Chapter IV: Part 4

The pouring head bath is often preferable to the preceding. The patient should lie upon a bed or sofa, face downward, allowing his head to extend outward over a tub or other wide vessel, while the water is poured upon the head from a little height, by an assistant. The water may be either hot or cold, according to existing conditions. Very cold water is not usually advisable, as its application soon becomes painful, and produces powerful reaction. It should be tepid or temperate. Some cases require very hot water for a few minutes, followed by a slight affusion of tepid water.

In hysteria, epilepsy, apoplexy, sun-stroke, acute mania, delirium tremens, and cerebral congestion from any cause, the head bath is a promptly efficacious remedy.

EYE BATH.

Water may be applied to the eye in various ways. A convenient method when only a brief application is necessary, is to lave the eye with water dipped by the hand. A gentle spray may be applied, or the eyes may be opened and closed in water, thus bringing them freely in contact with the element. Small glass cups made for the purpose may be filled with water and placed over the eye, the water being frequently changed; or wet cloths may be laid upon them.

In applying water to the eye, it is important to be able to first distinguish the exact nature of the difficulty, as much damage may otherwise be done by a wrong application. As a general rule, inflammations of the conjunctiva and _external_ structures of the eye require _cool_ or _cold_ applications, while inflammations of the cornea, iris, and other _internal_ structures, require _hot_ applications. This rule is often violated in hydropathic establishments through ignorance of the structure and diseases of the eye.

Cool applications are best made by laying upon the eyes thin folds of linen cloth wet in cold water. Not more than two or three thicknesses should be used, as a thick compress soon becomes warm, while a thin one is kept cool for a longer time by evaporation. The compress should be changed every five minutes, at least, when there is much inflammation. The fomentation is as good as any method of applying hot water to the eyes. The application, when hot, should be as hot as the patient can well bear. If it affords relief, continue half an hour or more; if it increases the pain, desist at once. The same may be said of cold applications also.

Alternate hot and cold applications will give most relief in some cases. After a hot application, a slightly cooler one should always be applied for a few minutes.

A little milk, quince-seed mucilage, or other bland substance, added to the water, makes it more agreeable to the eye in bathing it.

The eye bath is applicable in all inflammations and injuries of the eye, and is infinitely superior to all other eye washes.

Daily bathing the eyes in tepid water is a good practice for those who use them much in reading, writing, or other work requiring close attention. Many eyes are ruined by neglect and maltreatment.

EAR BATH.

Water applications are made to the ear by means of fomentations, compresses, the douche, or the spray. Compresses and fomentations are useful in inflammations of the structures of the ear, including abscesses which often form in the walls of the external canal. Alternate hot and cold applications are useful in causing the absorption of inflammatory deposits, and thus restoring the hearing. The douche, administered with the fountain syringe, is a valuable means of removing foreign bodies and insects. The warm douche has proved very serviceable in restoring the hearing by removing hardened ear-wax. In administering the douche, the head should be inclined over a basin, while the stream of water is allowed to issue from the nozzle held close to the external opening of the ear. Violent syringing of the ear should never be practiced, as it may occasion irreparable injury.

NOSE BATH.

This bath is administered either by drawing water into the nose while the mouth is closed, or by injecting it by means of a fountain syringe. Great care should always be exercised to apply the water gently, as a forcible application will cause pain and irritation. Injection should never be practiced with a piston syringe, as there is liability of forcing the water into the Eustachian canals and producing deafness. The temperature of the water should be warm or tepid for most applications.

Much benefit may be derived by the proper use of this bath in case of acute or chronic catarrh. The addition of a slight portion of salt to the water does no harm, and a slightly saline fluid is sometimes less unpleasant than pure water, probably because it is more nearly like the mucous secretion of the nasal mucous membrane. Drawing cold water into the nose is sometimes recommended for hemorrhage from the nose; but it is of doubtful utility, because the application cannot be continuous, and transient applications of cold water are always followed by an afflux of blood to the part so exposed. There are better remedies for nose-bleed.

COMPRESSES.

The compress is a wet cloth or bandage applied to a part. The object may be to cool the part under treatment, or to retain heat. The compress may be used with equal success for either purpose. When the part is to be cooled, a compress composed of several folds should be wet in cool, cold, or iced water, as required, and placed upon the part after being wrung so it will not drip. It should be changed as often as _every five minutes_. This is often neglected to the injury of the patient. A very cold compress may be prepared by placing snow or pounded ice between the folds of the compress. This will not need renewal so frequently; but its effects must be carefully watched, as injury may be done by neglect. In applying cold to such delicate parts as the eye, a very thin compress is better. It should be renewed once in five minutes, at least.

When accumulated warmth is required, a thick compress is applied, being wrung out of tepid water, and covered with a dry cloth to exclude the air. Soft, dry flannel is an excellent covering. Rubber or oiled silk may be employed when the compress is not to be retained more than a few hours; but if it is to be worn continuously, they will be injurious, as they are impervious to air and thus interfere with the function of the skin. The effects of a compress thus applied are identical with those of the poultice, and the application is a much more cleanly one.

Compresses are applicable in all cases in which poultices are commonly used. They may replace the old-fashioned plasters with profit and comfort to the wearer. The wet-sheet pack, half pack chest pack and wrapper, leg pack, and wet girdle are all large compresses.

