NATIONAL LIBRARY OF MEDICINE
             Washington
Founded 1836
U. S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
Public Health Service 
 
 
DISCOURSES   C
COLD  AND WARM BATHING
RRMA'&1S&
ON THE
EFFECTS OF DRINKING COLD WATER
WARM WEATHER.
BY JOHN G. COFFIN, M. D.
    boston:
PRINTED BY JOHN ELIOT.
     1818. 
       DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT.

                                     District Clerk's Office.

  Be it  remembered, that on the  nineteenth day of August,
A D.  1818, and in the forty-third ) ear of the Independence of
the United States of America, John  Eliot of the said  district has
deposited  in this office  the title of a  boik,  the right whereof he
claims  as proprietor, in the words following, to -wit:

  Discourses on cold and warm bathing;   with Remarks on the
effects  of drinking cold water in warm weather.  B\  John G. Cof-
fin, M. D.

  In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States,
entitled, " An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing
the copies of maps, charts and books to the authors and proprie-
tors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned :"  and al-
so to an Act entitled, "An Act supplementary to an Act, entitled,
An Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies
of maps, charts and books, to the authors and proprietors of such
copies  during the  times therein mentioned ;  and  extending the
benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving and etching his-
torical  and other prints."
                                  John  W.  Davis,
                         Clerk of the District of Massachusetts. 
ADVERTISEMENT.
  THE principles of bathing have been but little studi-
ed, or the practice of it rationally adopted in the United
States; less  indeed than our general advancement in
civilization, or the present improvement  in the science
of preventing and curing diseases, would lead one to ex-
pect or desire.
  In the attempt to bring the subject of bathing before
the public, in its true and  acceptable form, I first read
these remarks publicly to such persons as were disposed
to hear them, in different places; and though the subject
was new, and unknown, and neglected, I  had the happi-
ness to find, or at least to imagine, that all who listened,
became interested, and, on  reflection,  converts to the
good  cause.   This has strengthened an  opinion I have
entertained, that if  the attention of the public could be
so far secured  as to lead them to study the  theory of
bathing,  and  properly  to  commence the practice, they
would never after relinquish its use.   The  above mode
of proceeding has brought the  topic in  question more
fully into view than the printing of a book is frequently-
able  to effect.
  At first I did not think of publishing these discourses,
but  as many persons  have expressed a wish to  own
them,—as there is a prospect of their being read, and
thus  of accomplishing more perfectly my original design
in bringing up  the  subject, I shall now cheerfully print
them. 
4
   I  am sensible that this little work might be greatly
enlarged and thereby  rendered more valuable  to  the
medical student and practitioner ; but as my purpose is
to offer merely such facts, illustrations, and precepts, 'is
shall be sufficient to invite and  enable the well only, to
derive from the bath, cold and warm, the pleasures and
advantages that attend its due  application,—and as a
smoll and cheap book, if it has merit, is more likely to
circulate extensively, than a  larger and more expensive
one, I  have thought it best to publish these essays with
very little addition or alteration from the state in which
they were delivered.
   To those who wish to pursue  the subject further, and
to understand the character  of  bathing as a remedy, as
well as its effects as a  means of preserving health, and
of preventing disease, I would recommend the following
works:
   1.   Currie's Medical Reports, &c.
   ^2.   A. P.  Buchan's  Practical Observations  on Sear
         bathing, and on Warm Baths.
   3.  John Gibney's Practical Observations on cold and
         warm Sea-bathing.

All these publications have appeared within a few years,
in England.   Of the sentiments, and sometimes of  the
language, of these excellent writers, I have made a free
use.
   The remarks on the effects of  drinking  cold  water,
will, I hope, be of some use.
                                          J.  G. C
   Boston, dugust, 1818. 
             A

