BAT 



36 



B A T 



in for a length of time. Proper bathing-rooms should \>-t 



ell-oonstnicted house; but as this is rarely the 



i cuuntry. a good substitute may be obtained by 



some of the recently-invented bathing-machines, 



which combine facilities for using the different kind* of bath 



in the same apparatus. The best which we have seen i* 



that made by Read. Regent Circus, which possesses an 



.itus for applying the douche while in the warm balh, 

 and may be used as a cold, a shower, a warm, a douche, or 

 a >apoiir-bath: it is therefore called The Univerial Hath. 

 Baths should be attached to all Urge manufactories, as a 



-hment for the workmen, to ensure cleanliness, and as 

 a means of warding off many diseases : in lead-works, 

 painters' and plumbers' establishments, they would pro- 

 tect the men from painters cholic ; and in otter establish- 

 ment*, they would preserve the workmen from many cu- 



us diseases. ' A multitude of chronic inflammation!) 

 of the skin are produced by uncleanliness, or other agents, 

 which directly irritate the skin; and it is to the want 

 of cleanliness in the inferior classes that Willan attri- 

 butes the frequency of cutaneous diseases in London. In 

 France, advantages' are placed within the reach of the poor 

 to which the rich alone aspire in other countries. The num- 

 ber of gratuitous baths which arc given at the hospitals of 

 St. Louis and La Charite is truly prodigious: in 1822 it 

 amounted to 127,752 for the out-patients only of the hospi- 

 tal of St. Louis.' (Rayer On Diffuses of the Skin.) Why 

 some portion of the funds of hospitals and dispensaries in 

 London, and other large towns, should not be applied in a 

 similar way, we can see no good objection. There is as 

 much philanthropy and benevolence in preventing disease 

 as in curing it. 



A partial warm bath, such as the foot-bath, is of much 

 service in warding ofi" many complaints. After (jetting the 

 feet wot, plunging them into warm water will often prevent 

 any ill consequences ; and even when the first chill and 

 slight shiverings, which usher in colds, fevers, and other 

 inflammatory complaints, have been felt, the disease may 

 be cut short by the use of a foot-bath, continued till free 

 perspiration occurs. In inflammatory diseases where the 

 head and throat are much affected, the employment of a 

 foot-bath, at a later period, often gives great relief, by 

 causing a revulsion of the blood from the upper to the lower 

 part of the body. 



Water of a temperature from 99 to the highest which 

 can be endured, is termed the hot-bath. When a person in 

 health enters such a bath, it greatly excites the nervous sys- 

 tem, and, through that, the heart and arteries ; causes heal 

 and constriction of the skin, with disturbance of the internal 

 organs generally, but especially those of secretion. This 

 state of uneasiness is lessened by the breaking out ol 

 perspiration, which is succeeded by i;reat languor, torpor 

 and disposition to sleep. In such a hath little absorption 

 takes place through the skin, and the body is found to 

 have lost weight. The hot-bath is a powerful stimulant 

 and can never be used by persons in a state of health 

 The same cautions which were stated under the head 

 of the warm-bath apply to it in a greater degree. The 

 few cases to which it is suited arc chronic affections o 

 the nervous system, such as paralysis, when all vascular 

 fulness of the brain or spinal chord has been removed 

 The waters of the King's bath at Bath, and some of the 



baths OB the continent, are very beneficially employet 

 m such cases ; but careful discrimination must be made 

 to suit the temperature to the degree of sensibility remain 

 itifr in the paralysed part. Where the power of raotior 

 is lost, the sensation is sometimes increased. Here the 

 hot-bath would be very hurtful. On the other hand the 

 sensation may be lost, while the power of motion icmains 

 Here equal care must be observed not to use too high a 



.i-raturc. Erythema, erysipelas, mortification, or deatl 

 ina> follow the use of too high a temperature or a stay too 

 prolonged even in a proper temperature. 



Smlilen retrocession or repulsion of some cutaneous or 

 eruptive diseases is relieved by the use of a hot-bath lor a 

 few minutes, the eruption often coming out favourably after 

 it Some chronic cutaneous diseases, in which grout thick- 

 ening or torpor of the skin exists, ore benefited by the hot- 



Vapour-baths are either natural or artificial. Several 

 natural \a|> .ur-baths exist in the Neapolitan States, in 

 rland (I'feflers in the country of the Orisons), and in 

 i. Tin artificial vapour-baths arc much in use in the 



last and in Russia, where they are public, or intended for 

 several persons to use at the tame tmir : and occasionally in 

 Britain, where they are always solitary or lor a .single indi- 

 vidual. The Russian baths are described in l.yall's Cha- 

 racter (if the Ruiaans, p. ll'j liJ. The bathing-room 

 contains tiers of benches, like an amphitheatre, the seats 

 learest the bottom being the coolest, those higher up hotter. 

