CONSTRUCTION OF THE BATH.
The processes which constitute the Eastern bath—in other words, the stages of the bath—are three in number, namely:—1. Exposure of the naked body to hot dry air; 2. Ablution with warm and cold water; and, 3. Cooling and drying of the skin.—The bath, or thermæ, should therefore consist of three apartments devoted especially to the three processes—namely, the hot room, or Calidarium; the washing room, or Lavatorium; and the cooling room, or Frigidarium. Or, for private use, two rooms; or one room divided into two compartments, Calidarium and Frigidarium, would be sufficient; the Calidarium being used as a Lavatorium after the sweating process is completed.
My friend, Mr. George Witt, of Prince's Terrace, Hyde Park, to whom I am indebted for my first introduction to the bath, possesses a bath of the simple construction to which I am now alluding; and as it fulfils very satisfactorily all the purposes of the bath, I shall proceed to describe it, by way of illustration of one of the simplest forms of bath for private use. On the ground-floor of his house he had a room twenty feet long by ten feet in breadth, and twelve feet high, with a window looking out upon a lead flat. To convert this room into a thermæ he divided it into two compartments, by means of a wall which crossed it at about one-third from its further end. He had thus two apartments—an outer one, the Frigidarium; and an inner one, entered by two small doors, outer and inner, in the partition wall, the Calidarium. To preserve the heat of the Calidarium a lath and plaster lining was placed inside and at the distance of a few inches from the wall, and the space between the lining and the wall filled in with sawdust. The same was done to the ceiling, and the floor was paved with earthen tiles set on concrete. On the side corresponding with the exterior of the house a square of thick glass was let into the wall, and, above and below, were four circular holes three inches in diameter, and fitted with plugs for the purpose of ventilation. Further, in the partition wall was a small square of glass through which a thermometer could be seen from the outside, and a gas-burner from the inside, enabling the bather to ascertain the temperature of the Calidarium from the outside without opening the doors, and supplying a light exterior to the Calidarium when the bath is used in the evening.
Following this description, it will be seen that the Calidarium or Sudatorium is simply a closed chamber, with an area of sixty-five superficial feet, and containing seven hundred and fifteen cubic feet of atmospheric air, the actual measurements being ten feet long by six feet and a half wide, and eleven feet high; this chamber being provided with sufficient means of ventilation through the agency of the imperfectly-fitting doors, and also the occasional opening of the doors on one side, and the four holes, already described as existing in the exterior wall, on the other; and also, supposing the doors to be more closely shut, between an ingoing current of cold air through the two lower holes, and an outgoing current of hot air through the upper holes. Ten persons can take the bath without discomfort, and without being overcrowded in Mr. Witt's thermæ; I have myself formed one of nine, but with six or seven the space is more than ample.
Let me now turn to the means of heating the Calidarium. In the exterior wall, near its bottom, and opening on the lead flat, is a furnace of the commonest possible construction, and capable, from its free draught, of burning the commonest combustible material—such as inferior coal, coal screenings, coke, cinders, and sawdust. This furnace, encased in brickwork, is carried obliquely for a distance of four or five feet into the Calidarium; and its flue, following the angle of the floor, makes the circuit of the apartment. The flue next ascends perpendicularly for a few feet, crosses the wall above the brickwork which encloses the furnace, and then makes its way up the angle of the room to the ceiling, where it escapes by means of a chimney. The flue, in its course around the room, is raised from the level of the floor, and separated from the wall by the breadth of a brick, and consequently presents a free surface on all sides for the radiation of heat. Its radiating surface is about one foot square, and its length thirty-five feet. The common temperature maintained in Mr. Witt's Calidarium is 130° to 140° of Fahrenheit. Mr. Witt tells me that he has had it as high as 180°; and I have myself been in it, in company with my friend Mr. Chadwick, at 150° of Fahrenheit.
