REMEDIAL PROPERTIES.
The value of a drug is judged by its medicinal properties. The more properties it has, and the more powerful its “action,” the more valuable it is considered to be. We need not here enter into a discussion of the nature of medicinal properties, since there is no question among scientific physicians, that the medicinal properties—so-called—of drugs, or their effects upon the human system in diseases, are, in general, the result of vital resistance on the part of the system, an attempt to expel or remove the poison, or defend itself against it. Water also possesses remedial properties, some of which are due to vital resistance, while others grow out of the aid which it affords the vital organs by its physical properties. As its value as a curative agent depends upon these properties, it is important to know what they are.
Refrigerant.—Refrigerant or antiphlogistic medicines are used for the purpose of diminishing the heat of the body. The most they can do is to so depress and paralyze the vital forces as to diminish theproductionof animal heat. Water, when applied at a proper temperature—any temperature less than 98°—not only diminishes the production of heat, but removes the superfluousheat by conduction. There is not a drug in the whole materia medica that will diminish the temperature of the body so readily and so efficiently as water. How this is effected, has been previously explained in considering the physiological effects of water.
Sedative.—Drugs, the administration of which is followed by a diminished action of the heart, are termed sedatives. They comprise the most powerful poisons known. Their sedative effects are the result of their poisonous influence upon the heart or the nerve centers controlling it. Water is a much more efficient sedative, and its use is never followed by poisonous effects, as is the use of sedative drugs, the “action” of which is often very uncertain. By the cool or cold bath, the pulse may often be reduced twenty to forty beats in a few minutes.
Tonic.—Water may be used in such a way as to increase the rapidity of the circulation and the temperature very quickly and powerfully. The hot bath is a most efficient stimulant, in the true sense of the word. It will so excite the circulation as to increase the pulse from seventy to one hundred and fifty in fifteen minutes. The tonic effects of a cool bath are well appreciated by all who have ever enjoyed it.
Anodyne.—Certain drugs are called anodyne because they diminish nervous sensibility, thus relieving pain. Water applied in the form of ahot fomentation will not infrequently give relief when every drug has failed. Applied in various other ways, it is very effectual in allaying nervous irritability.
Antispasmodic.—No remedy is so certainly successful in hysterical convulsions as water. In infantile convulsions, its success is also unrivaled. In cramp, and even in puerperal convulsions, its utility has been well demonstrated.
Astringent.—The value of cold water in arresting hemorrhage is well attested by all physicians.
Laxative.—Used in various ways, water is very effectual in producing movement of the bowels, but never occasions those violent and unpleasant symptoms which accompany and succeed the use of purgatives.
Emetic.—In the great majority of cases, no other emetic is needed, and no better can be found.
Eliminative.—Water is a most perfect eliminative. It dissolves the excrementitious and other foreign elements of the blood, and thus materially aids in their elimination. Hence, it is a very usefuldiaphoretic, increasing the action of the skin, and is equally valuable as adiuretic, having the same effect upon the kidneys.
Alterative.—For a long period, mercury has been considered as the champion alterative of the materia medica. It must yield the place to water,however; for the most it can do is to destroy the elements of the blood, while water not only accelerates waste, but increases construction in the same proportion, according to the experiments of Prof. Liebig.
Derivative.—One of the most important properties of water applications is their powerful derivative effect. No other application, internal or external, can equal them in efficiency and certainty of action.
There are very few agents which possess so many remedial properties as water. There are none which effect so much with so little expense to the vital powers of the patient. Many drugs will produce results similar to those obtained by the use of water, and thus accomplish good, no doubt; but at the same time, they often work so much mischief in the system that the evil done is frequently much greater than the good accomplished. The aim of the faithful physician should be to accomplish for his patient the greatest amount of good at the least expense of vitality; and it is an indisputable fact that in a large number of cases water is just the agent with which this desirable end can be obtained.