     DISCOURSE

            ON

COLD  BATHING.
   THE enjoyments and advantages of health
Bie so numerous and so generally acknowledg-
ed, that I j'iesume any thing which has a ten-
dency  to improve and secure this great pos-
session, will not be regarded as unworthy of
notice.   In this persuasion permit me to invite
your attention to the subject of cold bathing.
   The  practice of cold  bathing is becoming
somewhat more common in this place  than it
has been, and is gaining something in the pub-
lic estimation  and favour.  But in  order  to
make it still more general, it  seems requisite
to review and correct some popular notions
respecting it, as well as to diffuse more exten-
sively the information necessary to render it at
once safe,  pleasant,  and beneficial.  Amidst
the busy occupations that engage our time, or
the  unprofitable vacuity that consumes  it,
we do not always recollect how much  we are
indebted to our ancestors for the treasures we
inherit, nor how much posterity will be affect- 
6
ed by the part we may act, in the progress of
society.
  Every age is destined to receive the customs
which  time has established,—but a rational
respect for the  years that are past, does  not
require that we should hail as perfect all  the
traditions and usages of antiquity.
  So far from  this, it is incumbent on each
succeeding generation, to examine with firm-
ness and impartiality, the opinions and practi-
ces which time  has matured;  to transmit with
improvement such as are useful, and to reject,
without the  weakness of hesitation or regret,
such as retard the  advancement of human af-
fairs.  This duty is peculiarly incumbent on
the present race of Americans; men who owe
more to  their country and themselves,—more
to their  fathers and their children, than  any
other men, because they are more favoured,
and  privileged,  and free, than any other peo-
ple.
  Asa nation we have the rare opportunity of
deciding the just value of liberty, by the use
we make of it; by employing, under its pro-
tection and enjoyment, the resources we pos-
sess, for our  own well-being, and the  happi-
ness of those, whose happiness it is within our
power to promote.
   To bring these remarks to the subject be-
fore us, we learn from history that bathing has
been practised  from the earliest periods of so-
ciety,  among the inhabitants of every  nation,
either as a religious ceremony, as a means of 
7
preserving cleanliness, or as a source of com-
fort  and pleasurable gratification.  For the
latter purposes, in. the warmer climates, na-
ture first prompted  its use, and hence arose a
knowledge of its salutary effects in contribut-
ing to general health.  Indeed the various ac-
counts we have  of  this custom, from the re-
motest times, among savage as well as refined
people, fully prove, not only that it is of very
high antiquity, but  that it was almost univer-
sally followed.  To enlarge however on this
part of the subject,  would be foreign from the
objects of this essay.   It is sufficient to remark,
that what was introduced to gratify the senses,
was continued from the same motive.  From
this circumstance it has arisen that its abuses
have been so  numerous, and that they have
taken extensive and deep root; the regulations
under  which  it was followed, as a luxury, by
no  means pointing  out the principles which
should direct its  use, either in health or sick-
ness.  So erroneous has been the theory which
has governed  the practice in this country, that
it has never been  generally adopted,—and this
indeed could never  have  been expected, if we
advert to the many accidents which have arisen
from an improper mode of conducting the pro-
cess.
   I shall confine  myself  at present to the ex-
ternal  use of cold water, and this chiefly as a
means of improving health and preventing dis-
ease, rather than as a remedy. I shall attempt
to remove some very current misapprehensions 
8
on the subject, and to offer such directions as
I hope may prove sufficient to render the cold
bath productive of all the good effects of bath-
ing, when properly managed; and with a cer-
tainty of avoiding those unhappy results which
are daily occurring from the  influence of mis-
taken views relative to this mode of cultivating
health.  Those who turn their attention to the
subject of cold  bathing, with a desire to under-
stand it, will soon be led to make this enquiry,
In what temperature of the  body are  we to
enter the water, when we are warm, or when
we are cold ?   If we consult  public opinion in
this case,  the  answer will be, you must  not
bathe when warm  lest  you  be  injured by  a
sudden reduction of heat, or change of tem-
perature.   What confidence is to be placed in
this response, we shall see in  due time.
  This  is  an important  question, and the ef-
fects of bathing will be  very  much influenced
by the solution of it we may adopt.
  * Concerning the peculiar state of the living
body which renders it most safe and prudent
to venture on  an immediate  immersion in the
cold bath,  erroneous notions  more generally
prevail, than with regard to any other circum-
stance connected with the practice of bathing.
  Like  many  other opinions relating to  the
conduct of the healthy, as well as to the treat-
ment of the sick, which are now  considered as
popular prejudices, these errors  seem to have
* A. P. Buchan's Pract. Obser. &c. p. 58. 
9
emanated from medical doctrines, which were
at some former period generally received, but
which have since been discovered to originate
from mistaken views of the laws by which the
animal economy is reguiated.
   Frequent examples of dangerous, and even
fatal, effects  having been  observed to  take •
place in consequence of drinking cold fluids,
or of plunging  into cold water after having
been heated and fatigued by violent and pro-
tracted  exercise, it seemed to be a fair conclu-
sion, that the  previous beat of the body, was
the real cause of the mischief; and it came to
be a sort of aphorism, apparently  sanctioned
by experience, that no person ought either to
drink, or to bathe, in cold water, while  the
warmth of the system  was  by any  means,
raised above the usual standard.
   From this essential error, in conformity to
which not a step can be safely taken, a most
pernicious doctrine has  been  deduced,—that
by waiting till they became  cool, persons who
had been previously heated by exercise, might
then bathe with impunity.
  The situation of the body while cooling, af-
ter having  been heated by exertion, is as far
removed from  that  state in which it is most
safe to take the cold bath, as can well be ima-
gined.    Feebleness and debility are then fast
approaching, and the vital energy is incapable
of resisting the further temporary weaken-
ing effects of the  cold immersion, which, in-
stead of being followed  by  the genial glow of 
10
health, is then more likely to induce a danger-
ous, perhaps a fatal, torpor.
  To bathe in this state of the system may be
compared to bathing in the cold stage of a fit
of intermitting fever.  The progress of this
disease, as is well known, may often be arrest-
ed by the affusion of cold water during the hot
stage of the  paroxysm ; but  were the same
application to be made in the cold stage  of a
fit, the consequence might be, the immediate
extinction of  life.
  But though it is attended with much danger
to go into the water of a temperature so low
as that of the sea, or large bodies of fresh wa-
ter, when the system has been exhausted by
fatigue ;  it by no means follows that it is im-
proper to bathe during the permanence of that
warmth which  has  been produced by mode-
rate,  or  even pretty free, exercise.  In the
earlier stages of exercise, before perspiration
has dissipated the heat, and fatigue has debil-
itated the living power, nothing is  more safe
than  the cold  bath.   This is so true  that in-
firm persons are now, with great propriety, di-
rected to use such a degree of exercise before
bathing, as shall produce some increased ac-
tion  of the heart and blood vessels, with  some
increase of heat, in order that a sufficient re-
action under the shock may thus be  secured.
On this subject  the late Dr. Currie observes,
that " persons heated and beginning to sweat,
often think it necessary to wait on the edge of
the bath till they are perfectly cooled; and 
11
then plunging into the water, feel a sudden
chilliness that is alaiming and dangerous.   In
such cases  the injury is imputed to going into
the water too warm, whereas in  truth it arises
from going in too cold.  But though it be per-
fectly safe to go into the cold bath in the early
stages of exercise, nothing is more dangerous
than this practice, after exercise  has produced
profuse sweating and  terminated  in  languor
and fatigue ;  because in these  circumstances
the heat is not only sinking rapidly, but the
system parts more easily with the portion that
remains."
   My own  experience agrees  entirely with
these sentiments of one of tht best writers on
the use of cold and warm water.
   For several years past,  from  May till No-
vember, 1 have  been in the habit of walking,
or riding  on horseback, freely till  12 or  1
o'clock of the day, hastening to the water's
edge, and of plunging into it with the least pos-
sible delay, and  in no instance have I had cause
to regret the practice, but on the  contrary have
uniformly found it—grateful and invigorating.
   On  many of these occasions, as must be im-
agined, the temperature of the body was very
considerably augmented, both  from  exercise
and atmospheric  heat, and sometimes there
was a free perspiration.
   But while the body  remains  strong and  an
elevated warmth is  sustained by a continued
operation of the calorific  powers of the sys-
tem, pretty copious perspiration, at its com- 
12
mencement, forms no objection to cold bathing,
if I may be allowed to trust my own  feelings
and trials.   By the aid of a little previous ex-
ercise, which has quickened the motion of the
blood and raised the temperature of the  body,
I have taken the shower bath, after it became
too late to bathe in the  sea, during every
month of the last winter and  spring,  with
pleasant and salutary effects.
   We are informed, " that  on the  Campus
J\Iartius, the  exercises of the Roman youth
were  carried on  with all  the  vehemence  of
emulation.  Swimming formed a part of these
exercises, and generally  terminated the  foot-
race.   The youthful candidates in this  exer-
cise directed  their course  towards the  river
Tiber, and plunged headlong into the stream.
   Sometimes the contention did not terminate
till they  had swum  across the river twice.
Hence it will be seen that they were accus-
tomed to immerse  themselves in water in the
very fervour of their exertions, when the  heat
was preternaturally great; and not after the
body was cooled by perspiration or exhausted
by fatigue.
  In this situation the practice was safe, with-
out taking into consideration, that the persons
following it, were in the flower of life, fortified
by ea^ly habit, and partly  defended from the
shock  of immersion by the inunctions which
seem to have been generally used  among the
Romans,  before the  cold, and after the hot
bath; and which were particularly employed 
13
 by the athletac* or  wrestlers, of Greece and
 Rome in all their exercises.
   The circumstances  under which the empe-
 ror Alexander plunged into the Cydnus were
 different in many essential points, and so were
 the effects.
   He had marched  at the head of his troops
 to seize a pass in Mount Taurus, necessary to
 facilitate his passage into Cilicia. . . His whole
 march, which probably coAtinued several days,
 was attended with extraordinary exertion, not
 from the nature of the country only, but also
 from the^pressure of circumstances.
   It was at the close of  this great enterprize,
 according to the  testimony of all the  histori-
 ans, that the conqueror, advancing into Tarsus
 at the head of his  troops, covered with dust
 and sweat, and exhausted with long continued
 toil, stripped himself in the sight of his army,
 and dove into the pure and cold waters of the
 Cydnus, which ran through the city.
   The symptoms jfhat followed are described
 with sufficient minuteness and precision.  He
 had scarcely entered the water when his limbs
 became cold  and stiff;  he lost his colour, and
 the vital warmth was  rapidly declining; his
 attendants  drew  him from the water almost
 senseless, and apparently dying."*
   These  consequences were such as  might
now be anticipated from what has been said.
  The following account is full of instruction ;
it is taken from the work of Dr. Currie.
                  * Currie.
              2 
14
  "On the first of September, 1778, two stu-
dents of medicine at Edinburgh set out on foot,
on a journey,—a considerable part of which
lay  along one of the rivers of Scotland. They
started by sunrise, and proceeded with  alacri-
ty in the cool of the morning.  At the  end of
eight miles they breakfasted, rested for an hour,
and then  resumed their journey.
  The day grew warm as it advanced, and af-
ter a march of eight miles more, they arrived
heated, but not fatigued, on the banks  of the
river aboveraentioned,  about eleven in the fore-
noon.  Urged by the  fervour of the  day, and
tempted by  the  beauty of the stream, they
stripped instantly and  threw  themselves  into
the river.   The utmost refreshment followed,
and when they returned to the neighbouring
inn,  this  was  succeeded by  a  disposition to
sleep, which they indulged.
  In the afternoon they proceeded, and  travel-
lino; sixteen miles further at a single stretch,
came to the inn where they were to sleep, a
little after sunset.   The afternoon  had been
warm and  they  sweated profusely; but the
evening was temperate and rather cool.
  They had travelled for some miles slowly,
and arrived at the end of their journey stiffen-
ed and wearied with their exercise.
  The refreshment they  had  experienced in
the morning from bathing, induced one of them
to repeat the experiment,, and he went perfect-
ly cool into the same river, expecting to relax
his limbs in the water,  and afterwards to enjoy 
15
profound sleep.  The consequences were very
different.
  The Tweed which was so refreshing in the
morning, now felt extremely cold; and he left
the water hastily.  No genial glow succeeded,
but a feverish chill  remained  for some time
with small frequent pulse,  and flying pains
over the body.
  Warm  liquids and friction  brought on  at
length considerable heat, and  towards morn-
ing perspiration  and  sleep followed.
  The next day  about noon  they  proceeded
on foot, but the  traveller who haa bathed was
extremely feeble; and though they had to per-
form a journey of a single stage only,  as some
part of it was difficult  and  mountainous, he
was obliged to take the assistance of a passing
carriage.   It wras several days before he re-
covered his usual vigour.
  It is  unnecessary to point out the  applica-
tion of these incidents to the principles  already
advanced,—as the fact is sufficiently establish-
ed, that the power of bearing cold without in-
jury, is in proportion to the increase of animal
heat before the exposure to cold."
  Having  pointed out  the only state of the
system  in which it is safe to  enter the cold
bath, we are brought to  the enquiry, how long
is it best to remain in it?
  To determine how long it is proper to con-
tinue in the water, and whether it be  prefera-
ble to  plunge once only, or to repeat  the im-
mersion several  times, has more influence  on 
16
 the ultimate utility of bathing, than  might be
 supposed, on a slight view of the subject.
   While augmented warmth, vigour, and  re-
 freshment, are the constant result of a single
 plunge, it has  been often remarked, that the
 same person, by returning several times into
 the water, has at last become so enfeebled as
 to walk with difficulty, and has suffered head-
 ache, chilliness, and lassitude for the remainder
 of the day.  After leaving the water, 1 have
 noticed that if a limb, as  a leg or an arm,  or
 the whole body be again immersed, the water
 seems sensibly colder than it did at first.
   There are many reasons for believing that
 on a  sudden transition  to  a cold and  dense
 medium, an effort takes place in the living body
 to produce heat, or to resist cold.   The con-
 tinuation of this  action for some time after
 leaving the bath, together with the loss of heat
 by evaporation  from the  wet surface of the
 body, cause the  second  or third  immersion  to
 feel colder than the first.
  To remain for a moderate space  of time
 completely immersed in water, has by no means
 the same  debilitating and chilling effects, as
repeated immersions.
  The very different consequences resulting
from a long continued  immersion  in  the sea,
 and from being alternately covered with water
 and exposed to  the air, is strongly exemplified
 in an  interesting narrative by Dr. Currie, of
the effects of a  shipwreck, on some mariners,
 who were cast  away on a sandbank at the 
17
moulli of the river Mersey.  They remained
twenty-four hours clinging to the wreck in the
month of December.   The part of the wreck
to which they adhered, lying in a  sloping di-
rection, those of the crew who were placed on
the higher part of it were generally out of the
sea, but  occasionally overwhelmed  by  the
surge, and exposed to a  piercing wind, while
the others were  almost constantly immersed
in the water.
   In the former situation were placed two mas-
ters, stout men, in the prime of life, and  ac-
customed to hardships.  These both died dur-
ing the night, while the remainder of the creAV,
except one, were all preserved, and ultimately
recovered. Those who bathe for health ought
therefore to bear in mind, that it is  safer to re-
main  for  a  short time fully immersed  in  the
water, than to take repeated plunges.
   I have  frequently  observed the  reaction to
be more powerful, and the glow on  the surface
of the body more vivid, after remaining under
water about a minute, than  when  the immer-
sion was only instantaneous.
   The  repetition of  immersions however, as
well as  their duration should be regulated by
the peculiar constitution, and state of health
of particular individuals, having regard also to
the habit  of bathing, or  the contrary.  The
duration and frequency of immersions may be
somewhat increased in proportion as the sys-
tem is strengthened by the practice  of bathing,
and as the effects of  passing;  from  a warmer 
18
and  rarer  medium  to  one  more  cold and
dense, are diminished by habit.
  Where circumstances permit, the practice
of plunging head foremost is generally advised
as the  best mode  of bathing.  It is difficult
however to discover either the principle  on
which this method  is recommended, or any
good purpose it is supposed to answer.—Cer-
tainly it is not the mode indicated  by nature.
A person desirous  of bathing for  the sake of
eleanliness, or  of pleasure, whose  mind was
free from  any previous  tuition, on reaching
the margin of a river, or the sea, would strip,
and walk leisurely into the water, till a suita-
ble depth was attained.  What should induce
those who bathe for the purpose of invigorat-
ing  the constitution, or for the recovery of
health,  to make this violent and unnatural  ef-
fort, it  is not easy to surmise.
  To hear a person not accustomed to such
an attitude, complain of headache after  stand-
ing half a  minute with his heels  in  the  air,
would not excite  much surprise.  To such  an
exertion the headlong leap is very analogous.
  The  act of temporarily holding the breath
too, which this procedure implies, tends like-
wise to accumulate more than the due quantity
of  blood in  the  head, and  thus to occasion
headache.
  In bathing it  is  unquestionably proper to
sink  the  head and whole body under water
with all convenient expedition ; but to effect
this a headlong plunge is by no means  requi- 
19
site; yet the  more  speedily this  process  is
performed, the less will the bather  be affected
by a sort of convulsive respiration.  The sob-
bing and irregular breathing produced on en-
tering the water, are always most harassing
while one half of the body is under water, ana
the other half is exposed to the air. If in con-
sequence of going into the bath in an improper
state  of health,  or  of  remaining  too long in
the water,  the perception of cold  and shiver-
ing, should  become painful or alarming,—the
person ought  without delay to  be put into a
warm bed, and a bladder filled with hot water
should be applied to the pit of  the stomach.
The last expedient is the most effectual method
of restoring warmth to the living body, in  all
cases where from chance or necessity, it has
been long exposed to intense cold.  Indepen-
dently  of these circumstances, the practice of
returning to bed, after bathing, is always to  be
reprobated.
   There is  considerable diversity of opinion
respecting the best time  for  bathing, some
preferring the morning, some  the forenoon,
and others the evening.  The best time how-
ever for bathing  is the hour before dinner, and
next  to this is  undoubtedly before breakfast;
when if there is any deficiency of warmth, the
temperature  of  the body must be raised  by
any sufficient exercise.
   It  is always  hurtful  to bathe soon  after
taking food;  it is indeed never  adviseable to
bathe excepting  when the stomach is  empty, 
20
 or nearly so.  After leaving the water  the
 body should  be  briskly wiped with a  coarse
 towel, or piece of crash, and immediately cov-
 ered with clothes sufficient to excite, or pre-
 serve,  the temperature of heallh.
   After bathing  it is well to take a moderate
 degree of exercise.   But the invalid should
 be careful  not to prolong the  ride or walk,
 especially if exposed to the rays  of a hot sun,
 so far as to produce  sweating  or lassitude ;
 as this would counteract  all the refreshment
 and renovated strength which  would  other-
 wise  attend the practice.
   The open beach is preferable  to the  dark
 and narrow limits of most bathing houses, ex-
 cepting where we need a screen from the eye
 of spectators,  or  the influence of an oppres-
 sive sun.
   One of the evils attending  the common
 mode of bathing  in Boston, arises from going
 into the water too frequently, as it is not unusual
 for a  number of boys and some other persons
 with us, to bathe not  only every day, but some-
 times two or three times a day,  and without
 regard  to  those  circumstances which  should
 always  be consulted by him  who  thinks  of
 bathing.  To  bathe every second or third
 day is ordinarily  sufficient for all  the  good
 purposes  of  bathing.  Daily  bathing  is not
unfrequently found to produce a degree  of
languor and wasting of the body;  but  if no
other  bad effects  arise, these  symotoms will
soon disappear after  discontinuing the  bath. 
21
  Salt water is somewhat more stimulant and
bracing than fresh, but where the former can-
not be had, all the advantages of sea bathing
may be obtained in the following manner :
  On the intermediate days between bathing,
let  the skin be  perseveringly rubbed with a
flesh brush, or piece of crash, and  this opera-
tion will be  the  more grateful and  strength-
ening if the brush or cloth be wet with a satu-
rated solution of common  salt and vinegar, or
a saturated solution of proof  spirit  and  car-
bonate of soda, or of potash.
  Next to bathing, nothing tends so much to
maintain the skin in a healthful state, and to
promote a due  degree of perspiration, as a
regular use  of the flesh brush.  It is some-
what surprising and deplorable that cutaneous
frictions, the good effects  of which are so evi-
dent in preserving other animals in a state of
health, and whose varied  application  formed
-:o great a part of the bygeiastic  regimen of
the  ancients, in  later  periods, have fallen so
completely into neglect.   The occasional ex-
citement of  the  skin  by  means of  the flesh
brush differs widely from the perpetual  irri-
tation of flannel.*
   Besides as the use of it requires a tempo-
rary exposure of the  body to  the  open air,
which,  while all danger of taking  cold is pre-

