170 The Bath Thermal Waters ; 



" dry " operated without immersion. We call them now the 

 dry and wet douche (Ital. duccia) ; the latter being for a long 

 time the only one used. The old custom was to pump every 

 part of the body ; the fears of the timid were, however, often 

 kindly consulted by putting segments of the body into hot 

 mineral water, and then pumping on them. But just as the 

 time of sojourn in a bath was absurdly long, so the number 

 of pump-strokes often inflicted seems to us now quite aston- 

 ishing. Dr. Peirce relates that 700 or 800 pumps were now 

 and then directed on the bare head, then 1,500, then 2,000, 

 and so on for five or six weeks every year. For lumbago 

 2,000 strokes were ordered to be pumped on the back, and 

 the cure was completed by ten morepumpings of a thousand 

 strokes each. The tremendous hydrotherapy of former days 

 is now banished from medical practice ; and a more mild 

 and frequent regimen is in every way better. The excellent 

 plan of combining douching and shampooing has been in- 

 troduced here from Aix-les-bains, with more refinement and 

 gentleness. The "reclining bath" and the "chair bath" 

 provide for the necessities of those patients who are afflicted 

 with weak limbs and failing hearts. 



An old physician (Dr. Guidott) was right in saying that hot 

 baths have the advantage of cold ones during nine months 

 out of twelve; but the dictates of care and forethought 

 have for that reason to be the more punctually observed. 

 The custom of a morning bath has many recommendations 

 in its favour. Refreshed by sleep and the early meal, the 

 system is better able to bear the toils of the bath and all the 

 processes auxiliary thereto. Bathing should not be, as a, 

 rule, within two hours of a meal ; but some milk, or warm 

 broth, is admissible just before going to a bath, especially 

 during the winter. Most patients are ordered to bathe three or 



