Neurasthenia / by Gilbert Ballet ; translated from the third French edition by P. Campbell Smith.

Date:
1911
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Neurasthenia / by Gilbert Ballet ; translated from the third French edition by P. Campbell Smith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    than the lower half of the body, and its tempera- ture is usually about 85^F. at the beginning. If the patient finds this immersion agreeable, he may be left there for some minutes without any disadvantage. At the end of this time taps are turned on which are arranged so as to regulate the inflow and outflow of water in an exact manner, and in this way the temperature of the bath is steadily lowered by four, six, eight, or even ten degrees. While this is going on, water must be taken from the bath in a pail or other convenient receptacle, and thrown over the parts of the patient that are not submerged; and the whole surface of his body must be rubbed, the lower parts with most energy. The duration of this immersion and the operations that complete it varies from five to ten minutes, according to the patient's powers of resistance and the degree of his excitement. When the patient leaves the bath, he is sprinkled with water at an agreeable temperature, practically that of his body, and he is rubbed gently, and told to rest in his bed. The operation has usually a very marked soothing influence, which produces an agreeable sensation of relief, and even a restorative sleep. We must now pass in review the hydrothera- peutic procedures that are specially applicable in the treatment of certain predominant or funda- mental symptoms of neurasthenia.