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Title: Turkish and Other Baths
A Guide to Good Health and Longevity
Author: Gordon Stables
Illustrator: Messrs Allen
Release Date: September 6, 2011 [EBook #37326]
Language: English
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TURKISH AND OTHER BATHS ***
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
Turkish and Other Baths
A Guide to Good Health and Longevity
By Gordon Stables
Illustrations by Messrs Allen
Published by Dean and Son, London.
Turkish and Other Baths, by Gordon Stables.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
TURKISH AND OTHER BATHS, BY GORDON STABLES.
PREFACE.
No apology surely is needed for a work like this, and its preface need
be but brief. Small is the book, in size little more than a pamphlet;
yet mayhap it contains hints that will not be thrown away on any reader,
and may be invaluable to many who wish to secure health, long life and
happiness.
The Author.
Christmas Morning, 1882.
CHAPTER ONE.
THE SKIN--ITS USES AND GREAT IMPORTANCE IN THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.
Apart from any consideration of the bath as a remedial measure, in cases
of disease, its importance as an agent for preserving the health, and
granting to those who use it judiciously a reasonable hope of long life,
cannot easily be over-estimated. But in order to understand properly
the beneficial action of baths on the system, we must have some little
knowledge of the physiology of the skin. Without such knowledge, all
arguments that we could adduce in favour of the constant use of the bath
in some shape or form, would be of the _post hoc propter hoc_ kind, and
therefore of little value.
What, then, we may ask, are the uses of the skin, for what ends has
Nature designed it, and what is its _modus operandi_? Briefly stated,
the uses of the skin are as follows:--Firstly, it covers and protects
from violence the surface of the whole body, and the various tender and
sensitive parts that lie immediately beneath it; secondly, it is the
organ of touch; thirdly, it is the great regulator of the heat of the
body; fourthly, it performs the duties of a great emunctory, and by
means of its millions of sudoriferous, or sweat glands, each with its
efferent duct; it carries off and out of the body a vast quantity of
effete matter, which, if retained in the blood, would poison it, and
therefore unfit it for the healthful performance of its functions;
fifthly, the skin acts as an absorbent; and, sixthly, it is to some
extent an organ of respiration.
The use of the skin as a protective covering to the body is apparent to
every one, and we cannot help admiring its great and perfect
adaptability for the purpose. On the soles of the feet, and palms of
the hands, it is thicker than in other places, being thereon subjected
to more wear and tear; on the trunk of the body, and on the arms it is
soft and smooth, and it is everywhere wonderfully elastic and pliable.
Moreover, it is lined throughout with a base work of fat, which gives
extra support and security to the muscles, and, wherever in the body
protection from the results of pressure is needed, we find that this fat
is deposited in actual cushions, as under the heels, under the balls of
the toes, on the hips, etc.
And here we may remark that, whenever the elasticity of the skin is
impaired, as it is in the bodies of those who do not accustom themselves
to the bath and perfect ablution, loathsome diseases are apt to be the
result, which not only interfere with the actions of the skin itself,
but lower the vitality of the whole system.
The use of the skin as an organ of touch is equally apparent. Being
supplied with a most intricate network of blood vessels and nerves, the
skin is all over a most sensitive organ, and thus serves to warn us in
time of the approach of anything likely to be detrimental to our health.
If we sit in a draught, the skin of the body chills almost at once; it
begins to creep, as it were, warning us that it is time to move, time to
seek shelter, or protect ourselves by an extra garment. Some portions
of the skin are far more sensitive than others; that of the eyelids, for
instance, which is agitated by the slightest breath of air, or by a
touch communicated to it by the least pressure on the eyelashes.
By means of, or through, the medium of its vast number of sweat glands,
the skin regulates the amount of heat in our bodies. This is a function
which is much more important than most people might at first imagine.
The temperature of the body in health is about 99 degrees Fahrenheit, if
it rises much above this--even a few degrees, indeed--or if it falls
much below it, severe illness is indicated, danger is apparent, danger
even to life itself. An equable temperature of the body it is therefore
evident is alone compatible with perfect health, but if it were not for
the perspiratory system, when any extra strain is put upon the body, as
by hard work, or hard exercise, heat would accumulate in the system, and
the temperature of the body would be raised, to our discomfort,
detriment, and danger. But the pores of the skin are our safety valves;
from exertion the blood is determined to the surface, the sweat glands
are thus excited to increased action, and perspiration is thrown off in
abundance, which, passing off in steam, carries with it--in obedience to
a law too well known to need explanation--all the extra caloric. In hot
weather, a great deal of heat is thus expended through the skin; in cold
weather the kidneys are more active, and they excrete the water which
otherwise would have passed through the pores, and by storing it for a
time in a reservoir designed for the purpose, conserve the heat of the
system, and prevent lowering of the animal temperature.
By means of these same sweat glands with their ducts or pores, an
immense amount of effete matter is carried off from the body in the
course of twenty-four hours, which, as already stated, if retained in
the system, would tend to lower vitality by poisoning the blood.
If the reader recollects that the lungs also perform a renovating
function on the blood, and thus on the body, that oxygen is inhaled, and
that air loaded with carbonic acid, water, etc, exhaled, he will readily
understand how much assistance the respiratory organs receive from a
healthy acting skin.
Nor can the intelligent reader be unaware that the nutrient portion of
the food we eat, after undergoing the process of digestion performed in
the mouth--where it is masticated and mingled with the solvent saliva--
in the stomach, where it is reduced by muscular action, and the gastric
juices to the pulp called chyme--in the upper portions of the
intestines--where it receives the secretions of liver and pancreas and
becomes chyle, is collected by a series of absorbent vessels which unite
at last to form the thoracic duct, or grand chyle canal, which empties
itself of its valuable contents directly into one of the largest veins
in the body, and is thus mingled with the general circulation. He
knows, too, that the pure life-giving arterial blood, which, rushing
onwards from that mighty force-pump, the heart, is distributed to every
atom of the system, returns at last laden with the used up particles of
the tissues; that, in fact, a constant change is going on in the system,
a constant deposit of new matter, a constant discharge of old. And that
the dark venous blood, containing the effete matter, rushes through the
lungs, therein to be spread out, and chemically united to the oxygen of
the air that we breathe, before it is again pumped out towards the
tissues to supply them with heat and life. But it must not be
forgotten, that not the lungs only, but the kidneys, the liver, and the
spleen have each and all of them their duties to perform towards the
blood; and last, but not least, that the skin, when in a state of
health, assists them in no small degree in performing their several
functions.
But there are other glands which receive assistance from the skin in the
performance of their duties. We refer to those distributed here and
there in the frame-work of the body, notably in the axilla, the groin,
and under the skin of the neck, and whose functions are to purify, in
some way or other, the matter collected by a series of vessels called
the lymphatics, before it is again applied to the purposes of nutrition.
"The amount of fluid," says a well-known physiologist, "exhaled from the
skin and lungs in twenty-four hours, averages about three or four
pounds. And there is good reason to think that this excretion is of the
greatest importance in carrying off certain substances that would prove
injurious if allowed to remain in the blood.
"That which is called the Hydrophatic system, proceeds upon the plan of
increasing the cutaneous exhalation to a very large amount; and there
seems much evidence that certain deleterious matters, the presence of
which in the blood gives rise to gout, rheumatism, etc, are drawn off
from it more speedily and certainly in this way than in any other."
