| 29 April |
This little boy started to go down with a fever in the morning and was sponged with cool water on and off through the day. In the late afternoon the temperature began to rise again, so an Epsom salts bath was tried. He went to sleep after that until seven p.m., when he awoke with a raging fever. The temperature taken from the arm pit registered 102° F. The wet pack was suggested. The child’s parents tried a slightly different variation of this treatment, but we record it here to show that the particular method is not as important as the general compliance with principle. For the sake of recognition, we will call it a cold compress. This will reduce a fever in the same way as the wet sheet, but only part of the body is covered at one time. Just like the wet sheet pack, in the cold compress the cloth must be removed as soon as it warms up and replaced with another cold cloth.
These parents understood the principle and worked at it in their own way for their child. First they placed him on a blanket; then they took a wet tea towel, folded it in four, and placed this down the front of his body. Next, a hot water bottle was put at his feet, and he was then wrapped up in the blanket. To quiet his fears, the parents assured him that they were doing all they could to relieve his troubles and sang hymns to help calm him. He soon responded to this soothing influence and allowed them to work away on him. It took three applications of the wet towel before his temperature dropped to 100° F. After the third application to the front, they rolled him over onto his stomach and applied the wet towel to his back. This time it did not take so long to bring the temperature down, and he was soon cool all over. He was relaxed, and it was easy to see that he had relief at last. The temperature did not rise again. He slept well that night and was soon over his problem.
*9\62\2*


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