  * Flannel should not be worn by young people in  health, in the
suniuier scsison,—and those for whom it is  proper by day, should
not sleep in it at night.  When it is  : erjovetl  by night, it is move
pleasant and beneficial by day. 
22
vented by the increased exertion, it accustoms
ihe system  to occasional changes of tempera-
ture, the usefulness of which has been ahcady
mentioned.
  By an assiduous use  of this simple instru-
ment, which  after a little time becomes very
pleasant, I have known  the skin,  previously
dry, rough, and pimpled,  to become smooth
and mellow, and to be attended with a sensi-
ble melioration of the general health.   The
use of the flesh brush should never be omitted
during a course of bathing, particularly where
the object is to improve  health.  This  appli-
cation may  be made in the morning on rising
from bed, or at any other time.
  The shock of the shower bath is more for-
midable and unpleasant  to  most people than
that of sea bathing; it  has however several
conveniences over the latter.  This may be
taken on rising  from bed, without going from
home, or costing  any time worth regretting;
and the quantity of water and its temperature
can be easily adapted to the state of him who
receives it.   And as its impression is more
transient than the effects of sea bathing, it may
be used more frequently than the latter.
   From what has been said I would deduce
the following rules  by which the practice of
cold bathing: should be regulated.
   I.  We  are never to enter the  cold bath
when the temperature  of  the body is  below
the standard of health;  if it is a few degrees 
23
above this, the bathing will be proportionate-
ly more grateful and invigorating.
   2.  We  should  never remain  lono; in  the
water, no  longer  than to secure a vigorous
reaction.   The common mistake  on this point
is, not only to remain in  the water till  the
glow of warmth arising from the shock is es-
tablished, but  till it is dissipated by continuing
in the water  too  long, or by returning  to  it
too often.
   •3. We are to bathe before breakfast, or
better before  dinner.
   4. We are  to bathe when the stomach  is
empty, or nearly so.   And
   5. We are  to bathe every second or third
day only,—or if our  bathing depends on the
tide, we  may  bathe several days in succession,
and then omit it as many.
   But after all this attention to the manner of
bathing, it may be demanded, what are we to
gain by the practice ?
   I have  no unwillingness to meet this ques-
tion, nor do I  anticipate any difficulty in an-
swering it.
   Let us  remember that the great purposes of
Physical Education are, to superintend the in-
fant body, to favour its development and.pro-
gress in  childhood and  youth, till  it is com-
pleted in the  man,—and then to preserve in
health  this complicated machine,  fitted  and
prepared for all the  duties, labours, and  en-
joyments of the animal, intellectual, and moral
life. 
24
   After perfecting the human fabric, the great
business of art is, to  defend it against those
causes of disease and  dissolution  with which
man is constantly surrounded.  Flight to a re-
gion of security on  this  earth, is impossible;
our  safety consists  only in successful  resist-
ance.  As familiarity with danger, enables the
mind to surmount  the influence of fear,—so
the  greater, more  sudden, but transient  im-
pressions from the resources of art, enable  the
body to pass  unhurt,  through the less rapid
but incessant fluctuations of a variable sky.
   Most of the causes of disease are foreign to
the body and exist without it;  what is inher-
ent would  produce only the decline of age.
 •  Many of these causes originate from the at-
mospheric  changes to which our  necessary
pursuits expose us.  But we are not to imagine
that the active duties of life subject us to any
new or peculiar dangers  of this  kind;  our
danger arises from another quarter.   The man
who thinks himself  blest with the means of
living without labour or exposure, holds his life
and  his  health on a tenure  no less precarious
than he who is destined to buffet the elements,
and  to endure the peltings of the storm.  The
unnatural susceptibility of the artificial plant
would wither in  the outer  air, which  would
only serve  to invigorate the  hardier  shoot of
nature's cultivation.
   A change of weather which would  pass un-
heeded over a frame wisely trained for action
and  for  use, mi^ht enter  the factitious climate
1 
25
of the self-formed valetudinarian, and fix on
his lungs an incurable catarrh.
   What is commonly  termed,  catching cold,
has been thought by some people in England
to be peculiar to  their country,  from the vari-
ableness of their climate;  but  the  fallacy  of
this opinion, unhappily for us, is too well known
in North America.   Colds are  more common
in autumn and spring, than in summer and win-
ter,—and they seem in a  great  measure  to
keep pace with the variations of the thermome-
ter.   With a  view to avoid these inconveni-
ences, it becomes important to extend as far
as possible, the  range  in  which the human
body can accommodate itself, without injury,
to the variations of heat and cold.   The low-
er the temperature we can accustom ourselves
to bear, with  impunity, the more secure will
be our health.
   In this respect the powers and resources of
the human body  are much influenced by cus-
tom.
   The great John Hunter observes, that " A
habit of uniformity in the  application of  heat
and  cold to an animal  body, renders it  more
sensible to  the smallest variation in either;
while, by the  habit of variety, it will become
in a proportionate degree, less  susceptible to
all such sensations.  This is proved even day
in cold weather, by persons who are accustom-
ed to ciothe themselves warm.
   In  these  the  least  exposure to  cold air,
though the effect produced in the skin is not
              3 
26
perhaps the hundredth part of a degree, im-
mediately gives the sensation of cold, even
through the thickest covering.  Those on the
contrary who have been  in the habit of being
thinly clothed,  can bear the variation of some
degrees without being sensible of it.
  Of this the hands and feet afford an instance
in point; these excite  the sensation of cold
when applied toother parts of the body, with-
out having previously given to the mind any
impression of cold existing in them."
  To prove that an occasional exposure  to
cold, and even  severe cold, is not injurious  to
health, after we have been prepared for such
an exposure, or properly introduced to it,—it
has often been  observed that during a voyage
to Greenland, disease is hardly known  among
a ship's  crew.  Even  wounds and sores are
said to heal  almost spontaneously.
  The very different consequences that occur
during a transition from a cold to a warm cli-
mate, are too generally known to require any
detail.
   In vain do the delicate accumulate defences
against the vicissitudes of external temperature.
   Those who never tread but on carpets, sleep
on feathers, and take every precaution to pre-
vent the breath of heaven from blowing rude-
ly on them, are incomparably more liable to
be disordered  by the impression of cold than
the  laborious  peasant or the careless  seaman
who  is  daily exposed to the rage of storms
and tempests. 
27
  The occasional use of the cold bath, by in-
uring the body to  a  wider range of tempera-
ture, greatly diminishes the danger  of those
sudden transitions  trom heat to cold,  and  the
contrary, which in the common tenour of  life
it is impossible wholly to avoid.  After having
bashed in the sea, for a few weeks  in autumn,
I have observed says Dr. A P. Buchan, with
respect to myself, as well  as in many other in-
stances, that persons prone to  catarrhal affec-
tions (to taking cold) are much less susceptible
of them during the ensuing winter; one gen-
eral effect of the cold bath being unquestiona-
bly to induce a degree of what in common lan-
guage is denominated, hardiness,—and which
may be defined, that state of the living system
which is least liable to be affected by disagree-
able impressions.
   There is  an intimate connexion and sympa-
thy between  the skin,  or surface of the  hu-
man body, and the various organs and struc-
tures within;  hence the  power of  various
causes of numerous, violent  and  dangerous
diseases, as  applied to the  skin, through which
they  make  their ravages and inroads to  the
seat and centre of life.
   Hence too the importance of the skin as the
very  extensive organ to  which some of  the
most  energetic  remedies  are  successfully
made.
   The skin too is the great organ of perspira-
tion, a process which we  all know has a near
relation to the preservation of health. 
28
   To keep the cutaneous surface sound there-
fore,  is, in a  good measure,  to  protect  the
whole interior.  The lungs have been suppos-
ed to be a principal source  of animal heat, and
the external surface of the  body appears to be
the organ by which  the  temperature of the
system is  regulated.
  We know that by exercise the circulation is
accelerated, a greater quantity of blood passes
through the lungs in a given time,—that re-
spiration is quickened, and more heat is evolv-
ed.  But  exercise at the same time augments
the discharge from the  skin ; which being
converted into vapour as fast as it is  produced,
tends  to  carry  off and  render insensible, a
considerable portion of the increased heat.
  To modify  the temperature of  the  human
body in warm climates, the secretion  of  per-
spirable matter  is  prodigiously  augmented,
and copious supplies of diluting fluids are re-
quired to  supply the rapid waste.  By these
means the heat of the body while in health, is
prevented, in  all situations, from  exceeding
98 degrees.  Any excess above this standard
indicates disease :  for  example, in  fever, the
heat  of  the  body  as determined  by  the
thermometer,  is sometimes  found  to exceed
this degree, but  the skin at the same time is
dry and parched;  so soon as a free perspira-
tion is procured by art, or occurs  spontane-
ously, which is frequently  the natural crisis
of the disease, the increased heat subsides. 
29
   It is  necessary to understand that the per-
 spirable fluid does not exsude through the
 pores of the skin  in proportion as  they are
 relaxed  by heat, as water might be supposed
 to transude the pores of leather.  Perspiration
 is to be regarded as an active function, like
 the other secretions of the body, carried on by
 appropriate  vessels, communicating with the
 pores of the skin, and regulated by the prin-
 ciple of  life.—A  healthy state of the skin, as
 of every other part of jhe living body, consists
 in the power of performing its own operations
 with regularity, independently of the influence
 of any extraordinary stimulant.
   If the body be constantly surrounded by a
 medium  of high  temperature, either from liv-
 ing in a  warm climate, or by wearing clothes
 that retain  the  heat,  perspiration  will  be
 checked by the  smallest  diminution of this
 temperature.
   By  accustoming the cutaneous  vessels to
 sudden transitions from heat to cold, their sus-
 ceptibility to the  effects of slighter alterations
 is diminished,, and perspiration becomes firm
 and  regular.  As a proof that the organs of
 perspiration  are  rendered  more vigorous by
 occasional  exposure to  cold, I have known
 several examples of persons who never failed
 to catch cold, on  having their  feet  in  the
slightest degree wet, who, in  consequence of
adopting the habit of  washing  them  every
morning in  cold  water, or a solution  of salt
and water, have  entirely  overcome this ten?-
              3* 
30
derness of constitution.  The  same practice
will  remove a  dryness of the  feet which  is
generally a sign of feeble health.
  A free and regular perspiration is  usually
accompanied with good  health, and  a  good
digestion.   This is  well exemplified in the
country labourer;  who by working all day,
thinly clad, in  the  open  air,  acquires a keen
appetite that makes him  relish and digest the
most solid and substantial  fare.  The lower
the temperature at which the organ  of per-
spiration is accustomed  to perform its office,
the less is the  risk  of its action being  inter-
rupted  by  the inconstancy of our  climate;
and  in  the same proportion  is the danger of
diseases originating  from suppressed perspi-
ration diminished.
  But the most surprising and almost incredi-
ble examples  of the transitions  from  great
heat to extreme cold, which the human frame
can  sustain  without  injury,  when  aided  by
habit,  are furnished  by  the  practice of the
more northern  nations of Europe.
  The Russian vapour baths are heated  to
120 degrees, and from these the natives plunge
into the neighbouring river, through  holes
cut in the ice, or roll  themselves in the  snow.
  The colder  the  climate, the  more do  the
inhabitants appear to delight in these transi-
tions from one extreme of temperature  to
another.
   The following account of the mode of bath-
ing in Finland, is to be found in Acerbi's Trav» 
31
els.  "Almost all the Finnish peasants have a
smaii house built  on purpose for a  hair:, it
consists of but one small chamber only. i.  the
inner part  of which are  placed a number of
stones, which are  heated  by fire  till  they be-
come red.  On these stones water is  thrown
till the company within are involved in a thick
cloud of vapour.
   I once or twice tried to go in and  join the
bathers, but the heat was so excessive that I
could not breathe, and  in the space of a min-
ute at most,  I verily believe, must have been
suffocated.
   I sometimes stepped in for  a moment, just
to leave my  thermometer  in  some  proper
place, and immediately retired; in ten or fif-
teen minutes I took out the  instrument to as-
certain the  degree of heat.   My astonishment
was  so great that I could scarcely believe my
senses, when I found that these people remain
together and amuse themselves for the space
of half an hour, or sometimes a whole hour in
the same apartment heated to  167 degrees of
Fahrenheit, or within eight degrees of boiling
spirit.   These people  pass instantaneously
from this great heat, into snow or water below
the freezing point, and without the least in-
convenience,  while  many persons, not thus
prepared, are very sensibly affected by a va-
riation of 4 or 5 degrees, and in danger of
being afflicted with rheumatism by the most
trifling wind that blows." 
32
   The truth of other relations, similar to this,
is abundantly confirmed.
   This mode of bathing is not to be imitated,
it is adduced merely to prove what has been
already asserted, that our power of sustaining,
without injury, great and sudden reductions
of temperature, will be in proportion to  our
excess of  heat at the time of the exposure, to
our strength  at  the  time, and the influence of
preceding habits.
   Another misconception, connected with the
influence  of  temperature  on  health, is  con-
stantly  operating  and  producing deplorable
effects.  To persons about  to  leave  a warm
apartment, particularly females,  the  direction
is to cool themselves  before they inhale the
outer air, in order to avoid  the ill consequences
of a  too sudden change of  temperature.  This
direction is the reverse  of what ought  to be
inculcated, and  is well suited to produce  the
evil it is intended to  prevent.   In what man-
ner  are persons made  sick by returning from
the ball-room, or a warm  parlour, in a winter
evening ?
   Undoubtedly by being exposed to a degree
of cold of sufficient intensity and duration to
induce  disease.   This  is to  be avoided by
carefully  maintaining a good share  of  heat
till we set out, and by supporting it while in
the air, by warm clothing and exercise.
   No one in health was ever injured by pass-
ing through the cold night air, so far as  tem-
perature merely is concerned, who came into 
S3
 it while warm,  and with  the  means  of pre-
 serving this warmth to his own house.
   A neglect  of this precaution has  cost us
 several  valuable lives in Boston.
   The  same principles which  should govern
 our conduct in  the  external use  of cold air
 and cold water, should direct  us  also in the
 practice of taking coid water  and other cold
 substances into the stomach.  The same cir-
 cumstances which render the former safe and
 refreshing, render the latter so likewise.
   I have said nothing of bathing as essential to
 cleanliness ;  those who cherish the sentiments
 and feelings  which  lead to the  practice of
 personal neatness, will need no recommenda-
 tion of mine to induce them duly to estimate
 the value of daily ablution.
   The connexion between physical and moral
 purity, and their tendency to promote each oth-
 er, has often been noticed, and is undoubtedly
 true,—and we should not have  reason entirely
 to respect any character that could be  indif-
 ferent  to either.
   Thomson has said,
     "E'en from the body's purity, the mind
       Receives a secret, sympathetic aid."

