The hot baths of the ancient Greeks and Romans were usually followed by
a plunge up to the neck in a large basin of water four or five feet
deep, and large enough to allow the exercise of swimming. Many
hydropathic establishments employ the same bath after packs and sweating
baths. A bath of this kind is not always attainable without great
expense; and it possesses no particular advantage over other methods of
cooling the surface after a warm bath. It is a very severe form of bath
when employed at a low temperature. In the days of Priessnitz, it was
used at a temperature of 45° or 50°. More harm than good would result
from a continuous employment of such treatment. The cool plunge should
be of but a very few minutes’ duration, and the patient should rub
himself vigorously during the bath. In this, as in all other cool baths,
the first contact with the water produces chilliness or shock. After two
or three minutes, or less, this will be followed by a partial reaction,
even while the patient is in the water, accompanied by a feeling of
comfortable warmth. This will shortly be again succeeded by a second
chill, which is not so likely to be followed by prompt reaction; hence,
the patient should always take care to leave the bath before the
occurrence of the second chill, if he would avoid unpleasant
after-effects.