A lecture on the physiological and therapeutical uses of water : delivered to the students of the Ohio Medical College at the opening of the session of 1839-40 / by M.B. Wright.

  • Wright, M. B. (Marmaduke Burr), 1803-1879.
Date:
[1840]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A lecture on the physiological and therapeutical uses of water : delivered to the students of the Ohio Medical College at the opening of the session of 1839-40 / by M.B. Wright. 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.)

    6/24
    The popular view of the cold bath, diners from this. It ia used to impart strength and elasticity to the feeble frame. Even helpless infants are brought under its influence. // makes them hardy is the nursery expression. But it is an expression which may prove even more injurious, than it seems to be desti- tute of distinct signification. Spartan mothers employed the bath, and the mothers of the present generation follow their example with a view to make Spartan sons. To establish the fact, that, it is an absurd and destructive practice, we need only look at the depressing influence of cold, and the known laws of vital reaction. In every day life, we have presented to us, a wide difference between the effects of the same cause upon different individuals. Look t the two brothers who have been subjected to the same parental treatment. They are on their way to school. The one is clothed in thick woollen garments— his feet are well protected, and yet he is shivering and crying with the cold. The other exposes his breast to the north wind— pulls off his shoes and stockings—wades through the snow, and slides upon the ice barefoot, and he is a whistling, merry fellow. In what resides the difference of their power to resist? In the original constitution. In the one case, vitality is not sufficiently active and powerful to withstand the chilling agency of the cold. In the other, reaction is speedy, for there is less nervous impressibility, and more energy of function Custom, no doubt, cautiously regulated, adds to the system new powers of resistance. In verification of this, many exam- ples might be enumerated, one of which I will not overlook. For many years, an old gentleman has resided upon the bank of the Scioto river. He dwelt with the Indians at an early day—became subject to their exposures, and still retains some of their peculiarities. Wading or swimming in the river is, with him, a cure for most diseases. And a characteristic incident is related of him, in another particular. Soon after marriage, he concluded to range the woods, in pursuit of deer, a sport in which he was by no means deficient. It was severely cold, and a deep snow had fallen upon the. ground. After his hunting apparatus had been put in order, and when he was about to take leave of his bride, she observed that he was without stock- ings, and, fearful that such exposure might prove injurious, in- sisted upon supplying him with a pair. He was not accustomed to their use, but put them on, as he was not disposed to resist an endearing solicitation at this happy period of his life. He had not travelled far, however, before his feet became unusually cold. To the stockings was ascribed, at once, all the mischief