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COLD AND WARM




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DISCOURSES
COLD AND WARM BATHING ;
REMARKS
EFFECTS OF DRINKING COLD WATER
WARM WEATHER.
BY JOHN G. COFFIN, M. D.       i \
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A. SECOND EDITION.
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        BOSTON:



CUMMINGS, HILLIARD, AND COMPANY.





         1826.  . 
              DISTRICT OF  MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT:
                                              District  Clerk's Office.
  BE  IT REMEMBERED, that on the eleventh day of  April, A. D. 1826,
6nd in the fiftieth year of the  Independence of the  United States of America,
Cummings, Hilliard & Co. of the said district, have deposited in this offioe the title
of a book, the right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the  words following, to

  " Discourses on Cold  and Warm Bathing; with Remarks on the Effects of Drink-
ing cold Water in warm Weather.  By John G. Coffin. M. D. A Second Edition.
    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  proprietors  of such copies, during the times therein
mentioned ;" and also an act, entitled, " An act, supplementary to an act, entitled,
«An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing tha 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, historical and.other prints."                      davts

                                         Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.
                CAMBRIDGE '.
From the University Press—By Hilliard & Metcalf". 
ADVERTISEMENT.
   The principles of bathing have been but little studied,
 or  the practice of  it  rationally adopted in the United
 States ; less indeed than our general advancement in civil-
 ization, or the present improvement in the science of pre-
 venting and curing diseases, would  lead  one to expect or
 desire.  This was truly  said eight years  ago  when  these
 discourses first  appeared ;  since that time however it is
 pleasant to perceive that the means and facilities of bath-
 ing have very much increased.
   This greater attention to bathing, it is hoped, will  con-
 tinue, not only till every city and  village, but  till every
 tavern and hotel throughout the country, shall be provid-
 ed with this  luxury  and refreshment for the weary and
 dusty traveller.  And if the attendants in these substitutes
 for home should exhibit a fair skin, with a neat and simple
 dress, like the  nymphs who prepared  the  baths for the
 wayfaring guests and heroes of ancient times, their services
 would in nowise be the less  acceptable on these accounts.
  1 am sensible that this essay  might be greatly enlarged,
 and thus rendered more  valuable to the medical student
 and practitioner;  but  as my purpose has been to  offer
 merely such facts,  precepts,  and illustrations,  as might be
 sufficient to invite  and enable the well only to derive from
the bath, whether cold or warm, the pleasure and advan-
tage which result from its due application, I have preferred
a small and cheap book, to a bulky and expensive one. 
4
  The present revised edition will, I trust, be found a safe
guide to either bath,—and if it  should contribute to make
more generally known the true  theory of bathing, and to
recommend  and extend its practice, it will accomplish my
wishes.   To  say nothing of health and morals, it may
here be remarked, that no  one  is fit for  society who is in-
attentive to personal  neatness ; and yet there are some
persons who fancy themselves to be pure without washing.
  This point.may be easily decided by the following very
simple experiment:—Let the body be thoroughly washed in
pure water, and if this fluid is not hereby rendered impure,
then the skin was not so before ablution.
  The remarks on drinking cold water in warm weather,
if attended to, will prevent much injury.
                                            J. G. C. 
A
      DISCOURSE

            ON

COLD BATHING.
   The enjoyments and advantages of health are
so numerous and so generally acknowledged, that
I presume any  thing  which has a tendency to
improve and secure this great possession, 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 public
estimation and  favor.   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  extensively the infor-
mation necessary to render it at once safe, pleas-
ant,  and beneficial.   Amidst  the busy occupa-
tions which engage our time, or the unprofitable
vacuity that consumes it, we do not  always
recollect how much we are indebted  to our an-
cestors for the treasures we inherit, nor how much
posterity will be affected by the part we may act,
in the progress  of society.
               1* 
6
   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 suc-
ceeding generation,  to examine  with firmness
and impartiality the opinions and practices which
time has matured ; to transmit with improvement
such as are useful, and to reject, without the weak-
ness of hesitation  or  regret, such as retard the
advancement of human  affairs.   This  duty is
peculiarly incumbent on the present race of Amer-
icans ; men who owe more to their country and
themselves,—more to their fathers and their chil-
dren, than  any other  men,—because they are
more favored, and  privileged, and free, than any
other people.
   As a nation we have the  rare  opportunity of
deciding the just  value of liberty, by the use we
make of it ; by employing, under its protection
and  enjoyment, the resources we  possess, for
our own wellbeing, and the happiness of those,
whose happiness it is  within our  power  to pro-
mote.
   To  bring these remarks to the  subject before ■
us, we learn from  history that bathing has  been
practised from  the earliest  periods  of  society,
among the inhabitants of every region, either
as a religious ceremony, as a means of preserving
cleanliness,  or as  a sourse of comfort and plea-
surable gratification.   For the latter purposes,
in the warmer  climates,  nature first prompted
its use, and hence arose a knowledge of its  salu- 
7
tary effects in contributing  to  general health.
Indeed the various accounts  we  have of this
custom, from the remotest times, among savage
as well as refined people,  fully prove,  not  only
that it is of very  high antiquity, but that it was
almost universally followed.   To enlarge  how-
ever 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 sickness.   So
erroneous  has been (he theory  which has gov-
erned  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 process.
   I shall confine myself at present to the  exter-
nal use of cold water, and this chiefly as a means
of improving  health   and preventing disease,
rather than  as a remedy.   I shall attempt to
remove some very current misapprehensions 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 this species of
bathing, when  properly  managed ; and with a
certainty of avoiding those unhappy results which
are daily occurring from  the  influence of mis-
taken views  relative to  this mode of cultivating 
8
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 inquiry—
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 temperature.   What confi-
dence is to be placed in this  response, we  shall
see in due time.
   This  is an important question,  and the effects
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 circumstance con-
nected with the practice  of bathing.
   Like  many other opinions relating to the con-
duct of  the healthy, as well as to the  treatment
of the sick, which are now considered  as popular
prejudices,  these errors seem to have emanated
from medical doctrines which were at some for-
mer  period  generally received,  but which  have
since been discovered to originate from mistaken
views of the laws by which the animal economy
is  regulated.
   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  heat-
* A. P. Buchan's Pract. Obser. &,c. p. 58. 
9
ed  and fatigued by violent and protracted ex-
ercise, it  seemed to be  a fair conclusion, that
the previous heat 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 stan-
dard.
