The principles and practice of hydrotherapy : a guide to the application of water in disease for students and practitioners of medicine / by Simon Baruch ... ; with numerous illustrations.
- Simon Baruch
- Date:
- 1898
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The principles and practice of hydrotherapy : a guide to the application of water in disease for students and practitioners of medicine / by Simon Baruch ... ; with numerous illustrations. 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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![also, that of the cutaneous vessels. Under these conditions no effect whatever can be produced upon the distribution of the blood under water applications; indeed, the blood of the entire body remains in a positive equilibrium, because none of the vessels respond on account of loss of tone. The action of the heart and the respiratory movements which influ- ence the circulation of the brain more or less in ordinary conditions are of little importance in this connection. Schiiller found that after section of the vagus, the pial vessels were not quite so full; but the typical changes resulting from water applications ensued just as plainly as when the vagus was intact. Schiiller summarizes the characteristic action upon the pial vessels by water applications as follows : These changes are due essentially to the increased or diminished afflux of blood to the pial vessels in consequence of the narrowing or dilatation of the peripheral vessels in the skin. The movements of the heart and respiration are only indirectly concerned; they sometimes further or limit these changes. The reflex influences of the thermic irritation of the cutaneous nerves upon the pial vessels are of subordinate importance (in the pro- cedure used by Schiiller [author]); if they produce any effect they prob- ably limit these manifestations. Secondary Effects of Water Applications.—The experiments of Schiiller further show that the effects described as arising from cold and warm external applications do not continue if the latter are pro- longed. These effects last only two to three minutes after compresses, five to ten minutes after baths. In general they are of shorter dura- tion after cold than after warm applications. Frequent repetition of the application does not change the effect. It occasionally increases it after cold applications, but shortens its duration. After the above period, whether the application be discontinued or prolonged, Schiiller observed constant changes of the vessel calibre, ivhich are the reverse of the initial changes; if the pial vessels were dilated by cold applica- tions, they now became contracted, and vice versa. When the appli- cation is interrupted after short duration, the vessels assume their noimal character; when the application is continued very long, the constriction mostly increases. Schiiller's observations demonstrate without doubt that in these secondary changes in the pial vessels oppo- site conditions prevail in a minor degree; viz., that the cutaneous vessels fill after cessation of or upon continuation of the cold. Schiiller claims that when the application is of long duration, the relatively intense cooling of the blood conduces to prolonged narrowing of the pial vessels; cooler blood circulating in the pial vessels causes](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21034825_0054.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