If space permitted, the utility of the skin as one of the greatest
emunctories of the system might be much enlarged upon; we trust,
however, we have said quite enough to establish its importance in the
animal economy.
CHAPTER TWO.
HOW TO MAINTAIN THE SKIN IN HEALTH.
If the skin then, is an emunctory of so much consequence, as we have
endeavoured to shew it to be, it stands to reason, that even the
impartial performance of its functions, is incompatible with healthful
existence. One might go farther and boldly aver, that a person who is a
stranger to the bath, is as much to be pitied as a being with only one
lung; both may exist, neither live.
On the other hand, it cannot be denied that there are thousands of men
and women in these islands, who seem to enjoy a large share of robust
health, and who possess what assurance companies would call, "good
lives," but who never indulge in the luxury of either a bath or a
bedroom tub. But it will generally be found, that these people belong
to the out-door working classes, who take abundant exercise in the open
air, people whose pores are kept patent by the toil they undergo, and
who, moreover, possess capacious lungs, substantial livers and healthy
kidneys. Nevertheless, did these same persons make a practice of
constantly using some form of bath, they would throw far less strain
upon their internal organs, their blood would be purer, and their minds
consequently lighter, and they would stand far less chance of catching
cold, and succumbing to inflammation of some vital part. A person whose
skin is not in easy working order, and who depends upon exertion and
exercise alone, for keeping it up to the mark, must, if thrown on a bed
of sickness, have a harder struggle for life than one whose skin is, in
every sense of the word, a healthy one.
Everything seems to point to the conclusion that the health of the skin
is a matter of paramount importance to the individual, we cannot
therefore be wrong if we devote this chapter to the consideration of the
best means within our reach, of maintaining it in a sound and vigorous
condition.
So intimate is the connection between the skin and internal organs of
the body, and so constantly and incessantly do they act and re-act on
each other, that the state of the former may generally be taken as a key
to the condition of the whole system. If the skin be dry, harsh, hot or
in any way possessed of an uncomfortable feeling, the general health is,
for the time being, out of order, or if it be cold or rough and chilly,
the health must be below par, even although that state of being should
be but momentary.
A feeling of warmth, comfort and geniality, pervades the skin of the man
who is well; deprived of this feeling he is deprived of health, he is
ill, acutely subacutely, or chronically ill.
DIET:--The influence of diet on the skin is very great.
This is a fact which should be borne in mind by all, but especially by
those who are subject to any kind of skin complaint, or to gout or
rheumatism. The latter disease, from which so many people suffer
periodically, is, with a good show of reason, believed to be caused by a
superabundance of acid in the blood. This acid is easily got rid of at
most times, by means of the sensible and insensible perspiration; but
if, through some error in diet, an irritable condition of the mucous
membrane of the alimentary canal is produced, and a larger proportion of
acid than usual is the result; and if at or about the same time
something--a cold, or chill, for instance--interferes with the free
action of the skin, it stands to reason that an attack of the old enemy,
gout, or rheumatic gout will supervene, and the character of the attack
will greatly depend on the condition of the patient's system at the
time. If he be full blooded and robust it may be acute or sub-acute.
Thus it often happens that at the very time when a man of rheumatic
diathesis is in finest form, he is suddenly laid prostrate by the return
of his foe. If, on the other hand, he be not of a full habit, the
disease will be less violent in its nature, and this probably accounts
for the fact, that men of spare habit are, as a rule, capable of
weathering more rheumatic storms than men who have been cast in a larger
mould.
No medical man now-a-days thinks of prescribing for a patient without at
the same time giving him advice as to what he should eat, drink, or
avoid. Some hundred years ago, physicians were, we may presume, not so
skilled as we are now-a-days, but neither were they so apt to lose
themselves in that labyrinth we may call _causae morborum_, and they
never lost sight of the state of the stomach and bowels. Indeed, the
exhibition of aperients was often a kind of sheet anchor with them, with
which they held on with determination when everything else failed them,
and we can scarcely doubt that they were often right in doing so. Nor
is the belief so common with the illiterate, that if a man can eat and
drink moderately well, there cannot be much the matter with him, so very
erroneous after all. Diet is of paramount importance with all of us,
for the simplest reason possible. Our blood is generated from the food
we eat, and as the blood is, so will the system be, which it has to
nourish. No matter how clever a mania, or how rich, or how eminent, if
he is guilty of errors in diet, he is but a golden calf with feet of
clay.
But he who lives judiciously in the matter of diet, possesses a truly
marvellous advantage over his fellows who do not. A man in health
should begin the day early. He ought to have his morning tub by
half-past seven at the latest. He ought to dress leisurely, and have,
if possible, a five or ten minutes' walk in the open air, before he sits
down to breakfast.
Well-made tea is probably the best beverage for breakfast, and if
between meals a man requires some refreshment, a cup of coffee or tea
will be found more sustaining and less dangerous than either beer or
wine.
The breakfast maybe a moderately hearty one, and the dinner should be an
early one, and nothing ought to be partaken of which is known to
disagree. Supper should be early and light, but not necessarily sloppy.
Solid food is more likely to be quietly digested than slops. A biscuit
and glass of milk, or beer, may be partaken about half an hour before
retiring, if it is found that sounder sleep is acquired by such
indulgence.
The errors in diet which should be avoided are:--First, eating too fast;
second, taking stimulants of any kind to provoke an appetite; third, the
use of rich sauces and peppers; fourth, eating too much; and fifth,
partaking of too many varieties at one meal. A man should eat with
_regularity_ and _moderation_, and _frequently change his diet_.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
DRINK.--Pure water is the best, but water that will not wash is unfit
for drinking or making food, withal. Cocoa, coffee, tea, and milk in
moderation, and in summer whey and buttermilk are healthful drinks.
Iced waters, cooling cups, and too many effervescing mixtures are to be
avoided.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Regularity in the times of going to bed and getting up should be
studied.
PURE AIR.--One cannot have too much of this. The air in rooms ought to
be kept pure and sweet, and that of the bedroom moderately warm.
Bedrooms ought to be large, and not overfilled with furniture,
especially things likely to collect dust. Curtains about beds do more
harm than good.
DRESS AND CLOTHING.--No more should be worn than is necessary to keep
the surface of the body agreeably comfortable. It should not be tight,
and mackintoshes and goloshes are injurious to health. Bed clothes
should be light and warm. People, as a rule, heap their beds with far
too much clothing, and sleep is thus often banished.
SLEEP.--Secure it by natural means; _never_, unless under medical
advice, by taking draughts, or "night-caps." Regularity in living,
exercise, and the bath, are the best narcotics, but a pipe of mild
tobacco last thing may often do good.
EXERCISE.--Exercise, to be beneficial, should be pleasant, the mind
should be free and happy. Exercise does little or no good unless
enjoyed, hence work is not exercise. It should never be carried to the
verge of fatigue, and if the under-clothing has been damped by
perspiration, it ought to be changed before sitting or lying down. As
to under-clothing, no one over thirty, who values his health and life,
should neglect to wear it in some form, wool is warmer than cotton, silk
better than either. The best form of exercise is that which maintains
the largest number of muscles in play, and does not over-sweat the body,
nor over-heat the head. It ought to be varied, too, but whether it be
walking, riding, driving, rowing, playing games, or those most
exhilarating exercises bicycling and tricycling, it ought to be taken
regularly, day after day, and we may add, all the year round.