   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 re-
moved from that state in which it is most safe
to take the cold bath,  as can well be  imagined.
Feebleness and debility are then fast approach-
ing, and the vital energy is incapable of resisting
the further temporary  weakening effects of the
cold immersion, which, instead of being followed
by the genial glow  of  health, is then more like-
ly to induce a dangerous, 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 arrested 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 con-
sequence might be, the immediate extinction of
life. 
10
  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 water,
when the  system has  been  exhausted by fa-
tigue ; it  by no  means follows  that  it is im-
proper to bathe during  the permanence of that
warmth which  has been produced by moderate,
or even pretty free, exercise.   In the earlier sta-
ges of exercise, before perspiration has dissipated
the heat, and  fatigue has  debilitated the living
power, nothing is  more  safe than the cold bath.
This is so true, that infirm persons are now with
great propriety,  directed  to use  such a degree
of exercise before bathing, as shall produce some
increased action of the heart and blood vessels,
with some increase of heat, in order that a suf-
ficient reaction under the shock may thus be se-
cured.   On this  subject the late Dr.  Currie ob-
serves, 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 then plunging into the water, feel  a sudden
chilliness that  is  alarming 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 sta-
 ges 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 
11
sentiments of one of the best writers on the use
of cold  and warm water.
   For several  years  past, from May till Novem-
ber, I have been in the habit of walking, or ri-
ding 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 possible 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 system,
pretty  copious  perspiration,  at its  rommence-
ment, 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 exercise,
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 sal-
utary effects.
   We are informed,  " that on the Campus Mar-
tius,  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 footrace.  The youth-
ful candidates in this exercise directed  their 
12
 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 accustom-
 ed to immerse  themselves in water in the very
 fervor of their exertions, when the heat was pre-
 ternaturally 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 early  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  by the
 athletcB, or  wrestlers, of  Greece  and Rome in
 all their exercises.
   The circumstances under which  the emperor
 Alexander plunged into  the  Cydnus  were dif-
 ferent 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 fa-
 cilitate  his  passage  into  Cicilia . .. His whole
 march,  which probably continued 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 enterprise,
 according to the testimony  of all the historians,
 that  the  conqueror,  advancing into Tarsus at
the head of his  troops,  covered with dust and 
13
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 Cyd-
nus,  which ran through  the  city.
   The  symptoms that  followed are described
with sufficient minuteness  and precision.   He
had  scarcely entered the water when his limbs
became  cold and stiff; he lost his color, 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.
   " 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 start-
ed by sunrise,  and  proceeded  with alacrity 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 after
a march  of  eight miles more, they arrived heat-
ed, but  not fatigued, on the banks of the river
abovementioned, about eleven in  the  forenoon.
Urged by the fervor of the day, and tempted by
the beauty of the stream, they stripped instantly
and  threw themselves  into the river.   The ut-
most  refreshment  followed,  and when they  re-
turned to the neighboring  inn, this  was suc-
                   * Currie.
            2
\ 
14
ceeded  by a  disposition  to sleep,  which they
indulged.
  In the afternoon they proceeded, and travelling
sixteen  miles further  at  a single.stretch, came
to the inn where  they were to sleep, a little af-
ter 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 stiffened
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 perfectly cool
into the same river, expecting to relax his limbs
in the water, and  afterwards  to enjoy 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 morning perspi-
ration and sleep followed.
  The  next day  about noon they proceeded on
foot, but the traveller who had  bathed was ex-
tremely feeble ; and though they had to perform
a journey of a single  stage only, as some part
of it was difficult and mountainous, he was ob-
liged to take the assistance of a passing carriage.
It was several days  before he recovered his usu-
al vigor. 
15
   It is unnecessary to point out the application
of these incidents to the principles already ad-
vanced,—as the  fact is sufficiently established,
that the power of  bearing cold without injury,
is in  proportion to  the increase of animal heat
before the exposure to cold."
   Having pointed out the only state of the sys-
tem  in which  it is safe to enter the cold bath,
we  are  brought to the inquiry—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 pre-
ferable  to  plunge once  only, or  to repeat the
immersion several times, has  more influence on
the ultimate utility of bathing, than might be
supposed, on a slight view of  the subject.
   While augmented  warmth, vigor,  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 headache,
chilliness, and lassitude for the remainder of the
day.   After leaving the water, I  have noticed
that  if a limb, as a leg or an arm, or the whole
body, be again immersed, the water seems sen-
sibly 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 pro-
duce heat, or  to resist cold.   The  continuation
of this action for  some  time after leaving the
bath, together with the loss  of heat by evapora-
tion  from the  wet surface of  the body, causes 
16
the second or third immersion to feel colder than
the first.
   To remain for a moderate space of time com-
pletely immersed in water, has by no means the
same debilitating and chilling effects, as repeats
ed  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 sand bank  at the mouth  of  the
river Mersey.   They remained twentyfour hours
clinging  to the wreck in the month of Decem-
ber.  The part of the wreck to which  they ad-
hered, lying in a sloping direction, 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 con-
stantly immersed in the  water.
  In the former situation were placed two mas-
ters, stout men, in the prime of life, and  accus-
tomed to  hardships.   These both died during
the night, while the remainder of  the crew, ex-
cept one, were all preserved, and  ultimately re-
covered.   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 wa-
ter, 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 wa- 
17
ter for  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 pe-
culiar constitution and state of health of particu-
lar individuals,  having regard also to the habit
of bathing or the contrary.  The duration and
frequency of immersions may be  somewhat in-
creased in proportion as the system is strengthen-
ed  by the practice  of bathing, and as the effects
of  passing from a  warmer 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 how-
ever  to  discover either the principle on which
this method is recommended, or any good purpose
it is supposed to answer,—certainly it is not  the
mode  indicated by nature.  A  person desirous
of bathing for the sake of cleanliness or of pleas-
ure, w hose mind was  free from any previous tui-
tion, on reaching the margin of a river, or the sea,
would strip,  and walk leisurely into the  water,
till a suitable depth was attained.  What  should
induce those who bathe for the purpose of invig-
orating the constitution, or for the recovery of
health, to make this violent and unnatural effort,
it is not easy to surmise.
   To hear a person, not accustomed  to such an
attitude, complain of headache after standing
half a minute with hi^ heels in the air, would not
excite much surprise.   To such an exertion the
headlong leap is very  analogous.
