ON BATHS,
WATER, SWIMMING, SHAMPOOING, HEAT,
   HOT, COLD, AND VAPQUR BATHS. 
BATHING.
" This is the purest exercise of Health!
Thus life redoi bles ; and is oft preserved
By the bold swimmer, in the swift illapse
Of accident disastrous.—Hence the limbs
Knit into force ! and the same Roman arm
That rose victorious o'er the conquered earth,
First learn d, while lender, to subdue the wave I
E'en fsom the body's purity, the mind
Derives a secret, sympathetic, aid ! !" 
fA?
REMARKS
ON
                   BATHS,
WATER, SWIMMING, SHAMPOOING,
                 ©eat, 5>ot,  Coin,
AND
VAPOR  BATHS.
              By M. L. ESTE, Esq.
tate Lecturer on Animated Nature,and the Philosophy of the Animal (Economy at the
   Royal Institution of Great Britain ;-Member of the Royal College of Surgeons,
    London; and of several other learned Societies at home and abroad.
" APISTON MEN YAHP."
Ignis, Naturis omnibus, salutarem irapertit calorem!
                              Cic. de N. D. 227.
                 LOJVfiOJV:

PRINTED FOR GALE, CURTIS, AND FENNER,

             PATERNOSTER-ROW.


                   1812. 
 4
*
W, Flint, Printer, Old Bailey, London. 
                   TO



            HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS




      EDWARD, DUKE OF KENT,



                  AND TO



            HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS




AUGUSTUS FREDERICK, DUKE OF SUSSEX,




                    THE




    ILLUSTRIOUS AND BENEVOLENT PATRONS




              OF THE INTENDED




  SEA-BATHING  INFIRMARY;




             THIS PUBLICATION,



       WITH THE AUTHOR'S MOST DUTIFUL RESPECTS*



                    IS,



               (by permission)



                 DEDICATED.






1, Homer Place, New Road,



     June 19,1812. 
 
        INTRODUCTION.



A.S several of  the author's  ideas have
found their way into the world accident-
ally, and in an  unconnected state, he is in-
duced to lay the following Essays before the
public, that he may not have to answer for
any other errors than his own.   It was his
original intention to have arranged method-
ically, and to have reduced within the com-
pass of one small volume, the various  phe-
nomema of contagious diseases,  together
with the advantages society  may hope to
derive  from the observations  and expe-
rience of many distinguished  professional
persons of our own country and of other en-
lightened parts of Europe;  in the means 
Vlll
they suggest for arresting  the progress of
those evils, either by stopping them in their
commencement, when preying upon par-
ticular organs,  or by rescuing the system
from general contamination.

  To these he further intended  to have
added a TREATISE ON BATHS, con-
 idered both as luxuries  and as remedies;
and remedies too, of very singular efficacy
in the prevention and cure of such diseases.

   But he has  hitherto been  unavoidably
prevented from accomplishing this purpose
 to the extent of his wishes.

   As howaver delay,  till  an original plan
 be brought to perfection, is almost endless,
 and  often  renders  that  labor  abortive,
 which might prove  useful, in an  unfinish-
 ed  state,  by  stimulating the  exertions
 of  abler men,  he  ventures to  submit 
ix
to the candor of the  public the following
imperfect remarks—fully  conscious that
although in  the warmth  of imagination  it
may be easy to conceive a great deal, yet
in the busy intercourse of  life it will com-
monly  be found difficult  to execute even
a little;  while
  " He who delays his task from day to day,
  " Does on a river's bank expectant stay,
  " Till the dull stream that stops him shall be gone,
  " Which runs, and as it runs, for ever will run on!"
  « ----Eheu! fugaces, Posthume, Posthume,
  Labuntur anni: nee pietas moram
  Rugis et instanti Senectae
  Adferet, indomitaeque Morti."
b 
 
PREFACE.
           TO THE READER.

 yV^HEN I venture to reason upon contagious
diseases, and to represent the virtues of baths,
and  the efficacy  of warmth and moisture, I
respectfully submit the result of my  limited
observations to the  consideration of  those,
whose liberality  I have many times experien-
ced ; whose joint labours are invariably directed
to one great common end, the health and wel-
fare of society; whose abilities and benevolent
zeal render them  the  distinguished ornaments
of their country and profession; that they
may try and  decide  upon  the  propriety of
adopting these expedients, more fully and satis-
factorily than I can do myself: for it is in the
sanction of their name and  authority, that  this 
                     Ml
 O! any  other  practice worthy of notice, must
 ultimately find its most powerful recommenda-
 tion.  In these attempts I do not seek to detract
 from the merit of any  author,  particularly of
 my cotemporaries ; nor is it my wish to refuse
 an  ample measure of justice  to the aids I re-
 ceive.   I have through life been willing to give
 every thing to others, and to reserve  nothing
 for myself, but the consciousness of not having
 spared pains to discover, to  possess myself of,
 and  to apply  the  abilities of the  profession
 for its  service.   I never seek,  from  motives
 of narrow  policy, to  suppress  any  autho-
 rity, nor to  thwart  any one  in his  career;
 but  am  always ready,  to the height  of  my
 means, (and they fall very short of my desires,)
 to forward those abilities which overpower my
 own.  He who has no other materials  to work
 with, than what are within himself, must indeed
be,badly provided for, in any undertaking. Poor
in my own faculties, I seek  and consider myself
rich  in the talents of others ;  but every man is
in  duty  bound  to  contribute  his portion,
however small, to the mass of general  know- 
                     xin
ledge ; and whoever in the profession, locks up
his talent, inconsiderable as it may be, deserves
censure, as an unworthy member of the society
in which he lives.

   Upon this principle, and with these persua-
sions,  if by application  and perseverance my
humble  efforts and observations  should ever
seem of sufficient importance to deserve atten-
tion, I will endeavour to perform  an incumbent
duty,  with zeal at  least, while I am honoured
with indulgence, by communicating  them to
the public.

   In  my present  endeavours  I  respectfully
trust, that  the peculiarity of my  professional
education, abroad and at home, and the oppor-
tunities I have had, not only of frequenting the
baths of our own country, but also those of the
continent of Europe, in  the Mediterranean and
the Levant,  and likewise of observing the phe-
nomena and treatment of contagious  diseases,
may be fairly  considered, and may screen me
from   those imputations  of presumption,  to 
                     xiv
which every One is liable in his early attempts.
I reluctantly advert to such advantages, from a
Consciousness that my abilities and attainments
cannot correspond, either with my own wishes,
or  with  the   expectations  that  must natu-
rally arise, from a  comparison between  them
and the means that have been afforded me, to
which  they are  not at  all  proportioned;  and
again, from  the high respect  I bear the talents
of my  cotemporaries,  and  from a  conviction
that there  are but few of them in this enlight-
ened age, who would not have surpassed me in
the success of  their labours, had their talents
been employed in the situations in which it has
been my fortune, or rather misfortune, to have
been placed.  In submitting these few practical
remarks to  the  tribunal of the profession, and
the public,  and in stating them  without the
cant and parade of science, which I abhor, and
would  ever studiously avoid,  I trust I may not
appear wholly  undeserving of that good  opi-
nion with which I  have hitherto  been honored,
and which I hope  I  shall always continue to
deserve. 
                   XV
  As no  phenomenon, principle,  nor rule of
practice is here laid down,  but what I have ei-
ther observed myself in military hospitals, or in
the hospitals I have attended in this or some other
metropolis;  and as nothing  is recommended
that has not been  tried by myself, at least,  if
not by practitioners in rank  and  experience
much above  myself,  I entertain  a hope that
these few observations may prove of some prac-
tical utility to  the  public, in adding to their
comforts, or  in alleviating  those  miseries  to
which many are,  and, from the present consti-
tution  of society,  must  continue frequently
exposed.

   Nothing  now remains for  me but to  apolo-
gize to the  reader for having trespassed upon
his time  by soliciting so much of his attention
to these points.   I shall be pardoned, I hope,
when it is recollected, that my  wish is hot to
lose sight of subjects  which persons, more able
than myself, may perhaps turn to good account.
                                 M. L. Este,
  1, Homer Place, New Road, 1812. 
 
*
ON  BATHS.
" Non minus nobis jocundi atque illustres sunt ii dies, quibus Conserva-
             naur ! ! quam ill £ quibus nascimur."
 Vv E may fairly mention, as a subject of regret, that
hot and vapor  baths,  and certain other expedients
commonly resorted to with the happiest effects, as
indulgences, and preservatives of health, in the Medi-
terranean, in parts of Italy, in the Levant, and in other
countries, should be forgotten in our own: and that
we should neglect them, notwithstanding the manifest
advantages which result from  their habitual use, if it
were  only witb> respect to cleanliness and comfort.

