Issue 10, pp. 753-832, October 1861, SMSJ

:L861.] R dies )f the Southern Confederacy. x ,^quinine was administered without success*" — (NederlandTijdsche, 1858, and Medizinsche Neuigkeiten, 1858,No. 44.COLD WATER IX THE TREATMENT OFRIAL FEVER.MALA-It would be foreign to our purpose to enter into any disjionof the mode of action of water in Fevers, for, asthe most universal of allsolvents in which the elements ofthe blood are dissolved or suspended, and as the largestconstituents ut the solid as well as of the fluid components,and as the great medium of the introduction of the nutritiveelements, and of the chemical changes which developethe forces which work the machinery of the human body,as well as of the removal of the products of these chemicalchanges, water occupies such a prominent position in allthe processes of health and disease, that it would be impossibleto discuss either its value or its mode of action in feverin the limited space now at my command, and must contentourselves with a few practical observations and reliable testimonyto the value of water as an external application, reservingthe extended discussion for a future occasion.Xowthat the old notions with reference to the injurious effectsof water and fresh air, have vanished with the progress ofmedical practice, based upon sound physiological principles,we can scarcely realise the powerful effects of water, in thetreatment of fever, without a careful comparison of thesymptoms, progress and mortality of diseases before andafter its free use.Iexternal application, the value of cold water thoughnot unknown and not unemployed by the ancients, was notappreciated by the profession until after the publications ofDr. William Wright- 1586, and especially of Dr. J. CurofEngland.Formerly of tin- [aland of Jamaica, published an account in tin