When applied continuously in the same place for a long time, the compress occasions a considerable eruption of the skin, and sometimes boils and carbuncles. There is no particular advantage in these eruptions, and they sometimes do much harm by producing a great degree of general irritation. The notion that they purify the system, though a very popular one, has really a very slight foundation. The discharge is largely made up of elements which would be of great utility if retained in the system, and the amount of foul matter eliminated in this way is certainly infinitesimal compared with the amount thrown off by a few inches of healthy skin. The skin can always do more and better work when healthy than when diseased. The eruptions are no doubt due to debility of the skin, produced by a too long continuance of the very abnormal conditions supplied by the compress. Yet, strange as it may appear, there are those claiming to be physicians who directly aim to produce inflamed and irritated surfaces by the continuation of the compress for months and even years.

The _wet head cap_ is a compress made to fit the head. It should consist of several thicknesses of cotton or linen cloth, so as to retain moisture for some time. It is a good temporary appliance in diseases of the scalp, and for headache; but it should never be worn continuously for the purpose of relieving congestion, as it will have an effect just the opposite of that desired. In eczema of the scalp it may be worn until the disease is cured, being frequently rewetted. It is an excellent means of preventing sun-stroke and other effects of heat when worn beneath the hat in summer; but even for this purpose its use should be temporary, the cap being worn only during the hotter portion of the day.

FOMENTATIONS.

The fomentation is a local application analogous to such general appliances as the hot pack, vapor bath, and hot-air bath. It consists in the application of a cloth wet in hot water. It may be considered as a hot compress. Fold a soft _flannel_ cloth twice, so that it will be of three or four thicknesses. Lay it in a basin, pour boiling water upon it, and wring it dry by folding it in a dry towel. Or, if only one end of the cloth is wet, it may be wrung by folding the dry portion outside of the wet; in wringing, the whole will become equally wet. Apply it to the patient as hot as it can be borne. The second application can usually be made much hotter than the first. Frequently dipping the hands in cold water will enable the attendant to wring the cloth much hotter than he would otherwise be able to do. The most convenient way is to heat the cloths in a steamer; by this means they are made as hot as boiling water, and yet they are more easily handled, not being saturated with water. When no hot water is at hand, a fomentation may, in an emergency, be quickly prepared by wetting the flannel in cool water, wringing it as dry as desired, folding it between the leaves of a newspaper, and laying it upon the top of the stove, or holding it smoothly against the side. The paper prevents the cloth from becoming soiled, the water protects the paper from burning, and the steam generated quickly heats the cloth to boiling heat. For a long fomentation, the heat may be made continuous by applying over the wet cloth a hot brick or slab of soapstone.

The hot cloths should be re-applied once in five minutes. Two cloths should be employed, so that the second may be applied the moment the first is removed. To retain the heat, a dry flannel, rubber, or oilcloth should be placed over the fomentation. The application may be continued from ten minutes to half an hour, or longer in special cases. This appliance is very powerful, and should not be employed to excess. Alternate hot and cold fomentations are frequently more efficient than the continuous fomentation. Hot applications should always be followed by a cool or tepid compress for four or five minutes, at least.

The uses of the fomentation are very numerous. It is indicated whenever there is local pain without excessive heat, or evidences of acute inflammation. Local congestions, neuralgia, toothache, pleurisy, pleurodynia, and most local pains vanish beneath its potent influence as if by magic. For indigestion, colic, constipation, torpid liver, dysmenorrhea, and rheumatic pains, it is a remedy of great power, and is used with almost uniform success. In relieving sick headache by application to the head, neck, and stomach, its efficiency is unrivaled.

When applied to the head for some time without intermission, it will often occasion faintness; hence, a cooler application should be made after the use of the hot cloths for fifteen or twenty minutes.

If the applications must be continued for a long time, it is well in most cases to apply them at a temperature slightly lower than when they are to be used for only a few minutes.

This remedy may well replace the blisters, plasters, cataplasms, scarifications, rubefacients, and other irritating measures so long used for relieving pain, local congestions, and inflammations.

REFRIGERANT APPLICATIONS.

A freezing mixture which will reduce the temperature to 4° is made by mixing equal parts of salt and pounded ice. The ice and salt should be stirred together very quickly and applied at once to the part to be frozen. Two parts of dry snow and one of salt make an equally good mixture. Freezing is more conveniently performed by the rapid evaporation of ether or rhigoline.

Freezing is a useful process in numerous cases. By its use, excrescences—as warts, wens, and polypi—fibrous tumors, and even malignant tumors, as cancer, may be successfully removed. Small cancers may sometimes be cured by repeated and long-continued freezing. Their growth may certainly be impeded by this means. Felons, if treated early in their course, may be cured by two or three freezings.

For freezing a felon, place the finger in a mixture ice and salt, or surround it with cotton, saturate the cotton with ether or rhigoline, and blow it very strongly with a pair of bellows. This is a very good method when an apparatus for producing a fine spray is not at hand. The latter instrument facilitates the freezing very much if used with the bellows.

No harm results from repeated freezing if proper care is used in thawing the frozen parts. They should be kept immersed in cool water, or covered with cloths kept cool by frequent wetting with cold water, until the natural feeling is restored.

The application of ice is found extremely serviceable in many inflammatory diseases, and in some nervous affections. In inflammation of the brain, the ice cap is of inestimable value. Ice applied to the spine will check the convulsive spasms of chorea and hysteria when other remedies fail. In putrid sore throat, or malignant diphtheria, ice is a sovereign remedy. It should be applied to the neck externally, and held in small bits in the mouth. Small bits swallowed will sometimes relieve the pains of gastralgia.

