848 PHILOSOPHY OF BATHING. 



into the bath, and at ten o'clock in the evening was 

 100, while the pulse was 80. I have also found, 

 that while moderately covered in bed, the tempe- 

 rature under the tongue may be raised from 2 to 

 3 in the course of an hour or less, by keeping a 

 flat bottle of hot water over the stomach, and co- 

 pious perspiration induced. So that when the bath 

 is not at hand, this is a very good, although not 

 so pleasant a method, of rousing the circulation 

 when torpid. But it is greatly to be desired, that 

 every house in Christendom should be supplied 

 with the warm bath, which was justly regarded 

 by the Greeks and Romans as a prime luxury in 

 health, and a most important remedy in disease. 

 It must be observed, that when raised above 

 the temperature of the body, water communicates 

 a much larger amount of caloric in a given time 

 than air, which is about 828 times lighter, and 

 contains proportionally less free caloric in a given 

 volume. Hence it is, that the human body is less 

 heated when confined in air at 212 for ten 

 minutes, than in water at 115; and that if 

 immersed in water at 212, life is destroyed almost 

 instantly. And as the attraction of water for 

 caloric is greater than that of air, in proportion to 

 the difference of density, the human body is more 

 chilled in five minutes when immersed in water at 

 32, than when surrounded with a dry atmosphere 

 at 40 or 50 below for as many hours. In like 

 manner, it is probable, that if immersed in a bath 



