John Harvey Kellogg

“ The warm bath never exceeds the temperature of the body, and is usually below it. Its effect is uniformly to diminish the frequency of the pulse and of respiration, and to decrease animal heat. Its effects are the same as those of the cool or cold bath, in this respect, but they differ in several other particulars. Unlike the cold bath, the warm bath is not accompanied by an unpleasant shock, or chill, and, hence, is not followed by reaction. It promotes the action of the skin in a very marked degree, increasing both perspiration and absorption. ”

“ It is unexcelled as a detergent, and by frequent application to the skin will keep it wholly free from the foul matters described. The necessity for frequent ablutions is well shown by the fact that nearly two pounds of a poison-laden solution, the perspiration, is daily spread upon the surface of the body. It is not an uncommon occurrence to meet with people who have never taken a general bath in their lives. Imagine, if possible, the condition of a man’s skin, at the age of seventy or eighty years, which has never once felt the cleansing effects of a thorough bath! ”

“ 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. ”

“ Dumb animals do not neglect their morning bath. Who has not seen the robin skimming along the surface of the lake or stream, dipping its wings in the cool waters, and laving its plumage with the crystal drops which 34its flapping pinions send glittering into the air? No school boy who has ever seen the elephant drink will forget how the huge beast improved the opportunity to treat himself to a shower bath, and perhaps the spectators as well, for he is very generous in his use of water. ”

“ Removal of Obstructions.—A very large class of diseases are attributable to obstruction in various organs, caused by the reception of foreign matters into the system, and the accumulation of the natural waste of the tissues. The warm bath, to remove, external obstructions, and the internal use of water as a solvent for internal sources of obstruction, are the remedies which will achieve success in nearly all cases. Offending substances in the stomach are readily removed by the water emetic; and hardened accumulations in the large intestine are removed with equal facility by means of the enema. ”

“ Water is not the best conductor of heat, but it conducts much more readily than air, and readily communicates its heat to bodies with which it comes in contact, also abstracting heat when of a lower temperature, when changing from a solid to a liquid state, or from the liquid to the gaseous condition. ”

“ We need not here enter into a discussion of the nature of medicinal properties, since there is no question among scientific physicians, that the medicinal properties—so-called—of drugs, or their effects upon the human system in diseases, are, in general, the result of vital resistance on the part of the system, an attempt to expel or remove the poison, or defend itself against it. Water also possesses remedial properties, some of which are due to vital resistance, while others grow out of the aid which it affords the vital organs by its physical properties. ”

“ The warm vapor bath produces effects quite analogous to those of the warm water bath. Its effect upon the processes of perspiration and absorption is a little more marked, even with the same degree of temperature. The results differ somewhat, according as the whole body is enveloped, so that the warm vapor is taken into the lungs, or the head excluded. A more equable effect is produced by including the whole body in the bath, and no harm can result if the temperature is not raised above that of the body, as it should not be, in the warm bath. ”

“ The learned Greek, Hippocrates, the father of medical literature, and a very acute observer of disease and the effects of various agents upon the body, highly recommended the use of water in many diseases, describing with great care the proper mode of administering a simple bath. He laid great stress upon the careful and skillful use of the bath, asserting that, when improperly applied, it, “instead of doing good, may rather prove injurious.” ”

“ Neglect of Other Remedies.—As has been previously remarked, many seem to have forgotten that water is not the only remedy for disease, and not only attempt to cure every disease by its application, but use it to the exclusion of all other remedies. In nearly all cases, sunlight, pure air, rest, exercise, proper food, and other hygienic agencies are quite as important as water. Electricity, too, is a remedy which should not be ignored ”