Rubber bags are very convenient for applying ice or iced water; but their place can be very well supplied by dried bladders filled with pounded ice. The ice cap is a double head cap stuffed with pounded ice.

Some physicians recommend the application of ice to the spine in cases of congestive chill and paralysis, and in inflammation of the stomach, kidneys, uterus, and other internal organs. The real worth of such applications in these cases has yet to be determined by careful and repeated observations. We would not recommend an unskillful person to attempt to relieve a violent ague chill by rubbing ice on the patient’s back, and we have some fears that a very skillful operator would hardly succeed to his entire satisfaction and that of the patient.

The snow bath, applied by rubbing the part vigorously with snow, is a useful application for restoring the circulation to frosted parts. In cases of extreme chilling or absolute freezing, there is perhaps no better remedy. Powdered ice may be used when snow cannot be readily procured.

MISCELLANEOUS BATHS, ETC.

VAPOR BATH.

This bath can be readily and successfully administered with such conveniences as every family possess. Place the patient in a cane-seat chair, having first taken the precaution to spread over the seat a dry towel. Surround the patient and the chair first with a woolen blanket, and then with two or three thick comfortables, drawing the blankets close around his neck, and allowing them to trail upon the floor so as to exclude the air as perfectly as possible. Now place under the chair a large pan or pail containing two or three quarts of boiling water. Let the blankets fall quickly so as to retain the rising vapor. After a minute or two, raise the blankets a little at one side and carefully place in the vessel a very hot brick or stone, dropping the blankets again as soon as possible avoid the admission of cold air. Before the first brick or stone has cooled, add another, and so continue until the patient perspires freely. The amount of perspiration must be judged by the face and forehead, as much of the moisture on the skin beneath the blankets is condensed steam. Should the bath become at any time too hot, a little air may be admitted by raising the bottom of the blankets a little, being careful to avoid chilling the patient in so doing. The bath should seldom be continued more than half an hour, and fifteen to twenty minutes will usually accomplish all that is desired by the bath. If too long continued, it induces faintness. A too high temperature will be indicated by a strongly accelerated pulse, throbbing of the temples, flushed face, and headache. The head should be kept cool by a compress wet in cool water and often changed. The temperature of the bath should be from 100° to 115°. Unpleasant effects are sometimes produced at 120°.

After this bath, apply the tepid spray, rubbing wet-sheet, pail douche, or full bath. No time should be allowed to elapse after the blankets are removed before the concluding bath is applied, as the patient will chill. He should not be allowed to become chilly by exposure to cool air before the application of the spray, douche, or other bath, which should be followed by vigorous rubbing.

For “breaking up a cold,” relieving rheumatism, soreness of the muscles from overexertion, and relaxing stiffened joints, this is a valuable agent. It may also be used to advantage in chronic diseases in which there is torpidity of the skin; but great care must be exercised to avoid excessive use, as too frequent repetitions of the bath produce debility.

This is a milder application than the hot-air bath, unless employed at a high temperature, 120° or more, when it becomes more severe.

In institutions where the bath is in daily requisition, a permanent arrangement for giving the bath is usually employed. It sometimes consists of a box in which the patient sits upon a stool, his head being allowed to remain outside by a suitable opening. A wet towel is placed around the neck to prevent the steam from rising about the head. Others prefer a box or small room large enough to admit the whole person, the whole body being subjected to the warm vapor. An opening guarded by a curtain is made in one side to allow the bather to inhale cool air if he should wish to do so, and to give the attendant access to the patient without chilling him by the admission of a large quantity of cold air. As in the simpler form of vapor bath, the head should be kept constantly cool by a cool wet compress often re-applied. Patients troubled with “rush of blood to the head,” should be further protected by a large cool compress placed around the neck and the upper part of the chest.

Steam may be generated for these larger baths by boiling water in the box with a spirit-lamp or a gas-burner, or it may be conducted into the box by a rubber tube connected with a tight boiler.

RUSSIAN BATH.

This is essentially the same in effect as the vapor bath. It consists of a room filled with vapor, and so arranged that by transferring the patient from one point to another the heat may be gradually increased. It has no advantages not afforded by the simpler vapor bath. It is now much used in the larger cities. Probably as much harm as good results from the indiscriminate and reckless manner in which it is employed. Patients have been known to die in the bath of apoplexy induced by the excessive heat. It is followed by shampooing and cooling baths of various sorts.

HOT-AIR BATH.

In administering this bath, prepare the patient precisely as directed for the vapor bath. Instead of placing under the chair a vessel of hot water, place a large alcohol lamp or a small dish containing a few ounces of alcohol. When all is ready, light the lamp or alcohol, and carefully exclude the air. It is hardly necessary to suggest the propriety of putting the lamp in such a position as to insure safety from fire. If alcohol is used in an open dish, it is important to wipe the outside of the vessel quite free from any trace of the fluid, as otherwise it might be communicated to the floor or carpet. Also avoid spilling any portion in putting it in place, for the same reason. It is a very good precaution to place the dish containing the burning alcohol in a plate or shallow vessel containing a little water.

This bath should be conducted in the same manner as the vapor bath. A temperature of 140° to 160° is not at all disagreeable to the patient. At 170° or 180° the same effects are produced as in the vapor bath at 120°. The bath should be followed by cooling baths as directed for the vapor bath.

