Balmung

“ Upon the whole, I should imagine, that there are many delicate constitutions to which the constant and habitual use of hard water (and most spring waters are hard, some very much so indeed) proves positively injurious; and a trifling degree of irritation thus originated in a weak habit, conjoined, perhaps, with not a very pure air, may certainly be sufficient to excite some positive, perhaps scrofulous, or other, complaint. In such cases, the really medicinal effects derived from a residence at Malvern, may be easily understood. ”

“ Consequently, any one who draws into his lungs this breath or conglomerated vapour, must necessarily absorb into his system the properties of that body from which it emanated, and from which it derived its being. For we know by experience that the air which enters the lungs dry, goes forth carrying with it moisture, [Pg 142] as may be seen by breathing on a glass, or in cold weather. Also, when we inhale the breath of any one who is ill, we are conscious of receiving infection. ”

“ John Bell, my favorite author, had shown that the lungs work in vacuo. A great proportion of the blood is water, which, in a vacuum, springs into vapor at 67°, and the temperature of the blood in the lungs is 101°. Its expansion, then, was not merely the gradual increase of bulk by transmitted heat, but also that of instantaneous expansion, by the vaporization of so much of it as is needed; and what expanded water could not do, steam certainly could. At once, a throng of proofs came to my mind. The most apparent of these was the vapor expired breathing. ”

“ It might, however, be urged that the air is spoiled by its violent calcination. Oxygen passed through a spirit-lamp flame is, it may be thought, no longer the oxygen suitable for the development and maintenance of life. We have an easy escape from this difficulty, which is based, however, upon the unproved assumption that the air has been affected by the flame. Let a condensed beam be sent through a large flask or bolt-head containing common air. The track of the beam is seen within the flask—the dust revealing the light, and the light revealing the dust. ”

“ Moreover, it must not be forgotten that the ventilation of rooms must not be sacrificed for the sake of warmth, for, vulgarly speaking, this is only "robbing Peter to pay Paul." If air cannot readily enter and leave the room, the atmosphere by the process of breathing, which I have described, becomes overcharged with carbonic acid gas and vapour of water, and loses its oxygen. The same portion of air cannot be breathed twice, so that if an animal is enclosed in a limited space it dies as soon as all the air contained in its prison has passed through its lungs. ”

“ Single light vapours rose upwards from all the chasms in the rocks. It seemed as if the morning air were awakening the young spirits, who took pleasure in meeting the sun with expanded bosoms and gilding them in his rays. The upper heaven was perfectly clear; except where now and then a single cloudy streak, which the rising sun lit up, swept lightly across it. Balme is a miserable village, not far from the spot where a rocky gorge runs off from the road. We asked the people to guide us through the cave for which the place is famous. ”

“ From dissections it appears that such as die in this manner have the capillary vessels greatly distended, and even ruptured; the heat of the body is vastly augmented, and even continues some time after death. Hence it is evident, that, by breathing this kind of air, too much sensible heat is conveyed to the blood. In like manner when we breathe the steam of water, if any quantity of that steam be condensed in the lungs, the whole quantity of latent heat contained in that steam discharges itself upon the lungs, and increases the sensible heat of the body ”

“ When the surface is chilled by cold water, the blood sets to the heart and other vital organs, exciting them to more vigorous action, and then, being thrown back to the surface, it reddens, warms, and stimulates the skin to an unwonted degree. This is called the reaction, and in it lies the invigorating influence of the cold bath. When, on the contrary, the skin is heated by a hot bath, the blood is drawn to the surface, less blood goes to the heart, the circulation decreases, and languor ensues. A dash of cold water is both necessary and refreshing at the close of a hot bath. ”

“ As a general rule, mineral and salt-water warm baths are less relaxing than those of pure water. The vapor bath, when the vapor is not breathed, acts more powerfully, though much in the same manner as the warm bath, but it is more useful in common cold and rheumatism. The warm-air bath, at from 100° to 120°, is highly convenient and useful, where it is desirable to excite perspiration, as in rheumatism, scaly eruptions, and certain stages of fever and cholera. ”

“ Cold air arrests that development by direct paralysis; i.e., by lethargizing and eventually destroying the vitality of the disease-germs. Towards the end of the year a damp, sultry day—the catarrh-weather par excellence—is sometimes followed by a sudden frost, and at such times I have often found that a six-hours' inhalation of pure, cold night-air will free the obstructed air-passages so effectually that on the following morning hardly a slight huskiness of the voice remains to suggest the narrowness of the escape from a two-weeks' respiratory misery. ”

“ The same action which blows a fresh wind through the living frame to clear away its impure vapors, also serves to fan its hidden flames, and keep its fuel burning. When the breathing is stopped the fires of the body go out, just as those in a common furnace do, when their air-blasts are arrested, and the body becomes dead cold.
You will remember that when the fresh air is drawn into your lungs as you breathe, it enters a large quantity of little cavities or chambers, which have, all of them, a fine net-work of the supply-pipes stretched out upon their walls ”

“ It will have appeared from my former experiments, that inflammable air consists chiefly, if not wholly, of the union of an acid vapour with phlogiston; that as much of the phlogiston as contributes to make air inflammable is imbibed by the water in which it is agitated; that in this process it soon becomes fit for respiration, and by the continuance of it comes at length to extinguish flame. ”

“ Many means can be used to induce perspiration, among the best known being baths, either in the form of hot vapour or hot water baths, or in that part of the process of the Turkish bath which consists in exposing the body to a dry and hot atmosphere. Such measures, particularly if followed by the drinking of hot liquids and the wrapping of the body in warm clothing, seldom fail to excite copious perspiration. ”

