A guide to the treatment of diseases of the skin : with suggestions for their prevention for the use of the student and general practitioner / by Thomas Hunt.

  • Hunt, Thomas, 1798-1879.
Date:
1863
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A guide to the treatment of diseases of the skin : with suggestions for their prevention for the use of the student and general practitioner / by Thomas Hunt. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    twenty or thirty minutes or more; but when the diaphoresis is once established it is most effectual. The water literally streams from every part of the body, and then the system becomes sensible of relief. Before this occurs, an overpowering sense of exhaustion or faint- ness is occasionally felt, and the bather is permitted to retreat into the calidarium for relief. This, however, is apt to check the tendency to perspiration and should be avoided if possible. In consequence of the remonstrances of the pro- fession, most of the bath proprietors have reduced the temperature of the hot room f sudatorium J from 160° to 130° or even lower. A better plan would be to heat one part of the room to a higher degree than another, for a very high temperature is required for some individuals and a much lower one would suffice for others. The process of free perspiration having continued for a quarter of an hour or more, the bather is removed into the calidarium, laid on a deal board, and roughly shampooed, the joints are stretched, kneaded, twisted and rubbed unmercifully. The ribs and spine pressed and pushed until the patient can scarcely breathe, and visible spots of ecchymosis will in the thin-skinned testify for days afterwards, to the severity of the treatment. Whether this be necessary or not in a physical sense may be a question, but its moral effect in ridding the system of nervous fancies is certainly superlative. After the shampooing process is completed, and be- fore you can ascertain whether your ribs arc broken or not, you are nearly drowned in a tepid shower bath, which washes away the epithelial scales and dirt and