CHAPTER I.

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WORKS BY ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S.

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HEALTHY SKIN: a Popular Treatise on the Skin and Hair, their

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THE EASTERN, OR TURKISH BATH: its History, Revival in Britain, and

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vols.

THE

EASTERN,

OR

TURKISH BATH.

THE

EASTERN,

OR

TURKISH BATH:

Its History, Revival in Britain,

AND

APPLICATION TO THE PURPOSES

OF

HEALTH.

BY

ERASMUS WILSON, F.R.S.

[Illustration]

LONDON:

JOHN CHURCHILL, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.

MDCCCLXI.

PREFACE.

It is now about twelve months since, that my attention was first

attracted to the EASTERN BATH. I thought I knew as much of baths as

most men: I knew the hot, the warm, the tepid, and the cold; the

vapour, the air, the gaseous, the medicated, and the mud bath; the

natural and the artificial; the shower, the firework, the needle,

the douche, and the wave bath; the fresh-river bath and the salt-sea

bath, and many more beside: I knew their slender virtues, and their

stout fallacies; they had my regard, but not my confidence; and I was

not disposed to yield easily to any reputed advantages that might be

represented to me in favour of baths. Mr. Urquhart talked to me, but

without producing any other than a passing impression; he had, many

years before, illustrated, under my observation, the beneficial effects

of heat and moisture on his own person; but it bore no fruits in me;

for where could I find another man who would submit to a process of

so much severity? Without being prejudiced against the whole family

of baths, I was not to be enticed into any belief or trust in them,

without some positive and undoubted proof. Such was the state of my

opinion with regard to baths, when an earnest man, with truth flashing

from his eyes, one day stood before me, and challenged me to the trial

of the Eastern Bath. I would, if no engagement occurred to prevent me.

"Let nothing stand in your way, for there are few things of common life

of more importance!" was the appeal of my visitor. "On Saturday, at

four o'clock?" "So be it." And on Saturday, at four o'clock, with the

punctuality of Nelson, I stood in Mr. George Witt's Thermæ.

To George Witt, F.R.S., the metropolis is indebted for a knowledge

of the Eastern Bath. Mr. Urquhart struck the spark in "The Pillars

of Hercules;" Dr. Barter caught it in Ireland, and fanned it into a

blaze; another spark was attracted by Mr. George Crawshay and Sir John

Fife, and burst into a flame in Newcastle-on-Tyne and the North of

England. Mr. Urquhart himself applied the match in Lancashire; but Mr.

George Witt introduced the Bath to London and its mighty ones. Rank,

intellect, learning, art, all met, as companions of the new "order of

the Bath," in Prince's Terrace, Hyde Park. And all will remember, with

kindness and affection, the generous disinterestedness and earnest

truthfulness of their host.

When I stepped into the Calidarium for the first time; when I

experienced the soothing warmth of the atmosphere; when, afterwards,

I perceived the gradual thaw of the rigid frame, the softening of the

flesh, the moistening of the skin, the rest of the stretched cords of

the nervous system, the abatement of aches and pains, the removal of

fatigue, and the calm flow of imagination and thought,--I understood

the meaning of my friend's zeal, and I discovered that there was one

Bath that deserved to be set apart from the rest--that deserved,

indeed, a careful study and investigation.

The Bath that cleanses the inward as well as the outward man, that is

applicable to every age, that is adapted to make health healthier,

and alleviate disease whatever its stage or severity, deserves to be

regarded as a national institution, and merits the advocacy of all

men, and particularly of medical men; of those whose special duty it

is to teach how health may be preserved, how disease may be averted.

My own advocacy of the Bath is directed mainly to its adoption as a

social custom, as a cleanly habit; and, on this ground, I would press

it upon the attention of every thinking man. But, if, besides bestowing

physical purity and enjoyment, it tend to preserve health, to prevent

disease, and even to cure disease, the votary of the Bath will receive

a double reward.

Having, in my own person, and in the experience afforded me by its

regular use, become convinced of the power and importance of the

Bath, I felt it to be a duty to make my impressions known to the

Medical Profession. With this object I addressed an essay, entitled,

"Thermo-therapeia, the Heat-cure," to the British Medical Association,

at their meeting at Torquay in August, 1860. In this paper, I urged

upon the members of the medical profession, particularly in the

provinces and rural districts, to erect a bath for themselves, as

an auxiliary armament against disease, as an addition to their

pharmacopœia; and to give their support to the establishment in every

village and hamlet in Britain of an Eastern Bath.

In September, 1860, I was invited to address a paper on the "Revival of

the Eastern Bath, and its Application to the Purposes of Health," to

the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, at their

meeting in Glasgow; an abstract of that paper will be found in the

second chapter of this treatise. And, having subsequently been called

upon to deliver a popular lecture at the Parochial Institution of

Richmond, I penned the historical account of the Bath which is embodied

in the first chapter. This explanation I hope my readers will accept

as accounting for a certain degree of repetition which occurs in this

volume; and which, without the devotion of more time to the labour than

I have at my disposal, could not be avoided.

It will be guessed, and with truth, that I am no longer a sceptic of

the value of the Bath, when the Bath embraces the virtues which are

possessed by the Eastern Bath. That it is a source of much enjoyment

may be inferred from the suddenness with which it has spread through

the metropolis of London. Turkish Baths meet our eye in almost every

quarter of the town, and three Companies have been formed, or are

in course of formation, for the establishment of Eastern Baths on

correct principles. One of these Companies, under the presidency of

Mr. Stewart Rolland, professes to draw its inspiration directly from

Constantinople, and will take, as its especial model, the Turkish Bath.

When adopted as a social custom, the Turkish model is clearly that

which ought to be imitated, on account of the moderate temperature

which belongs to it. The higher temperatures are upon their trial;

they are not a necessity of the process, they may have their uses in

disease; but it would be best to treat them with caution, or, as a

medicine, leave them wholly in medical hands. The Bath for the public

should be one that they may adopt with as much safety as the basin of

water with which they wash their hands.

The use of an elevated temperature is founded on the well-known power

of heat of destroying organic impurity--such as odour, miasma, and

animal poison. But, in this acceptation, when applied to the human

body, it becomes a medicine of the most potent kind; and should,

therefore, be left to medical management.

_Henrietta Street, Cavendish Square,

March, 1861._

CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Ground-plan of the Palæstra or Gymnasium of the

Greeks: after Vitruvius p. xix

Plan of the Roman Thermæ, from a drawing taken from

the walls of the Baths of Titus p. xxi

The Hypocaustum of the Roman Bath at Chester p. xxiii

The Calidarium of Mr. George Witt's Bath p. xxv

Mr. Urquhart's Bath at Riverside p. xxvii

Ground-plan of my own Bath at Richmond Hill p. xxix

The Dureta; the Moorish, and probably Phœnician,

Couch, adopted by the Emperor Augustus p. xxxi

The person reclining on this couch is so completely supported

that he feels as though he were suspended in air.

CHAPTER I.

THE BATH, an animal instinct; coeval with the earliest existence

of man; common to every rank; a ceremony of his

birth, and a funereal rite; discovery of thermal springs;

the Scamander; commemoration of the hot-bath by Homer;

the hot-baths of Hercules; estimation of hot-baths by the

Phœdrians; frequency of thermal springs; Hamâms of

the East, Hamâm Ali, near ancient Nineveh; Hamâm

Meskhoutin in Algeria; Baths of Nero in Italy; German

thermal springs, Carlsbad, Wiesbaden, Ems, Aix-la-Chapelle;

the Geysers of Iceland; thermal springs of Amsterdam

Island; of America; of England, Bath, Bristol,

Buxton, Matlock pp. 1-5

Primitive idea of the artificial hot-vapour bath; Bath of the

American Indians; ancient Irish Bath, or sweating-house,

the Tig Allui; Mexican Bath; Moorish Bath; the Hypocaust pp. 5-9

Eastern origin of the bath; Mr. Urquhart's discovery of the

vestiges of the Phœnician Bath among the ruins of Baalbeck;

Syrian Bath; Gazul, its nature and properties; Gazul and the

Strigil derived from Mauritania; probable irradiation of the

knowledge of the bath from Phœnicia pp. 9-12

Hypocaust of the Moorish, Mexican, Greek, and Roman Bath;

the only method of heating houses in Greece and Rome; the

common practice in China; Chinese vapour bath, pp. 12-13

Baths of Greece; Gymnasia; Gymnasium or Palæstra; Lyceum

Academia; Cynosarges pp. 14-18

Thermæ and Balneæ of Rome; Baths of Agrippa, Titus, Paulus

Æmilius, Diocletian, and Caracalla; magnificence of the

Roman Thermæ; Roman Baths of England; decline of the

bath in Rome; construction of the Roman Bath; excessive

indulgence in the bath by the Romans; Pliny's description

of his own bath; Seneca's reproof of the luxury and wanton

extravagance of the Romans pp. 18-29

Roman Baths of England; Uriconium; Chester pp. 29-33

The bath lost by the Romans; preserved by the Turks; the

Turkish Hamâm; construction of the Hamâm; costume of

the bath; mode of taking the bath; the outer Hall, or

Mustaby, the middle room, the inner room; shampooing;

rolling and peeling the scarf-skin; soaping and rinsing;

return to the Mustaby; the couch of repose; special characteristics

of the Turkish Hamâm--vapoury atmosphere,

low temperature; the Turkish process contrasted with the

Roman; the order, the decorum, the dignity of the Turkish

Bath; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's description of the

Women's Bath in Turkey pp. 33-46

The Egyptian Bath; the Bath of Siout; the Bath at Cairo;

Mr. Thackeray's experiences; Egyptian shampooing; M.

