Construction of Warm^Baths. ^ 



by bathing in a compound so heterogeneous and unsavoury. 

 Let us, however, to cut this matter short, suppose that we have 

 plenty of pure cold water to deal with, and proceed to our most 

 essential topic, namely, the best mode of* heating it in the 

 quantity required. 



4. and 5. In public bathing-establishments, where numerous 

 and constant baths are required, the simplest and most effective 

 means of obtaining hot water for their supply consists in drawing 

 it directly into the baths from a large boiler, placed somewhere 

 above their level. This boiler should be supplied with proper 

 feeding pipes and gauges ; and above all things, its dimensions 

 should be ample : it should be of wrought-iron or copper, except 

 where sea-water is used, in which case the latter metal is some- 

 times objectionable ; but my remarks are at present intended 

 to apply to fresh-water baths only. The hot water should enter 

 the bath by a pipe at least an inch and a half in diameter, and 

 the cold water by one of the same dimension, or somewhat 

 larger, so that the bath may not be long in filling. The relative 

 proportions of the hot and cold water are, of course, to be 

 adjusted by a thermometer; and e^•ery bath should have a two- 

 inch waste pipe, opening about ejght inches from the top of the 

 bath, and suffering the excess of water freely to run off, so 

 that when a person is immersed in the bath, or when the sup- 

 plies of water are accidentally left open, there may be no danger 

 of an overflow. 



Where there is a laundry in the upper story of the house, or 

 other convenient place for erecting a copper and its appurte- 

 nances, a plan similar to the above may often be conveniently 

 adopted in private houses for the supply of a bath upon the 

 principal bed-room floor. An attempt is sometimes made to 

 place boilers behind the fires of dressing-rooms, or otherwise 

 to erect them in the room itself, for the purpose of supplying 

 warm water — but this plan is always objectionable, from the 

 complexity of the means by which the supply of water is fur- 

 nished to the boiler, and often dangerous from the flues becom- 

 ing choaked with soot and taking fire ; steam is also apt in 

 such cases to escape in quantities into the room, so that it 

 becomes necessary in many cases to search for other methods 



JAN.— MARCH, 1827. F 