   I conceived at an early age, and have since, by every
day's  experience, been wedded to the idea, that nothing
can be more conducive to the health,  strength, and well
                         a 
                         2




being of man than the judicious use of baths: for they



seem to impart health and to cherish it; while in many



diseases essenti;;!  benefit may be  derived from  them



alone ;— they frequently afford powerful assistance to



thje operation of other medicines, and are attended with



such  uniform success,in particular disorders,from con-



tagion, that  they seldom if ever should be omitted in



their treatment.







  The process  of Shampooing, another  luxury of the



Levant, and all its happy effects, I am  persuaded need



only be a little known to be generally  adopted.   I am



not singular  in my opinions upon thi? subject:  the In-



dians hold it in the highest estimation as a remedy ; and



the practice of rubbing according to the excellent plan



of Mr. Grosvenor, has already been found beneficial in



speedily relieving many afflictions,  which, beyond the



reach of medicine, could  not have been alleviated by



any other known expedient.   His practice  therefore



may be considered  as a step to  the  introduction  of



Shampooing.   Those who have been in India, who



have tried and who really know the value of these ex- 
                         3




pedients, I am confident will gladiy  assist  me with



their good  report in my endeavours to  recommend



them.  (Vide Shampooing.)








  The Honourable  Basil Cochrane, during a long re-



sidence in  our eastern territories,  added  to his own



experience many valuable observations on the  effects



of hot and vapor bathing upon others; and has lately



communicated his information to the public in  an ele-



gantly written pamphlet.






  He tried his steam baths generally at the  tempera-



ture of 120°, in several cases of chronic rheumatism,



of catarrhal fever, attended wita hard cough and diffi-



culty of breathing, in cases of gout, gravel,  and oph-



thalmia, and invariably with the greatest success.






  As  I  learnt  from experience   of ophthalmia  in



Egypt, the superior effects of warmth and  moisture



over the cold applications to the eye, which were some-



times strongly recommended there, I became curious to



know the result of this steam practice; I accordingly 
                        4
made particular enquiries concerning it both of Dr.
Veitch and of Mr. Cochrane himself;  and I felt sincere
pleasure on hearing that it coincided with my own
observations.  In one instance the relief from the steam
was as great as it was sudden:  the sight was restored
without any return of the complaint, the eyes remained
as strong and as well as they were before.

   Though Mr. Cochrane's assertions of the very es-
sential benefits to be derived from the vapor baths, may
apparently exceed any  thing that the  simplicity of
such means can at first sight  warrant us in believing,
though they may be doubted by a few learned men,
upon principles of unsupported theory,  I nevertheless
 feel persuaded  that their objections to baths, however
 specious in appearance, cannot  stand the  test of ex-
 perience: that more extended investigation will cor-
 roborate his  statements,  and will  justify  him in
 recommending with proper enthusiasm a  subject of
 such great utility to public notice.

    It has been remarked by  a few, who certainly are 
                         5
not acquainted with these practices, nor with the state
of baths in London, however well informed on other
subjects, that these remedies were known many years
ago; that accounts have been given of their  efficacy
in several diseases ; thatHancocke formerly published
his Febrifugum Magnum, or common water the best
cure for fevers.  That the Febrifugum Magnum has
since been considered  a morbifugum  magnum; that
there are many well authenticated accounts of extraor-
 dinary cures performed by water; that much  has been
 stated  in the  relations of the  Persians and Chinese;
 much written upon  the acque termale dei  Bagni <K
 Pisa; upon the waters at Carlsbad, Recova, Bareges,
 at ourozen baths, and at those in Russia and elsewhere ;
 that Dr. Currie published, as lately as L805,his ?»Iedi«
 cal Reports on the eifects of water, cold and warm,  as
 a remedy in fevers and other diseases, whether applied
 to the surface of the body, or used internally.

    Though I may be willing- to admit the truth of all
  these remarks, yet I doubt whether  xscarm and vapor
 baths, frictions, and shampooing ever were employed in 
                        G
 this country, as tliey are commonly in India, and the
 Levant, or as they should be, according to the intended
 methods.  And I must further observe,  that however
 well understood they may have been in former  times,
 they certainly are neither duly appreciated, nor gene-
 rally resorted to at present.  In the schools  in  Edin-
 burgh, in London, and upon the Continent, these expe-
 dients were seldom  named,  when I attended them
 between  1793 and 1800.   Though  the  use of cold
 effusions has since been recommended  in the lectures
 at Edinburgh, as appears  by  Dr. Gregory's letter to
 Dr. Curry, dated Edinburgh, November 9th, 1803.

  Dr.  Gregory's letter relates to the  success of cold
 affusions in Scarlatina. He therein states," your obser-
 " vations appeared to me very interesting. I transcrib-
 " ed into  one of my note-books that part of) our letter
 " verbatim, and have read  it the two  last winters in
" college, when treating of the cynanche maligna; tell-
" ing my pupils that I had no personal experience of the
 1 practice, but that I thought your testimony in its
" favour,and "the analogy" of the good erllets of the 
                          7
  ' very cold practice in continued fever, and in natural
  " small pox, so strong, that I was resolved to try the
  ' practice of the affusion of cold water in scarlatina,
  * the  first good opportunity."  Dr.  John  Gregory
  tried the affusions with the best success upon  his sons,
  and says in his letter, « I can now propose and urge
   the practice with  a good grace, and some  confidence,
  ' after having tried it with success on a child of my
 " own."

   He likewise tried it upon  his other  children, With
 the same happy results that attended its adoption with
 the first child.

   A  Pavia professor, Frank, Jun. ment\ ned the warm
 bath and frictions; au.l in the hospital there sometimes
 used common  warm  bathing with the greatest success,
 in the treatment of  those agues which  are endemical
 in Lombardy; and with which the hospitals at Milan
and Pavia are regularly filled from the adjacent rice
plantations every  summer and  autumn. 
                         s
   I have prescribed hot baths, in some instances of
ague in this country, with the best effect, and I recom-
mended them in  two cases lately, where  I  met other
medical men, of rank in the profession superior to my
own, and to whose talents I pay the greatest deference.
But each of them made similar objections to this re-
commendation, upon  the  very principles in which I
had been educated,  and which seem  to be the pre-
vailing principles of daily practice.

 , As far as my experience goes, warm and vapor baths
prove useful not only in allaying pain, but in  restoring
patients reduced  by fevers, whether continued, remit-
tent or  interrhittent,  and  by the  use of mercury, to
their former health and vigor.

  Strange to  say, as  not easily reconcilable with mo-
dern theory, the  colliquative perspirations attending
extreme weakness, whether in typhus or from mercury,
trill not  he increased but checked,  by alternate ablutions,
and by hot or vapor baths ; they indeed often yield to
them when they will not  yield to bark, wine,  acid, 
                          9
 and  to the several medicines in the catalogue usually
 exhibited for the purpose of stopping them.  In each
 of the cases before alluded to, there was great prostra-
 tion of strength, muscular pains in the limbs, and pro-
 fuse  colliquative perspirations in  the morning,  by
 which the patients  were distressed and considerably
 reduced.  From what I had experienced in many simi-
 lar instances, in addition to the  other remedies used on
 these occasions, I should have prescribed the hot bath
 as a  powerful auxiliary.   The common objections to
 it were made, namely, that there was sufficient weakness,
 and the perspirations were sufficiently profuse without the
 additional  relaxation and excretion which  would be
 brought  on by warm  bathing; the  baths were of
 course omitted.

   Notwithstanding our national situation, and the do-
 minion we naturally claim and boast of, over the watery
element, such a degree of hydrophobia stills prevails
among us,  particularly among literary men, (who read
perhaps too attentively on speculative science,) that I
fear a practice, in reality simple, though in appearance^
                        c 
                         10
 bold, and contrary to common prejudices, will be slow
 in making that progress, which from its efficacy and
 success, it ought to make  among us.  No very great
 number of our naval men bathe or swim ; a small pro-
 portion of our military use the  water; and but few
 indeed of the  ingenious  gentlemen  who  remain at
 home, of the indefatigable Bond-street loungers, and
 dashing  charioteers wallowing  in luxuries and pur-
 suing indulgences, who employ their riches wholly in
 acquiring pleasure, seem to know the value of one en-
joyment, which even they may venture to  take with
 comfort and advantage, namely, the tepid bath.

   They cannot say to each other as Caesar in the play
 says to Cassius—

    «< ■           Dar'st thou, Cassius,
    Leap in with me into this angry flood,
    And swim to yonder point ?    ----
    The torrent roared : and we did buffet it
    With lusty sinews, throwing it aside,
    And stemming it with hearts of controTersy.*1 
                          11
   This will not do for them:  the gilded butterflies and
 oeings of a summer's day cannot endure the winter's
 cold as well as Cassius did.

   The descriptions ofSavary may, however, convey to
 their minds some idea of the value of baths, as luxuries
 while the statements of Addison and  of Franklin will
 carry  with  them  conviction  of  their use, and the in-
 dustrious author of the Military Dictionary may fur-
 nish them with several curious instances of the appli-
 cation of swimming to war.


