85 



easily felt than understood, by any one who, expo- 

 sing his hand or his foot to this natural heat, com- 

 pares his sensation with what the same limbs will 

 feel , when exposed to the vapour of an artificially 

 heated water. That natural, telluric, heat is mild, 

 penetrating and comfortable, even to 36 40 R., 

 which can be considered as the middle temperature 

 of those steam -baths, supported by some patients 

 even to 44 46 R. , whilst the vapour of common 

 water, heated in a kettle, is sharp, burning and in- 

 tolerable in a few moments, under far inferior tem- 

 perature. We have , as already mentioned , general 

 and partial steam -baths, and if the patient takes 

 only a half -bath, that is to say, if he sits in the 

 box up to the pit of the stomach, he bears a few 

 degrees of heat more than in a whole bath. The 

 head is never exposed to the vapour, which on 

 account of the carbonic acid gas, w r ould very soon 

 produce dangerous effects. 



Few individuals support a whole steam - bath 

 above twenty minutes, but a half -bath longer. Some 

 patients, labouring under the tic douloureux, after 

 having tried innumerable remedies, and even surgical 

 operations, have been, if not radically cured, at least 

 essentially relieved. The steam -baths have proved 

 useful in some cases of deafness 5 and if such patients 

 cannot support the stream of the vapour -douche in 

 the inside of the car, it must be directed in the 

 neighbouring parts of that organ. In rheumatism, 

 lumbago, sciatic, stiffness of the joints, contractions 