This is a very valuable remedy for the same class of diseases for which the vapor bath is recommended. It is of very great service in cases of dropsy, Bright’s disease with poisoning from retained urea, and all cases in which a vigorous elimination by the skin is desired. It should not be continued longer than the vapor bath, and much harm may result from its too frequent employment. Like the vapor bath, this may be conducted in a suitable box with an opening for the head.

TURKISH BATH.

This is entirely analogous to the hot-air bath, though on a much more elaborate plan. The patient is gradually conducted from a temperature of 120° to that of 160° or even much more than 200°. The bath is concluded by shampooing, rubbing, cooling baths, and gradual cooling in a room maintained at a temperature of 70°.

The uses of this bath are the same as those of the hot-air bath. It has no advantages over it of very great importance, and is much more liable to produce injury by prolonged and frequent application. It generally occupies an hour, and by those who resort to it as a luxury, as did the ancient Romans, it is often prolonged to several hours.

The long-continued application of excessive heat to the body is a very unnatural process. It tends to produce permanent relaxation and debility of the cutaneous tissues, and the manner in which this bath is administered in Turkish bath establishments is productive of great harm. It is often presented to invalids as almost a panacea; and is given alike to the strong and vigorous, and the weak and debilitated.

The bath is certainly good in its place, but it is decidedly bad when abused. Many consider the hot-air bath greatly preferable since it obviates the necessity of inhaling superheated air, the effects of which upon the lungs are said to be injurious. The hot-air bath is doubtless safer.

ELECTRIC BATH.

Electricity may be more efficiently applied in connection with water than by itself. Water is a better conductor of electricity than the dry skin, and hence facilitates its communication to the body. The ordinary method of applying electricity is by attaching one pole of the battery to a metallic plate, placed in contact with some part of the body, while the circuit is completed by the application to the patient of a moist sponge connected with the other pole. The operator often holds one pole in his hand and applies the other hand, moistened, to the part to be treated. He is in this way enabled to judge very accurately of the strength of the current applied. The metallic plate is frequently placed at the feet of the patient, sometimes in a foot bath. The sponge may be applied to various parts of the body while the patient is in a sitz bath. For a general application of electricity the full bath is most convenient.

This bath is applicable to a very large variety of conditions. To describe them all would be to give nearly all the uses of electricity as a remedial agent, which does not come within the scope of this work. The electric full bath has been strongly recommended for the removal of mineral poisons from the body. Just how efficacious it is in this respect, we cannot confidently affirm. Probably its value has been somewhat exaggerated. Only the primary or galvanic current could be of any service in this direction.

Electricity is generally acknowledged to be a powerful remedial agent; but its use requires costly apparatus and much skill in application. It is necessary that the operator should not only understand the nature of diseases and the proper methods of applying electricity in treating them, but he must also thoroughly understand the general laws of electricity. The electric bath is as badly abused by quacks and charlatans as the Turkish bath. It should not be employed by unskillful persons; and for this and other reasons given, it is not well adapted to home use.

ELECTRO-VAPOR BATH.

This is a combination of the electric and the vapor bath, the electricity being applied to the body by means of the sponge, and metallic plates covered with moistened cloths. It is a valuable appliance if carefully used; but, like all effective modes of treatment, it is very liable to excessive use, which becomes abuse. It has been very highly lauded by certain specialists, and doubtless its value has been unstintedly exaggerated. It is perhaps not well proven that its effects are greatly superior to the effects of the vapor bath and electric bath administered separately; and the latter mode would be more convenient, though consuming a little more time.

DRY RUBBING-SHEET.

Cover the patient with a soft, dry sheet in the same manner as directed for applying the wet sheet in the rubbing wet-sheet bath. Then rub lightly but briskly upon the outside of the sheet with the flat hand. Do not rub _with_ the sheet, but over it. Continue the rubbing ten or fifteen minutes, going over the whole body several times, and not neglecting the arms, the hands, and the feet. This application may be administered daily with profit to nearly all patients. It should always follow any form of general bath in which water is employed, as a means of drying the body. It promotes activity of the skin, and equalizes the circulation.

DRY HAND-RUBBING.

This application is much the same in effect as the preceding, though a little more soothing, and hence better adapted to nervous patients. It consists in rubbing the body gently with the palm of the dry hand. The force of the rubbing should be nicely graduated to the condition of the patient. When employed to excite considerable activity of the skin, the rubbing may be accompanied with kneading of the abdomen, and light percussion of the surface.

Gentle rubbing of the skin is a very soothing process. It will frequently induce sleep when other means are ineffectual. Rubbing the back and limbs downward, and gentle rubbing of the temples, are very soothing to children and nervous invalids.

AIR BATH.

The air has a very soothing effect upon the body when allowed to come in contact with the entire surface. It answers a very valuable purpose when a water bath is impossible, or when the patient is too feeble to endure the application of water. A sleepless person will often fall into a sound and refreshing slumber after walking a few minutes in his room with the whole body exposed to the air. The effects of night labor upon literary people may be partially counteracted by the air bath. Benjamin Franklin was accustomed to pursue his writing to a late hour after divesting himself of his clothing, and he recommends the practice to others compelled to labor late with the pen.

SUN BATH.

