IMPROVEMENTS IN MEDICATED BATH APPARATUS
Year: 1877

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Paul Alexis Ernest Brémond at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th April 1877.
PAUL ALEXIS ERNEST BRÉMOND, of Paris, Républic of France (22, Rue de Trévise).
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MEDICATED BATH APPARATUS."
The object of this Invention is to provide a means for the cutaneous application
of medicines for the purpose of healing diseases, especially of a chronic character,
and at the same time avoid the bad consequences resulting from the internal
administration of drugs. It consists in an air-tight chamber provided with means
of ingress and egress, and having a hole through the top, through which the
patient's head protrudes, the said chamber being lined with such material as is not
likely to be affected by the corrosive action of the medicines. At one end of the
chamber near the top is an enclosed place or box provided with sliding doors, in
which rests a vessel containing the medicated solution, and in the bottom of said
vessel rests one leg of a glass siphon, about one-sixteenth of an inch in diameter;
the other leg passes down the inside of the chamber and communicates at right
angles with a steam pipe after the manner of an automizer. The steam issues
directly from the orifice of the said steam pipe into the air-tight chamber, and
in order that it may not burn the legs of the patient, I may place a screen or guard
of linen, cloth, or other suitable material under the legs and beneath the chair when
the patient is seated. The chamber, lined with some non-corrosive substance,
contains a chair, upon which the patient seats; a shelf is provided, upon which
the patient may rest his feet, and a thermometer for determining the temperature
of the chamber.
Prominent among the diseases for which this method of treatment has been found
especially advantageous are scrofulous disorders, necrosis, chronic obstructed
ganglions, white tumors, syphilitic disorders, rheumatism, the effects of wounds or
fractures, and of lead or mercury poisoning; and among the remedies I employ,
according to the disorder to be checked, are oil or spirits of turpentine, iodide of
potassium, iodine, salts of mercury, cade oil, sulphur, mineral waters.
The process of treatment is as follows:-The vessel or box is charged with a
solution of the medicine applicable to the case. The patient is seated upon the
chair, his head alone being outside the chamber, and a towel around his neck to
protect his face and render the chamber tight; steam is then turned on through
the steam pipe under a pressure of about two atmospheres, and as it passes over the
I Drina 31

page_text: end of the siphon a partial vacuum is formed in the same, and the contents of the
vessel, following the law of atmospheric pressure, flow down the siphon and are
carried into the chamber in the shape of atomic spray.
By means of this process, which combines the stean bath with the application of
the atomizer for medical purposes, the pores of the skin are opened, the sebaceous
glands are stimulated, the fatty secretions softened and dissolved, and the epidermis
left in such a condition as to be peculiarly sensitive to the effects of the medicines
administered in the above described manner.