BAT
BAT
Bathing, among the antientp, made a part of diet, and war ufed as familiarly as eating, or fieep: on which footing i {till remains among the Turks, where there are public bath in every town, and even village e . But among us, it is be come only a part of medicine, and rarely practifed but undei the direction of phyficians f - Great diflinction is now triad* between thofe who are fit, and thofe unfit, to undergo tht operation, and many rules and prefcriptions given for the more fuccefsful ufe thereof: the body is to be prepared beforehand, in fome cafes by evacuants, in others by refolvents, in fomc by venasfection, && During the courfe, it is to be kept open and foluble by gentle laxatives, efpccially Epfom fait e. The beft time for ufing the bath is in the morning, nature having then a tendency to excretion by fweat. At coming out, the cold air is to be avoided, and the patient to be put to bed, in order to procure the evacuation by fweat h . — [ c Tour- nef. Voyag. Lett. 14. p. 496. % Bacon, Nat. Hilt. Cent. 8. §.740. e Nent. Fund. -Med. T. 1. P. i.p. 274. It. P. 2. p. 316. h Neat. lib. cit. p. 274.]
Bathing is either cold, or hot, or warm, fimplc, or mixed, according to the temperature and conditions of the fluids. Bathing in waters too hot, heats, and expands the blood and humors to excefs ; whence palpitations of the heart, pains in the head, faintnefs, &f. The mifchief is ft ill greater if the body be full of blood, or turged with ill juices. Hoffm. on Min. Wat. §. 27. p. 133.
The waters ufed for bathing are either pure and fimple, or fuch as abound with heterogeneous parts of different kinds. Thofe fitteft for medicinal purpofes arc, the pureft, lighteff, fimpleft, and free from all participation of mineral or metallic parts. Such a kind of water is that of rain, collected in the free and open air, remote from large towns ; or that of rivers, efpeci- ally after the land floods come down into them ; or that of fome fprings, which afford a very fubtile, pure, and li^ht wa- ter, extremely proper both for "internal and external ufe. But as fuch foft and fubtile waters are not every where to be found, nor rivers at hand in all places, a neceflity frequently occurs of correcting and foftening the common waters, to Jit them for medicinal ufe. This is moft advantageoufly per- formed by a fmall addition of fixed alkaline fait, or by the ufe of bran, common camomile, both the herb and its flowers, Ilnfeed, peafe-ftraw, or oatmeal : all which have the power of taking off the hardnefs of waters, or rendering them foft and thin, fo as to make them more eafdy enter the folid parts of the body. Hoffm. jib. cit. p. 179.
Bathing is not to be practifed without great care and precau- tion in melancholic ', oedematous k , or paralytic cafes '. As to the phthifis, authors are divided : fome abfolutely reject the ufe of baths for them ; others allow it, provided the water be only of a moderate degree of warmth, and the body be prepared beforehand by laxatives and vensefection m . With thefe pre- cautions, it may even be allowed child-bearing women juft before delivery n . — [ ' Nent. lib. cit. T. 2. P. 3. p. 796. k Junck. Confp. Med. p. 4 r 1 . Nent. lib. cit. p. 2 84. ' Idem, ibid. p. 442. m Junck. lib. cit. p. 171. Nent. T. 1. P. 2. p. 382. " Junck, p. 713.]
Different baths have different effects, according to the ingre- dients of their waters : thofe of the vitriolic kind are faid to fix the morbific matter in arthritic diforders, and render them frill more obftinate. They are alfo lefs proper where the bo- dy is foul, and the vifcera weak or obftructed, being apt to render fuch patients hydropic. Nent. lib. cit. p. 373. Sulphureous and aluminous baths are commended againft an incontinency of urine ° ; but prove hurtful to cachectic ha- bits p. The hot baths at Wolkenftein are faid to give the itch 1. — I "Nent. lib. cit. T. 2. P. 3. p. 107. p Junck. p. 421. 1 Id. p. 458.]
The Caroline baths have this quality beyond other hot waters, that they do not foften the body, but rather, by reafon of the copious earthy and aftringent matter they contain, bind up the parts, ftrengthen thofe which are weak, block up the pores, and thus produce a contrary effect to other, hot fprings. Hoffm. on Min. Wat. feet. 3. §. 25. p. 131.
Hence they are prejudicial to people of a tender and delicate habit, where the body is foul, or affected with fpafmodic, hy- pocondriac, or colic diforders, and in many other cafes. They are of ufe where the limbs are to be firengthened, the liga- ments and tendons to be gently excited to motion, and the body to be dried. Wedel Amzen. Mat. Med. 1. 1. §. 3. c. 1 1. The ufefulnefs and mifchievoufnefs of bathing makes a compli- cated confederation, only to be decided by taking the nation, climate, habit, the time of the day, feafon of the year, difor- der, csV. oftheperfon, and the particular qualities and ingre- dients of the water into confederation.
In general, hot or warm bathing tends to relax the fkin, pro- mote perforation, clcanfe the body, dilute the blood, and carry off cuticular foulneffes by the pores. To conceive the manner of its operation, it is to be obferved, that when the body is plunged in a pure, light, and fimple warm, water, it muff, neceffarily undergo the following changes : i°. The heat neceffarily ratifies and expands the blood and ail the juices, and thus dilates the whole fyftem of the veffels ; the confeqtlence of which is, that the pulfe, or contractive flroke of the arteries- increaies ; whence the blood circulates
with greater force, and the external parts of the body become red, and begin to fweat..
