The Standing Shallow is in some cases preferred by some to the preceding. The patient stands erect in a varying depth of water—from six inches to one or two feet being employed—while his body is vigorously rubbed by one or two assistants, water being poured upon the chest and shoulders at brief intervals. It is a very enlivening bath.
The shallow bath should be completed by a pail douche at a temperature three or four degrees lower than that of the bath.
AFFUSION.
This consists simply in pouring water over the body of the patient, who may be sitting or standing in a bath-tub. It is a very efficient bath for reducing unnatural heat. This mode of treatment was used by Hippocrates, Galen, and other ancient physicians. In the last century, Currie, Jackson, and many others used it with great success in scarlatina. It is a sovereign remedy for delirium tremens, sun-stroke, hysteria, and sometimes of acute mania, when applied of the proper temperature.
PAIL DOUCHE.
This bath scarcely differs from the preceding. It consists in the dashing of one or more pailfuls of water upon the body of the bather by an assistant. By means of a proper arrangement, the bather can administer the bath himself. For this purpose, a pail or other vessel filled with water may be suspended or supported above the head of the bather in such a way that it can be quickly upset by drawing upon a string attached to the side. The stream should fall upon the shoulders, chest, back, or hips, but not upon the head or over the region of the stomach. This bath may be applied after any warm bath, and should be a little cooler than the bath which precedes it. Whether taken alone or after another bath, it should always be followed by vigorous rubbing.
CATARACT DOUCHE.
This is a modification of the douche bath in which a broad sheet of water is allowed to fall upon the body of the bather. The force of the bath depends upon the height from which the water falls, and should be regulated according to the strength of the patient. Almost any one will bear a fall of three or four feet. When the height of the bath cannot be easily modified, it should be of such an altitude as to be well borne by the feeblest patients; the more vigorous can increase its effects by subjecting themselves to it for a longer time.
The observations made relating to the application of the pail douche, apply equally well to this bath.