OF THE DISEASES IN WHICH THIS MINE­RAL WATER IS PROPER.

1. THIS water is proper in the HYSTERIA.—This dis­order shews itself in a variety of shapes. It is known by attacking the female more than the male sex; especially such as are of a delicate habit, by being accompanied with flatulencies, contractions of the muscles of the belly, and a sense of something resembling a ball rising in the throat.—It prevails most in warm climates and seasons; and lastly, it is always subject to exacerbations from any cause that suddenly affects and disturbs the mind.

2. It is proper in the PALSY, whether of part or of the whole of the body, when the pulse is not [Page] full, and when the symptoms of a plethora are wanting; it is always a strong presumption of the propriety of using these waters, where the disease has continued a long time, without any remarkable change in the symptoms.

3. In the EPILEPSY, when it arises from an affection of the stomach, or the womb, or from a general weak habit of body, this water is proper.

4. It may be drank with advantage in a certain stage of the GOUT, particularly when it comes on in the decline of life.—The constitution then exhibits various marks of great debility; the gouty affection in consequence of this, instead of appearing in the feet, shews itself in a weakness, nausea and acidity of the stomach. These symptoms are generally accompanied with costiveness and flatulency of the bowels.

5. It is useful in an old obstinate Diarrhoea or an ha­bitual purgings, when not accompanied with a griping or a discharge of blood mixed with the stools. Sailors returning from long voyages, or from warm climates, are most subject to this disorder.

6. It affords the most certain relief in all cases of a WANT OF APPETITE, when it originates from a defect in the stomach. The appetite may be distroyed by causes which operate directly or indirectly upon the stomach. Those which operate directly are tea, spirituous liquors, and bitters taken in an immoderate quantity, or at impro­per times, too full meals, strong vomits, and warm drinks of all kinds; the causes which operate indirectly on the stomach are all sedative passions of the mind, such as, grief, fear, love, &c. together with whatever weakens or disor­ders the other parts of the system.

We shall hereafter point out what kind of diet should be joined with the mineral water, in this disorder.

7. It is proper in all those COLICS, which arise from mere weakness of the bowels, and particularly in that spe­cies, which is accompanied with an overflowing of the bile, a disease this to which the inhabitants of warm climates are most subject.

8. Besides these diseases, in which the nervous system is chiefly affected, this mineral water is useful in all OB­STRUCTIONS OF THE LIVER AND SPLEEN, whether they are brought on by indolence, intemperance, or intermit­ting fevers, and whether they shew themselves in a mere [Page] [...]elling and hardness, or a jaundice, a cough or a dropsy. If the dropsy it should be given only while it continues to operate by urine or stool; for this purpose it should be drank not in the usual manner, but in large quantities.

9. It is proper in all cases of CHRONIC RHEUMATISM. It will be more efficacious in this disorder if the flesh brush be used at the same time.

10. It is very useful in the PILES, especially when they occur in that stage of life in which the artereal plethora yield to the venous. This seldom happens till the thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth year of life,

11. In all FEMALE OBSTRUCTIONS and weaknesses, which are accompanied with general languor and debility of the whole system, this water affords considerable relief.

12. It may be given with advantage to children afflicted with WORMS. Here it acts like bark, rhubarb, aloes and bitters of all kinds indirectly upon the worms, by giving a proper tone to the bowels. Among the many substances which destroy them directly, there are few more powerful than sugar, honey, salt and ripe summer-fruits; all children shew a fondness for these things. The appe­tite in this early period of life is not corrupted by habit or vitiated by disease, and may therefore be listened to as the voice of nature. These substances should be given upon an empty stomach, and the patient should not eat any thing for an hour afterwards.

13. It is proper in all CUTANEOUS DISEASES and foul ulcers of long standing, whether they be of scorbutic or scrophulous nature.—The part affected should be washed with the mineral water twice a-day.

14. It is useful in diseases of the KIDNEYS and BLAD­DER, when a difficulty or obstruction in making water arises from relaxation or small calculi in these organs.