The value of sunlight as a hygienic agent is so universally recognized—theoretically if not practically—that we need not devote space to its consideration in this connection. Sunlight is essential to the healthy performance of the vital functions, and must be equally important as an aid to remedial processes. This fact has been amply demonstrated by hospital experience, which shows a much larger percentage of recoveries in rooms abundantly exposed to the sun than in those secluded from its rays.

That the sun has a powerful influence upon the skin is shown by the great increase of pigment in that structure when freely exposed to the sunlight. This results from an increased activity of the cutaneous tissues.

Experience has shown that the sun bath can be employed to advantage in most chronic diseases. The patient simply lies in a position in which the naked skin can be freely exposed to the rays of the sun. The head should be shaded. The bath should not be continued so long as to produce unpleasant effects either upon the skin or the general system. It may be accompanied and followed with the dry hand-rubbing.

SEA-BATHING.

Bathing in the sea is much practiced by fashionable people who make annual visits to the sea-coast for this purpose. It is no doubt useful, though many who participate in it would doubtless receive quite as much benefit if they took as many baths at home during the whole year as they take at the fashionable watering-places in a single week. It is a fine thing to be well washed once a year, however, if not more often.

As generally conducted, sea-bathing is not more beneficial than harmful. The dissipation accompanying it more than counterbalances what good might be gained. It is rather absurd to attribute any specific virtues to sea-water, as many do. Quite a large business is carried on in the evaporation of sea-water and the sale of the dirty residue, which is again dissolved in water and used in bathing by those who live too far inland to enjoy the benefits of bathing in the sea, or who prefer to take their sea-bath in their own private bath-room. Everything must have a counterfeit, and so this seasalt is imitated by base swindlers who prepare a mixture of chemicals just as powerful, but not quite so complicated, and less dirty, though certainly equally good. All of this trouble and swindling might be saved if people would only consider for a moment the fact that all the benefit they obtain from bathing is derived from the exercise, the temperature, and pure water, and not from any impurities which the water may chance to contain.

Sea-bathing is usually overdone. More benefit will be gained by one or two daily baths than by a half-dozen. Fifty baths in a single week are not equivalent to a single bath each in fifty weeks.

MEDICATED BATHS.

We have no faith in medicated baths in general. They are occasionally useful for the destruction of vermin, animal parasites, and perhaps in certain cases of skin disease. Generally, it is far better to take the limpid element “Simon pure,” unadulterated. Many medicated baths have acquired great celebrity by the performance of cures really wonderful, but wholly attributable to water only, in spite of, rather than in conjunction with, the foreign medicament added.

OIL BATH.

Inunction was greatly practiced by the ancients in connection with the Roman and Turkish baths. It consists in rubbing the skin very thoroughly with some unctuous substance. Olive oil may be employed, but cosmoline or vaseline, two refined products of coal oil, are in some respects preferable. Olive oil cannot be obtained pure, except at almost fabulous prices. That sold in the drug stores as olive oil is really cotton-seed oil and mixtures of lard with various other vegetable oils.

A warm bath should first be administered. Then dry the patient, as usual, and apply the unguent, taking care to rub it in thoroughly. Simply greasing the surface is not the object sought. The skin and flesh should be worked, rubbed, and kneaded until the oil nearly disappears from the surface.

The object of this application is to supply the place of defective natural secretion of oleaginous material, to increase the activity of the skin, and to diminish susceptibility to cold. How this is accomplished, readily appears. The oil is a simple substitute for the sebaceous secretion, which is, in a certain class of diseases, notably deficient. The thorough manipulation of the skin which is necessary in applying the oil, and which is facilitated by a lubricant, directly promotes cutaneous activity. Whether the oil itself has any direct effect in increasing the functional activity of the skin cannot be positively affirmed, although it is reasonably supposable that the skin will act more nearly normal when a deficient element is supplied than when it is wanting. Oil is an excellent non-conductor; and invalids who are especially susceptible to cold may be rendered comfortable by the application of the oil bath.

The class of cases to which this remedy is applicable will be sufficiently well indicated by the purposes which the bath is supposed to subserve. It should not be used indiscriminately. Once or twice a week is sufficiently often to make the application, and each should be followed by a warm bath with fine soap, two or three days after.

NOVEL BATHS.

Numerous substances have been employed in bathing, under the idea that they possessed peculiar specific virtues; the following are some of the chief:—

_Mud Bath._—Immersion of the body in warm mud has been a favorite practice at several places in Italy, France, Germany, and other countries. The effects are not very different from those of any warm bath, and are said to be very pleasant, by those who have taken them. If the mud were not medicated, this kind of bath would not be especially objectionable for those who could enjoy it.

_Earth Bath._—Burying the body in the moist earth has also been practiced. We have known of one instance in which this remedy was successfully used in the treatment of ague.

_Bees’ eggs_, _milk_, _blood_, _wine_, _sand_, and _gelatine_ have also been employed by different nations, at different periods, in bathing. None of these applications are superior to pure water, which all nature recognizes as the proper material for bathing purposes.

ENEMA.

Fecal accumulations in the lower bowel are more quickly and easily removed by an enema of warm water than by any purgative, laxative, or cathartic ever discovered or invented; and the use of this remedy is never accompanied by the unpleasant and painful griping and tenesmus which often accompany the use of cathartics. The administration is a trifle more troublesome, but the results are enough superior to more than repay the inconvenience. The fountain syringe is far preferable to any other for administering injections. Water about blood-warm should be used when the purpose is to relieve constipation, and a considerable quantity—one to three pints, or more—may be used. The water should be retained for a few minutes, while the bowels are kneaded and shaken. In hemorrhage and inflammation of the lower bowel, cool or cold clysters should be employed, and should be retained as long as possible. The copious cool enema is a valuable antiphlogistic remedy used in conjunction with the cool bath in cases of violent febrile excitement, as typhoid fever, when the temperature rises above 103° F.

