WATER CURE.

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1717, 23 August 1862, Page 9

WATER CURE.

To the Editor of the New-Zealandek. Sm, —According to intimation given in my last, I lay before your readers the description of the wet pack, efficacious as it is for bilious attacks, bad colds, indigestion, constipation, and fever; and the symptoms, so frequently taxing the ingenuity of “the doctor,” may be completely removed by cold water only. The plan is this. Get ready a coarse cotton sheet, two or three blankets, and a rug or coarse quilt. Remove the bed, and spread the rug first on the mattrass, then the blankets, and next the sheet, wetted first in cold water and well squeezed out. If a person gives the bath to himself, he can undress and lie down on this wetted sheet, and holding up his hands get one side of the sheet over his body and under both his hands or arms, then any person can easily put the other side over both his hands and tuck it well about his neck and throat; then tuck the blankets over the sheet, and last of all the rug or quilt; if the person likes more heat, he can get the bed put over all. The wet sheet must not be left in a lump about the feet, and if the feet don’t get warm, which is sometimes the case with some constitutions, let a bottle of hot water be applied to keep them warm. Some adopt the plan of winding a pieee of flannel to extremities up as far as the knees, before putting the wet sheet round them. After remaining in this pack for one hour, or if you wish longer, get out and |use the cold wet sheet and dry one after, as explained in a former letter. I have frequently enjoyed this luxury for over two hours; and several persons, who feel quite fatigued before getting in, like to enjoy a nap during the operation, and stay enveloped for three or four hours. In the case of delicate persons, the rubbing sheet should be dipped in tepid water, and the body well dried as soon as possible. These packs may be repeated several times in twelve hours when necessity requires it, but persons in ordinary health would do well to take one once a week. If there be a low power of vitality, let the patient get a steam bath (explained in a former letter) after the wet sheet pack. In cases of typhus or scarlet fever, the wet sheet should be squeezed out of hot water. I have frequently heard persons laud to the skies the great philanthrope and disinterestedness of the medical faculty, but will any person write an answer to this, and show me how they have taken the trouble to advise persons, in a public manner, how they may preserve their health? No, sir. The fee must be forthcoming. In addition to the throat pack (explained in a former letter), I have to show your readers, who are scattered far and wide over this extensive Province, how they may make and use the chest compress, which may be used with the throat pack in case of sore throat, bronchitis, quinsey, &c. Get a piece of oiled calico or silk cut in the shape of a shirt front, which you may see in shop windows of any draper or dealer in soft goods. On this put three or four layers of flannel, and one or two of calico; have the collar fitted, to tie behind, and get two strings attached to the lower part to tie around the waist or body. Wet the calico part three times, at least, in the twentyfour hours; and before you remove it, wash all over the neck and chest with cold or tepid water, and dry well. You may leave off without fear of catching cold. The half-sized one will act on chest and throat; the fullsized will go lower down over the abdomen, and thus act on the bowels. You may relieve yourself without “ doctor, drugs, or fee,” and the end comes to such vended trash as “ ointment and pills,” which are said to cure thousands (quis credat?) but not like the “ blessed water,” without money or price. I am, &c., PIIILANTIIROPOS.