rlier
stages of acute, febrile, inflammatory, and painful diseases. In many
forms of chronic diseases the administration of a spirit vapor-bath once
in from three to fifteen days, is a valuable adjunct to the treatment of
these affections. It exerts an exceedingly beneficial influence upon the
entire system, and, when habitually employed, may ward off disease.

The body should be moistened with an alkaline solution before the
administration of a spirit vapor-bath. After the perspiration which it
occasions has subsided, which will usually be in from three to four
hours, sponge the body with a mixture of the following ingredients:
water, three gills; alcohol, one gill; salt, one teaspoonful. By this
method the patient experiences none of the unpleasant effects which
generally follow the employment of diaphoretics. Various kinds of
apparatus have been devised to facilitate the application of the spirit
vapor-baths. Most of them are cumbersome and expensive, and,
consequently, are seldom used except in hospitals or sanitariums.

The following method described by Dr. J. King, may be advantageously
employed.

"The patient is undressed, ready for getting into bed, having removed
the clothing worn through the day and put on a night shirt or other
clothing to be worn while sweating, and during the night, if the bath is
taken at bed-time. He is then seated on a high Windsor or
wooden-bottomed chair, or instead thereof, a bench or board may be
placed on a common open-bottomed chair, care being taken that the bottom
is so covered that the flame will not burn him. After seating himself, a
large coverlet or blanket is thrown around him from behind, covering the
back of his head and body, as well as the chair, and another must be
passed around him in front, which last is to be pinned at the neck,
loosely, so that he can raise it and cover his face, or remove it down
from the face from time to time as occasion demands during the operation
of the bath. The blankets must reach down to the floor, and cover each
other at the side, so as to retain the vapor. This having been done, a
saucer or tin vessel, into which is put one or two tablespoonfuls of
whiskey, brandy, alcohol, or any liquor that will burn, is then placed
upon the floor, directly under the centre of the bottom of the chair,
raising a part of the blanket from behind to place it there; then light
a piece of paper, apply the flame to the liquor, and as soon as it
kindles let