CHAPTER II.

THE VARIETIES OF BATHS.

The _tepid_ bath has a temperature of from 85° to 92° Fahr., the _warm_ bath a temperature between 92° and 98° Fahr., and the _hot_ bath a temperature of from 98° to 112° Fahr.

The _cool_ bath has a temperature from 60° to 75° Fahr., and the _cold_ bath is of a temperature below 60° Fahr., downwards to the freezing point of water.

Hot or cold water may be used locally. We are familiar with the hip-bath and foot-bath, and occasionally we meet with baths of a special shape, made for the reception of the arms or hands, in cases where their local treatment has been deemed necessary.

Various plans have been devised for increasing the stimulating effect of water. One method of attaining this object is by keeping the water constantly in motion, as is done in the so-called _wave bath_, common in some parts of the Continent. Another way is by so increasing the size of the bath that the patient is able to move freely in it. In a big bath, not only is the good effect of exercise able to be added to that of bathing, but the concussion of the water on the surface of the body, and the constant change of the stratum of water in contact with the body vastly increases the power of the bath in influencing the temperature and stimulating the skin.

The best of all baths is the _swimming bath_, for in it the bather can indulge in a free exercise of his limbs, such as is hardly attainable under any other circumstances. Swimming is a very valuable exercise, because it employs the arms equally with the legs, and leads to a healthy development of the muscles of the chest. Nearly all good swimmers are big chested.

The _douche_ is a name given to a stream of water, either hot or cold, which is made to fall heavily or with force upon a part. It acts partly by the force of mechanical impact, and partly by its temperature. It is a very exhausting method of treatment, and must on no account be used too long. A column of water 12 feet high, allowed to fall upon the head, is so painful that Esquirol, who submitted to it, described it as resembling the continued breaking of a column of ice on the head, followed by a feeling of stupefaction, which lasted an hour afterwards. The douche was formerly much used in lunatic asylums, and was regarded as a specific against delusions, the unhappy creature possessed by delusive ideas being held beneath the douche until he recanted; and such was the agony thus caused, that the mere threat of the douche was often sufficient to control the wildest of maniacs. Those who have undergone the process of “shampooing the head,” as practised by the hair-dressers of our time, will remember the effect of a stream of cold water allowed to flow upon the head for too long a time.

The most powerfully stimulating action is obtained by the use of the _Scottish Douche_, which consists in the alternate use of streams of cold and hot water. By the hot stream the “reaction” after the cold stream is greatly encouraged. In most of the swimming baths to be found on the Continent, a pump is provided, in order that a patient may himself apply the douche to any joint requiring it, and at the same time encourage his reactive glow, by the exercise of pumping.

In most great bathing establishments two douches at least are provided, one called the _descending douche_, which may be applied to the head, shoulders, trunk, or limbs; and the other called the _ascending douche_, which is designed for throwing a stream of water into the bowel, a method of treatment which is advocated for conditions which it is unnecessary to discuss in this place.

_Hot and cold affusion_ are merely mild forms of the douche.

The _shower bath_ differs from the douche only in the division of the stream of water by causing it to flow through a suitable colander. This method of treatment is severe and exhausting, and must be used with caution, especially with weakly people.

The _needle bath_ is merely a general shower bath. The bather stands within a coil of pipes which are finely perforated, and the water impinges in finely divided streams simultaneously upon every part of the body. It is a powerful general stimulant.

The _rain bath_ consists in the letting fall of large drops of water from a great height upon the part which it is wished to affect.

_Packing with the wet sheet_ is a mode of applying water to the body which is the very reverse of some of the methods which we have been considering, since the stimulating action of the water is reduced to a minimum, and we get the refrigerating action only. It makes very little difference whether the sheet used be moistened with hot or cold water, since the temperature of the skin and the sheet very rapidly approximate in any case, and the more rapid evaporation of the hot water speedily induces a degree of cold quite equal to that of the cold sheet. The patient should be stripped naked and should lie upon a single blanket, the bed being protected by a mackintosh sheet placed between the blanket and the mattress. He is then enveloped in the wet sheet. If a maximum amount of refrigeration is desired he is left uncovered so that evaporation may be encouraged. If, on the other hand, we wish to encourage the action of the skin, several blankets are placed over the sheet.

