BATHING. 



339 



Bathing. 



Cfautions. 



Effects of 

 the warm 

 *ath. 



should bo placed in bed, and covered lightly with a 

 blanket. In c? es where the patient is much debili- 

 tated, it may be proper to defend the body by flan- 

 nel, from the too violent and sudden action or the 

 cold. 



As producing a salutary re-action of the system, 

 cold bathing has been employed with advantage in 

 tetanus, or locked jaw ; in those convulsions which 

 so commonly affect young children ; in insanity ; and 

 in several chronic diseases, particularly chronic rheu- 

 matism. 



Cold bathing is advisable chiefly in summer and 

 autumn, and, except in those cases where swimming 

 has become habitual, and is borne with impunity, the 

 time of immersion should not exceed a few minutes. 



The cold bath, in all its forms, is inadmissible in 

 all those cases where the heat of the body is less 

 than natural ; where profuse perspiration has come 

 on ; where there is any considerable degree of ple- 

 thora, or unusual fulness of the blood-vessels ; where 

 the person is subject to inflammatory affections of 

 the lungs, or any considerable determination of blood 

 to the head ; and where, from constitutional weak- 

 ness, or unconquerable dread, the use of this power- 

 ful remedy may be productive of unpleasant feelings. 

 Its utility in scrophula, in which it has been much 

 employed, is at best but ambiguous. 



We cannot dismiss this part of our subject without 

 remonstrating, in the strongest terms, against the 

 folly and absurdity of that indiscriminate use of cold 

 bathing which is so prevalent in this country, and 

 which,- we are convinced, is daily productive of the 

 most pernicious consequences. If we consider the 

 great difference that commonly exists between the 

 summer atmosphere and the temperature of the sea, 

 with the bleak exposed aspect of many of our water- 

 ing places, and the keen winds to which the bather is 

 often exposed, we cannot but drink, that a great 

 number of invalids, delicate females, and young and 

 puny children, have been often materially injured in 

 their health by an injudicious use of this powerful 

 application. (See Saunders On Mineral Waters, 

 p. 427.) We would especially caution our readers 

 against an indiscriminate and unadvised use of the 

 shower bath, from which we have ourselves seen and 

 experienced ill effects. 



In entering a bath of a temperature between 85 

 and 97, an agreeable sensation of warmth is expe- 

 rienced ; and this sensation is more striking in pro- 

 portion as the body has been previously cooled. If, 

 however, the water be not kept near the highest 

 point of the warm temperature, the sense of increased 

 heat soon diminishes, leaving only a pleasant feeling of 

 a moderate and natural temperature. The frequency 

 of the pulse is always diminished, and this very re- 

 markably in those cases where, before immersion, it 

 was preternaturally increased. This diminution of 

 the pulse goes on during a continuance in the warm 

 bath, though the water be preserved at nearly its ori- 

 ginal temperature ; insomuch, that a natural pulse 

 lias, after immersion of an hour and half, been reduced 

 by nearly twenty beats in a minute. The respiration 

 is rendered slower, and the animal heat is, in most 

 cases, diminished. The absolute weight of the body, 

 after immersion in the warm bath, is found to be in- 



creased, notwithstanding the perspiration which com- Bathing, 

 monly takes place during immersion ; and the patient 

 feels a peculiar languor and desire of repose, though 

 the spirits are exhilarated, and any previous irritabili- 

 ty allayed. 



It has been generally thought, that one constant 

 effect of the warm bath is to relax and debilitate the 

 body ; and, accordingly, it has been most employed 

 in cases of preternatural rigidity and contraction. It 

 is an observation founded on experience, that moist, 

 warm air produces a relaxation and debility of the 

 living body ; and hence it was natural to conclude, 

 that the warm bath should be productive of the same 

 effects ; but the remarks and experiments of Dr 

 Marcard seem to prove, that these preconceived opi- 

 nions are founded in error. He has employed warm 

 bathing in a great variety of cases, where the patients 

 were either naturally of a weak habit of body, or had 

 been debilitated by disease ; and none of them expe- 

 rienced any debilitating effect, but, on the contrary, 

 all of them felt stronger on the days when they used 

 the warm bath, and most of them were restored to 

 their former strength. In a few cases, however, re- 

 laxation and debility have followed the use of the 

 warm bath ; but these are, perhaps, to be attributed 

 to the heat of the bath having been too great for the 

 constitution of the patient, or the immersion having 

 been continued too long. See Marcurd De la Na- 

 ture et de V Usage des Bains, p. 14. 



The affusion of warm water is more effectual than 

 immersion in the warm bath in diminishing a morbid 

 increase of temperature. It also diminishes the pulse 

 and respiration, and produces a tendency to sleep and 

 repose. These effects, however, are more transient 

 than those which follow general warm bathing. 



On the whole it appears, that the stimulant effects 

 of the warm bath are very inconsiderable ; and that 

 it is useful chiefly in allaying irritation, diminishing 

 morbid frequency of the pulse, and relaxing and pu- 

 rifying the skin. 



Hence the warm bath is likely to be attended with Medical 

 advantage in those cases of fever where the heat is uses- 

 preternaturally great, but where, from some affection 

 of the lungs, or other unfavourable symptom, cold 

 bathing is inadmissible ; in the paroxysms of hectic- 

 fever ; in several eruptive diseases, attended with in- 

 creased heat and dryness of the skin ; in most chro- 

 nic eruptions of the skin, where it acts chiefly as a 

 detergent and sudorific; in atonic gout and rheuma- 

 tism, accompanied with stiffness and swelling of the 

 joints ; in chlorosis ; in slight cases of palsy ; in scro- 

 phulous swellings ; in some spasmodic and convulsive 

 affections, where the cold bath might prove too vio- 

 lent, especially in hydrophobia ; in all those affections 

 of the bowels that seem to depend on an irregular or 

 diminished action of any part of the alimentary ca- 

 nal ; and in cases of debility, attended with nervous 

 irritation. 



When this remedy is intended to produce increased 

 perspiration, it is best employed in the evening, when 

 the immersion should not be long continued, and the 

 patient should be removed from the bath to a warm 

 bed. Where, however, it is not -intended to excite 

 iweating, the most proper time is about two hours 

 after breakfast. In these cases, the bathing may be- 



