[9] The body becoming accustomed to these extremes of temperature, treats with the utmost indifference all the intermediate changes of which this climate is capable—looking on them as the “Idle wind, which it regards not.” [↑]
[10] Cyprus is in point, containing a mixed population of Mahommedans and Christians: the former take the bath as a religious observance, and are free from consumption; the latter do not, and are victims to the disease. [↑]
[11] At Blarney, the healthy appearance of the shampooers, at once strikes the visitor. [↑]
[12] The “Oriental Bath,” paper read by Dr. Haughton before the Royal Dublin Society, April, 1858. [↑]
[13] Since the above was written, we have heard that arrangements have been made for the immediate erection of a Turkish bath in this city on an extensive scale, and on the most approved principles (in Lincoln-place, Merrion-square), to which we wish every success. Six Turkish baths are now in operation in the town of Bradford in Yorkshire, three at Blarney, two at Cork, in the vicinity of which latter town a third one is now erecting by Dr. Barter, on a scale of magnificence hitherto unattempted in the western world. [↑]
[14] Of Dropsy, Dr. Osborne asserts, that, “sweating being accomplished, the disease, if free from complication, never fails to be removed.” [↑]
[15] It is the use of the Turkish bath which enables the Turks to smoke to the excess they do with impunity—the noxious vapours being burned out by the excessive temperature. How different must be the effects of smoking in a damp climate like ours, where the poisonous fumes, unable to evaporate, remain in the system, a prolific source of disease. [↑]
[16] The blacksmith, begrimed with smoke and dirt, who freely perspires over his daily task, is cleaner in the true sense of the term than the best washed individual in the land. Surface washing alone will not suffice; to secure health the blood itself must be purified, its inmost channels flushed and cleansed. [↑]
[17] If we always breathed pure air, took daily exercise to perspiration, performed daily ablutions, and partook temperately of plain and wholesome food, disease would be almost unknown amongst us. Whenever we depart from these conditions of health, we lay the sure foundation of disease. It has been truly said, that if we took the same care of our own bodies as we do of our horses’, we should enjoy much better health than we are wont. Sir Astley Cooper used to say, that “man did not pay sufficient attention to the grooming of his body.” [↑]