76. The _sitz-bath_ may be taken in a small wash-tub, if there is no proper sitz-bath-tub at hand. It should be large enough to allow the water to come up to the navel of the patient, and to permit rubbing. Too large a tub would not allow the patient to sit in it comfortably. If there is no tub to fit, a common bathing-tub may be raised on one end, by putting a piece of wood under it, so as to keep the water all in the other end, allowing the feet of the patient to be kept out of the water. This latter practice is more convenient with very small children, with whom, however, the sitz-bath will scarcely be required, a half-bath of sufficient duration being almost always efficient. It is not advisable for persons little acquainted with the use of water as a curative, to let the patient stay very long in the sitz-bath, it being safer to pack the patient again, and to repeat the sitz-bath after the pack, if his delirium is not removed, or not lessened in half an hour or three-quarters of an hour. This alternating with the pack and sitz-bath should be repeated, till the head becomes clear. 77. In excessive heat and continuous delirium, a half-bath may be given, also, every time the packing sheet is changed. The rule is that _we_ ought not to yield, but the _symptoms must_; and they will, if the treatment is persevered in. Only go at it with courage and confidence. There is nothing to be apprehended from the treatment: where there is too much heat, there is no danger of a lack of reaction, and consequently no occasion for fears that the rash might be "driven in." A physician afraid of using water freely in violent cases of scarlet-fever, would resemble a fireman afraid of using his engine, for fear of spoiling the house on fire. 78. ACTION OF THE SITZ-BATH EXPLAINED. The _sitz-bath_ acts in a direct manner upon the abdominal organs and the spine, and through the latter on the brain. Indirectly, it helps in removing the inflammatory and congestive symptoms in the throat and head, by cooling the blood, which circulates through the parts immersed in the water, and by doing so cools also the upper parts of the body, equalizes the temperature, and diminishes the volume of the mass of the blood, thus making its circulation easier, _whilst it has no tendency to impede the action of the skin_. Besides, the abstraction of electricity, by the sitz-bath, should be taken in account of its action. After the sitz-bath, the reaction takes place in those parts which were immersed in the water, thereby making the relief of the upper parts more lasting. 79. RELAXATION OF TREATMENT TOWARDS THE END OF THE THIRD PERIOD--CONTINUATION OF PACKS DURING AND AFTER DESQUAMATION.