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Kant frescoes met the eye of the bather, and 

 libraries were commonly in the same building. 

 Scholars composed or dictated, and poets read 

 their compositions to the concourse gathered 

 at the baths in the hot season. In our day, 

 there is no civilized nation that attaches the 

 same importance to public baths as the Ro- 

 mans did, and the baths are nowhere con- 

 structed with a tithe of the ancient splendor. 

 The Turkish baths, perhaps, approach more 

 nearly thosa of ancient Rome, and the process 

 of bathing according to the Turkish method is 

 simply a modification of that of the Romans. 

 Turkish baths are now quite common in Euro- 

 pean and American cities, but they are little 

 frequented here except by invalids.* Among 

 all Mohammedans the bath forms an important 

 religious ceremony, as also among the Hin- 

 doos. Bayard Taylor thus described the cere- 

 mony as practiced at Allahabad : 



Several boats, containing flower-decked shrines with 

 images of the gods, were moored on the Jumna side, 

 the current of the Ganges being exceedingly rapid. 

 The natives objected to our getting upon the platforms, 

 as they were kana, or purified, and our touch would 

 defile them ; so we stood in the mud for a short time 

 and witnessed the ceremony of bathincr. The Hindoos 

 always bathe with a, cloth around .the loins, out of 

 respect for the goddess Gungajee.f There were about 

 a dozen in the water, bobbing up and down, bowino 1 

 their heads to the four points of the compass, an2 



I muttering invocations ; others, standing on the bank, 

 threw wreaths of yellow flowers upon the water. 

 Dr. Dudgeon informs us that there are numer- 

 ous public baths in Peking. They are known 

 by a lantern lighted at night and raised on a 

 lofty pole. The buildings are damp, dirty, and 

 filled with a rank, steamy atmosphere; there are 

 three apartments, viz. : 1. Undressing-room. 

 2. Bathing-room. 3. Lounging or smoking 

 room. The same water is used for several 

 bathers; at any rate, it is changed but once 

 daily, except during the hottest weather, when 

 it is changed twice. As the Chinese dread the 

 effect of water applied to the surface of the 

 body, the " bath " of the better classes usually 

 consists of "a teacupful of warm water applied 

 with a silk handkerchief"; the public baths, 

 therefore, are mainly used by the lower orders 

 of people. " An ordinary bath costs a penny, 

 but during the last month of the Chinese year, 

 the price is raised to about three pence/' In 

 bathing, " many wash the upper half of the 

 body who refuse to wash the lower, being 

 afraid of the lower vapor ascending and in- 

 juring the upper." The Chinese dread of water 

 is somewhat embarrassing to foreign practi- 

 tioners of medicine, resident in China, as it is 

 said that when called to attend Chinese pa- 

 tients they are obliged to eschew water-dress- 

 ings,, baths, fomentations, and the like, if they 

 desire to retain the confidence of their patrons. 

 There are several hot springs in China, much 

 used as a resort for invalids; those near Chefoo, 

 according 'to Dr. Myers, supply the baths at a 



* Vide " American Cyclopaedia," voL ii. 

 t The river deity. 



temperature of 112 to 120 Fahr. These baths 

 are at a village (Loong-Chuen-Tang) about 

 thirty-three miles east from Yentai. There are 

 also hot sulphur-baths at I San Tang, fifty miles 

 from Chefoo. The temperature of these baths 

 is higher, being 124 Fahr., and Dr. Myers sug- 

 gests that as foreigners are not well treated 

 there, persons visiting them should take their 

 tubs with them. There are two celebrated 

 baths near Peking ; one at Piyunze, a Buddhist 

 temple, twelve miles from Peking. There are 

 two springs near each other, which have been 

 built round with marble, and inclosed in a 

 park. The southern spring is the warmest, 

 standing at a temperature of 120 Fahr. These 

 baths, however, are not open to the public, 

 being held as an imperial reservation. The 

 public baths of Japan have been described in 

 the "American Cyclopaedia," vol. ii, page 385. 

 The private bath is thus described by Dr. G. 

 Henderson: "In the bottom of an ordinary 

 wooden or matal bath-tub, a hole is cut six 

 inches in diameter, and about an inch distant 

 from the side ; into this hole is fitted a copper 

 cylinder closed at the bottom by a very open 

 grating; the cylinder is contracted at the top so 

 as ^to resemble somewhat a large beer-bottle; 

 this shape increases the draught. 



"The bath-tub being ready and filled with 

 cold water, in order to heat it we have only to 

 drop into the copper cylinder from one to two 

 pounds of hot coals, and in half an hour the 

 water will be raised in temperature forty or 

 fifty degrees." 



The North American Indians, when sick, 

 have resorted to vapor-baths from time imme- 

 morial, but in health they bathe only during 

 the warm season, and then in the rivers and 

 lakes. The vapor-bath is made by placing 

 some hot stones in a small lodge or tent, previ- 

 ously made air-tight by covering the lodge 

 with skins or blankets ; then water is poured 

 upon the stones, and a hot steam is the result. 

 A similar practice prevails in Lapland. 



An account of the different European and 

 American resorts for persons desiring the bene- 

 fit of baths in natural mineral waters, as well 

 as the effect of the various medicated baths as 

 a remedial measure in disease, is foreign to the 

 purpose of this paper; indeed, the mere enu- 

 meration of the treatises upon the subject of 

 medical balneology would occupy nearly the 

 entire space assigned to this article. It may 

 not be out of place, however, to say that no 

 person in the United States need go beyond its 

 borders to find mineral springs of any desired 

 composition and of any required temperature, 

 and that the remedial effect of any particular 

 waters can not be obtained anywhere else than 

 at the spring, since waters prepared of identi- 

 cal chemical composition and temperature do 

 not produce the same effect elsewhere. It fol- 

 lows, therefore, that there are other elements 

 entering into the causation of the curative 

 effect^ such as the atmosphere of the place, its 

 elevation and consequent barometric pressure, 



