MOSCOW. 
a row of polished brass vessels. Towards the 
right was a stove ; and, in the middle of the 
room, a step to a platform elevated above the 
floor. The hot vapour being collected near the 
roof, the more the bather ascends, the greater 
is the degree of heat to which he is exposed. 
A choice of temperature is therefore offered to 
him. On each side of the platform was a stove, 
in shape exactly resembling the tombs in our 
church-yards. The upper surface of each stove 
was covered with a bed of reeds ; and over the 
reeds was placed a sheet. The author was 
directed to mount upon one of these stoves, 
and to extend himself upon the sheet : having 
done this, he found himself nearly elevated 
to the roof of the bath, and the heat of the 
ascending vapour threw him immediately into 
a most profuse perspiration. The sensation 
resembled what he had formerly experienced 
in a subterraneous cavern, called the Bath of 
Nero, upon the coast of Bala, near Naples. He 
neglected to take a thermometer with him on 
this occasion ; but the ordinary temperature of 
a Russian bath is well known: it varies (ac- 
cording to Storch') from 104 ° to 1 22° of Fahren- 
heit ; and sometimes, upon the upper stages near 
(l) Tableau de V Empire de Russic, tom. f. p. 330. The degrees of 
temperature are estimated by Storch according to the scale of Reaumur. 
