Every Man His Own Doctor: The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and CattleClaridge, R. T. (Richard Tappin)
Science
Every Man His Own Doctor: The Cold Water, Tepid Water, and Friction-Cure, as Applicable to Every Disease to Which the Human Frame Is Subject, and Also to the Cure of Disease in Horses and Cattle
Claridge, R. T. (Richard Tappin)
Hydrotherapy; Veterinary medicine
"But it will not be sufficient merely to attempt to resist the
encroachments of the disease; the efforts of nature to expel the cause
of it, also claim assistance. To this end cold or tepid water should be
freely drunk to facilitate the vomiting, to dilute and weaken the
action of the poison, to stimulate the kidneys, and to supply the waste
of fluid in the blood. Dr. Rutty, in his synopsis, says, 'It [the
drinking of water][Transcriber's note: author's insertion] has also
frequently been found efficacious in stopping violent vomitings and
purgings, partly as a diluent, and partly as a bracer to the fibres; and
in violent, deplorable choleras, cold water is recommended by the
ancients, and at this time is ordered by Spanish physicians with good
success, though Celsus orders it warm.'
"Enemata of pure water, tepid or cold, should likewise be freely
administered; the quantity administered to an infant at one time should
not exceed two ounces; four ounces would be sufficient for a child six
years old; eight ounces for a youth of fifteen, and fifteen or sixteen
ounces for an adult.
"But the principal process is _long and entire friction_, either in the
shallow tepid-bath or in the sitz-bath. The latter seems to deserve the
preference, inasmuch as it will more directly and powerfully aid nature
in her efforts; its primary action being that of a purgative, while a
less body of water will suffice, than could be made to fulfil the same
intention in a vessel of the shape and size of the half bath; but, if
the sitz-bath be employed, then friction with wet hands should be
applied to the extremities. Cold water may be used in the sitz-bath,
provided that there is nothing in the previous state of the patient to
contra-indicate its use; in which case tepid water must be employed.
Tepid water about 70° Fahr. may likewise be employed in the shallow
bath, as the body of water therein must be greater than the sitz-bath;
but warm applications are never indicated. Vapour-baths have been tried
to recall the circulation to the surface, but without effect. On this
point, Dr. Daun in his 'Medical Reports on Cholera,' says, 'O'Brien lay
on the steam couch for three hours before he expired, in a heat that I
am convinced would have raised a lifeless body to a temperature nearly,
if not equal, to that of a person in health; but his body preserved an
icy coldness to the last.' In this case friction in wrung-out sheets, or
in the shallow bath, or perhaps the stimulus of the cold dash, would
seem to be indicated.
"Cramps, in the extremities, should be combated with brisk friction,
with wet hands to the parts affected. It is often necessary to draw off
the urine with a catheter. Before the algid stage sets in, the heating
bandage round the body may be very beneficial; but during the algid
stage it should be omitted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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