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.