BATH. 
79S 
the mat to his chamber; as the entrance to the bath is 
ufually within fome chamber of his habitation. This fort 
of bath, called temazcalli by the natives, has been regularly 
tiled in feveral diforders, particularly in fevers. The In¬ 
dian women ufe it commonly after childbirth, and alio 
thofe perfons who have been (lung or wounded by any poi- 
ifonous animal. It is undoubtedly a powerful remedy for 
all difeafes w hich arife from fuppreffed perfpiration, as 
colds, catarrhs, &c. and W'ould be highly ufeful in Italy, 
and other countries where the rhcumatifm is lb frequent 
and afflicting a dileafe. 
Baths (Dry), are thofe made of afnes, fait, fand, &c. 
&c. The ancients had many ways of exciting a fweat, by 
means of a dry heat; as by the ufe of hot fand, llove- 
rooms, or artificial bagnios, and even from certain natural 
hot fleams of the earth, received under a proper arch or 
hot-hotife, as we learn from Celfus. They alfo had ano¬ 
ther kind of bath by infolation, where the body was ex- 
pofed to the fun for fome time, in order to draw forth the 
fuperfluous moiflure from the inward parts; and to this 
day it is a practice in fome nations to cover the body over 
with horfe-dung, efpecially in painful chronic difeafes. In 
New England they make a kind of fiove of turf, wherein 
the fick are (hut up to bathe or fweat. It was probably 
from a knowledge of this practice, and of the exploded 
doClrines of Celfus, that the noted empiric Dr. Graham 
drew his notions of the' falutary effects of what he called 
earth-bathing, a practice which, in the way he ufed it, con- 
ligned fome of his patients to a perpetual manfion under 
ground ! 
The like name of dry bath is fometimes given to another 
kind of bath, made of kindled coals, or burning fpirit of 
wine ; the patient being placed in a convenient dole chair 
for the reception of the fume, which rifes and provokes 
fweat in a plentiful manner; care being taken to keep the 
head out, and to lecure refpiration. This bath has been 
found very effectual in removing old obdinate pains in the 
limbs. Dry bathing of this kind is nearly fimilar to fumi¬ 
gation, in which the dry vapours of mineral and other l'ub- 
Itances being applied to the (kin, the abforbent velfels take 
Up and convey into the blood the fubtle parts that come in 
contact with their mouths or orifices. By the fubtle fumes 
thus received, much benefit or prejudice may be produc¬ 
ed, according to the nature of the cafe, and the conditu- 
tion on which its eftetds are to be exerted ; as is evident 
from the palfies produced among water-gilders, workers 
in lead-mines, &c. and alfo from the benefits received in 
many cafes when the air is impregnated with falutary ma¬ 
terials. Catarrhs and colds, for indance, are relieved by 
fumes received with the breath; and, by the fame me¬ 
thod, expectoration is aflided in the afthma; and even 
ulcers in the lungs are faid to have been relieved by this 
method. But this is dill more drongly exemplified by 
the common practice of curing venereal ulcers, and ex¬ 
citing the general adbion of quickfilver in the fydem, by 
inclofing the naked body of the patient in a box fitted to 
receive the fumes of quickfilver railed by fprinkling cin- 
naber upon a red-hot iron, or, what is dill better, the 
Hydrargyrum precipitatus cinereus of the Pharmacopoeia Chi- 
rurgica, which, not emitting any fulplutreous vapours like 
the other, proves lefs inconvenient to the patient. Some 
authors (peak of blood baths, balnea fanguinolcnta, prepar¬ 
ed efpecially of the blood of infants, anciently fuppofed to 
be a kind of fpecific for the leprofy. 
Baths (Metalline), are thofe made of water impregnat¬ 
ed with the/cords of metals. The mod common and ufe¬ 
ful of this kind are thofe prepared with the fcoriae of iron, 
which are reputed excellent bracers for weak and decayed 
limbs; and alfo ufeful in dopping hemorrhages, and re- 
doring the mendrtial flux when obdrudted ; inlannich, 
that they may even be fubdituted for the natural iron baths 
with great propriety. Adjacent to the fmelting huts where 
metals are run from their ore, are to be found large quan¬ 
tities of the flag of copper, antimony, and cobalt, which 
abound with fuch principles as make ferviccable baths for 
drengthening the lod tone of the mufcular fibres, or re¬ 
laxing them when they are too rigid. Thefe baths have 
likewife a deterfive and cleanfing virtue ; fo that, with a 
prudent regard to circumdances, they may be ufed with 
advantage on many occafions. The way of making thefe 
artificial baths is, either to take the flags as they come hot 
from the furnace, or elfe to heat them afrefh, and throw 
them into hot water ; which is afterwards to be ufed 
either in the way of bath or fomentation, occalionally. 
