“Come hither, ye that press your beds of down
And sleep not, see him sweating o’er his bread
Before he eats it.—’Tis the primal curse,
But softened into mercy, made the pledge
Of cheerful days, and nights without a groan.”—Cowper.
“Melancholy is overcome by a free perspiration; and cheerfulness,
without any evident cause, proceeds from it.”—Sanctorius.
What is a Turkish bath? Should this question be asked by any of our
readers, we would answer, that it is a bath differing from all other
hot baths in this important particular, viz., that the heated medium is
AIR instead of water; and that all parts of the body, when in the bath,
are subjected to an even and equal temperature. The result of which is,
that inasmuch as man was constituted to breathe AIR instead of vapour,
the Turkish bath may be enjoyed for hours at a time, without
inconvenience; whereas in the vapour-bath the patient is unable to
remain in it for more than about a quarter of an hour, in consequence
of a feeling of suffocation, from want of a sufficient supply of air to
the lungs. And further, there is this difference between the two baths,
that in the case both of the vapour-bath and the vapour-box [22] the
pulse is materially raised, whilst in the Turkish bath the pulse seldom
rises above its normal state, which shows that the circulation is very
little affected by it—an all-important fact, which is thus accounted
for:—The normal temperature of the human body, when in a state of
health, is about 98° Faht., a temperature which cannot be much
augmented or diminished without producing injurious results in the
system; but as it is impossible always to maintain so low temperature
about us, Nature has provided, by means of perspiration, a safety
valve, by which the human body is protected from the evil consequences
which would arise from its exposure to a high temperature—the principle
on which she acts being as follows:—It is a physical law that whenever
evaporation takes place a considerable amount of latent heat, (i.e.
heat not sensible to the thermometer), is absorbed, by which
abstraction of heat the temperature of the body from which the
evaporation proceeds is greatly lowered; but as evaporation consists in
the absorption of vapour by the surrounding air, it is evident that no
evaporation can take place where that air is already saturated with
moisture, and it is also evident that the amount of evaporation will
depend on the dryness of that air. Accordingly, in the Turkish bath,
the air being almost dry, when perspiration takes place it is followed
by a rapid evaporation which cools the body, and prevents its
temperature from rising above a healthful limit; whereas, in the
vapour-bath and vapour-box, the air being saturated, with moisture,
evaporation cannot take place, and consequently as no means for
reducing the high temperature of the body exist, the heat is thrown in
upon the system, raising the pulse, producing feverish headache, and
other symptoms of a highly deranged circulation; whilst a further
derangement arises from an insufficient supply of air to the surface of
the body. In the Turkish bath, again, the system, feeling that it has
an ample supply of air, is not called upon to quicken the circulation
through the lungs in order to obtain an increased supply, and thus
another source of feverish excitement is obviated. These and other
considerations give the Turkish bath the pre-eminence, longo intevallo,
over all other artificial modes [23] yet invented for acting on the
skin by perspiration.
It may be observed that, cæteris paribus, the strength of each person’s
constitution is directly proportional to the quantity of oxygen which
his system is capable of imbibing, for on this the vitality of his
system and the purity of his blood, and therefore his health, depends.
Hence arises the importance of supplying the system with an abundance
of pure air, and the absolute necessity, when the lungs are by nature
small and deficient, of increasing that supply of air through the only
other medium open to us, viz., the skin [24]—(the great supplementary
organ to the lungs)—the necessity for improving and developing the
absorptive powers of which is in exact proportion to the lungs’
diminished capacity. It is in this lies the great therapeutic value of
the Turkish bath, viz., in its opening the pores of the skin [25], and
so improving that medium for the access of oxygen to the blood. Let two
individuals, one with large lungs, the other with small, pursue the
same habits of living; the individual with large lungs indulging
himself to the furthest extent, consistent with the continuance of his
health, and it will be found, that his small-lunged companion, in
trying to keep pace with him, will utterly break down, his blood
becoming diseased, and his health failing him from want of a sufficient
supply of oxygen to purify his blood by burning off the carbonaceous
matter which poisons it and depresses his vitality. The individual with
large lungs will indulge in alcoholic beverages with impunity, to an
extent which would entail consumption or some other miserable disease
on his narrow-chested companion; it was the great exercise, constant
exposure to, and rapid passage through, the air, (by which a large
quantity of oxygen was supplied to the system through the lungs) that
enabled our fox-hunting ancestors of old to live a life which their
more sedentary descendants of the present day dare not attempt to
practise.
