One instance out of many may be given here.
A gentleman of high position, who was more than 60 years of age, had an excessive aversion for water. When going out, every care was taken not to forget one of his indispensable wrappers; all possible and impossible colds, etc. could of course be the consequences of such a forgetfulness.
But above all other parts of his body, this gentleman's neck was so sensitive, that he scarcely knew how to take enough care of it or to wrap it up sufficiently. At last the „Barbarian" came upon him, and with a certain mischievous joy prescribed our cold full-baths. The gentleman obeyed. . And the consequences? They were exceedingly favorable. Even after a few days the first woolen shirt was stripped off; soon the second followed the first, and by and by the woolen wrappers for the neck shared the same fate. He felt himself so steeled against climate and weather by these baths, that the day on which he was prevented from taking one seemed to him but incomplete. And he took them not only in a non-heated room, but, even in October, during his daily walk, he took them in a river, the cold water of which was more welcome to him than that in the bath prepared for him at home.
The chief questions we have to answer are these:
1. In what condition, in what disposition must a healthy person be, to make use of such cold full-baths with good effect?
2. How long is a healthy person allowed to remain in the bath?
3. Which season is the best to begin this cure for hardening?
The good disposition for the cold full-bath requires chiefly that the whole body be perfectly warm. Therefore a person, who, by staying in a warm room, by working or walking is thoroughly warmed, is in the right condition.
The cold full-bath should never be taken when a person is cold, suffering from cold feet, or shivering; he must beforehand thoroughly warm himself by walking etc. On the contrary, when in a state of perspiration, when heated (I am speaking of healthy persons,) as it were bathed in perspiration, our full-bath may be taken without the least fear.
There is scarcely anything so much feared, even by quiet, thoughtful and intelligent men, as going into the cold water, when heated or perspiring freely. And yet, nothing is more harmless. Yea, I venture deliberately to assert, according to my experience of long years, that the greater the perspiration, the better, the more efficacious the bath.
Countless persons, who beforehand had thought that with such a „horse-cure" they must immediately get a stroke, have lost all fear, all anxiety, all prejudice after the first trial.
What man, when coming home from work with his face and hands bathed in perspiration, would have the least fear to wash them, perhaps even his chest and feet as well? Everyone does so; for it is very refreshing and comforting. Should not the effect on the whole body, as a necessary conclusion, be the same? Should a thing which is of excellent effect for single parts of the body, which is a benefit to them, be a disadvantage, an injury to the whole?
I believe that the fear of the bad effect of cold baths when taken in perspiration, proceeds from the facts that many persons, who, bathed in sweat, have suddenly come into the cold, or into the fresh air, especially into draught, have sometimes entirely ruined their health for life.
That is quite true. I own still more, namely that many persons in a state of perspiration, have got the germs of serious sufferings by the cold water. But which was to blame, the perspiration or the water? Neither! As with everything else in life, here also it depends before all not upon the „What", but upon the „How", i.e. in our case, how people in perspiration use the cold water. A delirious man can do unspeakable harm with a simple knife. Unreasonable application can turn the best gift to the greatest evil. It is only remarkable that in such cases, it is always the good gift which is condemned, and not the blamable misuse made of it. The whole then depends upon the „How" in application. If anyone is headstrong in this matter, he may also bear the consequences, which he has frivolously caused.
Now we come to the reply to the second question: How long may a healthy person remain in the cold full-bath?
A gentleman to whom I had ordered two such baths a week, came to me a fortnight afterwards, lamenting that his state had become much worse; he was like a lump of ice. His appearance was that of a great sufferer, and I could not understand how the water should, all at once, have left me in the lurch. I asked him, if he made the application strictly according to my prescription. His answer was: Most strictly; I have even done more than what you ordered me to do; instead of one minute, I have remained in the water for five minutes; but then I could not possibly get warm again." During the following weeks he made use of the baths in the right manner, and soon got back his former natural warmth and freshness.
This single case represents all the cases in which it is supposed that the water has done harm. It is not the water, but the application, which plays its part badly; it is the careless and inaccurate people who are the culprits. But, as is usually the case, the innocent water must bear the guilt.
The person who is about to take the cold full-bath, undresses quickly and lies down in the prepared bath for one minute. Should he be perspiring, he sits down in the bath, i.e. he goes into the water only up to the stomach and washes the upper part of his body quickly and vigorously. Then he dips under up to the neck for a moment, goes out of the water immediately, and redresses without drying, as quickly as possible. A laborer may take up his work again; others must (at least for a quarter of an hour) take exercise, until the body is thoroughly dry and properly warmed. It is quite a matter of indifference whether that be done in a room, or in the open air; for my part I always prefer the open air, even in autumn and winter.
Whatever you do, my dear reader, do it rationally, and never transgress the right measure! Moreover the number of applications of a full-bath should not, as a rule, surpass that of three a week.
When should I best begin with these full-baths?
The important work of hardening the body, or which is the same thing, of protecting it against diseases, of making it able to resist them, can never begin too early. Begin at once - to-day; but begin with easier practices (see means of hardening). Otherwise you would probably lose courage! You may begin with our cold full-bath, as soon as you are strong enough, perhaps after a short preparation; if you are weak, after a longer preparation, according to circumstances.
This is a very important chapter. Be careful not to try to force anything, immediately, suddenly, with the strongest remedies; this would be, at least, an act of imprudence.
A man, ill with typhus, was advised by his doctor to go into cold water for a quarter of an hour. He did so, but got such a chill afterwards that he naturally would have nothing to do with such a bath in future. He cursed such a remedy. The decision of the competent judge was simply, that after such an experience, applications of water could not be used by that patient anymore; besides the patient was already lost. With this sentence of death they came to me. I advised them to try the water again, but instead of a quarter of an hour, to let the patient remain in it for 10 seconds only (in and out); the effect must be different. No sooner said than done, and in a few days the patient was well again.
On such occurrences, I have always to struggle with the temptation, that the water is purposely applied in such a rugged, incomprehensibly violent way, in order to make people frightened at this wet were-wolf, instead of inspiring them with confidence in the water. I am a strange man, I know; therefore such fancies will, I trust, be pardonable in me.
Those who are in earnest, may after the application of means of hardening, begin with the ablutions of the whole body (see ablutions), and take them, provided