THE VALUE OF HYDROTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF EPILEPSY.

Abstract

The position of hydrotherapy in the treatment of epilepsy may be considered as a means of cure; an auxiliary method of treatment; a method making it possible to administer considerably larger doses of bromids than usual; a method rendering it possible to reduce the dose of bromid to a minimum; and, finally, as an excellent hygienic measure favoring the action of the skin and improving the general tone. As a cure per se hydrotherapy is probably like all other medicines—it has been tried and found wanting. Notwithstanding the fact that the means employed consist of water, cold, warm or hot, in tubs, douches, sprays, vapor baths, hot air baths and compresses, a method permitting the widest variations in the form of treatment, it probably has rarely, if ever, cured, in and of itself, a case of genuine epilepsy. Cases have been reported cured, as is so frequently done after surgical