Health for the million : including hints on the physical training of youth, and the treatment of invalids and old age, with observations on unhealthy employments / by the author of How to make home happy, The accidents of life, etc., etc.

Date:
1858
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health for the million : including hints on the physical training of youth, and the treatment of invalids and old age, with observations on unhealthy employments / by the author of How to make home happy, The accidents of life, etc., etc. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/360 (page 22)
    without e.Kciting any unpleasant feeling at a much higher temperature than water, which is owing to the rarity of the former. Even in disease these baths re- quire to he used with caution ; but in this country, and in health, they may be almost universally superseded by mUder and safer means, which attain everj’ hygienic purpose in a more direct and sure way. Medicated Baths, generally formed of pure raiu water impregnated with mineral, vegetable, and animal sub- stances, are frequently prescribed by physicians for complaints arising from nervous or muscular debility, and under medical guidance are eminently serviceable. Both in ancient and modern times it has been cus- tomary to add scent to the bath—a luxuri', however, of which few need care to avail themselves; for pui’e water, after all, is the best renovator of health. Eau de Cologne and rose-water are the least injurious to the skin in cases where scent is preferred. Anointing the Body with Oil, as is still practised in the East, although distasteful to our habits, is in some instances of great benefit to the constitution, especially to persons exposed to the rays of the sun in a warm climate, as we see by the journal of Dr. Leichard during his travels through the hitherto unknown in- terior of Australia, who anointed liis l>ody and those of his companions with the fat of the birds they killed, and found it indispensable to their health and comfort. Sea-bathing possesses so many advantages in regard to health that we need not enlarge upon the subject. 'We will merely offer a few hints. The periods of the year best suited for this delightful object are the summer and autumn, when the temperature of the water on our shores varies from 55® to 70®. The time of day for bathing in the sea must dej>end upon the locality and the state of the tide. In general, however, the best period is about noon, or two or three houm after breakfast, if the sun is not too powerful. A great addition to the comfort of the patient would be a know- ledge of the art of swimming, which is unfortunately too