While taking exercise, the clothing ought to be as loose as possible, in
order to permit of the full play of the muscles, and avoid dangerous
contractions of the internal vital organs.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. See, "Tea, the Drink of Pleasure and of Health," by same
author, published by Messrs. Field and Tuer, Leadenhall Street.
CHAPTER THREE.
THE LUXURY OF THE TURKISH BATH--ITS USES AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTION--THE
AILMENTS IT TENDS TO CURE.
Next to the pleasure of enjoying an Anglo-Turkish bath oneself, _in
propria persona_, is that of hearing some one dilate on its merits.
And few who have ever tried it, will be found unwilling to expatiate
freely on the topic of Turkish bathing; of its great and manifold
advantages over all other systems of bathing, of the delights they
experienced while _in_ the bath, and of the feelings of lightness and
comfort, calmness of mind and positive happiness induced thereby. This
prince of baths would, we verily believe, change the dullest clodhopper
to a wit for a time, and convert the prosiest old antiquarian into a
poet.
If it has such a transforming power on the brains of the by-no-means
brilliant, is it any wonder that men of bright intellect like Sir
Erasmus Wilson and David Urquhart, should write or talk so prettily
about this, their favourite mode of bathing. As a rule there is not
much room for poetry in the medical profession, albeit Dr Jenner,
carried away by a pardonable enthusiasm, described the vaccination
pustule of the ninth day, with its crimson areola as "the pearl upon the
rose." Yet we cannot read the glowing and graphic description given by
the great dermatologist, concerning his visit to the bath at Riverside,
without wishing that he had marshalled his thoughts, for once in a way,
in the splendid hexameters of a Longfellow. A bath like that of Mr
Urquhart's, from which one emerged with "the body shining like
alabaster, fragrant as the cistus, sleek as satin and soft as velvet,"
is surely worthy of the high honours of blank verse. And this thermal
paradise is sketched by Sir Erasmus in language as brilliant and
beautiful, as any that ever the _other_ professor Wilson puts into the
month of the bard of Ettrick, in his inimitable Noctes Ambrosianae.
We must be forgiven, if we pick a plum or two from the description, and
hand them round to our readers, there are plenty more on the tree which
they may cull for themselves [Note 1]. At the door of the Frigidarium
or cool room, the would-be bather loosens the latchets of his shoes, and
leaves them behind the lintel; the portal opens and he enters. This
apartment though not large is sunny and bright. It is a morning in
early summer, and, through the glass doors, can be seen a balcony
festooned with roses; beyond the parapet of the balcony are terraces of
which the rose is still the favoured flower, while further on can be
seen the rippling surface of a noisy stream, then meadows with grazing
herds and flocks, and beyond these the wooded hill arching like an
eyebrow around the bright spot in which as the apple of the eye,
sparkles the bath. By his side is a _dureta_ over against him a
reclining chair, around the sides of the apartment are cushioned divans;
books, and chibouques, and many a Turkish ornament are around, and the
floor is spread with carpets of Persia, and the clean fresh mattings of
India.
Opposite the glass doors is an immense sheet of plate glass; through it
are seen marble steps, and in the aqueous depths to which these steps
descend, is the reflection of the morning sun. Here he may court the
rays of Phoebus, smiling through festoons of roses to visit the deepest
pool of his bath. Here he can swim while the sun glistens in the
crystal drops that linger on his skin, or makes mimic rainbows in the
spray that he dashes before him in his plunging revel.
The author passes on through a door by the side of the immense barrier
of glass. This door closes behind him, then onwards through a second
door to be greeted by a delightful atmosphere, and experience tells him
that no place of terrestrial existence save _the_ bath can yield that
warm, soft and balmy aether. Two steps down and then a platform. Two
steps more, the heat increases, and he has reached the tropical line of
the bath. But the hottest room was enveloped in scarlet hangings, a
fiery tent, where the temperature stood at from 240 to 250 degrees.
On a divan at a later stage of the hath, under a less degree of heat, he
spends many minutes of genuine enjoyment. Just overhead is a plug to
withdraw in order to admit a breath of fresh air if desired, and this
delicious gush of ambrosial air comes to him, perfumed with the sweet
breath of flowers over which it has been contrived that it shall pass.
Then comes a deeper descent of four steps, with a still warm but lower
temperature, where on the clear marble edge of the Lavatorina he seats
himself, while his host plies the soft pad of _gazul_ over his head and
back and sides. Then basin after basin of warm water, rinses the gazul
and the loosened epidermis from the surface, and he rises from the bath
to recommence his observations, visiting in turn all the soft, the warm,
the perfumed, the hot, the cool and the cold nooks he can find, and thus
the time flies by and the breakfast hour draws near; but before he can
quit the bath, it is necessary that the pores of the body, which all
this time have been filtering the waste fluids of the body through their
numberless apertures, should be made to close, and with this intent he
descends into the marble pool or _piscina_, whose waters in summer are
cooled with ice, and crouches under the tap, and lets the cold current
encircle him, then a pail of hot water rushes on him like an avalanche,
followed immediately by one of cold, and this is many times repeated.
Upward now, to the Frigidarium, with a mantle round his shoulders after
being rubbed down with soft Turkish towels, therein, reclined on a
softly cushioned sofa, to enjoy half-an-hour's suggestive and
instructive conversation, before going to breakfast with an appetite
like--like a man.
Sir Erasmus does not tell us how much he enjoyed that breakfast, but we
can easily fancy that part of the performance. We can easily believe,
that his manly onslaught upon the viands set before him, would have been
highly appreciated by Christopher North himself, with Tickler and the
Shepherd "settling down to serious eating."
But it is not merely as a luxury that, in this little work of ours, we
venture to recommend the Anglo-Turkish bath to our readers although
taken simply for the sake of enjoyment, a man never fails to cherish the
memory of his first bath, as does a maiden that of her first ball. But
our recommendation has a far wider scope than this. We look upon the
bath as the best means mankind has:--
ONE.--For maintaining the body in a state of perfect health.
TWO.--For averting the many ailments incidental to life and--
THREE.--For the cure of not a few diseases.
Few there are in our own country, or probably in any other, who enjoy
really good and robust health, constantly. Apart from inherited
illnesses, the wear and tear of life, end the worry that naturally
attends the struggle for existence is very hard upon most of us, and if
it were not for weekly periods of rest, the average span of our
existence would be a much shorter one than it really is. And, alas! as
a rule, our periods of rest seem far too short, our one day's toil seems
hardly well over, until another one begins, and thus our existences are
fretted away. To many amongst us life seems one long drawn-out
weariness; from year's end to year's end the back must ache, and the
temples throb, till the very heart grows "tired of its own sad beat, and
yearns for rest." But to live like this, or in any way akin to it, is
not to be in a state of health. If a man be really healthy, he is
reasonably happy, if he does not feel reasonably happy, he is not in a
condition of health. In health there is a complete freedom from ache or
pain, from bruise or blemish, from heat or cold; every joint is supple,
every muscle capable of contraction and extension. And the mind should
feel as light and buoyant as the body, a healthy man should feel a
pleasure in merely living, he should be capable of taking an interest in
everything that goes on around him, in all he sees, in all he hears, in
all he reads, and in all that concerns the well-being of his fellow
creatures, and honest toil itself should be an enjoyment to him, and not
a worry, not a penance.