   What malefactor in the contemplation of
his crime ever  washed his  body with water
and clothed it with pure vestments ?
   On  the contrary, how often has the  man
who meditates a def a  that  cannot bear the
light, disfigured  and disguised his form, to 
34
  prevent the assurance of personal identity,—
  and if  possible, to efface from the human  be-
  ing the image of his Maker.
    What I have said of  bathing relates to  the
  well, or at most to the  invalid who is able to
  go forth to the bath.  Where there is a patient
  there should be a physician, and where  there
  is either, it is not my habit, unless requested,
  to interfere;  indeed, my only effort  has  been,
-  to enable  you to be well without the physi-
  cian. 
             A

     DISCOURSE

             ON

WARM  BATHING.
  AS a general practice for persons in health,
warm bathing cannot with propriety be treat-
ed as a means of curing diseases.
  It is chiefly therefore as a method of improv-
ing and securing health that 1 am now to con-
sider it, regarding it no  further as a remedy
than may be necessary to elucidate its general
character and effects on the human system. It
would  be quite  impossible however to give an
adequate idea of the power of the warm bath
without adverting sufficiently to its decisive in-
fluence in  the  successful  treatment of many
diseases.
   An attempt to enter on  a  complete detail
however of the  advantages of warm bathing
in sickness and in health, would far exceed the
just limits of a single discourse.
   But as a favourable opinion of  the practice
is very properly gaining ground, and  accom-
modations  for  this  purpose are increasing in
several parts of our  country;  some general 
36
account of the effects of the warm bath on the
living body, together with a few requisite cau-
tions jespecting its due temperature, and other
circumstances relative to the most proper man-
ner of using it, will not, I trust, be deemed un-
worthy  of your attention.
  Among the nations of antiquity the use  of
the warm bath was  very  general; and with
various  changes  in its application, it has de-
scended to the present time.   As a source  of
pleasure, or an  object of luxury, it was em-
ployed with great regularity;  few omitted go-
ing into the bath once, and persons of distinc-
tion were accustomed to  bathe four,  five, or
six  times a day.
  Their most luxurious moments were passed
in this way ; it was valued by all classes of so-
ciety as one of the principal comforts of exist-
ence ; and among the Greeks, according to the
discipline of their religion,  a prohibition of the
bath,  was considered as a  severe  punishment
for  immoral offences.
  The  baths of Rome were spacious, magni-
ficent, and numerous.  It cannot but excite
our wonder and admiration when we learn,
that at one time there were upward of  eight
hundred and  fifty public baths required to sat-
isfy the wants of this great city.   The magni-
tude and extent of those most  admired, may
in part be conceived from the ruins of the baths
of Dioclesian, Titus, and Paulus Emilius.
  Even some of those which were used by the
plebeians, were supplied through silver pumps. 
37
This was loudly complained  of by Seneca,
who, at the  same time, as an instance of the
luxury of the people, said, that the freed-men
trod on gems. Some of these baths were capable
of containing the incredible number of between
fifteen  hundred and two thousand persons.
  In these days, and before, among the  Gre-
cians, it  was frequently abused; on this ac-
count,  as well as from the irregular manner in
which  bathing is now practised by  the orien-
tal nations, we are not to look for any satisfac-
tory information either from them  or the an-
cients,  with  respect to bathing as a remedy for
the many diseases in which  it is  applied in
modern practice, or as a method of preserving
and improving health.
  The warm bath indeed could not have been
safely recommended, or advantageously  used,
as a preventive or cure, before the invention of
the thermometer, by  which, when practicable,
and not by the feelings of the patient or bather,
ought its temperature to be regulated.  Where
a thermometer cannot be had, the rule should
be this ;  bring the water to that temperature
which  feels neither hot nor cold to the arm, or
some part of the  body usually covered, and af-
ter entering the bath  at this degree of warmth,
its heat may be raised to the temperature just
mentioned
  On commencing a  course of warm bathing,
the first thing to be attended to, is the heat of
the water.  Any bath  may be denominated
warm,  whose heat is sufficient to produce and
              4 
38
continue  the  sensation of warmth, while  we
are in it.
  But there is no one degree of heat that will
always produce this effect, because the animal
heat of different  persons is  not always  the
same, nor is the temperature of the same per-
son at all times alike, but varies with the dif-
ferent states and conditions in which he  may
be placed.
  This fact is very important, though rarely
noticed ;  it is important because without at-
tending to it we cannot so modify the  tempera-
ture of the bath, as to suit it to particular cases.
  Whether the warm bath is, in  any given in-
stance, to be grateful, or otherwise, hurtful or
beneficial, must depend chiefly on its tempera-
ture  and duration being  properly adjusted to
the state of him who bathes.   The best tem-
perature for persons in health, is that degree
of heat which will produce the most  pleasura-
ble sensations.
  This degree of heat corresponds most com-
monly to the 93d degree  of Fahrenheit's ther-
mometer.
  We are then to bring  the water to this tem-
perature before we enter the bath,  and  after
being in  the water two or  three minutes, and
attending to our sensations, we are to add hot
or cold water so as to bring  the bath to that
degree of warmth  which is  most grateful to
our feelings.
   It is better to enter the warm bath when  it
is too cool rather than too warm.  If we enter 
39
it too warm we lose the power of judging ac-
curately by our sensations of that  degree of
heat which would be most pleasant at the time,
and ultimately most beneficial; whereas if we
enter the bath below the proper temperature,
it is easy to correct the  only inconvenience
that follows from this mistake.
  The  two following  cases are adduced  to
show the influence of temperature,  on the ef-
fects of the warm bath.
  A gentleman, aged  forty, had suffered for
some months from a spasmodic contraction of
the muscles of his right shoulder, attended
with painful irritation, and at night considera-
ble febrile action.   He used baths  of various
temperatures in an  irregular manner,  both at
Brighton and elsewhere, in England, without
advantage.   At  length he tried the  Buxton
tepid bath  of 82 degrees, which, after a few
trials, removed the complaint.
  A few years ago, a person of extensive com-
mercial  connexions, aged sixty-eight, became
extremely irritable and unhappy in consequence
of pecuniary losses. He  passed sleepless nights,
and his  appetite forsook him.   On coming  to
Brighton, he imprudently entered into a warm
bath of 100 degrees, while his bowels  were
costive, his pulse high and quick, and his heat
at night very considerable.
  The consequence was, he became feverish,
his head was affected with a fixed pain, and all
his uncomfortable feelings were  considerably
increased.   He was about  to abandon the 
40
 warm bath in despair; but on using purgative
 medicines, taking  his bath at 92 degrees, in
 the forenoon, and by avoiding wine and cordial
 medicines, of which he had used large quanti-
 ties, his  general  health was soon r< instated.
 His  error consisted in the abuse of a useful,
 and  to him salutary remedy, having applied it
 at an improper time, and of a temperature un-
 sui'ed to the nature and state of his disease.
   These and other similar cases are published
 by Dr. Gibney, who was for many years resi-
 dent  physician at Brighton, and who  paid
 much attention to  the character and effects of
 warm and cold bathing,  as appears from his
 excellent work on  the subject.
   Other cases are  recorded where the mistake
 and  the  injury have arisen  from taking the
 bath at too low a temperature.
   The necessity of exercise before and after
the warm bath, is every  day evinced, where
bathing is practised,—and  must be held as one
of those  general rules from  which there are
very few exceptions.
   Every irregular nervous  action  to which
the human constitution  is liable, is known to
be influenced  by  the medium  in  which  we
breathe.
   The valetudinarian, whose health is  tolera-
ble under the mild atmosphere of Italy, or the
south of France, passes a miserable season  in
regions less temperate and more variable.
   Hence  we can  reason  on the  effects re-
sulting from the repeated and well regulated 
11
use of the warm  bath on diseased nervous
sensation.
  A bath of the same degree of heat as the
animal temperature of the person using it, will,
for a tew minutes after immersion, increase
that heat very considerably;  even if it be 5
degrees lower than the usual  standard, which
is 98 degrees, it will  raise the animal heat to
100 degrees.
  This proceeds from a cessation of the cool-
ing process of evaporation from the skin, and
the augmentation  of heat occasioned by the
medium in which the body is immersed, added
to what is at the same time  generated inter-
nally.
  This  fact  instructs  us  as  to  the  proper
mode of  applying the warm bath in a variety
of  cases, where success depends altogether
on  the well  regulated temperature  of the
bath, more particularly in nervous affections,
in which the most minute attention should be
paid to all  the  symptoms, and  to the whole
process of cure.
  Tiberius is said to have lost his life by an
improper use of the bath.
  Having spoken of the proper temperature
of the warm bath, we may next consider, the
best time for taking it.
  In  general, the  practice, as mentioned by
Plutarch, and others, of the Greeks, of using
the bath previous to their principal meal, which
corresponded in time nearly with our present
            4* 
42
dining hour,, may be considered as preferable
to any other.
   Our  healthy digestion  has a very natural
connexion with the  salutary functions of the
skin, and no  stimulus can  be so natural to it
as a  well  regulated  bath, at this  particular
time of the day,—while that restlessness, which
it often  occasions when used later in the day,
will be avoided.
   It may sometimes  be allowable to  take a
warm bath before breakfast,—and sometimes
in  the evening, particularly after travelling in
hot weather  and dusty roads; but  on most
occasions  the  forenoon,  after  the  morning
meal is digested, is  the best part of the day
for bathing, whether cold  or warm.
   The apprehension of being chilled,  and of
suffering from cold by exposure to the open
air, after the  warm bath, is not  well founded;
in  numberless instances the  usual occupations
of life are  pursued through the remainder of
the day, not  only without  injury, but with re-
newed animation and success.
  It is true that in rising from the warm  bath
a cool air feels more chilly than the same at-
mosphere would do in ascending from the cold
bath ; and there is a rapid evaporation of heat
from the skin while the body remains  uncov-
ered.
  This requires, especially where  the  health
is  delicate,  that the air  of the  apaitment,
wnei e we  bathe in  cold  weather, should  be
made  pleasantly warm.  With this precaution, 
43
and suitable clothing, there  is no more dan-
ger of going into the cold air from a warm
bath, than from  a warm bed in  a winter's
morning.   The body is  refreshed and invig-
orated by  heat in  both  cases,  and thereby
rendered the better able  to resist cold.
   Whenever I  have passed  a night without
sleep,  and been   incommoded at  the  same
time  by  cold, I have always, in consequence
of this exposure and privation, been the more
feeble and  chilly the next day; and with this
observation I think the general experience of
every soldier and physician will accord.
   I have taken the warm bath in the warmest
and coldest divisions of our year,—more with
a view to observe its effects on my own health
and sensations, than because  I have needed
its restorative influence at the time ; and I can
truly say,  after bathing in both extremes of
weather, that I  have been  equally and uni-
formly less sensible of the inconvenience from
heat or cold.
   I have always felt more light, cheerful and
active,—and  more inclined, and  better fitted
for a  full  and  successful employment of  the
powers of  mind and body.
   If these exhilarating and invigorating effects
are common  to the warm bath, when  rightly
conducted, of which there is abundant proof,
how shall we dispose of the prevailing  idea
that it is relaxing and debilitating ? A solution
of the difficulty will be  found in  an inquiry
into  the origin of a persuasion which has  de-
prived so many persons of  the advantages of 
44
 (he warm  bath, who have  needed  its good
 effects.
   When the bath has produced unpleasant or
 hurtful effects, these have  almost invariably
 arisen from its improper application, and from
 the want of a just discrimination,  these effects
 have  been  ascribed  to the practice of bathing,
 instead of being referred only to a  wrong mode
 of conducting it.
   Thus a misapplication of the bath has been
 urged against its use ; as if the abuse of a good
 thing could convert it into a bad one.
   In  Rome the crowds allured by the attrac-
 tions  of the bath, to pass  their time in frivol-
 ous amusements, or idle conversation,  might
 afford the moralist  ground for asserting, that
 the warm baths relaxed, not indeed the per-
 sons,  but the minds and manners of the peo-
 ple.
  But as the pleasure derived  from every im-
 pression made on the human body diminishes
 with the frequency of the repetition, those who
 employed the warm baths merely as an instru-
 ment  of luxurious  enjoyment, required their
heat to be perpetually  augmented.   During
 the times of the  republic, it formed a part of
 the duty of the officers called Ediles  to enter
the baths in order to regulate their heat before
the public in general were admitted.
  With the universal corruption  of manners
that accompanied the struggles of the various
competitors for supreme power, this  salutary
custom fell  into  disuse; and  as Pliny informs 
45
us, the people  were at length accustomed to
enter the baths at almost a boiling heat.
   That debility and disease should be the con-
sequence of frequently exposing the  body to
this violent stimulus, cannot excite much  sur-
prize.
   Dv. Gibney has well said, that " on the hu-
man frame,  the influence of heat, when con-
veyed through  so high a conducting power as
that  of  water, is  very  considerable.  If pro-
perly applied, it gives a tranquil and pleasura-
ble sensation,  sooths  agitated  feelings,  and
moderates the  circulation,—renders  the  skin
soft, smooth, and  pliable; gives tone to the
secreting organs, and energy to the  intellect,
—affording  a consoling consciousness not to
be attained by any other artificial means."
   Dr. Darwin says " the  word relaxation and
