The value of a drug is judged by its medicinal properties. The more
properties it has, and the more powerful its “action,” the more valuable
it is considered to be. 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. As its value as a curative agent
depends upon these properties, it is important to know what they are.
_Refrigerant._—Refrigerant or antiphlogistic medicines are used for the
purpose of diminishing the heat of the body. The most they can do is to
so depress and paralyze the vital forces as to diminish the _production_
of animal heat. Water, when applied at a proper temperature—any
temperature less than 98°—not only diminishes the production of heat,
but removes the superfluous heat by conduction. There is not a drug in
the whole materia medica that will diminish the temperature of the body
so readily and so efficiently as water. How this is effected, has been
previously explained in considering the physiological effects of water.
_Sedative._—Drugs, the administration of which is followed by a
diminished action of the heart, are termed sedatives. They comprise the
most powerful poisons known. Their sedative effects are the result of
their poisonous influence upon the heart or the nerve centers
controlling it. Water is a much more efficient sedative, and its use is
never followed by poisonous effects, as is the use of sedative drugs,
the “action” of which is often very uncertain. By the cool or cold bath,
the pulse may often be reduced twenty to forty beats in a few minutes.
_Tonic._—Water may be used in such a way as to increase the rapidity of
the circulation and the temperature very quickly and powerfully. The hot
bath is a most efficient stimulant, in the true sense of the word. It
will so excite the circulation as to increase the pulse from seventy to
one hundred and fifty in fifteen minutes. The tonic effects of a cool
bath are well appreciated by all who have ever enjoyed it.
_Anodyne._—Certain drugs are called anodyne because they diminish
nervous sensibility, thus relieving pain. Water applied in the form of a
hot fomentation will not infrequently give relief when every drug has
failed. Applied in various other ways, it is very effectual in allaying
nervous irritability.
_Antispasmodic._—No remedy is so certainly successful in hysterical
convulsions as water. In infantile convulsions, its success is also
unrivaled. In cramp, and even in puerperal convulsions, its utility has
been well demonstrated.
_Astringent._—The value of cold water in arresting hemorrhage is well
attested by all physicians.
_Laxative._—Used in various ways, water is very effectual in producing
movement of the bowels, but never occasions those violent and unpleasant
symptoms which accompany and succeed the use of purgatives.
_Emetic._—In the great majority of cases, no other emetic is needed, and
no better can be found.
_Eliminative._—Water is a most perfect eliminative. It dissolves the
excrementitious and other foreign elements of the blood, and thus
materially aids in their elimination. Hence, it is a very useful
_diaphoretic_, increasing the action of the skin, and is equally
valuable as a _diuretic_, having the same effect upon the kidneys.
_Alterative._—For a long period, mercury has been considered as the
champion alterative of the materia medica. It must yield the place to
water, however; for the most it can do is to destroy the elements of the
blood, while water not only accelerates waste, but increases
construction in the same proportion, according to the experiments of
Prof. Liebig.
_Derivative._—One of the most important properties of water applications
is their powerful derivative effect. No other application, internal or
external, can equal them in efficiency and certainty of action.
There are very few agents which possess so many remedial properties as
water. There are none which effect so much with so little expense to the
vital powers of the patient. Many drugs will produce results similar to
those obtained by the use of water, and thus accomplish good, no doubt;
but at the same time, they often work so much mischief in the system
that the evil done is frequently much greater than the good
accomplished. The aim of the faithful physician should be to accomplish
for his patient the greatest amount of good at the least expense of
vitality; and it is an indisputable fact that in a large number of cases
water is just the agent with which this desirable end can be obtained.
=Testimony of Eminent Physicians.=—The testimonies of Currie, Jackson,
and numerous other physicians of the last century have already been
quoted in favor of water. There are numerous practitioners of the
present day who are equally favorable to this remedial agent. Perhaps we
cannot do better than to quote from the _Health Reformer_ the following
paragraphs of an abstract report of a paper read before the New York
Academy of medicine, by Prof. Austin Flint, M. D., president of the
society, the title of the paper being, “The Researches of Currie, and
Recent Views Concerning the Use of Cold Water”:—
“Currie employed scientific methods in observing the phenomena of
disease. He was one of the first to employ the thermometer in studying
disease, and his observations can be received as reliable.
