“A full, plethoric woman, of a purple-red complexion, consulted me
* * * I gave her mercury, and in six weeks blanched her as white as
a lily.”
If this be what the Allopathist boasts of, and one of the effects he
aims at producing, we congratulate him on the melancholy success which
usually attends his efforts.
As regards the use of the foot bath, we may observe that the theory of
its administration subverts all our preconceived notions respecting the
proper mode of treating those affections for which it is usually
prescribed. For instance, the old mode of proceeding in affections of
blood to the head, or in cases of cold feet, was to apply cold to the
head and warmth to the feet, in the shape of hot flannels, hot bricks,
and hot stupes. Now the Hydropathic mode of treatment is the very
reverse of this, viz., to bathe the head in tepid, and place the feet
in cold water to about the depth of three inches, up to the
ankles—friction of the feet accompanying their immersion; the whole
being continued for about ten minutes. Let any person suffering from
cold feet try this remedy, and he will satisfy himself of the truth of
the principles which enjoin it. Its rationale is as follows:—The
application of warm water to the head, of the same temperature as the
body, does not increase the flow of blood to it, whilst the subsequent
evaporation from the moist and warm surface of the head cools it
gradually, and so diminishes the flow of blood to it, whilst the cold
application to the feet, has, “for a secondary result, the attraction
and retention in those parts of great quantity of blood, and
consequently of increased temperature there. In fact,” continues Dr.
Gully, “a cold foot bath of twelve or fifteen minutes, followed by a
walk of half-an-hour, is the most certain way to warm the feet that can
be devised; just as, per contra, the most certain way to insure cold
feet, is to soak them in hot water. The same applies to the hands. When
the patient is in a condition to take it, a walk is necessary to obtain
the circulating reaction alluded to:” he adds, “the warmth remains for
several hours. Very frequently I have heard persons say that they have
not known cold feet since they began to take cold foot baths.”
With respect to bathing generally, very erroneous opinions appear to
prevail, two of which only we will notice:—First, that for delicate
constitutions bathing is dangerous, because no reaction takes place in
the system;—secondly, that it is dangerous to bathe in cold water when
the body is heated. To the first we answer, that no matter how delicate
the constitution may be, reaction can always be obtained, if water of a
proper temperature be used; this temperature will vary with the
vitality of the individual—the more delicate the individual the warmer
the water must be. A delicate person will often receive the same shock
and benefit to his system from water at a temperature of 80°, as a
strong man may, perhaps, receive from water at a temperature of 42°. To
the second we reply, that a more erroneous opinion could not by
possibility prevail, and that the idea in question is exactly the
opposite of the truth; the fact being, that the body cannot be too warm
for cold bathing, always provided, that such warmth has not been
produced at the cost of bodily languor and fatigue, as in such cases
the system will be too much weakened to react after the bath with
effect; but with this exception, the warmer the body the greater will
be the reaction and benefit received, and the longer may the bather
continue with impunity to luxuriate in the bath. The body is never so
well calculated to withstand the effects of cold as when it is heated;
and the only danger to be apprehended from cold bathing is that arising
from entering the water in a chilled condition, when, from the low
vitality of the body, the subsequent reaction becomes imperfect. Let
these maxims be remembered:—that without subsequent reaction, no bath
is beneficial—therefore, water should be always used of a proper
temperature to secure reaction, and exercise to warmth, taken
immediately before and after a cold bath, when practicable; that the
colder the bath (provided reaction follows) the greater its benefit,
the reaction being always a mean proportional between the temperature
of the bather and the water in which he bathes. Whenever bathing is
found to disagree with any person, it will be always found that some of
the preceding conditions have been neglected, a very common fault being
that of entering the water in a chilled state, and remaining there for
twenty minutes, when five would have proved, perhaps, more than
sufficient; then headache, languor, and chilliness succeed, and we are
told that bathing disagrees. With such bathing, the wonder would be
that it did not.
