PART VI. CHAPTER XI. WATER AS A THERAPEUTIC, OR CURATIVE, AND THE VARIOUS MODES OF APPLYING IT. Most blessed water! neither tongue can tell I stooped and drank of that divinest well, It had a heavenly quality to quell All pain: I rose a renovated man; And would not now, when that relief was known, SOUTHEY. NOTWITHSTANDING the efficacy of the hydropathic mode of treating diseases, if we consider the contempt in which every thing else is held, which is thought to be new, is it not surprising that many should be found skeptical as to its ultimate success? But amidst all the opposition with which it has had to contend, it has effected wonders, and produced an unparalleled sensation throughout the land. Without attempting a defence of the water cure, which has been ably done by Drs. E. Johnson, Courtney, Wilson, etc., we shall pass on to give what appears to have been the most simple and efficacious plans pursued; reminding our readers, that those who are not suffering from hereditary disease, and who follow nature, will not need to have recourse even to these. In cases of diseases of long standing, of a complicated nature, and which affect the more vital parts of the body, it is not recommended to the patient to treat himself, but to place himself, if possible, under the care of some one who has studied, and understands the principles of the care. * We refer all those who wish to understand it, to the authors before named, by whom the principles are explained; the various modes of application given; and the practice defended; though not in that simple and plain manner we could have desired. This, however, may be accounted for, seeing they wrote for the information and direction of medical men, in whose hands they wish to keep the cure; hence the free use of medical technicality, with which their works abound. Patients who perspire in the morning, should commence drinking small doses, at short intervals, during the process of sweating, in order to keep up and promote the perspiration, and to cool important internal organs. Too much should not be taken, as it would check perspiration. A short time after breakfast, one glass of cold water should be taken every quarter or half hour, according to circumstances. A copious use of cold water during meals, if you are resolved to use hot, fat, and indigestible food, cannot be too strongly recommended, Let each, however, test by experiment how much he ought to use, as he alone is judge in the case. One grand criterion by which he may judge of the proper quantity of water to be taken generally is, when shivering takes place-in which case the patient should cease for a time, and have recourse to exercise, the sure means of removing any ill effects. Under the head of the internal uses of cold water, we may classify injections into the different parts of the body; such as the throat, ears, etc. The syringet is of great importance in * Though all curable diseases are curable by hydropathy, yet there are diseases, such as where the general system is so far weakened as not to have sufficient energy left to enable the patient to undergo the treatment-disease of the lungs-organic defects-where the patient can only be relieved. A bone syringe can be procured for ninepence, and used without a second person. all diseases of the abdomen. twelve injections have been given in one day; but they should be used as sparingly as possible. They should seldom exceed one or two daily, and in some cases tepid water will answer better than cold, especially in commencing the treatment with very irritable persons. In some dangerous cases, ten or The different processes of the cold water treatment consist in ablutions—the rubbing wet sheets-the wet sheet to lie in -wet bandages-sweating in the blankets-and the various baths. To promote and increase the effects of cold water, used internally, it is applied externally in a variety of ways, according to the objects to be fulfilled in the treatment. We may first mention the GENERAL ABLUTIONS, which should be used by all persons, in health to preserve it, and in disease to cure it. The best time for these is the morning, immediately after rising from bed, before dressing, and before the body has become chilled. The patient must take exercise afterward, if possible, in the open air. Very great invalids only may be allowed, after washing, to retire to bed. The time required is only about five minutes, and the method is very simple, and can do no harm. The mode of taking the ablution is as follows: The patient stands in a spacious vessel (so that the water which runs off may not soil the room— where this is of moment, a large thick cloth should be spread under the vessel, and extend some distance beyond it); the naked hand, or a large sponge, is dipped in the water, and conveyed briskly for some three or four minutes, over the whole surface of the body-the quicker the better. (See Appendix, W.) Water may also be poured on the head; but all persons, especially at first, are not able to bear the latter application. Another plan is, the patient has a wet sheet (not well wrung out as for sweating), thrown over the head and body, which creates a sensation, or slight shock, and is an excellent tonic. In this he remains one, two, or three minutes, or even more, if there be much heat in the system; one or two persons should assist the patient in well rubbing the body while in the sheet, and also with a dry one after the wet one is removed. The rubbing should be applied more vigorously to the parts diseased, if any. If this course be regularly attended to, with drinking freely of cold water, it will be found of great value to persons suffering from gout, in its infancy, nervous irritability, or weakness of the skin, etc. Let any person try it, and he will soon become a convert to our opinions. If there were arguments needed to convince any of its importance, to all classes of the community, we need only call attention to the structure of that most important, but grossly neglected organ-the skin. The importance of a correct performance of its functions, is thus clearly shown by Dr. E. Johnson. "When the great extent of the skin is considered-its structure its great sensibility-its exceeding vascularity-and the great abundance of nerves with which it is supplied-it cannot be doubted, I think, that so elaborate a piece of machinery was constructed in order to fulfill some very important functions in animal life. And whatever those functions may be, it must manifestly contribute to the due performance of those functions to keep the skin clean, and have it frequently refreshed by general ablutions. And again, whatever its functions may be, it must, I think, materially interfere with them to have the skin constantly covered from contact with cold air, which all experience proves to be so invigorating to the system generally, and to have it perpetually smeared and choked up with the grease of perspiration. Thus the skin is seen to be the most important and extensive organ of the human body; the greatest medium for purifying it; and every moment a multitude of useless, corrupted, and worn-out particles evaporate through its numberless small vessels,* in an insensible * Obstructed perspiration is the cause of many of the most painful disorders of mankind; which we shall be convinced of, if we consider that manner. This secretion is inseparately connected with life, and the due circulation of the blood. If we were in a state of nature, the outward air, by playing upon the surface of the skin, would dry up, and carry off this moisture, as soon as it reached that surface. But in our artifi cial state, the air never being permitted to blow upon our bodies, they being covered three or four deep, with wrappings of various sorts, to exclude that air, which we appear to dread as if it would be death, our skins become clogged, and, by degrees, as we get older, the accumulation of stucco increases, becoming daily more and more impervious, until at length we get crusted over with a substance similar to Roman cement, or plaster of Paris! And yet we expect to have our health! Impossible! Disease must be the consequence, sooner or later. On the other hand, were the state of the skin well attended to, these horrid complaints, the gout, rheumatism, nervousness, and a thousand other miseries, to which we are now subject, would cease to be; and the annoying visitation of colds would no longer afflict us. Ancient history tells us that the perspi a healthy person of middle station, perspires, within twenty-four hours, no less than from three to six pounds, as was proved by the experiments of Sanctorius, who, to ascertain this fact, passed more than twenty years of his life in the weighing chair. It is thus, that the system expels, through the pores, "noxious matters, which, if retained in the body by a constricted skin, cannot be otherwise than productive of serious consequences; for this extensive outside covering is a necessary outlet for the wastes of nature, and discharges, when in a healthy state, more than the lungs, bladder, and bowels together. By microscopic inspection, it is fully proved, that the surface of the skin resembles a very scaly fish; those scales are so small, that a space occupied by a grain of sand, will cover 250 of them. On examining one of these scales by a highly magnifying power, it is clearly seen that one scale covers 500 pores, or holes through which perspiration escapes; consequently, the space occupied by a grain of sand, say the twentieth part of an inch, includes and covers 125,000 pores. What then must the surface of the whole skin cover? This is beyond all calculation, equally true and wonderful. Hence, it is proved to a demonstration, that the skin is constructed to answer the most important purposes in the animal economy. See Dr. Graham "On the Skin." |