bracing,  which are generally thought to be ex-
pressive of the  effects of warm and cold bath-
ing, are mechanical terms, properly applied to
drums and  strings; but  are only metaphors
when applied to the effects of bathing on ani-
mal bodies.  The approach of old age is chief-
ly indicated  by a general diminution of the ir-
ritability of the system.  The various secre-
tions are carried on with  less vigour; this is
particularly  apparent  in  the suppression of
perspiration, which gives rise to that sordid ap-
pearance and harsh feeling of the skin, so com-
mon in advanced life.  A  warm  bath  not only
removes those  decaying parts of the cuticle,
which obstruct perspiration, but  by suspending 
16
for a time the exertion necessary to support
the heat of the body, husbands the strength,
and retards the advancement of age.
   The story of iEson's becoming young from
the medicated baths of Medea, seems to have
been intended to teach the efficacy  of  warm
bathing in retarding the approach of old age.
This it does by increasing our irritability, and
by moistening and softening the skin, and the
extremities of the finer vessels which terminate
in it.  The  warm bath by  its  action on  the
skin excites the various glands and vessels that
open on its surface to greater activity, and con-
sequently many other motions associated with
them.
   To this increased action  is added pleasura-
ble sensation, which  further increases the ac-
tions of the system ; and thus many kinds  of
pain receive relief from this  additional atmos-
pheric heat.  The stimulus  of wine,  of  spice,
or salt, increases the heat of the  system, by
increasing some or all of the secretions; and
hence the strength is afterward diminished by
the loss of fluids, and the increased  action of
the fibres.
   But the stimulus of the warm bath supplies
heat rather than produces it;  and rather fills
the system by increased absorption, than emp-
ties it by increased secretion;  and may  hence
be employed with advantage in almost all cases
of debility, with cold extremities.  The activi-
ty of the system thus produced, does not seem
to render persons liable to take cold on leaving 
47
the bath, for the body is less likely to become
torpid than  before, as the  warmth thus ac-
quired by communication, rather than by in-
creased action, continues long without subse-
quent chilness."  These opinions correspond
with  the  observation  of  Dr.  Fordyce,  who
.says,  in his Treatise on Fever, that  those who
are confined  in an atmosphere of 120 or 130
degrees of heat, do not feel cold, or  look pale,
on coming into a temperature of 30 or 40 de-
grees, which would produce great paleness
and sensation of coldness in  those who had
been  sometime confined  in an  atmosphere of
only  86 or 90 degrees of heat.
   That the tendency of warm bathing is  not
to weaken or relax, is sufficiently proved by
its exhilarating influence on those in health, as
well as by its giving strength in many diseases
of  debility.
   The utility of bathing depends also in a con-
siderable  degree on the length of time during
which we remain in the bath.  On  this point
a variety of opinions prevails, and there is some
difficulty in laying down a general rule.
   As the heat of the bath increases  that of the
person taking it, generally from 5 to  8 de-
grees beyond  its  own  temperature, if this
temperature  should be perfectly suited to the
circumstances of the case, the pulse becomes
regular, and commonly much less frequent.
   These circumstances are of considerable im-
portance  in  determining the proper time of
continuing in the bath; for  we may be assur-
f 
48
ed, if it should alter the tone of the circulation
from a morbid to a natural state, that its ulti-
mate effect  will be of a most salutary kind;
and even the refreshing feeling it gives while
We are under its direct influence, may  be re-
garded as a warrant  of the  advantage to be
expected.
   Almost every suspension  of a  diseased
action is a step towaid amendment, and wht re
this follows immersion in a bath of  a proper
degree of heat, we may conclude  that  the
benefit would be greatly increased by remain-
ing in it much  longer than  is usual in this
country.
   Heat in a certain degree, is so necessary to
animal existence, that  when suspended  for  a
time, it recurs with an increase of power.  On
this recurrence,  as a secondary effect of cold,
its salutary  application depends: but  as  the
direct power of the  one  is  so very different
from that of the other, it  is  necessary  to  be
particular in the distinction, and to  recollect,
that a certain degree  of heat is requisite to
muscular motion.  This is observable in those
animals that pass their winter in a torpid state,
and are revived by  the summer's heat.
   The two sources of htat are the medium  in
which we live, and  organic action;  the first,
of course, differing according to  the  tempera-
ture of the  climate, and the other according
to the  circumstances and organization of the
animal. 
49
   We may thus account for the general health
of the inhabitants of temperate climates being
better, and longevity  more common among
them, than in  regions where the extremes of
heat  and cold  prevail; and for the salutary
agency of cold bathing, by its producing ani-
mal heat in  an indirect  manner, while the
same effect is directly produced  by the warm
bath.
   In England, Dr. Gibnev informs us that the
general time for remaining in the warm  bath,
is from twenty  to thirty minutes.  He thinks
this practice arises from a strong prejudice res-
pecting its relaxing powers,—and adds, it we
remain in  a  bed  of the temperature of the
warm bath, fatigue is removed, unless the time
thus spent is either too long or too  short, or
the heat insufficient.  Hence he  says we may
perceive the  fallacy of the  opinion, that re-
maining in a medium for hours, of a tempera-
ture equal, or  somewhat  above, our natural
warmth, tends  to  relaxation; except indeed
in extreme cases.   The  daily exhaustion we
experience, must be restored by  sleep,  and
this  sleep, to be sound and  recruiting,  must
be  cherished  by quiet and  warmth.  In the
early stages of  human  existence, and in those
periods of advanced age where  debility is
great, warmth is quite indispensable.
   The following case, with some abridgement,
is from Count  Rum ford.
   '* Being at Harrowgate  on account of my
health,"  says the Count, "I  at first went into
              5 
50
a bath warmed to about 96 degrees of Fah-
renheit, every third day.  At first I went into
the bath about 10 o'clock in the evening, and
remained in it from ti n to fifteen minutes, and
immediately on coming out of it went  to bed,
my bed having  been well warmed,  with  a
view to prevent my taking cold.   Having pur-
sued this method  for  some time, and  finding
myself frequently feverish and restless after
bathing, I  accidentally, in  conversation, men-
tioned the circumstance to an intelligent gen-
tleman, who lodged  in  the same house, and
who had long  been  in  the  habit of  visiting
Harrowgate every year.
   He advised me to change my hour of bath-
ing, and to stay longer in the bath, and above
all to avoid the warmed bed on coming out of it.
   I followed his advice and shall have reason,
all my life, to thank him for it.
   I now went into  the bath regularly every
third day, about two Jiours before  dinner ;
and on coming out of it, instead of going into
a warmed  bed,  had  myself wiped perfectly
dry  with warmed cloths; and dressing myself
moderately  warm, retired to my room, amus-
ing  myself with walking about  the room,
reading, or  writing, till  it was  time to  dress
for dinner. The good effects from this change
of method  were too striking not  to be  re-
marked and remembered.  I was  no longer
troubled with any of those feverish heats after
bathing which I  experienced  before ; and so
 far  from  feeling chilly, or being particularly
 sensible to cold on coming out of the bath, I 
51
always found myself less sensible to cold after
bathing than before.  1 even observed repeat-
edly and  invariably, that the glow of health,
and pleasing  flow of spirits, which resulted
from the full and free circulation of the blood
which bathing had  brought on, continued for
many hours;  and never  was followed by any
thing like that distressing languor which always
succeeds to an artificial increase  of circulation,
and momentary flow of spirits, which are pro-
duced by stimulating medicines.  1 regularly
found that I had a  better appetite for dinner
when I  bathed than when I did  not; better
digestion also,  and  better spirits, and was
stronger, and  less sensible to cold in the after-
noon and evening.
   As these favourable results appeared to  be
quite regular and constant, I was  induced to
proceed to  a more decisive  experiment.  I
now began to bathe every second day ;  and
finding all the advantageous effects which 1
had before experienced  from warm  bathing,
still continued, I was encouraged  to go  one
step further,  and  to bathe every day.   This
experiment was thought to be very hazardous
by many persons at  Harrowgate, and even by
the physician, who did  not much  approve of
my proceedings ;  but as no inconvenience of
any kind seemed to result from it, and  as I
found myself growing stronger  every  day,
and gaining  fresh health, activity  and spirits,
1  continued  the practice, and actually bathed
every day, at two o'clock in the afternoon, fot 
52
half an hour, in  a bath of  96 degrees, for
thirty five days.
  The  salutary  effects of  this  experiment
were perfectly evident to all  who  were pres-
ent and witnessed  its progress ; and the ad-.
vantages I received from it have been perma-
nent.  The good  state of health I have since
enjoyed I  attribute entirely to it."
  This report is characteristic of Count R.'s
habituai spirit of investigation, and of his  ex-
cellent habit of recording facts, and communi-
cating useful results.
  Nothing can be more decisive,  so  far  as
one t ial can go, than this history in favour of
warm bathing.    Nothing can  more clearly
point the character and tendency of the prac-
tice, or be more instructive in relation  to the
proper time and mode of conducting it.
  The plan of bathing once or twice a week,
for  the short space of fifteen  or twenty min-
utes, shculd be considered as generally nuga-
tory and delusive, and sometimes worse  than
useless.
  In Switzerland, according to Dr. Gibney,
the  time  of remaining in the warm bath  is
from six to  twelve hours ;   at  Pfeffers,  one
half of  the  body is exposed  for many hours
in  succession to  warm vapour,  while  the
other half is immersed  in the bath.  At Lan-
deck, in Silesia,  the practice of continuing  in
the warm  baths, in all cases  of debility, for
hours at  a  time, is also very general, and is
attended with the happiest effects. 
53
   Heat duly modified, gives renovated vigour
to vegetable and  animal existence, and only
produces  relaxation when immoderately ap-
plied.
   This is most strongly exemplified in those
warm  climates  where it  is  not  excessive;
there, the inhabitants  are accustomed to re-
main long in the warm  bath, which, as they
express it, " feeds and nourishes their blood."
Were it relaxing, the relief  it  is  known  to
afford in cases of  the utmost weakness, at-
tended with cold, clammy, and wasting sweats,
could not follow.   In the Levant and in Italy,
no disease of relaxation is thought to be effect-
ually removed without the warm  bath;  and
in every species of intermittent fever, where
affections of the liver  so often accompany the
disease, its successful application is remark-
able.
   Dr. Gibney, to whom I have  so often  re-
ferred,  says,  " in  most cases where warm
baths are  necessary,  not only  remaining  in
the bath for as long a time as the person can
well bear it, but a  continuance of  its  use for
some  weeks,  will   be found  requisite ;  and
when steadily pursued this course  is capable
of affording relief where other means would
not avail, or where  the remedy  itself used
differently, would lead to fruitless results and
disappointment.  Indeed,"  he adds, "on this
point  I  cannot insist with too much earnest-
ness, as  on it  the character and success of this
most salutary practice depends;  and hitherto,
           5* 
54
from its  not  having been more particularly
attended  to, has arisen a want of confidence
in a mode of cure, of more general importance
to the comfort and relief of  mankind, than it
is possible to  conceive."
  That a single application of the warm bath
will sometimes produce effects decidedly cura-
tive, is proved by the following report which
contains the history of my own case.
  Some years ago I took cold which produced
a fulness  and heat in the head, with a mucous
discharge from the nose.  The disease, which
was an inflammation of the mucous membrane,
called catarrh, extended to the throat, wind-
pipe, and lungs, attended, as is common, with
hoarseness, soreness, and some cough ; these
symptoms  increasing five or six days,  were
followed  by chills several times  a day, suc-
ceeded by  flushes  of heat.   The usual appe-
tite had now  failed, pains seized the  back and
limbs,—there was  great lassitude, and it was
with considerable difficulty that 1 could  walk.
  Every thing announced the near approach
of a settled inflammatory fever.  It was quite
time to attend to these complaints, and I con-
cluded to begin with the warm bath.  At 1
o'clock I walked  to the bathing house with
as  much sickness  upon me as I could well
bear.    I entered  the  bath at  93  degrees,
raised the  temperature  one or two  degrees
soon after, and remained  in  the water  three
quarters  of an hour.  In a short time alter
being in  the  bath  all my unpleasant feelings 
55
subsided ; this induced  me to remain longer
in  the bath than  I had ever done before.  Ex-
cepting some slight remaining affection ol the
head, from the time I left the bath, I was well;
every ache, and  pain, and  oppression had left
me while in the warm water.   In three days
more the head was entirely recovered with-
out using any other remedy.  This relief was
to  me  the  more striking and memorable be-
cause it was addressed to my own sensations.
   With the trifling remnant mentioned, the
relief was perfect, and almost instantaneous,
and  certainly more pleasant  than any other
could have been, even if another remedy could
have been found equally sudden and effectual.
   The  frequency  of  bathing in warm water
should vary a  good  deal with circumstances.
If  the  intention  be to retard the advances of
age, to  promote  cleanliness, and   improve
health; once, twice or three times a week will
answer these purposes.
   If it be used as a remedy it may be resorted
to  every day, as  in the case of Count Rum-
ford.   Or rather, on  this  application of the
bath, it will be safer, as a general rule, to con-
sult  a  physician, though it is  probable that
Count  R. did better in consequence of disre-
garding the apprehensions of his, than he oth-
erwise would have done.
   Perhaps  at  some  future  day, when  the
theory and practice of bathing shall be gene-
rally known in this country, we may find suf-
ficient  inducements to adopt the Turkish cut.- 
                    56

