Cold bathing is inadmissible in in- flammatory diseases, fluxes, diseases of the breast, difficult breathing, short and dry' coughs, pregnancy, palsy, diseases of the skin, &c. The cold bath is injurious in all cases where immediate reaction does not follow its use. If it produces chilis, depression, languor, headache, and blueness of the lips, it should not be used. After leaving the bath, the body should be rubbed with a flesh-brush, or coarse towels. Cold bathing is never beneficial unless follow- ed by a warm glow of the skin. COLD WATER CURE.— The Cold Water treatment is that which nature has placed in the power of all her creatures ; and without water taken inwardly and applied outwardly, there can be no health. Nature has no secrets in giving man life ; she has im- planted within him the knowledge of that which is to support and render pleasant that life. “I leave behind me,” said a celebrated physician, on his death-bed, ‘ ' two great fhysuians, diet and water." Water is the great dissolvent in na- COLD WATER CURE I 29 COLD WATER CURE ture. If the primary ducts be obstruct- ed, water dilutes, attenuates, divides, and scatters the impurities contained in them ; and these are afterwards ejected by the stomach and intestines. If disease be settled in the blood, and the morbific matter deposited in the different organs of the animal economy, nothing is so effectual as water to dilute the thickened and blunt the acute ; to revivify that which languishes, extin- guish that which bums, and to open again all the passages by which injuri- ous humours can escape. Cold water creates a sudorific process causing perspiration, without wearying the organic system. It is supported by copious draughts of cold water, which quench the thirst, moisten and refresh the blood, replace the lost juices, and maintain the tone of the muscles. The drinking of cold water, and its application to the body by various pro- cesses, convey the morbid humours to the sldn, whence they exude in erup- tions, boils, and abscesses. These erup- tions, constituting the crisis of the com- plaint, are the certain sign of a perfect cure. After the unwholesome juices are driven out and replaced by wholesome ones, then follow the restoration of the digestive powers, and the freeing of all the organs by the dissolving of all ob- structions ; the vital and animal func- tions are re-established in their former harmony ; and thus nothing then remains but health, a treasure which can only be preserved by continuing the system by which it has been obtained. Some will ask, Is the cold water treatment applicable to all descriptions of disease? We answer, that its appli- cation must be of advantage in the large number of acute and chronic diseases. There are cases, however, wherein some essential organ having become defective, art can do no more than prolong exis- tence and alleviate suffering. Among such exceptions are consumption, or- ganic diseases of the heart, of the lungs, of the large vessels, dropsy, &c. Yet all these cases and others deemed incur- able, by the moderate judicious use of some of the cold water applications, will ensure relief and palliation of pain. Again, will the cold-water treatment produce a radical cure ? What Is to be understood by the word radical ? If It

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Cold bathing is inadmissible in inflammatory diseases, fluxes, diseases of the breast, difficult breathing, short and dry' coughs, pregnancy, palsy, diseases of the skin, &c. The cold bath is injurious in all cases where immediate reaction does not follow its use. If it produces chilis, depression, languor, headache, and blueness of the lips, it should not be used. After leaving the bath, the body should be rubbed with a flesh-brush, or coarse towels. Cold bathing is never beneficial unless followed by a warm glow of the skin. COLD WATER CURE.— The Cold Water treatment is that which nature has placed in the power of all her creatures ; and without water taken inwardly and applied outwardly, there can be no health. Nature has no secrets in giving man life ; she has implanted within him the knowledge of that which is to support and render pleasant that life. “I leave behind me,” said a celebrated physician, on his death-bed, ‘ ' two great physicians, diet and water." Water is the great dissolvent in na- COLD WATER CURE I 29 COLD WATER CURE ture. If the primary ducts be obstructed, water dilutes, attenuates, divides, and scatters the impurities contained in them ; and these are afterwards ejected by the stomach and intestines. If disease be settled in the blood, and the morbific matter deposited in the different organs of the animal economy, nothing is so effectual as water to dilute the thickened and blunt the acute ; to revivify that which languishes, extinguish that which bums, and to open again all the passages by which injurious humours can escape. Cold water creates a sudorific process causing perspiration, without wearying the organic system. It is supported by copious draughts of cold water, which quench the thirst, moisten and refresh the blood, replace the lost juices, and maintain the tone of the muscles. The drinking of cold water, and its application to the body by various processes, convey the morbid humours to the sldn, whence they exude in eruptions, boils, and abscesses. These eruptions, constituting the crisis of the complaint, are the certain sign of a perfect cure. After the unwholesome juices are driven out and replaced by wholesome ones, then follow the restoration of the digestive powers, and the freeing of all the organs by the dissolving of all obstructions ; the vital and animal functions are re-established in their former harmony ; and thus nothing then remains but health, a treasure which can only be preserved by continuing the system by which it has been obtained. Some will ask, Is the cold water treatment applicable to all descriptions of disease? We answer, that its application must be of advantage in the large number of acute and chronic diseases. There are cases, however, wherein some essential organ having become defective, art can do no more than prolong existence and alleviate suffering. Among such exceptions are consumption, organic diseases of the heart, of the lungs, of the large vessels, dropsy, &c. Yet all these cases and others deemed incurable, by the moderate judicious use of some of the cold water applications, will ensure relief and palliation of pain. Again, will the cold-water treatment produce a radical cure ? What Is to be understood by the word radical ? If It

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