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
If we walk fast, or a long distance, to the bath, it is requisite to
repose a little to tranquillise the lungs; then before perspiration
ceases, we ought to undress quietly, and either plunge head foremost
into the water, or wet the head and chest previously, to prevent the
blood mounting to those regions.
Whilst bathing, the head ought to be immersed several times. After the
sweating or packing process, great care is to be observed in not
exposing any part of the body to the air previous to entering the bath.
The patient should keep in movement, rubbing himself well the whole
time. This stimulates the skin and abates the cold.
The time for remaining in the bath, is governed by the coldness of the
water, and the vital heat of the bather; a second sensation of cold is
to be avoided, or re-action may be difficult.
On leaving the bath, the patient is covered with a dry sheet, upon which
the attendant rubs, until the body presents a warm healthy glow. The
invalid should then dress quickly, drink a glass or two of water, and
walk out in the air to get warm; to effect this by the heat of stoves or
beds would be acting in direct opposition to Hydropathic rules.
When irritation is excited during the cure, the cold bath is sometimes
suspended and tepid baths resorted to. Every house ought to be supplied
with a cold bath, as its habitual use by the members of the family would
secure them against colds, influenza, etc.
Priessnitz says, "that the effect of going into cold water without being
previously heated, and doing so in a state of perspiration, is like a
blacksmith hammering upon cold, rather than hot iron. Cramp frequently
attends the former, whilst a healthy reaction is always the result of
the latter."
XII.--IS GOING INTO THE COLD BATH IN A STATE OF PERSPIRATION ATTENDED
WITH DANGER?
"The transition from a Vapour-bath to snow, or to a Cold-bath, has been
practised by the Russians for time immemorial" with the most beneficial
results,--"this," adds Dr. Johnson, "is conclusive, that there is no
danger whatever in going into the Cold-bath while covered with
perspiration; unless it can be proved that perspiration produced by hot
vapour is a very different thing from perspiration produced by a
blanket;" and, adds the learned doctor, in his valuable work on
Hydropathy, which every one ought to read; "All physiological reasoning
goes to prove, that it is safer to go into cold water when the
temperature of the skin has been raised.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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