It is the custom in England, and a terribly wrong and fatal one it is,
to fly to stimulants for the relief of temporary-exhaustion; that is, at
the very time when our bodies are tired, and nature courts a brief rest,
we dig in the spur, we wield the whip, and keep her at it invariably to
her detriment. The very fact that the amount of stimulant taken
requires to be increased after a time proves how deleterious is this
plan, the modest glass of sherry, or mildest ale, needs after a time to
be replaced by fiery brandy or heart-corroding gin. This last is
putting an extra thong on the whip, and it is no wonder if, after a
time, some important internal organ gives way, and one more is added to
the list of incurable invalids.
How much better would it be if tea and coffee took the place of
dangerous stimulants, and the balance of health was sought to be
retained by the daily use of the morning tub, and a bi-weekly indulgence
in an Anglo-Turkish Bath. It is not too much to hope for, and it
certainly is not too much to pray for, that public baths upheld in a
great measure by Government, may yet be one of the institutions of our
beloved land. What a blessing these would be to hard working men, and
to the tired and weary among all classes. I venture to predict, that if
people were to make a habit of using the Turkish Bath, say on the
Saturday afternoons only, gin palaces and dram saloons that now reek
with filth and disease would lose many a customer. Persons would find
out that there was no real way consonant with the acknowledged rules of
health and hygiene of banishing fatigue, of dispelling aches and pains,
of calming the nervous system, and preparing the mind for the perfect
enjoyment of that day of blessed rest called Sunday.
As a prophylactic against innumerable diseases, we have recommended the
use of the Anglo-Turkish Bath. It is almost unnecessary to enlarge upon
this head, but a word or two may not be thrown away. Two, then, of the
great _causae norborum_, or disease inducers in this country are cold
and indigestion. Now, so long as the skin is a healthy one, and in good
working order, it is next to impossible for any one to catch cold
through it, if he only takes care to clothe it not heavily but
judiciously in warm woollens or light soft silks. It stands to reason
that an organ, an instrument or machine--call it what we may--which is
perfect in workings, is not so easily thrown out of gear or out of order
as one not so perfect. We could fill a volume with cases of people who
are constantly in the habit of using Baths, who can stand exposure to
both cold and wet with but little inconvenience; and we also know a vast
number of votaries of the Bath who do at times catch cold like other
people, being probably constitutionally susceptible to its influence--
but who get clear of their colds in quite a remarkably short time. The
reason undoubtedly is that they have the power to "throw them off," as
the common saying is.
Well, now, as to indigestion. As the reader knows, the whole internal
surface of the body is lined with a mucous membrane, which is analagous
to the skin or external covering, and as the one is so will the other
be; mucous indigestion, therefore, it may be clearly perceived is
averted by the use of the Bath. But indigestion may proceed from loss
of nerve power, or from a badly acting liver or spleen, or from weakness
of the heart, etc. And the Bath strengthens and tones the nervous
system far more than any tonic we wot of, moreover its constant use
makes the work which the liver and spleen have to perform, mere play, so
to speak; and if the Bath invigorates muscle--and we know it does--it
must act as a roborant or tonic to the heart itself, which is composed
for the most part of muscular tissues.
Many people produce a species of irritable indigestion, by the use of
stimulants, for this the Anglo-Turkish bath is an almost certain cure,
as it relieves internal congestions, steadies the nerves and produces
refreshing sleep.
Many poisons are generated in the system, to which if free vent be not
given by means of the pores of a healthily acting skin, mischief is sure
sooner or later to arise, such mischief for instance as gout and
rheumatism, to which reference has already been made. But the condition
of the kidneys is seldom or never studied by anyone and yet if they do
not act sufficiently well to expel urea from the blood, a more or less
injurious effect is caused upon the brain and nerve centres. This the
periodical use of the Anglo-Turkish bath, would tend to remove.
We all know the demoralising effect that the first glass of spirits is
said to have upon a man inclined to the abuse of intoxicants; it so
affects his brain that he no longer knows, or he disregards right form
wrong as far as his health is concerned. But a similar demoralisation
of brain tissue, may be produced by poisons positively generated in the
system; at least this is our opinion. Those, for example, who have been
given to alcohol, often keep "steady" as they phrase it for a month or
months, then suddenly or gradually, as the case may be, break out again.
This is doubtless caused by the play of some accumulated
system-propagated poison on the brain and nerves. This poison may be
urea, or it may be some acid, it matters not, it is in the blood and it
ought to be eliminated and we earnestly advise those, who would be
abstainers but who find it difficult to long remain so, to fly at once
for relief to the hot-air bath, whenever the "_tempter_," as platform
orators call it, seems to urge them to take once more to stimulants.
We think it highly probable, that many inherited diseases such as
consumption, scrofula, etc, may be kept at bay by the constant use of
the bath under consideration, if only for the simple reason that the
blood poisoning is thus constantly being driven off, before it has power
to accumulate in quantities large enough to do mischief; not to mention
the fact that the bath causes healthful activity of all the secretions.
The diseases which the Turkish bath may be the means of curing or
alleviating, are really too numerous to mention. Among them may be
enumerated gout, rheumatic gout, rheumatism, acute and chronic, colds
and coughs, indigestion in some of its worst forms, bowel affections,
piles, chronic liver and spleen ailments, kidney complaints, incipient
delirium tremens, melancholy and depression of spirits, nervousness,
irritability of temper, sleeplessness, _ennui_, the diseases of
sedentary and also of fashionable life, adiposity, etc. That condition
of body and mind generally caused by indiscretion of some kind, and
usually known by the expression "out of sorts," or "out of condition,"
when weariness and depression are predominant, when sleep is unrest, and
every duty of life is performed with a feeling of extreme irksomeness,
and when the nerves seem given as a punishment, is almost invariably
cured by a course of Turkish Bathing taken in conjunction with some
nervine tonic, and an occasional well-chosen aperient.
Diseases and debilities of the reproductive organs, are by the same
means equally benefited, but in these cases galvanism in some form is
often required to effect a complete cure.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note 1. See--"The Eastern Bath," published by Messrs. J. and A.
Churchill, New Burlington Street.
CHAPTER FOUR.
THE TURKISH BATH: IN THEORY AND PRACTICE--THE PORTABLE TURKISH BATH.
Let us now endeavour to explain the theory of the Turkish Bath, and the
why and wherefore of the different operations the bather subjects
himself to therein. If he be a person who has bathed many times and
oft, he steps across the threshold of the great natural Sanatorium with
a light heart and a step as springy as though he were entering a
ball-room, for well he knows that all his care and trouble whether
mental or bodily, will melt away in the glorious atmosphere of the
_calidarium_ or hot room, and that when he comes out again he will feel
so new a man, that a giant refreshed would have no chance with him.
