Outlines of chemico-hygiene and medicine, or the application of chemical results to the preservation of health, and cure of disease / by A. Dallas.

  • Dallas, A. (Angus)
Date:
1860
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Outlines of chemico-hygiene and medicine, or the application of chemical results to the preservation of health, and cure of disease / by A. Dallas. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    development of the other structures of the body, the reasonable and legitimate inference is, that, in the processes of assimilation and oxidation, and also of displacement, the organ of the mind, and the mind itself, are as much influenced, as the muscular tissues. The benefits, therefore, conferred on the nervous system, by assimilation, oxidation, and displacement, are facts of vast importance to both hygiene and medicine. The sensation experienced by a healthy person, after a bath per- formed in the proper way, is that of great vigor. The strength seems renewed, and the body seems capable of undertaking some Herculean feat. But suppose the individual has been afflicted with a diseased state of the liver; or with tubercles in the lungs; or with ulcers in the neck or on the legs; or the formation of pus or concealed humors, in any part of the body; the compression, occasioned by the application of cold water to the surface of the. body, pushes the diseased matter, wherever it may be, forwards, in a direction to empel it, through the secretions of the venous blood. The onward movement is, from the arteries, into the veins. By the valvular construction of the veins, when the compression takes place, the valves prevent the diseased matter from going back. It can only go forwards. Consequently, it goes, in a direction, to be removed from the place in which it has been formed, and to be expelled. Therefore, in cold bathing, in order to effect this onward move- ment of the fluids and humours, and, at the same time, to aid the sudden rush of fresh arterial blood, the bathing must be done quickly; and also the subsequent dry rubbing. The degree of compression is in proportion to the coldness of the water. If the constitution is able to bear the shock, a person having tumors to be removed, or chronic derangement to be overcome, should make use of the coldest water. Displacement, moves the diseased matter, from the place in which it hae been formed or located. Oxidation, carries it out of the body. The repetition of the first process, and its continuance, are necessary to move the morbid matter of a constitutional or local disorder. And the length of time during which these processes must be carried on, to effect a perfect cure, is proportioned to the stage of the disease, and the collateral circumstances attending it. Diseased humors, which pass from the body in this manner, can pass out by three channels only ; namely, by the kidneys, by the lungs, and by the skin. Tubercles, and similar diseased formations, can be