“The use of water externally as a means of reducing the temperature of
the body in disease has recently been coming quite prominently into
notice. According to Liebermeister, a noted German medical author,
Currie was the first to systematize the use of water. His work was
published in 1797. Liebermeister, in his recent article on typhoid
fever, accords to cold water the first place in importance as an article
for reducing the temperature. The use of water for this purpose is at
present attracting much attention; and it is safe to predict that _it
will soon occupy an important place as a remedial agent_.
“Much harm has been done by the ‘rude empiricism’ of Priessnitz, and the
various water cures in the country; though much good has also been
accomplished by the latter institutions, and they have in a measure
prepared the public mind for the general introduction of water as a
remedial agent.
“After the publication of the views of Currie in 1797, his method of
practice, which was chiefly hydropathic, became quite general, but it
was soon nearly forgotten. Trousseau recommended water treatment in
scarlatina, and the use of the remedy has continued to be recommended in
the text-books; but as a measure of treatment in practice, it has become
nearly obsolete. It is, however, obvious that unless we accept the
absurd proposition that diseases have changed since Currie’s time, the
remedy which he recommended so highly must be just as efficient now as
then.
“Dr. Currie made use of the cold douche in fevers, applying it
vigorously to the patient while in the height of the fever, and
continuing it until the temperature became decreased, as indicated by
the thermometer and the pulse. He treated seven cases of continued fever
by this method at the Liverpool Infirmary. All recovered. In an epidemic
of typhoid fever among a regiment of troops, he treated fifty-eight
cases, using the cool tepid douche in all but two cases. The latter
died. The remaining fifty-six recovered, the disease being greatly
shortened in more than half the cases.
“Dr. Currie asserted that, in small-pox, the use of the bath afforded
instant relief to the patient, and caused the disease to assume a
benignant form.
“He found the cold bath always effectual in tetanus and convulsions, as
also in hysteria.
“In temporary insanity from the use of liquor, this acute observer found
that the cold plunge was the most efficient remedy for the worst cases.
“But Dr. Currie’s practice was not confined to _cold_ water. He observed
that affusion with tepid water was not only a more pleasant application,
but that it was even more effectual in reducing unnatural heat than cold
water, as it produced no reaction, not being at all stimulating in
character.
“With regard to the efficacy of this agent, Dr. Currie stated that by
its use in fevers the pulse would be reduced thirty or forty beats, with
a corresponding decrease of temperature and almost immediately relief of
headache.
“In his second volume, published some six years after his first volume,
Dr. Currie declared that although his experience in the use of water,
especially in fevers, had been very extensive, he had had only four
fatal cases in which water was employed, and had never met with a single
evidence of its being in the least degree objectionable or injurious.
Neither had he found that it had been thought to be objectionable by
those whom he had treated. He details a very interesting account of his
treatment of scarlatina in the cases of his two sons, aged,
respectively, three and five years. He gave the older, in thirty-two
hours, fourteen affusions, varying from cold to tepid. Twelve were found
to be sufficient for the younger one. Both became convalescent in three
days.
“It was established by Currie that by the use of water the course of
typhoid fever may be abbreviated. This is not even claimed for the
modern remedies in common use.
“In referring to his own experience in the use of water, Dr. F.
remarked, ‘The relation of my own experience will of necessity be stated
in a few words, as my employment of the remedy has heretofore been much
more limited than it will be in the future if my life is spared.’ He
then related some very interesting cases in which he had employed water
as the chief remedy with the most excellent success. He also took
occasion to recommend, as one of the best means of applying water in
fevers, the wet-sheet pack as employed in the various hydropathic
institutions of the country. He had used the continued cold pack in a
number of the worst cases of sun-stroke in Bellevue Hospital with marked
success. This remedy is still employed there in this class of cases.