              2* 
18
   The act of temporarily holding the breath too,
which this procedure implies, tends likewise 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 head-
long plunge is by no means requisite ; yet the
more  speedily  this process is performed, the less
will the bather be affected by a sort of convulsive
respiration. The sobbing and irregular breathing
produced on entering the water, are alwajs most
harassing while one half of the body is under wa-
ter, and  the other half  exposed to the air.   If
in consequence of going into the bath in an im-
proper 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
experiment is  the most effectual  method of re-
storing warmth to the living body, in all  cases
where, from chance or necessity, it has been long
exposed to intense cold.  Independently of these
circumstances, the practice of returning to bed,
after bathing, is always to be reprobated.
   There is considerable diversity  of opinion re-
specting the best time for bathing, some prefer-
ring the morning, some the forenoon, and others
the evening.   The best time however for  bath-
ing is the  hour before dinner, and next  to this is
undoubtedly before breakfast ; when, if there is
 any  deficiency of warmth, the temperature  of 
19
the body must be raised by any sufficient exer-
cise.
   It is always hurtful to bathe soon after taking
food ; it is indeed never adviseable to bathe ex-
cepting when the stomach is empty, or nearly so.
After leaving the water, the body should be briskly
wiped with a coarse towel, or piece of crash, and
immediately covered with clothes sufficient to ex-
cite, or preserve, the temperature of health.
   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  lasitude ; as  this  would
counteract all  the  refreshment and renovated
strength which would otherwise attend the prac-
tice.
   The open beach is preferable to the dark and
narrow limits  of most bathing  houses, excepting
where  we need a screen from  the eye of specta-
tors, or the influence of an  oppressive 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 sometimes 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
langour and wasting of the body ; but if no other
bad effects arise, these symptoms will soon dis-
appear after discontinuing the bath. 
20
   Salt water is somewhat more  stimulant  and
bracing than fresh, but where the former cannot
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 operation will be
the more grateful and strengthening if the brush
or cloth be wet with a saturated solution of com-
mon salt and vinegar, or  a saturated solution of
proof spirit and carbonate 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 reg-
ular use  of  the flesh  brush.  It is  somewhat
surprising and deplorable that cutaneous frictions,
the good effects of which are so evident in pre-
serving other animals in a state of health,  and
whose varied application  formed so great  a part
of the hygiastic regimen of the ancients, in later
periods have fallen  so completely into neglect.
The occasional excitement of the skin by means
of the  flesh brush differs widely from  the per-
petual  irritation of flannel.*
   Besides, as the use of it requires a temporary
exposure  of the  body to  the open  air, which,
while all danger of taking cold is prevented by
the increased exertion, it  accustoms  the system
to occasional changes of  temperature,  the  use-
fulness of which has been already mentioned.
   By an assiduous use of this simple instrument,

  "Flannel should not be worn by young people in health, in the
summer season,—and (hose for whom it it proper by day, should not
sleep in it at night.  When it is removed by night, it is more pleasant
and beneficial by day. 
21
 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 sensible melioration of the
 general  health.   The use  of the  flesh brush
 should never be omitted during a course of bath-
 ing, particularly where the object is to improve
 health.  This application may be made in the
 morning on  rising from  bed,  or at  any other
 time.
   The shock of the shower bath is more formid-
 able 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.
   1. We are never to enter  the cold bath when
 the temperature  of  the body is below the stan-
 dard of health ; if it is a few  degrees above this,
 the bathing will be proportionately more grateful
 and invigorating.
   2.  We should never  remain long  in  the
 water,—no longer than to secure a vigorous re-
action.   The common mistake on this point is,
 not only to remain in  the  water till the glow of
warmth arising  from  the  shock is established. 
22
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 question,
nor do I  anticipate  any difficulty in  answering
it.
   Let us remember that the great purposes  of
Physical Education are, to superintend the in-
fant body,  to  favor its  developement and pro-
gress in childhood and youth, till  it is completed
in the man,—and then to preserve in health this
complicated machine, fitted and prepared for all
the duties,  labors, and  enjoyments of the  ani-
mal, intellectual,  and moral life.
   After perfecting the human fabric, the great
business of art is,  to defend it against those caus-
es of disease  and dissolution, by which man  is
constantly  surrounded.    Flight  to a region  of
security on this earth,  is impossible; our safety
consists only in successful resistance.    As famil-
iarity with danger enables the mind to surmount
the  influence of fear,—so the  greater, more
feudden, but transient impressions  from  the re-
sources of  art, enable the  body  to pass unhurt 
n
though 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 inherent
would produce only the decline of age.
   Many of these causes originate  from the at-
mospheric changes to which our  necessary pur-
suits 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 him-
self blest with  the means of living without labor
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, might enter the factitious climate of the
selfformed 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  variableness
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 winter,—and
they seem  in a  great measure to keep pace witji
the variations of the thermometer.  With a view
to avoid these inconveniences, it becomes impor- 
24
 tant 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 lower the temperature which we can accus-
 tom 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 custom.
   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 proportion-
 ate degree, less susceptible to all such sensations.
 This is proved  every day  in  cold weather,  by
 persons who are accustomed to clothe themselves
 warm.
   In these the least exposure to cold air, though
 the effect  produced in the skin is not perhaps the
 hundredth part of a degree, immediately 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 to other parts of the body, without 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 
25
 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 de-
 tail
   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 prevent
 the breath of heaven  from  blowing rudely  on
 them, are incomparably more liable to  be  disor-
 dered by the impression of cold, than the labori-
 ous peasant  or the careless seaman, who is daily
 exposed to the rage of storms and tempests.
   The  occasional  use of the cold bath, by in-
 uring the body to a wider range of temperature,
 greatly  diminishes the danger of those sudden
 transitions from heat to cold, and the  contrary,
 which in the common tenor of life  it is impossible
 wholly to avoid.   After having bathed in the sea,
 for a few weeks in autumn, I have observed, says
 Dr. A.  P. Buchan, with respect  to  rmself,  as
 well  as in  many other instances, that persons
 prone to catarrhal affections,  to taking cold, are
 much less susceptible of them during the ensuing
 winter ; one general effect of the cold bath being
 unquestionably to induce  a degree of what  in
 common language is denominated, hardiness,—
 and which may be defined, that state of the living
system  which  is least liable to be affected  by
disagreeable impressions. 
26
   There is an intimate connexion and sympathy
between the skin, or surface of the human body,
and the various organs  and structures  within ;
hence the power of various causes of numerous,
violent, and dangerous  diseases,  aire applied to
the skin, through  which they make their rav-
ages 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 perspiration,
a process which we all know has  a near relation
to the preservation of health.
