Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/188

184 in numerous external ablutions, and such applications were often prescribed and required by the laws of both Jews and Gentiles; and throughout all succeeding generations, there has been no time when it was not employed, more or less, as a remedial or palliative auxiliary. Baths of all temperatures, in all imaginable forms and conditions, medicated and unmedicated, were extensively employed by the ancient Romans, Egyptians, and many other nations, and still continue in use to a greater or less extent, in all hot and temperate regions. The employment of water in external purifications, led to its use as a symbol of moral cleansing, which obtains in all countries and all religions. In very hot countries, where a large part of the effete matter of the body passes off through the skin, frequent ablutions are much more necessary than in cold regions; and those whose habits and propensities render them constantly filthy, require a more frequent and freer use of this universal lavement, in order to keep the surface of the body in a healthy condition.

One might suppose that the experience of six