Savary's description of the Egyptian Bath and Egyptian

shampooing; its intellectual and medicative properties;

Tournefort's experience pp. 46-50

Introduction of the Turkish Bath to Britain; Mr. Urquhart

and the "Pillars of Hercules"; Mr. Urquhart's advocacy

of the Bath; Mr. Urquhart erects a bath at Blarney for

Dr. Richard Barter; spread of the Turkish Bath in

Ireland pp. 50-52

Pioneers of the Bath in England, Mr. Urquhart, Mr. George

Crawshay, Sir John Fife, Mr. George Witt, Mr. Stewart

Rolland; private Turkish Baths in England; Mr. Witt's

Bath; construction; process of the bath; costume of the

bath; "Companions of the Bath;" first impressions; effect

of the Bath in the removal of pain pp. 52-55

The delights of free perspiration; differences between the practised

bather and the neophyte; thirst; beads upon the rose;

counting our beads; freedom of perspiration in labourers

exposed to high temperatures; a nutritive drink pp. 55-58

Temperature of the bath; mutual relations between temperature,

size of apartment, moisture of atmosphere, and number

of bathers; temperature relative to these conditions; effects

of temperature in water, vapour, and air; man's capability

of supporting temperatures of remarkable altitude in dry

air; Mr. Urquhart's Laconicum; Sir Charles Blagden's experiments;

Sir Francis Chantrey's oven; Chabert, the Fire

King pp. 58-61

The best temperature for the purposes of Health; practice of

the Romans, who lost the bath, compared with that of the

Turks, who have preserved it; philosophy of the bath;

talking and thinking to be avoided in the bath; inconveniences

of the bath to the novitiate; the cause and its

remedy; advice; peculiarities or idiosyncrasies of constitution;

wisdom of the Turks pp. 61, 63

Duration of the bath; influenced by temperature and idiosyncrasy,

pp. 63-64

Second operation of the bath; shampooing; proper moment for

the process; the Turkish process; the Moorish process;

Captain Clark Kennedy's description of the Moorish Bath,

and the operation of shampooing; the British shampooer, pp. 64-72

Third operation of the bath; the peeling of the scarf-skin;

manner of performance; the camel's-hair or goat's-hair

glove pp. 72-74

Fourth operation of the bath; soaping; the wisp of lyf; the

warm shower; the cold douche; alternate hot and cold

douche; closure of the pores; restoration of the warmth of

the skin pp. 74-76

The Frigidarium; the process of cooling; the purified skin;

sensations after the bath; the ordinary dress resumed;

illustration of the use and effects of the bath in dispelling

the cravings of hunger and fatigue pp. 77-79

Mr. Urquhart's bath; the Laconicum; the spiracle of sweet

perfumes; the Lavatrina; the cold pool; the hot and cold

douche; breakfast; _kuscoussoo_; the chemistry of the preparation

of food; its value to man pp. 79-87

My own bath at Richmond Hill pp. 88-89

CHAPTER II.

REVIVAL AND SANITARY PURPOSES OF THE

EASTERN BATH.

General idea of the bath; and of its sanitary application; its

popularity with the working classes pp. 90-92

Construction of the bath, illustrated by the description of Mr.

Witt's bath; the Calidarium; the heating apparatus; materials

of construction; the flue; the _dureta_; Mr. Stewart

Rolland's bath; the Lavatorium; the Frigidarium, pp. 93-102

Operation of the bath; costume of the bath; sensations of

the bath; perspiration; the body washed in its own moisture;

unpleasant sensations; contrast of the uneducated

and educated skin; object of the bath; use of the cold

douche; the cooling and drying process pp. 103-110

Sanitary purposes of the bath; importance of the skin in the

animal economy; structure and functions of the skin; exposure

of the skin to the air; resistance of cold; costume of

ancient Britons; defensive powers of the bath against catarrh;

weakening of the skin by clothing; comparison of

physical qualities of healthy and unhealthy skin; sensibility

of the skin; hardening of the skin; nutritive properties of

the skin; training; influence of the bath in the prevention

of disease; curative powers of the bath pp. 111-127

CHAPTER III.

RATIONAL USE OF THE BATH.

Proper employment of the bath; proper temperature; proper

time for taking the bath; duration and frequency of taking

the bath; customs of the Moslem; unfounded apprehension

of taking "cold;" the bath cannot give cold; disturbance

of nutritive function occasioned by the bath; strengthening

and restoring properties of the bath: Mr. Urquhart's evidence;

Sir Alexander Burnes's evidence; health of shampooers pp. 128-141

Medical properties of the bath; on what principles founded;

its chemical and electrical powers; its preservation of the

balance of the nutritive functions; it supersedes the necessity

for exercise; estimation of the medical powers of the

bath in Turkey; its influence in producing longevity; it

removes fat; gives power of exercise; removes rheumatism,

and cures spasm and cramp; example of cure of wry-neck, pp. 141-152

CHAPTER IV.

APPLICATION OF THE BATH TO HORSES AND CATTLE,

FOR TRAINING AND THE CURE OF DISEASE.

Adaptation of the Turkish Bath to the horse, dog, oxen, cows,

sheep, swine, &c.; its application to the purpose of training;

Mr. Goodwin's management of horses after severe exercise;

his remarks on the use of the bath in the stable, pp. 153-159

The skin a respiratory organ; ventilation of the skin; clipping

and singeing horses pp. 159-161

Dr. Barter's application of the bath to the treatment of the

diseases of animals; report of a committee appointed to

inquire into the utility of Dr. Barter's bath for the cure of

distemper in cattle pp. 162-164

Observations on the use of the bath; and rules to be followed

in taking it pp. 165-167

[Illustration: GROUND-PLAN OF THE PALÆSTRA OR GYMNASIUM, AFTER

VITRUVIUS. (Page 15.)

_a a._ The portico. _b._ The Ephebeum, the room of the Ephebi or

youths, _c._ The Apodyterium and Gymnasterium. _d._ The Elaiothesium,

or anointing room. _e._ The Konisterium, or dusting room. _f f._ The

hot baths. _g._ The stove or Laconicum. _h._ The cold bath. _i._ The

Peristylium or Piazza, which includes the Sphæristerium, and Palestra.

_k k._ Xysti. _l l._ Xysticus silvis. _m._ The Stadium.]

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE ROMAN THERMÆ, FROM A DRAWING TAKEN FROM THE

WALLS OF THE BATHS OF TITUS. (Page 22.)

_a._ The Frigidarium, or cool room. _b._ The Tepidarium, or room of

middle temperature. _c._ The Calidarium, sudatorium, or concamerata

sudatio; around this apartment are seen several ranges of platforms of

marble. _d._ A vaulted stove, covered by an arched cover, _clipeus_:

this stove gave additional heat to the part of the room wherein it

was situated, and constituted the Laconicum. _e._ The Lavatorium

or Balneum; there are marble platforms in this apartment, and in

its centre is an open bath, called, from its large everted lip upon

which the bather sat, _labrum_. _g g._ The Hypocaustum. _h._ The room

in which the water is stored and heated. In the uppermost vase the

water is cold, as is indicated by the absence of fire beneath it. In

the second vase the water is warm, being placed at a considerable

height above the fire. In the lowest vase the water is hot. _i._ The

Elaiothesium, or anointing room, from which the bather passes to the

Vestiarium or Spoliatorium.]

[Illustration: THE HYPOCAUSTUM OF THE ROMAN BATH AT CHESTER. (Page 31.)

In the foreground are seen three of the short pillars or _pilæ_, with

square shafts and expanded heads and bases. Between these more distant

pilæ are visible, seemingly arranged in rows. The floor on which the

burning embers lay is uneven; while the roof, which is the under part

of the floor of the bath, exhibits evidences of the corroding action of

the fire. The Hypocaustum, in the Roman Thermæ, occupied the whole of

the under surface of the Calidarium, and the ruins bear evidence of the

use of fires of prodigious extent.]

[Illustration: MR. GEORGE WITT'S BATH; THE CALIDARIUM. (Page 53.)

_a._ The entrance door. _b._ A small window looking into the

Frigidarium; a gas lamp, for use at night, is seen through the pane.

_c._ A thick plate of glass in the outer wall, for admitting light. _d

d._ Ventilating holes; the lower one is furnished with a wooden plug.

