Human Physiology. 393 



of the womb or ovaries ; or a cold, wet bandage around the 

 chest, stomach, or hips, gives such immediate relief, such com- 

 fort and strength, as to convince every one who uses them that 

 water has a wonderful efficacy in the relief and cure of diseased 

 conditions. 



And water, as a medium of the application of cold and heat, 

 is a remedy for the most urgent cases and dangerous attacks of 

 disease. In apoplexy, physicians formerly bled the patient as 

 soon as possible, and as much as they dared, to relieve the 

 pressure on the brain. The patient had no blood to spare, and 

 if he did not die at once, he was left in great weakness. The 

 real requirement is to equalise the circulation ; and the ready 

 method is to get the feet and legs into hot water a hot mus- 

 tard bath if you will while cold water is poured upon the 

 head. When the balance has been gained, frictions with strong 

 hands dipped in cold water over the whole body, and the wet- 

 sheet pack, with a spare diet, will effect a cure. 



In all cases of acute disease, absolute fasting is the best 

 remedy, or first condition of cure. Nature tells us that by 

 taking away the appetite, and giving us a disgust at food ; but 

 friends, more kind than wise, make savoury messes and urge 

 us to eat. Thin gruels, arrowroot, &c., may do little harm, 

 but we are better without them. In dyspepsia in all diseases 

 of the nutritive system, there is no cure like the hunger cure. 

 Absolute fasting, and drinking and washing with cold water, 

 will cure nine-tenths of all inflammatory and febrile diseases, 

 from a simple cold to small-pox and scarlatina. As gluttony is 

 the cause, fasting is the cure, of a host of diseases. 



A common cold, which is often caused by a surfeit the 

 action of the skin, and its power of resistance weakened by 

 overtasking the stomach yields to an absolute fast, or a few 

 days of very spare diet. An ordinary attack of fever gets well 

 with rest, fasting, and drinking freely of cold water. Fasting is 

 the best remedy for diarrhoea, and what may seem a con- 



