New guide to health, or, Botanic family physician : containing a complete system of practice upon a plan entirely new : with a description of the vegetables made use of, and directions for preparing and administering them to cure disease : to which is added a description of several cases of disease attended by the author, with the mode of treatment and cure / by Samuel Thomson.

  • Thomson, Samuel, 1769-1843.
Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: New guide to health, or, Botanic family physician : containing a complete system of practice upon a plan entirely new : with a description of the vegetables made use of, and directions for preparing and administering them to cure disease : to which is added a description of several cases of disease attended by the author, with the mode of treatment and cure / by Samuel Thomson. 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.)

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    any good purpose, and I think would be dangerous, with- out the use of my medicine to first raise a free perspiration; for when the surface of the body is dry, the patient cannot bear it, as it will crowd to the head and cause distress, the same as is produced by burning charcoal, or from hot stoves in a tight room, and will bring on a difficulty in breathing, which is not the case in steaming in my way. This ma- chine can only be used in bed, where the vapour cannot be applied to the body equally at the same time, therefore is no better than a hot dry stone put on each side, and to the feet of the patient, for he can turn himself and get heat from them as well as to have all the trouble of burning spirit and turning to the vapour of it, to get warm by this dry heat. When the patient stands over a steam raised by putting a hot stone in water, which gives a more equal heat all over the body than can be done in any other manner, it can be raised higher, and may be tempered at pleasure by wetting the face and stomach with cold water as occasion requires. The method adopted by me, and which has always an- swered the desired object, is as follows: Take several stones of different sizes, and put them in the fire till red hot, then take the smallest first and put one of them into a pan or ket- tle of hot water, with the stone half immersed—the patient must be undressed and a blanket put around him so as to shield his whole body from the air, and then place him over the steam. Change the stones as often as they grow cool, so as to keep up a lively steam, and ketp them over it; if they are faint, throw a little cold water on the face and stomach, which will let down the outward heat and res- tore the strength—after they have been over the steam long enough, which will generally be about 15 or 20 mi- nutes, they must be washed all over with cold water or spirit and be put in bed, or may be dressed, as the cir- cumstances of the case shall permit. Beiore they are pla- ced over the steam, give a dose of No. 2 and 3, or com- position, to raise the inward heat. When the patient is too weak to stand over the steam, it may be done in bed, by heating three stones and petting them in water till done