The object of this application is to supply the place of defective natural secretion of oleaginous material, to increase the activity of the skin, and to diminish susceptibility to cold. How this is accomplished, readily appears. The oil is a simple substitute for the sebaceous secretion, which is, in a certain class of diseases, notably deficient. The thorough manipulation of the skin which is necessary in applying the oil, and which is facilitated by a lubricant, directly promotes cutaneous activity. Whether the oil itself has any direct effect in increasing the functional activity of the skin cannot be positively affirmed, although it is reasonably supposable that the skin will act more nearly normal when a deficient element is supplied than when it is wanting. Oil is an excellent non-conductor; and invalids who are especially susceptible to cold may be rendered comfortable by the application of the oil bath.
The class of cases to which this remedy is applicable will be sufficiently well indicated by the purposes which the bath is supposed to subserve. It should not be used indiscriminately. Once or twice a week is sufficiently often to make the application, and each should be followed by a warm bath with fine soap, two or three days after.
NOVEL BATHS.
Numerous substances have been employed in bathing, under the idea that they possessed peculiar specific virtues; the following are some of the chief:—
Mud Bath.—Immersion of the body in warm mud has been a favorite practice at several places in Italy, France, Germany, and other countries. The effects are not very different from those of any warm bath, and are said to be very pleasant, by those who have taken them. If the mud were not medicated, this kind of bath would not be especially objectionable for those who could enjoy it.
Earth Bath.—Burying the body in the moist earth has also been practiced. We have known of one instance in which this remedy was successfully used in the treatment of ague.
Bees’ eggs, milk, blood, wine, sand, and gelatine have also been employed by different nations, at different periods, in bathing. None of these applications are superior to pure water, which all nature recognizes as the proper material for bathing purposes.
ENEMA.
Fecal accumulations in the lower bowel are more quickly and easily removed by an enema of warm water than by any purgative, laxative, or cathartic ever discovered or invented; and the use of this remedy is never accompanied by the unpleasant and painful griping and tenesmus which often accompany the use of cathartics. The administration is a trifle more troublesome, but the results are enough superior to more than repay the inconvenience. The fountain syringe is far preferable to any other for administering injections. Water about blood-warm should be used when the purpose is to relieve constipation, and a considerable quantity—one to three pints, or more—may be used. The water should be retained for a few minutes, while the bowels are kneaded and shaken. In hemorrhage and inflammation of the lower bowel, cool or cold clysters should be employed, and should be retained as long as possible. The copious cool enema is a valuable antiphlogistic remedy used in conjunction with the cool bath in cases of violent febrile excitement, as typhoid fever, when the temperature rises above 103° F.
The enema is a most perfect substitute for purgatives in general. Cases are very rare in which a cathartic drug will be found necessary if the enema is properly used. But the enema may become a source of mischief if abused. If habitually relied upon to secure a movement of the bowels for a long time, the bowels lose their activity, and the most obstinate constipation sometimes results, precisely as from the prolonged use of purgatives.