Having discussed the various methods of using water as such for the purposes of bathing, we may next turn our attention to the _vapour bath_, which is a favourite method of making use of warmth and moisture. Here and there throughout the world there are to be found natural vapour baths; but, as generally employed, the vapour bath is a very simple contrivance indeed, merely consisting of an apparatus for conducting the steam of a kettle into a confined space in which the patient sits. The head of the patient may be either placed in the bath or not, and the effects of the bath may be expected to differ according as the steam is inhaled into the lungs or not. The domestic vapour bath may consist of a flannel steam-proof cloak, which is worn by the patient, while beneath the chair on which he sits is placed a small portable kettle heated by spirits of wine for the formation of the steam. If the bather is unable to sit up, the steam may, with very great ease, be conducted beneath the blankets of a bed. The vapour bath can be borne much hotter than the water bath, the temperature varying between 120° Fahr. and 150° Fahr. The loading of the atmosphere with vapour, checks, or rather prevents, the natural evaporation of the perspiration, so that while the body is very strongly heated by the steam, the natural methods of cooling the body are arrested. From this it will be gathered that the power of the vapour bath to raise the body heat is very considerable, and indeed the temperature of the blood has been known to rise as much as 5° Fahr. during a bath. This power of raising the temperature of the body causes a very profuse perspiration, so that the vapour bath is recognised as one of the quickest and most effectual means of producing a copious action of the skin. The vapour bath can be locally applied in a very manageable way, and there is no difficulty in contriving an apparatus, by means of which the legs alone, or one arm, or one leg, may be subjected to the action of the vapour. If a quick reaction is desired a cold douche may be added to the steam, and the so-called _Russian vapour bath_ consists of a vapour bath of high temperature followed by a cold douche.

_Air baths_ are baths from which we never escape except when we are taking a water bath, our bodies naturally being always surrounded by a layer of the atmosphere. _Cold-air baths_ are not much employed, although they have been recommended; and we have heard of persons who have sought to stimulate their skins and circulation by running naked in the open air. The _hot-air bath_ has always, at least since the days of ancient Rome, been a favourite luxury and means of treating disease; these baths, which are also called Russian or Turkish baths, consist really in a succession of processes, which, in the best establishments, are as follows: The bather is received at a barrier, where he is relieved of his boots and provided with check napkins in which to swathe himself while bathing. Passing the barrier he arrives at the tepidarium, a room of Eastern design, which attracts him by its coolness, quietness, and cleanliness. A marble basin, filled with water, into which a jet of water from a fountain falls with a soothing splash, occupies the centre, while all round are divans for reclining and conveniences for dressing and undressing. Through a Moorish arch at the end a glimpse is caught of the sudatorium, separated by a plate-glass partition from the tepidarium. Stripping himself naked and donning his checks, the bather passes into the sudatorium, an apartment with a domed roof, and having a marble floor and red-brick walls. The temperature of this room is about 120° or 150°, and here the bather sits, reading or otherwise amusing himself until perspiration is fully advanced. If perspiration is not free it may be encouraged by a draught of cool water, which will be tendered him by an attendant. If perspiration is slow in its advance, the heat of the room causes discomfort. Some burning of the skin, quickness of the heart’s action, and occasionally a throbbing tensive headache. A drink of water generally has the effect of causing the whole surface to bead with moisture, and then a sense of comfort succeeds to discomfort. Perspiration being fairly started it may be still further encouraged by removing into a still hotter apartment (of which there are three) varying in temperature from about 150° Fahr. to 210° Fahr. In these hot rooms (where it is necessary to wear thick list slippers to prevent the feet being scorched by the hot marble) the perspiration, in some persons, streams off the body, and when sufficient perspiratory action has been allowed, the bather returns to the body of the sudatorium, and, reclining on a marble slab, he is shampooed by an attendant. Next the whole surface is thoroughly washed with hot soap and water and the skin rubbed with a horse-hair glove; lastly, the process is finished by the application of cold water, which is done in one of two ways, either by the application of the cold douche, or by diving beneath the glass screen which separates the sudatorium from the tepidarium into the marble basin which fills the centre of the latter apartment. This done the bather is rubbed dry, and then indulges for half an hour in the _dolce far niente_, while he reclines on a divan, reads the paper, sips a cup of coffee and smokes a cigarette. As to the value of the Turkish bath we will speak hereafter, and we will content ourselves in this place by warning the bather not to “overdo” it. He should be guided by his sensations, and should not be tempted to go into this room or that room, or submit to this or that process merely because a friend does so with benefit, or without harm. He must remember that constitutions differ, and if the bath is followed by headache, or a feeling of faintness or lassitude or a want of appetite, he should take this as a warning that the treatment has been too heroic. The strongest Turkish bath is that in which the bather spends his time in the hottest room and finishes with the douche (a process which few can stand); the milder bath is that in which the highest temperature submitted to is about 140°, and the dive into the basin is taken in lieu of the douche. Those who take a Turkish bath for the first time should limit themselves to its milder form.