_e._ The masonry which encloses the furnace. _f._ The flue, proceeding

from the furnace along the side of the room. _g g._ The flue crossing

the end of the room. _h._ The flue returning along the opposite side

of the room. _i._ The ascending flue. _k._ The flue crossing above the

furnace, and then ascending, _l l_, the angle of the room, to terminate

in the chimney. _f g g h_, support a wooden seat, on which the bathers

sit; along the front of this seat, as at _f_, _h_, are perforated tiles

and spaces, which give passage to the heated air. _m._ The warm water

tank. _n n._ A platform, which also serves as a seat; the feet resting

on the step _o o_. _p p._ The _dureta_; the letters are placed on the

feet of the couch. The floor is tesselated; and on the seat are seen

two wooden basins, containing soap and a bunch of _lyf_.]

[Illustration: MR. URQUHART'S BATH; THE BATH AT RIVERSIDE. (Page 79.)

_a._ The door of entrance. _b._ The ceiling of the vestibule of the

Bath. The side or rather the end of the vestibule _c_ is occupied by an

immense sheet of plate glass, through which are seen the Frigidarium,

and the window of the Frigidarium, with a trellis of roses beyond. _d._

The floor of the vestibule. _e e._ One side of the great Hall of the

Bath. _f._ A step covered with a Turkish towel. _g._ A platform, under

which the hypocaust, _h h_, extends from one side to the other of the

Hall. _i._ An ornamental grating, through which heated air enters the

Hall directly from the furnace. _k k._ The tent, or enclosed chamber

immediately over the furnace, where the highest degree of heat exists;

the Laconicum. _l._ A couch, of lower temperature, but still hot,

from being over the hypocaust. _m._ The spiracle of perfume from the

mignionette bed. _n._ The floor of the Hall. _o._ The Lavatrina. _p._

A couch of less heat than _l_. _q._ Steps leading to the pool of cold

water. _r._ The piscina or cold pool.]

[Illustration: GROUND-PLAN OF MY OWN BATH AT RICHMOND-HILL. (Page 88.)

_a a._ Front wall. _b._ Door of entrance from a lobby, leading from

the Frigidarium. _c._ Vestibule. _d._ Inner door. _e e._ Spiracles or

ventilators. _f._ Mouth of the furnace. _g._ Furnace of fire-brick,

enclosed in a jacket of hollow brick. _h h h._ Flue. _i._ Chimney. _k._

Returned flue, supporting a tank for warm water. _l l._ Outer wall; the

dark shade between _l h_, and _l k_, indicates the interval between the

flue and outer wall. _m._ The Lavatrina. _n._ Tesselated pavement.]

[Illustration: THE DURETA, OR RECLINING COUCH, USED IN THE BATH; BOTH

IN THE CALIDARIUM AND FRIGIDARIUM. (Pages 53, 97.)

_a._ The plane for supporting the back. _b._ The thigh-plane. _c._

The leg-plane. _d._ The foot-piece, which is movable, and admits of

adjustment, to suit the comfort of the bather. _e._ The head-piece,

for supporting the head. _f._ Arc of the angle _a-b_. _g._ The angle

corresponding with the bend of the knee. _h._ Arc of the angle _b-c_.

_i._ Lower hole, for the foot-piece. _k._ Elevation of the trunk-plane

from the ground-line, _l_. _m._ One of the feet of the couch.

This figure is intended to exhibit the construction of the _dureta_,

the best lines of angle, and the size the most convenient for a person

of medium stature--say five feet, eight inches. If the person be taller

or shorter, a corresponding difference must be made in the length

of the three principal pieces. The _dureta_ is constructed of deal

boards, 20 inches long, nailed on a pair of lateral rails; the rails

being supported by a firm foot, _m_, and steadied by a bracket at

the angle _g_. The measurements are as follow:--_a_, 28 inches; _b_,

18-1/2 inches; _c_, from _g_ to the foot-piece, 19 inches; and from

_g_ to the extreme end, below the letter _i_, 23 inches. The holes for

the foot-piece are two inches apart; and the head-piece may be made

movable. The arc of the angle _a-b_, measured at _f_, from the upper

angle of _a_ to _g_ is 38 inches; the arc of the angle _b-c_, measured

at _h_ from the angle _m_ to the end of the plane _c_, is 37 inches;

the height of the upper end at _k_ is 24-1/2 inches; the height of the

angle _g_ at _l_ is 14-1/2 inches; and the dotted line from the angle

_m_ to the perpendicular _k_, 21 inches; the height of the angle _m_

from the point where the dotted line touches to the ground is 6-1/4

inches; and the height of the end at _i_ is simply the depth of the

rail--namely between two and three inches.

The _dureta_ after the above model is manufactured by Mr. Allen, 7,

Great Smith-street, Westminster.]

THE

EASTERN, OR TURKISH BATH.

CHAPTER I.

The Bath is an animal instinct: and, _par excellence_, a human

instinct; it is as much a necessity of our nature as drink. We drink

because we thirst--an _interior sense_. We bathe because water, the

material of drink, is a desire of the outward man--an _exterior

sense_. An animal, whether beast or bird, pasturing or straying near a

limpid stream, first satisfies the inward sense, and then delights the

outward sense. A man, be he savage or civilized, can no more resist the

gratification of bathing his wearied limbs in a warm transparent pool

than he can resist the cup of water when athirst. Instinct bids him

bathe and be clean. To inquire--Who invented the act of drinking? would

be as reasonable as to ask--Who invented the bath?

The bath is coeval with the earliest existence of man. Can it be

doubted that our first parents bathed their newly-created limbs in the

river that "went out of Eden to water the garden"? History teaches us,

that the Phœnicians and ancient Greeks of all ranks, from the daughters

of their kings down to the poorest citizens, were wont to bathe in

rivers and in the sea, for the purpose of cleansing their bodies and

refreshing and invigorating their frames. They had recourse to the bath

when they ceased from sorrow and mourning, after great fatigues of

whatever kind, before and during their meals, and at the conclusion of

their battles. Bathing was the first act of their lives, and it was a

part of their funereal rites. The birth of Jupiter, the Thunderer, is

celebrated by the poet Callimachus in the following lines:--

"As soon as you were born and saw the light,

Your mother's grateful burden and delight,

She sought for some _clear brook_ to purify

The body of so dear a progeny."

Again, of Alcestis, when about to lay down her life for her husband

Admetus, it is written:--

"The pious dame, before the fatal day

Of her own exit, bathed her beauteous limbs

In _gentle rivulet_."

Plato, also, records how the good old philosopher Socrates, before

he drank the fatal cup of hemlock that was to consign him to Hades,

_bathed_ and _washed_ himself, that he might save the women, whose duty

it was, their troublesome office.[1]

[1] "Part of the funereal rites of the Moors was to convey the corpse

to the bath."--Urquhart, from "Mision Historial de Marueccos."

A short stage in the history of the bath leads us to the discovery of

springs of hot water, hot vapour, and hot air; and these very possibly

suggested to man's inventive mind the means of procuring so great a

luxury by his own contrivance. Homer commends one of the sources of the

Scamander for its warmth, and tells us how Andromache, with matronly

care, prepared a hot bath for her husband Hector, against his return

from battle:--

"Her fair-haired handmaids heat the brazen urn,

The BATH preparing for her lord's return."

We are taught also that Vulcan, or, as others say, Minerva, discovered

certain _hot baths_ ([Greek: Hêrakleea loutra]) to Hercules, that he

might replenish his strength after undergoing severe exertion and

fatigue. And the Phœdrians, according to Homer, laid great stress upon

the importance to the health and happiness of man of frequent changes

of apparel, comfortable beds, and _hot baths_.

It is one of the marvels of the earth's history, that hot springs,

or thermal springs, bubble upwards to the light, not only on Mount

Ida, the source of the Scamander, but in countless other places and

countries on the world's surface. These hot springs would appear to

have invited man to their use by their pleasant aspect and by their

warmth; and their enjoyment to have suggested the possibility of

contriving artificially a similar luxury nearer to his threshold.

The word Hamâm, which is equivalent to thermal springs, is not

unfrequently met with in the East as the name of a town or village in

or near to which hot springs are found. Hamâm Ali, in the neighbourhood

of ancient Nineveh, is an example of this kind. "The thermal spring is

covered by a building, only commodious for half-savage people, yet the

place is much frequented by persons of the better classes both from

Baghdad and Mósul."[2] Captain Kennedy, in his "Travels in Algeria and

Tunis," tells us of the hot springs of Hamâm Meskhoutin, which rise to

the surface at a temperature of 203° of Fahrenheit, only 9° short of

boiling, and are so abundant as to burst forth through any opening made

accidentally in the ground. "The thermal waters, in flowing over the

bank of the rivulet, have formed a calcareous deposit of great beauty,

resembling a cascade of the purest white marble, tinged here and there

with various shades of green and orange."

[2] F. W. Ainsworth: "Journey to Kalah Sherghat and Al Hadhr in 1840"

(Transactions of the Geographical Society).

In Italy, near the town of Pozzuoli, are some natural thermal

springs--the ancient Posidianæ, now called the Baths of Nero, of which

the temperature of the water is 185°, while that of the vapour which

rises from it is 122°. The spring is situated in a rocky cavern at the

end of a long passage formed by a fissure in the rock, and in this way

constitutes a natural bathing house.

In Germany, among others, are the thermal springs of Borcette, with a

temperature of 171°; Carlsbad, in Bohemia, 165°; Wiesbaden, Ems, and

Schlangenbad, in Nassau; Baden-Baden; Aix-la-Chapelle; Wildbad; and

Ischl.

