THE BATH IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS, ETC.
The bath for the hydropathic establishment will generally be required in
connection with, and--what is of greater moment--_in harmony with_,
other baths, such as medicated baths, Russian or vapour baths, and the
ordinary douche, wave, spray, and needle baths, which, where the Turkish
bath is included, may often be efficiently administered with the
appliances usually provided in the shampooing and washing room.
Moreover, if the establishment include the pumilio-pine treatment, or
system of pine-therapeutics, there will be required rooms or halls for
the inhalation of dry pine and pinal vapour. The nature of the
communication between these different baths, as the medicated, Russian,
&c., and the Turkish bath, and their relative positions, must be
carefully studied. It should be compact and the various passages and
corridors as short as possible, these passages and corridors being
provided with means for maintaining them at a suitable, and uniformly
equable, temperature. This latter point we do not find so carefully
studied in hydropathic establishments as its importance would warrant.
The consequence is that, in passing backwards and forwards to and from
the different bath rooms, the delicate invalid contracts a serious
chill.
[Illustration: FIG. 26.
Plan of the Baths at the Hôtel Mont Dore, Bournemouth.]
I give herewith, at Fig. 26, a plan of the baths at the Hôtel Mont Dore,
at Bournemouth, which, though not confessedly a hydropathic institution,
has yet a fine bathing establishment of the hydropathic type, as well
as complete arrangements for the administration of the pine cure. These
baths include a Turkish bath, with three hot rooms, a shampooing room,
and cooling room, connected by an anteroom with the suite of
miscellaneous bath rooms of the gentlemen's department. The latter
comprise a room for the tonic water baths, such as the needle, douche,
sitz, hip, and wave; a room or "hall" for the inhalation of pine vapour,
whilst in a bath of condensed steam; and a room for the administration
of the Mont Dore cure, consisting of the application of pulverised Mont
Dore water, or spray, to the eye, nose, or ear, as may be required, this
room being also used for the inhalation of dry pine. In addition are a
range of slipper baths, in comfortably fitted bath rooms, for the
purposes of electric and medicated baths, such as those of pine extract,
sulphur, iodine, &c., &c., and for ordinary hot and cold spring-water
and salt-water baths. In connection are arranged dressing and reposing
rooms, besides necessary subsidiary apartments. A somewhat similar suite
of rooms is arranged for ladies on the other side of the block. There is
no separate Turkish bath, however; certain days of the week are set
apart exclusively for ladies' use. The steam boilers, which supply the
steam to the vapour baths and pine-vapour baths, and the water super
heaters, as well as the hotel lift and pumping machinery, are arranged
in a basement under the stairs, anteroom, tepidarium, and shampooing
room.
It will be seen that the compact little Turkish bath, which was arranged
under the direction of the late Mr. Charles Bartholomew, is in direct
communication with the other baths, allowing the bather to pass from the
hot rooms, or shampooing room, to medicated or pine bath, or _vice
versâ_. In designing the plan of baths of the type of those at the Mont
Dore, this intercommunication between the various baths is the point to
be most carefully studied. Direct communication is required between the
Turkish, and the Russian, bath, inhalation hall, and medicated baths, as
some methods of treatment render this an absolute necessity.
In a small establishment the hydropathic appliances are movable, and
used in ordinary bath rooms, the Turkish bath being the only feature
requiring special design.
A true hydropathic establishment of any size should be provided with two
Turkish baths, one for ladies and one for gentlemen, as the power and
efficiency of the treatment may depend upon the regularity and
persistency with which it is carried out. Where there is only one bath,
it has to be set apart on different days for the use of ladies and
gentlemen, and it is evident that the benefit of a course of baths may
be greatly lessened by the occasional unreadiness of the bath. Two
suites of rooms should, therefore, be provided. It may be that they will
be most economically constructed and worked if arranged side by side, so
that they may have their furnaces together, and be stoked with economy.
Where, as in country establishments, there is plenty of room, it is
often convenient to arrange the Turkish and other baths on the ground
floor adjoining the main building, a corridor of connection being
placed, if necessary. It should be remembered, however, that invalids
have to be taken--often carried or wheeled in movable chairs--to the
baths, and allowance should therefore be made for the passage of such a
wheeled chair from the top story, by way of a lift, to the door of the
baths.
In a large establishment, a full complement of rooms should be provided
for the Turkish bath--viz. three hot rooms, a washing and shampooing
room, and a cooling room. They will, of course, be on a small scale; but
the whole number should be provided. A plunge bath should also be added,
but in small hydropathics may be dispensed with altogether.
For hydropathic purposes the lavatorium is generally required to have
rather more elaborate water-fittings than other baths. The needle bath
should include the ascending shower, the back shower, and the spinal
douche--a small nozzle behind the rose of the vertical shower. The
regulating appliances for these various showers, sprays, &c., should be
brought together, and conveniently placed for the attendant. A very
ingenious appliance, suitable for a hydropathic bath, is a thermometer
regulating valve, which indicates the temperature of the water being
supplied to the bather. The waters mix in a ball, into which is inserted
the bulb of a sensitive thermometer, which rises and falls as the hot or
cold handles are turned.
If the shampooing and washing room of the Turkish bath is to be used for
the administration of the tonic water baths to other bathers besides
those taking the Turkish bath, it must be made of ample dimensions. So,
also, if the cooling room is to be used as a reposing room for other
bathers, it must be made of large size.
Perfect ventilation is of paramount importance in baths used for the
treatment of disease. Purity of atmosphere in the hot rooms is a vital
necessity, and so also is it in the miscellaneous bath rooms of a
hydropathic establishment.
Unreadiness is a great vice in the Turkish bath appended to these
institutions. Hot rooms beneath their proper temperature, and lukewarm
water, are unpardonable delinquencies, either in the early morning, in
the evening, or during the day. For this reason I would recommend a
furnace of fireclay, as it retains its heat for a long time, and is not
subject to the rapid changes of iron stoves.
Much of that which I have said with respect to the hydropathic bath will
apply to the design of the bath for hospital and asylum purposes. Here,
however, efficiency is all that is required, and everything need be but
of the plainest description. The conditions and exigencies of each case
must determine the size, position, and nature of the suite of bath
rooms. All that has been said upon the subject of the design and
construction of the bath must be studied, and the principles, herein
given, applied to the peculiar circumstances. So also in regard to
Turkish baths for hotels, and for residential blocks of buildings, and
for clubs.
There is a wide field for activity in Turkish bath building, in the
increased provision of baths in hospitals, asylums, and public and
private institutions of one kind and another; and also in hotels,
"flats," and clubs. The hydropathic establishments have long adopted
the Turkish bath as a powerful remedial and curative agent in perfect
harmony with the principles of the Water Cure. But it is only
occasionally that such provision has been made in hospitals and asylums;
and although within the last few years noticeable innovations have been
made in this respect, the subject has heretofore been greatly neglected.
Seeing, too, the immense extent to which co-operative living has
developed, and the consequent enormous increase in size of large hotels,
residential blocks, &c., I cannot but think that the builders of such
tenements could with advantage turn their attention to the supplying of
small Turkish baths for the visitors and residents.