He parts with his ticket or half-crown with pleasure, feeling in his
inmost heart that he has the best of the bargain. And so he enters his
little sanctum and begins to undress. He would fain hurry off his
garments: he longs to be free but he remembers that everything ought to
be done leisurely for his good. But now the last article of apparel is
laid carefully aside and he smiles to himself--a happy smile--as he dons
the cummerbund, or cotton pyjamas, and issues forth to enter the
calidarium.
He will not have long remained here until beads of perspiration appear
on chest and brow, and arms, gradually extending downwards until limbs
and even feet are covered with a warm moisture. A mouthful or two of
cold water will cause the drops of perspiration to accumulate and
increase in size, until uniting, they trickle "in burns"--as the Scotch
call it, from the body. He has very likely assumed a reclining position
on a wooden cane-bottomed settee. Here he may read if so minded, he
will hardly care to talk, if he does he ought not to. A strange dreamy
kind of happiness steals over him, not wild exciting thoughts like those
of the opium-eater. No, his is now indeed the _dolce far niente_; he
has eaten the lotus leaf, all worldly cares, if he has any, are for the
time being forgotten, he even wonders that he permitted anything
sublunary to worry him.
And so the time passes all too quickly away. Perhaps the attendant now
warns him it is time to retire, or to enter even a hotter room in which
he will stay a shorter time, then thence to the lavatory. How pleasant
the trickling of the warm shower bath, how delightful the soap shampoo,
that removes every bit from top to toe of the unhealthy, or at least
superfluous scarf skin.
Every particle of impurity may be said to have exuded from the blood,
which is now pure as the constitution of the bather can permit it to be,
and every particle of impurity has been washed by shampooing from the
outer surface. The warm shower completes the cleansing. But now the
gaping pores must be made to contract, their fibres are relaxed they
must be closed. But however cold the water douche may be, by which this
operation is performed, to the bather it seems most pleasant and
delicious.
Wrapped in a sheet from head to heel he once more passes through the
calidarium, on his way to the cooling room. He may linger here for a
few moments if so minded but not for long, only just to restore a gentle
warmth to the surface of the body. In the cool room he will remain
reclining and enwrapped in his sheet for about a quarter of an hour and
probably the attendant will come and knead every muscle of the body
getting back the lagging blood, if indeed it does lag, heart-wards and
rendering the whole body as supple and pliant and elastic as life.
Then to dress most slowly. And while dressing, to leisurely imbibe a
cup of warm, not hot, tea or coffee.
When he emerges at last from the Sanatorium and goes bounding along the
street, he--well he does not feel inclined to change places with anyone
he meets, not even if the Lord Mayor's carriage rolls past him.
We have thus stated briefly, the various operations a bather goes
through in the ordinary Turkish bath of our towns and cities. Leisurely
undressing, especially necessary if there has previously been a brisk
walk, (thus the heart has time to tone down ere subjected to the
excitement of the calidarium) the repose in the hot room with frequent
small draughts of cold water to encourage the flow of the perspiration,
the gradual softening of the scarf skin and thorough opening of every
pore, the warm shower and shampoo by which every obnoxious particle is
removed from the outer surface as it has already been from the inner,
the cold douche to contract the pores, and thus prevent subsequent
danger from cold. The gradual cooling down, the leisurely resumption of
ordinary wearing apparel lest perspiration should again be induced, and
last, but not least, the calm and comforting cup of coffee or tea.
And after all what is this Turkish bathing? Is it something so very
new? Nay, new in its processes probably, but it is but carrying out an
old, old law, old as the days of Moses himself, the law of perfect
cleanliness and perfect cleansing.
We have visited a large number of the hydropathic establishments and
Turkish bathing sanatoria, and there is much to be praised in all we
have seen and little to be blamed. Some are of course, far more
luxuriantly fitted up than others, and these are the baths we prefer to
visit. Could we, however, have such a splendid thermal temple as that
of Riverside attached to our own home, we would certainly never wander
away from it to worship at another shrine.
We ourselves may be over fastidious, but we think the following are
among some of the drawbacks to the general run of Turkish bathing
places. They are usually in out of the way places, so that one is not
always able to find the time to get there when he wants to. The weekly
expenditure incurred by taking a course of baths would certainly be a
consideration with many; and on the other hand, there is a lack of
privacy which renders such establishments distasteful as a rule. But
the benefits that accrue from a course of Turkish baths, depend in a
great measure upon the regularity with which they are taken. And it is
this regularity which is often so difficult to keep up. The Sanatorium
is at a distance. Something intervenes to prevent the intended visit,--
business--a call from home in another direction--bad weather, or any one
of fifty other things. And so a visit comes to be omitted, or may be
two, there is accordingly a hole in the hygienic ballad, a step or two
wanting in the ladder that would have led upwards to health.
It is some two or three years now since we first came to realise the
fact, that one might enjoy the luxury and reap the benefits of a Turkish
bath, without going a step beyond the confines of the bedroom and
dressing-room. We had received by the railway carrier a box.
A box! Whatever could it be, we wondered. It was not the season for
sending anything particular from the country. Christmas was a long way
ahead, and grouse shooting not begun. We undid the outer covering and
exposed it to view. It was shaped liked a spirit-case, but it could not
be that. "That box may contain," we mused, as we gazed on it, "untold
luxury in the shape of tea, or a new patent photographic apparatus, or a
magic lantern, or an English concertina, or--yes--or--or--or a land
torpedo sent by a Fenian, that will explode when we lift the lid, blow
the roof off the house, and send us sailing away skywards, accompanied
by the furniture and things."
We clapped a cautious ear to the lid and listened. There was no
suspicious ticking audible within, so we summoned up courage and--opened
the box, and lo! and behold, Allen's portable Turkish bath.
Since then we have visited public baths but seldom. We are content, for
the portable bath as we use it, serves every useful purpose.
As the Messrs. Allen have lent the blocks to embellish this chapter, it
will be nothing more than courteous to let them describe it in their own
way.
Referring to (Plate One) they say:--
"This illustrates our Apparatus as used under the chair, for giving a
hot-air bath only, or hot-air and vapour combined, also for either a
Medicated or Mercurial bath.
"At the back of the top rail of chair is fixed a socket, with a set
screw, a square rod slides up and down this socket, and a folding ring
fits into the top of the rod.
"By this arrangement the hoop for keeping the cloak extended, can be
raised or lowered to be either level with the shoulders leaving the head
exposed, or, if preferred, raised sufficient to cover the head.
"The person about to take the bath puts the apparatus ready for use
under the chair, and placing the cloak lightly over the hoop, sits down,
slips the two ends of the hoop together, draws the cloak round, tying it
down the front with the strings provided, and adjusting it round the
neck, may take the bath comfortably from fifteen to forty minutes,
according to inclination."
But it is possible that the bather may prefer to recline while enjoying
this calming and luxuriant bath. This is easily done, and if the reader
will glance at Plate Two, he will see the modus operandi. Nothing could
be more simple, nothing more effective.
We are not, however, the first to have discovered the merits of Messrs.
Allen's luxurious invention. It is in general use now all over the
country, and medical men are constantly in the habit of recommending the
bath to their patients. So also is the professional press, and among
these such well-known Journals as "The London Medical Record"; "The
Medical Times and Gazette"; "The Medical Examiner"; "The Medical Press
and Circular"; "The Lancet"; and "The British Medical Journal" are loud
in their praises of the apparatus.
