Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/273

 Bat

arrived at puberty, either to marry, or turn monks, and pro- fefschaftity in earned. Johif. Ecclef Law, An. 748. §. 113.

BATENITES, a feet of apoftates from Maliometanifm difperfed through the Eaft, who profeffcd the fame abominable praflices with the Ifmaelians and Karmatians. Sale, Prel. Difc. to Koran, §. 8. p. 186.

1 he word properly fignifies efoteric, or people of inward or hidden light.

BA'I EN-KETOS, or Bata-Kaitos, in aftronomy, a fixed ftar of the third magnitude in the whale's belly ; whence it is alfo denominated venter ceti. Wof. Lex. Math. p. 252. Vital. Lex. Math. p. 84.

BATH Ifiyel.)— Some authors fpeak of bloody baths,, balnea fan- guhiolenta, prepared efpecially of the blood of infants, antienth fuppofed to be a kind of fpecific for the leprofy. Bacon, Opj. T. 2. p. 172.

Metaline Baths, thofe made of water, impregnated with the fcoriie of metals. The moll common and ufel'ul of this kind arc thofe prepared with the fcoria of iron, which abounds with earthy, faline, and fulphureous fubftance of the metal ; an,' thefe are of excellent fervice for ftrengthening and bracing up the parts, and recovering weak and decayed limbs ; floppinj.- various kinds of bleeding ; and reftoring the menftrual and hemorrhoidal flux, where obftructed ; infomuch that they may well be fubftituted for the natural iron baths. Adjacent to the fmelting huts where metals are run from their ore, are to be found large quantities of the flag of copper, an- timony, and cobalt, which abounding with fulphur, vitrialic fait, and an earthy principle, make ferviceable baths for ftrengthening the loft tone of the fibres, and relaxing them when they are too ftift". Thefe baths have likewife a deterfive and cleanfing virtue ; fo that, with prudence, and due regard to circumftances, they may be ufed on many occafions. The way of making thefe artificial baths is, either to take the (lags as they come hot from the furnace, or elfe to heat them afrefh, and throw them into hot water ; which is afterwards to be ufed either in the way of bath, or fomentation, occalionally. There are other artificial baths, prepared of allum and quick- lime, by boiling them together in fine rain-water. Such baths are highly ferviceable in paralytic diforders, and weaknefs of the limbs. Hoffm. Exper. on Min. Wat. p. 203.

Bath, in chemiftry, See Balneum, Cyd. and Suppl.

Tournefort mentions a bath at Smyrna fo hot, that it will boil an egg foft in ten minutes, and hard in twenty minutes. Tournef. Voyag. Let. 21. p. 189. b.

There is a near affinity between hot baths and acidulie, both as to their principles and effects. In reality, they appear only to differ in point of heat : where the pyrites are diffolved more forcibly and haftily, a heat is produced, which makes our thermae ; where the fame pyrites are diffolved more fuccef- fively and flowly, no heat arifes, and we have aciduta. Hoffman has' a differtation exprefs de convenientia acidularum fcf thermarum quoad prineipia £3* ufum. Teichm. Eleln. Phil, Nat. P. 2. c 8. p. 237.

The pepper bath, or pfeffer-wajfer on the Alps, is one of the moft celebrated in Europe, and has been the fubject of trea- tifes exprefs, befides what has been faid of it occafionallv bv

CI 1 __J _.!_ T. r- n, ■ „. . . ' J

Scheuchzer, and others It was firft difcovered in the

year

1240, and is of the periodical kind. The water breaks forth in a dreadful place, fcarce acceflible to the fun-beams, or in- deed to men, unlefs of the greateft boldnefs, and fuch as are not in the leaft fubject to dizzinefs. Thefe baths have this Angularity above all others, that they commonly break forth in May, and that with a fort of impetuoufnefs, bringino- with them beech-leaves, crabs, or other wood-fruit, and that" their courfe defifts in September or October. Scheuchzer profeffes himfelf of opinion, that thefe waters are not impregnated with any minerals, or, if they do contain any, that their virtues in curing diftempers, and prefervblS health, do not proceed from them. They are exceeding clear' deftitute of colour, tafte, or fmell. Phil. Tranf. N° 316. p. 151, feq.

According to Dion, Maecenas was the firft who made a bath at Rome : yet there are inftances of public baths prior to this ; but they were of cold water, fmall, and poorly decorated. Agrippa, in his aedilate, built one hundred and fixty places for bathing, where the citizens might be accommodated, either with hot or cold, gratis '. After his example, Nero, Vefpa- fian, Titus, Domitian, Severus, Gordian, Aurelian Maxi- mian, Dioclefian, and moft of the emperors who ftudied to gain the affections of the people, erected baths laid with the richeft marble, and wrought according to the rules of the moft delicate architecture b. — [ » Pliii. Hift. Nat. 1. 35. c. 1 3. b Vid. L'Abbc Couture in Mem. Acad. R. Infc. T. 2. p. 417.] The rich had baths at home, and frequently very magnificent ones, efpecially after the time that the practice of pillaging the provinces had begun ; but they only ufed them on extraordi- nary occafions. The great men, and even emperors them felves, fometimes bathed in public with the reft of the people Alexander Severus was the firft who allowed the public baths to be open in the night-time during the heats of fummer. Id. ibid. p. 419.