_Mineral Baths_ are baths composed of water in which a considerable quantity of mineral matter has been dissolved, either by natural or artificial processes. It must be remembered that ordinary water is very far from pure, and that even rain-water, the purest of all natural waters, contains a considerable number of saline ingredients dissolved in it. Spring-water or river-water is very largely impregnated with matter which it has dissolved. The water of London contains from 18 to 20 grains of chalk in solution in each gallon, besides other ingredients. The chief of all “mineral waters” is sea-water, and it is necessary that we should examine its composition somewhat closely. The specific gravity of sea-water is 1027, and the quantity of salt dissolved in it ranges from 3·5 to 4 per cent., being least in the Black Sea and the Baltic, and most in the Mediterranean. The following is the composition of the water of the English Channel:--

Water 963·8 Chloride of sodium (common salt) 28·0 Chloride of potassium 0·8 Chloride of magnesium 4·0 Sulphate of magnesia (Epsom salt) 2·0 Sulphate of lime 1·4 Bromide of magnesia } Carbonate of lime } Iodines } Traces. Ammonia } Oxide of iron } ------- 1,000·0 -------

Sea-bathing is a very popular form of the natural bath, and it is preferable to bathing in river-water or spring-water, because the sea is seldom so cold as are the latter. A sea-bath has also another great advantage over all other forms of bath, and that is that it is taken in the purest air possible; and in considering the effects of sea-bathing it is impossible to separate the effects of sea-air from that of the sea-water. The sea-bather is also constantly inhaling the spray of the sea-water, and thus obtains whatever benefit is to be got in this way. If he can swim he enjoys all the benefit of exercise. The motion of the water and the buffeting he gets from the waves act as a powerful excitant to the skin, and lastly, the salt in the water adds considerably to the stimulating action. Reaction more readily occurs after a sea-bath than after a river-bath, and thus the liability to “catch cold” is less, although the popular belief that it is impossible to take cold from a wetting with salt water is far from being true. Besides the water of the sea, there are many other _natural salt waters_ which have a great reputation both for bathing and drinking. These salt waters, which may be got of all strengths, from a strong natural brine to a water in which the salt is scarcely recognisable, all owe their stimulating power, as does sea-water, to the chloride of sodium (common salt) and other chlorides which they contain. Salt-water baths, or sool baths as they have been called, act as powerful stimulants to the skin, and have a very great reputation in Germany and other places, where the only seaboard is the ungenial northern coast.

There are many _natural mineral waters_ which contain ingredients other than common salt, and all of these are much used for bathing. We shall give some details of these when we come to speak of bathing resorts, and at present we shall content ourselves by giving merely a rough classification of them.

