p. 13 | Practical Hydrotherapy by Lillian Eshleman

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 3, 1902

Practical Hydrotherapy

By Lillian Eshleman

Lesson XV—Tonic Baths

LILLIAN ESHLEMAN, M. D.

PERFECT health depends upon perfect circulation in a sound organism. It is by means of the blood that nourishment is carried to each cell of the body; by it the tissues are constantly bathed, and the wastes and poisonous products that result from cell activity carried to their special channels for elimination. If the circulation is impeded in any organ or tissue, the blood becomes surcharged with waste products, and is no longer an efficient preserver of vital force. The health of the whole organism suffers from slow and sluggish blood movement.

The skin surface is the keyboard from which impressions are carried that influence the circulation of the blood in all organs of the body. The skin is an index to the health of the individual. A state of inactivity and disease of this organ is present in nearly every chronic malady. There are more than eleven thousand square feet of secreting surface in the perspiratory ducts alone, and their healthful activity is essential to physical well-being. Diseased conditions of the skin are common among civilized races, because of the detrimental influence of clothing and the neglect of the daily bath. It is almost impossible to effect a cure in chronic disorders until the skin has been brought into a healthy condition. A dry, sallow, dingy skin indicates that the person is filled with the poisonous wastes from his own body; a dry, harsh skin bespeaks irritation of the sympathetic nervous system. A pale, anemic skin indicates impoverished blood; a relaxed, putty-like skin, a general loss of tone of the whole vital economy. A warm, pink, soft, pliable skin denotes health. These are but few of the ways in which the skin proclaims the physical ailments of its owner.

By proper applications made to the surface of the body, the sluggish vital processes may be aroused to healthful activity. The short cold bath taken immediately upon rising, before the body is cooled, is the best kind of tonic to improve nerve tone, purify the blood, promote activity of the kidneys, relieve constipation, headache, and lassitude, and “sharpen the appetite.” The bath should be modified to meet the condition of the bather. For one in health the cold plunge bath is most excellent. Before the bath is entered, the body should be well warmed by friction, a short warm bath, or exercise. The head, face, and neck should then be wet in cold water for the purpose of contracting the blood vessels of the brain first. The bath—temperature from 48° to 68°—should be entered suddenly, the whole body except the head being submerged quickly. The plunge is not necessarily long; from two seconds to two minutes is sufficient. The bather should rub himself vigorously while in the bath, and emerging during the first reaction, enfold himself in a dry bath sheet, and continue the rubbing until dry and warm.

The first effect of such a bath is a sudden inrush of blood from the surface to the internal organs, causing momentarily an intense congestion in those parts, which recedes as reaction is established and the skin reddened. The heart and circulation are powerfully influenced; blood pressure is raised; the circulation of the brain is stimulated; the respiratory movements become deep and full, and produce vigorous fluxion of the blood and lymph through the brain, so that the mind, though previously clouded, becomes clear, and all the intellectual functions are facilitated. The sudden contact of cold water with the general surface likewise stimulates the action of the kidneys and the liver, and excites peristalsis; it causes contraction of all the abdominal viscera, and quickens all the vital functions by the profound nervous impressions made.

Such a vigorous cold bath should be avoided by persons suffering from an acute inflammatory condition of the internal organs, or from any disease which has greatly weakened the heart or kidneys. It should also be avoided in conditions of exhaustion from any cause.

For one who is less vigorous or unaccustomed to cold bathing, a systematic course of training should be practiced by until habits of health have supplanted the suppressed and perverted activities of the cells. Lighter tonic baths may be used at first, and made more vigorous as the strength of the patient improves.

Simply dry friction, administered briskly with a flesh brush or coarse towel, is the first step in training a very feeble skin to react. At a later day the coarse towel may be wrung quite dry from cold water, and a part at a time vigorously rubbed and dried; later more and colder water may be left in the towel, and a larger surface covered before drying. A third step may be taken by first entering a warm bath, and following it with a short cool spray, or pour from a dipper or pitcher.

A short hot spray—from 100° to 110°—for one minute, followed by a cold spray—from 80° to 60°—from fifteen seconds to one minute, is also a pleasant morning awakening.

The salt glow is a most efficient tonic measure for those not having special conveniences for bathing. Prepare a hot foot bath, temperature 110°, and moisten two pounds of medium fine salt in a basin or bowl. Spread a sheet upon the floor, and allow the patient to sit on a stool in the center of this, with his feet in the bath. Beginning at the feet, apply the salt with both hands, making rapid friction movements from the foot to the thigh, cover each part as finished; treat the arms likewise, then the chest and back. The salt may be removed by sponging with cool water, or the patient may enter a full bath, or may rub himself while an attendant administers a cool spray or pail pour. The skin will feel hard and almost as smooth as marble after the application, and the healthy glow of the skin betokens its power of inducing circulatory reaction. This is a tonic measure which is admirably suited to the weak as well as the strong. For one who is quite feeble a dash of hot water or a warm shower may be given before the final cold.