In Iceland are the far-famed Geysers; in the Southern Ocean the hot

springs of Amsterdam Island; and many more are dispersed over the

Continent of America; while in England there are the thermal springs of

Bath, Bristol, Buxton, and Matlock.

The _heated rock_ and the _vaporization of water_ would seem to have

originated the primitive idea of a hot-air and hot-vapour bath; and

this idea we find carried out simultaneously in various parts of the

world and amongst the rudest nations. Mr. Gent, in his "History of

Virginia," describes the hot-vapour bath as employed by the American

Indians.

"The doctor," he says, "takes three or four large stones, which, after

having heated red-hot, he places in the middle of the stove, laying on

them some of the inner bark of oak, beaten in a mortar, to keep them

from burning; this being done, they (the Indians) creep in, six or

eight at a time, or as many as the place will hold, and then close up

the mouth of the stove, which is usually made like an oven in some bank

near the water-side; in the meanwhile, the doctor, to raise a steam,

after they have been stewing a little time, pours cold water on the

stones, and now and then sprinkles the men to keep them from fainting;

after they have sweat as long as they can well endure it, they sally

out, and (though it be in the depth of winter) forthwith plunge

themselves over head and ears in cold water, which instantly closes up

the pores and preserves them from taking cold." After the bath, they

are anointed like the Romans, the pomatum of the Indians being for the

most part bear's-grease, containing a powder obtained by grinding the

root of the yellow alkanet.

But we find this primitive form of bath nearer home than the American

Continent--namely, in Ireland, although both the American and the

Irish bath may, Mr. Urquhart suggests, have been derived from the same

ancestry--that of the Phœnicians. In a foot-note appended to a page

on the universality of the bath, in his "Pillars of Hercules,"[3] Mr.

Urquhart gives the following very curious and very interesting account

of the practice of sweating employed in former times in Ireland, as

reported to him by a lady as a recollection of her childhood:--

[3] "The Pillars of Hercules; or, a Narrative of Travels in Spain and

Morocco in 1848." By David Urquhart, M.P. 1850.

"With respect to the sweating-houses, as they are called, I remember

about forty years ago seeing one in the island of Rathlin, and shall

try to give you a description of it. It was built of basalt stones,

very much in the shape of a bee-hive, with a row of stones inside, for

the person to sit on when undergoing the operation. There was a hole

at the top, and one near the ground, where the person crept in and

seated him or herself, the stones having been heated in the same way

as an oven for baking bread is, the hole on the top being covered with

a sod while being heated, but I suppose removed to admit the person to

breathe. Before entering, the patient was stripped quite naked, and on

coming out, dressed again in the open air. The process was reckoned a

sovereign cure for rheumatism and all sorts of pains and aches."

Dr. Haughton on the same subject remarks that:--"Two varieties of _Tig

Allui_, or sweating-houses, exist in Ireland, one kind being capable

of containing a good many persons, and the other only intended for a

single occupant." The former is that just described: it is heated in

the same way as an oven, by making a large fire of wood in the middle

of the floor, and after the wood is burnt out, sweeping away the ashes.

Besides the cure of rheumatism, the young girls who have tarnished

their complexion in the process of burning kelp or sea-weed for the

manufacture of soda, also resort to the Tig Allui for the purpose of

clearing their skin. The usual time for remaining in the bath is under

the half hour.

The second kind of Tig Allui--namely, that for the reception of a

single person only--is described by Dr. Tucker, of Sligo, as follows:--

"It is built of stone and mortar, and brought to a round top. It is

sufficiently large for one person to sit on a chair inside, the door

being merely large enough to admit a person on his hands and knees.

When any of the old people of the neighbourhood, men or women, are

seized with pains, they at once have recourse to the sweat-house, which

is brought to the proper temperature by placing therein a large turf

fire, after the manner of an oven, which is left until it is burned

quite down, the door being a flat stone and air-tight, and the roof, or

outside of the house, being covered with clay, to the depth of about a

foot, to prevent the least escape of heat. When the remains of the fire

are taken out, the floor is strewn with green rushes, and the person to

be cured is escorted to the bath by a second person carrying a pair of

blankets. The invalid, having crept in, plants himself or herself in

a chair, and there remains until the perspiration rolls off in large

drops. When sufficiently operated on, he or she, as the case may be,

is anxious to get out, and the person in waiting swaddles him up in

the blankets, and off home, and then to bed. I have heard old people

say that they would not have been alive, twenty years ago, only for

the sweating-house.... Remains of the Tig Allui are also found in the

county Tyrone, of the following dimensions:--five feet in height, nine

in length, and four in width, being built of solid masonry, and shaped

like a bee-hive at the top."

Another, and a very important step in the progress of the bath was the

contrivance of a mode of heating by means of which the temperature

might be made uniform, and might be regulated in any manner that

should be required. The hot stones of the North American medicine-man

were clearly a very bungling and uncertain expedient; little better

than the warm skin of a newly-killed animal; and the wood fire of

the Irish sweating-houses was more objectionable still, not only on

account of the impossibility of regulating the heat, but also from

the resulting impurity of the atmosphere and the danger of leaving

fragments of the heated ashes on the floor. The next contrivance, and

that which has continued to be the practice up to the present day,

was the construction of a furnace under the floor--in other words, a

_hypocaust_. Mr. Urquhart, speaking of the existence of baths among

the Mexicans and their probable introduction by the Phœnicians,

remarks:--"However magnificent their public monuments," their baths

were "such as are found in almost every house in Morocco,--a small

apartment seven feet square, with a cupola roof five to six feet high,

and a slightly convex floor, under one side of which there is a fire,

and a small low door to creep in by."

Reviewing the probable rise and progress of the bath, there seems

little doubt that the bath took its origin in the East, the

dwelling-place of our first parents, the birth-place of civilization

and knowledge. It was known at a very early period in Phœnicia. Mr.

Urquhart, in his recent work, "The Lebanon,"[4] relates his discovery

of a Phœnician temple, or crypt, among the ruins of Baalbeck, or

Baalbeth, _the House of Baal_--the Heliopolis, or _City of the Sun_,

of the Greeks; in which were traces of the existence of the bath. "But

the Phœnician crypt was not my only discovery. In a gap opening a few

feet into the masonry, I found mortar hard as stone where exposed to

the air, but soft within. Yet it was unlike other mortar; it was dark

grey, with particles of charcoal; when I brought out some, it was

recognised at once, and called _kissermil_, or ashes from the bath.

Those ashes are still used in this country for mortar, which with this

addition becomes as hard as stone. According to the old construction,

the baths were heated as an oven is, brushwood and dung being used as

well as wood. The combustion not being complete, there remain various

chemical compounds, alkali, ammonia, sulphate and carbonate of lime,

and carbon, which by entering into new combinations, bind the mortar

into a distinct substance."

[4] "The Lebanon (Mount Souria): a History and a Diary." By David

Urquhart. 1860.

"One thing is clear, there were baths at Baalbeck. In the elaborately

finished bath of Emir Beshir at Ibtedeen, one peculiarity struck me

as evidencing their high antiquity in this land. It was the absence

of cocks; instead of which simple plugs or clots of cloth were used

for the pipes which brought the water into the basins. As the Romans

and Greeks used cocks, the art of the bath had not been derived from

them, but traced beyond them. Still it was curious to observe these

ashes in the midst of Cyclopic blocks. And yet why should not the bath

have belonged to the very earliest period of human society? It is

sufficiently excellent to be from the beginning."

"I remembered that in opening up the pavement of an ancient bath on the

western coast of Africa, I had come upon a somewhat similar deposit,

in large quantities, under the floor. This was _gazul_, the product of

a certain mountain in Morocco, resembling soapstone, but composed of

an admixture of silex, alumina, magnesia, and lime, and which has the

peculiar property of polishing the skin when rubbed upon it, and so

cleaning off the dead epidermis. Being used for this purpose largely

in the baths, the grey deposit under the ruin in question is easily

accounted for. Might not this same _gazul_, mixed with kissermil, have

been the deposit which I took for mortar at Baalbeck?"

For the purpose of removing the dead epidermis from the surface of

the skin, "four processes have been adopted throughout the families

of the human race, and in successive times. The simple, the natural,

the first hit upon, was the rubbing down with the ball of the hand,

which is still the process used in this country for currying horses

of high breed. The three others, of a more refined and, I may say,

historical character, are, scraping, rolling, and polishing. The

scraping is with the _strigil_, which we know of from the Romans and

Greeks, but which is figured on the tombs of Lycia, and the Roman name

of which is derived from Mauritania. The rolling is that which we see

to-day practised by the Turks. The polishing is with the _gazul_, and

practised by the Moors, to whom it is confined, and who alone possess

the admirable substance which is used for it. Now, if _gazul_ was used

by the early inhabitants of Baalbeck, their bathing process belonged to

the last of these systems, and they carried on a traffic with Morocco."