  To keep the cutaneous surface sound, therefore,
is, in a good measure, to protect  the whole in-
terior.   The  lungs have been  supposed 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  respi-
ration is quickened,  and more heat is  evolved.
   But exercise  at the same  time  augments the
discharge from the skin  ; which being converted
into vapor as  fast  as it is produced, tends to car-
ry off and render insensible, a  considerable por-
tion of the increased  heat.
   To modify  the temperature of the human body
rn warm climates, the secretion  of  perspirable
matter is prodigiously augmented, and  copious
supplies of diluting  fluids are required to sup-
ply the rapid  waste.   By these means the heat
of the body, while in health, is prevented, in all 
27
situations, 'from  exceeding 98  degrees.    Any
excess above this standard indicates disease : for
example, in fever, the  heat of the body,  as  de-
termined 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 per-
spiration is procured by art, or occurs spontane-
ously, which is frequently the  natural  crisis of
the disease, the increased heat subsides.
  It is necessary to understand that the perspir-
able fluid  does not exude through the pores of
the  skin in  proportion as they are relaxed by
heat, as water may  be  supposed to  transude
the pores of leather. Perspiration is, on the con-
trary, 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 principle of
life.—A healthy  state  of  the skin, as of every
other part of the  living body,  consists  in  the
power of performing its own operations with re-
gularity, independently of the influence  of any
extraordinary stimulant.
   If  the body be  constantly surrounded by a
medium  of high temperature, either from living
in a warm climate, or by wearing clothes which
unduly retain the heat, perspiration will be check-
ed by the smallest diminution of this temperature.
   By accustoming the cutaneous vessels  to sud-
den transitions from heat to  cold, their suscep-
tibility to the effects of slighter alterations is di-
minished,  and  perspiration becomes  firm and
regular.   As  a proof that the organs of perspi-
ration are rendered more vigorous by occasional 
28
exposure to cold, I have known several examples
of persons who never failed to catch cold, on hav-
ing 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
tenderness  of  constitution.  The  same practice
will remove a  dryness  of the feet,  which is gen-
erally a sign of feeble health.
   A free and  regular perspiration is usually ac-
companied with a good digestion.   This is well
exemplified in the country  laborer;  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 which the organ of
perspiration is  accustomed to  perform its  office,
the less is the risk of its action being interrupted
by the inconstancy of  our climate ; and  in the
game proportion is the danger of diseases originat-
ing from suppressed  perspiration diminished.
   But the  most surprising and almost incredible
examples of the transitions  from great heat to
extreme cold,  which the  human  frame can sus-
tain  without injury, when aided  by habit, are
furnished by the practice of  the  more nothern
nations  of Europe.
   The Russian vapor  baths are  heated to  120
degrees, and from these the natives plunge into
the neighboring river, through  holes cut  in the
ice, or roll  themselves in the snow.
   The colder  the climate, the more do the in-
habitants appear to delight in these transitions
from one extreme of temperature to another. 
29
   The following account of the mode of bathing
in Finland, is to be found in Acerbi's Travels.
" Almost all the Finnish peasants have a small
house built  on purpose for a bath ; it consists of
one  small  chamber  only, in the  inner  part
of which are placed a number of stones, which
are heated by fire till they become red.  On these
stones water is thrown till the  company within
are involved in a thick cloud of vapor.
   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  minute
at most, I verily  believe,  must have  been suf-
focated.
   I sometimes stepped in  for a  moment, just to
leave my thermometer in some proper place, and
immediately retired ;  in ten or fifteen minutes I
took out the instrument to ascertain 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 inconvenience,while many per-
sons,  not thus prepared, are very sensibly  affect-
ed by a variation of 4 or 5 degrees, and in dan-
ger of being afflicted with rheumatism by the
most trifling wind that blows."
  The truth of other relations, similar to this, is
abundantly confirmed.
              3* 
30
  This mode of bathing is not to be imitated ; it
is adduced merely  to prove what  has been al-
ready  asserted,  that the power of sustaining,
without  injury, great and sudden  reductions off
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  pre-
ceding habits.
  The renovated strength and general improve-
ment which  are frequently  derived  from  cold
bathing  in Summer and Autumn, are often lost
during the winter.
  To  prevent  this declension,  I  would  advise
those who are tolerably robust, to step into  a
large house  tub, containing about  a gallon of
cold water, two or three times a  week, on rising
from  bed.   With  a large  sponge wash  the
whole  body  vigorously for a minute or two, and
then rub well with a coarse cloth.   Those who
are  more  tender  may rub the body with a flesh
bjush,  as hard as can be well borne, or, what  is
still better,   apply   briskly   to the skin a cloth
wet with  spirit,  or a  saturated solution of  salt
and  vinegar.  This temporary exposure  to the
air in a cold morning, is a safe and not unpleas-
ant hardening of the  system.
  Another misconception,  connected  with the
influence of  temperature on health, is constant-
ly  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, iti
order to avoid the ill consequences of a too sud-
den change of  temperature.  This direction  is- 
31
 the reverse of what ought to be inculcated, and
 is  well suited  to  produce  the evil  it is in-
 tended to prevent.   In what manner are persons
 made  sick by returning from  the ballroom, or  a
 warm parlor, 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 passing
 through the cold night air, so far as temperature
 merely is  concerned,  who came into it while
 warm, and with the  means of preserving this
 warmth to his own house.
   A neglect of this precaution has  cost us  sev-
 eral 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 cold water and other cold substances  into
 the stomach.  The same circumtances  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 per-
 sonal  neatness, will need no recommendation  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 
32
true,—and  we  should not have reason entirely
to respect any character that could be indifferent
to either.

      "■ 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 deed that canhot bear the light, dis-
figured and disguised his  form, to prevent the
assurance of personal identity,—and if possible,
to efface from the human being  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  physician. 
A
     DISCOURSE

            ON

WARM  BATHING-
   AS a general practice for persons  in health,
 warm bathing cannot with propriety be treated
 as a means of curing diseases.
   It is chiefly therefore as a method of improv-
 ing and securing health that I 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 to its  decisive influence  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 favorable 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
account of the effects of the warm bath on the
living body, together  with a few requisite can- 
34
lions respecting 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.
This  was loudly complained  of by  Seneca,
who,  at the samt,  time, as  an  instance  of the
luxury  of the people,  said, that  the freedmen 
35
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 very
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 to be
mentioned  in the next  page.