1. Many waters issue from the ground at a temperature sufficiently hot, or even too hot (e.g. the geysers in Iceland) for bathing. Some of these natural hot waters contain very small quantities indeed of mineral matters, and these are known as _indifferent thermal springs._

2. Mineral waters containing common salt have been already alluded to. They are known as _salt springs._

3. The so-called _alkaline springs_ contain as their chief ingredient carbonate of soda. These waters are more used for drinking than for bathing. The alkali which they contain helps undoubtedly to soften the skin of the bather, and acts probably also as a stimulant to the surface.

4. The waters containing bitter _purgative salts_, such as Epsom salt or Glauber’s salt, owe their reputation almost entirely to their power when taken internally. When used for bathing it is probable that these natural solutions of purgative salts are more stimulating to the skin than ordinary water.

5. The natural _chalybeate waters_, or waters containing iron, are but little used for bathing, and it is exceedingly unlikely that the iron contained in the water has any effect upon the bather.

Although we have classified the waters, and have used that classification which is generally adopted, it must be remembered that the ingredients of waters are always multiple, and we usually find that they contain alkaline salts, purging salts, iron salts, and brine salts mixed together, so that it is difficult sometimes to determine which is the predominating ingredient, and therefore to which class a mineral water properly belongs. All water contains gas of some kind dissolved in it, and it is well known that a glass of ordinary spring water may be seen to contain bubbles of gas which adhere to the sides of the glass, or come “winking at the brim.” The gases which waters principally contain are atmospheric air, nitrogen, carbonic acid, and sulphuretted hydrogen, and great stress has been laid upon the presence in bathing waters of the three last-named gases.

The action of bubbles of gas contained in water is, in part at least, easy to understand. These bubbles give great mobility to the water, and thus the particles of water in contact with the skin are incessantly changing. Gas is soon driven out of water by the application of heat, and it is only the cooler of the thermal springs which remain charged with any considerable quantity of gas after the natural pressure, to which they have been subjected in the earth, has been removed.

The bubbles of gas, contained in the various gaseous waters, resting upon the surface of the body, produce an agreeable sensation of mild stimulation not unlike that which we feel when the surface of the body is gently tickled. The gaseous baths belong necessarily to the category of cool baths, and it is important to remember that waters which have been boiled no longer retain any gas, which is all expelled during the process of ebullition. When a gaseous water issues from the earth at a temperature too low for bathing purposes, it is very important that the water should be heated only to the temperature required for bathing, which is generally between 60° Fahr. and 98° Fahr. This is effected usually by means of a coil of hot water or steam-pipes beneath the bottom of the bath, and, by turning a tap, the bath attendant can produce any temperature which may be desired in a very short time. Water which has been previously _boiled_ or _heated to a high temperature_, and has been allowed to cool to fit it for bathing purposes, contains very little or no gas, and cannot be regarded as constituting a gaseous bath. Intending bathers should inquire very carefully into the manner of heating baths at these establishments. If the natural gaseous water be collected in reservoirs, and be allowed to lie in these reservoirs for any length of time before being used for the baths, the greater part of the contained gas will escape, and there will be a great discrepancy between the actual condition of the water used and the published analysis of such water.

It is exceedingly unlikely that either carbonic acid or nitrogen contained in water is absorbed by the skin. The effect of these gaseous baths is due to their physical condition only (at least we have no satisfactory evidence to the contrary), and in no way to the absorption of the contained gases. Carbonic acid is only absorbed by the skin under the influence of great pressure, and when thus absorbed it produces a poisonous effect.

At some bathing establishments, so-called baths of pure carbonic acid are administered, the patient being made to sit in a reservoir of the pure gas, but, of course, with his head out. We have also seen arrangements for directing a jet of carbonic acid gas upon different regions of the body, but we should be sorry to hazard any opinion as to the _modus operandi_, or the results of such a practice.

In an ordinary water-bath, strongly impregnated with carbonic acid, there is occasionally some danger of too much gas escaping, and being consequently inhaled in undue quantities by the occupant of the bath.