- 2 . By the gravity of the water, the body, plunged therein, is greatly altered ; as its furface, in that cafe, fuftains a violent preffure, which fqueez.es the blood forcibly in upon the vifcera. 'Thus, whilft the veffels are compreffed from without, and dilated from within, the inteftine motion of the conftituent parts of the blood is increafed, and confequcntly the vifcid juices are thus diffolved, ohft.ructions overcome, and the humors the better fitted to pafs through all the fecretcry and excretory ducts.
Thence, as by the water's gravity the parts are compreffed from without, and the blood driven plentifully upon the heart, the lungs, the brain, and the larger veffels, we fee why, if the bath be too hot, it caufes palpitations of the heart, oppreffions in the vifcera, or fometimes fainting ; and again, why, when the body is foul, or full of bad juices, it produces continued fevers, or inveterate intermittents, if the firfl paflages abound with crudities. Thefe ill effects are more frequently obferved from the hot fprings, which have alfo an aftringent quality, as the violently hot Caroline fpring evidently has. 3 . Another change enfues upon the body from the moiflure of the bath, which, affifted with a temperate heat, procures a great fupplenefs to the fkin and fibres ; infomuch that, upon coming out of the water, the whole habit of the body fwells confiderably, is loofened in its texture, and opened in its pores and veffels ; whilft the blood and juices have a more free paf- fage to the furface. Hence it is, that if a perfon go directly out of the warm bath to bed, he prefently begins to fweat plentifully, which is the beft effect that can proceed from bath- ing, and of great fervice in the cure of difeafes. It is quefKoned by fome, whether warm bathing can be fervice- able in diforders of the internal and remote parts of the head, brcaft, and lower part of the belly. Hoffman afferts the affir- mative, on the footing both of reafon and experience j for as warm bathing of the feet is of great ufe in internal difeafes, fuch as the head-ach, vertigo, convulfive afthma, dry couo-h, hypochondriacal and hyfterical diforders, palpitations of the heart, &c. it may reafonably be expected, that bathing more parts of the body in pure warm water may be attended with greater fuccefs ; and, in fait, we find the greateft ufe of warm bathing in thofe diftempers, where, by a violent contraction of the membranous parts, the blood is thrown upon others ; and both the blood and juices are prevented from coming to the furface of the body, and driven back upon the vifcera, which is indicated when the extremities of the body are cold and fhrunk, the belly coftive, the skin dry, and infenfible perfpi- ration and fweat obftructed ; for in this cafe, the habit of the body being relaxed, its texture opened, and the finer veffels expanded, the blood not only freely circulates on the furface of the body, but the perfpiration of the skin is reftored, and a great quantity of impurities made to pafs through that widened ftrainer : and hence there is fcarce a more immediate and af- fured remedy for removing impurities, and cleanfing the juices, than warm bathing properly ufed, as it fo fuccefsfuily carries off all corrofive matters, which being feated deep in the ner- vous and membranous parts of the body, occafion pain, fpafrns, or even exulcerations, and difcharges them at the open pores, or fine net of the skin. Hoffm. Exper. on Min. Wat. §. 6. p. 178 — 183, feq.
Bathing is found more efpecially beneficial to thofe of a moift habit, and who have ftore of humors in their veffels and pores, as it colliquates the humors,- and promotes their difcharge. Nent, Fund. Med. p. 373.
In the fummer it ferves to cleanfe the skin from fweat, and keep the pores open ; in winter to promote perfpiration r . It is ufed with good effect in many chronic diforders, in atro- phies, the ftone % C3*c It is a good palliative in the coryza r ; but ufelefs in the jaundice u , and hurtful in the afcites w and fciatica x , and generally to all in a time of plague f. By its promoting perfpiration, it becomes noxious to perfons of a dry conftitution, as it exficcates too faft ; more efpecially to per- fons hectically inclined, as by means thereof the humors, al- ready too prone to colliquation, are ftill more refolved z . — [ r Burggrave, Lex. Med. p. 1424. s Junck. 1. e. p. 544, 2 1 6 & 230. ' Id. p. 503. u Id. p. 446. w Nent. Fund. Med, T. 2. P. 3. p. 256. Junck. p. 432. * Nent. T. j. P. 2. p. 190. y Teichmcy. Inft. Med. Leg. c. 19. queft. 5. p. 16c.
- Nent. Fund. Med. T. 1. Tab. 4. p. 373, feq.]
Cold bathing was in high efteem among the antient phyficians for the cure of difeafes, as appears from Strabo a , Pliny b , Hippocrates c , and Oribafius d . Whence frequent exhorta- tions to wafhing in the fea, and plunging into cold water.— [ * In Geograph. I. 65. b PHn. Hift. Nat. I. 29. c. 1. ' De Humidor. Ufu. d L. 6. c. 27. J
The cold bath was ufed with fuccefs by Ant. Mufa, phyfician of the emperor Auguftus, for the recovery of that prince; but fell into neglect after the death of Marcellus, which is faid to have been owing to the improper ufe hereof: but it was brought into requeit again towards the clofe of the empire of Nero, by means of a phyfician of Marfeilles, named Cbarmis. During the ignorance of the fucceeding ages, the practice was again banifhed a long time. Burette, Hift. Acad. Infer. T. 1. p. 122.
Hot
