first since the birth of the child. The two whole days previous,
likewise, she had not eaten in all the amount of half a common meal.
This three days’ abstinence proved a most valuable means in warding off
fever and pain. Nor did it materially impair the strength.
In the afternoon of the same day (the 12th) the patient again took a
good bath, fresh from the cistern. She slept considerably both forenoon
and afternoon, _and suffered positively no more pain_. She sat up in her
rocking-chair to rest herself in the afternoon and evening, at which
time still another bath was to be repeated; but feeling so comfortable,
and sleeping withal, she concluded to omit it.
The next morning (the 13th) the patient sat up and took her breakfast,
namely, a small piece of simple brown-bread toast.
Thus she went on, bathing and using the fomentations freely each and
every day, and very soon regained her full strength. Indeed, she was not
at any time so weak as to prevent her walking. She always, after the
first night, appeared happy, cheerful, and smiling. She now had no pains
whatever, while always before, in childbed, she had suffered greatly for
many days after the birth.
The peculiarities of this case are the following:
1. The patient bathed during the whole period of pregnancy daily, by
means of that invaluable application, the dripping or rubbing wet-sheet.
2. She wore, of her own accord, the wet compress over the stomach the
whole time of pregnancy, night and day; a means which seemed most
effectually to prevent heart-burn, nausea, and a host of stomach
difficulties, to which she had on previous like occasions been subject.
3. The very abstemious diet subsisted on. She ate much of the time but
little else than brown bread and water, and this in small quantity.
4. The extreme heat of the weather.
5. The fact that epidemic cholera was raging most fearfully at the time,
in the same neighborhood.
6. The great amount of treatment that was practiced.
7. The freedom from all after-pains, to which the patient had on all
previous like occasions been subject.
8. The great rapidity with which she recovered her full strength.
Let those who would imitate a treatment of this kind, be sure of the
_principles_ on which they act. Experience is the great teacher in these
things. The timid and inexperienced must be content to practice in a
less heroic mode.
_Case IX.—July 15, 1850._—This is the case of a lady who resided in our
establishment, about thirty years of age, of delicate health, and
scrofulous tendency. She bathed through her whole period, and paid
tolerable regard to diet, but was too much encumbered with domestic
duties to allow of suitable exercise in the open air. This was her
second pregnancy.
She came to labor very suddenly on the evening of the above date—labor
lasting only about half an hour. The pains were exceedingly severe. The
presentation of the child was an obscure one, but I succeeded in
bringing down the feet foremost, and then, by arranging successively the
body and the head in a proper position, I met with no serious obstacle
in effecting the delivery. The after-birth came away in a short time,
with very little manual aid. Cold wet cloths were at once placed over
the abdomen, genitals, and thighs, and often renewed. There were some
after-pains. After resting half an hour, the patient was raised as she
desired, placed in a hip-bath, and thoroughly washed all over with
water, temperature of the Croton, and which produced an effect which she
designated as “heavenly.” A folded wet sheet was placed about her body,
and being left in a condition which would not allow of her becoming
either too hot or too cold, she soon slept sweetly. She had also slept
somewhat before the bath. Changing the wet application from time to
time, she obtained a very good night’s rest.
The next day she used the wet applications according to her feelings of
comfort, and was washed four times thoroughly from head to foot in a
hip-bath. Immediately after the first bath, early in the morning, she
sat in a rocking-chair, had water brought to her, and then washed her
infant, unaided, with her own hands, because no one could perform this
important duty so well as herself; she continued so to do daily from the
first.
She was herself bathed three or four times daily until she was perfectly
recovered, which was in a very short time. She sat up four hours the
first day, and so onward. Her infant did remarkably well.
