according to 

 the continental physicians, not only safe, but very 

 serviceable ; particularly in those affections of the 

 mucous membrane which resemble consumption in 

 so many of their symptoms. Like all powerful 

 remedies, however, the vapour-bath must be admin- 

 istered with careful regard to the condition and cir- 

 cumstances of the individual. 



It happens occasionally, either from some pecu- 

 liarity of constitution, or from some unusual condi- 

 tion of the skin, indicated by great dryness and a 

 liability to erysipelatous and scaly eruptions, that 

 the moisture of the water or vapour-bath is at first 

 rather prejudicial and unpleasant, and becomes 

 grateful only in proportion as the skin regains its 

 healthy state. In such cases, the warm air-bath is 

 said to be remarkably successful, and is gaining 

 ground very rapidly in the metropolis. 



Although the preceding remarks apply specially 

 to the skin considered as an exhalant, yet most of 

 them are equally applicable to it when viewed as the 

 seat of an important nervous function. For so inti- 

 mately and beautifully are all the parts of the frame 



