Miscellany

A writer n the New Haven Ilerald.n victim of t!ie ÍTydrnpathic House, Brntlleborougl), Vt., nfter givirig a very humorous account of ihc shivering n the plunge, the steaming in the wet shrets, and many other lively things of the vatery materia medien, winds ti p hfs correspondence with a most graphic description of tbe Douche Bath. THE DOUCHE. It would be nn injurious enor to suppose that nny of the more powerful modes of treatment, as the plungp, douche and running sitz, are ever a-p]ied in the first inance or abrupfly. On the controry, every onc of these is preluded by a cnreful preparstion, con.sisting of a graduated system of baths, beginning at 75 or 80 degrees, descending by one degree, evcry one, (wo or three d;iys, to tlie natural temperatore, rriost unnaturally cold ; just asan apothecary would slovvly increose doses of laudanum, drop by drop; and even when for any renson the treatment is for a while suspended, it is often recommenced in the same nvrnner as at first, nnd"fiiïaïïy, is as gradually terminated. There is no hrtste in letting us down into the pool of health, for here t lic waters arealway-a angel-stirred. Accordingly it must not be thought that the douche, ahout lo be described, is suddenly opplied to a weak invnlid, just out ofhisflannel bed-gowu nnd slippers. Yet ihough never administered so roughly us to endangor the health, it mny, in anology to cups and celomel, often hurt the feelings. After froni two wi-eks to two months of proparation, the pniient whoae case needs it, is promoted lo the douche, and is soon stppping ofF, with a proud lonk ,m his face, and a sheet on his nrm, bound for thé douche houses, half a rnüe distnnt, on ihe other sido of the ravine. - Fiere he begins with ihe very mild river douche, but without (bllowing him thro' ihe tiansitions'to the bose douche, to the middle douche,and l'rom that to the grand, extra notent, heavy wet,socdolnger douche, ivè wil! sketch liLs first interview with the latler. On bis wny there he meets a fellowsuiTerer, who aks, "Where away so fast, my friend?'1 "Congratúlate me, my good fellow, I'm going to the big one; to take it five minutes at the firs! start, is it reallv very bad to take?:' "O, no, l've just come f rom it; a mere bagatelle; but, hpre, as you are going xi for the first tim",I may as ell bid you good bye -for if ar:y tliiog should hippen it's a aütisfaction, you know. Good bye." He goes to n different house from any he bas yet entered, and opens a door, perceives he has made a mistake, and closes it qiifckly, but not before having a full view of truly a si range spectacle. , gpntlemnn, whose only clothing in actual vear is a pair of pantaloons downto-tlie-calves, dusty boots and nicely brushed hat, is s ale 1, navel deep, in a small square tiib, full of water, and with fdlded arms looks penuively at his ivatch. He is enJuring the running silz, so ca!led becaue t ie water is këpt at the louost teinperalure by means of a constant stream from a spring near by, conducted in at the bottom nnd by anolher stream cnrried off" from near thb top of the tub. It is usually taken fom ten to twenty minutes, nnd is esteemed by tnany the most comforting of all the baths. The water never being warmed by the body, it is the same thing as making your seat in a spring, and fully comes up to the idea of 'cold comfort.' Verily, this same running siíz issomething worth mentioning in July. Thomas Carlyle would like it - no doubt he would, for he loves everything that is not a sham, and this is no sham, by no nieans, but a stern renüty. Our "live subject" enters the right door. nnd commences "to prepare his body and compose his mind for the operaron. As he undresses, he s.