Author Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1880 edition. Excerpt:...that the first object in any apparatus for giving the vapour bath is to secure the greatest amount of heat with the least degree of fatigue. The weighty mackintosh cover ing which I have seen used with the calomel bath is, to my thinking, quite as objectionable, being cold, stiff, and comfortless in the highest degree. The flannelled hoop and crinoline are both more comfortable and more efficacious; being light, warm, and effectually waterproof; requisites which cost Mr. Walters and myself a great deal of trouble to secure, all the materials at first tried being too heavy and thick. In the present form the bath is a luxury, instead of being a source of wretchedness, and no other materials were found to combine the properties of being at the same time heat-proof and waterproof, nor can these be secured by the use of either covering separately. I constantly advise the poorer patients, who may be taking the brick bath, to make a hoop of this kind, with thin jean outside and coarse flannel inside, which, though much inferior to the other, answers very well for a temporary purpose. For ordinary purposes, and if used only for a short time, any strong chair will do; but should a long series of baths be required, I would strongly recommend a stout chair made with tenons, as in course of time the heat and moisture might loosen the joinings by acting on the glue. I would also recommend weakly persons who suffer much from cold feet, to use a stool, first thoroughly warming it, and always to take the bath in winter in a room with a fire. Mr. Walters supplies chairs of the kind named; as also, for those to whom expense is not an object, a couch of birch and cane-work with a hinged cover, so that the bath can be taken in a reclining position. The water in the...