HYDROTHERAPY 269 



ing to the temperature of the water. Cold water stimiilates the 

 activity of nerve tissue; warm water, on the contrary, has a seda- 

 tive effect, soothing and depressing. Depending upon whether 

 the application of the water is local or general, a local or total 

 alteration of innervation can be brought about, either of the nature 

 of a stimulation or depression, which is not possible with other 

 cutaneous irritants. Upon the nerves of the skin the action is direct, 

 while the other parts of the nervous system are inJBuenced reflexly 

 through the skin (counter-irritation). By the application of cold 

 water, a weakened nervous system is stimulated, entirely inde- 

 pendent of the change in circulation (derivation), while warm water 

 applications depress an abnormally stimulated nervous apparatus. 

 This is true of the brain and spinal cord as well as of the nerves of 

 the different internal organs, such as the stomach, intestmes, kid- 

 neys, uterus, lungs, heart, etc. Well-known examples of these 

 actions of water are the stimulant effects of cold and the sedative, 

 anodyne effects of warm water applications in colic of the horse 

 and the favorable action of the Priessnitz dressing in abnormal 

 sensibility of the larynx (cough), pharynx (difficult swallowing), 

 brain, musculature (rheumatism), articulations and tendons 

 (inflammation). 



4. The body cells are nutritively stimulated by moist heat 

 (cold acts reversely) and their function of forming antitoxins and 

 their regeneration activity are thereby accelerated. Local leu- 

 cocytosis is also promoted by heat, but is inhibited by cold (see the 

 chapter on aeries). 



5. The glands of the body (liver, kidneys, pancreas; gastric, 

 intestinal and cutaneous glands) are also influenced m different 

 ways by applications of water, partly through the circulation 

 (derivation) and partly through the nervous system (counter-irri- 

 tation). The secretions of the liver and kidneys in particular are 

 stimulated by cold and decreased by warm water applications. 



6. The musculature has, as is well known, special relations 

 with the skin; the diseases caused by chilling (rheumatism, rheu- 

 matic haemoglobinaemia [azoturia]) demonstrate that the two are 



