Charles Munde

“ There is always water, and there are always hands enough, where there is resolution. And who would mind a little trouble, when he can save a fellow creature's, perhaps a darling child's life and health? As for the rest, the few days' trouble, which the hydriatic mode of treatment gives, is largely recompensed by the much shorter duration of the disease, and by the immediate relief the patient derives from almost every application of water. ”

“ Next to its intrinsic value, our method gives the patient the great advantage of enjoying pure fresh air, either in or out of bed, as it keeps the skin and the whole system in such order as to resist the effects of atmospheric influences better than under a weakening process. And every body knows, or, at least, every body ought to know, that free circulation of fresh air is one of the most important means, in contagious diseases, of preventing the malady from becoming malignant, and of lessening the intensity of the contagion. ”

“ THE PROGNOSIS,
under a well conducted course of hydriatic treatment is, in general, favorable. Much depends, however, on the season of the year (in damp and cold weather—partly owing to a lack of pure air in the sick-room—the disease is more dangerous than in summer) ; on the general health of the patient (not on his mere looks, for well-fed and stout children are subject to affections of the brain) ; on the age of the patient (adults are generally more in danger than children) ”

“ THE MALIGNANT FORMS OF SCARLET-FEVER
are caused by the character of the epidemy, but, perhaps, more frequently by the weak and sickly constitution of the patient and the external circumstances affecting it. Thus, persons of scrofulous habit, being naturally of a low organization, without much power of resistance, are much more liable to experience the destructive effects of scarlatina than those whose organism possesses sufficient energy to resist the action of the morbid poison, and to expel it before it can do any serious harm inside the body. ”

“ I do not pretend to be able to cure every thing with water; but in yielding to other medical systems what belongs to them, I earnestly claim for the Water-Cure, what belongs to it, frankly accusing for the little progress the hydriatic system has made in this country, the spirit of charlatanism and speculation on one side, and ignorance, self-conceit, self-interest and laziness on the other. [Pg v] According to my experience, and the result obtained by other hydriatic practitioners, eruptive fevers decidedly belong to Hydro-therapeutics, or the Water-Cure. ”

“ If the circulation of air is necessary in any other form of scarlet-fever, it is all-important in torpid reaction, especially when it inclines to a typhoid type. We should never forget that it is the oxygen of the air that nourishes the process of combustion going on in every living body, and that in the same manner as no fire can burn bright without a sufficient supply of air, the combustion within the patient will be slower in proportion as there is less pure air in the sick-room, and consequently his reaction will be weaker, and vice versa. ”

“ The fact that I exposed my own youngest children, the pleasure, and the support in spe, of my declining age, to the contagion of scarlatina, during an epidemic which had rather a malignant character, proves more than any thing my honest confidence in my own remedy. Ask your physician, if he is adverse to the hydriatic method, whether he knows a remedy in which he has so much confidence as to be willing to imitate my example. ”

“ In a thick wet-sheet the patient will be better cooled than in a thin sheet, and he will be able to stay longer in it before changing. It may be advisable, however, with very young and rather delicate persons, not to double the sheet about the feet, as they might be apt to remain cold, which would send the blood more to the head. But, although the patient will feel easier in the pack for a while, the heat and fever will soon increase again, and, in proportion as the sheet grows warmer, he will become more and more restless, and the changing of the sheet will become indispensable. ”

“ A sick-room, filled with a number of people, and with a large fire in it, or fed with the corrupted air of a furnace, without the access of pure air, will always prove a dangerous place [Pg 62] for a patient in torpid fever, the fire and every living soul in it absorbing the oxygen indispensable to his recovery. And if the case become typhoid, there is little hope of saving the patient's life without plenty of pure air. ”

“ In general, under water-treatment, the digestive organs continuing in a tolerably good state, and the functions in better order, we need not be quite so careful with respect to diet, as if the patient were left to himself, or treated after any other method of the drug-system. Let the food be plain, and the patient will scarcely ever eat too much. ”

“ The patient should be packed two, three, and even four times a day, according to the condition of the skin and the height of the fever. There is nothing able to relieve the patient as much as the dampness of the wet pack. During the period of eruption and efflorescence, the patient should spend the greater part of his time in the wet-sheet, which not only relieves the general symptoms, but especially the inflammation of the skin, and makes the poison less virulent, by constantly absorbing part of it, and by communicating part of its moisture to the small ulcers. ”

“ Scarlet-fever is a disease, which cannot be cut short. Any attempt to stop the process of incubation, after the contagion has once been received within the body, or to prevent its being thrown out upon the surface, would destroy the patient's life: the morbid poison must be concocted, and it must come away by being drawn to the skin as soon as possible, to prevent its settling in the vital parts, and injuring them. ”