“In a case of obstinate remittent fever, which was not in the least
benefited by the thorough use of quinia, he employed the cool pack
thirty-five times in a week, continuing each application from ten to
thirty minutes, and always with great relief to the patient, although he
finally died [perhaps from the huge doses of quinine previously given].
He expressed the opinion that if he had employed the pack more
thoroughly, making the applications longer and more frequent, the
patient might have recovered.
“Currie announced a true theory when he said that _the voice of nature
should not be superseded by theories_. He advocated the free use of
water as a beverage in febrile diseases [fever] as an important remedial
agent. Dr. F. unhesitatingly advanced the belief that the chief benefit
derived from the numerous mineral waters so largely used was only that
which was due to the properties of pure water. He stated as proof that
it was not long since demonstrated by chemical analysis that the only
thing peculiar about the water of a certain spring, famous for medicinal
virtues, was its remarkable purity. He also suggested the introduction
of distilled water for cooking and drinking purposes as a necessary
sanitary measure.
“Dr. F. then related a remarkable case of acute inflammation of the
kidneys in which the patient exhibited the characteristic symptoms of
poisoning from the retention of urea. After other remedies were tried in
vain, the patient’s life was saved by the simple administration of water
as a beverage at short intervals. The diuretic effects of the water soon
washed away the poison and gave immediate relief.”
“After the conclusion of the paper, by Dr. Flint, the venerable Dr.
Richards arose and gave his experience in the use of water. His ideas of
hydropathy were obtained when he has a young man, from Dr. Currie’s
works. He adopted the practice of Dr. C. at that time in an epidemic of
typhoid fever, and with such remarkable success as to astonish old
practitioners. He stated that he had cured more than one hundred cases
of obstinate constipation by simply directing the patient to drink a
glass of cold water half an hour before breakfast, each morning. In one
of these cases the patient had not had a natural passage from the bowels
for a number of years; but he was effectually cured, by the simple
remedy mentioned, in the course of a few months.
“Dr. Loyle gave an interesting resumé of ten years’ experience in the
use of water, with uniform success, especially in convulsions and
scarlatina. He had employed water alone in about one hundred cases of
acute inflammation of the kidneys and dropsy after scarlatina, and with
wonderful success in every case. He had found it equally successful in
coma, restoring consciousness when life was apparently extinct. During
the late war, he on one occasion renovated twenty ambulance loads of
exhausted soldiers who had fallen on the march, by the judicious use of
water. He recommended water most highly as an excellent diuretic and a
capital regulator of the bowels, far superior to ‘after-dinner pills.’
He commended it also as an efficient remedy for sun-stroke and frozen
feet.
“The sentiment of the audience—which was wholly composed of medical
gentlemen—was shown by the hearty applause with which the remarks of
each speaker were received.”
We might add much other medical testimony; but as we could give no
higher authority than the distinguished Dr. Flint, who stands at the
head of medical practice in America, being author of the standard
American text-book on practical medicine, we will not weary the reader
with further quotations. The German physicians, as well as German
medical works, abound with tributes to the value of water. American
medical journals are full of accounts of the beneficial results
following its use in fevers and numerous other diseased conditions.
In surgery, the employment of water is rapidly gaining entire
precedence. It has replaced nearly all other kinds of dressing for
wounds, and its use has saved a valuable limb to many a poor sufferer
who must otherwise have submitted to amputation.
In short, wherever it is faithfully and intelligently applied, water is
working wonders. Yet it is still little used in comparison with its
importance. Especially is its use neglected in chronic diseases. The
only reason we have been able to discover for this neglect of a remedy,
the merits of which are so well demonstrated and generally acknowledged,
is that its use is more troublesome and laborious than the use of drugs.
A half-dozen purgative pills are administered much more easily than an
enema. The administration of a diaphoretic powder is far more convenient
than a pack. A blister is easier to manage than a fomentation. But the
true physician, who has at heart the real good of his patient, will not
sacrifice the safety or comfort of the latter to his own personal
convenience.