   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
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 
36
 heat  of different persons  is  not always the
 same, nor is the  temperature  of the  same indi-
 vidual at all  times alike,  but varies with the
 different 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 tempera-
 ture for persons in health, is that degree of heat
 which will  produce the most pleasurable sensa-
 tions.
   This degree of heat corresponds  most com-
 monly to the 93d degree of Fahrenheit's  ther-
 mometer, or a few degrees above.
   We are then to bring;  the water  to 93 de-
 grees before we enter the bath, and after being
 in the w7ater two  or three minutes, and attend-
 ing 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 it
 too warm, we  lose the  power of judging  accu-
 rately 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 which
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  considerable fe-
brile action.  He used  baths of various tempe-
ratures 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  sixtyeight, 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 cos-
tive, 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 in-
creased.   He was about  to abandon the warm
bath in despair; but on using  purgative medi-
cines,  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 reinstated.
His error consisted in the  abuse  of a useful, and
to him salutary remedy, having  applied it at an
            4 
38
improper time, and of a temperature unsuited 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 ex-
ceptions.
   Every irregular  nervous action, to  which the
human constitution is liable, is known to be in-
fluenced by the medium in which we breathe.
   The valetudinarian, whose health is tolerable
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 resulting
from the repeated  and well regulated  use of the
warm bath on diseased nervous sensation.
   A bath of the same degree of  heat  as the an-
imal temperature of the person using it, will, for
a  few minutes  after immersion, increase this
heat very considerably ;  even if it be 5 degrees
lower than the usual standard, which is 98 de-
grees, it will raise  the  animal heat to  100 de-
grees. 
39
  This proceeds from a cessation of the cooling
process of evaporation from  the  skin, and  the
augmentation  of heat occasioned by the denser
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 partic-
ularly in nervous affections,  in which  the most
minute attention should be paid to all the  symp-
toms, 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
dining hour, may be considered as preferable to
any  other.
  Healthy digestion has a very natural connex-
ion with the salutary functions of the skin, and
no stimulus  can be so natural to it as a well regu-
lated 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 oc- 
40
casions 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 renewed
animation and success.
  It is true that in rising from the warm  bath
a cool air feels more chilly than the same atmos-
phere would do in ascending from the cold  bath ;
and there is a rapid evaporation  of heat  from
the skin  while the body remains uncovered.
  This requires, especially  where the  health is
delicate,  that  the  air of the  apartment,  when
we bathe in cold weather, should be made pleas-
antly warm.   With this precaution, and suitable
clothing, there is no more danger of going into
the cold air from a warm bath, than from a warm
bed in a winter's morning.  The body  is re-
freshed and  invigorated  by heat in both cases,
and  hereby  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 ex-
posure 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 
41
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 weath-
er, that I have been equally and uniformly 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 deprived so
many persons of the  advantages of the warm
bath, who have needed its good effects.
   When the  bath  has produced unpleasant  or
hurtful  effects, these have almost invariably  a-
risen 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 frivolous
amusements,  or idle conversation, might afford
the moralist ground for asserting, that the warm
              4* 
42
baths relaxed, not indeed the  persons, but the
minds and manners of the people.
   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
which accompanied the  struggles of the various
competitors for  supreme power,  this salutary
custom fell into  disuse;  and, as Pliny informs
us, the people were at length accustomed to en-
ter 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 surprize.
   Dr.  Gibney has well said, that  " on the  hu-
man frame, the influence of heat, when conveyed
through so high  a conducting power  as that of
water, is very considerable.  If properly applied,
it  gives  a tranquil  and pleasurable  sensation,
smooths agitated feelings, and moderates the  cir-
culation,—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 words relaxation  and
bracing, which  are generally thought to be ex- 
43
pressive of the effects of warm and cold bathing,
are mechanical terms, properly applied to drums
and strings ; but are only metaphors when ap-
plied to the effects of bathing on animal bodies.
The approach of old age  is chiefly indicated by
a  general  diminution of  the  irritability  of the
system.   The various secretions are carried on
with less vigor ;  this is particularly apparent  in
the suppression of perspiration, which gives rise
to  that sordid  appearance and harsh feeling  of
the skin, so common in advanced life.   A warm
bath  not only removes those  decaying parts  of
the cuticle, which obstruct perspiration, but by
suspending 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 irritability,  and by
moistening and softening  the skin,  and the ex-
tremities 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 consequently
many other motions associated with them.
   To this increased  action  is added pleasurable
sensation, which further increases the actions  of
the system ; and thus many kinds of pain receive
relief  from this  additional  atmospheric  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 
44
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 empties it
by increased secretion ; and may hence be em-
ployed with advantage in almost all  cases  of
debility,  with cold extremities.   The activity of
the system thus produced, does not seem to render
persons liable  to take cold on leaving the bath,
for the body is less likely to become torpid than
before, as the warmth thus acquired by  com-
munication, rather than  by increased action,
continues long without  subsequent chilness."
These opinions correspond with the observation
of Dr. Fordyce, who says, in his  Treatise  on
Fever, that those who are confined in an atmos-
phere of  120 or 130 degrees of heat, do not feel
cold,  or look pale, on coming into a temperature
of 30 or 40 degrees, 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 
45
the person taking it, generally from 5 to  8 de-
grees beyond its own temperature,  if this tem-
perature, should  be perfectly suited to the cir-
cumstances 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 con-
tinuing in the bath ; for we may be assured, if
it should alter the tone of the circulation from a
morbid to a natural state, that its ultimate effect
will be of  a most salutary kind ;  and even the
refreshing feeling it gives, while we are under its
direct  influence, may be regarded as a warrant
of the advantage to be expected.
   Almost every suspension of a diseased  action
is a step toward amendment, and where this fol-
lows immersion in a bath of a proper degree of
heat, we may conclude that the benefit would be
greatly increased by remaining 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 aninals that pass their
winter in a torpid state, and are revived by the
summer's  heat.
   The two sources of heat are the medium in
which  we live, and organic action ; the first, of 
46
course, differing according to the temperature of
the climate, and the other, according to the cir-
cumstances and organization of the animal.
   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 animal heat in an
indirect manner, while the same effect is directly
produced by the warm bath.
   In England,  Dr. Gibney 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 respecting
its relaxing powers,—and adds, if 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 insuffi-
cient.   Hence he says we  may preceive the
fallacy of the opinion, that remaining in a medium
for hours,  of a  temperature  equal, or somewhat
above, our natural  warmth, tends to relaxation  ;
except indeed in extreme cases.  The daily ex-
haustion  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 abridgment,
is from Count Rumford.
