In cases where there is great feebleness, much care must be exercised in washing the patient and changing his body-linen. Before beginning, the nurse should see that the room is properly warmed, and that _all_ she is likely to need is ready to hand; she must be careful that no draught shall reach her patient, and that he does not get a chill through unnecessary dawdling; at the same time, she must not hurry him, so as to increase the fatigue. Any amount of washing is tiring to the very weak, and therefore toilet operations had better begin soon after breakfast. If possible, the body-linen should be changed at the same time. It is a good plan to keep two sets of under-linen going, so that the same may not be worn day and night. If the patient perspires much, the linen must be dried and warmed each time of changing; it is not enough that it has been once aired; every time it becomes damp the same process must be repeated. The same thing applies to towels, which are so often put away damp and used again without airing; no wonder that illness, resulting from cold, shivering or a fit of coughing, not seldom follows the washing process, whilst the simple precaution of using a towel well aired and warmed would do away with the discomfort. Sometimes lying in bed produces great irritability of the whole skin, and the patient shrinks from any attempts at washing. In such cases, a soft sponge should be used, in one direction only, and that downwards; and a nice way of drying a sensitive part is to lay the towel smoothly over the place and pass the hand over the towel three or four times, very much as though drying a wet page with blotting-paper. During the process of bit-by-bit washing, the bedclothes must be protected by a piece of mackintosh or thick towel; but should they become wetted, they must be changed at once, for even if not damp enough to do serious injury, there is sure to be some amount of discomfort; and everything, however small, that causes annoyance must be looked upon as a drawback to recovery, and treated accordingly.