15. It has been used with success in obstinate GLEETS, after the most powerful astringent medicines have been used to no purpose.

Let us next enquire in WHAT DISEASES THIS WATER IS HURTFUL.

1. In the HYPOCHONDRIAC DISORDER it is an improper remedy.—Although this disorder is sometimes joined with [Page] Hysteria, yet it is distinct from it in its nature, and re­quires a very different treatment.—It is known by its at­tacking the male more than the female sex, by its pre­vailing most in cold seasons and climates, and by its being accompanied with acidity, flatulency, costiveness or a di­arrhoea, an entire want of, or an inordinate appetite, pain in the stomach and breast after eating, a vomiting, an un­usual discharge of spittle from the mouth, colic, &c. In this disorder all preparations of iron have been found hurtful. It is a little extraordinary, that a draught of warm water, will sometimes create an appetite in this disorder, after bitter and aromatic medicines have been ad­ministred to no purpose.

2. It has sometimes been recommended in the PHTHE­SIS PULMONALIS or consumption of the lungs.—But I doubt much whether a chalybeate water ever cured or re­lieved a true consumption, whether brought on by an ab­cess, tubercles, or ulcers.-In every state of the human bo­dy, when the inflammatory diathesis prevails, this water is improper—that it prevails in the consumption we in­fer from the hard pulse and sizy appearance of the blood.

This water we said is improper in all diseases, when an inflammatory diathesis prevails.

3. It is hurtful therefore in most cases of HEMORRHA­GY, or praeternatural discharges of blood from the body. Hemorrhagies are either active or passive: the former hap­pen before, the latter after the thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth year of life. It is in the former in which the inflammatory diathesis chiefly prevails. They are known by an increase of tone and action of the arterial system, and by all the common symptoms of plethora.

4. This water is likewise hurtful for the same reason in the ACUTE RHEUMATISM and GOUT. This latter disease resembles the former a good deal, in its seat, symp­toms and methods of cure, when it attacks in the early period of life. It appears at the usual seasons of inflamma­tory disorders, and is accompanied with a degree of inflam­matory diathesis. It is now called the tonic gout, to distinguish it from that which comes on in the decline of life, and which, from the irregularity of its seat, times of accession, and symptoms, is called the anomalous or atonic gout.

THE MANNER OF USING THIS WATER

The quantity to be drank daily of this water must be determined by the constitution and disease of the patient. Too large a draught at first has sometimes produced very disagreeable effects, which have discouraged patients from giving it a fair trial. They should be guarded against this, and in some cases, when the use of it is clearly indicated, they should be encouraged to look upon its harsh operation at first as a presage of its doing much good. The best method for people of delicate habits, is to begin with a gill or half a pint and increase it gradually to five or six half pints in a day. Formerly the chalybeate water was drank in a much larger quantity, but experience has taught us that three pints or two quarts at most in a day is suffi­cient to produce all the salutary effects we have reason to expect from it.

The patient has always drank too much, if he becomes feverish and perceives an uneasy sense of heat in his breast, immediately after taking the water.

He should drink it if possible at the fountain head, as its virtue is much impaired by being deprived of its air.—The best time for drinking it is early in the morning, at noon and in the evening, upon an empty stomach.—The patient should always walk or ride, or use some gentle exercise im­mediately after drinking it. When we want to promote perspiration, it should be drank just before the patient goes to bed,—In some diseases, which require these waters, the stomach is oftentimes so weak as to reject them even in the smallest quantity; when this is the case, the water should be mixed with a little cinnamon or mint water, or the sto­mach should be prepared for it by some grateful aromatic tincture. I have heard of a Lady who could retain a cha­lybeate water on her stomach only when she drank it in bed, and remained there an hour or two afterwards; it re­lieved her of the complaint for which she drank it.

If the water should not keep the bowels gently open, the patient should make use of such laxative medicines as will best suit his disorder.

It may be drank for several months in any season of the year, especially in the spring, summer and autumn; it is a good practice to intermit it now and then for a few days, lest it should lose its efficacy by habit.