             SAVARY.—G/wu* Cairo.
  The hot baths  known  in the remotest times, and
-celebrated by  Homer, have  here preserved their al-
 lurements and salubrity; necessity lias rendered them
 common in a country where perspiration is abundant,
and  pleasure has preserved the  practice.   Mahomet,
who knew their  value, has made their use a religious
precept. 
12
  Along description of the .buildings is given by Savary,
which the reader will find in his Letters on Egypt.

  He proceeds to state that,  after reposing in vapour
for sometime, a gentle moisture diffuses itself over the
body; an attendant presses and  turns the bather, and
when  the limbs are become supple makes the joints
crack without trouble, then masses* and seems to knead
the  flesh, without giving  the  slightest sensation of
pain:  this done, he puts on a camel hair glove, and
continues rubbing and freeing the skin  of the bather,
which is quite wet, from every kind of scaly obstruc-
tion, and all  the imperceptible particles that clog the
pores; he then conducts him into a closet,  pours a
lather of perfumed soap on  the  head and  afterwards
retires.f


  * " Masses? comes from the Arabic word Masses, which signi-
fies to touch lightly.

  + The whole expence of bathing thus to me, was half acrown ;
the common people go simply to perspire in the bath, wash them ■
selves, and give a few paras, 2d. or 3d. at departing. 
                        13
  Being well washed and purified, the bather is wrap-
ped in hot linen, and follows his guide through various
windings which lead to the outward apartment, while
this insensible transition from heat to cold prevents all
inconvenience.  Being  arrived at the alcove, a couch
is prepared, on which the person  no sooner lies than
another attendant appears, and begins to press deli-
cately with warm cloths all the surface of the body
in order to dry it perfectly;  the linen is once more
changed, and the attendant rubs the callous skin of the
feet with pumice stone, then brings a pipe and Moka coffee.

  On going  from a  bath filled with hot vapor,  in
which free perspiration moistened every limb,  into  a
spacious apartment and the open air, the lungs expand
and respire pleasure.   Well kneaded, and  as it were
regenerated,  the blood circulates freely, the body feels
a voluptuous ease, a flexibility  or rather suppleness,
till then unknown; a lightness as if relieved from some
enormous weight, and the bather almost fancies him-
self newly born and just beginning to live. 
                        14
 ■ A glowing consciousness of existence diffuses itself
to the very  extremities,  and while thus yielding to
delightful sensations, ideas of the most pleasing kind
pervade and fill  the  soul;  the  imagination  wanders
through worlds  which it itself embellishes,  every
where drawing pictures of happiness or delight.  If
life is only a succession of ideas, the vigour, the rapi-
dity with which the memory then retraces all the
knowledge of the man, would lead us  to believe the
hours of delicious calm, which succeed  the bath, an
agei

  "Such are  these  baths, and  the pleasures which
the Egyptians still enjoy.  Here they prevent or exter-
minate rheumatisms, catarrhs, and those diseases of the
skin which the  want of perspiration  may occasion.
Here they rid themselves of those uncomfortable sen-
sations so common among other nations who have not
the same regard for cleanliness and comfort. The women
are passionately fond of these baths, where they go at least
once a xeeek, taking with them servants accustomed to
the  office of baths.  After  the usual process they 
                           \6
  wash the body, and particularly the head with rose
  water.   Their attendants braid their long black hair,
  with which  they mingle precious essences.   They
  darken the rim of the eye-lid and arch the brow with
  cohel.*

   Their linen and their robes are passed  through the
 tweet vapor  of  aloes  wood,  and they  conclude  the
 day in feasting.   Such are the baths in which the Geor-
 gian and Circassian women are  particularly indulged;
 who are neat to  excess, and walk there in  an  atmo-
 sphere of perfumes.   Though  their luxury is hidden
 from the public, and is confined to their  habitation?,
 it surpasses that of European women.


   * Tin burnt with Gall nuts.   MuttaphaSSey Elphi used  it co-
 piously in this country ; and Mr. Baldwin the consul informed me
 that it was procured from the Gulf of  Nicomedia in Asia Minor.
 I tried it in Egypt as a remedy  in Opthalmia, where the Turks
value it not only as an ornament but  as a preservative against
that disease. 
                          16
   The operation of warm baths upon the skin proves
particularly salutary, if they are steadily and habitu-
ally used.   For  they give the coarsest skin a softness,
a pliancy, and preserve in it an elasticity and a delicate
whiteness, which no other known  expedients can im-
part to it.   The Georgian,  Armenian, and Circassian
Women thence derive  the extreme fineness  and beauty
of their skins, and many of the  attractions  for which
they  are justly famed.


    Form'dby the Graces, loveliness  itself
                   Ye British Fair!
    When in your cheek the sultry season glows,
    When with his  lively ray the potent sun
    Has pierced the streams, and warm'd the chilling pool,
    -   ---------      from the town,
    Buried in smoke, and sleep, and noisome damps,
    Then issuing cheerful to yocr sports repair,
    And taste the consolation of the Bath !!
    i
    E'en while you wanton underneath its wave,
    It every beauty softens ! every grace
    Brighten's anew[-•  "«• ■»*—-r 
                         17
    Cheer'd and expanded into perfect life,
    Rising you feel a genial flush of health,
    And like the Rose amid the morning dew,
    Fresh from Aurora's hand, more sweetly glow.

   Addison observes there is nothing  in nature more
 inconstant than the British climate,  if -we except the
 humour of its inhabitants.   We have frequently in one
 day all the seasons of the  year.  I have  shivered in
 the dog days, and been forced to throw off my coat in
 January.

   .4 man should take care that  his body be not too
 soft for his climate ; but rather if possible harden and
 season himself beyond the degree of cold wherein he
 lives.

   Daijy experience teaches us  how we may  inure
ourselves  by custom  to bear  the  extremities of  the
weather without  injury.   The inhabitants of  Nova
Zembla go naked without complaining of  the bleak-
                        s 
                        18   .
ness of the air in which they are born : as the armies
of the northern nations keep the field all winter.   The
softest of our British  ladies expose  their arms and
necks to the open air, which the men could not do with-
out catching cold for want of being accustomed to  it.
The whole body by the same means might contract
the same firmness and  temper.*   The Scythian that
was asked how it was possible for the  inhabitants  of
his frozen climate to go naked, replied, *' Because  we
are face all over."  Mr. Locke advises parents to have
their  children's  feet washed every morning in cold
water,  which might probably prolong multitudes of
lives.

   I verily  believe a cold bath  would  be one  of the
most  healthful exercises in the world, were  it  made
use of in the education of  youth.   It  would make
their  bodies more than  proof to the injuries of the air
and weather. It would resemble what the poet tells us
of Achilles,  whom his mother is  said to have dipped
  * As in the Highland  Itc-br.-nls. 
                 ^        19
when he was a child in the river Styx.  The story
adds, that  this  made him invulnerable all over, ex-
cepting in that part which she held in her hand during
the immersion, and which by that means lost the be-
nefit of these hardening waters.  Our practice runs in
a  contrary  method.  We are  perpetually softening
ourselves  by good fires  and warm cloatht.   The air
within our rooms has generally two or three more de-
grees of heat in it than the air without doors.   Young
people often from  long use can no more live without
certain  parts of their dress than without their skins;
flannel waistcoats, for instance.  Such parts  of the
dress are not so prjoperly a coat as what the anatomists
call  one of the integuments  of the  body.  Addison
further states, that it is the particular distinction of the
Ironsides to be robust and hardy, to defy the rain and
the cold,  and to let the weather do its worst.  His
father  lived to one hundred  without  a cough;  his
grandfather used to  throw off  his hat  and go open-
breasted at fourscore; he used  to be so soused over
when a boy, that he  looked upon himself as one of the
most case-hardened of the family; he was so inured 
                        20     '
and truly tempered that he could say with the Scy-
thian,  " I am face!"  or, if my enemies  please,
forehead all over.

    DR. FRANKLIN's ART OF SWIMMING.
  " I would advise you to learn to swim, as I wish all
men were taught to do in their youth ;  they would,
on many occurrences be the safer for having that skill,
and on many more the happier,  as freer from painful
apprehensions of danger, to  say nothing  of the enjoy-
ment in so delightful and  wholesome  an  exercise.
Soldiers particularly should all learn; it might be  of
frequent use  either in surprising an enemy or saving
themselves.  And if I now had  boys  to  educate, I
should prefer.those schools  (other things being equal)
where  an  opportunity was  afforded for acquiring so
advantageous an art, which once  learnt is never for-
gotten.  B. Franklin."

  During the great heat  of summer there is no dan-
ger in  bathing, however warm we may be, in rivers
thoroughly warmed by  the sun.  But to  throw one- 
                        31
 self into cold  spring water, when the body  has  been
 heated by exercise, is an imprudence which may prove
 fatal.