  " Being  at  Harrowgate  on account of my
health," says the Count, " I at  first went into 
47
a bath warmed to about 96 degree of Fahrenheit,
every third day.   At first I went into the bath,
about 10 o'clock in the evening, and remained in
it from ten 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 pursued this method for
some time, and finding myself frequently feverish
and restless after bathing,  I accidentally, in con-
versation,  mentioned the  circumstance to  an
intelligent gentleman, 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 bathing,
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 hours before dinner;  and  on
coming out of it, instead of going into a warm
bed, had myself wiped perfectly dry  with warm
cloths; and dressing myself moderately  warm,
retired to my room, amusing 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 remarked 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 always
found myself less sensible to cold after  bathing
than before.   I even observed repeatedly and 
48
 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 produced by stimulating med-
 icines.  I 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 afternoon and evening.
   As  these fovorable results appeard 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 ad-
 vantageous effects which I had before experienced
 from warm bathing,  still continued, I was en-
 couraged 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 incon-
 venience of any  kind seemed to  result from  it,
 and as I found myself growing  stronger every
 day, and gaining fresh health, activity, and spirits,
 I  continued the practice, and actually bathed
 every  day, at two  o'clock in the  afternoon,  for
 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  present and
 witnessed  its progress ; and  the  advantages  I 
49
received from it have been permanent. The goocl
state of health I  have since enjoyed I attribute
entirely to it."
   This report is characteristic of Count R.'s
habitual spirit of investigation, and of his excel-
lent habit of recording facts, and communicating
useful results.
   Nothing can be more decisive,  so far as one
trial can go, than this history in favor of warm
bathing.  Nothing  can more  clearly  point out
the character and tendency of the practice,  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 minutes,
should be considered as generally  nugatory 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 Pfeifers, one half of the body
is exposed for many hours in succession to warm
vapor,  while the other half is immersed in the
bath.   At Landeck, 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.
   Heat duly modified,  gives renovated vigor to
vegetable and animal existence, and only produces
relaxation when immoderately applied.
   This is most strongly  exemplified in those
warm climates where it is  not excessive  ; there,
the inhabitants are accustomed to remain long in
the warm  bath, which, as they  express it,  " feeds
and nourishes their blood."  Were it  relaxing, 
50
the relief it is known to  afford in  cases of  the
utmost weakness, attended with cold,  clammy,
and wasting sweats, could not  follow.  In  the
Levant and in Italy, no disease of relaxation is
thought to be  effectually removed without the
warm bath ; and in every species of intermittent
fever, where affections of the liver so often  ac-
company the disease, its successful application is
remarkable.
   Dr. Gibney,  to whom I have so often referred,
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 it-
self,  used differently, would  lead  to  fruitless
results and disappointment.  Indeed," he adds,
" on this point I  cannot insist  with too  much
earnestness, as on it the character and success of
this most salutary practice depends; and hitherto,
from  its not  having been more particularly at-
tended 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 possi-
 ble to conceive."
   That a single application of the warm  bath
 will sometimes produce effects decidedly curative,
 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 
51
was an inflammation of the mucous membrane,
called catarrh, extended to the throat, windpipe,
and lungs, attended, as is common, with hoarse-
ness, soreness,and some cough; these symptoms,
increasing five  or six days,  were  followed  by
chills several times  a day, succeeded by flushes
of heat.   The usual  appetite had now failed,
pains seized  the back and  limbs,—there was
great lassitude, and it  was  with considerable
difficulty that I could walk.
  Every thing announced the near approach of a
settled inflammatory  fever.   It  was quite time
to attend to  these complaints, and I concluded
to begin with the warm bath.  At  1  o'clock I
walked to the bathing house  with as much sick-
ness On 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 after being in  the bath all my unpleasant
feelings  subsided ;  this induced me  to  remain
longer in the bath than I had  ever done  before.
Excepting some slight remaining affection of 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, without using
any other remedy.   This relief was to  me  the
more striking and memorable, because it was  ad-
dressed to my own  sensations.
   With the trifling remnant mentioned, the relief
was perfect,  and almost instantaneous, and cer-
tainly more  pleasant than any other could have
been, even if another  remedy could have been
found equally sudden and effectual. 
                     52

  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 Rumford.
Or rather, on this application of the bath, it will
be safer, as a general rule, to consult a physician,
though it  is probable that Count  R. did better
in consequence of disregarding the apprehensions
of his,  than he  otherwise would have done.
  Perhaps at some future day, when the theory
and practice of bathing shall  be generally know7n
in this country, we may find  sufficient  induce-
ments to adopt the Turkish  custom of having a
public bath in every town and village,  and a pri-
vate one in every house.
  Among the Turks, bathing is constantly prac-
tised, as  well in conformity  with the religious
precept of Mahomet, as to preserve and  promote
cleanliness, in  a  country where  perspiration is
so easily  excited.   Mr.  Savary,  the  French
traveller, informs us, that " the bathers  at Cairo
in Egypt  are not imprisoned as in Europe, in  a
sort of tub, where one is never at his ease.   Ex-
tended on a cloth spread out, the head supported
by a small cushion, they  stretch themselves freely
in every posture,  while  they are  wrapt  up in  a
cloud of odoriferous vapors, which penetrate into
all the pores."
  The following rules comprise a practical sum-
mary of what has been  said. 
53
   1.  The warm bath should be entered by per-
sons in health at 93  degrees of heat, and after
waiting a few minutes and attending to the sen-
sations, its temperature should be so  altered, if
any alteration  is required, 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  en-
tering the bath  at this degree of warmth, it may
then be  raised to  that  temperature which is
most pleasant.
   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 forenoon,
after the  breakfast is digested.  The  cases  in
which it is preferable or  expedient to bathe  in
the morning  or  evening, are few,  and to be re-
garded  as exceptions to the general rule.
   3.  It is not easy to point out as a general di-
rection, any  precise period, as the  best time fox
remaining in the bath.
   That period, of course, is best, which produces
the best effects, but this cannot always be de-
termined  before one  or more  trials  are made.
It is well in  this particular to be governed, in a
great measure, by our feelings while in the bath,
—for if these are soothing and refreshing, there
is much reason  to believe  that the subsequent
effects will be beneficial.
   In this  case it will often be useful to  remain
in the bath for half an hour, or even an hour,
              5* 
54
Those who are in the habit of bathing, generally
find it pleasant to remain longer in the bath than
would be agreeable or expedient for beginners.
