Lectures on the ordinary agents of life : as applicable to therapeutics and hygiene, or, the uses of the atmosphere, habitations, baths, clothing, climate, exercise, foods, drinks, &c. in the treatment and prevention of disease / by Alexander Kilgour, M.D.

  • Kilgour, Alexander, 1803-1874.
Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on the ordinary agents of life : as applicable to therapeutics and hygiene, or, the uses of the atmosphere, habitations, baths, clothing, climate, exercise, foods, drinks, &c. in the treatment and prevention of disease / by Alexander Kilgour, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Harvey Cushing/John Hay Whitney Medical Library at Yale University.

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    ing power of any solid, and provided it be elevated to a temperature above that conveying the sensation of heat, the effect will be the greater. Sand will convey the sensation at a lower actual temperature than flannel; a bottle of hot water at one lower than sand; and a tin case of hot water at one still lower than the glass. Precautions with respect to the different Baths. First. The importance of attending to the period of the day, both on account of the state of the body itself, and the temperature of the fluid to which it is exposed, has been al- ready alluded to. Second. Attention is demanded to the process of diges- tion ; and it may be taken as a general rule, that no kind of bath can be used except to the injury of the patient, at the time that the stomach is converting the food into chyme, or whilst there is a cargo of wine and good cheer in the belly, as Baynard has it. During the progress of this operation, the blood is drawn from the surface to the abdominal viscera ; and there is a chilliness on the skin. If the cold bath is used at this time, re-action does not take place to a sufficient extent; whilst, at the same time, the process of digestion is interrupted by the abstraction of the heat required by the stomach; and headache, restlessness, and rigors are produced by the food laying in an organ which can neither perform its own functions nor get rid of the load in any other way. The warm bath is not so injurious, be- cause though it brings an increase of fluid to the surface, it does not deprive the body of its heat, but bestows an addi- tional quantity on it. The crapulous Romans sometimes used the hot bath, especially the hot air bath, with the view of stimulating digestion ; a copious perspiration was produced, the system made a demand upon the stomach, and it, excited too by the heat, speedily sent a supply of prepared food. But it was thus doing double duty, it was working double tides, and the sooner exhausted itself eventually. The warm