408 Life of Count Rumford. 



himself often disabled and dispirited, they certainly in- 

 crease his claims upon our respect and gratitude. He 

 even tried to make his own experiences as an invalid, 

 and the methods by which he sought health, the indirect 

 occasions for furnishing materials for his Essays. Thus 

 in this visit of two months to the waters at Harrowgate* 

 he contrived by his experiments on himself to gather 

 information and to enlighten others on the salubrious 

 effects of warm bathing, which he made the subject 

 of a publication, his thirteenth Essay. He began by 

 conforming himself to the advice of his physician, in 

 accordance with the professional theory at the time, of 

 taking his warm bath on the evening of each third day, 

 and going immediately to his bed, which had been 

 warmed in order that he might not be exposed to a 

 chill. But he found that, so far from experiencing any 

 benefit from this practice, the nights after he had taken 

 his baths were the most restless and feverish, showing 

 that in his case, at least, the prescription was unsatis- 

 factory. Acting on the advice of a fellow-lodger at the 

 Ganby Inn, he took his bath at midday, two hours 

 before dining, employing the interval in his usual work. 

 He also took his bath on alternate days, and finally, as 

 he was stronger and had a better appetite, in spite of 

 the remonstrance of his medical adviser, he bathed daily. 

 He satisfied himself that in his own case, contrary to 

 established opinion, a warm bath was not relaxing or 

 enfeebling, but really had an invigorating effect, while 

 he believed that a cold bath gave the system a severe 

 shock which only those of a rugged constitution could 

 bear. He says that he was restored to better health 

 than he had enjoyed for seven or eight years, having 

 never till then recovered from his dangerous illness in 



