VAPOUR BATHS.
137
from the warm or hot bath: hot air and vesicular water being muchworse conductors of heat than water in its usual liquid form, the ternpe-| rature of the bath is neither so quickly, nor so powerfully felt, so that the
' body can support a higher heat, and for a longer period ; moreover, the
pressure is less. Dr. Forbes ( Cyclop. Pract. Med., art. Bathing) gives thefollowing comparative view of the heating powers of water and of vapour,distinguishing the latter according as it is or is not breathed:—
Water.
Vapour
Not breathed.
Breathed.
Tepid bath .
85°
— 92°
96° — 106®
90® — 100°
Warm bath .
92°
— 98°
106° — 120°
100° — 110®
Hot bath . .
98°
— 106°
120° — 160°
110® — 130®
The vapour bath acts as a stimulant to the skin ; it excites the cutaneouscirculation, softens and relaxes the tissue, produces copious per-spiration, accelerates the pulse, quickens the respiration, and inducesa feeling of languor, and a tendency to sleep. There are two modes ofemploying it; either by immersing the whole body in the vapour, whichis consequently inhaled; or inclosing the body in a chest or box, so thatthe head is not exposed to the vapour, which, therefore, is not inspired.The aqueous vapour is conveyed into the chamber or box by a pipecommunicating with a steam boiler. Sometimes it is made to passthrough various vegetable substances, with the odour of which it becomesimpregnated, and from which it has been supposed to gain an increaseor modification of therapeutical power. These are the medicated vapourbaths. Sometimes the common vapour bath is accompanied by a processof friction, kneading and extension of the muscles, tendons, and liga-ments, constituting the massingof the Egyptians, or the sham-pooing of the Indians. Here isthe account of the process, asgiven by Dr. Gibney (Treatiseon the Vapour Bath, p. 84):—“ After exposure to the bath,while the body is yet warm fromthe effects of the vapour, theshampooman proceeds, accord-ing to the circumstances ofthe case, from gentle frictiongradually increased to pressure,along the fleshy and tendinousparts of the limb ; he kneads and grasps the muscle repeatedly, presses withthe points of his fingers along its course, and then follows friction,in a greater or less degree, alternating one with the other, while the handis smeared with a medicated oil, in the specific influence of which theoperator has considerable confidence. This process is continued for ashorter or longer space of time, and, according to circumstances, is eithersucceeded or preceded by an extension of the capsular ligament of eachjoint, from the larger to the smaller, causing each to crack, so as to bedistinctly heard, which also succeeds from the process being extended toeach connecting ligament of the vertebrae of the back and loins. Thesensation at the moment is far from agreeable, but is succeded by effects
Egyptian Bath.