There are other artificial baths, prepared of alum and 
quick-lime, by boiling them together in water. Such 
baths are fuppofed to be ferviceable in paralytic diforders, 
and weaknefs of the limbs. 
The pepper bath, or pcjfer wafer, on the Alps, is one of 
the mod celebrated in Europe, and has been the fubjebt 
of exprefs treatifes, belide what has been faid of it occali- 
onally by Scheuchzer and others. It was fird difeovered 
in the year 1240, and is of the periodical kind. The wa¬ 
ter breaks forth in a dreadful chafm of the earth, fcarcely 
acceflible to the fun-beams, or indeed to men, unlefs of the 
greated fortitude and courage. Thefe dreams have this 
Angularity, that they commonly break forth in May, with 
a great impetuofi ty, bringing with them beech-leaves, crabs, 
or other wood-fruit; and that their courfe ceafes in Sep¬ 
tember or Odfober. Scheuchzer profelfes himfelf of opi¬ 
nion that thefe waters are not impregnated with any mine¬ 
rals, or, if they do contain any, that their virtues in curing 
diftempers and preferring health do not proceed from them. 
They are exceedingly clear, and have neither colour, tade, 
nor fmell. 
Baths made a part of the ancient gymnafia, though 
they were frequented more for the fake of pleafure than 
health. The mod magnificent baths were thofe of Titus, 
Paulus ./Emilius, and Diocledan, of which there are fome 
ruins dill remaining. It is faid that at Rome there were 
856 public baths. Fabricius adds, that the excedive lux¬ 
ury of the Romans appeared in nothing more vidble than 
in their baths. Seneca complains, that the baths of ple¬ 
beians were filled from filver pumps ; and that the freed- 
men trod on gems. Macrobius tells us of one Sergius 
Oratus, a voluptuary, who had pendant baths hanging in 
the air. According to Dion, Maecenas was the fird who 
condructed a bath at Rome. Yet there are indances of 
public baths prior to this; but they were of cold water, 
fmall, and but poorly decorated. Agrippa, in his aedilate, 
built 160 places for bathing, where the citizens might be 
accommodated, either with hot or cold water, gratis. After 
this example, Nero, Vefpafian, Titus, Dominant, Seve- 
rus, Gordian, Aurelian, Maxintian, Diocletian, and mod 
of the emperors who had dudied to gain the affections of 
the people, erected baths laid with the riched marble, 
and wrought according to the rufes of the mod delicate 
architedture. The rich had baths at home, and frequently 
very magnificent ones, efpecially after the time that the 
practice of pillaging the provinces had begun ; but they 
only ufed them on extraordinary occafions. The great 
men, and even the emperors themfelves, fometimes bathed 
in public with the red of the people. Alexander Severus 
was the fird who allowed the public baths to be opened in 
the night-time during the heats of dimmer. 
The Greek baths were ufually annexed to palejlra or 
gymnafia, of which they were confidered as a part. Thefe 
baths confided of feven different apartments, ufually fepa- 
rated from each other, and intermixed with other build¬ 
ings belonging to the other forts of exercifes. Thefe were, 
fird, the cold bath, frigida lavatio; 2dly, The elceothefum y 
or room where they anointed with oil; 3dly, The frigida- 
rium, or cooling room ; 4thly, The propnigeum, or en¬ 
trance of the hypocaujliim, or dove ; 51hly, The vaulted 
room for fvveating in, or vapour-bath, called concamerata 
fudatio, or tepidarium-, 6thly. The laconicum, or dry dove; 
7tidy, The hot bath called callida lavatio. As for the 
baths feparate from the palejlra:, they appear to have been 
ufually double, one for men, the other for women ; but 
fo near, that the fame furnace heated both. The middle 
part 
