On the Construction of IVarm-Batlis. 63 



joints, unless most excellently made. Either the one or the 

 other should be well covered outside and in, with several coats 

 of paint, which may then be marbled, or otherwise orna- 

 mented, as taste suggests. 



Wooden tubs, square or oblong, and oval, are sometimes 

 used for warm baths, and are cheap and convenient, but 

 neither elegant nor cleanly: the wood always contracts a 

 mouldy smell ; and the difficulty and nuisance of keeping them 

 water-tight, and preventing shrinkage, is such as to exclude 

 them from all except extemporaneous application. 



2. As to the situation of the bath ; or the part of the house 

 in which it is to be placed. — In hotels and club-houses, this is 

 a question easily determined : several baths are usually here* 

 required, and each should have annexed to it a properly- 

 warmed dressing-room. Whether they are up stairs or down 

 stairs is usually a mere question of convenience, but the 

 basement story, in which they are sometimes placed, should 

 always be avoided ; there is a coldness and dampness belong- 

 ing to it, in almost all weathers, which is not agreeable. 



In hospitals, there should be at least two or three baths on each 

 side of the house (the men's and women's), and the supply of 

 hot water should be ready at a moment's notice. The rooms in 

 which the baths are placed should be light, and comparatively 

 large and airy, and such conveniences for getting into and out of 

 the bath should be adopted as the sick are well known to require. 

 The dimensions of the baths should also be larger than usual. 



In private houses, the fittest places for warm baths are dres- 

 sing-rooms annexed to the principal bed-rooms ; or where 

 such convenience can be obtained, a separate bath-room, 

 connected with the dressing-room, and always vipon the bed- 

 room floor. All newly-built houses should be properly ar- 

 ranged for this purpose, and due attention should be paid 

 to the warming of the bath-room, which ought also to be pro- 

 perly ventilated. A temperature of 70° should be easily kept 

 up in it, and sufficient ventilation is absolutely requisite, to 

 prevent the deposition of moisture upon the walls and furniture. 



The objection which formerly prevailed, in respect to the diffi- 

 culty of obtaining adequate supplies of water in the upper 

 rooms, has been entirely obviated, by ha\'ing cisterns at or near 



