This is entirely analogous to the hot-air bath, though on a much more
elaborate plan. The patient is gradually conducted from a temperature of
120° to that of 160° or even much more than 200°. The bath is concluded
by shampooing, rubbing, cooling baths, and gradual cooling in a room
maintained at a temperature of 70°.
The uses of this bath are the same as those of the hot-air bath. It has
no advantages over it of very great importance, and is much more liable
to produce injury by prolonged and frequent application. It generally
occupies an hour, and by those who resort to it as a luxury, as did the
ancient Romans, it is often prolonged to several hours.
The long-continued application of excessive heat to the body is a very
unnatural process. It tends to produce permanent relaxation and debility
of the cutaneous tissues, and the manner in which this bath is
administered in Turkish bath establishments is productive of great harm.
It is often presented to invalids as almost a panacea; and is given
alike to the strong and vigorous, and the weak and debilitated.
The bath is certainly good in its place, but it is decidedly bad when
abused. Many consider the hot-air bath greatly preferable since it
obviates the necessity of inhaling superheated air, the effects of which
upon the lungs are said to be injurious. The hot-air bath is doubtless
safer.