   The exercise of swimming is one of the most  heal-
 thy and agreeable in the world.  After  having swam
 for an hour or two in the evening one sleep^coolly the
 whole night, even during the most ardent heat of sum-
 mer.   Perhaps the pores being cleansed, the insensible
 perspiration increases and occasions this coolness.  It
 is certain  that  much swimming is the means of stop-
 ping a diarrhoea, and even of producing a constipation.
 If those who do  not know how  to swim should be
 affected with diarrhoea, at a season  improper for  that
 exercise, a warm  bath, by cleansing and  purifying the
 skin, is found very salutary and often effects a radical
 cure.

   I speak  from my own experience frequently repeat-
ed, and that of others to whom I have recommended
 this.

  Common swimming is the act of rowing with  the 
                         22
arms and legs,  and is consequently a fatiguing opera-
tion when the space of water to be crossel is consider-
able; there is a method in which a swimmer may pass
to great distances with much facility, by means of a
sail, by flying a paper kite,  lying on  the back, and
holding the stick in the hands, the body will be drawn
along the surface of the water in  a very agreeable man-
ner.  Franklin crossed a large piece of water in this
way without  the least fatigue, and with the greatest
pleasure imaginable.   He does not consider it impos-
sible to cioss so from Dover to Calais; but thinks the
packet-boat prefer b.e.

  The French  have  paid particular  attention  to this
branch of military knowledge,  {swimming,) and  there
are not only individuals attached to their armies, who
can  swim with perfect  ease, but  companies, called
" compagnies de nageurs" have  been formed, and are
still encouraged iu their service.  Their dress is adapt-
ed to the   functions  they perform, such  as passing a
river in order of battle, or in detached parties, &c. for
the purpose of surprising  an  enemy's advanced  post 
                        S3
 or of affording assistance, (by  dragging light cables
 across,) to large bodies  of their own men who might
 lie ordered to pass in pontoons.

   The clothing of these men should consist of a wors-
 ted  jacket and pantaloons, with sandals ma. le of lea-
 ther and flannel  or  woollen  cloth.  Their weapons
 should be a long light pike,  fixed by means of a ring
 to a  leather waist belt   The  pike, whilst the man is
 swimming, floats  upon the water,  and is of consider-?
 able use to him. So that after he has been ten  minutes
 out of the water, and upon the march, his dress would
 be dry or nearly so.

   On the top of his cap,  a small compartment  i> made
 to hold a pistol, with cartridges, and a  piece  of drv
 linen.

   When the island of Re was besieged and blockaded
by the English in 1()27, Thoiras, who was governor of
the place,  dispatched three swimmers  to make the
Duke of Angouleme acquainted  with thy? critical situ- 
                       24
ation in which he stood. The distance ao ross W3s up-
wards of six miles, or two French leagues.  One of the
swimmers was taken by the English ; the second was
drowned on his return;  butthe third reached the duke,
communicated the object of his mtssion, and brought
back his answer.

   When Cyzicum (the ancient  Dindymis, formerly a
large and strong place) was closely  besieged by Mithri-
dates, Lucullus, (the Roman general)  sent instructions
to the inhabitants by a swimmer, who faithfully execu-
ted  his mission.   (Vide James's Military Dictionary,
article Swimming.)

   Many of our literary men reason upon baths more from
tradition than from experience—this is to be lamented;
a;> in their respect for received opinions and customs
they may oppo-e the practice of alternate bathing, which
promises to afford, perhaps,  more  health and more relief
in several diseases than any expedients they can resort to.
I have often had to encounter  doubts, difficulties, and
objections, to the alternate exhibition of baths in cases 
                        25
of weakness ; because the recommendation of hot and
cold alternately, appeared, it was said,  contradictory,
and seemed utterly irreconcileable with  the  common
doctrines  passing current under those  dignified and
pompous epithets, the sound principles of rational
practice.

  Experience however will  shew that the  weakness
in fevers and after fevers may be thus relieved; and
that those  colliquative perspirations brought  on by
mercury, may often  be speedily removed by hot and
vapor baths, either taken alone or used alternately with
cold ablutions, in the way recommended by Dr.  Currie
for the  cure  of  fevers; whose  method, I trust may,
without exaggeration, be represented as a practice of
inestimable value.  More lives, I am persuaded, have
already been saved by its adoption  than we are aware
of, or than ignorance or prejudice  will readily admit.
In some instances, to my knowledge,  the great and
good effects of the washings  were erroneously attri-
buted to medicines, either of no efficacy whatwer, or
of considerably less energy  than the  hot and cold ab-
                         E 
                        26
lutions;  but as truth has  hitherto on most occasions
ultimately prevailed, let us hope a practice so simple
and  salutary as the practice in question cannot long
continue shackled with unnecessary restrictions.

  Were baths well understood,  their use  would, no
doubt, become much more general  than it  is,  both in
health and in disease.

  I have ever been slow in admitting the  operations
of opinion and fancy in theories or systems of physic;
where nothing but  sovereign observation,  paramount
to all speculation, should direct our course; our know-
ledge to be useful ought to proceed solely from obser-
vation.  I  contracted at an early age a  fondness  for
water.  I read Thevenot, and Dr Franklin's anecdotes
of himself;  and  was favourably impressed with his
little treatise on the art of swimming.  I resided several
years in Italy at the  universities there, before I finished
my professional education  in Edinburgh and in Lon-
don, and I made two voyages to Egypt, Greece, the
Levant, and have  twice visited Italy and France in 
                       27
professional situations since I resided there; and whe-
ther abroad or at home, in  London or out of it, I
always frequented baths, in whatever shape they came
before me.  I have been more exposed to contagions,
perhaps, than most people ; but have hitherto proved
insensible to their baneful  influence, and  I  consider
myself principally indebted to the use of  baths for a
large portion of the health I at present enjoy.

  I at all times refer to  the recommendations of Dr.
Currie with peculiar delight.  The few ideas I had
formed  upon these subjects were completely  met  by
his observations, and confirmed by his experience.   I
acquired much additional information from his bookf
and thoroughly  convinced  of its  value, I think it a
duty to  recommend its perusal.  For the successful
application of  such a remedy  as cold in  fevers, Dr.
Currie  may surely  be  said  to deserve every reward
that can be  voted to him.  I believe that his  sugges-
tions and his practice are beyond all praise.

   Our stock of knowledge upon these  important sub* 
                         28
jects has been further enriched, since his time, by the
 observations and experience of another authority, not
 less respectable than the preceding, namely, Dr. Saun-
 ders; anxious to promulgate  their  principles I  fre-
 quently avail myself of their excellent suggestions.

   In contributing my mite to the body of information
 we already possess,   I hope I  may be  permitted to
 regret,  without disparagement  to the learned autho-
rities I quote, that the attention of such observers was
not directed as extensively to Dilution and to Hot and
 Vapor Baths, as it has been to cold and tepid bathing
in fevers, and other diseases in which they considered
them applicable.  Dilution in the present day is neg-
lected—and  we do not yet appear to value all the vir-
tues of water either as a luxury or remedy. 
WATER.
" Temperantia, turn a libidineavocat, turn insolenti alaciitate gestire
 nonsinit; sedat appetitiones et effecit uthse recta? rationi paieant."
  Considering  water dietetically and medicinally
the following circumstances seem to mark  its excel-
lence, and  to form the principal part of its medical
character.

  1st. Simple Fluidity.

  2d. Universal  Innocence,  or the absence of
every quality that can offend  the most tender  of our
organs.

  3d. Miscibility with all the animal juices, ex-
cept the. fat, provided they are in their natural healthy
state!  Unfitness to dilute or mingle with them, when
they are thickened by disease.   In common life we
lose sight of an important law of the animal ceconomy, 
                           30

 a condition to  which  all animal  bodies are subject,
 viz.  the tendency to induration and inspissation, as
 they advance in years.—The softer organs grow firm—
 those that are supple grow rigid.—The organs endowed
 at first with exquisite sensibility and high organization,
 grow dull, while the relative quantity and specific gra-
 vity of bony substance are increasing in a rapid pro-
 gressive ratio.   This progress to induration, inspissa-
 tion, dulness  and insensibility, quickened by the use
 of fermented liquors, may in some degree be checked
 and counteracted by simple fluidity and dilution.

    '• Aut vinum ne tange, aut mutta prolue lympha;
    Cum vino indulges, igni, puer, adjicis ignem."

   Water attenuates and thereby facilitates  excretion;
it has  too a peculiar determination  to the surface, and
passes off by the  cutaneous pores,  in  the  shape  of
insensible transpiration,  more  speedily and  plentifully
than by  the kidneys;  in consequence perhaps of its
total want of irritation,   It is, besides, the most  com-
modious  medium for applying to  the human  body 
                         31
 two  powerful agents,  viz.  HEAT AND COLD;
 the one  expanding and preserving pliant,  the other
 contracting and constringing,  all the  soft organs  and
 fluids of which our animal mechanism is constituted.