_Sulphur baths_, or baths impregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas, and having the well-known and offensive odour of rotten eggs, have been used as remedies in disease from time immemorial. It must be remembered that the so-called “sulphur waters” are of a very complex nature, and contain many saline ingredients, in addition to the sulphides of lime or soda, to the decomposition of which the presence of the characteristic gas is due. Most of these waters have also a high temperature, so that they must be considered as hot salt waters, with the addition of sulphuretted hydrogen, and it becomes a difficult matter to determine to which of their ingredients any good effect which they may produce is due. It must be borne in mind, also, that the amount of sulphuretted hydrogen contained even in the strongest of these waters, notwithstanding that it is amply sufficient to offend the sense of smell, is in reality very small, and there is no evidence that this gas is ever absorbed through the skin from the bath. People who visit sulphur baths generally drink the water, and while bathing they certainly inhale an atmosphere more or less charged with sulphuretted hydrogen. The general opinion at present is, that the effect of sulphur waters, when used for baths, is the same as that of other hot and saline springs, and that the sulphuretted hydrogen in the water is inoperative. At some of the sulphur baths the attendants point to a peculiar eruption on the skin, called La Poussée, as evidence of the peculiar effect of sulphur, but this eruption does not differ from that which so often results after a prolonged use of baths of any kind.

There is no end to the varieties of baths which have been used at one time and another for the relief of sickness, and we shall content ourselves by a short allusion to some of the best known.

_Mud baths, or moor baths_, are much used in some parts of Germany. They consist of water mixed with moor earth, or the mud deposited by some of the mineral springs. The resulting compound is thick and stodgy, and, like loosely-made farinaceous puddings. They cool unequally, and retain their heat for very long periods in the middle. Chemically they are composed of the various matters, soluble and insoluble, animal, vegetable, and mineral, of which mud or moor earth is formed. Much of their virtue has been ascribed to _formic acid_, a volatile body formed by ants, having a very pungent odour and considerable stimulating power. These baths are generally supposed to exert a very powerful action upon the skin.

_Pine baths_ are in great repute in regions where pine-trees are plentiful, as in the Black Forest, the Harz Mountains, and elsewhere. A decoction is made of the fragrant tops of the pine-trees, and this is added to the baths in varying quantities. It is also largely exported in a concentrated form from the regions in which it is made. The smell of the pine extract is most delicious, and the resin which it contains has an undoubted stimulating action upon the skin.

Blood, milk and whey, as well as various broths and decoctions of meat, have been used in the belief that they imparted strength to the bather. It is indeed a practice in some northern countries, even in the present day, to envelop a weak or dying patient in the skin of a freshly killed animal, the invalid thereby being supposed to imbibe some of the vital power of the recently slaughtered beast.

On the banks of the Nile, _slime_ has been used as a bath, and in some places _sea-mud_ has been used for the same purpose. _Sand baths_, or arenation, belong to the remedies which are hallowed by antiquity. The patient is buried in the sand, and exposed to the full rays of the sun, and the combined effect of the heat and the surface irritation produces a copious perspiration. At some sea-bathing establishments _baths of sea-weed_ are given, under the name of ozone baths, from the belief, right or wrong, that sea-weed is impregnated with ozone. In some old works we find baths of _dung_ strongly recommended; and even at the present day it is the practice, among some of the half-civilised Eastern nations, to smear the body with dung for the cure of all varieties of ailments. Various refuse matters have been used as baths, among which we may mention the _husk of the grape_, in countries where the vine is largely cultivated, and the _refuse of the olive_ in oil-making countries.

Medicated baths may be artificially prepared, and many such are in common use in medicine. Among these we may mention--

1. The group of so-called _emollient_ baths, which have the following composition: To thirty gallons of water, there may be added from two to six pounds of _bran_; or a pound of _potato flour_; or a couple of pounds of _gelatine_; or a pound of _linseed meal_; or four pounds of _marsh mallow_, or other herbs.