It will be especially observed by the intelligent reader that Allen's
bath may be used entirely as a dry hot air bath, or as a mixed hot air
and vapour bath. Well, this in our opinion is a capital idea, because
one can use it as either. We, ourselves, perspire freely, and therefore
use only the hot air, but as Sir Erasmus says: "The great purpose to be
arrived at, so far as temperature is concerned, is to obtain one which
shall be agreeable to the sensations."
The following is what Messrs. Allen and Sons write me themselves
concerning their bath:--
"Our idea is, that the hot air and vapour bath combined is the truest
approach to the Eastern Turkish bath, in which, after the bather has
been in the heated room some little time, and begins to feel somewhat
oppressed, they (the attendants) come round, sprinkle the heated floor
with water; this produces a vapour, and it is almost immediately after
this that the body begins to perspire freely, the vapour also relieves
the breathing very much with some. There are those who will not
perspire in the hot-air bath at all, but do with the hot-air and vapour
bath, which, mingling with the hot-air, produces a moist heat, softens
the skin, and produces perspiration much more quickly."
There is one advantage which the portable bath possesses over the
regular sanatorium Turkish:--the head is not covered, it is not in the
heated atmosphere, and therefore purer air can be breathed, although
both face and scalp perspire as freely as any other part of the body.
The head, however, may be covered if this is thought more pleasant.
Dr L.E. Turner, it would seem believes in having the head exposed
during the bath.
"By the use of your bath," he says "the patients can breathe pure air
uncontaminated by the foetid humours pouring forth from the seven
millions of pores in your neighbour's skin as he sits by your side in
the ordinary Turkish or Russian bath. Besides there is no risk from
over expansion of the pulmonary tissues of the lungs; as when people are
compelled to breathe a heated atmosphere; nor risk from rupture of the
delicate blood vessels of the brain. There are many other advantages
which tend to make me, and not only myself but all other professional
men who have tried them, strong advocates for their use, in place of all
other kinds of Turkish, Russian, or herbal baths."
CHAPTER FIVE.
THE TURKISH BATH--CONTINUED. THE TRAVELLER'S BATH.
In chapter third we enumerated briefly a few of the ailments likely to
be either entirely removed, or, at all events, alleviated, by the use of
the Turkish Bath.
We think that Sir Erasmus Wilson mentions that terribly distressing
ailment eczema among those which yield to the emollient and cleansing
effects of the bath.
Kidney ailments, and even dropsy itself, have succumbed to its power.
"I have just," writes a medical man, "retired from the post of medical
officer of H.M. Convict Prison at Portland, and my late Assistant
Surgeon has kindly informed me how admirably it acts in kidney
affections, and I am anxious to have one as soon as possible."
The following are the words of Sir Erasmus Wilson himself:--
"The bath is a preventative of disease, by hardening the individual
against the effects of variations and vicissitudes of temperature, by
giving him power to resist miasmatic and zymotic affections, and by
strengthening his system against scrofula, consumption, gout,
rheumatism; diseases of the digestive organs, cutaneous system, muscular
system, including the heart; nervous system including the brain; and
reproductive system."
"The bath," he continues, "has the property of hardening and fortifying
the skin, so as to render it almost insusceptible to the influence of
the cold. A Doctor of Divinity told me, that during the winter time he
was scarcely ever free from cold, often so severe as to lay him up for
several weeks, and that he also suffered from attacks of neuralgia; but
that since he had adopted the use of the bath twice a week, all
disposition to colds and neuralgia had ceased; and for the first time in
sixteen years, he had passed the winter without a cold."
Dr Wood writes as follows:--
"Dr Wood had a severe trial case to use Messrs. Allen and Son's. It
was a case of heart disease and kidney affections where it was dangerous
to give the patient a bath, or anything that would excite the
circulation, and yet essential to have copious sweating. The patient
was delirious. He has got well."
A great sanitary authority, Dr Richardson, said the other evening at a
public meeting, that if it were possible to attain perfect cleanliness
of person and surroundings, disease would become an obsolete term.
These are not the exact words, but they convey the sense.
But independent of the use the bath may be put to, for the purpose of
curing or alleviating disease, for thoroughly cleansing the body and
sweetening the system, or simply as a luxury, there are at least two
other uses to which it can be put. It is a means of banishing fatigue,
and also of producing refreshing sleep. And this fact may be turned to
good account on many occasions. A person may have been out all day on
the hill, or hunting, or he may have been on the river or lake rowing,
or by its banks fishing. He returns tired and weary, and very probably,
wet.
A wash and change of clothes, followed by a stimulant, are the usual
remedies for such fatigues. How much better is it both for the comfort
and health if he can spare a short half-hour, and enjoy the advantageous
comforts of the Turkish Bath. Why, he feels double the individual
afterwards, and if he is not all throughout the evening after as bright
as a new florin, he must be a dullard at the very best, that is all.
Well, but a person may be a mere guest at some country Squire's, how
about his Turkish Bath then? This is a difficulty that is easily
overcome. We have the Tourist's or Traveller's bath, handy, convenient,
useful and cheap.
This little contrivance will be of great benefit in dispelling the
fatigue usually felt after a long journey in train or steamboat. While
out boating or touring in any way it will be found invaluable. Indeed
it is so small and compact that a tricyclist might easily take it in his
bag.
Plate Three represents the apparatus set up ready for use for a hot-air
or vapour bath, to be placed under a chair, the body to be well
enveloped in blankets. The apparatus may also be used for boiling water
for making tea and coffee, as well as for frying bacon, chop, steak, or
cooking omelets, etc.
The Turkish bath is a calmative to the nervous and the vascular systems,
and therefore of great utility in cases of sleeplessness. We advise
those who are troubled with this disagreeable complaint to give it a
fair trial.
For female complaints, of nearly all kinds, unless especially forbidden
by the family physician, this bath may be also used with marked benefit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
We earnestly hope that this little guide of ours will fall into the
hands of many sufferers, whose ailments are likely to be relieved, or
banished entirely, by the regular use of this prince of baths; we cannot
therefore do better, we believe, than finish this short chapter with
some useful advice to those who may intend to give it a fair trial.
But first, let us endeavour to dispel a phantom that stands at the
threshold of every Turkish bathing establishment, and tries to prevent
those who have never bathed before from entering. We allude to the
phantom fear. This bogle stood at the doorway when we ourselves went to
have our first Turkish bath. "Oh!" he cried, "don't come in, don't come
in, you'll catch your death of cold from the douche, don't come in,
don't come in, I beseech you, I'm sure you have heart disease."
"Bother!" was our curt reply.
"Well," cried the bogle, extending his ghostly arms over his head, "_do_
go and see a doctor first." But we pushed the bogle boldly aside. That
bogle looked very small indeed as we strode out again, about an hour
afterwards.
Now, dear reader, the phantom will treat you precisely as it treats
everyone else. Are you to fear it? That is a question which must be
answered in no bantering mood. We honestly believe that ninety-five
people at least out of every hundred, can enter an ordinary Turkish
bathing establishment and go through all the processes with perfect
safety.
Well, we will suppose that we are conversing in the consulting-room with
some one who means to try the Turkish bath. He will ask such questions
as:--
1. When should I begin to take the bath?
2. How long should I stay in the heat?
3. How often should I take it?
4. What is the best time of the day to have the bath?
5. Can you give me some general instructions to guide me in using it.
To question Number 1 we should reply: Begin to-morrow.
