The Uses of Water in Health and Disease

Part 1

THE USES OF WATER —IN— =Health and Disease.= A PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE BATH, ITS HISTORY AND USES.

BY J. H. KELLOGG, M. D.

PUBLISHED AT THE OFFICE OF THE HEALTH REFORMER, BATTLE CREEK, MICH.

1876.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, BY J. H. KELLOGG, M. D., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PREFACE.

Since the announcement of the alleged discovery of Priessnitz, about fifty years ago, there has been no scarcity of books upon “Hydropathy,” “Water Cure,” and kindred topics. With rare exceptions, these works have been, in reality, little better than advertising mediums for some individual or institution. As might be expected in works prepared for such purposes, they have contained numerous and flagrant exaggerations of the effects of water as a remedial agent, often representing it as a specific for certain maladies and a sure preventive of others. These extravagant accounts, together with various absurd teachings relating to methods of application, have rendered just the popular verdict indicated by the fact that the dingy shelves of nearly every second-hand book store in New York and Philadelphia, as well as other large cities, are laden with these musty old volumes which rest beneath the accumulated dust of years.

The objects of this work may be briefly summarized as follows:—

1. To present a careful and candid account of the nature of water and its physiological effects.

2. To explain the effects of water when used as a remedy for disease, and to demonstrate its value as a remedial agent.

3. To show that the employment of water in the treatment of disease has been practiced by the most eminent physicians of all ages, and is not a modern discovery.

4. To expose those absurd and erroneous practices which have brought the use of water as a remedy into disrepute, and have thus deterred scientific physicians from adopting it.

5. To provide a convenient manual of the various methods of applying water.

The reader will observe that water is not presented as a panacea. Its use is not advocated as a specialty. It is only recommended as one of the many potent agencies which may be successfully employed in the treatment of the numerous ills to which humanity is subject—a remedy which has been abused by quacks and tyros and disgraced by fanatics, but which still urges a just claim to the attention and consideration of all candid persons.

J. H. K.

BATTLE CREEK, MICH., SEPT., 1876.

CONTENTS.

PAGE. =PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WATER=, 9 Chemical Composition, 9 Physical Properties, 10 Pure Water, 11 Hard Water, 12 Mineral Water, 12 Magnetic Water, 13 =HYGIENIC RELATIONS OF WATER=, 15 Structure of the Skin, 15 The True Skin, 15 The Cuticle, or Epidermis, 16 The Sweat Glands, 17 The Mucous Membranes, 17 Functions of the Skin, 18 Functions of the Mucous Membranes, 20 The Hygienic Value of Water, 21 Thirst, 22 Regulation of Temperature by Evaporation, 24 Depuration, 25 Cleanliness, 25 How to Make the Skin Healthy, 27 Bathing Protects against Colds, 28 Aristocratic Vermin, 29 Prevention of Disease, 31 Modern Neglect of the Bath, 32 Bathing a Natural Instinct, 33 =PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF WATER=, 35 Water as a Diluent, 35 Effects of Solvent Properties of Water, 36 Vital Changes Increased by Water, 36 Effects Resulting from the Modification of Temperature, 38 The Cold Bath, 38 Effect of Cold upon the Pulse, 40 Effect of Cold upon Bodily Temperature, 40 Rationale of Effects of the Cold Bath, 41 The Hot Bath, 43 Rationale of Effects of the Hot Bath, 44 The Warm Bath, 46 Sympathetic Effects of Baths, 47 Modes of Administration of the Bath, 48 =HISTORY OF WATER CURE=, 49 The Bath in Egypt, 49 Bathing among the Jews, 50 Persian Baths, 50 The Bath among the Greeks, 50 Roman Baths, 51 Testimony of Arabian Physicians, 53 Modern Bathing Customs, 53 Modern Medical Use of Water, 55 =REMEDIAL PROPERTIES=, 59 Refrigerant Effects of Water, 59 Sedative Effects of Water, 60 Tonic Effects of Water, 60 Anodyne Effects of Water, 60 Antispasmodic Effects of Water, 61 Astringent Effects of Water, 61 Laxative Effects of Water, 61 Emetic Effects of Water, 61 Eliminative Effects of Water, 61 Alterative Effects of Water, 61 Derivative Effects of Water, 62 Testimony of Eminent Physicians, 62–70 =ERRORS IN WATER CURE=, 71 Cold Water Doctors, 71 Heroic Treatment, 72 Crisis, 74 Hydropathic Quacks, 75 Ignorance among Hydropathists, 75 A Popular Error, 76 Absurd Claims, 77 Neglect of Other Remedies, 78 Rational Hydropathy, 78 =APPLICATIONS OF WATER=, 79 Equalization of Circulation, 79 Regulation of Temperature, 80 Removal of Pain, 81 To Excite Activity, 81 Removal of Obstructions, 82 Dilution of the Blood, 82 Influence on the Nervous System, 82 Temperature of Baths, 83 How to Determine the Temperature of a Bath without a Thermometer, 85 Rules for Bathing, 87–94 General Baths, 94 Swimming, 95 Plunge Bath, 95 Sponge Bath, 96 Rubbing Wet-Sheet, 98 Wet-Sheet Pack, 101 Shower Pack, 105 Dry Sheet Pack, 107 Full Bath, 107 Half Bath, 109 Shallow Bath, 109 Standing Shallow, 110 Affusion, 111 Pail Douche, 111 Cataract Douche, 112 Hose Douche, 113 Shower Bath, 113 Spray Bath, 114 Local Baths, 115 Sitz Bath, 116 Leg Bath, 118 Foot Bath, 118 Half Pack, 119 Chest Pack, 120 Leg Pack, 120 Chest Wrapper, 121 Wet Girdle, 122 Ascending Douche, 123 Drop Bath, 123 Arm Bath, 124 Head Bath, 124 Eye Bath, 125 Ear Bath, 127 Nose Bath, 127 Compresses, 128 Fomentations, 131 Refrigerant Applications, 133 Miscellaneous Baths, 136 Vapor Bath, 136 Russian Bath, 138 Hot-Air Bath, 139 Turkish Bath, 140 Electric Bath, 141 Electro-Vapor Bath, 143 Dry Rubbing-Sheet, 143 Dry Hand-Rubbing, 144 Air Bath, 144 Sun Bath, 145 Sea-Bathing, 146 Medicated Baths, 147 Oil Bath, 147 Novel Baths, 149 Mud Bath, 149 Earth Bath, 149 Enema, 149 Water Emetic, 151 Dry Hot Applications, 151 Water-Drinking, 153 How to Make a Filter, 154

IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES.

Water is one of the most abundant elements in nature. As rivers, lakes, seas, and oceans, it covers three-fourths of the earth’s surface. It even enters largely into the formation of the solid rocks. The clearest and purest air contains it in large quantities as an invisible gas; while in clouds, fogs, and mists, it appears in the form of minute drops.

Water also forms a very considerable part of all vegetable productions, and constitutes about three-fourths of the human body, as well as other animal tissues. The blood and the brain are each about four-fifths water, while the fluid secretions and excretions contain more than nine-tenths of their weight of this limpid fluid.

=Chemical Composition.=—The chemist designates water as hydrogen oxide, and represents it by the chemical formula, H_{2}O, which signifies that it is composed of the two gases, hydrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of two volumes of the former to one of the latter. Both of these gases are colorless, transparent, tasteless, and odorless. Hydrogen is the lightest gas known; oxygen is the great supporter of combustion and animal life and heat. Water is produced by the burning, or oxidation, of hydrogen, a process attended with very little light, but most intense heat. The two gases are explosive when mixed.

=Physical Properties.=—Water exists in three states; viz., as a solid, in the form of ice; as a liquid, its most common form; and as a vapor, in the form of steam. When in the last condition, the gaseous, it is invisible. That to which the term steam is very commonly applied, is not steam, but water in a state of fine division, or mist.

Below 32° F., pure water exists in the form of ice. Between 32° and 212°, it is a liquid. At 212°, it is converted into vapor. Water also slowly evaporates at all temperatures below 212°, being absorbed and held in solution by the air.

Water possesses the greatest specific heat of any substance. By specific heat is meant the actual amount of heat required to elevate its temperature a given number of degrees. For example, it requires ten times as much heat to raise a pound of water 1° in temperature as to elevate a pound of copper 1° in temperature. To raise the temperature of a pound of lead 1°, requires only one-thirtieth as much heat as to produce the same effect upon a pound of water. Water absorbs more heat by elevation of temperature than any other substance. In passing from the solid to the liquid state, it absorbs a vast amount of heat without any elevation of temperature. The same thing occurs in the conversion of water into steam or vapor by evaporation. In the evaporation of one pound of water, as much heat is absorbed, or rendered latent, as would suffice to raise nearly a thousand pounds of water one degree in temperature. This heat is abstracted from surrounding objects; and, hence, evaporation is one of the most powerful means of producing cold. The effect is the same, no matter what the temperature at which evaporation occurs.

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