At 102° the pulse was soon raised from 68° to 100°, and, in ten minutes, the sweat on the face was copious, -the vessels turgid, the skin not corrugated, and the heat of the body raised from 98° to 102°.' A beating noise was heard in the head; and in half an hour, giddiness came on. When laid between blankets, the sweat was copious and free, the pulse soon became natural, and the quantity of urine was not increased.

At 104° all these appearances were still more striking and more rapid: a vertigo coming on, at the end of about twenty minutes, put a stop to the experiment. At 106° the effects came on still more quickly and more violent. The faintness and sickness supervened more early; the sweat was more copious, but the frequency of the pulse did not subside even after twenty-live minutes. From these experiments, seemingly made with care and attention, we perceive that little is to be dreaded from the stimulating effects of the hot bath under about 102°; and that, probably, under 94° it has no peculiar or appropriate power. As the limits of the cold bath we shall find to be about 84°, the temperature, in the interval, has the effects of neither. Above 102° the warm bath determines powerfully to all the extreme vessels, particularly to the head and breast; and at this temperature it must be used with caution when the contents of either are disordered. The balance between the urine and the skin is nearly even at about 98°. Dr. Cullen supposed the effects of the warm bath to arise wholly from the relaxation of the skin, and, of course, the diminished pressure of that peripherical band which confines the fluids. Though correct to a certain extent, this view is too simple to explain all the benefit derived from the remedy. It will undoubtedly account for the determination to the skin, and joined with the stimulus of the heat, to the evacuations occasioned by warm bathing. When we reflect, however, that the subcutaneous nerves, as closely connected with the skin as the vessels, are subject to this relaxing warmth, we must suppose some of the benefit to be derived from this source also. In higher degrees, the stimulus we shall find to be very advantageous. The state of the extreme vessels is soon communicated to other organs; and as these in every part of the body sympathise with the vessels of the surface, a considerable relaxation must be thus obtained. In a certain degree their increased action gives a tone to the nerves; and we may therefore suppose that their relaxation produces an opposite state. In this way the effects on the nerves may be explained without supposing any immediate effect of the bath on the nervous system; and we thus see how moderate heat may relax, and a higher temperature give a tone to the nerves.

Two other opinions must be noticed. One of these is the general language of relaxing contracted ligaments, as if from the external action of warm water, the subjacent parts were macerated like the skin. There is not the slightest evidence of the fluid penetrating beyond the surface: indeed the oily fluid below the skin must prevent it; and from what has been said, its' immediate contact will appear to be unnecessary in the explanation of the effects of bathing.

Dr. Stevenson has attributed all the effects of warm bathing to a rarefaction of the blood; and this idea is supported by all the appearances of external fulness. The language is echoed in every medical work without careful examination. In fact, the blood is one of the least expansile fluids by heat which has ever been tried. Sauvages inclosed it in a thermometrical tube, and found that at 212° it did not expand 1/200 part. Haller exposed it to a still greater heat with the same result. Indeed the expansility of fluids follows no given law. AEther and quicksilver are nearly equal in this respect; at least, as we were informed by Dr. Black, who had tried the experiment, the difference was very inconsiderable.

In the cure of diseases, therefore, the beneficial effects of warm bathing are to be expected from its relaxing power; the increase of the circulation in the extreme vessels; with the perspiration excited and its general stimulus. In melancholy, its effects as a relaxant are most conspicuous; and in some spasmodic diseases without inflammation, particularly tetanus, it has been useful. In ileus it has been highly commended; but we have suspected that it hastens the progress of mortification, and are convinced that its free use has had injurious effects. Dr. Heberden, however, in the Medical Transactions, mentions the case of a woman who went into the bath nine times in one day, while labouring under an ileus in consequence of a hernia. In the spasmodic asthma of children it has been employed with success. In the croup also it has been commended, but scarcely any benefit has been derived from its employment.

Modern theory 'supposes a spasm on the extreme vessels to prevail in case of fevers; and warm bathing must, of course, be a remedy of importance. We are not prepared to discuss the question of the cause of fevers, but may remark, that the circulation during the paroxysm is not carried on in the smaller branches of the sanguiferous system. In intermittents it has consequently prevented the return of a fit; and in continued fevers it is often highly useful. In the beginning of continued fevers it is, however, less advantageous than in their decline; and in this state the bath must be supplied by the pediluvium, or, more commonly, by warm fomentations to the legs and thighs. In inflammatory fever it is less useful; yet at 98°, where the action of the heart and arteries is scarcely, if at all, increased, it may safely be employed; and Dr. Whytt, on the fourth day of this fever, has used it with advantage. In the latter period of typhus, when the low delirium occurs, it has been freely employed, and at least with some alleviation of the symptoms, if not with more decisive advantages; and should even inflammation have taken place in the brain, as it is of a less active kind, no injury is likely to result. Dr. Whytt supposes that fomentations are less useful than pedilu-via; but in the low state to which the patient is usually reduced before the bath is employed, the former are only admissible. It will be remarked, that in vapour greater heat can be borne than in water; and, consequently, when the fomentation is properly employed, the heat of the flannels is seldom less than 120° of Fahrenheit.