Y. THEORY AND PRACTICE OF WATER- VIII. APPLICATION OF HYDROPATHY TO MID-
TREATMENT.
WIFERY AND THE NURSERY.

DESIGNED AS

A GUIDE TO FAMILIES AND STUDENTS.

AND A TEXT-BOOK FOR PHYSICIANS.

BY R. T. TRALL, M.D. Did 1877

With Numerous Engraved Ellustrations.

VOLUME II.

NEW YORK:

FOWLERS AND WELLS, PUBLISHERS,

CLINTON HALL, 131 NASSAU STREET.

1851.

Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 185i, by

FOWLERS AND WELLS,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

Briggs

HYDROPATHIC ENCYCLOPEDIA

PART V.

THEORY AND PRACTICE.

CHAPTER I.

PHILOSOPHY OF WATER-CURE.

RELATIONS OF WATER TO THE HEALTHY ORGANISM.-Before we can clearly comprehend the remedial relations of pure water to the morbid conditions of the body, we must understand its physiological or vital relations to the healthy organism. These may be stated most succinctly, and remembered most easily, in the form of distinct propositions.

1. Water constitutes the greater proportion of the entire bulk of the body.

2. Water composes more than three fourths of the whole mass of blood; more than seven eighths of the substance of the brain, and more than nine tenths of the various colorless fluids and secretions.

3. Water is the only vehicle by which nutrient matters are conveyed to the blood, and through the blood to all parts of the system for its growth and replenishment.

4. Water is the only medium through which waste or effete parti cles, or extraneous ingredients, are conveyed from all parts of the sys tem to the excretory organs to be expelled.

5. Water is the only solvent, diluent, and detergent in existence, for animal and vegetable alimentary and excrementitious matters.

6. Water is the only material capable of circulating in all the tissues of the body, and penetrating their finest vessels, without vital irritation or mechanical injury.

7. The only morbid effects of water result from improper tempera