BAT 



31 



BAT 



about him but a piece of loose cloth round his waist, is con- 

 ducted by the proper attendant into the hall of the bath ; a 

 large white sheet is then spread on the floor, on which the 

 bather extends himself; the attendant brings from the cis- 

 tern, which is warmed from the boiler below, a succession ol 

 pails of water, which he continues to pour over the bather 

 until he is well drenched and heated; the attendant then 

 takes his employer's head upon his knees, and rubs in with 

 all his might a sort of wet paste of henna plant into the 

 mustachios and beard ; in a few minutes this poma.lo dyes 

 them a bright red. Again he has recourse to the little pail, 

 and showers upon his quiescent patient another torrent o( 

 warm water ; then, putting on a glove of soft hair, yet pos- 

 sessing some of the scrubbing-brush qualities, he first takes 

 the limbs and then the body, rubbinsr them hard for three- 

 quarters of an hour: a third splashing from the pail prepares 

 the operation of the pumice stone ; this he applies to the 

 soles of the feet. The next process seizes the hair of the 

 face, whence the henna is cleansed away, and replaced by 

 another paste called rang, composed of the leaves of the in- 

 digo plant. To this succeeds the shampooing, which is done 

 by pinching, pulling, and nibbing with so much force and 

 pressure as to produce a violent glow over the whole frame. 

 This over, the shampooed body, reduced again to its pro- 

 strate state, is rubbed all over with a preparation of soap con- 

 fined in a bag till it is one mass of lather. The soap is then 

 washed off with warm water, when a complete ablution suc- 

 ceeds by his being led to the cistern and plunged in. He 

 passes five or six minutes enjoying the perfectly pure ele- 

 ment ; and then, emerging, has a large dry sheet thrown 

 over him, in which he makes his escape back to the dressing 

 room.' (Sir R. Ker Porter's Travels, vol. i. p. 231.) For a 

 representation of shampooing in a Turkish bath, see the 

 first volume of plates belonging to the great French work 

 on Egypt. (Etiit Moderne.) 



The Russian baths, as used by the common people, bear 

 a close resemblance to the laconicum of the Romans. ' They 

 usually consist of wooden houses, situated, if possible, by the 

 side of a running stream. In the bath-room is a large 

 vaulted oven, which when heated makes the paving-stones 

 lying upon it red hot, and adjoining to the oven is a kettle 

 fixed in masonry, for the purpose of holding boiling water. 

 Round about the walls are three or four rows of benches, one 

 above another, like the seats of a scairold. The room has 

 little light, but here and there are apertures for letting the 

 vapour escape ; the cold water that is wanted is let in by 

 small channels. Some baths have an ante-chamber for 

 dressing and undressing, but in most of them this is done 

 in the open court-yard, which has a boarded fence, and is 

 provided with benches of planks. In those parts of the 

 counlry where wood is scarce they sometimes consist of 

 wretched caverns, commonly dug in the earth close to 

 the bank of some river. In the houses of wealthy indi- 

 viduals, and in the pa.aces of the great, they are constructed 

 in the same manner, but with superior elegance and con- 

 venience. The heat in the bath-room is usually from 32 to 

 40 of Re'aumur, and this may be much increased by throw- 

 Ing water on the glowing hot stones in the chamber of the 

 oven. Thus the heat often rises to 44 of Reaumur. The 

 bathers lie quite naked on one of the benches, where they 

 perspire more or less, in proportion to the heat of the humid 

 atmosphere in which they are enveloped ; while, to promote 

 perspiration, and more completely open the pores, they are 

 first rubbed, then gently flagellated with leafy bunches of 

 birch. After remaining for some time in this state, they 

 come down from the sweating-bench and wash their bodies 

 with warm or c<>ld water, and at last plunge overhead in a 

 tub of water. Many persons throw themselves immediately 

 from the bath-room into the adjoining river, or roll themselves 

 in the snow in a frost of 10 or more. The Russian baths 

 are therefore (cnncamerata; nidationes) sweating-baths : not 

 of a moderate warmth, like the Roman tepidaria or caldaria, 

 but very violent sweating-baths, which, to a person not 

 habituated to the practice, bring on a real, though a gentle 

 nml almost voluptuous swoon? (Tcoke's Russia.) [See 

 BATHIJJO.] 