From Phœnicia, from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, a knowledge of the

bath may have spread along the southern coast of the Mediterranean,

through Egypt, Tripoli, and Algiers, to Morocco and the Pillars of

Hercules; or it may, as Mr. Urquhart suggests, have been earliest in

use among the nations of Mauritania, and have been carried by the

Moors into the countries of the East. From Phœnicia, the knowledge

of the bath may have followed the line of caravan communication into

Russia, Persia, China, and Hindostan; while the ships of the then

greatest maritime country in the world would have carried it to Greece,

to Ireland, and to America. The bath is a common practice in Russia;

it is also well known in Persia, Hindostan, and China; and, as we

have already seen, its use in North America, in Mexico, and Ireland,

probably dates back to a very early age. Its progress in Europe we

shall presently see.

Speaking of the mode of heating the bath in Mexico and Morocco, I have

used the word hypocaust; this word is of Greek origin, and signifies

_under-fire_--that is, the fire is placed under the thing to be heated;

for example, under the foundation of the bath or of the house. The

Greeks and the Romans had no other means of heating their houses than

this; there was no open fire, but a fire under the foundation, from

which flues were carried upwards in the walls of the building. When a

great heat was required, as in the baths, the foundation was supported

on short columns (_pilæ_), and the entire space between the columns was

occupied with fire, while numerous ascending flues distributed the heat

around the rooms. Now it is curious to find that at the present hour

the Chinese continue the same means of heating their houses.

That they also employ the sudatory process of bathing, is shown by the

following extract from Mr. Henry Ellis's "Journal of an Embassy to

China," published in 1817:--

"Near this temple (at Nankin) is a public vapour bath, called, or

rather miscalled, the Bath of Fragrant Water, where dirty Chinese may

be stewed clean for ten chens, or three farthings; the bath is a small

room of one hundred feet area, divided into four compartments, and

paved with coarse marble; the heat is considerable, and as the number

admitted into the bath has no limit but the capacity of the area, the

stench is excessive; altogether, I thought it the most disgusting

cleansing apparatus[5] I had ever seen, and worthy of this nasty

nation."

[5] What would Mr. Ellis say of a country in which there existed no

"cleansing apparatus" whatever?--for example, his native country.

The Baths of Greece are celebrated for their magnificence; they formed

parts of buildings of vast extent and grandeur, termed Gymnasia.

The gymnasium was an institution of the Spartans of Lacedæmonia or

Laconia, and spread thence to other parts of Greece, and notably to

the metropolis of Attica, the famed city, Athens. The gymnasium was

sufficiently large to accommodate several thousands of persons, and

afforded space for the assembly of philosophers, men of science, and

poets, who delivered lectures to their scholars and recited their

verses; and for the pursuit of the favourite games and exercises of

their youths and men--namely, leaping, running, throwing the disc or

quoit, and wrestling; the purpose of these exercises being to give

strength to the people and make them accomplished warriors.

The different parts of a gymnasium or palæstra, were as follows:--

1. The PORTICOS, in which were numerous rooms furnished with seats for

the professors and their scholars.

2. The EPHEBEUM, a large space in which the ephebi or youths planned

and practised their exercises.

3. The APODYTERIUM, or undressing room; also called Gymnasterium, or

the room for becoming nude.

4. The ELAIOTHESIUM, or anointing room, which was equally used by those

who were preparing for exercise, and those who had completed their bath.

5. The KONISTERIUM, or dusting room, where the bodies of the wrestlers

and other athletæ, after being anointed, were well dusted over;

probably as a defence to the skin against injury.

6. The PALÆSTRA, or wrestling courts, which were bedded with sand more

or less deep, like the modern circus, in order to break the fall of the

combatants when they were thrown to the ground.

7. The SPHÆRISTERIUM, or court for ball exercise and raquets.

8. The PERISTYLE, or PIAZZA, within which was the area of the

Peristyle, for walking, and the exercises of leaping, quoits, ball, and

wrestling.

9. Then there were XYSTI, or covered courts, for the use of the

wrestlers in bad weather; XYSTA, which were walks between walls open at

the top and intended for hot weather; and a XYSTIC SYLVIS, or forest;

the intervals of the numerous ornamental columns of the building being

so called, and being devoted to walking exercise.

10. Next came the BATHS, which were hot, cold, and tepid water baths;

and a stove, or Laconicum, named after the city of Laconia and the

Lacedæmonians, from whom the Athenians derived their knowledge of the

hot-air bath.

11. And lastly, there was the STADIUM, a segment of an ellipse, which

received its name from being one hundred paces long, equal to six

hundred feet, or something less than an eighth of a mile. The Stadium

was furnished with rows of seats for spectators, and was intended for

the exhibition of feats of running and exercises upon a large scale.

The most remarkable Stadium known was one erected by Lycurgus on the

banks of the river Ilissus. It was built of Pentellick marble, and was

so magnificent a structure, that Pausanias the historian, in describing

it, informs his readers that they would not believe what he was about

to tell them, "it being a wonder to all that beheld it, and of that

stupendous bigness that one would judge it a mountain of white marble."

There were several gymnasia in Athens, the most noteworthy being, the

Lyceum, the Academia, and the Cynosarges.

The LYCEUM, founded on the banks of the river Ilissus, was consecrated

to Apollo; and not without reason, says Plutarch, but upon a good and

rational account, since from the same deity that cures our diseases and

restores our health, we may reasonably expect strength and ability to

contend in our exercises. The Lyceum is also interesting to us as being

the institution in which Aristotle taught philosophy. Aristotle was

wont to lecture to his scholars while walking, and his disciples were

therefore called Peripatetics; he continued his teaching daily until

the hour of anointing, which, with the Greeks, was a preparation for

dinner.

The ACADEMIA was situated in the suburbs of the city, on a piece of

ground that had been reclaimed from the marsh by draining and planting.

It was called after an old hero named Academicus. Plutarch informs us

that it was beset with shady woods and solitary walks fit for study and

meditation; in witness whereof another writer says:--

"In Academus' shady walks;"

and Horace writes:--

"In Hecademus' groves to search the truth."

Plato taught philosophy in the Academia; but having in consequence of

the unhealthy nature of the soil caught the ague, he was advised to

relinquish it for the Lyceum. "No!" said the old man, "I prefer the

Academy, for that it keeps the body under, lest by too much health it

should become rebellious, and more difficult to be governed by the

dictates of reason; as men prune vines when they spread too far, and

lop off the branches that grow too luxuriant."

The CYNOSARGES was also in the suburbs of Athens, not far distant from

the Lyceum. It was dedicated to the god of strength, Hercules; and was

interesting from its admission of strangers, and half-blood Athenians.

Its name is derived from the circumstance of a white dog seizing upon a

part of the victim that was being sacrificed to Hercules by Diomus; and

was the origin of the sect of philosophers known as the "Cynics."

BATHS OF ROME.--When Greece was subjugated by the Romans, the Romans

carried back with them to Italy the taste for the bath. They erected

thermæ of great magnificence, and in so great number, that at one

period there were nearly nine hundred public baths in Rome. Agrippa

alone is said to have built one hundred and sixty, while Mecænas has

the credit of possessing the first private bath. The most famed of

the public baths were those of Titus, Paulus Æmilius, Diocletian,

Caracalla, and Agrippa. In these baths was centred all that was most

perfect in material, elaborate in workmanship, elegant in design, and

beautiful in art. Nothing was thought too grand or too magnificent for

their decoration. Superb marbles brought from the most distant parts of

the world; the choicest selections from the riches of their conquests,

the curious and wonderful in nature and in art; precious gems and

metals; and the finest works of the painter and the sculptor. That

beautiful production of the sculptor's art, the Laocoon, was discovered

among the ruins of the Baths of Titus, and the celebrated Farnese

Hercules in those of Caracalla.

The Baths of Agrippa were constructed of brick coated with enamel.

Those of Nero were supplied with water from the sea, as well as fresh

water. The Baths of Caracalla were a mile in circumference; they

possessed two hundred marble columns, sixteen hundred seats of marble,

and were capable of accommodating nearly two thousand persons; while

those of Diocletian surpassed all others in grandeur, and occupied

140,000 men for many years in their construction.

Within the bath was collected all that contributed to the enjoyment,

the luxury, and the gaiety of existence of the Romans. Here they

practised their games, their athletic sports; here they came to learn

the news of the day, to listen to recitations of poetry and prose,[6]

to hear the eloquent harangues of their orators, and to be entranced

with the chords of melodious music. There were temples devoted to

dancing, to refreshment, to the bath; and in their abundant gratitude

they raised up appropriate statues to the gods who were supposed to

preside over their several enjoyments. The great hall of their bath was

ornamented with the statues of Hercules, the god of strength; Hygeia,

the goddess of health; and Æsculapius, the god of medicine.

[6] Pliny, in one of his letters, relates, in reference to the

reading of poetical productions in the gymnasia:--"This year has

proved extremely fertile in poetical productions: during the whole

month of April, scarce a day has passed wherein we have not been

entertained with the recital of some poem. It is a pleasure to me to

find, notwithstanding there seems to be so little disposition in the

public to attend assemblies of this kind, that the sciences still

flourish, and men of genius are not discouraged from producing their

performances."

