An animal bath or ''balneum animale'' is a medical treatment in which the skin or carcass of a freshly slaughtered animal is wrapped around the patient. The idea was that the

vitality Vitality (, , ) is the capacity to live, grow, or develop. Vitality is also the characteristic that distinguishes life, living from non-living things. To experience vitality is regarded as a basic psychological drive and, in philosophy, a comp ...

of the animal might be transferred to the patient and the warmth of the treatment may have had some therapeutic effect. The treatment has been used since antiquity and was thought to be effective for vulnerable newborn babies and

lameness A limp is a type of asymmetric abnormality of the gait. Limping may be caused by pain, weakness, neuromuscular imbalance, or a skeletal deformity. The most common underlying cause of a painful limp is physical trauma; however, in the absence ...

. One notable patient treated in this way was the young

Kaiser Kaiser ( ; ) is the title historically used by German and Austrian emperors. In German, the title in principle applies to rulers anywhere in the world above the rank of king (). In English, the word ''kaiser'' is mainly applied to the emperors ...

whose left arm was palsied from birth. The arm was placed in the body of a freshly slaughtered

hare Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores and live Solitary animal, solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are precociality, able to fend for themselves ...

for 30 minutes twice a week to encourage it to grow normally.

References

Balneotherapy {{medicine-stub