The savage tribes of America are not wholly unacquainted 



with the use of the vapour-bath. Lewis and Clarke, in their 



-'o up the Missouri, have described one of them in the 



ing terms : ' We observed avapour-bath orsweating- 



li'iusn in a different form from that used on the frontiers of 



the United States or in the Rocky Mountains. It was a 



hollow square of ix or eight feet deep, formed in the river 



bank by damming up with mud the other three sides, and 

 covering the whole completely, except an aperture about 

 two feet wide at the top. The bathers descend by this hole, 

 taking with them a number of heated stones and jugs of 

 water; and, after being seated round the room, throw the 

 water on the stones till the steam becomes of a temperature 

 sufficiently high for their purposes. The baths of the 

 Indians in the Rocky Mountains are of different sizes, the 

 most common being made of mud and sticks like an oven; 

 but the mode of raising the steam is exactly the same. 

 Among both these nations it is very uncommon for a man 

 to bathe alone ; he is generally accompanied by one, or some- 

 times several, of his acquaintance ; indeed it is so essentially 

 a social amusement, that to decline going in to bathe when 

 invited by a friend is one of the highest indignities that can 

 be offered to him. The Indians on the frontiers generally 

 use a bath which will accommodate only one person, and is 

 formed of wicker-work, about four feet high, arched at the 

 top and covered with skins. Almost universally, these baths 

 are in the neighbourhood of running water, into which the 

 Indians plunge immediately on coming out of the vapour- 

 bath, and sometimes return again and subject themselves to 

 a second perspiration ; and the bath is employed by them 

 either for pleasure or health, being in esteem for all kinds of 

 disease.' 



In France there are baths in all the towns ; and bathing 

 is practised more than in Germany or England, where baths 

 are rare. There are but few baths in London, and those 

 established there would not suffice for a small fraction of 

 the population, if bathing were a common practice. Still of 

 late years baths have increased both in London and Eng- 

 land generally. 



Antient Roman baths have been found in several of the 

 Roman villas in England; that at Northleigh in Oxford- 

 shire, near Blenheim, is the most perfect. (See the account 

 of the villa at Northleigh, Oxfordshire, by Mr. Hakewill.) 

 Baths have been discovered also at Wroxeter in Shropshire, 

 and near Amndel in Sussex. In the former, the suspended 

 pavement was very perfect : in the centre of a chamber in 

 :hnt near Arundel is an octagon bath sunk in the door, the 

 :>ulvinus of which is quite perfect. There are also some 

 :urious Roman baths at Vallogne in Normandy. 



(See Montfaucon, Antiq. t. iii. pi. 2 ; Cameron's Roman 

 Baths ; Cell's Pompeii ; Museo Borbonico ; Pompeii, by the 

 Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge ; Eustace's, 

 "laiftcal Tour.) 



BATHGATK, a burgh and parish in the county and 

 wesbytery of Linlithgow, 18 miles west of Edinburgh, 24 

 sast of Glasgow, and 6 south of Linlithgow. The great road 

 >etween Edinburgh and Glasgow passes by the southern 

 extremity of the town. This road is distinguished for its 

 singular levelness and firmness, and it may also claim a not 

 nconsiderable antiquity, it being no doubt the same passage 

 which was travelled by the monks of the abbey of Newbotle 

 under the grant made to them in 1333, by Walter the 

 Steward of Scotland, that they might freely pass with their 

 carriages through his barony of Bathgate from their mo- 

 nastery to the monkland. (Chalm. Caled. vol. ii. p. 865.) 

 Jathgate has been on the increase for many years past, 

 which may be ascribed to a branch of the Glasgow cotton 

 manufactures being established in it; to extensive coal 

 and lime works in the immediate vicinity ; to its admi- 

 rable situation for grain and cattle markets (both well 

 attended) ; to the great intercourse through it between the 

 two cities above mentioned ; and to other causes. It is a 

 very healthy place, has a fine southern exposure, and is 

 seen at a considerable distance to the west and south. The 

 streets of the town are well-paved, the houses generally 

 well-built and covered with slates or tiles, and the inhabit- 

 ants are copiously supplied with excellent water, brought 

 from the neighbourhood in leaden conduits. Gas-works 

 were lately erected tor lighting the town. The public build- 

 ings are, the parish church, a very plain edifice ; three cha- 

 pels for Dissenters (Relief and Burghers) : a fine academy ; 

 parish school ; jail ; two masonic lodges, &c. The Earl of 

 Hopetoun is patron of the parish. The academy, which 

 stands on an elevation, a little to the south-east of the town, 

 overlooking the great road, was erected about t'.vo years ago 

 from funds bequeathed by the late John Newlantls, Esq., of 

 Kingston, Jamaica, a native of the town. These are vested 

 in the parish minister, and three neighbouring proprietors 

 (Sir William Baillie, Bart., Mr. Majoribanka, and Mr. 

 Gillon, M.P.), whose attention U> the trust reposed in them 