It is not to be wondered at, that, reared in the midst of the luxury,

in the enjoyment of their Balneæ or Thermæ, the Romans should have

carried with them their longing for the bath wheresoever they went,

wheresoever their victorious armies forced themselves a way; and that,

possessing a mastery over England and Wales, which they maintained for

nearly four hundred years, they should have founded baths in their

chief settlements in this country. Thus we have remains of Roman

baths in London, in Chester, in Bath, at Wroxeter (Uriconium) in the

neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, at Cirencester (Corinium), at Carisbrooke,

in Colchester (Camulodunum), and in several other places besides.

But here we are compelled to draw a line of distinction between those

grand institutions of their own metropolis, which comprised, as I have

just described, their places of recreation, of exercise, of amusement,

of diversion, as well as their temples of health; which were, in fact,

a centralization of almost all the public institutions of their city

into one--and those particular parts of these institutions which were

specially devoted to health. Although the remains of the Roman thermæ

in England are large, although their construction evinces a great

perfection in many of the arts of social life, particularly in the

manufacture of bricks and pottery, yet they scarcely bear comparison

with the grander thermæ of ancient Rome, and for this reason: that all

that was simply ornamental--or, if I might be permitted to say so, that

was superfluous--has been omitted, and nothing but the substantial

and the wholesome allowed to remain--that portion, in fact, which was

purely devoted to health and strength. We thus prune the bath down to

its simpler elements, and we prepare the way for the consideration of

the bath as it has been revived amongst us at the present day.

Without some explanation, it would be difficult to understand how an

institution which was regarded with so much veneration by ancient

Rome, should have totally fallen into decay in modern Rome; and that

the thermæ shall have ceased to have an existence in Rome at the

present day. It is clear that the games which were once played, and the

exercises which were practised, within the narrow limits of the thermæ,

grand though they were, have now sought a wider sphere: the paintings

of their great artists have been gathered into the ecclesiastical

edifices and academies; the statues and sculpture have found their way

into museums, or have been applied to the decoration of modern palaces;

refreshment is more conveniently obtained in the cafés and restaurants;

music and singing have been transferred to the opera; recitation to

the theatre; poetry and prose to the library; and dancing to the

assemblies; nay, the great hall of the Bath of Agrippa is now, in all

its integrity, a place of Christian worship. In a word, the thermæ has

become decentralized; whether as the result of the adoption of foreign

fashions, or as a matter of convenience, it may be difficult to say;

but so it is, and nothing of it now remains but the bath--that temple

of the ancient thermæ over which Hercules, and Hygeia, and Æsculapius

presided of old, and over which (in its humbler shape) they will

continue to preside to the end of time.

The Baths of Titus have fortunately preserved to us a drawing, taken

from its walls, which illustrates the construction and the mode of

taking the bath among the Romans.

Beneath the bath is shown the furnace, or _hypocaustum_, for heating

the rooms, as also the water used in the latter stages of the process.

Then follows a series of rooms, of which the principal are:--

1. The APODYTERIUM, GYMNASTERIUM, or VESTIARIUM: the undressing and

dressing-room.

2. The TEPIDARIUM, which is warmed to a moderate temperature, and is

intended to prepare and season the body before entering the hotter

apartment.

3. The CALDARIUM, or _Calidarium_, sometimes called the SUDATORIUM, and

in the figure (Fig. 2), _concamerata sudatio_, was a room of higher

temperature, in which the perspiratory process was accomplished. In

this apartment there was commonly a recess, of a higher temperature

still, which was intended for special purposes, and was named

LACONICUM, in compliment to the Spartans of Laconia.

4. After the Calidarium followed a LAVATORIUM (Lavatrina, Latrina),

called in the figure Balneum, in which the body was washed after the

process of perspiration was complete. The mode of washing was to sit

on the everted edge or lip of a large marble trough--the _labrum_--and

to be rinsed with warm water poured over the body by means of a cup or

small basin (_pelvis_).

5. The bather then went into the FRIGIDARIUM, where he received an

affusion of cold water, and where he reclined, or sat, or walked about,

until he was cool or dry.

6. From the Frigidarium the bather passed into the ELAIOTHESIUM, or

anointing room, where he was smeared with fragrant oils previously to

resuming his dress in the VESTIARIUM.

Besides these, which were the principal rooms, there were others

devoted to additional processes, such as shaving, hair-cutting,

depilation, and hair-plucking.

The Romans carried the indulgence and decoration of their baths to so

unreasonable a pitch of luxury and extravagance as to call forth State

restrictions upon their use, and the reproof of their philosophers.

Juvenal levels a shaft of satire against those who make the bath the

instrument of gluttony; and Pliny scolds the doctors for declaring that

the bath assists digestion, and for withholding their denunciations

against its excessive abuse. Moreover, the Emperor Titus is said to

have lost his life through excess of the bath, having spent in it many

hours of the day. We cannot, therefore, be surprised that the time

devoted to bathing should be limited by imperial edict, as happened in

the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, the hours when the bath was open to

the public being confined to two,--namely, from three until five.

PLINY the Consul, in his admirable letters, speaks in most

affectionate language of the bath. "How stands Comum" (meaning Como,

his birthplace), says he, "that favourite scene of yours and mine?

What have you to tell me of the firm yet soft gestatio,[7] the sunny

bath?" In another letter, addressed to a lady, he says:--"The elegant

accommodations which are to be found at Narnia ... particularly the

pretty bath."

[7] A circus attached to Roman gardens, for riding or driving.

Describing his winter villa, Laurentium, after painting a series of

rooms, he continues:--

"From thence you enter into the grand and spacious _cooling-room_

belonging to the baths, from the opposite walls of which two round

basins project, large enough to swim in. Contiguous to this is the

perfuming-room, then the sweating-room, and beyond that the furnace

which conveys the heat to the baths. Adjoining are two other little

bathing-rooms, which are fitted up in an elegant rather than costly

manner: annexed to this is a warm bath of extraordinary workmanship,

wherein one may swim, and have a prospect at the same time of the sea.

Not far from hence stands the tennis-court, which lies open to the

warmth of the afternoon sun."

"Between the garden and this gestatio runs a shady walk of vines, which

is so soft that you may walk barefoot upon it without any injury."

Alluding to the mode of life of one of his friends, he observes:--

"When the baths are ready, which in winter is about three o'clock,

and in summer about two, he undresses himself, and if there happens

to be no wind, he walks for some time in the sun. After this he plays

a considerable time at tennis, for by this sort of exercise, too, he

combats the effects of old age. When he has bathed, he throws himself

upon his couch till supper[8] time."

[8] The state meal of the Romans, usually taken at the ninth

hour--_i.e._, three P.M.

SENECA reproves the extravagance and self-indulgence of his countrymen

in a memorable letter (his eighty-sixth), which is as follows:--

"I write from the very villa of Scipio Africanus, having first invoked

his manes, and that altar which I take to be the sepulchre of so great

a man.

"I behold a villa built of squared stone; the wall encloses a wood,

and has towers after the style of a fortification; the reservoir lies

below the buildings and the walks, large enough for the use of an army;

the bath is close and confined, dark, after the old fashion, for our

forefathers united heat with obscurity.

"I was struck with an inward pleasure when I compared these times of

Scipio with our own. In this nook did that dread of Carthage--to whom

our city owes her having been but once taken--wash his limbs, wearied

with labour; for, according to the ancient custom, he tilled his fields

himself. Under this mean roof did he live--him did this rude pavement

sustain.

"But who at this time would submit to bathe thus? A person is held to

be poor and sordid, whose house does not shine with a profusion of the

most precious materials, the marbles of Egypt being inlaid with those

of Numidia; unless the walls are ornamented with an elaborate and

variegated stucco, after the fashion of painting; unless the chambers

are covered with glass; unless the Thasian stone, formerly a curiosity

worthy of being placed in our temples, surrounds the pools into which

we cast our bodies weakened with immoderate sweating; unless the water

is conveyed through silver pipes.

"As yet, I have confined my remarks to private baths only. What shall

I say when I come to our public baths? What a profusion of statues.

What a number of columns do I see supporting nothing; but placed as an

ornament, merely on account of their expense. What quantities of water

murmuring down steps. We are come to that pitch of luxury, that we

disdain to tread upon anything but precious stones.

"In this Bath of Scipio are small holes rather than windows, cut

through the wall, so as to admit the light without interfering with its

resemblance to a fortification.

"But now we reckon a bath fit only for moths and vermin, whose windows

are not so disposed as to receive the rays of the sun during his whole

career; unless we are washed and sunburnt at the same time; unless from

the bathing-vessel we have a prospect of the sea and land. In fact,

that which excited the admiration of mankind, when first built, is now

rejected as old and useless. Thus it is that luxury finds out something

new in which to obliterate her own works.

"Formerly, baths were few in number, and not much ornamented; for why

should a thing of common life be ornamented, which was invented for

use, and not for the purposes of elegance? The water in those days was

not poured down in drops like a shower, neither did it run always as if

fresh from a hot spring; nor was its clearness considered a matter of

consequence. But, ye gods! what pleasure was there in entering those

obscure and vulgar baths when prepared under the direction of the

Cornelii, of Cato, or of Fabius Maximus? For the most renowned of the

ædiles had, by virtue of their office, the inspection of those places

where the people assembled, to see that they were kept clean and of a

proper and wholesome degree of temperature; not of a heat like that

of a furnace, such as has been lately found out, proper only for the

punishment of slaves convicted of the highest misdemeanors. We now seem

to make no distinction between being warm and burning.