[Page]It would encroach too much upon our plan, to mention the particular diet, which the several diseases, we have men­tioned, require. The patient should observe the most strict regard to the quantity of his food. This caution is the more necessary, as the water sometimes excites an arti­ficial appetite, which it is by no means safe to gratify fully. Four or five small, are better than one or two full meals in a day for valetudinarians, upon the account of their being less stimulating.

In all cases of indigestion, acidity, flatulency, &c. in the stomach, patients should abstain from vegetables, and live as much as possible upon an animal diet. Beef and mutton will be found much easier of digestion in these cases than what are commonly called the white meats.^*

This diet should not be continued too long. In propor­tion as the stomach recovers its tone, the patient should gra­dually return to the use of vegetables or to mixed aliment. What Dr. Cadogan says of milk, we may say of vegetables, that it is generally a sign the stomach requires them, when it cannot bear them.

In all cutaneous and scorbutic diseases, foul ulcers, &c. the patient should live entirly upon vegetables, provided he is not very old or of a weak habit.

There can be no other objection to patients drinking this water with all their meals, than the danger of loosing their efficacy by too constant a use. The ingenious female au­thor of "The history of putrefaction," has proved by ex­periment, that chalybeate waters hasten the dissolution and putrefaction of aliment.

After all that has been said upon this subject, we must acknowlegde, that mineral waters, like most of our medi­cines, are only substitutes for temperance and excercise in chronic diseases. An angel must descend from heaven and [Page] [...]uble this chalybeate pool, before we can expect any ex­traordinary effects from its use alone. There is a great resemblance between the fate of medicine and religion. In every age and country an article of faith or a mode of wor­ship have usurped the place of the precepts of morality. Thus in medicine we find a variety of remedies such as mercury, bark, steel, woodlice, tar, lime and mineral wa­ters of all kinds, pine buds, ginseng, &c. have been put in the place of temperance and exercise. The fashion of the former passes away, but the effects of the latter, like the obligations of morality, endure forever.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE COLD BATH.

It would be an easy task to collect a variety of facts in favor of the antiquity and usefulness of the Cold Bath, and to shew that it has been recommended by the Physici­ans, used by the Philosophers and praised by the Poets of every age and country, both as the means of health and pleasure; but this would be foreign to the simple design of the present essay.

Before I proceed to deliver directions for the use of the cold bath, I shall take notice in a few words of its usual effects upon the body, and mention the diseases, in which it is a proper or a doubtful and improper remedy.

The first effect of the cold bath is, to wash off impu­rities of all kinds from the skin, and thereby to promote a free and equal perspiration.

2d. By its pressure it drives the fluids from the surface to the internal parts of the body. Hence the quick and and sometimes difficult respiration which is generally felt after plunging into cold water.

3d. It braces the animal fibres, and thereby increases their tone and strength. And

4th. It stimulates the whole nervous system, and there­by favors the more easy action of the vital, animal and natural functions of the body.

The first advantage of the cold bath, which I shall mention, is that it prevents the diseases of warm weather. By its tonic action upon the nervous system, it diminishes [Page] its sensibility to heat, and thereby secures the constitution from the painful as well as morbid effects of the summer months. Children therefore (who suffer so generally from warm weather) and persons subject to fevers or nervous complaints, should use the cold bath, in the Months of June, July and August.

2d. In the chronic Rheumatism and atonic Gout the cold bath is a safe and powerful remedy.

3d. In diseases attended with a relaxation of the nervous system, the cold bath promises relief. Those diseases may be reduced to the following heads:

• The Epilepsy,
• The Hysteria,
• Palpitation of the heart,
• Asthma,
• St. Vitus's dance,
• Rickets,
• Head-ach,
• Palsy of the limbs,
• Periodical pains,
• The Colic,
• The Diarrhoea,
• The Cramp,
• The whooping Cough,
• A defect of seeing or hear­ing from causes that are not obvious,
• Madness accompanied with debility,
• Melancholy or partial in­fanity,
• A defect or decay of the intellectual powers not produced by old age, and lastly
• The locked Jaw.

