BAILEY. | Mineral Waters. 4] 
by the advancing hordes from the north, the great bathing re- 
sorts were, many of them, allowed to fall into decay, and now 
their remains only are left to point to those days of luxury. 
Early medical writers, as Hippocrates, Asclepiades, Celsus, 
and Galen, describe methods of treating disease by the external 
and internal use of water, and some of their methods are in use 
to-day. Vapor baths, especially for medicinal purposes, have 
been in favor among the people of Turkey, Russia, Ireland, 
Scotland, Japan, and Mexico. At the present time, in many of 
our popular resorts, the external use of water, under the advice 
of a physician, is considered as important as its internal use. 
Some waters, of course, are much better adapted to external 
use than for drinking. The invigorating effect of sea bathing 
has been recognized from the earliest times. For hundreds of 
years the noted bathing localities of England, France and Ger- 
many have been the center of the social life of Europe at cer- 
tain seasons. In our own country, the waters of Saratoga, 
White Sulfur, Rockbridge alum, Bedford, Cresson, Hot Springs 
of Arkansas, California, and hundreds of other places, annually 
attract those who hope for renewed health from the use of those 
waters in agreeable surroundings and under medical advice. 
EXTERNAL USE OF WATER. 
The effect of a bath” depends on the temperature of the 
water. If the latter is high, say about 102° to 110°, the tem- 
perature of the body is increased about 3°; if the temperature 
‘of the bath is as low as 66°, it reduces the temperature of the 
body about 2° within ten or fifteen minutes. A temperature of 
88° to 95° is considered indifferent, as it does not change the 
temperature of the system, and can be indulged in for a con- 
siderable time without any harm. 
The cold bath reduces the frequency of the pulse, produces 
contraction of the capillary vessels of the skin, which becomes 
cool and pale, and a flow of the blood to the internal organs, 
viz., to the brain, lungs, kidneys, ete. But as reaction takes 
place, after a short while the skin becomes red, and the pulse 
normal, or even more frequent than before. The symptoms 
17. Watering-places of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, Edward Gutmann. 
