TVII: I;R. 555 



elevated temperature, and in tin- ivm 



producing tin- complications or i dt. 



It is obviously a matter of tip A hat means are at 



our disposal for the reduction of the temperature of the body. In Germany 

 baths arc extensively used for this purpose. This is a method of treatment which 

 s yet been little employed in this country for typhoi >ut the results 



Mccn so eminently satisfactory that it undoubtedly demands our best attention 

 and consideration. 



Our ancestors were very fond of taking patients suffering from hi^li fever to 

 the nearest river, and giving them a dip, and it must be confessed that \ 

 the light of modern science, their treatment was not by any means bad. The 

 bath treatment, as used in Germany. ; ! tuple. For adults the full-length cold 



bath, at a temperature of about 68 Fahr., is used. The patient is lifted out of 1> 

 a sheet, and then carefully lowered. >hc.-t and all, into the bath. The teeth usually 

 chatter a little at first, but the patient does not mind it so much as < >up- 



pose. The duration of the bath should be about ten minutes, but for feeble pe; 

 it may be reduced to seven, or even five minutes. Directly the time is up, the 

 patient is taken out of the bath, rapidly dried with hot towels, wrapped in a warm 

 sheet, put to bed, given a glass of wine, and made to keep quiet. Sometimes t In- 

 patient is put in the bath at a temperature of 95, and the water is quickly re< i 

 by the addition of lumps of ice to a temperature of 72 or lower. This latter 

 method is less efficacious than that of which we have already spoken. The cold 

 bath treatment should be commenced when the temperature in the rectum reaches 

 103, or, in the case of children, 10-i" Fahr. The baths, to do any good, mi; 

 given frequently. Sometimes, in very severe cases, the bath may have to be g\\ en 

 every two hours, and by these means many lives have been saved which wit!. 

 energetic treatment must have been sacrificed. In the majority of cases, how- 

 from five to eight baths per diem will suffice, the aggregate number during the whole 

 course of the disease amounting to forty or fifty. 



It will probably be thought that there must be many objections to this method 

 of treatment, but in reality there are not. Perhaps it will be said that it must be 

 a great shock to the system. Practically this is not found to be the case, it reduces 

 the temperature, and those who have had most experience in this method of treat- 

 ment are the most enthusiastic in its praise. It may be said, but surely it will 

 drive the disease inwards. This is a purely theoretical objection, for of course the 

 whole body is affected with the disease, the patient is ill, and not any particular 

 part of him. But will it not set up inflammation'? No, on the contrary, it is 

 shown by statistics that patients treated with cold baths get inflammation of the 

 lungs far less frequently than those treated by other methods. The trouble given 

 to the attendants is in reality very little. The bath may be used for the same 

 patient over and over again. If placed in the room, or, better still, by the bedside, 

 it will always be ready for use. The patient does not find the cold bath so dis- 

 agreeable as we should at first sight imagine. We have frequently seen patients 

 with very high temperatures placed in a cold bath, and they rarely gave any indica- 

 tion of discomfort. 



