384. Water for medicinal purposes, _e.g._, making infusions, decoctions, &c., should be the purest which can be procured. At certain seasons, however, especially during the monsoon, the best water is apt to be so muddy as to be unfit either for medicinal or drinking use. Under these circumstances, recourse may be had to the native practice of rubbing the inside of a vessel or _chattie_ with Clearing Nut, the Seeds of Strychnos Potatorum, _Linn._, Nir-malí (_Hind._, _Beng._, _Mah._, and _Guz._), Chil-bínj (_Duk._), Tétrán-kottai (_Tam._ and _Malyal._), Tétrán-parala (_Tel._), Ingini-atta (_Cing._), Kamou-yeki (_Burm._), bruised or sliced, previous to the water being poured into it. This simple measure is said to render the muddiest water clear and wholesome. Where water has been collected from swampy or malarious localities, a better plan is to subject it (with the addition of a piece of freshly prepared charcoal) to _boiling_, and subsequent straining or filtering. The uses of water in medicine are multifarious and important. 385. _As a drink in Fever and Inflammations_, cold water may be taken without restriction, and it may be rendered more refrigerant and agreeable by the addition of some mucilaginous agents, as rice, &c., and some vegetable acid, as tamarind pulp or lime-juice. For _Irritability of Stomach and Vomiting in Fever_, water drunk as hot as it can be borne will often prove very effectual; "But," observes Dr. Aitchison, "the remedy should not consist of merely a mouthful or so of hot water; but of two or three tumblers full. One would suppose that drinking this amount of water on an irritable stomach would rather produce vomiting: this is not the case. The patient may bring up a little of the water; but usually he simply turns round, and falls asleep as if a narcotic had been given him." _In Smallpox, Measles, Scarlatina, and other Fevers_, the practice of freely sponging the surface once or twice daily with water is extremely grateful and refreshing to the patient, and may be used with perfect safety unless the heat be high above the natural standard, when tepid water should be substituted. As a general rule, the temperature of the water should be regulated by the patient's feelings; it should be cold, tepid, or quite warm, as is most agreeable. A mixture of Vinegar and Water (one part of the former to three of the latter) is even more refreshing than plain water.