"How many do I hear ridiculing the simplicity of Scipio, who did not

admit the day into his sweating-places, or suffer himself to be baked

in a hot sunshine. Unhappy man! He knew not how to enjoy life!

"The water he washed in was not clear and transparent, but, after rain,

even thick and muddy. This, however, concerned him but little; he came

to the bath to refresh himself after his labour, not to wash away the

perfumes of a pomatumed body. What think you some will say of this? I

envy not Scipio: he lived in exile indeed, who bathed in this manner.

"Should you be told further, that he bathed not every day--for

those who relate to us the traditions of early times, say that our

forefathers bathed their whole bodies on market-days only--it will be

answered, Then they were very uncleanly. How, think ye, they smelt?

Like men of labour and fatigue.

"Since dainty baths have been invented, we are become more nasty.

Horace, when describing a man infamous for his dissipation, what does

he reproach him with? With smelling of perfumed balls! 'Pastillos

Rufillus olet.'"

Of the ancient Roman bath in England, we have several examples, the

most interesting being that which has been lately brought to light in

the ancient Roman city, Uriconium, in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury.

Uriconium is close to the village of Uroxeter, commonly pronounced

Wroxeter, five miles from Shrewsbury. It is situated on the property of

the Duke of Cleveland, and is known to have existed at the beginning of

the second century of the Christian era, when the Romans held dominion

over England, and when England was a part, and a highly-treasured part,

of the Roman Empire.

It was of considerable size, having a boundary wall three miles in

circumference, and was, doubtless, a flourishing city; but fell a

victim to the ravages of fire and the sword during the fifth century,

and has since lain buried and unnoticed until the last few years, when

a society was formed for the purpose of excavating it.

The walls of the houses are remarkable for their thickness, namely,

three feet; while that of the wall of the town is four feet. They

are constructed upon a plan commonly adopted by the Romans--namely,

a facing of stone on each side, and the space between filled in with

rubble and that remarkable stone-like enduring mortar which has

suggested the name of a better kind of cement of the present time,

known as "Roman cement." The height of the houses was thirty feet; but

they had no upper storey, and there is no trace of staircase.

Of the mode of warming the houses and, _par excellence_, the baths,

the Rev. Thomas Wright[9] observes:--"The Romans did not warm their

apartments by fires lighted in them.... The floor of the house, formed

of a considerable thickness of cement, was laid upon a number of short

pillars formed usually of square Roman tiles placed one upon another,

and from two to three feet high. Those of the largest hypocausts yet

found at Wroxeter were rather more than three feet high. Sometimes

these supports were of stone, and in one or two cases in discoveries

made in this country they were round. They were placed near to each

other and in rows, and upon them were laid, first, larger tiles, and

over these a thick mass of cement, which formed the floor, and upon

which the tesselated pavements were set. Sometimes small parallel walls

forming flues instead of rows of columns supported the floor.... Flue

tiles--that is, square tubes made of baked clay with a hole on one side

or sometimes on two sides--were placed against the walls endways one

upon another so as to run up the walls."

[9] "Guide to the Ruins of the Roman City of Uriconium at Wroxeter,

near Shrewsbury." 1859.

My friend Mr. George Witt, having recently visited the ruins of the

ancient Roman bath still existing at No. 117, Bridge-street, Chester,

describes it as follows:--

"The most interesting of all the Roman antiquities of this ancient city

are the remains of a private Roman bath, showing the _Hypocaustum_, or

heating place beneath, in a state of great preservation. The hypocaust

is 18 feet long by 8 feet wide, and 3 feet high. The roof was supported

on thirty-two stone pillars (of a single block), broader at the base

and the top, and narrower in the middle; of these twenty-eight still

remain. On the top of the columns are placed, by way of capitals,

strong tiles from 17 to 23 inches square, and 3 inches thick, reaching

from pillar to pillar, thus forming, at the same time, the roof of

the hypocaust and the floor of the room above. Over all these is a

bed of hard concrete, 9 or 10 inches thick, the whole suited to bear

any amount of heat. The pillars are made of the red sandstone of the

district, and are so far worthy of note, that they differ from the

tile-columns of most of the Roman hypocausts found in other parts of

England, which are chiefly formed of piles of 8-inch tiles, 2 inches

thick.

"The room above the hypocaust, which was the hot-chamber of the bath,

called the _Caldarium_, has unfortunately been so dismantled, that

little or nothing can now be learned of its character or proportions,

two of the side walls only remain. The walls of these hot-chambers are

generally on the inside by ranges of hollow flue-tiles, coming up from

the hypocaust below, varying in number, according to the degree of heat

required.

"There is nothing whatever here left of the _Frigidarium_, or

cooling-room, nor any other of the apartments of the bath, nor of any

of the contrivances used therein, except a sort of tank, 7 feet deep,

10 feet long, and 4 feet wide, situate near the mouth of the furnace,

which may have served either as a receptacle for warm water, or as a

place for a plunge in cold water, after the previous processes of the

bath had been completed.

"Like modern Rome, the present city of Chester stands some feet above

the level of the old Roman city; the visitors, therefore, must be

prepared to descend into a dark cellar, to inspect the hypocaust and

so-called bath! and to emerge therefrom, with a bitter feeling of

humiliation and regret, that our forefathers could have so ruthlessly

destroyed these interesting evidences of the manners and customs of

that wonderful people, who for upwards of four hundred years held

dominion over this island--a people to whom we are indebted for the

fundamental principles of our social civilization; for the introduction

of architecture, sculpture, coinage of money, construction of roads,

and for innumerable other arts and adornments of life. There can

be no more instructive proof of the mental darkness of those ages

which followed the overthrow of the Roman Empire, than the wholesale

destruction of the buildings of that great people, of which this is an

example; and it is to be lamented that this barbarism, in regard to

such monuments of antiquity, has not yet altogether disappeared."

And where, it may be asked, is the bath now; the conquering Romans have

ceased to be other than a name, or a weary lesson for schoolboys; the

Romans are gone, the Roman bath is lost. But here an eloquent modern

author, Mr. Urquhart, helps us in our difficulty with a quotation:--"A

people who know neither Latin nor Greek have preserved this great

monument of antiquity on the soil of Europe, and present to us, who

teach our children only Latin and Greek, this Institution in all its

Roman grandeur and its Grecian taste. The bath, when first seen by

the Turks, was a practice of their enemies, religious and political;

they were themselves the filthiest of mortals; yet no sooner did they

see the bath than they adopted it, made it a rule of their society, a

necessary adjunct to every settlement, and Princes and Sultans endowed

such institutions for the honour of their name." This, then, is the

answer to the question--Where is the bath now? The ancient Roman bath

lives in its modern offspring, the Turkish Bath--the Turkish Hamâm.

When, therefore, we see the words "Turkish Bath" in grand letters

paraded through our metropolis; when we see a human being performing

the part of a sandwich, with a broadsheet of Turkish bath in front,

and a similar sheet behind, himself representing a flattened anchovy

between the two slices, we shall know that the ancient Roman bath,

after being kept alive for many centuries by the fostering care of

the Turks, has at last come back to revisit its ancient haunts, and

to offer to modern Britons the enjoyments from which our forefathers

turned away with contempt as a custom of their conquerors. And we are

led to recognise the truth of my preliminary proposition--that the bath

is an instinct, and that, being an instinct, its survival of a race is

no longer a wonder, but is a law of nature--a law of the universe.

Let me now describe the Hamâm, or Turkish Bath as it exists at the

present moment in Constantinople; and in this description I shall take

as my groundwork the account given of it by Mr. Urquhart. It is a large

building, with a domed roof, a square massive body, from which minarets

shoot up, and against which wings abut containing side apartments. The

essential apartments of the hamâm are three in number--a great hall or

_mustaby_, a _middle chamber_, and an _inner chamber_. We raise the

curtain which covers the entrance to the street, and we find ourselves

in the _mustaby_, a circular or octagonal hall, maybe a hundred feet

high, with a domed roof, and open in the centre to the vault of heaven.

In the middle of the floor is a basin of water four feet high, with a

fountain playing in the centre, and around it are plants and trellises;

and resting against it, at some one point, the stall whence comes the

supply of coffee and pipes or chibouques.

Around the circumference of the hall is a low platform, from four to

twelve feet in breadth and three feet high. This is divided by dwarf

balustrades into small compartments, each containing one or more

couches. These compartments are the dressing-rooms, and the couches,

shaped like a straddling letter W, and adapted by their angles to the

bends of the body, are the _couches of repose_. It is here that the

bather disrobes; his clothes are folded and placed in a napkin, and the

napkin is carefully tied up. He then assumes the bathing garb; a long

Turkish towel (_peshtimal_ or _futa_) is wound turban-wise around his

head; a second around his hips, descending to the middle of the leg;

and a third, disposed like a scarf over one or both shoulders. Two

attendants shield him from view while changing his linen, by holding a

napkin before him; and when he is ready, the same attendants help him

to descend from the platform; they place wooden pattens (called _nalma_

in Turkish, and _cob cob_ in Arabic) on his feet, and taking each arm,

lead him to the middle apartment. The wooden pattens are intended to

protect the feet from the heat of the inner rooms, and from the dirty

water and slop of the passages.