Testimony of Eminent Physicians.—The testimonies of Currie, Jackson, and numerous other physicians of the last century have already been quoted in favor of water. There are numerous practitioners of the present day who areequally favorable to this remedial agent. Perhaps we cannot do better than to quote from theHealth Reformerthe following paragraphs of an abstract report of a paper read before the New York Academy of medicine, by Prof. Austin Flint, M. D., president of the society, the title of the paper being, “The Researches of Currie, and Recent Views Concerning the Use of Cold Water”:—
“Currie employed scientific methods in observing the phenomena of disease. He was one of the first to employ the thermometer in studying disease, and his observations can be received as reliable.
“The use of water externally as a means of reducing the temperature of the body in disease has recently been coming quite prominently into notice. According to Liebermeister, a noted German medical author, Currie was the first to systematize the use of water. His work was published in 1797. Liebermeister, in his recent article on typhoid fever, accords to cold water the first place in importance as an article for reducing the temperature. The use of water for this purpose is at present attracting much attention; and it is safe to predict thatit will soon occupy an important place as a remedial agent.
“Much harm has been done by the ‘rude empiricism’ of Priessnitz, and the various water cures in the country; though much good hasalso been accomplished by the latter institutions, and they have in a measure prepared the public mind for the general introduction of water as a remedial agent.
“After the publication of the views of Currie in 1797, his method of practice, which was chiefly hydropathic, became quite general, but it was soon nearly forgotten. Trousseau recommended water treatment in scarlatina, and the use of the remedy has continued to be recommended in the text-books; but as a measure of treatment in practice, it has become nearly obsolete. It is, however, obvious that unless we accept the absurd proposition that diseases have changed since Currie’s time, the remedy which he recommended so highly must be just as efficient now as then.
“Dr. Currie made use of the cold douche in fevers, applying it vigorously to the patient while in the height of the fever, and continuing it until the temperature became decreased, as indicated by the thermometer and the pulse. He treated seven cases of continued fever by this method at the Liverpool Infirmary. All recovered. In an epidemic of typhoid fever among a regiment of troops, he treated fifty-eight cases, using the cool tepid douche in all but two cases. The latter died. The remaining fifty-six recovered, the disease being greatly shortened in more than half the cases.
“Dr. Currie asserted that, in small-pox, theuse of the bath afforded instant relief to the patient, and caused the disease to assume a benignant form.
“He found the cold bath always effectual in tetanus and convulsions, as also in hysteria.
“In temporary insanity from the use of liquor, this acute observer found that the cold plunge was the most efficient remedy for the worst cases.
“But Dr. Currie’s practice was not confined tocoldwater. He observed that affusion with tepid water was not only a more pleasant application, but that it was even more effectual in reducing unnatural heat than cold water, as it produced no reaction, not being at all stimulating in character.
“With regard to the efficacy of this agent, Dr. Currie stated that by its use in fevers the pulse would be reduced thirty or forty beats, with a corresponding decrease of temperature and almost immediately relief of headache.
“In his second volume, published some six years after his first volume, Dr. Currie declared that although his experience in the use of water, especially in fevers, had been very extensive, he had had only four fatal cases in which water was employed, and had never met with a single evidence of its being in the least degree objectionable or injurious. Neither had he found that it had been thought to be objectionable by those whom he had treated. He details a very interestingaccount of his treatment of scarlatina in the cases of his two sons, aged, respectively, three and five years. He gave the older, in thirty-two hours, fourteen affusions, varying from cold to tepid. Twelve were found to be sufficient for the younger one. Both became convalescent in three days.
“It was established by Currie that by the use of water the course of typhoid fever may be abbreviated. This is not even claimed for the modern remedies in common use.
“In referring to his own experience in the use of water, Dr. F. remarked, ‘The relation of my own experience will of necessity be stated in a few words, as my employment of the remedy has heretofore been much more limited than it will be in the future if my life is spared.’ He then related some very interesting cases in which he had employed water as the chief remedy with the most excellent success. He also took occasion to recommend, as one of the best means of applying water in fevers, the wet-sheet pack as employed in the various hydropathic institutions of the country. He had used the continued cold pack in a number of the worst cases of sun-stroke in Bellevue Hospital with marked success. This remedy is still employed there in this class of cases.
