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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    night. Out-door exercise is to be freely indulged. The skin should be kept dry; and this can be managed easily, by the general treat- ment recommended. It is proper to observe, that, in many cases, it may happen, that no relief is experienced till the cold bathing has been continued daily for some time; and therefore, the patient is not to discontinue the bath, because he may fancy that its good- effects ought to be manifested at first. All healing processes have one mode of action. Diseased matter is carried away in the venous blood; and healthy deposits, to fill its place, are formed from the succeeding influx of arterial blood. The chief object of the healing art, is to remove whatever does not pro- perly belong to the healthy body. The healthy condition is the standard on all occasions. It is the model to which the medical practitioner should always look for his rule of action. In removing diseased accumulations, the rule, we are to follow, is that of dis- placement, by compressing the organs or tissues wherein the accu- mulated matter is lodged; and as this can be effectually done only by a constitutional mode of treatment, we, therefore, plunge the whole body in cold water; or apply the water to the whole surface^ by means of a shower bath, or with a sponge. It does not signify by which means, so long as the double revulsion is produced by the cold shock, and the rubbing down is equally and thoroughly executed. In winter the room should be warm, or, at least, not very cold, in which the bath is taken. In regard to what is called hydropathy, its leading feature, or indeed the fundamental principle on which its pretensions arc founded, is that of sweating out the disease. It is this getting rid of disease, by sweating it out, that is assumed to constitute the pro- cess of cure in hydropathy. Therefore, in examining its pretensions, all that is required, is to ascertain whether the sweating promotes the natural course of the secretions, or diverts them so as to derange the equilibrium of the natural functions. The object of enquiry is the determination simply of a matter of fact, cognizable on scientific data. The assumptions of Priestnitz may have originated in honesty of intention and integrity of purpose; but Priestnitz was an unedu- cated person, at the time he originated hydropathy, and is so still. He knew nothing of the anatomy of the human frame, and, conse- quently, much less of the nature and constituent elements of the various secretions. How he could, thus circumstanced, have ori<n- nated a scientific theory, is not conceivable. And what grounds his followers assume, for their adoption of a system conceived, thus, in