We would next make some observations on the different modes of treating
pulmonary consumption, that fatal and mysterious disease, which has so
long baffled the curative efforts of the most eminent physicians of
their day, and it is gratifying to find that a great step towards a
rational and successful mode of treatment, based on sound physiological
principles, has lately obtained in its case, which mode we hope soon to
see generally adopted by the medical profession. [6] The unsuccessful
treatment of this disease has hitherto cast a slur on medical science,
and it is not to be wondered at that little success should have
attended on the orthodox mode of treatment, since recent observation,
and matured experience have shown, on physiological principles, that no
worse mode could have been devised for curing, nor a surer one adopted
for aggravating the disease. This new view of the matter is very ably
set forth in Dr. Lane’s work, which we heartily recommend to the
perusal of our readers, as a sensible and modest statement of the
benefits resulting from Hydropathic treatment in cases of that nature.
Dr. Lane looks upon consumption as essentially a blood disease, in
which opinion he is confirmed by the first physiologists of the day,
and by those physicians who have had most experience in the treatment
of that particular disease, Sir James Clarke, Professor Bennet, Dr.
Balbyrnie, and others. These physicians concur in confirming the
observation of others, to the effect that indigestion or derangement of
the stomach and digestive organs, is a universal forerunner of
pulmonary consumption, and that without such derangement consumption
cannot exist. Consequent on this diseased state of the digestive
organs, imperfect blood is assimilated, deficient in its oleaginous
elements, and containing an undue amount of albuminous materials; that
in consequence of this deficiency of oleaginous elements, the blood is
incapable of being converted into true cellular tissue to replace the
effete material of the lungs, and the superabundant quantity of albumen
has a tendency to exude upon the lungs on their exposure to cold in the
form of tubercles, which process is unaccompanied by inflammatory
action. These facts are based on long observation and direct chemical
analysis of the substance composing the tubercles, which consist of
almost pure albumen; and on this theory the wonderful effects of cod
liver oil in consumptive cases, and the great emaciation of body which
results from the disease are satisfactorily explained. In the one case,
the cod liver oil supplies, in a light and digestible form, the
oleaginous element in which the blood is deficient; in the other, the
system has recourse to the fatty or adipose matter of the body to
supply the oleaginous principle. But now the question arises, supposing
that indigestion is the universal precursor of consumption, from what
does this indigestion and consequent imperfect assimilation of the
blood proceed? This question Dr. Lane does not touch upon, but we
believe that Dr. Barter, the well-known Hydropathic physician of
Blarney, considers that it arises from defective vitality [7] in the
blood, caused by deficiency of oxygen in the system, more immediately
proceeding from defective capacity of the lungs, and imperfect action
of the skin. The skin and lungs, it must be remembered, are
supplementary organs; stop the action of either, and death inevitably
ensues, and on their perfect or imperfect action, perfect or imperfect
health depends. This view of the disease is illustrated by the history
of the monkey: in its wild state, the best authorities state, it never
gets consumption, but domesticate the animal, so inducing bad action of
the lungs, from want of sufficient exercise and wholesome air, and
imperfect action of the skin, arising from the same cause, and it
usually dies of this disease. These observations equally apply to all
cases of scrofulous degeneration, which physicians estimate as carrying
off prematurely one-sixth of the whole human family. [8] Of this
terrible disease, the scourge of the human race, it is sufficient to
observe, that consumption is merely a form of it, and that it is,
moreover, hereditary, a fact which would corroborate the opinion of its
being a true blood disease.
Having referred to the fact of the lungs and skin being supplementary
organs—the principal duty of both being to aerate the blood—it may be
interesting to lay before our readers the following extracts from the
results of Monsieur Fourcault’s experiments bearing on the subject.
These experiments were made with the view of ascertaining the effect of
the suppression of transpiration by the skin, in animals, on coating
their bodies with an impermeable varnish. The committee of the French
Institute thus describes these experiments:—
“The substances which he used were givet-glue, dextrine, pitch, and
tar, and several plastic compounds; sometimes the varnish was made
to cover the whole of the animal’s body, at other times only a more
or less extensive part of it. The accidents which follow this
proceeding are more or less complete or incomplete, general or
partial. In every case the health of the animals is soon much
impaired and their life in danger. Those which have been submitted
to those experiments, under our observation, have died in one or
two days, and in some cases in a few hours only.
“In the opinion of the committee these experiments are full of
interest for the future, * * * * the experiments of M. Fourcault
cannot fail to throw a new light upon the physiological and
pathological phenomena, depending upon the double function of
inhalation and exhalation of the cutaneous system.”