“ The odor of a sheet recently used in packing a gross person is often intolerable. If the patient be a tobacco user, the sheet will be reeking with the odor of nicotine. Many times, the sheet will be actually discolored with the impurities withdrawn from the body.
The applications of the pack in treating disease are very numerous. In almost all acute diseases accompanied by general febrile disturbance, and in nearly all chronic diseases, it is a most helpful remedy if rightly managed. It is an admirable remedy for nervousness, skin diseases, and irritations of the mucous membrane. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Sometimes the amount of heat is greater than is needed, and so great as would destroy the vitality of certain tissues if it were not speedily conducted away. By evaporation of water from the skin, this is accomplished. When external heat is great, perspiration is more active than when it is less, and thus the temperature of the body is maintained at about 100° F. under all circumstances. By this wonderful provision of nature, man is enabled to exist under the great extremes of heat and cold presented in the frigid regions at the poles and the torrid climate of the equator. ”

“ If he still remains chilly, he should be promptly removed and placed in a warm bath, or vigorously rubbed with a dry sheet and then placed in a dry pack. The head should be kept cool by frequent wetting while the patient is in the bath. If a compress is applied, it should be often renewed.
The temperature of the pack must depend upon the condition of the patient, being determined by principles elsewhere explained. A woolen sheet is better for the administration of a hot pack than one of cotton or linen. The cold pack is very rarely required. ”

“ It is, furthermore, true that a great majority of ordinary diseases are commonly so void of danger under careful nursing and hygienic management that the application of water is a simple matter which any intelligent mother can perform successfully. A case is related by good authority of a person who fell in apoplexy an hour after taking an excessively hot bath. Another patient became a paralytic from the same cause. Water is a remedy which cannot be safely used by one who has not informed himself of its effects, and of the proper modes of application. ”

“ In such cases it is customary to test the temperature by placing the hand in the water. This is an unreliable method, however; for the hand becomes, by usage, so obtuse to heat that water which would seem only warm to it would be painfully hot to the body of the patient. To avoid this source of error, it is only necessary to plunge the arm to the elbow into the water, by which means its real temperature will be determined. Water which causes redness of the skin is hot; when it feels simply comfortable, with no special sensation of either heat or cold, it is warm. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Never employ a bath without a definite and legitimate purpose in view. It is somewhat 93customary, in many institutions where water is employed, to apply it in a routine way. Many baths are prescribed for the sake of producing variety, or pleasing the patient. A faithful and scientific physician will carefully adapt his remedies to the condition of his patient, and will observe the results. It seems to be a prevalent error that it makes little difference how water is applied, provided the patient is only wet. Warm, hot, tepid, temperate, cool, and cold baths are used indiscriminately. ”

“ When no hot water is at hand, a fomentation may, in an emergency, be quickly prepared by wetting the flannel in cool water, wringing it as dry as desired, folding it between the leaves of a newspaper, and laying it upon the top of the stove, or holding it smoothly against the side. The paper prevents the cloth from becoming soiled, the water protects the paper from burning, and the steam generated quickly heats the cloth to boiling heat. For a long fomentation, the heat may be made continuous by applying over the wet cloth a hot brick or slab of soapstone. ”

“ In some of our largest hospitals, the filthiness of many patients is so great that close proximity to them is absolutely intolerable. Half a dozen of them, placed in a warm room, speedily impart to the air a fetor unequaled by anything but the effluvia arising from a neglected pig-sty. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Even drugs are sometimes useful auxiliaries, though, doubtless, infinitely more harm has resulted from the employment of drugs in conjunction with water treatment than from their omission.
Rational Hydropathy leaves room for every other remedy of value. It does not regard water as a specific nor as a panacea, but only as one of the most valuable of numerous excellent remedies. It discards the erroneous and harmful practices of empirics and ignorant charlatans, whether they concern water or other agents, and gives to the aqueous element only its due share of importance. ”

“ ELECTRIC BATH. Electricity may be more efficiently applied in connection with water than by itself. Water is a better conductor of electricity than the dry skin, and hence facilitates its communication to the body. The ordinary method of applying electricity is by attaching one pole of the battery to a metallic plate, placed in contact with some part of the body, while the circuit is completed by the application to the patient of a moist sponge connected with the other pole. ”