2. _Alkaline baths_ are made by adding to thirty gallons of water, from four to six ounces of carbonate of soda or potash, and occasionally an equal quantity of borax.

3. _Acid baths_ contain an ounce or more of muriatic, nitric or nitro-muriatic acid, to each thirty gallons of water.

4. Iodine or Bromine may be added to baths.

The medicated vapour baths are of two kinds, _mercurial_ and _sulphur_, both being contrived by evaporating flour of sulphur or calomel in an iron pan. The sulphur bath thus administered emits the pungent and suffocating vapour of sulphurous acid, the effects of which must be exerted solely upon the body of the patient, since the inhalation of any quantity, if not fatal, would prove a very serious annoyance. We must not forget to mention the old domestic remedy of a bath of _mustard and water_, which is among the most powerful stimulants to the skin which we possess.

The _Galvanic Bath_ has been much talked about of late years, and it becomes necessary that we should discuss its merits. It consists merely of a bath of water, through which a galvanic current is passed. It can be easily administered in the following way:--Place an ordinary bath upon a sheet of mackintosh, which, being a non-conductor of electricity, has the effect of insulating the bath, as it is termed. Then fill the bath with warm water to a convenient height, and to the water add a handful of salt or a wine-glassful of vinegar in order to increase its conducting power. Next get a galvanic battery, one having 30 or 40 Leclanché Elements is sufficient, and place it on a chair or on the floor beside the bath. To each of the poles of this battery, positive and negative, affix a suitable length (3 or 4 yards) of insulated telegraph wire, having its extremities freed from the gutta-percha or other insulating material. Place a length of stout broom-handle across the bath, resting on its two edges, and round the middle of this twine the bright metal end of the wire in connection with the positive pole of the battery, covering it with a piece of flannel, or wrapping it round with a sponge. The bather then gets into the bath, and takes hold of the centre of the broom-handle, previously moistened, so that his hands are out of the bath. The end of the negative wire is then placed in the bath itself, and as this is done the bather will feel the shock of the electric current. The current in this case travels from the positive pole of the battery through the wire to the broom-handle, down the patient’s arms, through his body to the water of the bath, and so to the negative pole. This form of bath is a very powerful stimulant to the skin, but beyond its action on the skin we know nothing. It is said that by its aid it is possible to extract metallic bodies, such as mercury or lead, which may be lurking in the body and causing harm. Of such a power there is no evidence whatever. We have heard it said that at some galvanic baths visitors have been shown discolorations on the side of the bath as evidence of deposits of mercury, &c., but this is merely a quackish imposition, and it is well that persons should be on their guard against it.

The _electro-magnetic_ bath is given in the same way as the galvanic bath, an electro-magnetic battery being substituted for the galvanic battery.

It will be well to close the chapter by offering a few hints to bathers, and by laying down a few rules for their guidance. Bathing, in all its forms, increases the internal work of the body; it increases the action of the heart, the rate of respiration, the rapidity of circulation, the rate of tissue change, and, in the case of hot baths, the rate of perspiration through the skin. This necessarily makes a call upon the vital forces, and causes a certain amount of exhaustion. From this it follows that baths are best not taken at a time when the body is much exhausted, and that exhausting exercise should not be indulged in after a bath until a considerable period of time has elapsed.

Again, since bathing invariably affects the distribution of the blood, causing, as the case may be, either a degree of bloodlessness in internal organs, or, if the bath be cold, an undue congestion of them, it is important not to overtax those organs during the period of bathing. It is, therefore, never advisable to bathe directly before or directly after a meal, since in both cases a want of digestion of the material in the stomach is likely to result.