Question Number 2: Until you are in a glorious perspiration, and all
aches and pains, and all sense of weariness forgotten. From a quarter
of an hour to twenty minutes will be enough at first.
Question Number 3: How often should you take it? Once or twice a week,
or even three times, or whenever required to banish ennui, fatigue,
aches or pains, or incipient cold, or biliousness, or lassitude, etc,
etc.
To question 4, the reply is: The bath must not be taken on a full
stomach, about three hours after a meal is the best time. But those who
dine about six or seven in the evening should take the bath before
_dinner_. People who are engaged all day, may with advantage use it
either before retiring for the night, or after getting up in the
morning, following it by the usual cold sponge. If the cold bath is
forbidden, then the best time is going to bed.
Now comes your last question, (but let me here say parenthetically that
we may be consulted about everything connected with the bath, and baths
of all kinds, or about any ailment, chronic or otherwise, that bathing
in some forms is likely to cure or alleviate.)
What you want then, in order to enjoy the luxury of a bath in your own
room, is first, one of the portable baths; secondly a shallow bath like
the one here depicted; (Plate Four.) Thirdly a good big sponge;
fourthly, a small hand shower bath, cost I believe is 5 shillings from
Messrs. Allen and Sons, (Plate Five); fifthly, a flesh brush; sixthly a
piece of good soap (Pears' transparent tablet is by far and away the
best, and really least expensive in the long run,--it is _so_ well made,
and lasts so long); and seventhly, a few good rough towels.
All being ready, you light your lamp and fix up the apparatus according
to instructions given with every portable bath. The shallow bath is to
be half filled with nice hot water, all ready. After you have perspired
enough, turn out and turn into the shallow bath. Here you are to lather
and sponge, and use the flesh brush well.
Next use the hand shower, or the sponge if you prefer it, filled with
cold water, do not be afraid of this, it is life and luxury combined.
Then to dry, and dress leisurely, to loll on the sofa for a while, and
quietly sip your tea or coffee, while the fresh breeze from an open
window is playing around you. This is indeed enjoyment.
People who use the bath for the purpose of gaining health and strength,
should live temperately, both as regards eating and drinking, take
abundant suitable exercise in the open air, and make use of some tonic,
with now and then a gentle aperient.
Both the tonic and aperient must be carefully chosen to suit individual
idiosyncrasies and cases, but we have seen very much good indeed accrue
from this conjunction of tonics, with mild and suitable aperients while
taking a course of Turkish baths.
CHAPTER SIX.
ON THE USES OF THE VARIOUS MEDICATED BATHS.
It will be as well for the generality of our readers, if we confine
ourselves in this chapter to a brief consideration of those medicated
baths only, which have been proved to be efficacious in the amelioration
and cure of illnesses, whether chronic or acute. We must preface our
remarks, however, by stating that no course of baths is likely to be of
the slightest avail to a sufferer, unless he first and foremost makes up
his mind to adhere to certain rules of living, and endeavours to conform
to the laws of health.
Exercise must be taken in the open air, he must also be most careful to
study his diet and his clothing, and to secure sound sleep by every
natural means in his power, narcotics however being avoided as poisons
(see pages 21, 22, and 23).
Tonics, taken with judgment, assist a patient to recover strength, but
they must be administered or prescribed by a medical man, who is
acquainted with the symptoms and nature of the case.
It is really surprising the amount of good that can be done by a
well-regulated course of Turkish or other baths, combined with some
carefully adapted plan of constitutional treatment and regulation in
living. If this were only more generally known, thousands would soon be
enjoying all the blessings of health, who are now languishing on beds of
sickness, or confined to warm and stifling rooms, instead of breathing
the free fresh air of heaven.
It would seem that Professor Lionel Beale is somewhat of the same
opinion as ourselves, and he even goes somewhat further, for he
deprecates foreign travel, or at least considers wandering abroad in
search of health, is, in many cases, a needless expense.
"If," writes this learned authority, "patients could be induced to
retire to a pleasant part of the country where they would take moderate
exercise, and be free from mental anxiety, meet with agreeable society,
live regularly, take small doses of alkalies, and bathe themselves for
an hour or two a day in warm water, in which some carbonate of soda has
been dissolved, they would receive as much benefit as by travelling
hundreds of miles away; and at much less trouble and expense."
There is a great deal in these words _free from mental anxiety_. It is
to obtain this very needful aid to the cure of chronic complaints,
especially those brought about by over-work or fast living, that we
ourselves are in the habit of recommending to our patients a short sea
voyage, such as that to America or Madeira and back. But very great
benefit results in numerous cases from a short residence at some of the
innumerable hydropathic establishments, which, like small terrestrial
paradises, are scattered here and there in our beautiful island home.
Those actually sick may go there, as well as the languishing invalid or
_the over-worked_ man of business, or worn-out pleasure hunter. To
those resorting to these sanatoria, we can confidently recommend a handy
and useful invention, recently brought out by Messrs. Allen and Son
(Plate Six). It is a portable electric bell, the cords can be passed
under or over the doors, from one room to another, and by this means the
nurse or attendant can be called immediately and _quietly_ at any hour
of the day or night.
We do not mean here to say much about the mercurial bath, because it
must only be used under medical advice, but while reminding the reader
that there is provision made for this kind of bath in the portable
Turkish bath (page 44) there is (see Plate Seven) a nice handy little
apparatus which can be used for this purpose used for this purpose or
any other kind of fumigatory bath which the physician considers it right
to recommend.
Some of the most efficacious medicated bath in common use are:--
1. THE BORAX BATH.--This is soothing and calmative in many irritable
forms of skin disease. It is made in the proportion of four ounces of
borax and three of glycerine, to thirty gallons of hot water.
2. THE AMMONIA BATH, used as a skin stimulant and derivative. The
following is Mr Grantham's formula:--Two ounces of strong hartshorn in
two gallons of water, used in a hip bath. An excellent hip bath, very
useful for people to whom stooping is objectionable is that made by the
Messrs. Allen (Plate Eight). One glance at the figure will show its
many advantages, and we strongly recommend it.
People who suffer from cutaneous eruptions ought to take skilled advice
before using a course of baths, but the following sentences excerpted
from E. Wilson's "Diseases of the Skin" may be read with profit by all.
"Aqueous remedies," says the dermatologist, "present themselves in the
form of simple water in its various states of cold, tepid, warm, hot and
steam; water impregnated with saline matter as in the sea-bath, and
saline solutions; in lotions, fomentations and poultices. Water may be
sedative, emollient, or stimulant, according to the manner in which it
is employed. As a tepid bath or fomentation it is sedative, and its
sedative action is increased by the addition of various substances, such
as oatmeal, starch, gelatine, and soda in small quantities. It is
emollient when used as a water dressing or in the condition of steam,
and it is stimulant when cold or hot. When hot it is the best means
known of relieving pruritus (itching), and in its cold state it
refreshes and gives vigour to the skin; hence, the morning bath, the
sea-bath, and daily ablutions with soap. On this principle it is that
we advise daily cold ablutions with soap of the face in cases of acne
(pimples), and to other parts of the body, particularly the _axilla_ and
_perinaeum_ in chronic eczema or chronic pruritus. Aqueous lotions of
_liquor plumbi_ (sugar of lead) are refrigerant and sedative, while
lotions of carbolic acid, sulphurate of _potash, acetate_ of _ammonia_,
and _bicarbonate_ of _ammonia_ are anti-pruritic. Warm fomentations are
sedative and anodyne, and their properties are increased by the addition
of poppy heads. Poultices are emollient and sedative, but their
protracted use, as of all aqueous applications, macerates and weakens
the skin, and tends _to perpetuate_ the disease or cause boils. As a
rule, all aqueous applications except simple bathing, must be employed
with great caution in skin diseases. Saponaceous ablutions generally
aggravate eczematous affections; but certain forms and stages of that
disease are benefitted by their use."
