The uses of water in health and disease

by John Harvey Kellogg

25. A patient should never be left chilly after a bath. Rub until warm.

26. It is equally important that the body should not be left in a state of perspiration, for it will soon become chilly.

27. Patients who are able to do so should exercise a little both before and immediately after a bath to insure thorough reaction.

28. An hour’s rest soon after a bath will add to its beneficial effects. It is best to go to bed and cover warm.

29. If a bath is followed by headache and fever, there has been something wrong, either in the kind of bath administered, or in the manner of giving it.

30. Very cold and very hot baths are seldom required. The barbarous practices of half a century ago are now obsolete, or should be, if they are not quite discontinued as yet. No good resulted from them which cannot be attained by milder means, and much harm was occasioned which is avoided by the use of less extreme temperatures.

31. Patients should not be allowed to become dependent on any special form of bath, as an after-dinner fomentation to aid digestion, the abdominal bandage, or any other appliance. Destroy such a habit if it has been formed.

32. Order, cleanliness, dispatch, and a delicate sense of propriety are items which every bath attendant should keep constantly in mind, and which will often contribute in no small degree to success in the use of this agent.

33. Never employ a bath without a definite and legitimate purpose in view. It is somewhat customary, in many institutions where water is employed, to apply it in a routine way. Many baths are prescribed for the sake of producing variety, or pleasing the patient. A faithful and scientific physician will carefully adapt his remedies to the condition of his patient, and will observe the results. It seems to be a prevalent error that it makes little difference how water is applied, provided the patient is only wet. Warm, hot, tepid, temperate, cool, and cold baths are used indiscriminately.

So, also, the different modes of administering baths of the same temperature are disregarded in many cases. In general, each particular form of bath is especially adapted to the treatment of special conditions, and it is the best test of the proficiency of a physician, in the use of water, to observe whether he recognizes the distinctions between the various kinds of baths, and is able to adapt them to the appropriate conditions.