WARM AND COLD BATHS. 851 



minutes, by bathing in the sea during summer, 

 when the water was at 62 ; and that when con- 

 tinued for fifteen or twenty minutes, it caused 

 shivering, blueness of the surface, small and feeble 

 pulse, great reduction of strength, head-ache, nau- 

 sea, and even vomiting in one case.* What then 

 must be the effect of sea bathing on delicate 

 females with languid circulation, cold extremities, 

 and torpor of the general system, but an aggrava- 

 tion of the symptoms ? And what can be the 

 general effect of the cold bath on very young 

 children but to augment the bills of mortality ? 



The author was informed by a lady residing in 

 London, who was recommended to try sea bathing 

 as a remedy for general debility, that during the 

 month of August, she remained in the bath at 

 Herne Bay ten minutes, when the exhaustion was 

 such that she had to be carried out by an attendant, 

 and did not recover her strength during the whole 

 of that day. I have also had occasion to observe, 

 that the temperature of several healthy young 

 men was reduced about 2 in the course often or 

 fifteen minutes, while in the Holborn bath, which 

 was at 82 ; and that in a boy ten years old, with 

 narrow chest and feeble constitution, a thermome- 

 ter under the tongue fell from 98 to 94 in twelve 

 minutes. We are also informed by Dr. Edwards, 



* It is therefore not surprising that Leander lost his life in 

 attempting to swim the Hellespont in December, when its tem- 

 perature must have been about 50 or lower, nor that in perform- 



