he appearance of the plaster beneath.
The part from which a blister has been taken should be covered till it
heals over with soft linen rags smeared with lard.

Baths and Fomentations.

2599. All fluid applications to the body are exhibited either in a hot
or cold form; and the object for which they are administered is to
produce a stimulating effect over the entire, or a part, of the system;
for the effect, though differently obtained, and varying in degree, is
the same in principle, whether procured by hot or cold water.

2600. _Heat_.--There are three forms in which heat is universally
applied to the body,--that of the tepid, warm, and vapour bath; but as
the first is too inert to be worth notice, and the last dangerous and
inapplicable, except in public institutions, we shall confine our
remarks to the really efficacious and always attainable one--the

2601. _Warm and Hot Bath_.--These baths are used whenever there is
congestion, or accumulation of blood in the internal organs, causing
pain, difficulty of breathing, or stupor, and are employed, by their
stimulating property, to cause a rush of blood to the surface, and, by
unloading the great organs, produce a temporary inflammation in the
skin, and so equalize the circulation. The effect of the hot bath is to
increase the fulness of the pulse, accelerate respiration, and excite
perspiration. In all inflammations of the stomach and bowels, the hot
bath is of the utmost consequence; the temperature of the warm bath
varies from 92 deg. to 100 deg., and may be obtained by those who have no
thermometer to test the exact heat, by mixing one measure of boiling
with two of cold water.

2602. _Fomentations_ are generally used to effect, in a part, the
benefit produced on the whole body by the bath; to which a sedative
action is occasionally given by the use of roots, herbs, or other
ingredients; the object being to relieve the internal organ, as the
throat, or muscles round a joint, by exciting a greater flow of blood to
the skin _over_ the affected part. As the real agent of relief is heat,
the fomentation should always be as hot as it can comfortably be borne,
and, to insure effect, should be repeated every half-hour. Warm fluids
are applied in order to render the swelling which accompanies
inflammation less painful, by the greater readiness with which the skin
yields, than when it is harsh and dry. They are of various kinds; but
the most simple, and oftentimes the