Ancient writers are most explicit in their directions for bathers. Thus Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, writing some four centuries before the Christian era, says: “The person who takes the bath should be orderly and reserved in his manner, should do nothing for himself, but others should pour the water upon him and rub him; and plenty of water, of various temperatures, should be in readiness for the _douche_, and the affusions quickly made; and sponges should be used instead of the strigil, and the body should be anointed when not quite dry.... And a man should not be washed immediately after he has taken a draught of Ptisan, or a drink; neither should he take Ptisan as a drink immediately after the bath.” These directions are for the use of invalids, such as are acutely ill, and the writer seems fully to recognise that bathing in itself is an exhausting process. This allusion to Ptisan is interesting, as showing how some of our commonest domestic remedies come to us from a remote antiquity. The Greek word πτισάνη signifies peeled (or “pearl”) barley, and the drink made from it, the barley-water of to-day.

As we have before mentioned incidentally, the proper ventilation of the bathroom is a matter of prime importance; for since the respiration is quickened by the act of bathing, it is evident that a foul atmosphere in the bathroom is very liable to produce an ill-effect upon the bather. Many of the swimming baths in London are very defective in this respect, and we have been forcibly struck, in more than one of them, by the ammoniacal odour proceeding from those sanitary offices which are a necessary adjunct to every bathing establishment. It is a very common custom in private houses to place the bath and the water-closet in the same apartment. That this is an undesirable arrangement is evident, for the water-closet is, of all places in a house, that in which a foul atmosphere is most likely to be encountered. Although a bathroom should be well ventilated, it should certainly not be draughty, for currents of cold air blowing upon the moist skin of the bather are likely to give “cold,” and produce internal congestions of various kinds. In summer there is no difficulty in providing a sufficiency of fresh air, but in winter it is not so easy. The best way, perhaps, to provide for a constant renewal of air is to admit air by means of vertical tubes, and to have in the room an open fireplace, in which a brisk fire should be burning while the bath is being administered.

In order to ensure a proper reaction after a cold bath, and to prevent chill after a hot one, it is customary to provide the bather with a supply of hot linen. This is a great comfort and a luxury, and may even be looked upon as an absolute necessity for delicate persons. It is a very general custom on the Continent for the bather, after removing the greater part of the moisture from his body, to don a hot calico Peignoir, or bathing-gown, which protects from chill, and at the same time allows of the limbs being rubbed with towels. It is not necessary to say much about towels. They are to be got of all qualities, from those as soft as a cambric handkerchief to those which, in roughness, approach the qualities of a curricomb. The bather may please himself in this matter, and will choose a soft absorbent towel to remove the moisture, and a hard one to rub the surface and produce the necessary reaction. Horsehair gloves and various rubbers made of indiarubber, &c., are in use, and require only to be mentioned.

Friction and shampooing are valuable accessories to bathing, and serve, as it were, to take the place of exercise in those diseases in which the patient is unable to exercise his body thoroughly for himself. Friction is applied to the skin merely to rub off the surface layers of epithelium, to encourage the dilatation of the superficial vessels, and the transudation of the sweat. Shampooing is a deeper and more forcible kind of friction, in which the rubber kneads the muscles and allows his fingers to press steadily upon and between them. This acts as a stimulant to the muscles themselves, much in the same way, but in a far milder degree, as an electric battery acts upon them. It must be borne in mind, however, that friction and shampooing are both exhausting, and must not be used to excess. While a patient is being shampooed, he involuntarily resists the pressure of the shampooer, and we have seen a patient reduced to a state of considerable exhaustion, after having been for twenty minutes in the hands of a professional rubber.

It is not necessary to make any remarks on the subject of soaps. Their name is Legion, and the bather, guided by the light of common sense, may make his choice. The ancients were accustomed to anoint their bodies with a variety of smegmata, unguents and oils, both during and after bathing.

As to the temperature of the bath and its duration, although these are both very important questions, it is impossible to lay down any exact rules, for they must be settled according to the condition of the bather. A physician, in ordering a course of baths for an invalid, should state, in writing (in the form of a prescription) the frequency, variety, temperature, and duration, as well as the time of day at which they are to be taken.

After a hot bath it is sometimes necessary to arrange that a weakly patient shall go to bed for a couple of hours or more. To slake the thirst, both during and after a bath, there is nothing better than pure water.