HEAD BATH.
The patient should lie upon his back, resting his head in a shallow basin of cool water. The attendant should bathe the forehead, face, and temples during the bath. The bath may be continued until the heat is removed or lessened.
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.