  " Si considerare volumus, quae sit in naturaexcelled
" et dignitas,—inte\\igemus, quam sit honestum^arcc,
" continents, severe, sobrie, vivere." 
32
ON HEAT AND WARM  BATHS.


                         " Now, 0 Sun!
 foul of surrounding worlds, iu whom best seen
 Shines out thy Maker! now I sing of thee ! !
 --------.-----Thou powerful king of day,
 Shoots nothing forth but animating warmth
 And vital lustre;
 Thou shin'st in boundless majesty abroad,
 High gleaming from afar.—Prime Cheerer, Heat!
 Of all material beings first and best!
 Efflux divine !
 Without thy qiiick'ning glance our cumb'rous mould
 Were brute, unlovely mass, inert and dead,
 .And not as now, the sweet abode of life !
 How many forms of Being ! wait on  Thee .'
 Inhaling spirit ; from the unfettered mind,
 By Tbee sublim'd, down to the daily race,
 The mixing myriads of thy setting  beam  !
 The Vegetable World is also thine !!
 The ■very Dead Creation from thy touch
 Assumes a mimic life,----But (his,
 And all the much transported  Muse can sino-
 Are to thy splendor, dignity, and use,
 Unequal far ! ! great delegated source
 Of light  ! and life!  andgraee ! and joy  below- 
                        33
   I was taught to consider hot and  vapour baths re-
 laxing—they are represented  so in books and in  the
 schools.  When I first  began  to try warm baths, and
 frequent thermal waters, I was fearful of remaining
 too long in them at too high a temperature, lest I should
 bring on relaxation and weakness;  and lest,  in conse-
 quence thereof I might lose the fitness and fondness I
 had acquired for common cold bathing. But as none of
 these inconveniencesever followed, the continued use of
 tepid, hot, and vapour baths, either in my own personal
 experiments in health, or in the trials I made of them
 upon others in disease, I grew more and more  doubt-
 f\x\from experience upon this point, and began at last
 to question altogether the truth of this speculative idea,
 and to consider whether its admission may not be in-
jurious to society, inasmuch as it leaves the mind pre-
judiced against an healthy, invigorating, " not debili-
 tating"  enjoyment; and against a  remedy, which will
 be found as agreeable in its adoption as it is efficacious
 in its operation. I consider the warm swimming bath
 of the ancients, a great luxury, one  which  we have
 long wanted, but which we ought to possess.
                        F 
                        54
   Our animal temperature when in health is at about
 96 degrees,  or from 95 to 98 degrees.   A bath, to de-
 serve the epithet of waiim,  should convey a sensation
 of warmth to the skin during the whole time of im-
 mersion.  A  bath at  about 94,  or from  92 to 94,
 though at a temperature lower than that of the body,
 wiH nevertheless appear  warm ;   because  water is a
 denser or heavier medium than  air;  and its  heat is
 pressed by its weight upon  the body immersed;  and
 because perspiration  is  suspended during immersion  in
 warm water, and the constant flow  of heat  out of the
 body into the atmosphere,  necessary for the formation of
 the vapor always emanating from the surface is  checked.
 The tepid bath  may be said to begin at about 83 de-
 grees, and the warm bath at about 93 degrees, or from
 90 degrees  or upwards,  to as high a temperature as
 can  be borne  short of  inconvenience ; the degree of
 warmth  best suited for the warm swimming bath
 would be from about 87 degrees to 90 degrees.   The
 baths at Bath are in fact the only natural warm baths
■we possess ; our other baths are called warm, not from
being warm to the touch, but because in- comparison 
                        35
with common spring waters,  their temperature is
found a little higher.  The action of the heat of a bath
on  a  body immerged  in  it, is at least 800 times
greater than the  action of the same heat of air would
be;  from the  difference between the specific gravity
of the two fluids, it would be impossible that a human
body should support the same degree of heat in water
as it can in air.

  At Bath there  are three principal baths—the Public
Cross Bath at from 92 to 94 degrees; the King's Batti
at about 106 degrees ; and the Hot Bath at about 116
degrees.

  Our other thermal  waters, as  Buxton  and Matlock,
are considerably below the animal temperature.  Bux-
ton is at about 82 degrees, which gives a shock at first
immersion; though that shock is soon succeeded by a
highly soothing  pleasurable glow, which, according to
Dr. Saunders, is as  if the skin were anointed with
warm cream.  Matlock is at about 66 degrees, a tem-
perature so low that it  can scarcely be called a tepid 
                         36
 bath ; it borders on the extreme limits  of the cold
 bath.

   The sea in the coldest weather  with  us is seldom
 lower than 40 degrees, or higher  in the hottest sum-
 mer than 65 degrees;  whereas the heat of rivers, espe-
 cially when shallow,  and when their current is slow,
 rises higher and sinks lower than those degrees.  The
 temperature of the sea after a succession of sunny days,
 will be found at times higher than Matlock water.   I
 found it  at Plymouth  in September  at 66 degrees, and
 at Sidmouth and Lyme at 64 degrees.  At Carlsbad in
 Bohemia, the Caroline baths have been long held  in
 high estimation ;  these thermal waters, and the ex-
 quisite beauty of the country,  render  it the place  of
 resort of the Hungarian, Austrian, and Bohemian no-
 bility.  The most copious stream  there is intolerably
 hot to the touch, boils up with violence, and is called
 the prudel or furious spring -its temperature as it first
issues is as high as 165 degrees, and  keeps steadily to
the same  point; this is hotter than any mineral water
used medicinally. 
                        37
  The Mulhbrun is 114 degrees.

  At Aix-la-Chapelle,  the hottest  bath  is  143^ de-
grees, there are others at  116 degrees.  At Barreges
the hottest  is  120  degrees, the coolest water 73 de-
grees.  And  around Barreges there are many springs,
at from 88 degrees to 135 degrees.

  Bristol  Hotwell is at about 74 degrees, and  Chel-
tenham water at about 53 degrees to 55 degrees.   Dr.
Saunders observes that the superior power of conduct-
ing heat, which water possesses over air,  is a circum-
stance always to be kept in mind in applying cold ex-
ternally.  On account  of the high conducting power
of water, the body immersed must be constantly employed
in producing an unusual quantity of animal  heat;  this is
a great effort of the constitution, which if carried too far,
goes directly to  destroy the animal  powers.   Thus  the
exercise of swimming to those accustomed to it, requires
comparatively  but little muscular exertion;  but being
performed under  circumstances that  highly  exhaust the
animal strength, it proves more fatiguing than almost any 
                       ss
other motion of the limbs.  This too is encreased by a su-
perior coldness in the medium, and permeability of the
skin to heat:  and therefore inhabitants of hot climates,
protected by the greater unctuosity of the skin, and fa-
vored by the warmth of their seas and rivers, are en-
abled to live almost an amphibious life.

  Thus in Egypt, the Arabs,  who  swim from their
infancy, swim far,  rapidly, and can remain  for hours
in the  water.  The temperature  of the sea  there, ap-
proaches nearly to that of a tepid bath.  The Maltese,
Sicilians, and  Neapolitans, remain an incredible time
under water, in their common occupation,  when they
dive for shell fish  the " Frutto di Mare,"   and when
they examine the keels of ships ; and the Indians, (if
we may believe the accounts,) remain for  nearly half
an hour under water in the pearl fishery, which is very
extraordinary; as  the sea, though warm  at the sur-
face, becomes at a certain depth, to  which the influ-
ence of the sun can never reach, of the temperature of
a cold  bath. 
                      59
  Captain Ellis let down a thermometer to the depth
of 2900 feet, when it came  up,  the mercury was at
53 degrees—the thermometer then stood at the sur-
face at 84  degrees.  (Vide Philosoph. Transac.  for
1751, page 213.)

  The Edinburgh Encyclopaedia (article Pearl), has
the following account of the pearl fishery.  It states
that the diver first ties a stone round his waist or his
feet, to make him sink,  and fastens a bag of net-work
round  the neck to contain the pearl oysters.   Thus
accoutred,  he  precipitates himself sometimes  sixty
feet under water ; and, as he has no time to lose he
no sooner arrives at the bottom than  he begins to run
from side to side, tearing up all the oysters he meets
with, and cramming them into his budget.  At what-
ever depth the divers are, the light is so great, that
they easily discover all that passes in  the sea ;  and to
their great consternation, sometimes perceive  mon-
strous  fishes,  from which their  address  in disturbing
the water, &c.  will not  always save them, and  they
unhappily become their prey.  Of all the dangers of 
                         40
 the fishery, this is to them the greatest, and most fre-
 quent.   The best divers will  keep under  water near
 half an hour, and the rest do not stay less than a quarter.
 During  which time they  hold  their breath,  having
 acquired by  long practice the  power  of retention.
 When they find themselves straightened, they cut off
 the stone that  drew  them down,  pull  the  rope to
 which the bag is  fastened, and  grasp it with  both
 hands ; when those in the bark taking the signal, haul
 them up into the air, and unload them of their cargo,
 which may vary  from fifty to five hundred  oysters.
 Some of the divers want  a moment's respite to recover
 breath ;  while the more expert descend again directly,
 continuing this violent  exercise without  intermission
 for several hours.