The enema is a most perfect substitute for purgatives in general. Cases are very rare in which a cathartic drug will be found necessary if the enema is properly used. But the enema may become a source of mischief if abused. If habitually relied upon to secure a movement of the bowels for a long time, the bowels lose their activity, and the most obstinate constipation sometimes results, precisely as from the prolonged use of purgatives.

WATER EMETIC.

Warm water at about 92°—not hot water—is a most excellent emetic if taken in sufficient quantity. It is prompt in action, and is unaccompanied by the painful nausea, retching, and straining produced by most other emetics. From half a pint to one or two quarts is required to produce emesis. The patient should slowly swallow a tumblerful, then rest two or three minutes, and swallow another, so continuing to drink for ten minutes or more. As soon as the slightest disposition to vomit is felt—or even if it is not felt, after a considerable quantity of water has been taken—the patient should touch the back part of his mouth with the end of his finger or a feather, as far down as he can reach. This will usually excite the desired action. If it does not, all that need be done is to continue drinking. A little salt added to the water will make it more sickening, and will do no particular harm, as it is thrown out again.

It is not claimed that the warm-water emetic can replace all other emetics in _all cases_. When instant vomiting is necessary, as in cases of poisoning, some more prompt emetic may be used with it. But for all ordinary purposes, it clearly has no rival.

DRY HOT APPLICATIONS.

The use of fomentations is often less convenient or desirable than dry applications of heat, which may be made in a variety of ways. Bottles, jugs, or rubber bags, filled with hot water, hot bricks or stones, wrapped in papers or cloths, hot cloths, bags filled with hot sand, salt, or corn meal, are all convenient methods of applying dry heat.

A few suggestions with reference to the manner of using hot applications may be useful. In applying heat to the feet when the circulation in those organs is defective, it is frequently insufficient to apply the heat to the bottoms of the feet, only. For this reason, jugs or bottles and stones are often applied without effecting any satisfactory results. A much more efficient method is the following: Heat to a suitable temperature two or three pounds of corn meal or salt. Place the salt or meal in a bag sufficiently large to envelop the feet. After distributing it evenly through the bag, wrap the latter about the feet and cover them with a woolen blanket. A rubber bag partially filled with hot water is an excellent appliance for use in cases of neuralgia, toothache, and nearly all acute pains in the region of the head, as it will conform so perfectly to the shape of the part to which it is applied, and may be used as a pillow.

As a general rule, hot applications should not be continued more than an hour or two, at longest, without, at least, a transient application of a lower temperature. Too prolonged an application may result in injury to the part.

WATER-DRINKING.

As a remedial agent, water is of far greater value than any other liquid taken into the stomach. Its uses in preserving health have been previously noticed. Under ordinary circumstances, a person in health who discards irritating condiments from his diet seldom requires drink. Many persons take no drink whatever during the winter months. But drinking is healthful, and pure water of proper temperature may be taken by any one in health or disease if it is taken in the proper manner. Drinking at meals is an unwholesome practice. Drinking large quantities of iced water is unhealthful. Cold water should not be taken freely when the drinker is hot or exhausted. The thirst will be quenched as readily by slowly sipping a small quantity. In fevers, water should be freely allowed. A glass of cool water taken half an hour before breakfast is an excellent remedy for habitual constipation.

Water-drinking may be made a means of bathing the internal structures, as external applications bathe the outside. Water is rapidly absorbed by the mucous membrane of the stomach, and, passing through the circulation, it dissolves many impurities, and is eliminated chiefly by the kidneys and skin. It can be used with benefit in connection with the vapor bath, hot-air bath, and all baths in which sweating is induced. It should not be used in such great excess as it was employed by the early hydropathists, however, whose patients drank from ten to thirty glasses of water a day.

Free drinking of water is useful in cases in which the urine is scanty and irritating. It gives relief by diluting the urinary excretions.

HOW TO MAKE A FILTER.

For drinking, and for all ordinary purposes, it is of the greatest importance that water should be as pure as possible. When water which is nearly soft, and wholly free from organic impurities, cannot be obtained from wells or springs, filtered rain water should be employed. A very useful filter can be easily and cheaply constructed in the following manner:—

Make a hole low down in the side, or in the bottom, of a large earthen jar or flower-pot. Place in the bottom of the vessel a few clean stones about the size of eggs. Fill the jar to within two or three inches of the top with equal parts of fine, clean gravel and pulverized charcoal. Cover the jar with a clean, white cloth, securing the edges by a string drawn about the top. The center of the cloth cover should be allowed to hang down into the vessel so as to form a hollow into which the water may be poured, the cloth serving as a strainer to remove the coarser dirt. The cloth should be frequently cleansed, and the gravel and charcoal should be renewed at least once a year.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

HEALTH PUBLICATIONS.

The Hygienic Family Physician.

A manual well adapted to family use. It describes in simple language all common diseases, and gives careful directions for treating them without the use of drugs. It also contains invaluable instruction respecting the care of the health. Bound in cloth, $1.00.

