Thus, in dealing with acute and plethoric complaints, and the whole order of dis eases ranging themselves under the former of the divisions put indicated, water is the element which enacts by far the most conspicuous part, and the application of it most serviceable in these cases is the wet skeet or pack. Indeed, the discovery by PriesSnitz of this application of water was perhaps the most important contribution which he made to the new system of which he was the practical founder, inasmuch as it at once supplied one of the most powerful and at the same time one of the safest methods of combating almost every form of acute disease. This, the most distinctive of hydro pathic appliances, may be thus described: Over the mattress of a bed or sofa is extended a stout blanket., and on this is spread a linen sheet, well wrung out of cold water. so that it is only clamp. On this the patient is laid, and immediately enveloped tightly with a heavy weight of blankets upon him, tucked in so closely as to completely exclude all air. The body's natural heat, acting on the damp linen, generates vapor almost immediately, and the patient forthwith finds himself, not' in a cold, but in a comfort ably warm vapor bath—in a novel, but by no means unpleasant form of body poultice. The effects of this process on the economy seem to be plain enough. It is clear, in the first place, that the pores of the skin, so numerous and performing so important a function, must thereby be thoroughly cleansed, the blood itself depurated; with the equalization of temperature over the entire sUrfaeo of the bodv.;will follow a cm, responding equalization in the distribution of blood throughout the system, thereby relieving internal congestions wherever occurring; and lastly, from the soothing effects on the nervous system, and the allaying of all irritation, must result not only the alle viation of pain, but that lowering of the heart's action, and with it of the circulation of the blood, of such incalculable importance in the treatment of many forms of disease, and especially of fevers. Such is the wet sheet.
Of the same order of remedy, although in many respects very different from fl t. is the Turkish bath, recently introduced into England, and now fairly established through out the country. In this bath, the hydropathic procedure has received a most important auxiliary id the treatment of many forms of disease, but in an especial manner of the kind more particularly under consideration at present, such aa gout, rheumatism, bron chitis. and other complaints of an inflammatory or febrile character. The same end of diaphoresis, or sweating, is secured, although not so by means of the vapor generated as used by the Russians, and by hot air as enerated by the spirit-lamp. The hitter has the advantage of being less expensive, and the bather not being required to breathe the heated air, many persons can use it who would be quite unable to respire, without faintness, the highly heated atmosphere of the Turkish bath. In addition to the above, must be mentioned the use of warm fomentations, in the form of flannels wrung out of boiling-water—a kind of application much relied on for subduing local pain proceeding from whatever cause, for relieving congestion, and abating and check ffig inflammation. So mach for the principal hydropathic operations employed to treat acute and inflammatory diseases—processes corresponding in their aims and effects to antiphlogistic, diaphoretic, and sedative drugs.
We have now to speak of the hydropathic agents brought to bear on the second great division of maladies, wherein the object is not to lower, but to elevate, to the standard of health. In the former class of cases, it was stated that water was the agent most prominently brought forward, and it is in such diseases alone that the term "water cure" is at all appropriate. In those we are at present dealing with, water cer
tainly plays an important part, but it is only in its combination with good air, exercise, regulated diet, and nervous repose, that diseases are cured as they arc. As an illustra tion: A cold bath is given in the usual way as a tonic. Its effects are admirable under certain conditions—the first and chief of these being that a good reaction takes place; that the blood, which had been driven by the constringent effects of the cold water from the surface of the body into the inner parts, should return in increased force when the stimulus of cold is withdrawn. But to this end, in all but very strong persons, exercise immediately after the bath is indispensably necessary, and must follow it as a matter of course, or the bath cannot be administered with comfort, or even with safety. As much might be said for the co-operative importance of pure air, of diet, and of nervous repose, all of them, if necessary to the preservation of health, of tenfold importance in the cure of disease. Thus the highly tonic properties of the bath, admin istered in its various forms, and followed by a due proportion of exercise, more espe cially in strong bracing air, produce at once a iparvelous effect in sharpening the appetite and improving the powers of digestion, so that, if simple and nourishing diet is administered, better blood will be elaborated, and, consequently, every tissue of the body be more highly nourished and invigorated. It is scarcely necessary to say, that, in all cases, this is and must always be a gradual process, for it is evident that the treatment pursUed, whether in reference to exercise, diet, or the use of the stimulus of water, must bear an accurate relation to the invalid's strength. Little by little, however, and in most cases much more rapidly than might be imagined, improvement begins to take place. From the great action brought to bear on the skin by means of the differ ent applications of water, the prudent use of the Turkish bath, and the effects of full exercise, a rapid change of the particles of the body takes place—so rapid, that, accord ing to Liebig, "by means of the water-cure treatment, a change of matter is effected in a greater degree in six weeks, than would happen in the ordinary course of nature in three years "—while, at the same time, the effete matter thrown off is replaced by the healthier materials supplied to the economy by an improved.quality of blood, itself the result of an improved digestion, and this, again, resulting from the heightened ViS ViAB which the combined hydropathic agencies have produced. The forms of the bath may of course be varied ad infinitum, as well as its power according to the temperature of the water. The baths most in vogue in daily practice are technically denominated the wash down, dripping sheet, shallow, sits bath, and douche, together with the pack, or wet sheet before mentioned; in addition to which there is a catalogue of local applications. too extensive to enumerate. These various appliances of water are capable of produc ing extraordinary effects on the economy, constituting, as they do. especially when conjoined with exercise, the most powerful tonics, and, at the same time, the most safe and naTeeable, that can be brought to bear on the body. It might truly be added that, in the treatment of chronic disease, this same element, water, is capable of becoming, according to the manner and quantity of its use, internally and externally, an alterative, derivative, diuretic, and diaphoretic. It is as a tonic and stimulant, however, that its virtues are most conspicuous, and most called into requisition for the cure of chronic ailments.