Warm Baths (90 degrees to 100 degrees F.) are frequently given to children for convulsions.  They should be placed in the tub and cold applied to the head, while the body is washed and rubbed.

Local baths and packs.—­For sprains, a foot bath.  For menstrual pain, a sitz bath.  The patient sits in the bath with only the thighs and part of the body immersed, while the upper part of the body and the feet are protected with blankets.  Sitting on a cane-seated chair over a steaming pail with a blanket around the neck and body gives a good bath for pain during menstruation.

Salt-water bath.  Tonic action.—­Nine to fourteen pounds of sea salt to fifty gallons of water will redden the skin and give an exhilarating effect.

Dry Salt Bath sent us with Mothers’ Remedies.—­“To a basin of water put a big handful of salt, take a Turkish towel and soak it in the salt water, wring out and let dry.  The salt will adhere to the towel.  Use to rub the body.  A tepid bath should be taken next day to remove the salt.”

Starch bath.—­Add eight ounces of laundry starch to each gallon of water.  This allays skin irritation.

Bran bath.—­Put the bran in a bag and allow this to soak in warm water for an hour before being used; or it may be boiled for an hour and then the fluid drained and added to the bath water.

Sponge bath.—­Water and soap should be ready.  Clothes to be put on, well aired and at hand.  Then remove the patient’s clothes and wrap him in an old blanket, expose only the part being washed at a time, wash and dry this part.  Begin with the face and neck, then the chest, abdomen, arms and back, and lastly the lower extremities.  Warm the water at least twice.  Then put on his clean, well aired clothes and into a clean bed, and the patient will bless you.

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Alcohol sponge bath.—­This is given the same way, only sixty per cent alcohol is used and the parts are allowed to dry themselves.

Tub bath (common).—­Prepare everything as to heat, etc.  Then carry the patient or assist him to the tub.  Soap him all over and pour water over him from a large pitcher.  The temperature of the water depends upon the disease.  One person should continually rub the patient in typhoid fever to keep up the circulation while the water is being poured over him.  A hot drink is given before and after these baths and the patient is wrapped immediately in warm flannel.

Patients are frequently put into a tub with a water temperature of 85 to 90 degrees, and then the water temperature decreased by adding cold water.  This bath must be carefully given.

The cold pack.—­It is used to reduce fever, delirium and extreme nervousness and to induce sleep.  Cover the bed with a rubber sheet or oilcloth, and over this a blanket.  Wring a sheet out of cold water and place this over the blanket.  Lay the patient on this sheet and wrap it around him so that every surface has the wet sheet next to it.  Tuck the sheet in well at the neck and feet.  Fold the outer blanket over the patient and tuck it in.  Lay a wet towel over the head, or he can be enveloped loosely in blankets and allowed to remain twenty minutes to an hour, only ten to fifteen minutes by the tucked-in method and then dried and put to bed.