 torn of having a public bath in every town and
 village.
   Among  the Turks  bathing  is constantly
 practised,  as well in conformity with the reli-
 gious precept of Mahomet, as to preserve and
 promote cleanliness, in a  country where per-
 spiration is so easily excited.   Mr. Savary,
 the French traveller, informs  us, that  4i the
 bathers at Cairo in Egypt, are not imprisoned
 as in Europe, in a sort  of tub,  where one  is
 never at his ease. Extended  on a cloth spread
 out, the head  supported  by  a small  cushion,
 they stretch themselves  freely in  every pos-
 ture, while they are wrapt  up in a cloud  of
 odoriferous vapours, which penetrate into  all
 the pores."
   The  following rules  comprise a practical
 summary of what has been said.
   1.  The  warm  bath  should  be  entered
by persons  in  health  at  93  degrees   of
heat,  and  after  waiting  a few  minutes and
attending to our  sensations, its temperature
should  be  so altered, if any alteration  is re-
quired, as to render it  the  most grateful  to
our feelings.
   When a  thermometer  cannot be had, the
water should be brought to  that temperature
which feels neither hot  nor cold to the arm,
or some part of the body usually covered, and
after  entering  the bath  at this  degree  of
warmth, it may then be raised to that tempe-
rature which is most pleasant. 
57
  If the temperature of the bath is  what it
should be, it  will supply  any deficiency, or
counteract any excess  of  heat,  in him who
bathes.
  2.  The best time for bathing  is the fore-
noon, atter the breakfast  is digested.   The
cases in which it  is allowable or expedient to
batne in the morning or evening, are few, and
to be regarded as exceptions to  the  general
rule.
   3.  It is not easy to point out as  a  general
direction, any precise period, as the best time
for remaining in the bath.
   That period, of course, is best which pro-
duces the best effects, but  this cannot always
be determined  before one  or more trials are
made.  It is  well in this particular to be gov-
erned in  a  great  measure, by  our  feelings
while in the  bath,—for if  these are soothing
and refreshing, there is much reason  to be-
lieve that the subsequent effects will be bene-
ficial.
   In this case it will  often  be useful  to re-
main in the  bath for half an hour, or even
an hour.  Those  who are in the habit of bath-
ing generally find it pleasant to remain longer
in the bath than w7ould  be  agreeable or expe-
dient for beginners.
   4. The frequency of bathing should  also
depend mucn  on circumstances.  When the
bath is  taken to prevent disease and  improveX
health,  and is well borne, it may be used every
second  or third day. 
58
   When it is used to cure  disease, the whole
 subject must be referred to the judgment of
 the medical attendant.
   5.  Bathing  should be preceded  and  fol-
 lowed by exercise.
   When the general  principles  of a science
 are understood, its particular application  will
 soon  be learnt, by attending to the  varying
 circumstances of particular  cases.
   If a  New England traveller  were asked,
 what  is the custom of your countrymen in re-
 gard to bathing ? he might be at a loss for a
 definite reply, and it might also happen that
 he  would be unwilling  to acknowledge  his
 own want of acquaintance  with  its theory or
 practice.
   The following anecdotes would  assist him
 in forming an opinion on the subject.
   During the last year, a gentleman from that
 class in society  whom we are early taught to
 regard as the most venerable and  useful,  be-
 ing out of health, and somewhat disturbed or
 deranged in his mind, came with his wife, fifty
 or sixty miles  from the country, to consult a
 physician  in Boston.   Among  the enquiries
 which the physician thought proper to make,
before he should prescribe  for his  patient, he
asked him if he had ever tried bathing of any
kind ; the answer was, no. What never wash-
ed your skin ?  No sir.   This  produced some
remarks about cleanliness which embarrassed
the good man and his wife.   The  doctor in-
 sisted on seeing the skin of his patient's arm, 
59
whose complexion was found to differ materi-
ally from that of his face.
  The physician then directed hirn to go to
the warm bath and wash himself, declining any
further advice till this was done.
  The poor clergyman became now still fur-
ther alarmed by the idea of expense, enquiring
anxiously, what is the price of a warm bath?
As much again as you will think it worth, was
the answer.   The husband next conferred
with his wife on their ability to meet this ex-
penditure ; they concluded they were unable,
and almost overwhelmed by the sudden and
accumulating perplexities which involved them,
without seeking or receiving any further di-
rection, they abruptly took leave, and hasten-
ed to their own house, as  the only  resource
and retreat that seemed to be left them.
   An enterprising citizen of this town, of firm
nerves and active mind, eight years since, went
in the evening, to  take a sea bath.   He  sat
sometime in the bathing house, nearly undress-
ed, till he became  cool.   On plunging into the
water he felt  a sudden  chill  which rilled him
with shuddering and horror.  He instantly left
the water,  but  passed a  wretched  night, de-
pressed in mind and deranged in all  his bodily
sensations.   The next day he consulted a phy-
sician who  recommended a warm bath.  This
it appears was taken too warm, and it did not
afford the expected relief. The gentleman as-
sures  me that he could not surmount the very
unpleasant effects of the cold bath, as they af- 
60
fected his mind and body for nearly two years.
And even to this day he cannot endure the idea
of repeating it.   Other similar  histories, al-
most without number, might be collected, but
they are not needed.
   These two individuals  represent two  nu-
merous classes,—those who never bathe,  and
those who, having bathed amiss and  been in-
jured, have abandoned ihe practice ; they are
sufficient to prove what it is enough for my
present purpose to assert, that the  principles
which should regulate bathing, cold and warm,
are generally  very little understood ;  and  that
the practice of it  is, for the most part,  neglect-
ed, or misapplied.
   An English writer, speaking of the neglect
of bathing, says, there is many an honest mat-
ron in  England who has not washed her skin
since the coronation.  What better can we say
of many excellent women in this country, clean-
liness excepted,  who have  not  seen a  bath,
cold or warm, since the revolution ?
   How many whited sepulchres  there  are in
every country !   Men and women richly  and
gaily attired without, but not what they should
be within.
   It is not therefore merely  as a means of
health  that  bathing should be  practised  ;  it  is
an indispensable  constituent of personal neat-
ness, and this is well entitled  to  be added to
the list of cardinal virtues,  not only as  being
equally conducive with any of these to our 
61
physical well-being, but also as it implies a
degree of delicacy and purity of mind.
  It is also essential to that influence  which
every wise man wishes to possess for his own
preservation,—and every  good  one that he
may likewise be useful to others.
  This power  we know is sometimes abused,
but we know7 too that it may be cultivated from
the purest motives and for the  noblest ends.
Those persons who are willing to rest in ap-
pearances, and can prefer the miserable sub-
stitutes of art to an improvement of the rich
endowments of nature, will be the last  to be-
lieve what a medical philosopher of our coun-
try has lately asserted, that k' cleanliness is as
conducive to decency, comfort, elegance,  mo-
rality, intellectual activity, and the dignity of
human nature,  as it is eminently  so to safety,
health, and long life."*
   Ablution in the Mosaic law, constituted one
of its most jmportant  ceremonies, and  in the
Christian, was  originally inculcated as  an es-
sential introductory rite,—and it has always
been enjoined as necessary to  the preservation
of health.
  To  the mansions  of the wealthy, a bath
ought to be considered as an indispensable ap-
pendage ; and  if institutions for the corporeal
purification of the lower class of society were
generally established, they could  not  fail to
produce an incalculable diminution of disease,
—and thus, to  a  certain degree, to lessen the
                * Edward Miller.
               6 
62
necessary number of hospitals and other ex-
pensive asylums for popular refuge and relief.
if we mean then to deserve the reputation, or
to  possess the consciousness of physical pu-
rity, let us begin  with the surface of the body,
instead of attempting to  supply the place of
this invisible and inestimable gem, by the more
showy decorations of exterior ornament.
   With the former, the  latter are nearly  su-
perfluous ;  without it, they would be deplora-
bly inconsistent.
   I shall close with an extract from Mr. Sava-
ry's account of the hot  baths  of Egypt;  he
says,  " Coming from a bath filled with hot va-
pour, in which excessive perspiration bedewed
every limb, into a spacious apartment, and the
open air. the  lungs expand and respire pleas-
ure :  well kneaded and  as it  were regenerat-
ed, the blood circulates  freely, the body feels
a volupt* ous  ease,  a flexibility till then  un-
known, a lightness as if relieve^ from some
enormous weight, and the man almost fancies
himself newly born, and  beginning first to live.
A  glowing consciousness of existence diffuses
itself to the very extremities ;  and while thus
yielding to the most delightful sensations, ideas
of the most pleasing kind pervade and fill the
soul; the imagination wanders through worlds
which itself embellishes, every where drawing
pictures of happiness and delight.  If life be
only a succession of ideas,—the vigour, the ra-
pidity, with which  the memory then  retraces
ail the knowledge of the  man, would lead us 
63
to believe that the two hours of delicious calm
which succeed bathing, are an age. Such are
these baths, the use of which was so strongly
recommended by  the  ancients, and the pleas-
ures of which the Egyptians  still  enjoy.
   Here they prevent or exterminate iheuma-
tisms, catarrhs, arid those  diseases of the skin
which the want of perspiration occasions.
   Here they rid themselves  of  those uncom-
fortable  sensations so  common among  other
nations,  who have not the  same  regard  to
cleanliness."
   Perhaps the  temperate  state of our nerves,
uninfluenced  by the climate or  the baths  of
Egypt, may lead some of us to  view this  ac-
count of Mons.  Savary as  somewhat extrava-
gant and fictitious, and yet it may be that this
description is merely a faithful transcript of the
ideas and sensations which the bath had pro-
duced.   Be this as it may, I hope enough has
been said, and much must be left unsaid in a
single essay,  to induce the belief that bathing
is essential  to  personal  neatness,—that the
warm bath, rightly taken, is a highly grateful
and innocent indulgence, an efficient means in
the preservation and improvement  of health ;
useful in preventing sickness, and an effectual
remedy in many diseases.
   If the  effect of bathing in  the  proper man-
ner, be as we have said, to improve and pre-
serve health, it  cannot  be  difficult to perceive
its true character,  or to point out its uses. 
64
  But we are not to cherish the body for the
injurious and unhallowed purposes of sense,
but for  the innocent pleasures and delight!ul
employments of a sound body under the direc-
tion of a sound mind ; and for the still nobler
end of consecrating its active powers to the
service of the Creator, who has impressed on
its  complicated and wonderful structure, so
many marks of  wisdom and design;—-and
who renews in its daily preservation, so many
proofs of kindness and care.
• 
REMARKS
ON THE EFFECTS OF DRINKING COLD
    WATER IN WARM WEATHER.
  IT is  incumbent on  those who would in-
struct and direct  the public  on this subject,
either to furnish such directions as shall enable