The Uses of Water in Health and Disease.

This work comprises a sketch of the history of bathing, an explanation of the properties and effects of water, a description of all the different kinds of baths, and directions for applying water as a remedy for disease. Water is not presented as a “cure-all,” but as a valuable adjunct of other remedies, and in some cases the most useful of all curative agents. This work will prove a valuable guide to those who wish to employ water in treating disease. Pamphlet edition, 136 pp., 25 cents. A fine edition in cloth, 160 pp., 60 cents.

Health and Diseases of Woman.

A treatise on the nature and cause of the diseases of women; a work which every woman—especially mothers—ought to possess. Lifelong misery will be avoided by regarding its advice. 15 cents.

The Hygienic System.

An explanation of the principles of a system of treating disease which dispenses with drugs and poisons. It is radical, terse, and uncompromising, and gives the advocates of druggery no quarter. 15 cents.

Healthful Cookery.

A Hand-Book of Food and Diet; or, What to Eat, When to Eat, and How to Eat. It contains a large number of recipes for the preparation of wholesome and palatable food without condiments. Almost any dyspeptic can cure himself by making it his rule of diet; and any one who carefully follows its teachings will be proof against indigestion. 128 pp., 25 cents.

An Essay on Tobacco-Using.

This little work explains the effects of tobacco on the human system, together with those of all other poisons. It finds no apology for the use of tobacco, and faithfully depicts its evils. 15 cents.

The Evils of Fashionable Dress, and How to Dress Healthfully.

A criticism of the fashionable modes of ladies’ dress, pointing out the numerous evils arising therefrom, and the proper remedy. The subject is treated candidly, and the writer admits the possibility of a commendable reform in dress which will not expose the wearer to ridicule on account of its peculiarities. Every lady ought to read it and profit by its suggestions. 10 cents.

☞Continued on next page.

Alcoholic Poison:

_The Physical, Moral, and Social Effects of Alcohol as a Beverage and as
a Medicine._

This work defines true temperance, explains the nature of alcohol and the manner of its production, describes its physical effects upon the human body, exhibits by statistics its moral and social effects, points out the causes and proper cure of the evil of intemperance, answers the drunkard’s arguments in favor of drinking, exposes the fallacies of alcoholic medication, and defends the Bible against the imputation that it advocates or favors the use of alcoholic drinks. Temperance workers will find this a useful auxiliary. 128 pp. 20 cents.

Proper Diet for Man.

A concise summary of the evidences upon which the practice of vegetarianism is based. It contains the pith of larger works on the same subject, with some additional arguments. 15 cents.

Health and Temperance Tracts.

_A Package of 15 Tracts, aggregating nearly 250 pp. 30 cents._

=Dyspepsia.=—An account of its causes, how to prevent it, and how to cure it.

=Healthful Clothing.=—A description of the evils of fashionable dress, and directions for clothing the body healthfully.

=Principles of Health Reform.=—An introduction to the subject.

=Startling Facts about Tobacco.=—A vivid portrayal of the evils arising from the use of the filthy weed.

=Twenty-five Arguments for Tobacco-Using Briefly Answered.=—A tract for every smoker, chewer, and snuffer of tobacco.

=True Temperance.=—A definition of temperance and the true temperance platform.

=Tea and Coffee.=—Why their use is unhealthful.

=Pork.=—The dangers of pork-eating exposed. Startling facts.

=Alcohol: What Is It?=—A description of the chemical and physical properties of alcohol, and the mode of its production.

=Alcoholic Poison.=—A personal appeal to young drunkards.

=Moral and Social Effects of Alcohol.=—A collection of astonishing facts and statistics.

=Causes and Cure of Intemperance.=—The gigantic evil traced to its true source, and the only efficient remedy pointed out.

=The Drunkard’s Arguments Answered.=—A complete refutation of the arguments in favor of rum.

=Alcoholic Medication.=—An exposure of the evils of the medical use of alcohol, and its uselessness.

=Wine and the Bible.=—A defense of the Bible against the oft-repeated charge that it favors the use of fermented drinks.

_These tracts are furnished at the rate of 800 pages for one dollar. A
liberal discount by the quantity._

Address, =_HEALTH REFORMER, Battle Creek, Mich._=

_Dress Reform Patterns._

The following patterns are finely adapted to meeting the requirements of healthful clothing. No woman should be without them. They can be adapted to children as well as adults.

=_No. 1._= A flannel undergarment to be worn next to the skin. It covers the whole body from neck to wrists and ankles. Price, 50 cts.

=_No. 2._= A garment combining chemise and drawers, arranged with buttons so as to support the skirts and stockings from the shoulders. To be worn next to the preceding garment in cold weather. Price, 50 cts.

=_No. 3._= This garment combines chemise and drawers, and also supplies the place of the corset so efficiently that those who have been accustomed to wearing the latter article are happy to dispense with it after a single trial of this dress. It is cut to fit the bust perfectly, thus affording all desirable support. Price, with cloth model, 75 cts.

=_No. 4. Gabrielle Dress._= This may be made either long or short to suit the taste of the wearer. When worn with pants it should be from six to nine inches from the floor. Those who do not wish to adopt the pants may wear the dress two or three inches from the floor with dress drawers and leggins. Price, 50 cts.

We can also furnish patterns for skirts, pants for short dress, and dress drawers with leggins, at 25 cts. each.

