Such was our life at the Water Cure:  a contrast as complete as might be to the life which preceded and followed it.  Speaking for ourselves, we should say that there is a great deal of exaggeration in the accounts we have sometimes read of the restorative influence of the system.  It wrought no miracle in our case.  A couple of months at the sea-side would probably have produced much the same effect.  We did not experience that extreme exhilaration of spirits which Mr. Lane speaks of.  Perhaps the soft summer climate of Surrey, in a district rather over-wooded, wanted something of the bracing quality which dwells in the keener air of the Malvern hills.  Yet the system strung us up wonderfully, and sent us home with much improved strength and heart.  And since that time, few mornings have dawned on which we have not tumbled into the cold bath on first rising, and, following the process by a vigorous rubbing with towels of extreme roughness, experienced the bracing influence of cold water alike on the body and the mind.

We must give some account of certain other baths, which have not come within our course latterly, though we have at different times tried them all.  We have mentioned the sitz-bath; here is its nature:—­

It is not disagreeable, but very odd:  and exhibits the patient in by no means an elegant or dignified attitude.  For this bath it is not necessary to undress, the coat only being taken off, and the shirt gathered under the waistcoat, which is buttoned upon it; and when seated in the water, which rises to the waist, a blanket is drawn round and over the shoulders.  Having remained ten minutes in this condition, we dried and rubbed ourselves with coarse towels, and after tea minutes’ walk, proceeded to supper with a good appetite.

The soothing and tranquillizing effect of the sitz is described as extraordinary:—­

In sultry weather, when indolence seems the only resource, a sitz of ten minutes at noon will suffice to protect against the enervating effect of heat, and to rouse from listlessness and inactivity.

If two or three hours have been occupied by anxious conversation, by many visitors, or by any of the perplexities of daily occurrence, a sitz will effectually relieve the throbbing head, anil fit one for a return (if it must be so) to the turmoil and bustle.

If an anxious letter is to be mentally weighed, or an important letter to be answered, the matter and the manner can he under no circumstances so adequately pondered as in the sitz.  How this quickening of the faculties is engendered, and by what immediate action it is produced, I cannot explain, and invite others to test it by practice.

I have in my own experience proved the sitz to be cogitatory, consolatory, quiescent, refrigeratory, revivificatory, or all these together.

Thus far Mr. Lane.  The Brause-bad is thus described by our old military friend:—­