Practical hydropathy : including plans of baths and remarks on diet, clothing, and habits of life / by John Smedley.

  • Smedley, John.
Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Practical hydropathy : including plans of baths and remarks on diet, clothing, and habits of life / by John Smedley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/530 (page 7)
    IXTEODUCXION. effectually relieves me, and restores the appetite; a cold sheet or cold shallow or cold sponge over must of course be taken after pack or steamer or spirit lamps ; Nos. 76 and 77, useful; No. 164 or 163*-, and 172; No. 177, if chest affected; or 1S1, Nos. 154,155, useful and safe for most cases. The bath list will give any persona pretty good idea of suitable baths, and, by a little practice, the most beneficial will soon be ascertained. No baths, however, will keep persons in health without rigid attention to clothing, diet, and habits of life as laid down m this work; and abstinence from all stimulants, tobacco, pastry, &c. Delicate persons will 'find in this work, how to modify these applications to suit their cases: If the chest is affected, 71 is very good before drying after a bath,_ and if the weather is at all cold, they should not use cold water; or if the chest is affected, r.e-eruse quite cold baths; 19;iI3,72, 73A good; Nos. 68 and 65, good, and 45, also 5 ] and 107. In stomach and liver affections, in addition to the ordinary treat- ment, Nos. 50, 2S, 73, and 174 or 175 sprinkled with hot water, and worn ■on the part night and day, also 90. With these general directions, and the very full information in other parts of this work, any one, with a little patience and attention, may get a good knowledge how to make the most of their natural powers of mind and body. Patients, on leaving the Establishment, should not wear the wet body bandage for weeks and months together without advice; it may be worn with great advantage a few days or a week at a time when the stomach is out of order; or when a person has a great deal of fatigue f o go through, it will then be found useful worn during the day, and with a Qannel wrapper over it in the night. 204 often; 130 two or three times per week, any time of day or night. Dciiation of Liffi in Eubope.—The Clinique Europeenne, published, by Dr. Kraus, in an article on this important subject, states that before 17S9 Du- vilkrd calculated that out of 100 individuals 50 only reached the age of 20. from 1S23 to 1S31 according to Blennyme's observations, the proportion was CO per cent. According to Demonferrand, 7 individuals out of 100 reach the r.ge of 80, 2 onlv the age of 85, and 1 that of 89 ; while out of a million only 040 die within 90 and 99. Mathieu reduces the 640 to 491, and finds that out of that number only 9 reach the age of 97, and only 4 that of 99. According to Duvillard and Demonferrand, only two out of 10,000 reach the age of 100; out in this respect there arc some privileged places : thus, at Carlisle in Cumber- land, 9 out of 10,000 attain that age; while at Paris, scarcely a year passes without some person dying 100 years old or upwards. Benoiston cle Chateau- neuf calculating upon 15 millions of individuals, finds that out of a hundred, only 41 reach the age of 30; 23 that of 00; 15 that of 70; 4£ that of SO, and eleven-sixteenths that of 90.- The average duration of life is now about 39 years and 8 mouths; 20 years ago it was only 36; in 1817 it did not exceed 31 i; before 1789 it was only 2S3; and M. Viilermc shows that at Paris in the 14th century, it was not more than 17 years; in the 17 century 20, and the 18th, 32. In France there is only 1 septuagenarian for 33 individuals, 1 octogenarian in ), and 1 nonogenarian in 1,900. At Geneva, the average of human life in the Lfith century was 18 years and 5 months ; in the 17th, 23 years and 4 months, and from 1815 to 1820 it was 38 years and 10 months. In England, the average in 1S40 was 38 years; in France, 36i ; at Hanover, 35 and four- months; in Schleswig Holstein, 34 years and 7 months; in Holland, 34 years ; at Naples, 34 years and 7 months ; in Prussia, 30 years and 10 months; in Wurtcmbcrg, 30 years; in Saxony, 29 years. These facts show the average duration of life in Europe a3 constantly increasing.