476 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1754. 



body grow hard, and tense. She never had had any other disease, except a little 

 fever sonic years before. 



Respecting the indication of cure of this extraordinary disease, as the skin 

 was observed to have lost its natural softness and flexibility ; and to have become 

 , hard, contracted, and imperspirable ; it was concluded that the immediate cause 

 of such a morbid change was a preternatural contraction of the nervous or 

 fibrous parts of the skin, by which its excretory ducts and exhaling vessels were 

 constringed, and did not supply a due quantity of the oily and aqueous fluids 

 necessary to soften and lubricate the parts. Hence it was thought fit to put the 

 patient into a bath of warm milk and water, and to direct her to stay in it a con- 

 siderable time, that the warmth and moisture might relax and soften the hard- 

 ness of her skin : but she could not bear to continue in the bath, on account of 

 the great oppression which it occasioned, and because the troublesome constric- 

 tion of her skin was much increased by it. She was therefore put to bed, and 

 well covered with clothes, in hopes to promote a sweat , but all was in vain ; 

 for her skin remained as hard and dry as before. However, this treatment was 

 repeated for 6 days ; but, on going into the bath for the 7 th time, she was seized 

 with convulsions in the muscles of her legs and arms. This was very unex 

 pected, and made it necessary to discontinue this method of cure. But as it 

 was imagined that it was the weight and pressure of the water which gave her so 

 much uneasiness, a method was thought of to avoid this inconvenience, and at 

 the same time to procure for the patient the benefit, that might arise from the 

 relaxation and softening of the skin and pores by the absorption of an external 

 humidity, which was judged to be necessary to the cure. Now the vapour of 

 warm water has a great power of insinuating itself into the pores, and between 

 the fibres of bodies ; and, by that means, of relaxing and softening the hardest 

 substances, as is observed in dry leather ; which, suspended in the steam of 

 boiling water, becomes much more soft and pliable, than if it had been im- 

 mersed for a longer time in the hot water itself. A vapour bath was therefore 

 ordered, and contrived in such a manner, that the steam of the boiling water 

 might entirely surround the body of the patient, or be directed to any particular 

 part, as occasion should require. She bore the vapour without any inconveni- 

 ence, and was constantly kept in bed in the intervals between the several appli- 

 cations of it. The 6th time of using this kind of bath, she began to perspire a 

 little, and from day to day the perspiration became more general, and at last 

 universal : then the skin began to be less rough, but not less hard ; and the 

 urine was more thin and diluted than before. Her diet was prescribed to be of 

 the most soft and relaxing nature, and principally consisted of whey. As she 

 was judged to be of too full a habit, and as she had not the regular menstrual 

 discharge, she was ordered to lose 12 oz of blood fi-om the foot; and it was 