   Dr. Currie, when treating upon  heat, has the fol-
lowing passage concerning the operation of unguents
 on the surface ;  his words are, " their operation  pre-
sents, indeed, a subject for important and original obser-
vation.   The effects of the  warm and tepid bath, though
more investigated, are scarcely better understood.   " The
                  1 
                         41
commonly received op'mion that  the  warm  bath relaxes
and enfeebles the system, must, 1  apprehend, be admitted
with many  restrictions! ! !   Immersed  in  water or in
air,  heated to a degree  that quickens the circulation, we
are, doubtless, speedily enfeebled : But by a heat  short of
this, it may be  disputed whether debility is  ever produ-
ced !!

  These expressions are strong and clear: in speaking
of the operation  of unguents upon the surface, it is
not of the  salutary  operation of simple rubbing,  nor tf
shampooing* that he treats ;  it is to the medicinal
efficacy of mercury, sulphur, opium, or of other reme-
dies introduced through the skin, that he alludes;
and, perfectly  of opinion  with him, I believe we are
not yet so well informed of the efficacy of medicines so
used as we may be.  It is evident that Dr. Currie does
not mention  heat with that experimental confidence
which the practice alone of warm and vapor  bathing
could have given him; hedoubts whether heat  is relax-
ing, whether it enfeebles; and he disputes whether debi-
lity is ever  produced by it, unless when excessive. The

              * Tide the article Shampooing.
                           0 
                        42
doubt? of so great a man, amount to little  less  than
an admission of what I  consider the real fact.   His
observations  and  his surmises  on all points appear
fully justified as far as they  went; I only regret that
his experience did  not extend to  heat, to  frictions
and to shampooing, as largely as it did to cold.

   A high respect is certainly due to the doctrines and
erudition of our  ancestors,  and  we should  consider
them with all that modesty with which  we ought to
conduct ourselves  in examining received opinions ;
but with all the freedom and candour we owe to truth,
wherever we find it, however strongly  it may contra-
dict our notions, or oppose our vanity.  For it seems.
a preposterous mode of reasoning to argue against the
fair discussion of popular opinions, lest they may be
found without any  reasonable support, and lest the
discovery should at the moment  be prejudicial to our
interest or our credit.  We frequently  proceed as  if
our welfare did not necessarily depend  upon the know-
ledge of truth ; that is, upon the knowledge of those
unalterable relations which it is ordained that one thing
ihould bear to another.  These  elations, truth itself, 
                        43
the only measure of happiness, should be likewise the
only measure to direct our reasonings.

  To these relations we should attend, and not  think
to force nature and  the whole order of her arrange-
ment by a compliance  with our pride  and folly, to
conform to our artificial doctrines and regulations,  to
our sound principles of rational practice and our
systems of physic.   By adopting this plan we have
arrived at all the useful knowledge we possess, and at
all the rational happiness we enjoy, and we daily de-
rive advantages from it which are very visible.

   At Bath,  if I happen to go  into the great cauldron.
as  it is called, or King's Bath, as I frequently have
done, at 106 degrees, and continue there half an hour,
I certainly grow faint for a moment, and am in a man-
 ner overpowered by the heat; but  in  the course of
another half hour, by remaining in the open air I do
 more than recover, I become a stronger and better man
 in all my powers and faculties  of body and of mind,
 than I was before immersion. 
44
  It is not so after  the cold bath,  taken  in  health,
either at a temperature a little too low, or continued
a little  longer than usual; the recovery is neither so
rapid nor so perfect  within  the half hour as  in  the
former case ; and these effects were experienced by
others besides myself.  My practice at  Bath  has been
to bespeak overnight the public  cross bath, at four
o'clock the ensuing morning, (one hour before it opens
to the public,) to continue through  that hour bathing
hot, in water at 94 degrees,  and breathing cold, the
bath being open to the atmosphere.  At five,  and of-
ten after  five o'clock,  when  other bathers came, I
withdrew, and  returned  to the  inn to enjoy two or
three hours delightful repose. I did  this  regularly
and with  infinite pleasure  every morning last  summer
 for upwards of a month.

   I bathed  both before and after that month, at Sid-
 mouth, in the sea:  and when I came to town I found
 I could endure the cold bath  in Harley-street better;
 I could swim round it more often, swim farther in the
 river without fatigue, than I was able to do  before I
 went to Bath. 
                          4J
     I cannot admit heat to be relaxing. The Calabrians,
  the Sicilians,  inhabitants of a hot climate,  are  not a
  relaxed, they are  a far  more  sturdy people than the
  northern  Europeans.   In Asia Minor, Morocco, at
  Marmorrice, ancient Thelmissus, Rhodes, in Candia, and
  in the kingdom of Fez,  provinces,still hotter than Ca-
  labria, the inhabitants seem formed in a prodigality of
  nature: for the magnificence of their bulk and stature,
  and the  beautiful proportion of their muscularity,
  render them  physically superior to the inhabitants of
  our northern  latitudes.   Animated  nature  there  is
  upon a scale of grandeur not known in  colder  coun-
  tries.  The camels and other animals are proportionally
  expanded  and majestic.  These full formed people live
  in heat; and many of them take their baths as regularly
  as they take their daily bread, without being enervated
  or relaxed either in body or in mind : for though from
  their habits they  may be indolent, they are  naturally
  of a very lively imagination, bold, and astute: and had
  they the advantages of a good government and a good
 system of  education, they would no  doubt become
 morally as they are physically the finest people in the
\ world.
7 
46
   They carry astonishing weights to considerable dis-
tances.   Many of our grenadiers in Sicily, when pitted
against the Fachini  or carriers, were scarcely  able to
raise and support burthens with which  the Sicilians
flew along easily.


      u Tenipcrie Cceli, corpusque anirousquejuvantur.''

   This we have seen exemplified in the Tuscans,  a
people  of   extraordinary ingenuity  and  inventive
powers, of great industry and refinement, who, living
under a sky as serene and as  warm almost as the Ca-
labrian, enjoyed with a  mild government, opportuni-
ties of  improvement which the  rude  Calabrians did
not possess.


        Storing afresh with elemental lire
        Our strengtheu'd bodies in its blest embrace
        The warm bath feeds and animates our blood 5
        With transport touches all the springs of life;
        Refines our spirits ;  thro' the new-strung nerves
        In swiftest sallies moveth, e'en the brain ! !
        Where sits the soult intense, collected, quick,
        Bright as a star, and as the chrystal clear!

   We cannot consider heat relaxing, when  we attend 
                          47
 to the prodigious strength and luxuriance of the ve-
 getation  in the countries before  mentioned, which
 prove its invigorating influence as manifestly, perhaps,
 as the magnificent  race  of the  animals; for  as our
 motto states,

     '• Ignis, naturis, omnibus, salutarem impertit calorem."

       *' All nature feels its renovating force,
       Draws in abundant vegetable life,
      While stronger glow sits in the lively cheek."

   The expedients which remove weakness, which re-
store to health and strength a  person melted down by
colliquative perspirations, reduced and dejected by ex-
cess of mercury, cannot justly be called relaxing ! !

   Hot and vapor b3ths have this effect; they certainly
do render  the skin soft and pliable,  but  the skin in
health should be so; they keep it in a state proper for
secretion,  and  it is of great consequence that  the
functions or offices of the skin,  an emunctory, should.
be regularly performed ;  because  a sort of respiration.;
is continually carried on in it.   A. portion of salutary 
                        48
atmosphoric  air is absorbed or taken up, and noxious
vapours  escape, or  are thrown off from the  body
through the skin, in  the shape  of insensible  transpi-
ration: which, when increased to a sensible quantity,
forms perspiration.   A double duty or office is there-
fore effected by the skin, viz. an absorption and an
excretion.  In bathing the fluids circulating over the
whole surface are  refreshed in two ways; by losing
their saline and alkaliue principles, which  the  water
attracts, and  by dilution from the warmth and mois-
ture imbibed.  The skin therefore is not only an ex-
 cellent contrivance as a general covering for the body,
 adapting itself by its wonderful elasticity to all our va-
 rious movements and attitudes, but it is at the same time
 a veneral outlet, and an  inlet.  And such is the catena-
 tion or association  between one function and  the rest,
 so strongly do the internal organs and actions sympa-
 thize with the external, and, vice versa, that even the
 flesh and the joints become to our sensations easy and
 supple, after warm bathing; but are we from feelings
 of increased  energy and activity to  consider ourselves
 enfeebled ? 
                           49
   If when intense, remiss, irregular, or suspended, the
 actions of the  nervous and vascular  systems  are re-
 stored  to their natural moderation, freedom, equabi-
 lity and order, by the genial influence of warmth and
 moisture, we surely shall not be thereby weakened; if
 the blood, proceeding from the heart, is caused  to flow
 in its uninterrupted easy stream, though all the vari-
 ous ramifications  of arteries ;  if the  secreting  vessels
 are  made to perform  their offices, and to separate
 their various  humors, while the  remaining blood is
 returned by the veins from the circumference  to the
 centre,  in the same moderate continuity  of course in
 which it was originally propelled from thence; if the
 excreting vessels are incited to  carry off their proper
 humours, to deposit  in  the stated receptacles such as
 should  be deposited ; to discharge such as excremen-
 titious should be discharged;—if the internal surface
 or membrane lining the whole alimentary canal,  which
is only a continuation by reflection, or  a prolongation
of the external  skin, is brought to sympathize with
that external skin on which  the bath is acting;  if the
inward  surfaces, partaking of the beneficial  influence
                         H 
                       50
of the bath on the outward surface,  are  restored to
their natural softness, pliability, and moisture ; if the
absorbents or lacteals upon  those inward  surfaces, in
sympathy with the external absorbents or lymphatics
upon the skin, are incited to take up and convey their
proper fluids without stoppage or irregularity, then,
indeed,  the whole vascular system, in all its various
departments of circulation, secretion, excretion, and  ab-
sorption,  will  be released from painful febrile sensa-
tions and  motions ; and will assume its proper vigor
and be  restored to  order.   The  influence of the  bath
does all this, and extends further; it is by no means
limited to the vascular system.  The subject may be
understood without  much anatomical  speculation.
Though  apparently, and in  reality,  complicated, it
may nevertheless be rendered  by the  skilful physiolo-
gist sufficiently simple to be intelligible.

