CHAPTER I.. The Bath, an Animal Instinct; Coeval With the Earliest Existence

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