"This occasioned that caution of the great Boerhaave, against mixing things without evident necessity, and without full proof of the effect they will produce when joined together, as well as of that they produce when asunder; seeing (as he observes) that several things which taken separately are safe and powerful medicines, when compounded not only lose their former power, but compose a strong and deadly poison." In recommending to his followers the use of water, Mr. Wesley proceeds to state, "_that cold bathing cures young children of the following complaints_:-- Convulsions, coughs, gravel Inflammations of ears, navel and mouth Rickets Cutaneous inflammations Pimples and scabs Suppression of urine Vomiting Want of sleep "Water," he further adds, "frequently cures every nervous[3] and every paralytic disorder. In particular:-- Asthma Agues of every sort Atrophy Blindness Cancer Coagulated blood of bruises Chin cough Consumption Convulsions Coughs Complication of distempers Convulsive pains Deafness Dropsy Epilepsy Violent fever Gout (running) Hectic fevers Hysteric pains Incubus Inflammations Involuntary stool or urine Lameness Leprosy (old) Lethargy Loss of speech, taste, appetite, smell Nephritic pains Palpitation of the heart Pain in the back, joints, stomach Rheumatism Rickets Rupture Suffocations Surfeits at the beginning Sciatica Scorbutic pains Swelling in the joints Stone in the kidneys Torpor of the limbs, even when the use of them is lost Tetanus Tympany Vertigo St. Vitus' dance Vigilia Varicose ulcers The Whites [3] "And this, I apprehend, accounts for its frequently curing the bite of a mad dog, especially if it be repeated for twenty-five or thirty days successively." "Water prevents the growth of hereditary Apoplexies Asthmas Blindness Consumptions Deafness Gout King's evil Melancholy Palsies Rheumatism Stone "Water drinking water generally prevents Apoplexies Asthma Convulsions Gout Hysteric fits Madness Palsies Stone Trembling. "To this children should be used from their cradles." We then find the following prescriptions:-- "_For Asthma._--Take a pint of cold water every morning, washing the head in cold water immediately after, and using the cold bath. "_Rickets in Children._--Dip them in cold water every morning. "_To prevent apoplexy._--Use the cold bath and drink only cold water. "_Ague._--Go into a cold bath just before the cold. "_Cancer in the breast._--Use the cold bath. This has cured many. This cured Mrs. Bates, of Leicestershire, of a cancer in her breast, a consumption, a sciatica, and rheumatism, which she had had nearly twenty years.