386 Human Physiology. 



lous healings were in the pool of Siloam; baptism is called 

 "the washing of regeneration." Water is the symbol of cleans- 

 ing truth, and is to the body what grace is to the soul. Water 

 is in all nature the medium of life. Without water, light, heat, 

 air, electricity, all other conditions of life and health are of no 

 value. 



Drinking pure soft water, such as trickles from the Malvern 

 Hills, so pure that it can be used like distilled water for 

 chemical purposes, dissolves morbid or oliseasing matter, and 

 carries it off through skin and kidneys. Daily bathing in such 

 water not only cleanses the skin, but enlivens every nerve, and 

 stimulates the action of every capillary. A sitz bath wonder- 

 fully strengthens the lower part of the spine, the lower bowels, 

 and the generative organs, curing weakness in the back, consti- 

 pation, piles, and ovarian and womb diseases. A douche 

 strengthens the whole spine and nervous system, and the 

 column of falling water seems to fill the whole body with 

 electric vigour. The cold pouring and rubbing bath has pro- 

 duced very extraordinary effects of roused energy, quick 

 ^reaction, relieved congestions, and sudden restoration of the 

 powers of life. Priesnitz used it successfully in cholera ; and 

 in one case in New York a child, apparently dead of cholera 

 and shrouded for its coffin, was by this means restored to 

 animation and health. 



But the most remarkable of all the discoveries and applica- 

 tions of the inspired father of hydropathy was the wet sheet 

 pack. Wringing a sheet large enough to envelop the whole or 

 a large part of the body out of cold water, and laying it on 

 blankets, he wrapped it round the patient, then drew closely 

 the blankets with a plentiful covering. There is first a cold 

 shock, very agreeable in fever, then a glow of warmth, which 

 gradually increases to a profuse perspiration. In twenty 

 minutes to an hour or more, the patient is taken glowing from 

 the pack and quickly bathed in cold water. The sensation of 