About midsummer, 1847, this same lady was confined, under my care. Not
long before the beginning of pregnancy at that time, she had suffered
from a very severe attack of fever; but by dint of perseverance in good
habits, she got along very well through the period, though the labor was
a severe one, and the perineum became torn. There was likewise some
trouble from swelling of the breasts. But notwithstanding these
drawbacks, she was able to sit up, walked out very soon, and on the
whole recovered remarkably well. The sitting-bath and wet compresses had
evidently a very salutary effect in healing the perineum; the child also
thrived well. This lady had been some years, for the most part, a
vegetarian, and drinks neither tea nor coffee.
_Case X.—July 31, 1850._—A lady residing in a healthy part of the
country was confined the tenth time at this date. She ate no flesh-meat
during pregnancy; the diet was entirely vegetable, including the
different kinds of berries and fruits in their season; her drink pure
water only.
Living thus, she was able to attend to the dairy, making her own butter,
and performing all the cooking herself for a family of eleven persons,
up to the very day of her confinement.
Labor commenced in the evening, and soon after, at the recommendation of
her husband, she was sponged over the whole surface with cold spring
water, and soon after took a cold sitting-bath. In about an hour after
this she was delivered of a fine plump boy weighing ten pounds. After
resting a little, and being somewhat fatigued and suffering some pain,
her husband proposed another ablution, to which she readily consented.
After this she slept well till sunrise the next morning. The wet girdle
had been worn nights some time previous to labor, and was continued
about a week after it.
The first morning she was washed all over, and felt very comfortable
after it. She partook of rye-bread toast and blue-berries, with water
for drink; this was her whole breakfast, and her appetite was good. At
night she took a sitz-bath for five minutes, the chill taken off the
water, then sponged the body and retired to rest; she slept well all
night. She had no nurse but her husband.
The second morning she experienced no pain; followed the course of the
preceding day, namely, the bathing of the body and the sitz-bath
washing; partook of unleavened wheat-meal cakes for breakfast, with good
ripe berries; for dinner, corn-bread with berries; supper, dry toast
made of brown bread, with blue-berries; no drink at any time but the
best of pure cold water. The third morning she walked about the room;
helped to bathe herself; appetite good; food pretty much the same as the
day previous; spent a large share of the day sewing; sitz-bath washing
as usual at night. The fourth day she was able to bathe and dress
herself, partook of meals with the family, and kept about house all day.
From this time forward she took the entire care of her child; neither
mother nor child have taken one particle of medicine, nor any herb
drinks of any kind or name, and both have been perfectly well and
regular in all their habits up to this time, it being two months since
the birth. All that the child has ever had was two or three
tea-spoonsful of cold water at the time of its birth; after which it was
put to the breast. I ought to mention that the child has also, from the
very first, been washed every morning in water made slightly tepid.
_Case XI._—This is the case of a newly-married lady of this city,
twenty-four years of age, of nervous temperament, studious habits, and
highly sensitive but well-balanced mind. She had been for years engaged
in teaching in the South, and suffered very much with dyspepsia. She had
followed water-treatment, pretty thoroughly, one year before she became
pregnant. The first four months of this period, it being the winter
season, she took the sitting-bath an half hour every morning in cold
water, and after it bathed the whole body. During the day she wore a
large wet girdle, covering the whole trunk of the body, always during
the day rewetting before it became dry; at night it was left off.
She experienced at first much trouble from nausea and prostration.
By the use of the wet girdle, the sitting-bath, and general washing, in
connection with abstinence—for she passed whole days eating not more
than a fourth part of a Boston cracker in the twenty-four hours—she soon
got the mastery of her stomach-sickness, and other troubles.
After the first four months she took the half-hour sitting-bath and
general washing three times daily, and wore the large wet girdle as
before. She was active in her habits, and for the greater part of the
time appeared in as good health as ever in her life before. She remained
in the city until the summer, and then left for the country.
About the middle of August, 1850, as she was on the point of returning
to the city to make ready for her approaching confinement, under my
care, she met with a fall. This brought on labor some weeks earlier, as
she supposed, than it should have been. It was rather severe, lasting
twenty-four hours. She took ether, as is the custom with many in New
England, where she was—an unnatural and injurious practice as I regard
it to be. Her child was born on the morning of the 15th of August, soon
after midnight. During labor she ate nothing, bathed a number of times,
and took clysters of water, all of which served to refresh the system.
