| Temperature of Vapour, Fahr. | ||
| Breathed. | Not breathed. | |
| Tepid vapour bath | 90° to 100° | 96° to 106° |
| Warm vapour bath | 100 to 110 | 106 to 120 |
| Hot vapour bath | 110 to 130 | 120 to 160 |
Uses, &c. It is one of the most powerful diaphoretics known, and is almost specific in nearly all those cases wherein warm or hot bathing proves advantageous. It is one of the most certain agents existing in cases of chronic rheumatism, contracted muscles and tendons, stiffness of joints, indurations, dysentery, diarrhœa, suppressions, &c. Instances are numerous in which the lame have thrown aside their crutches and the bedridden have again mixed with the world after a few applications of this bath. It is no uncommon thing to hear a patient start and shriek with agony before entering the bath, and to receive his congratulations and thanks on his coming out. They often exclaim—“It is wonderful. I could not have believed it!”[120]
[120] Culverwell ‘On Baths and Bathing.’
Bath, Warm. Syn. Bal′neum cal′idum, B. calid′ulum, B. Therma′le, Therm′a, &c. L., Bain thermal, B. chaud, &c., Fr. A bath at a temperature equal, or nearly equal, to that of the human body.
The sensations attendant upon immersion in a warm bath are most delicious. Its first effect is to increase the circulation of the blood, and to determine it to the skin. After a few minutes an agreeable and universal increase of heat is experienced; the face and head are generally soon bedewed with perspiration; a pleasing and prevailing calm, both mental and physical, follows; and after remaining in it some 12 or 15 minutes the effect is of the most refreshing and happy character.
The idea that the warm bath is relaxing is erroneous. It is only so where persons remain in it too long, or take it too frequently. Nor are those who indulge in it more liable to take cold than others. On the contrary, they are less liable, unless they wilfully expose themselves, insufficiently clad (particularly about the neck and chest), to draughts of cold air.[121]
[121] We have been for many years accustomed to take baths at 98° to 100° Fahr., in all weathers and seasons, even during our severest winter, and on leaving the bath have often been engaged, for hours, moving about in the open air, even until midnight, without ‘catching cold,’ or the slightest inconvenience. However, we do not recommend others to follow our practice without due care.
As a remedial agent, the warm bath is adapted to general torpor of the system, liver and bowel complaints, hypochondriasis, hysterical affections, morbid suppressions, dryness of the skin, nearly all cutaneous and nervous diseases, chronic rheumatism, &c. As a tonic or stimulant after excessive fatigue, great mental excitement, or physical exertion, it is unequalled, and furnishes one of the most wholesome, and at the same time luxurious sources of refreshment we are acquainted with. “To those who are past the meridian of life, who have dry skins and begin to be emaciated, the warm bath for half an hour, twice a week, I believe to be eminently serviceable in retarding the advances of age.” (Darwin.) The healthy longevity of the late Duke of Wellington, after a period of exposure and trials equal to the entire life of many individuals, has been by some, and we think correctly, mainly attributed to the free and constant use of the warm bath. A warm bath frequently gives great relief to infants suffering from griping or flatulence. See Bath (antè), &c.
Bath, Wa′ter. Syn. Bal′neum a′quæ, B. Aquo′sum, B. ma′′riæ, B. ma′′ris, L.; Bainmarie, Fr. A water bath; in chemistry and cookery, applied to a bath of hot or boiling water. See Bath (in chemistry), Bainmarie, &c.
BATH′ING (bāthé-). See Bath.