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CURATIVE AGENCIES. 299
The matter which is carried out of the system is first
dissolved in the watery portion of the blood. Then it
passes from the lungs dissolved in vapor, from the skin
in perspiration, from the kidneys in urine, from the in
testinal canal in fcecal evacuations, which are poured
into it through a million sluice-ways, by the agency
of water, which is again reabsorbed. When impuri
ties gather upon the surface, we wash them off with
water. This single agent, then, in its simplest internal
uses, affords us the means of one of the most important
conditions of cure, that of purification ; and that which
is alone sufficient in a vast number of cases. Thirst is
the call of the intelligent organism for water. It is a
common symptom of disease, and especially of all dis
eases of impurity, rather than exhaustion. Nature
commonly knows what she requires. Water is wanted
to dissolve the impure matters in the system, and
carry them off. The copious drinking of soft water is
alone often sufficient to cure a fever. It is followed by
profuse sweating, large evacuations of urine, a full
action of the bowels ; the a system gets thoroagh clear
ing out, and the patient, after recovering from the fa
tigue of this effort, is well.
The internal applications of water, in the cure of dis
ease, are drinking, and injections by the rectum, and
by the vagina. They all, when taken cold, answer the
two great purposes of cure. They cleanse and invig
orate. Injections into the rectum, penetrating, as they
may, the entire length of the colon, soften accumulations
of foecal matter, and wash them away. In ail cases of
constipation, or where there is not a full daily action,
these injections should be taken to the extent of two ©r