Part 17

We have no faith in medicated baths in general. They are occasionally useful for the destruction of vermin, animal parasites, and perhaps in certain cases of skin disease. Generally, it is far better to take the limpid element “Simon pure,” unadulterated. Many medicated baths have acquired great celebrity by the performance of cures really wonderful, but wholly attributable to water only, in spite of, rather than in conjunction with, the foreign medicament added.

OIL BATH.

Inunction was greatly practiced by the ancients in connection with the Roman and Turkish baths. It consists in rubbing the skin very thoroughly with some unctuous substance. Olive oil may be employed, but cosmoline or vaseline, two refined products of coal oil, are in some respects preferable. Olive oil cannot be obtained pure, except at almost fabulous prices. That sold in the drug stores as olive oil is really cotton-seed oil and mixtures of lard with various other vegetable oils.

A warm bath should first be administered. Then dry the patient, as usual, and apply the unguent, taking care to rub it in thoroughly. Simply greasing the surface is not the object sought. The skin and flesh should be worked, rubbed, and kneaded until the oil nearly disappears from the surface.

The object of this application is to supply the place of defective natural secretion of oleaginous material, to increase the activity of the skin, and to diminish susceptibility to cold. How this is accomplished, readily appears. The oil is a simple substitute for the sebaceous secretion, which is, in a certain class of diseases, notably deficient. The thorough manipulation of the skin which is necessary in applying the oil, and which is facilitated by a lubricant, directly promotes cutaneous activity. Whether the oil itself has any direct effect in increasing the functional activity of the skin cannot be positively affirmed, although it is reasonably supposable that the skin will act more nearly normal when a deficient element is supplied than when it is wanting. Oil is an excellent non-conductor; and invalids who are especially susceptible to cold may be rendered comfortable by the application of the oil bath.

The class of cases to which this remedy is applicable will be sufficiently well indicated by the purposes which the bath is supposed to subserve. It should not be used indiscriminately. Once or twice a week is sufficiently often to make the application, and each should be followed by a warm bath with fine soap, two or three days after.

NOVEL BATHS.

Numerous substances have been employed in bathing, under the idea that they possessed peculiar specific virtues; the following are some of the chief:—

Mud Bath.—Immersion of the body in warm mud has been a favorite practice at several places in Italy, France, Germany, and other countries. The effects are not very different from those of any warm bath, and are said to be very pleasant, by those who have taken them. If the mud were not medicated, this kind of bath would not be especially objectionable for those who could enjoy it.

Earth Bath.—Burying the body in the moist earth has also been practiced. We have known of one instance in which this remedy was successfully used in the treatment of ague.

Bees’ eggs, milk, blood, wine, sand, and gelatine have also been employed by different nations, at different periods, in bathing. None of these applications are superior to pure water, which all nature recognizes as the proper material for bathing purposes.

ENEMA.

Fecal accumulations in the lower bowel are more quickly and easily removed by an enema of warm water than by any purgative, laxative, or cathartic ever discovered or invented; and the use of this remedy is never accompanied by the unpleasant and painful griping and tenesmus which often accompany the use of cathartics. The administration is a trifle more troublesome, but the results are enough superior to more than repay the inconvenience. The fountain syringe is far preferable to any other for administering injections. Water about blood-warm should be used when the purpose is to relieve constipation, and a considerable quantity—one to three pints, or more—may be used. The water should be retained for a few minutes, while the bowels are kneaded and shaken. In hemorrhage and inflammation of the lower bowel, cool or cold clysters should be employed, and should be retained as long as possible. The copious cool enema is a valuable antiphlogistic remedy used in conjunction with the cool bath in cases of violent febrile excitement, as typhoid fever, when the temperature rises above 103° F.

The enema is a most perfect substitute for purgatives in general. Cases are very rare in which a cathartic drug will be found necessary if the enema is properly used. But the enema may become a source of mischief if abused. If habitually relied upon to secure a movement of the bowels for a long time, the bowels lose their activity, and the most obstinate constipation sometimes results, precisely as from the prolonged use of purgatives.

WATER EMETIC.