In less than an hour after the birth, she was helped into the tub; sat
some ten minutes in the water, and was washed over the whole surface.
She could easily have borne her weight. The wet girdle was applied, and
other cooling fomentations, after which she slept soundly till morning.
She was then bathed again, as before, and after this washed her infant
herself, and dressed it the first time, and thereafter continued daily
to take the care of it.
She took daily three baths in the wash-tub, the water always at about
70° Fah., and continued to wear the wet girdle and compresses night and
day the whole of the first two weeks.
The first day she sat up half an hour, besides taking the baths. She
could easily have remained up a large share of the time, but being among
those who knew nothing of water-treatment, she preferred being on the
safe side. The second day she sat up an hour, and felt well and strong.
The first and second days she ate almost nothing. The third day she was
up all the time, and took her meals with the family. The fourth day she
walked out, and visited two families near. The fifth day she carried her
child in her arms, walking with perfect ease a quarter of a mile, and
feeling no fatigue. During the first days she had some trouble with
swelling of the breasts. Cold water was poured upon them a good deal,
and wet compresses worn. She also persevered much in drawing them
herself with the tobacco pipe, and by these means conquered the
difficulty readily. In three weeks she was able to travel alone with the
infant, some 250 miles, to this city. She came first about four miles in
a stage coach, thence by railroad to the steamboat, thence over night to
the city, and then rode nearly or quite three miles over the rough
pavements in the morning to her city home, it being just three weeks to
a day from the birth of her infant.
This worthy and intelligent lady remarked, that she considered it her
duty to make known to the world her experience in the water-treatment.
She said “that many suppose they cannot avail themselves of the
advantages of the new method, for the reason that they are not within
the reach of a physician who is competent to practice it. But,” she
continued, “there is not a lady in the whole United States who may not
readily learn as much about it as I myself did. I gained all my
knowledge from books, and had never for once conversed with any one who
had gone through with the treatment in childbirth.” Great good must
necessarily be accomplished if women will but read, understand, and
practice, carefully and intelligently, for themselves.
_Case XII._—A lady of delicate health and small stature, twenty-nine
years of age, came to our establishment in the autumn of 1850, to be
confined with her first child. On the 5th of November, considering
herself within a week or ten days of confinement, she went, by my
permission, in company with her husband, to hear Jenny Lind, at Tripler
Hall. She slept well during the night after the concert, and at six the
next morning she was awakened by pains resembling labor. These gradually
increased until her child was born, a little after eleven in the
forenoon, her labor being, on the whole, an easy one.
Two hours after the delivery she was taken up, and bathed thoroughly in
a sitting-bath tub, the water at 70°. Being delicate, it caused her a
good deal of shivering at the time; but this amounted to no harm, and
usually occurs during a number of the first baths after delivery. At
evening she was again bathed as before, and slept well during the night.
Cold wet compresses were used freely, as according to our custom in such
cases.
The second day, and onward, she was bathed four times—before breakfast,
dinner, and supper, and on going to rest. She was able, also, to sit up
more or less daily, and the first three days went on, in all respects,
apparently well.
The fourth day, in the afternoon, there occurred a circumstance of
ominous character, such as I hope it may be my lot seldom to encounter.
I refer to the coming on of that most fearful malady, puerperal
fever—the puerperal plague, as it has been appropriately called. The
patient was already somewhat feverish, which was caused probably by the
new excitement of milk in her system.
At the same time some relatives came to see her, it being the first time
of their visiting her after the birth. They were in high glee, joking,
talking, laughing, and making all manner of fun for a considerable time.
All this transpired without my knowledge.
