The next and last Gymnastick Method I proceed to, is the Use of the Cold Bath; if any should wonder to find me rank this, among the several sorts of Exercise, they may consider, that it was ever reputed for one among the Ancients, and not without Reason; since it makes the Spirits recoil, and act with more united Vigour, upon the Subject-matter of the Disease, and so a Cure may be made by them alone, without any Medicinal Virtue, receiv’d through the Pores, as in other outward and Topical Applications; this comes up to the Notion of an Exercise, because it enables Nature to accomplish the Work of Healing her self.

I shall not attempt to account for the Advantages of this Practice, because that has been done already so copiously by Sir John Floyer and Dr. Baynard, and the World has already begun to experience the good Effects of it, and there are Examples enough, every where known, to justifie the recourse to it, in the Cases to which I apply it; and ’tis to be hop’d now, that Men will begin to consider the Folly and Mischief of the too warm Regimen, which in health does often prepare ’em for Sickness, and in Sickness does often increase the Disease, and hasten Death, a Regimen which would be much more proper, for one that is to have a sudden passage into a warm Country, than for us who are to prepare our selves for the bearing of the Cold; a thing which we cannot fly from, and therefore ought to resist it; and which is not so formidable or dangerous, as for a great while has been thought. The Inhabitants of this Nation formerly went Naked, and were more Healthy than we are now; and the People of Canada, and all the Cold Continent behind Newfoundland, go much after the same manner, without any Inconvenience from it, but are rather fortifi’d against the Accidents they would be subject to, if their Pores were too much open’d and relax’d by too much warmth; and we may very well distinguish the Rational, from the Savage Part, by as thin a Habit as Decency will permit. It is a strange thing, that People should be fond of suppling their Skins, and keeping their Pores too open; as if a Man did not as really perspire, when there is no sensible Moisture upon the Skin, tho’ not so much, as when he is all bedew’d with Exhalations, which should not be sent out in so great Quantity, but upon brisk Exercise. If Men knew how much Sweat impairs the Skin, and inclines it to wrinkle, as Sanctorius tells us in one of his Aphorisms, they would be fully perswaded, that Nature can make her Discharges by finer and better ways, than those which are so perceptible, and that Flannel is scarce necessary or convenient on this side Old Age. The nervous parts of the Skin have certainly a very great Elasticity, and are capable of being strengthned by good and suitable Management, even to a Habit, as well as those of other Parts; and we see, that when the Glands of the Skin do throw out a very sensible quantity of Sweat in some particular Parts, these Parts grow accustom’d to the Air, or other Moisture, and receive little or no hinderance in their discharges from it; as we see the Palms of the Hands shall sweat copiously, notwithstanding the External Air immediately striking upon ’em; and none are more Strong and Healthy, than those who are wont to have their Feet wet without changing their Shooes and Stockings for it. The Stomach plac’d in the midst of the Body, and consequently exquisitely warm, is so adapted, as to bear large Draughts of the Coldest Liquor, without the least Damage, unless the Body has been extremely heated; and tho’ its Office seems to require great and continual Heat, yet it is not obstructed in it, by the admission of Cold things, nor are its Glands benumn’d or constring’d, so as to hinder the Secretion of digesting Juices; and can we suppose the Fabrick of the Skin less perfect, and exquisite, when by its position it is to be immediately subject to the effects of the External Air? Can we think its Vessels are not endu’d with a strength sufficient to answer the Force and Weight of the incumbent Air? And its Glands of such a make, as that the Particles they strain shall be of so fine a Texture as to pass the Skin, when it seems to us to be too close to permit any transition? We make but indifferent use of a very good Theory, that Sanctorius has furnish’d us with, if we give way to these Thoughts, and encourage too frequently the promoting of Sensible Perspirations; which, be they in never so small a degree, are the effect of some Violence upon Nature, and consequently not to be compar’d with the other more Even and Regular Secretion.

Besides, we may argue from the Effects of too much Heat, and from the Distempers of Hot Countries, to instance but in one Disease (which when it seizes any one among us, their chiefest Care is to be secur’d from the Cold,) and that is the Colick, which is the Epidemical Distemper of Hot Countries, not of Cold, and so common at Surat, that about Noon the whole Town shall smell of Assa Foetida, which they mix in most of their Dishes, to preserve ’em from that Tormenting Distemper, which the Heat of the Air does not exempt ’em from, but exposes ’em to it, by rarefying the Blood and Humours, and opening their Pores; by which Method I don’t doubt but many a one among us has brought an Accidental Colick to be habitual; for being scar’d by the first Fit, they have endeavour’d to secure themselves from another, by these very Means which prove most likely to bring it on. If any one thinks this strange, let ’em remember what hapned when Muffs were worn universally, some Men were wont to let ’em hang upon their Bellies for the most part; and I have heard a Healthy Man complain, that upon leaving off his Muff for a day or two after such a Custom, he has been grip’d; from which any one in the World will infer, that the keeping the Part too warm, prepar’d it for the Ill Effect of the Air, and that the same may happen in any part of the whole Body; so that it is a Folly for People, in most Cases where the Lungs are not concern’d, to nurse up a Distemper, which was at first perhaps in great part owing to a tender way of living, and by continuing that Course of Life, must be rather encreas’d than perfectly rooted out. A great deal more might be urg’d, if my Scope would permit me, to induce People to believe the good effects that will follow upon the Exercising themselves in bearing Cold.

I shall proceed next to shew, what was the Opinion of the Antients, concerning Exercise in the Cure of several Distempers, and shall collect their Sentiments as briefly as possible; that as in a Sketch they may appear at one View.