The hot compress or hot-water bottle draws the blood away from the inflamed area to the surface temporarily; but unless the hot application is kept up continually, the blood, under the Law of Action and Reaction, will recede from the surface into the interior, and as a result the inner congestion will become as great as or greater than before.

If the hot applications are continued, the applied heat tends to maintain and increase the heat in the inflamed parts.

Inflammation means that there is already too much heat in the affected part or organ.  Common sense, therefore, would dictate cooling applications instead of heating ones.

The cold packs and compresses, on the other hand, have a directly cooling effect upon the seat of inflammation and in accordance with the Law of Action and Reaction their secondary, lasting effect consists in drawing the blood from the congested and heated interior to the surface, thus relaxing the pores of the skin and promoting the radiation of heat and the elimination of impurities.

Both the hot-water applications and the use of ice are, therefore, to be absolutely condemned.  The only rational and natural treatment of inflammatory conditions is that by compresses, packs and ablutions, using water of ordinary temperature, as it comes from the cold water tap.

By means of the simple cold-water treatment and fasting all fevers and inflammations can be reduced in a perfectly natural way within a short time without undue strain on the organism.

The Whole-Body Pack

The whole-body pack is most effective if by means of it the patient can be brought into a state of copious perspiration.  The pack is then removed and the patient is given a cold sponge bath.

It will be found that this treatment often produces a second profuse sweat which is very beneficial.  This aftersweat should also be followed by a cold sponge bath.

Such a course of treatment will frequently be sufficient to eliminate the morbid matter which has gathered in the system, and thus prevent in a perfectly natural manner a threatening disease which otherwise might become dangerous to life.

How to Apply the Whole-Body Pack

On a bed or cot spread two or more blankets, according to their weight.  Over the top blanket spread a linen or cotton sheet which has been dipped into cold water and wrung out fairly dry.  Let the blankets extend about one foot beyond the wet sheet at the head of the bed.

Place the patient on the wet sheet so that it comes well up to the neck, and wrap the sheet snugly around the body so that it covers every part, tucking it in between the arms and sides and between the legs.  It will be found that the sheet can be adjusted more snugly and smoothly if separate strips of wet linen are placed between the legs and between the arms and the sides of the body.

The blankets are now folded, one by one, upward over the feet and around the body, turned in at the neck and brought across the chest, the outer layers being held in place with safety pins.