Those who wish to secure a good fit should send the following measurements:—

1. Bust measure, number of inches. 2. Under bust measure. 3. Waist measure. 4. Length of waist under arm. 5. Hips, three inches below the waist, 6. Width of back across shoulders. 7. Length of drawers from waist down. 8. Length of back from neck to waist. 9. Length of sleeve inside. 10. Length of sleeve outside. 11. Length of shoulder. 12. Around neck. 13. Around arm-size (high up).

When desired, garments will be made at as reasonable rates as possible, and sent by express. The patterns will be sent, post-paid, on receipt of the prices marked. We employ an experienced dress-maker to cut patterns and make garments, so that all may feel sure of obtaining a good fit if proper measures are sent. We hope that our friends will not fail to avail themselves of this opportunity for obtaining just what they need for their health, comfort, and convenience.

GARMENT and STOCKING SUPPORTERS are also kept at this Office.

⁂ Address, HEALTH REFORMER,
_Battle Creek, Mich._

Health Reform Institute,

_BATTLE CREEK, MICH._

This Institution is admirably located on a site of twenty acres, in the highest part of the pleasant and enterprising city of Battle Creek, commanding a fine prospect, and affording opportunities for entertainment, quiet, and retirement.

With a competent corps of Physicians and Helpers, it offers to the sick inducements that are offered by few others. Diseases are treated in a thorough and scientific manner, and with a degree of success impossible under any other mode of treatment. The principal curative agents employed are

Electricity, Water, Swedish Movements, Hot-Air Bath, and Russian Vapor
Bath.

BATTLE CREEK is an important station on the Michigan Central and Chicago & Lake Huron Railroads, and is easy of access from all parts of the country. ☞ For Particulars see Circular, sent Free on application.

Address, HEALTH INSTITUTE,
BATTLE CREEK, MICH.

* * * * *

BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE.

The College building is both AMPLE and ELEGANT, and the grounds are LARGE and BEAUTIFUL. The corps of Professors comprises Instructors in all the English branches, the Natural Sciences, and both Ancient and Modern Languages. One of the chief attractions of this Institution is the fact that it is

Conducted on Hygienic Principles.

The Professors are all hygienists, and inculcate hygienic truths in their daily instructions. The College has a full Charter from the State, and is empowered to confer Diplomas.

TERMS of TUITION are very reasonable. Good hygienic board can be obtained at very moderate rates.

Terms for 1876–7 open as follows: Fall Term, August 30, continuing 16
weeks. Winter Term, January 3, continuing 12 weeks. Spring Term, April
31, continuing 12 weeks. All who wish further information should send
for the Annual Catalogue.

Address, BATTLE CREEK COLLEGE
_Battle Creek, Mich._

IMPROVED WATER FILTER.

]

The accompanying cut is a representation of one of the greatest and most useful inventions of the age—_Kedzie’s Improved Water Filter_.

Its mechanism is so perfect that it accomplishes all that could be expected or desired of a filter to accomplish, and without the bestowal of more than the slightest amount of attention. It removes from water all those products of decay and disease which are the most prolific causes of sickness and death.

THOUSANDS USE THEM

And admire them, and all are ready to testify to their efficiency and utility. No family should be without one; for it is impossible to obtain from springs or wells water which is, in all respects, so free from injurious properties as is soft filtered water.

Five sizes are manufactured to suit the wants of all. The following table gives their dimensions:—

No. 1, 25 inches high, reservoir holds 2 gallons.
„ 2, 27 „ „ „ „ 2½ „
„ 3, 29 „ „ „ „ 3 „
„ 4, 31 „ „ „ „ 3½ „
„ 5, 32 „ „ „ „ 4 „

=_Prices._= No. 1, $9.00; No. 2, $10.50; No. 3, $12.00; No. 4, $13.50; No. 5, $15.00. Orders promptly filled.

Address, =_Health Reformer, Battle Creek, Mich._=

FOUNTAIN SYRINGE.

]

These syringes have become so popular through the general recognition of their excellencies, that they have almost entirely superseded all other styles for most purposes. The principal advantages which they offer over others are the following: 1. They are self-acting, no pumping being required; 2. They are valveless, and so simple in construction that they cannot get out of order; 3. They do not inject air, and thus do not endanger the patient; 4. By means of the sprinkler attachment, light shower baths can be administered. 5. Various other attachments adapt them to use for every part of the body. 6. The evenness of action with which they operate makes them superior to every other syringe.

No family should be without one of these syringes. They are used exclusively at the Health Institute.

=_Prices._= No. 1, $2.50; No. 2, $3.00; No. 3, $3.50.

Address, =_Health Reformer, Battle Creek, Mich._=

THE

HEALTH REFORMER.

_A HOUSEHOLD MONTHLY._

ONLY $1.00 A YEAR.

THE REFORMER is emphatically a Family Journal, being cheap, plain, and practical, qualities which have won for it the

Largest Circulation of any Health Journal in America.

Radical, but not ultra; devoted to no party, but friendly to all reforms; having no creed but nature’s laws; _unpartisan_, _unsectarian_, _humanitarian_.

Though the journal is chiefly devoted to health, in consequence of the prevailing “hard times” the publishers have recently added several departments which make it more fully than ever

A JOURNAL FOR THE HOUSEHOLD.

_Health_, _Temperance_, _General Literature_, _Science_, _News_,

And many other interesting and practical subjects receive due attention in its monthly columns.