As a means of using the hip bath, whether medicated or otherwise, and
for female complaints and irregularities, there is nothing to equal the
bidet herewith figured (Plate Nine).
3. FOMENTATIONS are simply local baths and are used to relieve pain and
reduce inflammation, as in the poppy head or laudanum fomentation to
painful swellings, or the turpentine fomentation to redden the chest in
severe colds. The water must be very hot, and two pieces of flannel
must be used, wrung from the water, time about. These may be sprinkled
with laudanum or turpentine as the case may demand.
4. THE MUSTARD FOOT-BATH is useful in cases of incipient colds,
headaches, or languor and listlessness with restless nights. A
bucketful of hot water with a handful of mustard in it is all that is
wanted; in this the legs are to be bathed for twenty minutes before
going to bed.
5. THE OAK BATH is made by adding a pound of bruised oak bark to a
quart of cold water and boiling for half an hour; the half of this maybe
put in the morning tub as a tonic bath.
6. THE PINE BALSAM BATH is good in cases of rheumatism and great
nervousness. The balsam is a distillation front the leaves of pines,
and is simply added to the bath.
7. THE ALKALINE BATH may be used twice or three times a week by gouty
or rheumatic subjects. Two ounces of the bicarbonate of soda are added
to three gallons of warm water, and the bath is ready.
8. THE PEAT WATER Bath is a German invention, and seems to be of great
value to sufferers from gout and rheumatism, swelling of the joints,
congestion of the liver, etc. Why the peat of this country should not
be as efficacious as that from German bogs we fail to understand.
9. THE ELECTRIC BATH is a good deal used at seaside places, and often
with advantage, especially in cases where the tone of the system has
been much lowered.
10. THE VINEGAR SPONGE BATH consists of one part of vinegar to three of
cold water, the body or hands and arms, feet and legs, are then sponged
with it.
11. THE IRON BATH is sometimes used as a tonic, and is of considerable
efficacy, especially to delicate females and children. It is composed
of half an ounce of sulphate of iron, in four gallons of cold or tepid
water.
12. SULPHUR BATHS, CREASOTE BATHS, and NITRO-HYDROCHLORIC BATHS are all
good in their way, but must only be used under medical advice.
CHAPTER SEVEN.
THE ORDINARY HOME BATHS--SEASIDE BATHING.
The morning tub is a bath that people in ordinary health should take
every morning. It is not only invigorating but it so tones the skin and
nerves as to render catching cold all but impossible. A far better
tonic for those who can bear it, is the shower bath.
A cheaper sort of Shower Bath is that represented underneath. (Plate
NINE.)
From a recent Magazine Article of ours, we cull the following hints
which may be found of use. In speaking of House Baths we say:--
1.--Then you must consult your own feelings as to whether or not you
ought to continue the bath through the livelong winter. We should say,
"Try to do so."
2.--Let the first spongeful of cold water be applied to the head and
shoulders and adown the spine.
3.--If you feel too much exhausted in the morning for a cold bath, from
having been up late, raise the temperature of the cold bath several
degrees.
4.--Be guided by your own feelings as to the temperature of hot and cold
water. From 32 to 60 degrees would be right for the cold bath, and
about 90 degrees for the water in the basin.
5--A cold bath may be taken with advantage when the body is heated, from
whatever cause, so long as there is no exhaustion or fatigue; but never
go into the water if there be the slightest feeling of chilliness, nor
after a full meal.
Plate Twelve represents a useful kind of bed bath which has been a
source of comfort to many an invalid. (All these baths are manufactured
by Messrs. Allen and Son.)
In bathing at home, after lathering the whole body with warm water and
soap, a cold sponge bath containing a handful or two of either Tidman's
or Brill's Sea Salt will be found very invigorating.
We have before us a splendidly got up work entitled "Luxurious Bathing,"
published by Messrs. Field and Tuer, Leadenhall Street, E.C. The book
is beyond praise, its well-executed etchings entitle it to a place on
the drawing-room table, and its advice to those who value health, is
simply invaluable.
Those who suffer from weakness, or who dread the winter's cold, would do
well to combine a course of bathing, with one of tonics and cod liver
oil. De Jongh's light brown is the only oil we ever use.
Those who wish to regain health in a month, "by the sad sea waves,"
cannot err by taking the following rules as a guide. They are from a
Magazine article of ours:--
_Simple Rules for Seaside Enjoyment_.
1.--Before leaving home, study your trains, pack trunks the day before,
don't forget anything, and avoid hurry and excitement.
2.--Look for rooms quietly, in a clean, quiet street or suburb, and see
that the rooms are clean and airy.
3.--Rise early every morning, soap down and tub from head to heel, eat a
biscuit, and go for a walk.
4.--Regular hours, regular exercise, regular meals, and regular medicine
(if you need it).
6.--Enjoy yourself all you can, but 'ware excitement and fatigue.
6.--Strong men may bathe before breakfast, but the best average time is
about three hours after breakfast.
7.--Walk at a moderate pace to the bathing ground, so as to be neither
too hot nor too cold, and undress as speedily as possible.
8.--It is better to plunge at once into deep water; don't unless you can
swim, however, but after bending down and laving the face and both arms,
drop right underneath the first wavelet.
9.--If you can swim, swim and nothing else; if you cannot, you can at
least tumble about and keep moving, and also rub your limbs with the
hands.
10.--Come out before you have actually ceased to enjoy yourself.
11.--It is better to have your own towel, one at least, and let it be
moderately rough.
12.--Rub your face, shoulders, limbs, and body, using moderate friction,
and finish drying with a smoother towel.
13.--When quite dry, dress, and it ought not to be at all necessary to
dress quickly.
11.--If faintness or sickness comes on, which must be looked upon as
quite an accident, lie down for a few minutes.
15.--After dressing, a brisk walk should be taken; and now a lunch
biscuit will do you service.
16.--Remember that the glow after the bath is the grand event to be
looked for.
17.--If instead of this glow a decided chill takes place, and is not
removed by a brisk walk, a small drop of brandy taken along with a
biscuit becomes a necessity, or for ladies a glass of some cordial.
18.--If you are an invalid, try to forget it; if a Hercules or a Webb,
forget that.
19.--Don't forget flannel under-clothing if at all delicate.
There are various other kinds of baths which we have not mentioned, but
trust we have said enough to prove that the baths in some form--and more
especially the Turkish--should be taken constantly by all who value good
health and hope for longevity.
End of Project Gutenberg's Turkish and Other Baths, by Gordon Stables
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