   The surface exposed to the  operation of a bath,  is
extensive, viz. the whole external skin.  The first and
immediate impressions of the bath are upon that skin,
ana upon the irritability and sensibility of our external 
                           51
 corporeal organs, and through these upon the internal
 nervous system.  Heat and moisture first restore to
 the skin its natural state of pliancy and softness ; the
 other organs are  successively influenced,  in virtue of
 the concensus,  sympathy,* or association existing be-
 tween that skin and the nervous and vascular systems,
 universally  distributed, penetrating  and pervading
 every organ of the body.

   If then the circulation, the secretions,  the excretions,
 the absorptions, the  motions of the whole  nervous system
 are restored to  order,—If the skin and  other  corporeal
 organs, external and internal, are reduced to, and main-
 tained in, that  particular state, and disposition, which
 render  themflt  instruments for receiving  the influence of
 the  sentient, intelligent,  incorporeal principle  that  ac-
 tuates the whole, then wilt the  body be enabled  to per-
form and exercise wtth ease, pleasure, and proportional
 strength, alt its  various actions and functions.   The  ex-
 ternal organs will then receive and transmit to  the mind
*  Technically termed Catenation. 
                        52
 their several impressions in a just degree, while the inter-
 nal  senses and  powers of  memory,  imagination  and
judgment will be lively, clear, and vigorous.  Or in com-
 mon political language,  the balance of  power  will
 then be duly established and supported in this micro-
 cosm, or little world  of man.  For when the equili-
 brium  of perfect  health  is broken, nature  generally
 endeavours to  restore equal action:  the warm bath
 seems to predispose the bodily organs for such resto-
 ration,  and even to support  the efforts  of nature in
 bringing it about;  and if the bodily organs can be put
 into that state on  which the conditions  of health de-
 pend,—by the genial influence of warmth and moisture,
 shall we be justified in attributing to such beneficial
 agents,  relaxing  or debilitating  effects?  My ideas
 are, at least, in  some  degree, warranted:  for  will  not
 warmth and moisture on the  surface be found to  act
 frequently like a  charm  in removing our distressing
 sensations of burning parching heat, and excessive aguish
 cold?   In  extinguishing  thirst, in  allaying pain and
 spasms: whether superficial or deep-seated?  In qui-
 eting restlessness, in releasing straitness, oppression, and 
                         53
anxiety above  the praecordia or lungs ?   In checking
nervous affections, as excessive sensibility, erethismus, itch-
ing, nervous uneasiness?   Are not these agents useful
in correcting defective feelings, numbness and palsies ?
Will not warmth and moisture  often impart, even to the
instruments of voluntary motion, a facility and readi-
ness of action, where there was previous languor and
want of strength ?   Does  not their  happy influence
extend to the digestive organs in cholics'm diarrhoea?
To the kidneys in the anguish  of a lithiasis ?  To the
spincter vesica? in strangunry, to the relief of strictures,
to the mitigation of gout, to the removal of several dis-
orders of the softer sex, and of infants ?   I can indeed
confidently assert that baths  are great auxiliaries to
mercury,  and to some  other medicines;  that  much
may often be done with them, that cannot be done without
them !!  and,  in short, that they may be considered as
powerful  agents in  relieving many of the natural
shocks that flesh is heir to.   For these weighty reasons
I consider the warm bath a subject of great importance,
and in thus inviting the attention of the public  to an
object that materially concerns them,—I trust I  may 
                               54

  not be thought to trespass improperly upon their time,
  or their indulgence.*


    * I have had it in ray power to afford relief in a few instances
  by a simple dilution and a course of baths, to persons returning from
 India and from our colonies, who had suffered severely from the
 diseases of those hot climates, and from the violence of the re-
 medies necessarily employed there against them.
   These sufferers were restored  to  health by the   simple means
 before mentioned, after they hid submitted, in vain, to a painful
 and protracted exhibition of various  medicines.
   A nobleman to whom upwards of 330 grains of calomel had  been
 given in  the West Indies, in less than four days ;  and a  general
 officer there, who by baths had been roused from  delirium,  and
 restored  to health from the last stage of yellow fever, both fa-
 vored me with their cases.—The latter, afterwards on board a
 transport, gave health to others by the same means  that he reco-
 vered his own.—I shall avail myself of their permission to make
 their casesknown, on some future opportunity.
   Among the means of preventing convulsions in women, previous
 to or during  their  confinement,  Dr. Denman recommends  the
 warm bath. He  states that from its occasional use, women  will
 often find much benefit; and  he repeats,  that it is one of the
principal means which medicine affords for  preventing  puerperal
 convulsions, and for  insuring an undisturbed labour  and an unin-
 terrupted recovery.—Here is the testimony of a  very  great man
 in favour of warm baths, which  he strongly recommends, under
circumstances no less critical than labours  rendered complex by
convulsions ; and this recommendation is the more valuable, as it 
$6
rests not upon any preconceived notion,  or  speculative reasoning,
but upon  the long  and extensive experience  of Dr. Denman.—
He states iu another part of his work, that when  convulsions  have
continued or  increased, notwithstanding the bleeding, and the use of
all the other reasonable means, the patient may be put into the «* warm
bath," in which she may remain a considerable time if the convul-
sions are suspended while she is in it.  There have been instances of
women with convulsions who have been freed from them while they
were in the bath;  and I have heard of one or  more  cases of their
being "  actually  dflivered in the  bath," without any ill
consequences either to the mother or the  child.  These statements
are among the few to be met with in books, in which this subject
seems to be treated at all as it ought to be. Here we have a man of
enlightened mind,  acute observation, and unbiassed judgment, com-
municating  to the world, without any parade of science, the plain
result of his extensive experience ; and  so much importance does
Dr.  Denmao attach to this expedient, that he further  states—
" When a warm balh could not be procured, or while it was pre-
paring, I have directed flannels wrung out of hot water to be  ap-
plied over the whole abdomen." 
56
SHAMPOOING.
  An expedient neither known nor understood in this
country, but generally used  in India and the Levant,
as a luxury, and often resorted to as a remedy,  in very
high estimation.  The operation is performed by peo-
ple regularly trained to the office, called Shampoo-men;
and to be agreeable, must be done with art:  it consists
in gently pressing and turning the body, rendered pre-
viously supple and pliant by warm  and vapor bathing:
the Shampoo-man causes the following joints to crack
without any trouble; the wrist, the elbow, the shoul-
der ; the vertebra of the neck, and of the back;  the
instep, the knee, and the hip;  and he performs this
task as if he were a perfect anatomist.  When last in
the Mediterranean I saw and submitted to the opera-
tion, which was done in the usual manner: to effect
the purpose in the dorsal vertebrae,  the Shampooing
attendant was placed upon a low chair, and made the
bather sit upon the ground before it, putting the knee 
                         57
 against the concave part of the back, and laying hold
 of both shoulders, he suddenly pulled them backwards;
 and at the same time gave the body an oblique sidling
 motion; which caused the dorsal articulations to crack,
 with  two distinct  explosions, nearly  similar to the
 report of a small pop-gun;—as  this  was done with
 much expertness, the sensations were singular, and for
 a  moment rather disagreeable ;  the shampooing at-
 tendant then  began  to  knead the  limbs, grasping,
 pounding and gently squeezing the  flesh, with the
 whole hands, like  so  much dough, from  the  extre-
 mities to  the  centre, thereby removing  every sensa-
 tion of pain, and concluded the business by putting on
 a camel hair-glove, and by rubbing the skin briskly,
 which took from it all  the porous atheromatous ob-
 structions, and rendered it soft and smooth as satin.

