Bath. In medicine, the medium in which the body, or a part of it, is bathed or immersed, for some object beyond that of mere personal cleanliness or enjoyment; the composition, use, or temperature of the medium being generally indicated by some epithet, as in the instances below. When only the last is pointed out, pure water is, of course, intended to be used.
Baths are divided by medical writers into classes, and even minor subdivisions, in a manner which is more ingenious than useful. They are said to be SIMPLE when water or its vapour forms the bath; and COMPOUND when the water or vapour is medicated by the addition of other substances (COM′POUND BATHS; BAL′NEA COMPOS′ITA, L.). The latter class is also subdivided into THERAPEU′TIC BATHS (MED′ICATED BATHS; BAL′NEA MEDICA′TA, B. THERAPEU′TICA, L.); and NUTRIT′IVE BATHS (B. NUTRIEN′TIA, B. NUTRI′′TIA*, B. NUTRITO′′RIA*, L.). Thus, besides the ordinary water and vapour baths, the medical uses of which are hereafter noticed, we have WINE′-BATHS, MILK′-BATHS, SOUP′-BATHS, &c. (used to convey nourishment, or to sustain the body, as in occlusion of the œsophagus, certain diseases of the stomach, &c.); CHLO′′RINE BATHS, SUL′PHUROUS B., MERCU′′RIAL B., &c. (used in skin diseases, syphilis, &c.); AROMAT′IC and CHALYB′EATE BATHS (employed as tonics); and ACID BATHS (sometimes used to remove the effects of mercury).
On the Continent a variety of substances are employed to medicate baths, which are seldom or never so used in this country.
The quantity of any medicinal substance used to medicate a bath, for an adult, may be, in general, for each gallon of water employed, about the same as that which is used to form a half-pint lotion of medium or rather weak
strength. Thus; taking the quantity of bichloride of mercury to form the lotion at 5 gr., and that of sulphurated potash at 1⁄2 dr., the quantity required for a bath of 30 to 40 galls. will be about 21⁄2 dr. of the first, and about 13⁄4 oz. of the second of these substances. Much, however, depends on the nature of the case, the length of the immersion, the periods of recurrence, and the intended number of repetitions. In the case of very active remedies it will be safest and best to begin with less than (say 1⁄4 to 1⁄3) the quantity thus indicated.
Medicated baths are, in nearly all cases, taken warm or fully tepid.
⁂ In the following baths the quantity of the ingredients ordered, when not otherwise indicated, is that proper for an ordinary full-sized bath for an adult; viz., from 40 to 60 galls. Those which do not contain volatile substances may be used more than once; and many of them several times by adding a small quantity of fresh ingredients to keep up their strength.
Bath, Acid (ăs′-). Syn. Bal′neum ac′idum (ăs′-), L. See Hydrochloric, Nitric, Nitro-hydrochloric, and Sulphuric Acid Baths (below). Enamelled, hard-glazed, or wooden vessels must be used with all of them.
Bath, Air. Syn. Bal′neum pneumat′icum, L.:—a. (Cold.) Simple exposure of the body, in a state of nudity, for a short time to the atmosphere. Tonic, anodyne, and sedative; in febrile excitement, nervous irritability, and restlessness accompanied by a quick or full pulse, &c. Safe and often very effective. It will frequently induce sleep when all other means fail.
b. (Hot:—Assa, A. suda′tio, L.) An apartment to which dry heated air is admitted. Sometimes the arrangement is such that the air is not inhaled. Stimulant; sudorific; more so than even the vapour bath; produces copious perspiration, being, indeed, the most powerful and certain diaphoretic known. It has been advantageously employed in cholera (for which its advocates state that it is almost a specific), congestive fevers, chronic rheumatism, contractions, stiff joints, paralysis, scaly skin-diseases, dropsical swellings, and most of the cases in which the vapour bath is usually employed. The temperatures are—as a sudorific, 85° to 105° Fahr.; as a stimulant, 100° to 130°. When not inhaled it may be often raised, with advantage, 15° to 25° higher. See Bath, Turkish.