Volume 2

Health lectures for the people.

Date:
1883-1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Health lectures for the people. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    63/600 (page 51)
    THE BATH: HOW AND WHEN TO USE IT. By JAMES EITCHIE, M.B., M.E.C.S. Eng. Our medical text-books tell us that hydrophobia is a somewhat rare disease, but if we consider the condition indicated by the literal etymology of the word, then I am afraid we must confess that that condition, viz., the dread of water, is not by any means uncommon. We trust that the aggravated forms of it are rare, such, for example, as that recently pourtrayed by the great censor of our country, Mr Punch. The illustration represented a much-be- grimed countenance and hands, the owner of which would have required freely to use a potsherd before the softest of waters and the most detergent of soaps would have sufficed to produce much cleans- ing effect. The cause was at once explained by the legend, Two years ago I used your soap, since then I have used no other.'' But the minor degrees of the condition are much more common, and they are not confined to any particular age or class. When the administration of chloroform was still in the days of its infancy, a gentleman who offered himself as a subject to be experimented upon had his boots taken off and put on while under the influence of the anaesthetic. When he had recovered consciousness he would not believe that such manipulation had been accomplished. He was again chloroformed, and on this occasion both boots and stockings were removed. On awakening the visible evidences of a woeful want of the use of the bath caused him bitterly to regret his unbelief. Were we to judge of the principles of some people from their practice, we should conclude