The Penn's Grove record., 1883-12-22
The Hot Water Cure.

1t is remarkable how an old idea may
be "revamped," FURNISHED up, and
made to pass for new. Reader ! you
may have had a real mother, who
blended her life with yours, anticipat-
ing your wants and even watchful of
ills that might overtake you. And if
you do not remember, you have hoard
how she cured you of collie with warm
herb teas, and hot draughts to your
feet; she cured Group by dipping strips
of flannel in hot water, then w%ringiDg
them out and enyeloping your neck
with them; how she cured a cold and
cough by wetting several thicknesses of
flannel in hot water and laying them on
kyour chest. But the world has forgot
ten its experiences, and hot water po-
ses as a brand-new remedy not only
for ailments for which, it is especially
adapted, but it is recommended by some
who ought to know better for diseases
where it might do positive harm.
Do not imagine that because water is
abundant, is found everywhere, even
in stones and metals, it has no potency
as a curative agent. 1t stands at the
head Of the list of remedies, and enters
into all compounds. 1t constitutes
fve-sixths of the material from which
the bodies of men and animals are
made. A knowledge of these facts will
enable us to see more clearly how
water, and particularly hot water, acts
as a remedial agent. Take. for ex-
ample, the case of a person who has
taken cold in the lungs. The circula-
ton of the blood in the small blood
vessels in that portion of the lungs af-
fected becomes sluggish in some
cases it is quite suspended ; the general
circulation is impeded through failure
of an important organ to do the work
required of it, and the whole system
suffers /; the man is i'll. Now, if we
know why the disease exists, by what
unnatural condition it is kept up, the
remedy suggests itself as, if a water
pipe were frozen up, any child knows
that the remedy is heat. And here is
just where water as warm as 1t a be
comfortably borne will effect a cure in
ordinary cases. Let the patient go to
bed. Put bottles of hot water to his
feet, and cloths wet in hot water on
his chest Let him drink hot water
as freely as he can with comfort it
matters little whether it is clear hot
water, or herb tea, it is nevertheless
hot water. With this treatment we
are employing hot water at its full
value. Its internal use tend to thaw
out the blood vessels, and it's outward
application quickens the circulation in
the blood vessels near the surface !; thus
drawing or the deep-seated blood ves-
sells for supplies to keep up the activity,
and thus the congestion is relieved and
the patient is cured.
In dyspepsia, hot water taken in
ternally, under proper restrictions, is
no doubt useful, since dyspepsia de-
ponds on a congested and deranged con-
dition of the digestive organs. But in
consumption and other diseases attend
ed by general debility it can only be
detrimental. When a person'is feeble
from disease not marked with acute in
~nammation. the hot-water treatment
necessarily increases the debility. Here
a tonic treatment is applicable-a treat
ment that will increase and enrich the
blood and supply the fuel required to
keep the machinery of life in motion.
The hot-water treatment is useful in
removing distractions from the MA
chinery, but only in systems where
there is a surplus of vital power.
TO recapitulate The drinking Of
hot water at proper intervals and in
proper quantities is useful in dyspepsia,
constipation, torpid liver, congestion of
the stomach, chronic diarrhea. and in
various affections Of the kidneys and
bladder provided that there are not at
the same time serious diseases Of the
lungs, with debility.
The water should be as hot as tea is
usually made, that is. from HOO to
1860, and should be slipped, not taken
rapidly. The quantity should be from
a half pint to a pint. 1t should be
taken one to two hours after meals, and
nothing should be eaten until at least
one hour ~afterward, The evening
draught should be just before going to
bed. The hot-water treatment should
continue until a cure is effected the
time required Will vary from one to six
months.