572 
Combat hig Lousiness 
permits. Showers that are rapidly erected in large tents or enclosures 
also came into general use, it being found that the process of bathing is 
thereby accelerated whilst but a modicum of hot water is required. 
Portable boilers supply hot water on the geyser system to the over¬ 
head pipes which feed the showers that are ranged in lines and sup¬ 
ported on a light iron framework. Similarly, in Germany, batteries of 
barrels serving as a reservoir, are mounted on wooden platforms about 
10 feet high, pipes proceeding thence to supply rows of showers to bathers 
standing on slatted gangways beneath. According to Moor and Cooper 
(1918, p. 92) the French shower-bath, provided with 12 sprays, uses but 
| of a gallon of water in 2 minutes, being most economical since but 
1 cwt. of fuel is consumed in heating the water for a period of 10 hours, 
whilst 100 men can bathe per hour when the men are moved along rapidly. 
The necessity of practising economy in the use of water may be very 
great when water is only supplied from wells and small ponds; it is 
better, therefore, where larger bodies of men have to be bathed, that 
plenty of water should be obtainable from a stream, at least 2 gallons 
having to be reckoned per head. To supply one bath per man every two 
weeks, the bathing of a division (20,000) necessitates bathing 150 men 
per hour for 10 hours each day. The plant required may have to deal 
with 1000 men a day or 100 an hour to allow for small additional units 
that may need periodic baths. 
Bath-trains, illustrations of which I have seen emanating from 
German journals, may be composed of: an engine, a truck carrying a 
water-cistern, 3 freight vans with baths (the first for officers), a carriage 
for the storage of towels, soap, etc., and a carriage for housing the 
personnel in charge. The steam from the engine heats the water. The 
water-cistern consists of a metal cylinder resting lengthwise on the truck 
next to the engine; it corresponds almost in size to a freight van and is 
provided with a float and large indicator with semicircular scale to 
register the amount of water in the cistern. The bathing trucks are 
painted white inside, the floor is slatted, and a slatted bench runs along 
one side. Large doors serve to link the two vans for the men corridor- 
wise. The officers’ van contains fewer showers than the men’s vans, 
these being supplied with 16 showers each fed by a pipe running length¬ 
wise beneath the ceiling of the van; the showers branch off at right 
angles towards the sides of the van so as to leave adequate space between 
the bathers. The men undress in ordinary railway carriages drawn up 
alongside the bath-train. The cistern is prominently marked “ Badezug,” 
and the several vans “Badewagen” in white letters. 
