Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1847-07-30

DRATTLEBoRo', June 81, 1917.
You have already received a description of
the process of wot-sheet packing-how a SUBJ
ject is folded up very tight, first IN a wet
sheet, then with three or -four thick blankets,
and covered over all with a feather bed, 10
guard against catching cold, and how he lies
in this condition till he gets warm, which is
usually In from one to two hours, to be then
taken out and tumbled into the plunge TO cool.
Well, this packing is enc thing, and the
sweating process is another thing; quite an
other thing in its effect, although, in fact, on
ly the same thing as the other, with an ap-
pendlX and a supplement-the appendix be-
ing the hot stage that Immediately ensues,
and supplement the abundant flow of perspi-
ration which follows that.
After sleeping a delightful sleep in the
packed-up and laid-out state, a decided change
comes over the spirit of his dream, and his
fdncies become not a little horrid; he wakes
up any where else than in Abraham's bosom,
and supposes himself just where he always
expected to go, where his friends feared he
would 60, and where his enemies had often
wished him; consciousness comes upon him
with an all-alive sensation over the whole sur
face, as if his skin were all nerve, and a sense
of oppression, as if the feather bed were a
mountain. His head is as a bushel, every
joint is cramped and uneasy, his inwards are
parched with thirst, and an intense burning
consumes his outwards. The heat is upon
him. The doctor has told him TO expect this,
and advised him of the ways of alternating
the unpleasant symptoms. He is a sensible
man, and with ordinary Judgment and ~resolu-
ton but, for the time, he forgets all his res
o~lutions, and loses all his Judgment, and the
great fact flashes across his mind that the wa
ter-cure is a humbug, and himself not only a
deceived, but injured man; il is evident he
is outrageously oppressed.
He calls for his bath attendant. Now, it
so happens that Henry, not being blessed
with ubiquity, and having only the ordinary
allowance OF hands, is at present busy in rub
bing down a patient whose prescription al
lows him a /" hard rubbing for ten minutes >
the other bath men are busy with their own
respective charges. Henry knows what is
wanted, but can only answer, " Me can no
come now-wait five minutes" Five min
utes a little eternity to the burning man
but Henry has known such cases before, and
it is easy, we know, 10 become used to the
sufferings of others. The subject still shouts
"Henry, Henry, Hen-ry-ee." And every
shout increases his distress. Soon No. %
joins his voice to the chorus, and the whole
wing rings with the shouting. Henry phleg-
matically rubs legs and arms and back, and
back and arms and legs, consoling himself
with the thought that he is fulfilling his du-
ty, and that the subject won't die. The sub
iect doesn't agree with him in the last idea,
but is convinced that he 1ciH die, and that
right soon, without the melancholy satisfac.
ton of kicking in his last agonies. He re-
penis him of having despised calomel and ia
Ian Than no fornof- nronriaty onJ for,b
with mathematics Henry. The sympathi-
zers join in the anathemas, and the bath man
is trebly cursed with every breath of Nos. Is,
30, and %.
At last Henry comes, but is astonished TO
see the roll Of bedclothes and the bed, which
indicates that "here lies a man. performing
strange movements, lifting and falling at one
end, wriggling at both, twisting and Jerking,
as II a chrysalis had taken a notion that il
''would be a butterfly" and was struggling
TO burst the vile folds that held him to earth.
These commissions soon release the arms and
the upper part of the body. Henry is in
doubt whether TO consider il a case of crazi-
ness and run for help, or to prepare for a fis-
ticufl, when, with his partial release, the SUBJ
ject becomes tranquil, falls back on the pill
low, and eXclaims, "All right; it was only
to see if / could get out of this if ! wanted
to; | am satisfied pack me again" Hen
ry does so, and proceeds to apply the pallia-
tives-opens the window, and puts a wet
cloth on the forehead, with an effect so ma
gical that the subject can well realize why
"a certain rich man. once, in a like situation,
expected SO much relief from a similar appli-
cation of cold water. The perspiration now
bursts forth, to his exquisite and entire re-
lief; he becomes as quiet as a lamb and
sweats like a bull and now it will do to
drink a little.
lie takes from time to time a few mouth
fuls of water, which greatly promote the ope-
ration, and a third stage comes on, wherein
his sensations are as if he didn't rest any
where, but fioated in mid air, like Mahom-
cts coffin; as if the clouds were his bed and
cherub's down his pillow; as if his body and
legs, arms, and trunk, with their manifold
sensations and Affections, were nothing to
him, and time and space and care were for
gotten circumstances If he could command
entire consciousness he would beg Doctor
Wesselhoeft's pardon for having lately tho't
some hard things of the establishment 1t is
not, however, entirely unpleasant to be arous-
ed to prepare for the plunge. How sweet
are its icy waters, as they lave his sissing-
hot body ! as refreshing as fifty ice creams
all at once. Even when come out and stand
ing on the brink to be rubbed, he feels that a
little more cooling would not be bad, so slips
through Henry's fingers and souses in again.
This process wastes the system of some of
its substance, but after a walk, in which the
joints move with remarkable ease, he returns
to supply any deficiency in his substance
with Unreasonable quantities Of homminy