The good effects of the cold bath in the last named dis­order have lately been fully ascertained by Dr. Wright of the island of Jamaica.

4th. In those obstructions of the liver and spleen, which follow autumnal fevers, and which are not attended with inflammation, the cold bath may be used with advantage.

5th. The excess and defect of that evacuation which is connected with the health of the female constitution, have both been relieved by the cold bath. It not only cures these diseases, but frequently removes barrenness, and pre­vents abortion. Its agreeable effects upon female beauty, would furnish materials for many pages, but these are fo­reign to the subject of the present essay.

6th. In eruptions and diseases of the skin of all kinds, the application of cold water in the form of a bath, has often produced the most salutary effects.

I shall now point out those constitutions and diseases in which the use of the cold bath is doubtful or improper.

1st. In very old people, and in habits, where the pow­ers of nature have been exhausted by intemperance, or long and wasting diseases, the cold bath is a doubtful remedy.

[Page 11]2d. In full habits, where from the manner of life, or from the peculiar make of the body, or from previous disea­ses, we have reason to suspect a disposition to Apoplexy or Palsy, the cold bath should be used with great caution, and never till previous evacuations have been made from the bowels or the blood vessels.

3d. In a Plethora of the lungs whether it manifests it­self by pain, a difficulty of breathing, or by a spitting of blood, the cold bath is never proper. It has seldom been used with advantage or even safety, in consumptive cases. How far an union of the cold bath with other remedies that determine powerfully to the skin, might prove useful in the consumption of the lungs, remains to be determined hereafter by bold experiments and accurate observations

OF THE TIME AND MANNER OF USING THE COLD BATH.

The best time for using the cold bath, is in the morning before breakfast. A short walk, or a moderate degree of exercise, is sometimes necessary to prepare the body for the action of the cold water upon it, especially in the middle of summer, when the heat of a close room and a feather-bed^* the proceeding night, are so apt to in­crease relaxation, or promote weakning sweats. The soo­ner the water is applied to the whole body the better. The head should be exposed to the coldness and pressure of the water, as nearly as possible at the same instant, with the other parts of the body. The inconveniencies arising from wetting the hair, may be obviated by the patients covering his head, before he goes into the bath, with an oiled cloth or bladder cap. From one to three minutes will be long enough in most cases, to remain in the bath.

A patient may always know when he has used the bath improperly or staid too long in the water, when he feels a chilliness or pains in his head or breast, which do not soon yield to the warmth of the air, or to gentle exercise; on the contrary, it is a promising sign of future benefit from the bath, when a patient, upon coming out of the water feels a sudden glow of heat diffuse itself over the whole [Page] body, accompanied with a chearful and animated tone of mind.

The good effects of the bath will be increased, by the patients employing a friend or a servant to rub the body for a quarter or half an hour with a flesh-brush, or where this cannot be had, with a piece of flannel or coarse linnen cloth, immediately after he comes out of the bath. As soon as he is dressed he should devote from half an hour to an hour to gentle exercise, either by walking or riding on horse-back, or in a carriage, according to the degrees of his strength, or the nature of his disorder.

To preserve health, it will be sufficient to use the cold bath from once a-day to three times a-week. To restore health in most diseases it should be used every day, but in diseases of an obstinate nature, or that have been of a long duration, it should be used every morning and evening. It will only be necessary to add here, that when a patient uses the bath twice in a day, he should avoid going into it too soon af­ter dining, and should not use it so late in the evening, as to prevent his taking the exercise formerly recommended after it.

I consider the shower bath as a substitute for the plunging bath. It was invented only to gratify the weak and indolent. I do not condemn it; on the contrary, I think it may be used with advantage in cases of great weakness, where the plunging bath is improper. In disea­ses too, where the use of the plunging bath is of doubt­ful issue, it should always be prefered. Perhaps in most cases, where there exists a dread of the shock from the weight or coldness of the water, the mind as well as the body may be prepared to sustain them both, by the use of the shower bath for a few days.