As the British thermæ is at present in a state of infancy, the question of construction, in reference to the threefold condition, of size of apartment, degree of ventilation and temperature, and materials, is before us for inquiry and research. The common plaster walls of Mr. Witt's Calidarium answer perfectly: they are not too hot for the naked skin, as a glazed or polished material would be; and they admit of cleansing by water, whenever necessary. The red and blue earthen tiles of his bath give a pleasant holding to the soles of the feet on account of their roughness, and with the intramural position of the flue never become too hot. Glazed tiles, although more elegant in appearance, are too hot for contact with the skin, and require, consequently, to be trodden on with wooden clogs; moreover, when at all moistened, they are slippery and dangerous. Therefore, so far as our present means of information go, it would appear that the more economical materials of construction answer in every way the best. We are, however, still open to instruction on these points, as well as in many others appertaining to the bath, and we shall probably be doing best to adhere as closely as possible to the Turkish model. Can the furnace, as at present described, be improved? What combustible material would be the most economical; taking into consideration the questions of price, of rapidity of combustion and of deposition of soot in the flue, requiring more or less frequent cleansing?
The flue in Mr. Witt's bath is constructed of galvanized iron plate, and is square in form. This flue answers very well, but Mr. Witt does not approve of iron, because in a hot dry atmosphere particles of the metal are thrown off and mingle with the air. The best material for the construction of the flue is earthen tiles or bricks; probably pipes fitting end to end may, with some modification, be made to answer the purpose, but heretofore they have been found to split with the heat. Then, in the case of building a bath, the relative value of bricks, and especially of hollow bricks, and pierced bricks, and bricks with a surface finish, come under consideration.
Immediately over the fine passing around the floor of the Calidarium is a wooden seat; and over the masonry of the furnace, a wooden step and platform affording additional sitting room. On the platform is a wooden couch, shaped like a straddling letter W, called the dureta from the hardness of its material, but in reality forming a most pleasant and agreeable couch, as the angles of the couch correspond with the joints of the body when in a reclining position. The dureta was borrowed by the Emperor Augustus from Spain, or rather from Morocco through Spain,[15] and contributes greatly to the luxury of the bath.
It is a fault in Mr. Witt's bath that the flue entirely surrounds the floor of the Calidarium, and consequently crosses the entrance door, rendering it necessary to the bather to step down from the seat to the floor of the apartment in going in, and to step upwards in going out. This arrangement leads to occasional slips, particularly when the floor is wet; and although unimportant to persons in the full vigour of health, calls for caution in all, and especially on the part of those who are in any degree infirm; and becomes a serious impediment where it is necessary to lift an invalid into the bath. Fortunately the inconvenience admits of an easy remedy; the flue, when it reaches the jamb of the doorway, may be carried over the door and so onwards along the side of the room; or it may be doubled back upon itself and made to return to the line from which it started, and then carried to any point of exit that may be suitable. A better material for the flue is brickwork; and as the intention of the flue is to afford a large surface for the radiation of heat, the plan has been adopted of making flues of large size, for example, three or four feet in height. A short length of a flue of these dimensions is equivalent to three or four times the length of a flue of one foot square, and its course along two or three sides of the room affords as much heat as can be required. I visited lately a small bath in Bell-street, Edgeware-road, in which a flue of this construction, about three feet in height and nine inches in width, ran along three sides of the room, and gave out a temperature of 160°.
In the Turkish bath and in some of the modern British Thermæ the flues are carried under the floor, constituting a kind of Roman Hypocaustum, and are made to describe a series of parallel rows, which traverse from side to side and are connected at the ends. A very high degree of temperature is attained by this arrangement, as in the private bath of Mr. Stewart Rolland, of Victoria-street, Westminster; but it presents this manifest objection, namely, that the floor is so hot as to be unbearable to naked feet or to a naked skin, and is therefore not without danger to an invalid who may have accidentally fallen on the ground. Again, where very high temperatures are obtained, the woodwork of the seats becomes so hot as to render coverings of some kind necessary. The temperature of Mr. Stewart Rolland's Calidarium, when fully heated, ranges between 150° and 170°, while with the aid of a Laconicum he is able to carry his temperature twenty degrees higher; his couches and seats are, therefore, covered with cotton sheets having a thick pile; and in place of wood he uses fibrous slabs, which have a lower conducting power and are less influenced by the heat. Moreover, in the construction of his walls he employs felt, on account of its non-conducting and non-inflammable properties, as an intermediate layer, in place of the sawdust used by Mr. Witt.
