Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/404

 384 BATH painting, stucco work, and statuary. In these immense establishments, the apartments were not only more numerous, but some of them on a very much larger scale. Thus the na- tatorium, or swimming bath, in the baths of Diocletian, was 200 ft. long by 100 ft. broad, and it is calculated that in the whole establishment more than 18,000 persons could bathe at the same time. In the tunes of the republic the cold bath alpne was ordinarily employed, but later the hot air and warm bath were likewise generally used. The order in which they were taken varied according to the directions of the physicians or the inclination of the bather. Previous to bathing, gentle exercise was generally taken ; then it was rec- ommended that the bather should remain in the tepidarium, or warm chamber, for a time previous to undressing; after undressing he proceeded commonly to the caldarimn, and after sweating some time in its heated atmos- phere, he either gradually immersed himself in the hot water bath, or had hot water simply poured over the head and shoulders ; then cold water was poured over the head, or the bather plunged into the cold piscina. He was now scraped with strigiles (small curved instru- ments, made generally of bronze), dried and rubbed with linen cloths, and finally anointed. When one bath alone was desired, it was taken just before the principal meal; but the Ro- mans bathed after as well as previous to their c&na,, and Commodus is said to have indulged in seven or eight baths a day. The Turks and Arabs have, since the decline of Roman civ- ilization, more particularly cherished the cus- tom of bathing than any other nations. The laws of Mohammed ordain five prayers daily, and an ablution of the face, hands, and feet before each of them. There are many other Turkish Bath. occasions for bathing, and the public hath is as sure to be found in every village as the mosque. With these eastern nations, as well as in Egypt, public bathing is a very complicated art. The bather, having left his dress in the reception room, proceeds through a long grad- ually warmed passage into the spacious bath- ing room, in which the steam of boiling wa- ter and the perfumes of burning essences are combined. He there reclines upon a kind of hammock, and when he has perspired suffi- ciently, the process of shampooing and bending the joints is performed upon him. He then passes into an adjoining apartment, where his head is profusely covered with the foam of soap, and his body with a kind of poma- tum. In two other rooms he is washed with both warm and cold water, and he returns to the open air as he entered, through a long passage the temperature of which is gradu- ated. In India, also, there are public baths, which are associated with the practice of shampooing. The bather is extended upon a plank, and a vigorous attendant pours hot water over him, presses and bends the various parts of the body, cracks all the joints, and continues this operation of pouring, pulling, and pressing for about half an hour. He then rubs him briskly with a hair brush, with soap and perfumes, after which the subject is obliged by his fatigue to sleep a few hours, but wakes extremely refreshed. The women in India take a lively pleasure in being shampooed by their slaves, and Europeans who enter upon the process with a sort of fear describe the sensation which results as delightful and pe- culiar. The northern nations have also their peculiar usages in respect to bathing. The Russian lord has his bathing room in his own house, and the people in the villages frequent the public bath at a small expense. The en- tire operation consists, first, of a perspiration, then of friction, and of successive ablutions in hot and cold water. The poorer people, how- ever, adopt a simpler method. They remain in the bathing room only till they begin to perspire freely, and then rush out and throw themselves, perhaps through a crust of ice, into the nearest stream or pond, thus exposing themselves suddenly to the extremes of tem- perature, and tempering themselves as steel is tempered. Among the Russians of Siberia, the bath is especially in use as a means of driv- ing off the effects of a violent cold and prevent- ing fever. The Subject is taken into the bath room and placed upon a shelf within an inch or two of a steaming furnace. After he is well parboiled in this position, he is drubbed and flogged for about half an hour with a bundle of birch twigs, leaf and all. A pailful of cold water is then dashed over him from head to foot, the effect of which is described as electri- fying. He is next put in an exhausted condi- tion to bed, and physic is administered. It is rare that a fever does not beat a retreat after a few repetitions of the bath and the physic.