Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Fomentation

FOMENTATION, in the art healing, signifies the external application of a fluid in cases of swellings, &c. as warm as the patient can bear it, and in the following manner: Two pieces of flannel are dipt into the heated liquor, one of which is expeditiously wrung dry, and thus immediately applied to the part affected. As soon as it begins to grow cool, the first is removed, and the other instantly substituted, in order to keep those parts constantly supplied with the warm flannels. This operation is continued for 15 or 20 minutes, and is repeated two or three times in the course of the day, as circumstances may require.

The design of fomentations may be fully answered, by the application of warm water alone, unless discutients or antiseptics are required; in which cases, such ingredients must be employed as are calculated to effect that purpose.

The degree of heat should on no account exceed that of producing an agreeable sensation; for too great heat is attended with effects, very different from those which are expected from the use of fomentations.