Another or general mode is to have a washing tub, water only two or three inches deep, put a towel into the water, leave the bed quite warm, step into the tub, take up the towel with as much water as possible, and squeeze it over the head and shoulders several times, rub the body well with the towel, then sit down in the tub, and with wet hands rub the abdomen, etc., for a minute or two.
Delicate persons may be washed all over with wet towels; sometimes it is desirable to wash first with tepid water, then with cold.
Where there is a great whiteness of skin, which indicates a want of circulation, or parties feel themselves indisposed, dripping sheets are prescribed; the friction here used arouses the vital energies, and in general produces a most refreshing feeling throughout the system.
Priessnitz never prescribes cold immersion till the body be prepared for it. When patients have been desirous of bathing in a river, he has always opposed it; saying, “Bathing excites nervous sensibility; too much bathing excites the system to an injurious extent.” The various baths resorted to in hydropathy, are to effect an object, and as such are medically applied. Sea bathing for some constitutions is remarkably wholesome, but to others it is injurious.
X.—Use of Cold Water for Drinking and Injections.
Dr. Arbuthnot, in his work on aliments, says that “Water is the chief ingredient in the animal fluids and solids; for a dry bone distilled, affords a great quantity of insipid water: therefore, water seems to be the proper drink for every animal.” Berzelius, the great Swedish chemist, proved the truth of Dr. Arbuthnot’s observations, by distilling the entire corpse of a moderate sized man down to water, with the exception of eight pounds.
And Milton has expressed his concurrence with those authorities in eloquent language, when speaking of Samson:—
“O madness! to think use of strongest wines,
And strongest drink, our chief support of health,
When, God, with these forbidden, made choice to rear
His mighty champion, strong above compare,
Whose drink was only from the limpid brook.”
About twelve ordinary size tumblers of water a day are generally drunk whilst under the treatment; instances occur where that number is increased to twenty, and even thirty glasses, but such are very rare.
At the beginning it is difficult to drink so much water; but by degrees we become accustomed to it. All the operations of the cure lead to the elimination of heat, which naturally causes thirst. Some persons on first drinking water feel sick, or have diarrhoea, which proves that the stomach is not in a healthy state. In this case, instead of discontinuing the drinking of water, the quantity is increased. When pain in the stomach comes from its being overcharged by food, water, in large quantities is recommended to be persevered in until relief is obtained.