-rews up his resolution by calling tl mind the büld cleeds of ancient héroes, and particularly those of our revolutionary ancestors - how Stony Poinf was stormed, how old Put entered the vvolf's den, and how Samuel Patch jumped off the talls. but his mind coníinually reverta to a crlculation in hydrostatics, to wit - if a column of water 'so big,' and fiftecn feet high, comes down with such force, what must be the power of one twice as large and twentyfive feet high. Meanwhile Mrs. Bemis, a dame of forty-five who does up the part of nyrnph of the fountains, has let on the water, and it roars and splashes in the inner dungeon like a demon roaring for his victim. Our subject, thinking his time has come, takes his bandages in hand. casis a glance at the watch to time bimself, presses his wife's daguerreotype to his lips, and opens ihe door; but it is nJt yet his turn- another man is "taking it," and our livesubjech is aghast al the sight of a bnny Apollo sprawüng on his hands nnd knees on the iloor, who, with teelh fmnly set, s rcceiving the spout on the small of the back. The effect of the stream pouring into the room isto make the airas cokl as winter and though it was July outside,by the time you are undressed, ar.d stand in expectant dread on the threshold, it has become January. The room is high and dark; the steps by which you descend into it ave hacked with the axe, telling of ice chopppcl awny ix mid winter. - The stream has come fresh from the cold bowela of mother earth nnd sees no daylighttill it lights on the subject! should6r. The sight before him takesaway all onr friend's resolution, and nothing bui the ihoughthat he has come a thousand miles expressly to be subjected to the mercies oflhis water Moloch, and the thoiight that if anything short of the ultimate trumpet can arou.se historpid liver to healthy action, this thing must do it, the fear of ridicule, and the hope of a crisis, keeps up his nerves. Now the bony Apollo dashes out, and our friend is lefl alone in thal dismal den, alone with that douche and his own conscience. - Me flings down his bandages, clasps his hands, and raising them as in supplicalion over his head, steps beneath the spout, which he receives first on his hands thus clasped; this is to break the stream into a kind of shower-bath, which wets him all over at the oulset. lie then rece ves it successively on all parts oftl:e body but the head, chest, stomacb, abdomen and calves of the legs; all other parts now feel the full furce of this 'heavy wet' in a way !hat calis for some litle effort to keep the breath of life in the lungs. Whatever calculations in hydrostatics he mny have made, he now realizes for the first time the full force of the theory. Talk of a thotisand of brick! It's no sort of a simile for the way in which this wüter comes down upon him. Most relentless douche! Persevertog torrrent I - Magnificent waier power, to set the wheels of Life in motion! who can feel it and doubt the potency of water to cure or kill, or Bot look wi:h contempt on the impotence of phials and pill-boxes? - Down, right down t comes, bearing its victim tothe iloor, cudgellingthe shouklers, thundering down the back, knocking agiinst the short rit, grinding along thespine as ifa big rasp was filing away the points of the back bone, bastinadoing the feet, feruling the hands, and making all parts to tingle as ifa pudding stick of extra power were renewing the corporal punishment ot his school-boy days. The whole surface is soon excited to vigorous action, every organ is afoused, and all the fluids of the system are set cöUrsing like mad through the capillaries into even the uttermost corner of the litlle toe. The morbid humors, beaten up in all their lurking places, rush hither and yon, lo escape through the poresor burst forth like lava in violent boils. Afier dressing there is a walk to be taken, usuaily the longest oftheday,to expend the surplus strength derived from this to-;ic of all tonics. In cold wenther you are impelled to put your legs to their very best speed. In Summer, and especially in such weather ns we have now, the sensation as you go out into the ovenlike atmosphere is really droll. The sun basks down upon you as if it mistook you for a loaf of dough, and the hot steam from the ear'.h rises up on every side; as you pass by the iields, the mower lazily wliets his scythe, to excuse his conscience from mowing, the cows lazily chetv their cuds in the shade, and the wlld-flowers drowsily droop their heads anJ close their eyes; all things teil of heat and extreme lassitude,yet you, yourself, are fresh, coo!, without perspiration add vigorous. The glistening atmosphere is only a luxurious hot air bath, and you stride along on the 'four mile circuit,' snufiiing the clover brealh, as briskly as one who of a cool autum morning " Brushes with hiisiy steps the (ew awajr, To meet ihe sun upon the up!and lawn."