“ Feverish Conditions in the Body Before Death.—Fever is the name usually given to the rise of temperature that goes with inflammation. In severe inflammatory [200] diseases, the tissues lose much of their moisture through the arrest of the saturating power of the blood stream and the disturbance of circulation. The skin contains a sub-normal amount of moisture when the embalmer reaches these cases, which may be further reduced by outward evaporation and the dehydrating power of the embalming fluid. ”

“ Hot-air and Vapour Baths, Turkish Baths, &c.—The Lancet expresses a strong objection to that form of bath which involves the patient being in an erect or sitting posture, where the bath is used to produce perspiration; it is always possible that some amount of faintness or giddiness may be experienced by the bather even when the blanket or tent-shaped envelope is so effectively applied as to prevent the fumes rising to the mouth and being inspired. It is always far better, and ought to be a rule, that the patient should be in the recumbent position. ”

“ Anointing the Dead to what purpose us’d. Now the general Intention of these Anointings, was either that such Bodies as were to be bury’d might thereby smell sweet and pleasant, and be kept a long while uncorrupt, or else that those that were to be burn’d might not only catch Fire the sooner; but also to the end the Air might be perfum’d by the sweet smelling Ointments and Balsams, and thereby the Stench of the burning Flesh not be perceiv’d. Others give a threefold Reason for this sort of Embalming, as, First, A Physical, That all Stench and Putrifaction might be driven away from the Body. ”

“ This then is the cause of this involuntary respiration—the impossibility that the fiery element should remain at rest: for as the operation of motion is proper to heat, and we understand that the principle of heat is to be found in the heart, the continual motion going on in this organ produces the incessant inspiration and exhalation of the air through the lungs: wherefore also when the fiery element is unnaturally augmented, the breathing of those fevered subjects becomes more rapid, as though the heart were endeavouring to quench the flame implanted in it by more violent [4] breathing. ”

“ Its effects on those debilitated by disease, on those exhausted by fatigue, and on those who are long exposed to it. First, in affection of the lungs, and intermittent fever, the bath is invariably had recourse to against the debilitating nightly perspirations. The temperature is kept low, not to increase the action of the heart or its secretions. This danger avoided, its effect is to subdue, by a healthy perspiration in a waking state, the unhealthy one in sleep. No one ever heard of any injury from the bath. ”

“ Inflammable air, made by a violent effervescence, I have observed to be much more inflammable than that which is made by a weak effervescence, whether the water or the oil of vitriol prevailed in the mixture. Also the offensive smell was much stronger in the former case than in the latter. The greater degree of inflammability appeared by the greater number of successive explosions, when a candle was presented to the neck of a phial filled with it. ”

“ Far less often than warm or hot baths, or mineral water baths, are cold baths employed during the climacteric period, for baths at a temperature considerably below the indifferent point, and other hydrotherapeutic procedures in which cold water is used, stimulate the nervous system so powerfully and give rise to so great an increase in blood-pressure, that their use is generally to be avoided in climacteric women, since indeed it is apt to entail serious dangers both physical and mental. ”

“ The air is not cloudy, but grey and thick, and is in fact filled with an extremely subtile dust, which penetrates every where. This wind, always light and rapid, is not at first remarkably hot, but it increases in heat in proportion as it continues. All animated bodies soon discover it, by the change it produces in them. The lungs which a too rarefied air no longer expands, are contracted and become painful. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Paracelsus thought so highly of balm that he believed it would completely revivify a man, as primum ens melissoe. The London Dispensatory of 1696 said: "The essence of balm given in Canary wine every morning will renew youth, strengthen the brain, relieve languishing nature, and prevent baldness." "Balm," adds John Evelyn, "is sovereign for the brain, strengthening the memory, and powerfully chasing away melancholy." In France, women bruise the young shoots of balm, and make them into cakes, with eggs, sugar, and rose water, which they give to mothers in childbed as a strengthener. ”

“ If a person be struck with lightning, throw pailfuls of cold water on the head and body, and apply mustard poultices on the stomach, with friction of the whole body and inflation of the lungs, as in the case of drowning. The same mode is to be used when persons are stupefied by fumes of coal or bad air. ”

“ The essential that must not only be looked for, but positively and rapidly attained, is the reaction from the 54shock produced by the cold water: the heart is actively excited, and the blood propelled with unusual force through the system; the temperature of the body rapidly rises, and a general glow supervenes, accompanied with mixed feelings of increased vitality, buoyancy and exhilaration, difficult to describe. ”

“ Weiss, the wet blanket was surmounted by several other blankets, which effectually prevented the escape of animal heat, which would soon accumulate and eventuate in perspiration. In such cases there would be a chill at first, succeeded by reaction, heat, and transpiration. We see this exemplified every day, where cold lotions are applied to an inflamed part. If the clothes are defended from the external air, they soon become warm, and form a fomentation—whereas, if exposed to a current of air, they will almost freeze the part by evaporation. ”

“ What we call a cold (refroidissement, Erkältung) is caused by the. influence of impure air, or dust, on the sensitive tissue of our respiratory organs; subsequent exposure to the open air merely initiates the crisis of the disorder, the discharge of the accumulated mucus through the nose or throat. Fresh air is here only the proximate cause, as in toothache, or in those paroxysms of retching following upon the first respiration of a half-drowned person. ”