The Russian bath : published with a view to recommend its introduction into England for hygienic as well as curative purposes / by Mathias Roth.

Date:
1852
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Russian bath : published with a view to recommend its introduction into England for hygienic as well as curative purposes / by Mathias Roth. 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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    acted upon, and the different foreign substances that obstruct the excretory ducts of the glands are removed; the sensitive nerves are more or less stimulated; the arterial congestion, as well as the temperature, is in- creased ; the secretion of the glands is promoted; a greater activity is produced in the subjacent textures ; the capillary circulation, the elasticity and softness of it, is considerably increased, and its mode of vitality changed. The frictions are either made with hair gloves, woollen cloths, soft brushes, coarse towels, or with the hands. For curative purposes, besides soaj), the most different remedial agents are used as embrocations on such parts as have been exposed to the influence of the vapour.” EFFECT OF SHAMPOOING. Amongst the means used for the preservation and restoration of health, there is none so generally diffused as shampooing, or some of the processes included in this denomination. A great number of people, living under all climates, of different characters and habits, as the Finlanders, Russians, Turks, Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, the South Sea Islanders, and many others, make use of it habitually; but the process varies, and is not everywhere executed with the same care. It consists, in some places, in a kind of kneading of the muscles, in forcible frictions made alternately on all parts of the body, principally on the limbs and joints, which must be moved by the attend- ant ; in others, it consists in slight manipulations with the tips of the fingers all over the body; and in others, in percussions with the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, patting and treading on the body, preceded by powerful frictions. In the description of the modern Egyptian bath, by Savary, the kind of shampooing used there is mentioned. To give an idea of the general effects of shampooing, we quote the following from the “ Dic- tionnaire des Sciences Medicates —“ All the authors on