But as I am writing, not for persons under immediate excitement, but for those that may be reasoned with, it is proper to say, that in medicine, the warm bath is so often used in extreme cases, and as a last resort, even when death has already grasped, or is about to fix his grasp on the sufferer, that it would be very strange if many persons did not die, just after bathing.  But that the bathing itself ever produced this result, in one case in a thousand, there is not the slightest reason for believing. [Footnote:  Let me not be understood as intimating that, the general neglect of bathing, of which I complain so loudly, is chiefly owing to this unreasonable prejudice, though this no doubt has its sway.  On the contrary, I believe it is much oftener owing to ignorance, indolence, and parsimony.]

There are many more whims connected with bathing, as with almost everything else, which it were equally desirable to remove.  Some nurses and mothers think that if the child’s skin is wiped dry after bathing, it will impair, if not destroy, the good effects of the operation.  Others still, shocking to relate, will even put it to bed in its wet clothes; this, too, from principle.  Not unlike this, is the belief, very common among adults, that if we get our clothes wet—­even our stockings—­we must, by all means, suffer them to dry on us; a belief which, in its results, has sent thousands to a premature grave—­and, what is still worse, made invalids, for life, of a still greater number.

I am aware, that in rejecting the indiscriminate cold bathing of infants, I am treading on ground which is rather unpopular, even with medical men; a large proportion of whom seem to believe that the practice may be useful.  But I am not wholly alone.  Dr. Dewees—­of whose large experience I have already spoken—­and some others, do not hesitate to avow similar sentiments.

The objections of Dr. Dewees to cold bathing are the following. 1.  There often exists a predisposition to disease, which cold bathing is sure to rouse to action.  Or if the disease have already begun to affect the system, the bath is sure to aggravate it. 2.  Some children have such feeble constitutions that they are sure to be permanently weakened by it, rather than invigorated. 3.  To those in whom there is the tendency of a large quantity of blood to the head, lungs, liver, &c., it is injurious. 4.  In some, the shock produces a species of syncope, or catalepsy. 5.  The reaction, as shown by the heat which follows the cold bath, is, in some cases, so great as to produce a degree of fever, and consequent debility. 6.  It never answers the purposes of cleanliness—­one great object of bathing—­so well as the warm bath. 7.  It is always unpleasant or painful to the child; especially at first. 8.  It sometimes produces severe pain in the bowels.

This is a very formidable list of objections; and certainly deserves consideration.  There is one statement made by Dr. D. in the progress of his remarks on this subject, in which I do not concur.  He says—­“The object of all bathing is to remove impurities arising from dust, perspiration, &c., from the surface; that the skin may not be obstructed in the performance of its proper offices.”