The principles of physiology applied to the preservation of health, and to the improvement of physical and mental education / by Andrew Combe.

Date:
1852
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The principles of physiology applied to the preservation of health, and to the improvement of physical and mental education / by Andrew Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    Cousidering the nature of the occu- pations in which most of the labouring classes are engaged, and the soothing and refreshing efiects as well as the cleanliness derived from the use of the tepid bath, there cannot be a doubt that a great public benefit will be at- tained by providing baths for their use at a very easy rate, and encourag- ing them to resort to them by personal intiuence and frequent expositions of their advantages. In many factories where there is constantly steam or warm water running waste, baths for the workmen and their families might be fitted up at a very trifling cost, and their use do much to subdue that craving for stimulus which drives so many to the gin-sho]); and also to allay that irritability of mind so apt to be induced by excessive labour. When the trade is dirty, a tepid bath and change of clothing on quitting it for the day would be the saving of many men who at present fall into vice by imperceptibly losing that self-respect and regard for decency of appearance which are among the strongest safe- guards of character and morality ; and I rejoice to think that in several manu- factories the hint thrown out in the former editions of this work has been acted upon, and followed by more than the expected advantages. To derive full benefit from it, however, some knowledge of the animal economy must be communicated, and a desire excited among the more intelligent workmen to avail themselves of the boon. The more ignorant and uninteliectual the individual, the less will he appreciate the offered advantage; but patient and good-liumoured encouragement will soon get over all difficulties, and excite a right feeling on the subject. On the Continent, vapour and hot air baths are had recourse to both of pulmoiwry disease, and indeed tlie whole practical doctrines of tlie present cliapter, corroborate<l hy tlie autliority of Sir James Clark, in bis admirable works on Consump- tion and Climate. Both treatises are well deserving the attention of parents and others interested in the health of tlio young, and especially of those who are delicately con- stituted. as an agreeable means of removing the impurities and exciting the action of the skin, and for the cure of disease, to a vastly greater extent than they are in this country. Their use is at- tended by the very best effects, parti- cularly in chronic ailments, and where the water-bath is felt to be ojipressive by its weight; and there can be no question that their action is chiefly on the skin, and through its medium on the nervous system. As a means of cleansing the skin, determining the blood to the surface, promoting cu- taneous exhalation, and equalizing the circulation, they are second to no remedy now in use; and consequently, in a variety of affections which the encouragement of these processes is calculated to relieve, they may be em- ployed with every prospect of advan- tage. The prevalent fear of catching cold, which deters many from using the vaj^our-bath, even more than from warm bathing, is founded on a false analogy between its effects and those of profuse perspiration from exercise or illness. The latter weakens the body, and, by diminishing the power of reaction, renders it susceptible of injury from sudden changes of tem- perature. But the effect of the va- pour-bath' properly administered is very different. When not too warm or too long continued, it not only re- moves a load of impurities beyond what was imagined to exist, but in- creases instead of exhausting the strength ; and, by exciting tlie vital action of the skin, gives rise to a jiovver of reaction which enables it to resist cold better than before. This I have heard many patients remark; and the fact is well exemplified in Russia and the north of Eurojje, where it is the usual practice of the natives to have a bucketful of cold water thrown over the body immediately after leaving the vapour-bath. The application, far from being disagree- able, produces a grateful sensation;* but were the same practice resorted to after severe perspiration from exhaust- ' Life of a Travelling: Physician, by Sir George Lefevre.
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