But the object of cold bathing, with many, is to harden; consequently it is not true that cleanliness is the only object.  If he means, even, that cleanliness is the only legitimate object of all bathing, I shall still be compelled to dissent.

If the cold bath could be used, always, by and with the direction of a skilful physician, I believe its occasional use might be rendered salutary.  And although as it is now commonly used, I believe its effects are almost anything but salutary, I do not deny that if its use were cautiously and gradually begun, and judiciously conducted, it might be the means of making children who are already robust, still more hardy and healthy than before, and better able to resist those sudden changes of temperature so common in our climate, and so apt to produce cold, fever, and consumption.

Cold bathing, in the hands of those who are ignorant of the laws of the human frame—­and such unfortunately and unaccountably most fathers and mothers are—­I cannot help regarding as a highly dangerous weapon; and therefore it is, that in view of the whole subject, I cannot recommend its general and indiscriminate use.

If there are individuals, however, who are determined to employ it, in the case of their more vigorous children, and without the advice or direction of their family physician, I beg them to attend to the following rules or principles, expressed as briefly as possible.

In no ordinary case whatever, is the cold bath useful, unless it is succeeded by that degree of warmth on the surface of the body which is usually called a glow.  This is a leading and important principle.  The contrary, that is, the injurious effects of cold bathing—­its immediate bad effects, I mean—­are shown by the skin remaining pale and shrivelled after coming out of the bath, by its blue appearance, and by its coldness, as well as by a sunken state of the eyes, and much general languor.

To secure this point—­I mean the GLOW—­it is indispensably important to begin the use of cold water gradually; that is, to use it at first of so high a temperature as to produce only a slight sensation of cold, and to take special care that the skin be immediately wiped very dry, and the temperature of the room be quite as high as usual.  Afterward the water may be cooled gradually, from week to week, though never more than a degree or two at once.

It will probably be unsafe to commence this practice of cold bathing—­even in the case of the most robust children—­until they are at least six months of age.

The appropriate season will be the middle of the forenoon, the hour when the system is usually the most vigorous, and at which we shall be most likely to secure a reaction.  At first, twice or three times a week are as often as it will be safe to repeat it.  Some writers recommend it twice a day; but once is enough, under any ordinary circumstances.