It is also said by the same Dr. Browne, that madness and melancholy, with all their retinue, may find better effects from the use of bathing in cold water, than from other violent methods, with which people so afflicted are now treated; for, says he, that which will make a drunken man sober in a minute, will certainly go a great way towards the cure of a madman in a month. Now it is most certain, to my own knowledge, that, if a drunken man be plunged over head and ears in cold water, he will come out of it perfectly sober: And some I have known, that in such cases have been recovered by barely washing their heads in cold water. Which fore-mentioned opinion of Dr. Browne is confirmed by the practice of Dr. Blair, who, in a letter to Dr. Baynard, declares, that he cured a man raving mad, who being bound in a cart, stript off his clothes, and blindfolded, that the surprise might be the greater; he on a sudden had a great fall of water let down upon him from the height of twenty foot, under which he continued so long as his strength would permit: And, after his return home, he fell into a sleep, and slept twenty-nine hours, and awaked in as quiet a state of mind as ever, and so had continued to the time of writing that letter, which was twelve months. Distraction also in fevers, of which there are divers instances in the history of Cold Baths, has been cured by being plunged in cold water. See p. 226.
Which relation seems to make that a more probable truth, which was related in a letter from Sir John Floyer, to Dr. Browne, and printed by that doctor; that in Normandy they immerse fools, or dip them in cold water to cure them: A hot brain being the cause, perhaps, of several disorders in the understanding, and is in great part found to be true in the ridiculous behaviour of some drunken men, which, when their heads are become cool, abhor what they before did or said. Now, if such dipping would cure fools among us, great numbers might be made more happy than they are by being so dipped, before they have beggared themselves by imprudence.
King’s-evil.
Dr. Browne, in his discourse of Cold Baths, affirms, that to bathe in cold water hath been found to be the quickest, safest, and pleasantest cure for the king-evil; and he tells us, in p. 85, of a Yorkshire gentleman, who was grievously afflicted with this distemper, having great ulcers in the glands of his neck, which were so much inflamed, as to bring him very low; but, being advised by Dr. Baynard to bathe in the cold bath, he in a month’s time was perfectly cured, his ulcers being healed up, contrary to the opinion of the most learned physicians.
Jaundice, swelling, inflamed eyes, and pains in the joints.
We also find mention, in the description of the Scottish Islands, of an odd remedy commonly made use of there for the cure of the Jaundice; which is this: They strip the party naked, lay him upon the ground on his belly, and pour unawares upon his back a pail of cold water. And also pains in the joints, as Dr. Curtis tells us, will be cured, by holding the part under the stream of a pump or cock; and fomenting with cold water, is commended as good to assuage hot swellings. And I know a person who had often been subject to blood-shot or inflamed eyes, who afterwards, upon the beginning of the same distemper, took, by advice, a ball of linen rags, dipped them in cold water, and applied them to the part, cooling them by new-dipping as oft as they grew hot: Which application was continued three hours, in which time the humour was so repelled, as to be troublesome no more; for the party, to my knowledge, hath had no sign of that distemper since, tho’ the same had been very troublesome many times before: And the same others have tried with the like success.
Defluxions on the eyes.
It is also advised by Dr. Gideon Harvey to wash the eyes well twice a day in cold water, as the best remedy to prevent defluxions on them, and preserve the eye-sight, which it greatly comforts. And this I have found true for many years, my eyes being often apt to be dim and stiff, so that I could scarce open my eye-lids; which, upon washing for a minute with fair water, hath been felt no more for a good while after. Besides which benefit to the eyes, authors say, it is also good to preserve the memory, if the whole forehead be washed twice a day; and it is also a certain cure for itching in the eyes. And indeed, washing with water will free mankind from a troublesome itching in any other part of the body, let it be never so private; as Cook, in his Observations on English bodies, doth expresly declare from experience. And Wedelius affirms, that violent itching in a man’s cod was so cured by him; and, if the other sex would make use of it, a single life would be less uneasy than it seems to be to some.
Callosity & sore feet.
Some people are troubled with a callosity, or hardness of the bottom of their feet, which is so troublesome, as to be a hindrance to their easy walking; for which a cure is prescribed by Dr. Cook, that is, to soak them well in warm water, till the hardness is softened, and then scrape it off with the edge of a knife: And if the feet burn with any unnatural heat, and are tender, it was advised by Mr. Rumsey, in his Organon Salutis, to bathe them daily in cold water. Others affirm, that to bathe tender feet often in hot water will cool them, by giving vent to that which is offensive; and it is useful in a cough.