"The slamming doors are pushed open, and you enter the region of

steam;" this is the _second chamber_, it is low, dark, and small; it

feels warm without being hot or oppressive, and the air is moistened

with a thin vapour. It is paved with white marble, and a marble

platform eighteen inches high occupies its two sides, while the space

between serves as the passage from the mustaby to the inner hall.

A mattress and cushion are laid on the marble platform, and here

the bather reclines; he smokes his chibouque, sips his coffee, and

converses in subdued and measured tones with his neighbour. This is

the _Tepidarium_ of the Roman bath; here the bather courts a "natural

and gentle flow of perspiration," and to this end are adapted the warm

temperature, the bath coverings, the hot coffee, and the tranquil rest.

"The bath is essentially sociable, and this is the portion of it

so appropriated; this is the time and place where a stranger makes

acquaintance with a town or village. While so engaged, a boy kneels at

your feet and chafes them, or behind your cushion, at times touching or

tapping you on the neck, arm, or shoulder, in a manner that causes the

perspiration to start."

After a while the bath attendant arrives; he passes his hand under the

linen coverings of the bather; if he find the skin sufficiently moist

and softened, the bather is again taken by the arms, his feet are

replaced in the wooden pattens, another slamming door is opened, and he

is ushered into the _inner apartment_, "a space such as the centre dome

of a cathedral," lighted by means of "stars of stained glass in the

vault." The temperature of this apartment, the Calidarium or Sudatorium

of the Romans, is considerably higher than that of the middle room; the

atmosphere is filled with "curling mists of gauzy and mottled vapour,"

the steam being raised by throwing water on the floor. In the middle of

the apartment is "an extensive platform of marble slabs," and on this

the bather is laid on his back, his scarf being placed beneath him to

protect his skin from the heated marble, and the napkin that served as

his turban being rolled up as a pillow to his head.

The bather is now subjected to the process of shampooing--that is, his

muscles are pressed and squeezed, his joints are stretched until they

snap, and they are forcibly bent in various directions. In the hands of

the professional shampooer the process is elevated to an art, and words

fail to convey other than a very imperfect idea of its nature.

After the shampooing, the bather is brought to the side of the

hall--around which are placed marble basins two feet in diameter,

supplied by means of taps with hot and cold water--and made to sit

on a board near to one of these basins. The attendant draws on a

camel's-hair glove. "He stands over you; you bend down to him, and

he commences from the nape of the neck in long sweeps down the back

till he has started the skin; he coaxes it into rolls, keeping them

in and up till within his hand they gather volume and length; he then

successively strikes and brushes them away, and they fall right and

left as if spilt from a dish of macaroni. The dead matter which will

accumulate in a week forms, when dry, a ball of the size of the fist."

In the course of his frictions he pours water from the basin over the

skin by means of a copper cup, to rinse off the impurities.

In the next place, a large wooden bowl is placed by the side of the

bather; this bowl contains soap and a wisp of _lyf_, the woody fibre of

the Mecca palm, and the body is thoroughly soaped and washed twice over

from the head to the feet, and, as a _coup de grâce_, a bowl of warm

water is dashed over the entire body.

An attendant now approaches with warm napkins; the hip-cloth, or

cummerbund, is dropped, and a warm dry napkin is selected to supply its

place; another is thrown over the shoulders, and the bather is placed

on a seat. The shoulder napkin is then raised, a fresh dry one put in

its place, and the first over it; a fourth is wrapped around the head;

"your feet are already in the wooden pattens. You are wished health;

you return the salute, rise, and are conducted by both arms to the

outer hall."

In the outer hall, the bather is led to his box; he drops the pattens

as he steps on a napkin spread on the matting of the platform; and

he stretches his limbs on the couch of repose. "The attendants then

reappear, and gliding like noiseless shadows, stand in a row before

him. The coffee is poured out and presented; the pipe follows; or if so

disposed he may have sherbet or fruit; the sweet or water-melons are

preferred, and they come in piles of lumps large enough for a mouthful;

and if inclined to make a positive meal at the bath, this is the time.

The hall is open to the heavens, but nevertheless, a boy with a fan

of feathers, or a napkin, drives the cool air upon him." The linen is

twice changed; and when the cooling is complete, "the body has come

forth shining like alabaster, fragrant as the cistus, sleek as satin,

and soft as velvet. The touch of the skin is electric." "The time

occupied is from two to four hours, and the operation is repeated once

a week." At the conclusion of the process, "the crispness of the skin

returns, the fountains of strength are opened: you seek again the world

and its toils; and those who experience these effects and vicissitudes

for the first time, exclaim--'I feel as if I could leap over the moon.'"

In reviewing the Turkish Bath and the process of bathing as pursued by

the Turks, we are struck by several features which appertain especially

to it: for example, its construction of three apartments only, instead

of the numerous apartments of the Romans; the three apartments being,

the grand hall, corresponding with the Frigidarium of the Romans,

and being at the same time the Apodyterium and Vestiarium. Secondly,

the presence of vapour in the middle room, corresponding with the

Tepidarium of the Romans. Thirdly, the existence of vapour in the

third and inner room, the Calidarium and Sudatorium of the Romans. The

presence of vapour betokens a low temperature, because watery vapour,

as is well known, is scalding at one hundred and twenty degrees of

heat; and we have fair grounds for concluding that there was no vapour

in the Tepidarium and Caldarium of the Romans, and that the temperature

of both was considerably higher. For Seneca, in his celebrated letter,

speaks of the importance of maintaining the baths at a "proper and

wholesome degree of temperature; not of heat like that of a furnace,

such as has been lately found out, proper only for the punishment of

slaves convicted of the highest misdemeanors. We now seem to make no

distinction between being warm and burning."--This criticism would

have been unnecessary had the bath contained watery vapour, as the

evil would then have corrected itself, and the vapour, being scalding,

could not have been supported. Pliny also, speaks of the "burning

pavement of the floor" in his narrative of an act of cruelty practised

by the slaves of Largius Macedo on their master. After beating him and

trampling upon him, they threw him on the floor of the hot bath, and

pretended that "he had fainted away by the heat of the bath."

Another peculiarity of the Turkish bath relates to one of its

processes--namely, the absence of the cold douche with which the Romans

concluded their bath. The Turks still dash cold water on the feet when

the bath is at an end; but they allow the bather to enter the mustaby

heated by the process and still perspiring--hence the necessity of a

change of linen during the cooling, and the aid of an attendant with

a fan to cool the body. Moreover, the process of cooling is in this

way considerably lengthened, and we can comprehend how the bath may be

prolonged to two, three, or four hours. In the Roman method--that is,

concluding with a cold douche or a plunge in cold water--perspiration

is immediately arrested by the closing of the pores, the body is cooled

more quickly, no change of linen is needed, no fanning is required, and

the cooling is accomplished equally well and in a shorter space of time.

The process of bathing, as pursued by the Turks, is also deserving

of note. It is as follows:--Firstly, there is the _seasoning of the

body_, in the accomplishment of which the skin becomes warm, soft, and

moist. Then follows the shampooing or manipulation of the muscles,

and stretching and playing the joints. Next comes the rubbing up and

removal of the surface-layer of the scarf-skin. To this succeeds

soaping and rinsing; and the process concludes with the cooling and

drying of the skin.

"These are the five acts of the drama." The first scene is acted in the

middle chamber, the next three in the inner chamber, and the last in

the outer hall.

But that which most of all strikes us in the Turkish bath is the

order, the decorum, the tranquillity, the dignity, the delicacy of the

whole proceeding. A screen is held before the bather while he unrobes;

his clothes are carefully folded and tied up; before he leaves the

platform, he is clad in a becoming costume, which he retains till the

end of the process, and he is guarded by similar decencies until he

retires and quits the bath. This is the example which all true admirers

of the bath hope to see followed in Britain: it is the Turkish bath

which we seek to emulate, not merely in its construction, but also in

its manners and management. There is one matter, however, in which

we must fail--namely, in the multitude of attendants; but in this

particular we must learn to do what we can, and not what we will.

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu has afforded us the rare opportunity of

seeing the interior of a woman's bath in Turkey: her narrative, it is

true, relates to the practice in 1717, nearly one hundred and fifty

years back; but probably no great change has taken place since then.

The bath she visited was at St. Sophia, "famous for its hot baths,

that are resorted to for diversion and health." The bath "is built of

stone in the shape of a dome, with no windows but in the roof, which

gives light enough. There were five of these domes joined together, the

outmost being less than the rest, and serving only as a hall, where

the portress stood at the door.... The next room is a very large one,

paved with marble, and all round it are two raised sofas (platforms)

of marble, one above another. There were four fountains of cold water

in this room, falling first into marble basins, and then running on

the floor in little channels made for that purpose; ... the next room,

something less than this, with the same sort of marble sofas, but so

hot with steam ... proceeding from the baths joining to it, it was

impossible to stay there with one's clothes on. The two other domes

were the hot baths."