INFLUENCE OF BATHS. 819 



temperature in man. He remained three hours in a bath at 15, and yet 

 his axillary temperature fell only one degree (37'30 to 36v>0 in the 

 first two hours and a half, and then remained stationary at 36%30) ; the 

 amount of heat lost was 800 kilo-calories. A bath in water at 25 for 

 three hours caused a fall in temperature from 37'20 to 36'60, with a 

 loss of 312 kilo-calories ; while a bath of one hour's duration in water at 

 7 caused a fall from 37'70 to 36, the loss of heat being 530 kilo- 

 calories. 



In comparing the effect of baths on different people, it is important 

 to consider the size of the body and the amount of subcutaneous fat, 

 for the greater the size and amount of fat the slower is the cooling of the 

 body. Liebermeister found that the temperature of the axilla of a fat 

 man only fell 0*2 during a bath of 21 to 30, lasting one hour and a 

 half. 



The effect of a warm bath is to raise the temperature, but after the 

 bath there is, as Currie and Liebermeister observed, a fall in temperature 

 followed by a gradual rise to the normal. 



It is impossible here to consider all the numerous results, some 

 contradictory, which have been obtained by different observers. 1 It is 

 important, however, to note that the different results markedly show 

 the power of compensation possessed by the higher animals. A cold 

 bath abstracts a large quantity of heat, but within certain limits does 

 not cause the temperature of the body to fall, for the cutaneous blood 

 vessels contract and thus diminish the loss of heat, and the cold acting 

 on the nervous system stimulates the tissues to increased production 

 of heat ; on the other hand, a hot bath would quickly cause a rise in 

 temperature, if the animal were not able within certain limits to in- 

 crease its loss of heat by an excessive vascularity of the skin and to 

 diminish its production of heat. These compensating factors show their 

 influence by a rise in temperature after a cold bath and by a fall after 

 a hot bath, as the case may be. For this reason a hot bath is most 

 effective in producing a cooling effect upon the body in tropical climates. 

 The after-effects, however, soon disappear, and the temperature becomes 

 normal. 



The compensation is, in fact, so exact in a healthy man, that any fall 

 or rise in temperature, caused by too long exposure to cold or heat, is 

 followed respectively by a rise above or fall below the normal. Thus it 

 is that the mean daily temperature and the daily variations are very 

 slightly or not at all affected by baths (Jiirgensen, 2 Liebermeister, 3 Einger 

 and Stuart, 4 and others). Still it must be remembered that this com- 

 pensation is only effective within certain narrow limits, 5 and does not in 

 any way invalidate the use of cold baths in the treatment of high 

 temperatures in cases of fever. 



Experiments upon the influence of warm and cold baths have also 

 been made upon animals, and the results agree with those obtained 

 upon man. Crawford 6 in 1871 found that the temperature of a dog 

 kept in a hot bath, 45'6 to 44 4, rose in thirty minutes to 42'8, and 



1 For further details and references see Liebermeister, "Handbuch d. Path. u. Therap. 

 des Fiebers," Leipzig, 1875 ; Wunderlich, "Medical Thermometry," p. 109. 



2 LOG. tit. 3 Loc. tit. 



4 Proc. Hoy. Soc. Loiidon, 1877, vol. xxvi. p. 203. 



5 Lovvy, Arch. f. d. ges. Physiol., Bonn, 1889, Bd. xlv. S. 625 j 1890, Bd. xlvi. S. 

 189; see also "Chemistry of Respiration," this Text-book, vol. i. p. 712. 



6 Phil. Trans., London, 1781, vol. l.xxi. p. 486. 



