The regular use of lukewarm sitz baths is a most valuable hygienic measure for the prevention of various general or local disturbances consequent upon increased flow of blood to the genital organs. These local baths are best taken at a temperature of 95° F. (35° C.), and should last twenty minutes; they should be taken just before going to bed, and while sitting in the hip bath the skin of the abdomen and of the lower part of the back should be rubbed with the hand encased in a friction-glove. The bather on leaving the bath should get straight into bed, and should dry herself beneath the bedclothes, rubbing the skin till it glows. Such sitz baths serve also to keep the external genitals clean, and to guard against infection. For vaginal douching, water sterilized by boiling should be employed, and where any catarrh of the vaginal mucous membrane is present, some alum, permanganate of potassium, or boric acid may be added with advantage; the pressure of water, when a vaginal douche is given, should never be high, the reservoir of the irrigator being raised not more than twenty inches above the outlet of the nozzle; as a rule the water should be lukewarm; the patient should be in the recumbent posture. The reservoir of the irrigator and the intra-vaginal nozzle are most suitably made of glass, to insure cleanliness; the nozzle should not be thrust too far in, two inches being quite sufficient. After the use of the douche, the woman should remain ten or fifteen minutes in the recumbent posture. In addition to the hygienic employment of such full baths and local baths, a number of mineral baths have important therapeutic applications in cases of disease of the female genital organs, the traditional value of such baths having been scientifically endorsed by the modern science of balneo-therapeutics. By means of suitably selected mineral water baths, a powerful derivative stimulus may be given to the skin, and the affected reproductive organs may thus be beneficially influenced. Further, in acute inflammatory conditions or hyperæmia of the uterus or its annexa, these baths have an antiphlogistic influence; on the other hand, when intrapelvic exudations have formed, the baths promote the absorption of these inflammatory products; again, in congestive states of the female genital organs, with relaxation, thickening, and hypersecretion of the genital mucous membrane, the baths have an astringent and tonic influence on the tissues; finally, they have a favorable effect on the innervation and nutrition, not only of the reproductive apparatus, but of the entire organism. It is easy to understand why women during the menacme are frequent visitors to spas.