WATER.
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minated putrid, the internal use of small quantities of ice is .sometimeshighly serviceable.
(i b.) Of cold water, a. Taken into the stomach .—Cold water was em-ployed as a drink in fevers in the time of Hippocrates , who, as well asCelsus , Galen, and other ancient writers, strongly recommended its use.Celsus , in speaking of ardent fever, says, “ Cum vero in summo incre-mento morbus est, utique non ante quartum diem, magna sit antecedente,frigida aqua copiose proestanda est, ut bibat etiam ultra satietatem.”
Cold water constitutes the febrifugum magnum of Dr. Hancock. Weare indebted to Dr. Currie for examining the circumstances under whichits exhibition is proper. According to him, it is inadmissible during thecold or sweating stage of fever, but may be employed with safety andadvantage when the skin is dry and burning. In other words, the regu-lations for its administration are precisely the same as for the coldaffusion presently to be noticed. When exhibited under proper circum-stances it acts as a real refrigerant, reducing preternatural heat, loweringthe pulse, and disposing to sweating. I ought not, however, to omitnoticing, that serious and even fatal consequences have resulted from theemployment of large quantities of cold water by persons who have beenrendered very warm by exercise and fatigue.
Besides fever, there are many other affections in which cold water is auseful remedy. For example, to facilitate recovery from an attack ofepilepsy or hysteria, and also in faulting, a draught of cold water isoftentimes beneficial. There are also various morbid states of thealimentary canal in which cold water may be administered withadvantage; as, to diminish irritable conditions of the stomach, andto allay vomiting and gastrodynia. Large quantities of cold waterhave sometimes caused the expulsion of intestinal worms (both Taniaand Ascaris vermicularis, or small thread-worms, commonly termedascarides, and which are found in the large intestines of children,particularly in the rectum). Salt-water acts more efficaciously, as I shallhereafter have occasion to notice.
ft. Injected into the rectum .—Cold water is thrown into the rectumsometimes to check haemorrhage; to cause the expulsion of worms (thesmall thread-worm); to allay pain; in poisoning by opium; in inflam-mation of the bowels ; and in various other cases.
y. Injected into the vagina. —Dr. A. T. Thomson speaks very fa-vourably of the effects of cold water when applied in uterine haemorrhagesby means of the stomach pump, and he says he has seen it used in severalcases most successfully.
(e.) Tepid and warm water, a. Taken into the stomach.—Tepid andwarm drinks are employed for various purposes ; as, for promoting vomit-ing, to dilute the contents of the stomach and to render them less acrid,as in cases of irritant poisoning; but in poisons acting by absorption,diluents are objectionable, since they facilitate this process, and,therefore, ought not to be given unless vomiting be present, or thestomach-pump be at hand. Warm aqueous drinks are administered withthe view of exciting diaphoresis, in gout, rheumatism, catarrh, &c., andto assist their operation the patient should be kept warm in bed, inorder to promote the cutaneous circulation. Warm liquids are often-times used as emollients; as to allay irritable and troublesome cough, parti-cularly when this appears to depend on irritation at the top of the larynx.