us to drink cold water with  safety when we
are  preternaturally heated,  or distinctly to
admonish us  that this inclination can  never
be indulged with impunity.
  That the proper rules have not yet been
given, or  if given have not been obeyed, is
evident  from  the many deaths which  every
year continue to  occur  from the drinking of
cold  water in undue quantity, or under im-
proper circumstances.
  What has been done  in the United  States
to prevent this dangerous custom and its un-
happy consequences ?
  The late Dr. Rush, so far as I am informed,
is the only person who has published such di-
rections and  admonitions on this topic,  as he
         b* 
66
doubtless believed to be best suited to guard
the public against the evil in question.
   From  the doctor's account of the disorders
occasioned by drinking cold water in warm
weather, we learn that these accidents seldom
happen in Philadelphia, except when the mer-
cury rises above  85 degrees of Fahrenheit's
thermometer.   Dr. Rush also informs us that
" three circumstances generally concur to pro-
duce  disease  or death  from  drinking cold
water.   1. The  patient  is  extremely  warm.
2. The water is  extremely  cold.  And, 3.  A
large quantity of it is suddenly taken into the
body.  The danger from drinking the cold
Water is always in proportion  to the degrees
of combination which occur  in  the  three cir-
cumstances that have been mentioned."
   The account is concluded with the follow-
ing advice.  u If  neither  the voice of reason,
nor the fatal examples of those who have per-
ished from this cause, are sufficient to produce
restraint  in drinking a large quantity of cold
liquors, when the body is preternaturally heat-
ed, then let me advise to—1. Grasp  the vessel
out of which you  are about to drink  for a min-
ute or longer with both your hands.  This
will abstract a portion of heat from the body,
and  impart it  at the  same time to the cold
liquor, provided the vessel is made  of metal,
glass or earth;  for  heat  follows  the same
laws, in  many instances, in passing through
bodies, with  regaad to  its  relative velocity,
which we observe to take place in electricity,. 
67
  2.  If you are not furnished with a cup, and
are obliged to drink by bringing your mouth
in contact with the stream which issues from a
pump, or a spring, always wash your face and
hands previous to your drinking, with a little
of the cold water.   By receiving the shock of
the water first on  these parts of the body, a
portion of its  heat is conveyed away, and the
vital  parts  are thereby  defended from  the
action of the cold."*
  These principles and  precepts  have ema-
nated from a source of high medical authority,
they have been promulgated and republished
in our southern  newspapers, and  apparently
admitted  by  all  as perfect  and satisfactory,
and as sufficient, if observed, to secure those
in danger, from the impending injury.
   For all these reasons they deserve a delib-
erate examination, and if it  should  be found
that they are  delusive and fallacious, it is the
more necessary that their true character and
tendency should  be fully  understood.
  As they now stand, supported by the well-
earned  reputation  of  their  author, and  the
submission or approbation of the American
people, the first effect they would  produce is,
to persuade those persons who are most expos-
ed  to the  danger before us, that if they com-
ply with the condition of  the second direction
of  Dr. R., they may then drink  cold  water
* Medical Inq. and Obs. vol. 1. 
69
without injury.—If this  be the effect of the
advice given, it will  increase  the  evil it was
intended to prevent.
   But in order to estimate the rule correctly,
we must first ascertain in what state of the
body cold  water caft be safely taken  into the
stomach;  and this, if  we mistake  not, is pre-
cisely that  state in which cold bathing is most
grateful and beneficial.
   This  eminent  physician  seems   to  have
adopted 'the popular opinion  on this  subject,
and apprehends the danger to originate from
the great difference between the temperature
of the body and that of the water drunk.  The
fact however, says Dr. Currie, is in my  mind
perfectly established, that  there is no  situa-
tion in which the  application  of cold to the
body, whether to the surface  or the stomach,
is  so safe, or in general so salutary,  as when
the heat of  the body, from whatever  cause,  is
preternaturally great, provided that the  body
is  not already in a state in which it is rapidly
parting with  this heat, and  no disease has
taken place in the general sensibility, in the
structure of any of the parts, or any derange-
ment or excessive action in the organs of res-
piration, or in those of the circulation of the
blood.  And that where  the  body is preter-
naturally heated,  the  degree  to which  cold
water may be drunk, may always  be  decided
by the steadiness of the sensation of heat, the
tenacity with  which it is  retained,  and the 
69
regularity with which  the vital functions  of
the system are carried on at the time.
   Thus, in continued fever it may be drunk to
a greater extent, than  in  the hot stage of in-
termittents, because  the  heat is  more firmly
retained ;  the profuse perspiration  not being
at hand, by which  the  febrile heat  of inter-
mittents is carried off.   The  ancients  who
gave  cold drink largely in continued  fever,
were doubtful of its use in intermittents.
   That cold fluids  taken into the stomach  in
the cold or sweating stage of a paroxysm of
intermittent  fever,  in which the thirst is often
excessive,  have  frequently  proved  hurtful,
there can  be no doubt.
   The  instances, however, that are  recorded
of the fatal effects  of large draughts of cold
liquids,  have more  frequently occurred after
severe exercise and faligue, than even in inter-
mittent fever.  The cause of this is obvious,—
the heat preternaturally accumulated by exer-
cise, is  held  with less  tenacity  than the heat
even in  intermittents.   It is dissipated  by the
perspiration  that  exercise occasions, and  is
speedily lost, when to  profuse  sweating  is
added a state of rest  We have now  come
exactly  to that  condition of the body  in which
death occurs from  drinking  cold water from
our pumps, and  cold springs.  The  body is
excessively heated not only by the warmth of
the sun, but  also by exercise, and respiration
and the circulation of the blood are often ren- 
70
dered tumultuous, violent, and irregular;  the
heat is rapidly evaporating by copious perspi-
ration  and rest.  Is this the time for deciding
by indulgence how much cold water the stom-
ach can bear with impunity ? The experiment
cannot be made  without the  utmost risk  of
life.
  Recollect  for  a moment that the state in
which the greatest allowable quantity of cold
water which  can  ever be safely applied to the
stomach or skin,  where fever  is  not present,
is that in which  the following circumstances
exist at the same time.
  1.  Preternatural  heat,  2.  a  dry skin,  3.
strength, 4. a continued action of the  cause
or causes which have produced this inordinate
heat, and 5. a perfect performance of all the
functions of health.
  Now let  us compare this state of the sys-
tem with that of the man at the  pump who is
about to take the fatal di aught.
  His heat is indeed great, but the  causes, or
at least one of them, which have excited this
heat,  has  ceased to act; and  this heat set far
from being  firmly retained is  fast  escaping
with the abundant perspiration.   So far from
being  strong, he is  more  or  less exhausted
and weakened  by his labour and  excess of
temperature, and perhaps also by profuse
sweating; and  the great functions of life  are
more  or less hurried, impetuous, and imper-
fect.  Is this the time for indulgence, the time 
71
in whieh the vital parts are defended from the
action  of cold, because  the panting labourer
has first grasped  the vessel of cold  water, be-
cause he has washed his face and hands with
some of it,  and complied with all  the  other
precautions of safety?  Whatever the urgency
for indulgence, or the excuse  for  it in  this
case may be, I venture to assert, that another
so  full of danger cannot be named.
   Pcstillions understand the di ference, adds
the  doctor, between  giving their horses cold
water  to drink during exercise, and  after exer-
cise has ceased.  When in their power they
always water their horses two or three  miles
before the end of their journey.   My  friend,
Mr. Charles Aiken, assures me, continues the
doctor, that during his tour on foot  through
Wales, in company with his brother, of  which
Mr. Arthur Aiken has  given so interesting and
useful  an account, they  drank  of the pure
streams, as they descended from  the  moun-
tains, without  reserve, during the fervour of
the  day, taking care  however never to rest
after drinking.  Where  direct experiment  is
so  full of danger, we must be  permitted to
derive what aid we can from analogy.
   For many years past, during  the summer,
I have daily used ice in whatevt r I have drunk
at dinner,—in water, beer, cyder, &c., and this
more freely as the weather has been  warmer.
Tl is habit has been agreeable and refreshing.
If in this state cold liquids are  grateful and 
72
 safe, we may well suppose that in an opposite
 state of the system, they must be more or less
 deleterious.   The  only circumstance in com-
 mon is thirst, but in my case this was natural
 and compatible with health;  in the man at the
 pump, it is excessive and  preternatural.  It the
 preceding views  respecting the circumstances
 under which cold drink after exercise proves in-
jurious, be just, the directions of Dr. Rush  to
 those who will drink in such, circumstances, are
 founded on error. By abstracting a part of the
 preternatural heat of the body before drinking,
 the danger is not diminished, but  greatly m-
 creasedV  If  the effects of cold water used in-
 ternally under severe exercise are not entirely
 analogous to the effects produced by its affu-
 sion on the skin.—the difference will be easily
understood by those who  consider, that win n
a quantity of water is swallowed, besides the
influence of the  cold, the  stomach  sustains  a
load, from the weight and the bulk of the li-
quid, particularly oppressive  under the con-
stant action  and agitation  of the voluntary
muscles, from  which  the surface  moistened
with water, is entirely free ;  ancWrirthe other
hand, that the evaporation from ttie surface,
promoted by the immediate access of the ex-
ternal air, must operate more directly in  cool-
ing the body, and particularly in counteracting
the burning rays of the sun, than water taken
into the stomach.   Wi'h these exceptions, the
operation of  cold liquids on the stomach and 
73
on the surface of the body is analogous in the
case of preternatural heat produced by bodily
exertion, as in all other cases of preternatural
heat.
  As it is safe to drink cold water in  propor-
tion  as the heat from  exercise is  great and
steady, so also is it safe, according to this ratio,
to pour it on the surface, or to immerse the
body in the cold bath.
   For many of these sentiments and facts, and
much of this language, I  am indebted  to the
late Dr. Currie.  I have followed this  enlight-
ened and benevolent physician, because there
is nothing so valuable  on this subject  as what
he has left us; and he only, so far as  I know,
has reviewed  Dr. Rush's " Account, &c." with
the ability of a master, the liberality of a gen-
tleman, and the candour of a friend.*
   Dr. Currie's  work  is  rising in  estimation
with  the progress of  time,—and is constantly
calling forth, from the  best judges of its merit,
the testimony of entire confidence in his facts
and opinions, and new expressions of gratitude
and  respect for  the genius  and philanthropy
of its author.
   It is wiser to  shun  temptation than  to rush
into it, in the vain expectation of escaping un-
hurt.  There are situations however in which
men cannot set limits to their efforts,or  fatigue,
or danger; but no one retaining his free agen-

