Medical reports, on the effects of water, cold and warm, as a remedy in fever, and febrile diseases; whether applied to the surface of the body, or used as a drink: with observations on the nature of fever; and on the effects of opium, alcohol, and inanition / by James Currie.

Date:
1797
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Medical reports, on the effects of water, cold and warm, as a remedy in fever, and febrile diseases; whether applied to the surface of the body, or used as a drink: with observations on the nature of fever; and on the effects of opium, alcohol, and inanition / by James Currie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    > ( *7 ) when the powers of life are too weak to fuflain or read: under, fo powerful a ftimulus. 3. It is alfo necelfarv to abftain from the ufe of this remedy when the body is under profufe per- fpiration, and this caution is more important in pro- portion to the continuance of this perfpirarion. In the commencement of perfpiration, efpecially if it has been brought on by violent exercife, die affufioa of cold water on the naked body, or even immer- fion in the cold bath, may be hazarded with little rifque, and fometimes may be reforted to with great benefit. After the perfpiration has continued fome time and flowed freely, efpecially if the body has remained at reft, either the affufion or immerfion are attended with danger, even though the heat of the body at the moment of ufing them be greater than natural.—Prefpiration is always a cool- ing procefs in itfelf, but in bed it is often prolonged by artificial means, and the body is prevented from cooling under it to the natural degree, by the load of heated clothes. When the heat has been thus arti- ficially kept up, a pradhtioner, judging by the in- formation of his thermometer only, may be led into error. In this fituation, however, I have obferved that the heat finks rapidly on the expofure of the fur- face of the body even to the external air, and that the application of cold water, either by affufion or immerfion, is accompanied by a lofs of D ' heat