   4. The frequency of bathing should also de-
pend much on circumstances.  When the bath
is taken to prevent disease and improve  health,
and is well borne, it may be used every  second
or third  day.
   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 followed
by  exercise.
   Whe'n the general principles of a science are
understood, its particular application will  soon
be  learnt, by  attending to the varying  circum-
stances of particular cases.
   If a New England traveller were asked, What
is the custom  of  your countrymen  in regard  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 ac-
quaintance 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 re-
gard as the most  venerable and useful, being 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 inquiries which the phy-
sician thought proper to make, before he should
prescribe for his patient,  he asked him if he had 
55
ever tried bathing of any kind ; the answer was,
No.  What, never  washed your skin ?  No,  sir.
This produced some remarks  about  cleanliness
which embarrassed the good man and his  wife.
The doctor insisted on  seeing the  skin of his
patient's arm,  whose complexion was  found to
differ materially from that of his face.
   The physician then directed him to go to the
warm  bath and  wash himself,  declining any
further advice till  this  was done.
   The poor clergyman became now  still further
alarmed by the  idea of expense,  inquiring  anx-
iously,  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 expenditure;
they  concluded they were  unable,  and almost
overwhelmed by the  sudden  and accumulating
perplexities which involved them, without seeking
or receiving any further direction, they abruptly
took leave, and  hastened 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  some-
time in the bathing-house, nearly undressed, till
he became cool.   On plunging into the water he
felt a sudden chill  which filled him with shudder-
ing and horror.   He instantly left the water, but
passed a wretched night, depressed in  mind and
deranged in all his bodily sensations.   The next
day he consulted a physician, who recommended
a  warm bath.   This it appears   was taken  too 
56
warm, and it did not afford the expected relief.
The gentleman  assures  me that he  could  not
surmount the very unpleasant effects of the cold
bath, as they affected his mind  and  body  for
nearly two years ;  and  even to this day  he
cannot  endure the idea of repeating it.   Other
similar histories, almost without number, might
be collected, but they are not needed.
   These two individuals represent two numerous
classes,—those who never bathe, and those who,
having  bathed amiss and been  injured,  have
abandoned  the practice; they are sufficient to
prove what it is enough for my present purpose
to assert,  that the  principles  which  should reg-
ulate bathing, cold and warm, are generally very
little understood ; and that the practice of it is,
for the most part, neglected, or illconducted.
   An English writer, speaking of the neglect of
bathing, says, there is many  an  honest  matron
in England who has not  washed her  skin since
the coronation.  What better can we say of many
excellent women in this country, cleanliness  ex-
cepted, 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 indis-
pensable constituent  of personal  neatness,  and
this  is well entitled  to be added to  the  list of
cardinal virtues, not only as being equally condu-
cive with any of these to our physical  wellbeing, 
57
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 know too that it may be cultivated from
the  purest motives  and  for  the noblest  ends.
Those persons who are willing to rest in appear-
ances, and can prefer the  miserable  substitutes
of art to an improvement of the rich endowments
of nature,  will  be the last to believe what  a
medical philosopher of our own country has lately
asserted,  that "  cleanliness is as conducive  to
decency, comfort, elegance, morality, 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  important ceremonies,  and  in  the
Christian, was originally  inculcated as an essen-
tial 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 appendage ;
and if institutions for the corporeal  purification
of the lower class of society were generally  es-
tablished, they could not fail to produce an  in-
calculable diminution of  disease,—and thus,  to
a certain degree,  to lessen the necessary number
of hospitals  and   other expensive  asylums for
                  *Ed\vard Miller. 
58
popular refuge and relief.   If we mean then to
deserve the  reputation or to possess  the  con-
sciousness of physical purity, 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 superfluous ;
without it,  thy would be  deplorably  incon-
sistent.
  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  vapor, in
which excessive perspiration bedewed every limb,
into a  spacious  apartment, and the open air, the
lungs expand and respire pleasure: well kneaded,
and as it were regenerated, the blood circulates
freely, the body feels a voluptuous ease, a  flex-
ibility  till  then unknown, a lightness as if re-
lieved  from some enormous weight,  and the man
almost fancies himself newly born, and beginning
first  to live.   A glowing consciousness of ex-
istence diffuses  itself  to the  very  extremities;
and while thus   yielding to the  most delightful
sensations, ideas of  the most pleasing  kind per-
vade 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 vigor,
the rapidity, with which the memory then retraces
all the knowledge of the man, would lead us 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 recom- 
59
mended  by the  ancients, and the pleasures  oi
which the Egyptians still enjoy.
  Here they prevent or exterminate rheumatisms,
catarrhs, and those diseases of the  skin which
the want of perspiration occasions.
   Here  they  rid themselves  of those  uncom-
fortable  sensations so common among other na-
tions, who have not  the  same regard to clean-
liness."
   Perhaps  the  temperate state of our nerves,
uninfluenced by the climate or the baths of Egypt,
may lead some of us to  view this  account  of
Mons. Savary as  somewhat  extravagant and
fictitious, and yet it may be that this description
is merely a faithful transcript  of the ideas and
sensations  which the bath  had  produced.   Be
this as it may,  I hope enough has been said,—and
much  must be left unsaid in a single lecture,—
to  induce  the belief that bathing is  essential to
personal neatness,—that the warm bath, rightly
taken, is a highly grateful and  innocent indul-
gence, an efficient means in the preservation and
improvement  of health ; useful  in preventing
sickness, and  an effectual remedy in many dis-
eases.
   If the effect of bathing in the proper manner,
be, as we have  said,  to improve  and preserve
health, it cannot be difficult to perceive its  true
character, or to  point out its uses.
   But we  are not to cherish  the body for the
injurious and unhallowed purposes of sense, but
for the innocent pleasures and delightful employ-
ments of a  sound body under the direction of a
sound mind ; and for the still nobler end of con- 
60
secrating its active powers to the service of the
Creator, who has impressed on its complicated
and wonderful structure, so many marks of wis-
dom 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 instruct
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 preternat-
urally heated, or distinctly to admonish us that
this inclination can never be indulged with im-
punity.
   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 un-
due quantity, or under improper circumstances.
   What has been done  in  the United  State sto
prevent this dangerous custom and its  unhappy
consequences ?
   The late  Dr. Rush, so far as I am informed,
is  the only person who has  published such direc-
tions and admonitions on this topic, as he doubt-
less believed to be best suited to guard the public
against  the evils in question.
