Life in a tub; with a description of the Turkish bathDiogenes [pseudonym]
Science
Life in a tub; with a description of the Turkish bath
Diogenes [pseudonym]
Baths, Turkish; Hydrotherapy
As regards the use of the foot bath, we may observe that the theory of
its administration subverts all our preconceived notions respecting the
proper mode of treating those affections for which it is usually
prescribed. For instance, the old mode of proceeding in affections of
blood to the head, or in cases of cold feet, was to apply cold to the
head and warmth to the feet, in the shape of hot flannels, hot bricks,
and hot stupes. Now the Hydropathic mode of treatment is the very
reverse of this, viz., to bathe the head in tepid, and place the feet
in cold water to about the depth of three inches, up to the
ankles—friction of the feet accompanying their immersion; the whole
being continued for about ten minutes. Let any person suffering from
cold feet try this remedy, and he will satisfy himself of the truth of
the principles which enjoin it. Its rationale is as follows:—The
application of warm water to the head, of the same temperature as the
body, does not increase the flow of blood to it, whilst the subsequent
evaporation from the moist and warm surface of the head cools it
gradually, and so diminishes the flow of blood to it, whilst the cold
application to the feet, has, “for a secondary result, the attraction
and retention in those parts of great quantity of blood, and
consequently of increased temperature there. In fact,” continues Dr.
Gully, “a cold foot bath of twelve or fifteen minutes, followed by a
walk of half-an-hour, is the most certain way to warm the feet that can
be devised; just as, per contra, the most certain way to insure cold
feet, is to soak them in hot water. The same applies to the hands. When
the patient is in a condition to take it, a walk is necessary to obtain
the circulating reaction alluded to:” he adds, “the warmth remains for
several hours. Very frequently I have heard persons say that they have
not known cold feet since they began to take cold foot baths.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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