Should the reaction after a Sponge-bath be very slow, it may be hastened by the previous addition to the water of a small wine-glassful of eau-de-cologne, spirits of wine, or spirits of any description, whiskey being perhaps best.
The Soap-bath may be commenced at any period of the year, and if children are induced to take it as a treat, rather than from any other point of view, they will soon become as partial to its use as their elders.
In slight colds the bath may be continued, but in the rare case of an extremely violent one, or affection of the throat, the bather, however much against his will, must perforce give it up for a time.
Taking the waters.
Those who habituate themselves to the indulgence of the Soap-bath become, as it were, case-hardened, and can seldom be persuaded to forego their daily pleasure, much less to abandon the habit: by its use the body arrives and remains at its highest state of physical vigour; the power of resisting sudden changes of temperature is greatly increased, and liability to colds correspondingly lessened, while there is an almost absolute freedom from danger of infection and epidemic attacks. The Soap-bath is a source of immense and constant physical gratification; food is keenly enjoyed, the muscles get hard and firm, and the skin soft as satin, while vigorous health and feelings of mental and animal enjoyment are produced attainable perhaps by no other means. Existence becomes what it was intended, and what it certainly ought to be—a positive pleasure: the numerous unpleasantnesses and dyspeptic ailments incidental to a low state of bodily health glide into the past, and their very recollection almost disappears.
ADDENDA.
Since going to press the author’s attention has been drawn—not over-courteously perhaps—by certain manufacturers to the sweeping denunciation in this Sketch of the habitual use of scented soaps; but after a careful examination and trial of various kinds, one alone—known as Pears’ transparent soap—may in his opinion be safely indicated as a pure detergent in every way suitable for Luxurious Bathing.