“In a case of obstinate remittent fever, which was not in the least benefited by the thoroughuse of quinia, he employed the cool pack thirty-five times in a week, continuing each application from ten to thirty minutes, and always with great relief to the patient, although he finally died [perhaps from the huge doses of quinine previously given]. He expressed the opinion that if he had employed the pack more thoroughly, making the applications longer and more frequent, the patient might have recovered.
“Currie announced a true theory when he said thatthe voice of nature should not be superseded by theories. He advocated the free use of water as a beverage in febrile diseases [fever] as an important remedial agent. Dr. F. unhesitatingly advanced the belief that the chief benefit derived from the numerous mineral waters so largely used was only that which was due to the properties of pure water. He stated as proof that it was not long since demonstrated by chemical analysis that the only thing peculiar about the water of a certain spring, famous for medicinal virtues, was its remarkable purity. He also suggested the introduction of distilled water for cooking and drinking purposes as a necessary sanitary measure.
“Dr. F. then related a remarkable case of acute inflammation of the kidneys in which the patient exhibited the characteristic symptoms of poisoning from the retention of urea. After other remedies were tried in vain, the patient’s life wassaved by the simple administration of water as a beverage at short intervals. The diuretic effects of the water soon washed away the poison and gave immediate relief.”
“After the conclusion of the paper, by Dr. Flint, the venerable Dr. Richards arose and gave his experience in the use of water. His ideas of hydropathy were obtained when he has a young man, from Dr. Currie’s works. He adopted the practice of Dr. C. at that time in an epidemic of typhoid fever, and with such remarkable success as to astonish old practitioners. He stated that he had cured more than one hundred cases of obstinate constipation by simply directing the patient to drink a glass of cold water half an hour before breakfast, each morning. In one of these cases the patient had not had a natural passage from the bowels for a number of years; but he was effectually cured, by the simple remedy mentioned, in the course of a few months.
“Dr. Loyle gave an interesting resumé of ten years’ experience in the use of water, with uniform success, especially in convulsions and scarlatina. He had employed water alone in about one hundred cases of acute inflammation of the kidneys and dropsy after scarlatina, and with wonderful success in every case. He had found it equally successful in coma, restoring consciousness when life was apparently extinct. During the late war, he on one occasion renovated twentyambulance loads of exhausted soldiers who had fallen on the march, by the judicious use of water. He recommended water most highly as an excellent diuretic and a capital regulator of the bowels, far superior to ‘after-dinner pills.’ He commended it also as an efficient remedy for sun-stroke and frozen feet.
“The sentiment of the audience—which was wholly composed of medical gentlemen—was shown by the hearty applause with which the remarks of each speaker were received.”
We might add much other medical testimony; but as we could give no higher authority than the distinguished Dr. Flint, who stands at the head of medical practice in America, being author of the standard American text-book on practical medicine, we will not weary the reader with further quotations. The German physicians, as well as German medical works, abound with tributes to the value of water. American medical journals are full of accounts of the beneficial results following its use in fevers and numerous other diseased conditions.
In surgery, the employment of water is rapidly gaining entire precedence. It has replaced nearly all other kinds of dressing for wounds, and its use has saved a valuable limb to many a poor sufferer who must otherwise have submitted to amputation.
In short, wherever it is faithfully and intelligentlyapplied, water is working wonders. Yet it is still little used in comparison with its importance. Especially is its use neglected in chronic diseases. The only reason we have been able to discover for this neglect of a remedy, the merits of which are so well demonstrated and generally acknowledged, is that its use is more troublesome and laborious than the use of drugs. A half-dozen purgative pills are administered much more easily than an enema. The administration of a diaphoretic powder is far more convenient than a pack. A blister is easier to manage than a fomentation. But the true physician, who has at heart the real good of his patient, will not sacrifice the safety or comfort of the latter to his own personal convenience.