ALL ABOUT HOT WATER.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume VI, Issue 35, 30 August 1890, Page 14

ALL ABOUT HOT WATER.

Hot water is good for other than cooking or washing purposes. Years ago we used to read and hear very often about the ‘cold water cure,’ but hot water too has curative qualities, and may safely be used as a remedy in some ordinary, everyday, and not dangerous cases of illness. It is a medicine within reach of all, and has the additional advantage of costing nothing, or at any rate, next to nothing. A simple gargle of hot water and a small quantity of table salt will do good in cases of catarrhal troubles, and if taken at the beginning of an ordinary cold will help to break it up. The same gargle is a remedy for sore throat accompanied by inflammation of the membrane at the back. Pain in the chest, caused by cold, may be greatly alleviated, and very often entirely removed by applying to the seat of the pain a flannel tightly wrung out of hot water and sprinkled with a few drops of tui pentine. For cramp in the stomach apply a flannel wrung out of hot water over the pained parts to bring relief. No turpentine has to be sprinkled in this case. When the stomach is out of order hot water will help to set it right again. Let the sufferer fast for a day — that the stomach may recruit itself by a rest—and take, at intervals during the day, a cupful of hot water. Such a cure is neither * far to seek ’ nor * ill to find.' Half a cupful of water—as hot as it can be sipped comfortably—taken half an hour before every meal, is a great assistance in most cases of that common and painful ailment, indigestion, or if sipped along with the food, it will assist the stomach to do the work demanded of it. Another trouble, more general, and which can be benefited by the use of hot water along with proper dietary, is constipation. It has been said by an authority that * a steady habit of hot water drinking, once formed and sustained for a few months, works wonders with certain constitutions.’