From want of space, as I have before remarked, Mr. Witt's Calidarium becomes his Lavatorium at the conclusion of the sweating process; and no inconvenience results from this arrangement, because ample time can be spared for the drying up of the moisture before the bath is required for use a second time. But where the requisite extent of space exists, and, as a necessity in a public bath where a succession of bathers enter and depart, a separate apartment should be devoted to the purposes of a Lavatorium. And, as the Lavatorium should adjoin the Calidarium, a few feet of the flue may be introduced into the partition wall between the two, and made to warm the air of the Lavatorium, converting it, in fact, into a Tepidarium. The Tepidarium of the ancient Roman Thermæ was an apartment of an intermediate temperature between the Frigidarium and the Calidarium, and supplied a transition medium between the two extremes; warming and relaxing the body on its way from the Frigidarium to the Calidarium on the one hand, and qualifying the depression of the temperature from the Calidarium to the Frigidarium on the other.
Before its escape from the Calidarium, the flue is made to heat the water which is required for rinsing the body after thorough friction with soap. For this purpose a tank holding a few gallons of water (Mr. Witt's tank holds ten gallons) is fixed on a portion of the fine at the upper part of the bath, and a short descending pipe, with a horizontal arm fitted at the end with a rose, distributes a grateful shower of warm water over the bather. Another horizontal arm, with or without a rose, brings the cold water, with which the ablution is completed, into the Lavatorium, and is distributed either as a copious shower or as a descending douche, as the bather may desire. In Mr. Stewart Rolland's bath I was indulged with an alternate douche of hot and cold water, which was wonderfully delicious.
The third compartment of the bath (the Frigidarium) may be as large as convenient, but should be abundantly supplied with the means of procuring fresh air, and even a current of air; it is not only a cooling-room, but also a drying-room, for in it the moisture left on the body is thoroughly evaporated, and the skin becomes smooth and satiny. The Frigidarium should be furnished with a couch and a few easy chairs, and as it is intended to be trodden with naked feet, it should have a clean wooden floor or a mat. Moreover, it is here that fresh water may be kept for drinking, or the acidulated drinks, or the sherbet. It is here also that should be found the Columbarium, with its pigeon-holes for receiving the mantles, the sheets, the towels, the cummerbunds, the combs, together with any other appurtenances of the bath that may be in use.
Again, in the two or three-roomed bath, a portion of the Frigidarium may be devoted to the purpose of a dressing-room, Apodyterium, or Vestiarium. Here the clothes may be hung up on pegs as they are removed, and here shoes and boots should be left, the presence of shoes being strictly prohibited in the proper cooling part of the room. In this arrangement we are made aware that among the Romans the Frigidarium and the Vestiarium were separate apartments, and formed a portion of that series which Pliny conceived might, with the strictest economy of space, be comprehended in five or seven rooms, but would be more completely carried out in nine. The Frigidarium of the Romans, like the Mustaby of the Turks, was open to the vault of heaven.
Such is the Eastern bath, in reference to the question of construction; it is either a spare room with a partition, a furnace and chimney, and a small reservoir of water; or it is an outhouse with a similar arrangement; or it is five walls, with a roof, erected in a convenient spot; or it is an elegant "hothouse," pendent to a country villa; or it may be an architectural wonder of ancient Roman grandeur. In other words, it may come within the reach of the poor man, at the expenditure of a few shillings or pounds, or it may be the metamorphosis of hundreds and thousands of pounds into a palace of magnificence and luxury. But the poor man's bath will be essentially as perfect as that of Dives, and he will, if he be wise, carry the balance of cost to the education of his children. In a small society of neighbours, clubbing their means, the bath would cost less than the tobacco-pipe; and where the rules of the Bath are rigidly enforced, as they invariably should be, the Bath would become a school of moral discipline as well as physical health, and be a potent counterblast to the public-house.