83 



WATER Affi> STEAM- 

 BATHS. 



WE have seen that the fame of Carlsbad began 

 with the use of water -baths 5 that steam -baths are 

 the third period of our medical history; and that the 

 superiority of our present institutions is founded upon 

 the junction of our therapeutic resources, though 

 drinking remains the most important part of the 

 treatment. It would be almost impossible to describe 

 the various cases in which water- baths prove useful, 

 but we may say in general that they assist power- 

 fully the internal cure , in a variety of rheumatic, 

 gouty and herpetic cases 5 that they often facilitate 

 the passage of biliary anxl urinary concretions , and 

 that they are more efficacious, and less productive 

 of congestions, when the secretory and excretory 

 action of the water on the bowels and kidneys has 

 already commenced. 