 The temperature varies from 112 to 22-T. Persons eom- 

 nencing the use of such baths occupy the loner seats, and 

 ascend as they become accustomed to them. While ex- 

 rased to the vapour, the body is unshed or rubbed with soap 

 or bran, and beaten with fresh birch-twigs. The head is 

 surrounded with a cold cloth, or cold water i> da>hed our 

 he head. When the person does not wish to breathe the 

 leated vapour, a sponge which has been dipped in cold 

 water is held to the mouth and nose. On first employing 

 the vapour-bath, the .person usually remains about fifteen 

 minutes, but afterwards three-quarters of an hour, and at 

 Pfcffers the temperature of which isonly 100, sometimes four, 

 eight, ten or sixteen hours. After coming out of the bath, 

 the bather goes into a room heated with dry air, where he is 

 rubbed, puts on a flannel dress, and then reposes upon a couch 

 for some time, where he may drink warm drinks to promote 

 the perspiration. 



'As soon,' says Dr. E. D. Clarke, 'as the inhabitants of 

 these northern nations have endured the high temi>eralure 

 of their vapour-baths, which is so great that Englishmen 

 would not conceive it possible to exist an instant in them, 

 they stand naked, covered with profuse perspiration, cooling 

 themselves in the open air. In summer they plunge into 

 cold water, and in winter they roll about in the snow, with- 

 out sustaining injury, or even catching cold. When the 

 Russians leave a bath of this kind, they moreover drink co- 

 pious draughts of mead, as cold as it can be procured.' 

 (Travels in Russia, part i. p. 143.) The absence of all 

 risk in exposing the person to such extremes of temperature 

 is explained by the experiments of Dr. Edwards, who found 

 that ' after an exposure to cold, sufficient to diminish the 

 power of producing heat, continuance in a high temperature 

 tends to the recovery of this power ; for, in exposing ani- 

 mals to successive applications of cold, their temperature 

 will fall the more slowly the longer they shall have been 

 subjected to the influence of warmth. It follows, therefore, 

 that the effect of the application of a certain degree of heat is 

 continued after the cessation of the cause. Hence, we see 

 that those who are liable to frequent exposure of severe cold 

 are rendered more capable of supporting it, by subjecting 

 themselves in the intervals to a high temperature, a 

 practice adopted by northern nations, and justified by fads.' 

 (Edwards on the Influence nfPhi/sirul . traits on Life, p. 1 .' ." 



The vapour-bath is distinguished from all other means of 

 introducing more heat into the body, chiefly by the circum- 

 stance, that as a portion of the vapour is converted into 

 water, by coming in contact with the surface of the body, it 

 communicates a quantity of sensible caloric to it. It is 

 without doubt the most powerful HUMUS of supplying a | 

 heat to the greatest portion of the surface of the body, in- 

 ternal as well as external : for when breathed, the cxtensi\c 

 surface forming the interior of the lungs is influenced by it 

 in the same way as the skin. On the skin it exerts a pecu- 

 liar influence. It does not cause that constriction c,l the 

 skin, which follows the application of dry air, nor does it 

 exert that pressure upon the surface, which, in the e 

 warm water, retards the breaking out of the perspiration. 

 On the contrary, moisture of the skin, followed by profuse 

 perspiration, occurs immediately upon entering the vapour- 

 bath. 



In Russia, where such baths are used on a large scale, 

 their employment is not found to be productive of weal. 

 The subsequent exposure to cold restores the tone of the 

 skin which had been lost, and the process leaves the person 

 with a general sense of good health, strength, and power, 

 both ot the internal organs and of the skin. These prac- 

 tices,' says Dr. Clarke. ' seem to dslight them, and to add 

 strength to their constitution.' 



The vapour-bath, by attracting the blood more speedily 

 to the surface, and by being followed by more profuse per- 

 spiration, i more powerful than the warm water-bath. It 

 is employed as a remedy in gout and rheumatism, and in 

 the numerous consequences of these when they have as- 

 sumed the chronic form. Many cases of rheumatic and 

 gouty contraction of the joints have been removed by 

 persevering in the use of vapour-baths, as employed by 



