Page:Quackery Unmasked.djvu/192

188 cleansing the body of impurities by wrapping it in wet sheets. Up to the time of making the application, nature was going on with her vital processes, casting off useless atoms, and supplying their places with new; but as soon as the aqueous envelope is applied, the cutaneous excretories become obstructed, the efferent current that was setting towards the surface is arrested at the outlet, and by this means the effete matter, instead of passing off, is shut up in the body, as it cannot readily pass off through an aqueous medium. No means are made use of to cleanse the primœ viœ, and every depurating outlet is closed. The patient, in passing through these aquatic transmigrations, may pass several weeks without any fecal evacuations. This is like attempting to cleanse a filthy fountain by damming up every outlet, and without removing the impurities from the fountain head. But suppose that this artificial irrigation and champooing is so conducted as to increase the discharge from the surface of the body—the whole manœuvre is nothing better than a morbid process. Is nothing but injurious matter removed from the body