At the edge of evening, I found the patient in a most terrific fever;
her flesh was very hot, face flushed, pains in the back, abdomen, and
head; the pulse full and throbbing at 140 per minute. Judge my surprise
at these phenomena, knowing, as I did, that the patient had been
remarkably well in the morning; I had not yet learned of the excitement
she had undergone during the afternoon.
It is evident enough, I think, that under such circumstances, some
powerful and decided means must be resorted to; otherwise the disease
might proceed so rapidly as to destroy the patient’s life, and that too,
possibly, within twenty-four hours.
We commenced the treatment by giving her a thorough ablution in water, a
little tepid at first. She was then placed in a heavy linen sheet but
moderately wrung from cold water, and packed loosely, with but little
covering. The object of these applications was gradually to cool the
system; to bring down the pulse, as soon as might be, to its natural
standard; to arrest the inflammation that was already going on in the
abdomen; and to quell the pains. The wet sheet was changed every twenty
to thirty minutes. Gradually the pulse became less frequent, and the
pains less, till midnight, when we had succeeded in bringing the pulse
permanently down to 80, and the pains were quite gone. The wet sheet was
then folded each way, making it four double, and placed about the
patient’s body, from the arms downward; in this she was to sleep the
remainder of the night, having just covering enough to keep her
comfortable. But if she should become wakeful from pain or feverishness,
the husband was to renew it, that is, rewet it in cold water, and as
often as necessary. Once or twice only it was changed before morning.
The reader who is at all acquainted with the danger and the fearfulness
of this most awful disease, may form some idea of the anxiety I felt
when I first found this patient with the attack upon her. He may judge,
too, something of my feelings, when, by midnight, I had succeeded in
bringing the pulse down to 80, and quelling all fever and pain.
The next morning the patient appeared in all respects well, but somewhat
weak, and not a little blanched. She got along afterward in all respects
perfectly well.
In a very short time—I do not now remember in how many days after the
birth—she commenced walking out carefully, and riding in the city to
improve her strength, with a view of returning home as soon as
circumstances might warrant.
When her infant was nineteen days old, feeling in all respects strong
and well—as much so, perhaps, as ever in her life—she proceeded, in
company with a female attendant, on her journey homeward, about three
hundred miles.
I should remark that this patient was always of weak, nervous, and
delicate constitution. She had had a miscarriage three years before this
confinement, which weakened her a good deal. During this second
pregnancy she adopted the water-treatment under my directions, but was
obliged to use, both for bathing and drinking as well as other purposes,
very hard, limy water—a circumstance considerably against her. She
experienced numerous little ailments, but on the whole got along very
well.
_Case XIII.—Nov. 8, 1850._—A lady residing in the city of Brooklyn, of
small stature, tolerably good constitution, nervous temperament, and I
should judge about twenty-five or six years of age, gave birth to her
third child near midnight of the above date. Having suffered a good deal
at her last preceding confinement, particularly with after-pains, she
had resolved at this time to adopt the water-treatment.
Very soon after the birth, the placenta having been expelled soon after
the child, the most fearful after-pains commenced, precisely in the same
way the patient had suffered before; and she had doubtless, as many
have, experienced incomparably more pain after the birth of the child
than before it. This is all unnatural and wrong, and would not be, if
human beings had from the first always obeyed the physical laws. But is
there no method by which these pains—terrible and persistent as they
often are—may be prevented? Certainly, if the experience of thousands
may be taken as a guide. No drugs can do it. Suppose we give strong
opiates, as some few of the more stupid practitioners may yet sometimes
do, we may allay the pains somewhat for the time. But who does not know
that the pains are in the end made worse? And what havoc does such
treatment make with the nervous system? But, fortunately, physicians
have, as a general thing, abandoned this practice.
