GENERAL BATHS.
Baths applied to the whole surface of the body are, as we have already seen, among the most powerful means of affecting the human system either in health or disease. Baths of a temperature less than that of the body, 98°, unless of very brief application, uniformly decrease the bodily temperature. That the diminution of temperature is not merely local, being confined to the skin and superficial structures, is shown by the fact that the thermometer indicates a decline of temperature in the interior of the body as well. The bath diminishes the production of heat throughout the whole system, besides abstracting large quantities by its contact with the body, as previously explained. The diminution of temperature continues for hours after the bath, especially in cases in which it was excessively high at the time of administration. Hot baths have, in general, an opposite effect.