Warm water at about 92°—not hot water—is a most excellent emetic if taken in sufficient quantity. It is prompt in action, and is unaccompanied by the painful nausea, retching, and straining produced by most other emetics. From half a pint to one or two quarts is required to produce emesis. The patient should slowly swallow a tumblerful, then rest two or three minutes, and swallow another, so continuing to drink for ten minutes or more. As soon as the slightest disposition to vomit is felt—or even if it is not felt, after a considerable quantity of water has been taken—the patient should touch the back part of his mouth with the end of his finger or a feather, as far down as he can reach. This will usually excite the desired action. If it does not, all that need be done is to continue drinking. A little salt added to the water will make it more sickening, and will do no particular harm, as it is thrown out again.

It is not claimed that the warm-water emetic can replace all other emetics in all cases. When instant vomiting is necessary, as in cases of poisoning, some more prompt emetic may be used with it. But for all ordinary purposes, it clearly has no rival.

DRY HOT APPLICATIONS.

The use of fomentations is often less convenient or desirable than dry applications of heat, which may be made in a variety of ways. Bottles, jugs, or rubber bags, filled with hot water, hot bricks or stones, wrapped in papers or cloths, hot cloths, bags filled with hot sand, salt, or corn meal, are all convenient methods of applying dry heat.

A few suggestions with reference to the manner of using hot applications may be useful. In applying heat to the feet when the circulation in those organs is defective, it is frequently insufficient to apply the heat to the bottoms of the feet, only. For this reason, jugs or bottles and stones are often applied without effecting any satisfactory results. A much more efficient method is the following: Heat to a suitable temperature two or three pounds of corn meal or salt. Place the salt or meal in a bag sufficiently large to envelop the feet. After distributing it evenly through the bag, wrap the latter about the feet and cover them with a woolen blanket. A rubber bag partially filled with hot water is an excellent appliance for use in cases of neuralgia, toothache, and nearly all acute pains in the region of the head, as it will conform so perfectly to the shape of the part to which it is applied, and may be used as a pillow.

As a general rule, hot applications should not be continued more than an hour or two, at longest, without, at least, a transient application of a lower temperature. Too prolonged an application may result in injury to the part.

WATER-DRINKING.

As a remedial agent, water is of far greater value than any other liquid taken into the stomach. Its uses in preserving health have been previously noticed. Under ordinary circumstances, a person in health who discards irritating condiments from his diet seldom requires drink. Many persons take no drink whatever during the winter months. But drinking is healthful, and pure water of proper temperature may be taken by any one in health or disease if it is taken in the proper manner. Drinking at meals is an unwholesome practice. Drinking large quantities of iced water is unhealthful. Cold water should not be taken freely when the drinker is hot or exhausted. The thirst will be quenched as readily by slowly sipping a small quantity. In fevers, water should be freely allowed. A glass of cool water taken half an hour before breakfast is an excellent remedy for habitual constipation.

Water-drinking may be made a means of bathing the internal structures, as external applications bathe the outside. Water is rapidly absorbed by the mucous membrane of the stomach, and, passing through the circulation, it dissolves many impurities, and is eliminated chiefly by the kidneys and skin. It can be used with benefit in connection with the vapor bath, hot-air bath, and all baths in which sweating is induced. It should not be used in such great excess as it was employed by the early hydropathists, however, whose patients drank from ten to thirty glasses of water a day.

Free drinking of water is useful in cases in which the urine is scanty and irritating. It gives relief by diluting the urinary excretions.

HOW TO MAKE A FILTER.

For drinking, and for all ordinary purposes, it is of the greatest importance that water should be as pure as possible. When water which is nearly soft, and wholly free from organic impurities, cannot be obtained from wells or springs, filtered rain water should be employed. A very useful filter can be easily and cheaply constructed in the following manner:—

Make a hole low down in the side, or in the bottom, of a large earthen jar or flower-pot. Place in the bottom of the vessel a few clean stones about the size of eggs. Fill the jar to within two or three inches of the top with equal parts of fine, clean gravel and pulverized charcoal. Cover the jar with a clean, white cloth, securing the edges by a string drawn about the top. The center of the cloth cover should be allowed to hang down into the vessel so as to form a hollow into which the water may be poured, the cloth serving as a strainer to remove the coarser dirt. The cloth should be frequently cleansed, and the gravel and charcoal should be renewed at least once a year.