Though this can hardly be called a bath at its commencement, it really
becomes a wet-sheet pack before its termination. Its application differs
from that of the wet-sheet pack in that the patient is wrapped in woolen
blankets instead of the wet sheet. The object of this treatment is to
produce perspiration, which may be encouraged by drinking either cold or
hot drinks in considerable quantity, and by the application of dry
artificial heat to the feet and sides. It is a very severe form of
treatment, and is now seldom practiced. Many years ago, patients at
hydropathic establishments were often kept for several hours in the dry
pack, smothered beneath loads of comfortables, blankets, and
feather-beds. If cautiously employed, it is occasionally useful in
“breaking the chills,” in fever and ague. It should be administered
about half an hour before the time for the beginning of the chill, if
required for this purpose.
The several varieties of local packs are described under the head of
Local Baths.