Having premised thus far, we now proceed to a description of the
principal features of the Turkish, or more correctly speaking, the
Roman bath: at the same time strongly recommending to our readers the
perusal of Mr. Urquhart’s pamphlet, for an historic and detailed
account of this interesting remnant of Roman civilization.
The bath consists of three apartments, communicating with each other,
each being dedicated to a special purpose. The first, or
cooling-chamber, consists of a good-sized room, which may or may not be
open to the heavens; but this condition is essential to it, that it be
well ventilated, with a free current of cool air passing through it. In
this room are placed sofas and reclining couches; and here the bather
divests himself of his clothes, and places his feet in wooden clogs,
previous to his entering the bath, the first act of which is enacted in
the second or middle chamber.
This middle chamber consists of a room fitted with marble slabs, and
mattresses to recline on; the ceiling being arched, and light
transmitted from above through stars of stained glass, spreading a
tinted gloom through the apartment, which effectually cuts off the mind
from all communication with the outer world, disposing it to rest or
quiet meditation—a frame of mind peculiarly desirable for those who
medicinally [26] seek the bath. After reclining in the apartment for
about half-an-hour or three quarters, according to the temperature,
which varies from 90° to 100° Faht., until the surface of the body
becomes soft and moist, and the pores slightly excited, you enter the
third, or heated apartment, the Sudatorium [27] of the Romans. Under a
roof similar to the one already described, are arranged seats of
marble, together with a large platform of the same material, which is
placed in the centre of the apartment, whilst along the walls are
ranged marble basins, supplied by pipes with hot and cold water. In
this chamber, the temperature of which varies from 130° to 150° Faht.,
shampooing, an essential part of the bath, is performed, a description
of which process we will borrow from Mr. Urquhart’s interesting
pamphlet. Having placed the bather on the marble platform, he thus
describes the process:—
“The cloths are taken from your head and shoulders; one is spread
for you to lie on, the other is rolled for your head. You lie down
on your back, the tellak (bath attendant) kneels at your side, and
bending over, gripes and presses your chest, arms, and legs,
passing from part to part like a bird shifting its place on a
perch. He brings his whole weight on you with a jerk; follows the
line of muscle with anatomical thumb; draws the open hand strongly
over the surface, particularly round the shoulder, turning you half
up in so doing; stands with his feet on the thighs and on the
chest, and slips down the ribs; then up again three times, and,
lastly, doubling your arms, one after the other, on the chest,
pushes with both hands down, beginning at the elbow, and then
putting an arm under the back and applying his chest to your
crossed elbows, rolls on you across till you crack.”
The foregoing account of the process of shampooing may appear anything
but pleasant to many of our readers; but they should recollect that it
is a description of the process when FULLY carried out, and that it may
be modified to any extent, or wholly omitted, according to the tastes
of the bathers, or the physician’s prescription. Shampooing is,
however, healthful and invigorating, causing the blood to flow briskly
through the minor veins and capillaries, and bringing muscles and
sinews into play which would otherwise remain inactive, unless a large
amount of exercise were taken; it also materially assists in removing
the inert skin from the surface of the body, and brings the pores into
healthy action. Few people, after once undergoing the operation, would
consider that they had received the full benefit of the bath were
shampooing omitted. The shampooing being concluded, the bather is
conducted to one of the marble fountains already described, where the
waters are mixed to the required temperature. With these he is
thoroughly washed, the water being poured over the body from metal
bowls. Soap is then had recourse to, which, had it been used earlier in
the process, would have materially interfered with its success, as the
alkali of the soap, by combining with the oily substance of the
epidermis, would have deprived it of the necessary consistency for its
easy detachment from the body.