And it hath been observed, that froward children have been made much more quiet, by washing their lower parts every morning with water, to wash off the salts of their urine, which usually stick in the pores of the skin, and are fretful and uneasy; and nothing cures their soreness about those parts like it. Nor is there any thing more effectual to cure men who are gauled by riding, than to wash themselves well when they go to bed with cold water; and washing the bare breast every morning with cold water, will make those hardy who before were apt at every turn to take cold. To which I will add what Sir Theodore Mayhern affirms in his _Medicinal Counsels_, that in most diseases [Sidenote: _Head diseases._] [Sidenote: _Pains in the ear._] of the head, there is nothing better than to bathe it with cold water. Which, in a desperate pain of the ear upon taking cold, I have found to be true; for the pain did vanish upon applying to it about 30 minutes a towel doubled up often, and wet often in cold water; and tho’ it returned again, yet ease was soon obtained the same way, and the cure perfected in four times doing: Which cure of a pain gotten with cold, by a cold application, will not seem so strange, when we consider, that, in the northern countries, mortifications from cold are nowise to be cured but by applying cold snow; as travellers into Denmark and Sweden do affirm. [Sidenote: _Curtis’s opinion of water._] In short, water, when rightly made use of, appears, from the accounts before-mentioned, very effectual to prevent and cure many diseases; but more especially the inward use thereof: For to use the words of the ingenious Dr. Curtis, in his _Essay for the preservation and recovery of Health_; the habitual use of water for common drink, preserves the native ferment of the stomach in due order, keeps the blood temperate, and helps to spin out the thread of life to the longest extent of nature; it makes the rest at night more quiet and refreshing, the reason and understanding more clear, the passions less disorderly; and, in case of eating too much, a large draught of cold water vastly exceeds any other cordial to cause digestion: water being not so cold and lifeless, he saith, as many imagine. Besides which commendation of it by this doctor, it is certainly a drink that will not ferment in the stomach, nor turn sour, as wine and strong malt-drinks will, to the hindering of a good digestion, which all acidity in the stomach certainly doth, when it abounds there; and is best corrected by weakening or making it less sour, by drinking good store of water, as the experience of above forty years practice hath assured myself, and many others. For tho’ water is accounted a contemptible drink, yet by beginning to make use of it about thirty years of age, before which I was often out of order, and continuing the use of it ever since, drinking very little wine or strong drink, I have attained to the age