In this case we helped the patient into the wash-tub, having the back
elevated two or three inches by a block of wood, she sitting in it with
the feet outside, and there being a couple of pails of tepid water in
it. She was rubbed for a long time—say fifteen or twenty minutes—until
all pain was removed. A large, heavy sheet was then folded both ways,
making it four double, and laid upon the bed; on this she was placed,
after which it was folded about her, reaching from the arms to the
knees. The application caused a good deal of shivering, but as I told
her, _the more shivering the less pain_, she bore it patiently. She was
covered, so as to make her in a reasonable time comfortable, and there
was, I believe, moderately warm applications made to the feet.
This being at about one o’clock in the night, I directed that if the
pains should again come on, as they probably would, she should be rubbed
as before a long time in the shallow-bath, have the wet-sheet renewed,
use the wet towels about the abdomen and genitals, as we always do,
without exception, in such cases, and to repeat these processes without
any reference to hours or time of day, as might be needed to keep off
the pains. Once only before morning was it necessary to repeat them, and
she enjoyed, on the whole, a good half night’s rest _in the folded
wet-sheet_. In the morning another bath was taken, when she found
herself very comfortable, and, withal, strong.
This patient being at a considerable distance from my home, I saw her, I
think, but twice after the birth. She bathed three or four times daily,
used the wet compresses freely, and took injections according to need,
and suffered almost nothing with after-pains. She kept her strength
well, and sat up to rest herself more or less every day.
The third or fourth night—the latter, I think it was—she was a good deal
wakeful from fever. Seeing her in the morning, I directed the bath and
folded wet-sheet as before, which at once subdued all unfavorable
symptoms. Had she resorted to them in the night time as often as the
symptoms might have demanded, she would have obtained a good night’s
rest.
All things considered, our intelligent patient found a vast difference
between water-treatment and that to which she had been before subjected;
and she was well rewarded for the heroism, self-denial, and perseverance
which she manifested at and before the time of her confinement.
_Case XIV.—November 10, 1850._—This is a case of an intelligent young
lady of this city, of apparently delicate health, and, I should judge,
twenty-two or twenty-three years of age.
Having been recently married, she spent the winter of 1849–50 probably
in too much excitement for the health of one in her state. Her home
besides—a fashionable boarding house—was not one at which the proper
food could be obtained; in short, she lived too freely, and that upon
food of improper character.
In the month of May she experienced a severe attack of bilious fever,
and also, comparatively unacquainted with the water-treatment, she had
the good sense to determine at once to submit herself confidently to the
new method; she had, indeed, no confidence in any other, and her
intelligent husband coincided with her in opinion, while the other
friends objected strongly to what they considered a piece of
fool-hardiness.
By the freest use of packing sheets, of short duration, shallow-baths in
the wash-tub, the wet girdle and tepid clysters frequently repeated,
together with entire abstinence from all food, she was completely cured
in a few days.
Here let it be remembered, that such attacks of fever, as indeed of all
severe acute diseases, are far more dangerous when they occur during
pregnancy.
After recovering from this attack, our patient went for a time to the
country, and followed all along a good course of bathing, with more
attention to diet. Her health improved constantly up to the close of her
period.
She came to labor the night of November 10, 1850. It lasted only about
six hours—rather a quick one for the first—natural, and on the whole
easy. Her child was a fine healthy boy.
Cold wet compresses were used freely, as ordinarily in such cases. She
suffered little or nothing from after-pains.
The lady was inclined to take only a moderate course of bathing during
recovery, and I did not regard it best to urge her. Two or three times a
day, however, she had an entire ablution of some sort. I think she sat
up more or less every day. She had all along a good appetite, slept well
at night, felt cheerful and contented, and in a few days found herself
in all respects quite well.
This case, although not of very marked character, is yet an instructive
one, when we take into consideration all of the circumstances connected
with her pregnancy.
_Case XV._—A laboring woman, who had been deserted by an intemperate
husband, applied to me in the summer of 1850 for advice. She was poor
and melancholic, and knew not what to do. Our house was too full to
receive her at the time, but a benevolent lady of the city gave her a
good home, and some small wages, for what light work she was able to
perform, but on the condition that she should find some other place in
which she should be confined.