CONTENTS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Ground-plan of the Palæstra or Gymnasium of theGreeks: after Vitruvius[p. xix]
Plan of the Roman Thermæ, from a drawing taken fromthe walls of the Baths of Titus[p. xxi]
The Hypocaustum of the Roman Bath at Chester[p. xxiii]
The Calidarium of Mr. George Witt's Bath[p. xxv]
Mr. Urquhart's Bath at Riverside[p. xxvii]
Ground-plan of my own Bath at Richmond Hill[p. xxix]
The Dureta; the Moorish, and probably Phœnician,Couch, adopted by the Emperor Augustus[p. xxxi]
The person reclining on this couch is so completely supportedthat he feels as though he were suspended in air.

CHAPTER I.

The Bath, an animal instinct; coeval with the earliest existence of man; common to every rank; a ceremony of his birth, and a funereal rite; discovery of thermal springs; the Scamander; commemoration of the hot-bath by Homer; the hot-baths of Hercules; estimation of hot-baths by the Phœdrians; frequency of thermal springs; Hamâms of the East, Hamâm Ali, near ancient Nineveh; Hamâm Meskhoutin in Algeria; Baths of Nero in Italy; German thermal springs, Carlsbad, Wiesbaden, Ems, Aix-la-Chapelle; the Geysers of Iceland; thermal springs of Amsterdam Island; of America; of England, Bath, Bristol, Buxton, Matlock[pp. 1-5]
Primitive idea of the artificial hot-vapour bath; Bath of the American Indians; ancient Irish Bath, or sweating-house, the Tig Allui; Mexican Bath; Moorish Bath; the Hypocaust[pp. 5-9]
Eastern origin of the bath; Mr. Urquhart's discovery of the vestiges of the Phœnician Bath among the ruins of Baalbeck; Syrian Bath; Gazul, its nature and properties; Gazul and the Strigil derived from Mauritania; probable irradiation of the knowledge of the bath from Phœnicia[pp. 9-12]
Hypocaust of the Moorish, Mexican, Greek, and Roman Bath; the only method of heating houses in Greece and Rome; the common practice in China; Chinese vapour bath,[pp. 12-13]
Baths of Greece; Gymnasia; Gymnasium or Palæstra; Lyceum Academia; Cynosarges[pp. 14-18]
Thermæ and Balneæ of Rome; Baths of Agrippa, Titus, Paulus Æmilius, Diocletian, and Caracalla; magnificence of the Roman Thermæ; Roman Baths of England; decline of the bath in Rome; construction of the Roman Bath; excessive indulgence in the bath by the Romans; Pliny's description of his own bath; Seneca's reproof of the luxury and wanton extravagance of the Romans[pp. 18-29]
Roman Baths of England; Uriconium; Chester[pp. 29-33]
The bath lost by the Romans; preserved by the Turks; the Turkish Hamâm; construction of the Hamâm; costume of the bath; mode of taking the bath; the outer Hall, or Mustaby, the middle room, the inner room; shampooing; rolling and peeling the scarf-skin; soaping and rinsing; return to the Mustaby; the couch of repose; special characteristics of the Turkish Hamâm—vapoury atmosphere, low temperature; the Turkish process contrasted with the Roman; the order, the decorum, the dignity of the Turkish Bath; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's description of the Women's Bath in Turkey[pp. 33-46]
The Egyptian Bath; the Bath of Siout; the Bath at Cairo; Mr. Thackeray's experiences; Egyptian shampooing; M. Savary's description of the Egyptian Bath and Egyptian shampooing; its intellectual and medicative properties; Tournefort's experience[pp. 46-50]
Introduction of the Turkish Bath to Britain; Mr. Urquhart and the "Pillars of Hercules"; Mr. Urquhart's advocacy of the Bath; Mr. Urquhart erects a bath at Blarney for Dr. Richard Barter; spread of the Turkish Bath in Ireland[pp. 50-52]
Pioneers of the Bath in England, Mr. Urquhart, Mr. George Crawshay, Sir John Fife, Mr. George Witt, Mr. Stewart Rolland; private Turkish Baths in England; Mr. Witt's Bath; construction; process of the bath; costume of the bath; "Companions of the Bath;" first impressions; effect of the Bath in the removal of pain[pp. 52-55]
The delights of free perspiration; differences between the practised bather and the neophyte; thirst; beads upon the rose; counting our beads; freedom of perspiration in labourers exposed to high temperatures; a nutritive drink[pp. 55-58]
Temperature of the bath; mutual relations between temperature, size of apartment, moisture of atmosphere, and number of bathers; temperature relative to these conditions; effects of temperature in water, vapour, and air; man's capability of supporting temperatures of remarkable altitude in dry air; Mr. Urquhart's Laconicum; Sir Charles Blagden's experiments; Sir Francis Chantrey's oven; Chabert, the Fire King[pp. 58-61]
The best temperature for the purposes of Health; practice of the Romans, who lost the bath, compared with that of the Turks, who have preserved it; philosophy of the bath; talking and thinking to be avoided in the bath; inconveniences of the bath to the novitiate; the cause and its remedy; advice; peculiarities or idiosyncrasies of constitution; wisdom of the Turks[pp. 61, 63]
Duration of the bath; influenced by temperature and idiosyncrasy,[pp. 63-64]
Second operation of the bath; shampooing; proper moment for the process; the Turkish process; the Moorish process; Captain Clark Kennedy's description of the Moorish Bath, and the operation of shampooing; the British shampooer,[pp. 64-72]
Third operation of the bath; the peeling of the scarf-skin; manner of performance; the camel's-hair or goat's-hair glove[pp. 72-74]
Fourth operation of the bath; soaping; the wisp of lyf; the warm shower; the cold douche; alternate hot and cold douche; closure of the pores; restoration of the warmth of the skin[pp. 74-76]
The Frigidarium; the process of cooling; the purified skin; sensations after the bath; the ordinary dress resumed; illustration of the use and effects of the bath in dispelling the cravings of hunger and fatigue[pp. 77-79]
Mr. Urquhart's bath; the Laconicum; the spiracle of sweet perfumes; the Lavatrina; the cold pool; the hot and cold douche; breakfast; kuscoussoo; the chemistry of the preparation of food; its value to man[pp. 79-87]
My own bath at Richmond Hill[pp. 88-89]

CHAPTER II.

REVIVAL AND SANITARY PURPOSES OF THE EASTERN BATH.

General idea of the bath; and of its sanitary application; its popularity with the working classes[pp. 90-92]
Construction of the bath, illustrated by the description of Mr. Witt's bath; the Calidarium; the heating apparatus; materials of construction; the flue; the dureta; Mr. Stewart Rolland's bath; the Lavatorium; the Frigidarium,[pp. 93-102]
Operation of the bath; costume of the bath; sensations of the bath; perspiration; the body washed in its own moisture; unpleasant sensations; contrast of the uneducated and educated skin; object of the bath; use of the cold douche; the cooling and drying process[pp. 103-110]
Sanitary purposes of the bath; importance of the skin in the animal economy; structure and functions of the skin; exposure of the skin to the air; resistance of cold; costume of ancient Britons; defensive powers of the bath against catarrh; weakening of the skin by clothing; comparison of physical qualities of healthy and unhealthy skin; sensibility of the skin; hardening of the skin; nutritive properties of the skin; training; influence of the bath in the prevention of disease; curative powers of the bath[pp. 111-127]