The Greek baths were ufually annexed to Pale/Ire or Gymua- Jia, of which they were confidered as a part.'. Thefe baths Suppl, Vol.. 1.

BAT

confided of feven different apartments, ufually feparated from each other, and intermixed with other buildings belonging to the other forts of exercifes. Thefe were firft the cold bath, frigida luvatio, in Greek ;,sr;» ; fecondly, the clxothrfwm, or room where they were anointed with oil ; thirdly; the frigi- dar'mm, or cooling room ; fourthly, the propm'geittii, or en- trance of the hypocauftum, or ftove ; fifthly, the vaulted room for fweating in, or vapour bath, called concamerata fvdatio, or tepidarhm; fixthly, the laconicum, or dry ftove; feventhlv the hot baths, called callidd lavatio * — [ < Vid. Vojf. de Qua't' Art.Popuh c. 3. §. t 3. p., 4. d Burette, in Hift. Acid.' Infcnp. T. 1. p. 120. See alfo Potter, Archa:ol. Qrac. 1., c. 19. p. 372.]

For the baths feparate from the paleftrae, they appear to have been ufually double, one for men, the other for women ; but fo near, that the fame furnace heated both. The middle' part was pofftfled by a large bafon, which received water by feye- ral pipes, and into which they went down by fteps, beina furrounded by a baluftrade, behind which was a kind of cor- rydor, called fchola, which formed a pretty large area, to hold thofe who were waiting, till there fhould be room for them in the bath. They were vaulted over, and only received lioht from the top. to

In the Roman baths, the firft part that appeared Was a large bafon, called u^pgtgga or f?«rVjp» in Greek, and by the La- tins natatio and pifcina. The middle was poffeffed by the hy- pocaujlum, which had a firing of four apartments on each fide, correfpondent, called bainearia, fo contrived, that one might eafily go out of one into the other. Thefe were the ftove, The bath, cold bath, and tepidarium. Burette, lib. cit. p. 12;, feq. The two ftoves, called laconicum and tepidarium, were joined together, and built circular. Their floor was hollow, and fufpended, to receive the heat of the hypocauftum, which was a large furnace underneath, fupplied With wood, the heat of which was communicated to the ftoves, by means of the va- cuity left under their floors. The fame furnace alfo heated another room called vafarium, fituate near the ftoves, where- in were placed three large brazen veffels called milli.iria, by reafon of their capacity ; one for hot water, another for w'arrri water, and the third for cold; being fo contrived, that the water might pafs out of one veffel into another, by means of feveral Typhous, and be diftributed, by pipes and cocks, into the neighbouring bath, according to the occafions of the bathers.

The defcription is given by Vitruvius, arid after him by Mrj Burette, in the Hift. Acad. Infer. Tom. 1. At three in the afternoon, which is what Pliny calls horet oclava & nana, the Romans all repaired to the baths, either the public or the private ones : this was called the bath hour horn balnci, which in winter was at nine, in fummer at eight. The public baths were all opened by the found of a bell, and always at the fame hour. Plin. Epift. i. 1. 3. Thofe who came too late, ftood a chance for bathing in cold water.

They began with hot water, after which, as the pores were now opened, and might give room for too plentiful a perfpi- ration, they thought it neceffary, for their health, to clofe them again, either with the cold bath, or at leaft With a fprlnk- ling of cold water. During the bath, the body was fcraped with a kind of knives, or fmall ftrigils, fuch as are ftill found in the cabinets of the curious. After bathing, fucceeded unc- tion and perfuming, from which they went frefh to fuppcr. Vid. L' Abbe Couture, in Mem. Acad. Infer. T. 2. 414, feq. The Romans, when they found their ftomachs overcharged with meat, went to the bath, as we learn from Juvenal, who inveighs againft thofe, who having gorged themfelves with eating, were forced to go into the baths, to give themfelves re- lief. They found alfo that a bath was good to refrefh them- felves after fome confiderable fatigue or travel, as Celfus the phyfician tells us ; which makes Plautus fay, that all the baths in this world were not fufficient to remove the wearinefs he felt.

After Pompey's time, the humour of bathing was carried td great excefs, by which many were ruined, feveral having brought themfelves to fuch a pitch, that they could not bear food without bathing firft. The emperor Titus is faid to have loft his life hereby '. Hence Pliny inveighs feverely againft thofe phyficians, who held, that hot baths digefted the food f. The emperor Hadrian firft laid a reftraint on the immoderate humor of bathing, by a public edict, prohibitingall perfons to bathe before the eighth hour «.— [ • Plut. de Tuend Valet. f Hift. Nat. 1. 29. c. I. 2 Spartion. in Vit. Hadrian.] The Baths of Agrippa, thermee Agripphue, were built of brick, but painted in enamel : thofe oi Nero, thermee Ncremancc, were not only furnifhed with frefh water, but even had the fea brought into them : thofe of Caracalla were adorned with two hundred marble columns, and furnifhed with fixteen hun- dred feats of the fame matter. Lipfius allures us they were fo large, that eighteen hundred perfons might conveniently bathe in them at the fame time. But the baths of Dioclefian, thtr- mx Dioclefianx, fiirpaffed all the reft in magnificence. One hundred and forty thoufand men were employed many years in building them h. Great part of thefe, as well as thefe of Caracalla, are ftill (landing; and, with the vaft high arches, 4 K the