Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/220

192] Art, provided its temperature does not exceed 98°. We have purposely inserted Dr. 's account under the head of "Warm Baths," though the waters in the city of Bath must, consistently with our division, be classed under the following head.

4. Hot Baths are those which have a temperature above 98 or 100 degrees of, and are occasionally increased to 110 or 120° and upwards, according to the particular nature of the case, and the constitution of the patient. As no prudent person, we trust, will have recourse to a hot bath, without medical advice, we shall but briefly enumerate a few particulars relative to its use, as well as its effects.

1. Hot bathing, whether natural or artificial, is supposed to be the most general solvent of all the humours of the body; 2. It consequently is the most probable mean of removing obstructions of every kind; 3. Previous evacuations are necessary, to cleanse the first passages, and prepare the habit; for which purpose repeated emetics are often safe and useful; 4. Attenuating and aperitive medicines are proper to render the humours more fluid, and promote the discharge of noxious particles and whatever caused the obstructions; 5. Too great a degree of heat, or too long a continuance in the bath; too heating a bed after it; profuse perspiration; exposure to cold air on bathing days; eating of high seasoned dishes, or drinking of spirituous liquors, during a course of bathing, are always improper, often dangerous, and sometimes fatal; 6. The head should in no case be dipt, till the bather is rising out of the water: 7. A course of bathing should be long, but regulated by intervals, according to the various effects perceived by the bather; 8. The temperate seasons of the year are most proper, safe, and beneficial, both for drinking and bathing. On the whole, there can be no stated rules laid down, as every thing depends upon the peculiar circumstances of each patient; and hence Dr. asserts, in his "Practical Essay on the use and abuse of Warm (hot) Bathing, &c." that by the prudent use of the hot bath, most chronical disorders, and gouty cases in particular, not in an inflamed state, may be relieved, and sometimes cured; while persons in high health may be greatly injured by wantonly sporting with so powerful an alterative of the animal machine, either from sickness to health, or from health to sickness.

Having now given a concise view of the four principal kinds of hath, with regard to the temperature of the water, we shall likewise notice another curious mode of bathing, as practised by the hardy Russians.—We allude to the Sweating or Vapour Baths, which are used by persons of every rank and age, in almost every disorder; before and after a journey, hard work, &c. These are frequented at least once a week, or as often as possible, whether in a state of health or sickness: the extraordinary degree of heat produced by the evaporation of water thrown upon red-hot stones, in a close room, raises the thermometer to 146, or 168 degrees; the latter of which numbers is a degree of heat considerably above that which melts wax, and only 12° below that for boiling spirit of wine. In such a bath, the Russians lie naked