“ As the patient should have a constant supply of pure air for his lungs, so he should also have plenty of pure cold water for his stomach, to allay his thirst and assist in diminishing the heat of fever, and in eliminating the morbid poison from his blood. Though cold, the water for drinking should not be less than 48 or 50° Fahrenheit. Whenever there is ice used for cooling the water, the nurses should be very careful not to let it become colder, than the temperature just indicated, except in typhoid cases, when the stimulating effects of icy cold water and ice may prove beneficial. ”

“ I shall neither make friends with the members of the profession by thus exciting you to rebel against the old routine, nor shall I augment the number of the patients of my establishment; for we cannot very well carry patients with scarlet-fever and small-pox to a distant institution. ”

“ If in violent reaction a repetition of short packs and long cooling baths is indicated,—in torpid reaction, cold and short tonic baths or affusions and long packs are required, in proportion to the degree of the reactive power of the patient. Therefore the packing sheet should be very cold, but thin and well wrung out, so as to make a strong, but transitory, impression, soon overcome by the reaction it calls forth, upon which all our success depends. The patient stays in the pack till he becomes quite warm and tired. Perspiration is seldom produced ”

“ The patient, during convalescence should not go out, except after his bath and in fine sunny weather, till he feels quite well. However, he should not be kept unnecessarily too long in-doors either, as exercise in the open air will assist him in regaining his strength. If the weather is clear and bright, the low temperature of the air need not be minded. I never saw any one take cold after a pack and bath that walked out warmly dressed in clear and cold weather. ”

“ Usually it is time for the patient to come out from his pack, when the pulse becomes fuller and stronger, the face begins to flush and the head to be affected. Frequently he sleeps till awakened by the increasing heat. A drink of cold water will quiet him for a while, which may be administered by means of a glass tube (julep-tube) , in order not to disarrange the pack by lifting him up. As long as the head is not affected, there is no danger of his staying too long. The longer he can stay, the surer the eruption will appear. ”

“ If the fever and pain increase some time after the pack, in which the patient may stay for an hour or two, the packing must be repeated. The length of the pack depends much on circumstances; as long as the patient feels comfortable and can be kept in it, without too much trouble, he ought to stay. In case the patient cannot be prevailed upon to stay longer than an hour, or if the fever increases soon after the pack, it may be necessary to repeat packing every three or four hours, which is the general practice of several water-physicians in Germany and England. ”

“ If it were agreeable—as a warm sheet, for instance, would be, which has been occasionally tried, of course without doing any good—it would not produce a reaction at all, and consequently there would be no relief for, and finally no cure of the patient effected by it. But the impression of the cold sheet, being powerful, is transferred at once from the peripherical nerves, which receive the shock, to the nervous centres (the spine, the cerebellum and the brain) , and, in fact, to the whole nervous system, and the reaction is almost immediate ”

“ It cannot be difficult to procure a wash-tub. Should you be so situated, however, as not to be able to procure even this, you will be compelled to make shift with a rubbing sheet. For that purpose, a sheet and a pail of water are all you need. The sheet is wetted in the pail and slightly wrung out. The patient steps on a piece of oil-cloth or carpet, and you throw your wet-sheet over him and rub, as before indicated. When the sheet is warm, you dip it in the pail again, and repeat the process, and thus you go on, till the patient is sufficiently cooled. ”

“ There will be a case, now and then, to baffle any mode of treatment, and the physician must not be blamed for losing a patient of scarlatina occasionally, but it is not necessary that people should continue to die of this disease in such numbers, as they have been destroyed till now.
99. Any case, where typhoid symptoms set in (16-25) , is dangerous, and the physician and his mode of treatment deserve commendation, if the patient is saved by it; and it is in such cases, also, that the hydriatic physician requires the most skill, experience and courage. ”

“ This alleviation always takes place when the rash comes with perspiration, and also under a proper course of water-treatment. If the rash continues to stand out steadily, the symptoms decrease on the third day; the patient becomes more quiet, the pulse slower (going down to 90 and even to 80 strokes per minute) ; the rash, then, gradually and steadily fades, and finally disappears altogether.—Sometimes the rash fades or disappears too early, in which cases, usually, the internal symptoms [Pg 16] increase, the brain and spine become affected, and the situation of the patient becomes critical. ”

“ During, and some time after convalescence, the patient should take a cool bath, or a cold ablution every morning, immediately on rising from bed, and walk after it as soon as he is dressed. In very cold and disagreeable weather, the walk should be taken in the house; but the patient should not sit down, or stand about, before circulation and warmth are completely restored in every part of the body, especially in the feet. ”

“ In offering this pamphlet to the Public in general, and to Parents and Physicians in particular, I have no other object than that of contributing my share to the barrier which the medical profession has attempted, for more than two hundred years, to raise against the progress of the terrible disease which carries off upon an average, half a million of human beings annually. ”