Every Man His Own Doctor / The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and Cattle

by R. T. Claridge

XXIV.—The Tepid, or Abgeschrecte Bath.

This bath is precisely the same as the half-bath, and applied in the same way; the only difference being the water, which in this bath is tepid; i. e. ordinarily 62 or 63 deg. of Fahrenheit, sometimes as high as 76 deg. In ordinary cases eight or ten minutes are sufficient, though in gout I have known it continued for hours. Great friction, except in eruptive cases, is applied the whole time.

The temperature during the use of this bath must be gradually diminished by the addition of cold water. After rubbing the body for a short time, the attendant throws a can of cold water on the head and shoulders and then renews the friction, a process repeated until inflammation and pain has subsided. If the patient feels weak or tired under the operation, he is allowed to come out for a few minutes and then begin again. It is customary with Priessnitz to put all new-comers into a tepid bath for one or two minutes, then into the cold plunge bath and back to the tepid. By these means he judges of their powers of re-action, and prescribes accordingly.

Tepid baths are always used in eruptive cases. All practitioners would do well to begin with these baths and proceed by degrees to colder ones. Every day’s experience teaches Priessnitz the value of tepid baths.

Whenever these baths are ordered—for instance for fifteen minutes—instead of taking the whole at once, the dose is administered à trois reprises. After the first five minutes, the patient gets out of the bath and walks about the room, covered with a dry sheet, until he gains a little life and activity in the joints, which will be effected in two or three minutes. He then returns to the bath, and after the next five minutes the same process is repeated. After the third process, the patient is dried and walks about the room in the dry sheet for a short time, by way of taking an air bath. This is an important modification in the use of this bath. When patients are feeble and not able to support a bath so long as is often necessary to remove the attack, of whatever nature it may be, by dividing it in the way described, nature recovers herself a little during each rest, and the sufferer is thus enabled to take the whole; whereas, without any such pauses, the demand made on his strength might be too great. With children this mode of treatment is particularly observed.