ion of ice and iced
water, are often ordered under certain states of disease by the medical
attendant, and frequently followed by delightful results. But it is
necessary that they should be properly applied to do good.
Cold water sponging is a convenient and grateful method of moderating
febrile heat of the surface, provided undoubted powers of reaction be
present in the system. It is frequently ordered, therefore, to be
employed in eruptive fevers, as measles, scarlet fever, smallpox, and
other fevers; and also in some local inflammations, particularly of the
brain. Vinegar may be added to the water under these circumstances
with advantage. It should at first be used tepid or cool, but
afterwards cold. As a general rule, the more dry and parched the heat
of the surface, the more urgent the necessity for the application of
the cold, and the more frequently and fearlessly ought it to be
renewed,--every hour or half-hour not being too often. Should the child
fall asleep during the process, and begin to perspire, it must be
intermitted, but resumed again on a recurrence of the parching heat.
Ice and iced water are most frequently employed in affections of the
brain. The former is most conveniently applied in a well-cleaned pig's
bladder, which should be half filled with broken fragments of the ice.
The bladder prevents moisture about the clothes, and, from its smooth
and pliant nature, readily accommodates itself to every part of the
child's head. If iced water is used, care must be taken that the cloths
are sufficiently large to cover the whole of the head, and they should
be doubled to prevent their getting rapidly warm. Indeed, in applying
cold locally, as in inflammation of the brain, one rule it is of the
utmost importance to observe, viz. that the application of the cold
shall be continuous; therefore a second set of cold cloths or bags of
ice should be applied before the former has become warm. This plan,
especially pursued during the night, along with judicious internal
treatment, will save many children from perishing under the most
insidious and fatal disease of childhood--water on the brain.
If neither water of a sufficiently low temperature, nor ice, can be
procured, then recourse may be had to refrigerating mixtures, of which
the following is a good form:--
Common water, five pints;
Vinegar, two pints;
Nitre, eight ounces;
Sal ammoniac, four ounces.
THE WARM BATH.
The warm bath judicious
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