Swimming in salt water is more invigorating than in fresh. Apart from the different quality of the two waters, the battling with the waves in the former case is more exhilarating, and the sea breezes, blowing upon the body, carry with them health and strength. Every one must have noticed the increased softness and beauty of the skin and the greater lustre of the hair after a sojourn at the seaside.

It may be serviceable next briefly to detail the different baths in common use as well as those most often directed by physicians, with some reference to their effects upon the system.

Concerning temperature, the bath may be: -

1. Cold, temperature 50 to 65°F.

2. Cool, temperature 65 to 75°F.

3. Temperate, temperature 75 to 85°F.

4. Tepid, temperature 85 to 92°F.

5. Warm, temperature 92 to 98°F.

6. Hot, temperature 98 to 112°F.

When giving a cold bath, strip the child in a warm room, and rub him thoroughly with the palm of the hand until the whole body, especially the spinal region, is warm. Let him then stand in a tub containing enough hot water to cover the feet, and sponge him rapidly with cold water. The temperature of the latter must never be below 50°F., and 65° is usually cold enough. The addition of half an ounce of rock salt or a tablespoonful of concentrated sea water to the gallon, renders it more stimulating and insures a complete reaction. After sponging, the surface must be thoroughly and quickly dried with a soft towel and rubbed with the open hand until aglow.

This bath, provided the degree of cold does not exceed the resisting powers of the child, is a powerful tonic, producing rapid tissue changes and increasing nutrition. Should the water be too cold, or the sponging continued too long, reaction does not follow the primary shock, and the result is fatigue, exhaustion, or even dangerous prostration. This bath, therefore, must be used with caution and only under a physician's advice. The cases in which it is of most service are those in which there is a sluggish circulation with poor appetite and feeble digestion; in which the nutrition is impaired, as in rickets, and in certain spasmodic nervous disorders.

A cooled bath is sometimes prescribed, and may be employed with advantage in conditions attended with very high fever. The child is first immersed in water at 95°, and this is gradually lowered to 70° by the addition of cold water, the process occupying from fifteen to thirty minutes.

Analogous to this bath is the cold pack. Fold a sheet in such a way as to be long enough to extend from the child's arm-pit to his feet, and wide enough to encircle completely his body; dip it in water at 90° and lay it smoothly upon a cot, the mattress of which must be protected by a rubber mackintosh. When all is in readiness, place the child upon the sheet, and wrap it around his body and legs. A blanket must then be thrown over the sheet and the pack left undisturbed for ten minutes. Then lift the child out quickly and envelop him in a warm blanket and allow him to remain at rest for some little time.

In the absence of the physician, sponging with water at a temperature of 85 to 95° is the only safe bath to employ to reduce temperature. In giving this bath, strip the child and place him in bed between blankets, while the nurse, inserting her hand between, must pass a damp sponge slowly over the surface. Five to ten minutes may be consumed in this operation, although if the child complain of chilliness, discontinue the sponging at once; a sensation of cold, too, indicates the use of warmer water. The operation may be repeated several times daily, or as often as every two hours in urgent cases, and when the heat reduction is of short duration.

The hot bath, 98 to 112°, is employed for various purposes - to relieve nervous irritability, to promote sleep, to produce sweating, and to draw the blood to the surface in the event of congestion of some internal organ. Whether a full bath or merely a foot bath be required, five minutes is sufficient time for immersion; then, with or without drying, according to the degree of sweating desired, the whole body, or only the feet and legs in case of a foot bath, must be enveloped in a blanket, and the child put to bed. To render these baths more stimulating, a teaspoonful to a tablespoonful of mustard flour may be added, and the child held in the water until the arms of the nurse begin to tingle. The hot bath is purely stimulating, and it is important not to continue it too long, lest the primary and only desirable effect be followed by depression.

The blanket bath is useful in producing perspiration. Wring a blanket out of hot water and wrap it around the child: then throw three or four dry blankets over him and leave him for half an hour. Rub the body then with a soft towel to absorb the moisture thoroughly, and keep the child in bed.

There are several medicated baths in frequent domestic use, which it may be useful to describe.

Mustard Bath. - Take from two teaspoonfuls to two tablespoonfuls of mustard flour; hot water, two to four gallons.

In the form of a foot bath it produces sweating and determines the blood to the surface. As a general bath it acts as a powerful stimulant.

Salt-water Bath. - Take four tablespoonfuls of rock salt, or Ditman's sea salt, or concentrated sea water; water, warm or cool, according to season, four gallons.

To be used as a general bath every morning in chronic tuberculosis, scrofula, rickets, and general debility. Bath to be followed by thorough rubbing of the surface, especially over the spine.

Bran Bath. - Take one pint of bran; tie up in a muslin bag, place in a quart of water, boil for an hour, squeeze bag thoroughly into the water, and add to four gallons of warm water.

Useful in eczema and other skin diseases.

Soda Bath. - Take one tablespoonful of bicarbonate of sodium; warm water, four gallons.

Used in skin affections.