              6 
62
   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 mercury
rises above  85  degrees of  Fahrenheit's  ther-
mometer. Dr. Rush also informs us,  that " three
circumstances generally concur to produce disease
or death  from drinking cold water.   1.  The pa-
tient is extremely warm.  2.  The water is  ex-
tremely  cold.  And,  3. A large quantity of it
is suddenly taken into the body.  The danger
from drinking the cold water is always in  pro-
portion  to  the degrees of combination which
occur in  the three cicumstances  that have been
mentioned."
   The account is concluded with the following
advice.   " If neither  the voice of reason,   nor
the fatal examples of  those who have  perished
from this cause, are  sufficient to produce restraint
in drinking a large quantity of cold liquors, when
the body is pretematuraly heated, then let me
advise to—1. Grasp  the vessel  out of which
you are about to drink, for a minute 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 regard to its rel-
ative  velocity, which  we observe to take  place
in electricity.
   2.  If  you  are not furnished with  a cup,  and
are obliged to drink by bringing your mouth into
contact with the stream which issues fromapump. 
63
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  hereby defended from  the action of the
cold."*
   These principles and precepts have emanated
from a  source of high medical authority ; they
have been promulgated and republished in our
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 deliberate
examination, and if it should be found  that they
are delusive and fallacious,  it is  the  more ne-
cessary 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 sub;
mission  or approbation of  the American people,
the first effect they would produce is, to persuade
those persons who  are most exposed to the dan-
ger before us, that if they comply with the con-
dition of the second  direction of Dr.  R., they
may then drink cold  water 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 can  be safely taken into the stomach ;
and this, if we  mistake  not, is  precisely thai
             * Medical Inq. and Obs. vol, 1, 
64
state in which cold bathing is most grateful and
beneficial.
  This eminent physician seems to have adopted
the popular opinion on this subject, and  appre-
hends  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 estab-
lished, that there is no situation  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 be 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 in any of the parts, or any derangement
or excessive action in the organs of respiration,
or in those of the circulation of the blood.  And
that where  the body is preternaturally 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 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  inter-
mittents,  because the heat  is more firmly  re-
tained ; the profuse perspiration not being at hand,
by which the febrile heat of intermittents is car-
ried off.   The ancients, who gave cold  drink
largely in  continued  fever, were doubtful of  its
use in  intermittents. 
65
  That cold fluids taken into the stomach in the
cold or sweating stage of a paroyxism of inter-
mittent fever,  in which the thirst is often exces-
sive, have frequently proved  hurtful, there can
be no doubt.
  The instances, however, that are  recorded ot
the fatal effects of large draughts of cold  liquids,
have more frequently occurred after  severe exer-
cise and  fatigue, than even in intermittent fever.
The cause of this  is obvious,—-the heat preter-
naturally accumulated by exercise, is held with
less tenacity than  the heat in intermittents.   It
is dissipated by the perspiration which 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
pumps  and cold springs.  The body is  exces-
sively heated, not only by the warmth of the sun,
but also by  exercise,  and  respiration and  the
circulation of  the blood are often rendered  tu-
multuous,  violent,  and  irregular ;  the.  heat is
rapidly evaporating by copious perspiration and
rest.   Is this the time for  deciding  by indul-
gence how much cold water the stomach 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.
               6* 
66
  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  system
with that  of the man at the pump, who is about
to take the fatal draught.
  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, so 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 labor and excess  of temperature, and perhaps
also by profuse sweating ; and the great functions
of life are more or less hurried, impetuous, and
imperfect.   Is this the time  for indulgence, the
time in which the vital parts  are defended from
the action of cold,  because the panting  laborer
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 pre-
cautions 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.
   Postillions understand the  difference, adds the
doctor, between giving their  horses cold water
to drink during exercise,  and after  exercise has
ceased.   When in their power, they always wa-
ter 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 
67
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 the moun-
tains, without reserve, during the fervor 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 whatever I have drunk
at dinner,—in  water, beer, cider, &c, and this
more freely as  the  weather has been  warmer.
This habit has been agreeable  and   refreshing.
If in this state cold  liquids are grateful and safe,
we may well suppose that in an opposite state of
the system, they must be more or less deleterious.
The only circumstance in  common is thirst, but
in my case this was natural and compatible with
health ; in the man at the  pump,  it is excessive
and preternatural.   If the preceding views re-
specting  the  circumstances under  which  cold
drink after exercise proves injurious, 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 increased.  If the effects
of cold water used internally under severe exercise
are not entirely analogous to the effects produced
by its affusion on the skin,—the difference  will
be easily understood by those who consider, that
when a quantity of water is swallowed, besides
the influence of  the cold, the stomach sustains 
68
a load, from the weight and the bulk of the li-
quid particularly oppressive under the constant
action  and agitation of the voluntary muscles,
from which the surface, moistened with water, is
entirely free ;  and on the other hand, that  the
evaporation from the surface, promoted by the im-
mediate access of the external air, must operate
more directly in cooling the body, and particular-
ly in counteracting the burning rays of the sun,
than w7ater taken into the stomach.  With these
exceptions, the operation  of cold liquids  on the
stomach and  on the surface of the body  is  an-
alogous in the case of preternatural  heat  pro-
duced  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 enlightened 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  gentleman,  and
the candor 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 tes-
timony of entire confidence in his facts and opin-
ions, and  new  expressions of  gratitude and re-
         * See his Medical Reports, 3d edit. 1st vol 
69
spect for the genius, science, 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 agency
should place himself in that situation in which
it is most perilous  to  drink cold water, and  in
which he is most tempted to do it.
   A risk  so great should not be taken, unless it
be to avoid a  greater danger, if any such there
are.
   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 inclination  to
drink cold water can be fully and safely indulged,
is that in which the five conditions enumerated
in page 66, are all present.
   2. There is no  state in which  the desire  for
cold water is so urgent, or its indulgence so haz-
ardous as that  already  described, and in  which
cold water taken into the stomach in large quan-
tity, 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 
70
heat and thirst has somewhat abated before you
resume your labor, or exertion, whatever it may
be; or, on coming  to the pump, much  heated,
fatigued,  sweating,  and thirsty, drink a wine-
glassful, or half a gill only of the water, 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,  perspi-
ration, and thirst,—is to rest for short periods,
then to renew  a  more gentle exercise,  avoiding
as much  as possible  the  rays of the sun,  and
taking,  from time to time, small  quantities of
some moderately cordial beverage.
THE END. 
 

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