       * See his MedicaWteports, 3d edit. 1st vol.
              7 
74
cy should  place  himself  in that situation in
which it is most perilous to  drink cold water,
and in which he is most tempted to transgress.
  A risk so great should not be taken, unless
it be to avoid a great danger.
  But as no lesson of experience or  salutary
admonition can impart to all a preventive pru-
dence, if I could  influence those who are ap-
proaching  the  pump, my cautions  to them
should be,—
  1. To recollect, that the only state of the
body, fever excepted, in  which a strong incli-
nation to drink cold  water can be fully  and
safely indulged, is that in which the five con-
ditions enumerated in  page 70, are all present.
  2. There is no state in which the desire for
cold water is so urgent, or its indulgence so
hazardous  as that already described,  and in
which cold water taken into the stomach in
large  quantity, usually occasions disease or
death.
  3. When you come therefore to the well or
the spring, in this situation, your safety can be
secured only by doing one of two things;  eith-
er rinse your mouth, and  wash your  face and
hands with the*cold water, without swallowing
a drop of it, and rest till the intensity of your
heat and thirst has  somewhat abated before
you resume your labour, or exertion, whatever
it may be; or, on  coming to the pump, much
heated, fatigued, sweating, and thirsty, drink a
wineglassful, or half  a gill only of the water,   , . 
75
taking care to continue your exercise in a less
violent degree.
   The most eligible and successful method of
returning to a comfortable and safe state, from
the danger and  suffering arising from the com-
bined effects of excessive heat,  exertion, per-
spiration, and thirst,—is to rest for short  pe-
riods,  then to renew7 a more gentle exercise,
avoiding as much as possible  the  rays of the
sun, and taking from time to time, small quan-
tities of some moderately cordial beverage.
THE END.
         *        ERRATA.
 Page 3", I. lza, ior just n,-.- .t':or.^u, rcctd^n be mentioned in the
;*cxt page ; p. 45, 1. 18, for word lead witcI? 
 
M«L. H.st.
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