DIRECTIONS FOR INVALID TRAVELLERS.
It being a matter of the first importance to the valetudinarian to adopt every precaution against the atmospheric effects to which he is necessarily exposed in his transit from place to place, and also of great consequence to be provided with such comforts and necessaries as are probably not to be obtained in his route through the country; a few observations on this point may here with propriety be introduced, and which we think cannot be more judiciously stated than in the words, of a popular writer, who has spent many years in travelling on the continent. «It will add materially to the comforts and advantage of invalids who travel en poste, to have a courier who rides before, to avoid the delays at the post-stations, at frontiers, etc., and to have apartments at the hotels ready prepared on the arrival of his employers, as these circumstances often occasion a good deal of discomfort and annoyance to persons in bad health. An easy English-built carriage from a maker's on whom reliance can be placed, fitted up with conveniences, and springs and wheels suited to the continental roads, is requisite for those who wish to travel in comfort. Many of the roads are paved, which sometimes occasions considerable fatigue. For elderly and delicate persons who are liable to be affected by the transitions of temperature, a post-chariot is the best: for others a light travelling britscka, or chaise de poste will best answer the purpose.
It is very advisable for invalids, as well as persons in health, not to sit too long at a time in the carriage, but to get out now and then to walk up the hills, or at the post-stations, as by so doing the fatigue consequent upon the muscles being kept long in the same position will be avoided.
Those persons who labour under affections of the air passages should be provided with a Jeffrey's respirator, though its too frequent use is not to be recommended, as tending to render the respiratory organs more susceptible. A pair of leather sheets may be placed beneath the seat-cushions, as a precaution against damp beds, which, however, are seldom met with in France or Italy. Essence of ginger is a useful stimulant, and a teaspoonful in a cup of tea on arriving after a days journey is very refreshing. Those who are in weak health, and travellers in general, should eat very sparingly of animal food when on a journey, as it tends to produce heat and flushing. Black tea is one of the most useful articles travellers can be provided with, as it is seldom good in small towns or at inns on the road. As an evening meal, tea, with a little cold meat or chicken, is much preferable to a hot dinner or supper, which not unfrequently is a cause of sleeplessness. Those who are subject to cold feet should be provided with short boots of coarse cloth, to slip on and off, over their ordinary boots, as occasion may require, and a small feet-warmer should be placed in the carriage. A large medicine chest, which is a constant companion of many families, will be cumbersome and unnecessary, as almost all medicines of good quality may be obtained in all the towns frequented by invalids. A small chest containing a few articles likely to be required at out of the way places (as lint, soap-plaster, James's powder, a small quantity of calomel, laudanum, extracts of henbane and colocynth, a box of aperient pills, spirits of ammonia, tartarised antimony, castor oil, rhubarb, weights and scales,) will, however, be a useful precautionary addition to the luggage.»
The cheering and beneficial influence of travelling through a succession of novel and agreeable scenes, to a mind under the distressing moral influences of grief, anxiety, or disappointment,—so frequently the precursors of disease,—is too apparent to need any expatiatory remarks on the subject; but we would particularly remind the valetudinarian who naturally, may be tempted to a frequent enjoyment of the prevailing sunshine of the winters of Touraine, that more, than an apparently sufficient warmth of clothing is necessary for such occasions; for, when the still powerful rays of the sun occasionally become suddenly obscured by clouds, or after that luminary has disappeared below the horizon, a rather formidable transition from a comparatively high to a low temperature is here the common result. The proper time for such persons to take exercise at this season of the year, is between twelve and three o'clock.
Nothing conduces more to a healthful action of the digestive functions, a free circulation of the blood, and the due performances of the various secretions, than a sufficiency of daily walking exercise, indeed than the neglect of it, a more common predisposing cause of disease does not exist:—a congestive state of particular organs, an impaired action of the muscles of respiration thereby inducing a tendency to consumption; and habitual cold feet, are among the multitudinous evils emanating from a listless and sedentary mode of life.
To persons addicted to travelling or who are necessarily much exposed to atmospheric vicissitudes, we would particularly recommend the hydropathic treatment, or perhaps more properly, what Dr Johnson terms the «Calido-frigid sponging, or lavation.»
This consists in sponging the face, throat, and upper part of the chest, night and morning, with hot water, and then immediately with cold water. Children also should be habituated to this sponging all over the body, as the means of inuring them to, and securing them from, the injuries produced by atmospheric vicissitudes. It is the best preservative against face-aches, toothaches (hot and cold water being alternately used to rinse the mouth), earaches, catarrhs, etc., so frequent and distressing in England. But its paramount virtue is that of preserving many a constitution from pulmonary consumption, the causes of which are often laid in repeated colds, and in the susceptibility to atmospheric impressions.
Invalids, on their arrival, should also pay great attention to their diet and regimen.