   The sensations after stuping and macerating a long
 time in warm water, and in steam, after the process of
 shampooing, are certainly very  different from sensations
 of weakness;   they  are delightful;  for in the bath,
health is. admitted at every pore;  while the latter
process imparts to each particular joint its full freedom
                        i 
                        53

and  all its latitude of motion:*  the whole gives an
ease, a pliability, a suppleness and an activity, equally
invigorating to the mind, and to the  body, which may
serve both to correct  the vulgar  prejudice of the " re-
laxing effects" of warm bathing, and to confirm
the justness of the inference the ancients drew of the
mens sana from the corpore sano.


  • The use of the dumb bells, common in India, the quinquertia,
and projectile exercises of the Romans, cannot be too strongly re-
commended as contributing to give strength and full latitude of
motion to the joints of the upper extremities. 
69
BATHS IN  LONDON.
   We have in London  several handsome  cold  baths
for medical purposes, but they are at too low a tempe-
rature for amusement or for swimming in.  Such are
the baths in Harley-street, in Bagnio-court, at Peerless-
pool, &c.  The cokl, bath in Harley-street is about the
temperature of 54 degrees. The cold bath at Peerless-
pool is something lower, about 52 degrees, and  this I
believe to be the coldest in London. The warm  baths
are for the  most part were wooden or marble troughs, in
which the  bather,  imprisoned,  sits  or reclines; and
into which he can admit, by turning a stop cock, either
hot or cold water, at pleasure.

   There was a warm bath in Bagnio-court upon  a lit-
tle larger scale,* 9 feet by 9, nearly five feet deep, filled
by a steam engine—the bather could just stand erect
  • Since publishing'the first edition of this pamphlet, I have
been favoured with a letter from Mr. fVm. Smith, M. P inform-
ing me that this bath is not destroyed, but merely tonverled into a
Vapor Balk,  and that it can be easily restored to its original
state. 
                        60

in it and expand, but the warm swimming bath  is a

luxury wholly unknown in London.


  We can form some idea of it from the baths at Bath,
at Buxton, and Matlock, though the temperature of the
latter is not quite so warm as it should be for a swim-
ming bath.

  The  Romans borrowed  their  ideas  of artificial
baths*  from  the Greeks,  who were much devoted
to them ; and  in the  luxurious days of  Rome, the
baths were conducted at a great expence,  and formed
a complicated system.  All the most splendid and fas-
cinating luxuries of the emperors, were multiplied and
brought together in those prodigious monuments of
Roman magnificence, the Therms, which were form-
ed in imitation of the Greek Gymnasia ; all that could
give entertainment to the mind,  and afford amusement
to the  people, all the exercises of the body,  all the
institutions favourable to bealth,were there assembled.!

  *  The Balneum of the Roman authors means  a private hot
bath. By the Balnea they denote the public hot baths.
       J Savonarola *' Sulle acque Termali d' Italia."
  Savonarola, Physician to the Marquis of Ferrara and the House 
                          61
    The Calida Natatio, and the Concamerata Sudatio,
 or the warm swimming and  vapor baths, were  the
 great attractions.

    The system was carried at Rome to an astonishing
 height ; and the  construction of baths in  which  the
 people might  be  accommodated gratuitously, was an
 established and successful expedient  of the Roman
 emperors for gaining their affections.

   The extraordinary expence  and  magnificence  of
 those structures are well known; the remains of  the
 baths of Caracalla and Dioclesian, testify their gran-
 deur in our own days.  According to Fabricius there
 were eight hundred and fifty-six public baths at Rome,
 and  some of these were  large enough to contain at
 once, eighteen hundred persons.

   The rage for hot bathing exceeded all bounds;  in


of Este, wrote upon baths.  His works contain all the idformatioa
of their day, and of his predecessors, to the early part of the
15th century.  Subsequent writers have quoted from them, and
have considered them the best authority to that period. 
                        62
the days of Seneca the hottest baths were most in esti-
mation, those of Nero seem to have exceeded the rest
in heat.

  While other countries and metropolitan  cities, as
Petersburgh, Constantinople, Cairo, and the cities of the
Eastern empire have  their baths, it may  fairly be
stated  as a stigma upon  this otherwise  proudly pre-
eminent  capital,  that not  one  establishment  exists
within it, where  its inhabitants can long and  safely
indulge in this salubrious exercise, and acquire that
experimental confidence  in the  water which nothing
but familiarity with the element  can give.

  I indeed often lament the'want of a warm swimminz
bath ;  but such a luxury is not to be had easily, and I
almost despair of ever seeing it here.  It would be too
expensive an undertaking  for a single individual to
attempt, upon  speculation; while many  difficulties
would otherwise attend  its formation.  An object so
desirabte might perhaps be obtained, if a number of
persons would associate and contribute to its formation
and maintenance. 
                        6S
   Since these  remarks  were first published an asso-
 ciation has been formed for the purposes
     Of bringing sea water to London,
     Of constructing an infirmary, and
     Of forming spacious baths, upon a scale of magni-
tude, convenience, and splendor worthy of our  coun-
 try;  and according to the best arrangement that can
 be suggested by professional gentlemen, and engineers
 pf considerable eminence.

   Upon the advantages of such  establishments  much
 might be written;  many of those advantages are  for-
 tunately too obvious to require explanation.

   Should this establishment, already  honored by the
 patronage of their  Royal Highnesses  the Dukes of
 Kent and Sussex,  and of several of the most distin-
 guished nobility, be supported by  the  affluent and
 humane; should it meet  with that liberal  encourage-
 ment of which  our countrymen are prodigal on almost
 every  beneficent occasion, we  may hope to witness
 in our metropolis the growth  of spacious public  baths,
 warm and cold, and of an additional  infirmary, aux-
 iliary  to the existing hospitals and  present medical 
                       64

charities which already grace our city, and do honor
to the community supporting them.*


   There is a society of gentlemen  who  meet to seek
amusement upon the water.   I  once  or  twice  have
heard that society lightly spoken of in private compa-
nies.  Though I have not the honor  of belonging to
their club,  I always stand forward in their  support,
because their amusements appear to me more rational
than the amusements of many other clubs of the pre-
sent day.   Yet I do not think they derive all the en-
joyment from water which water may afford them, or
which they might indulge  in, were they possessed of
an establishment of baths, or  only the tepid swimming
bath upon a handsome scale.


   Such a society might further increase its amusements
if it would bestow a little attention upon some other
objects which would become objects of public utility.


  * For the plan of this undertaking, and  for the  sentiments of
the leading professional gentlemen  concerning it,  see  the pam-
phlet '* Account of the Proceedings,''* which may be had at the Sea
Water Bath Office, No. 10, Three King Court, Lombard Street. 
                       65
As, for instance, the construction of life-boats, life-pre-
servers, and, in short, every improvement connected
w ith the arts of sailing, swimming, and the use of baths.

  The great difficulty to surmount in forming a swim-
ming bath would be the  heating of the water.  No-
thing on  this subject has so much distressed  the
learned as to find the  manner  in which the Roman
receptacles for bathing were constantly and sufficiently
supplied with hot water ;  the ancients  do not inform
us of the methods they adopted for heating such large
bodies of water as they required to the high  tempera-
ture they were fond of.  Baths  may be so heated by
steam.                                    i

  All other baths, except the warm swimming bath,
namely, the hot, cold, and vapor baths, for medical pur-
poses, are easily erected, and require but little space ;
these might be added to the large bath, at  a trifling
«xpence, so as to render an establishment complete,
K 
66
COLD !  !—THE  COLD  BATH.
Frigus, Corporibus Inimicum.
Beyond Tornea'slake
And farthest Greenland to the P«jle extreme,
Where failing gradual, Ife itse'f goes out,
There Winter holds his unrelenting court.
Near the wild Oby live the last of men I
There, half enlivenf.d by the distant sun
That rears and ripens manj as well as plants,
There human nature wears its lowest form M
Deep from the piercing season, sunk in caves,
Close by dull fires, and wilh unjoyous chear
They waste their tldioijs gloom '. !  lmmers'd in furs
Doze the gross race ; nor sprightly jest nor song
Nor tenderness they k/ow, nor aught of life
Beyond the kindred Bears that stalk without.
  The justness of these assertions will not be question-
ed by travellers who  have had opportunities of com-
paring  the sluggish state and condition of the  rude
Boors in the notth of Europe with that of the polished
lively  inhabitants of the south, particularly of the
refined Italians.   Besides, La Condamine  and other 
                        67
navigators have  remarked that the natives of warm
countries, pass from one e treme of climate to another
with much  less  inconvenience or suffering than the
natives of colder regions, a circumstance advanced in
proof of their stronger and superior constitution.

   Cold bathing cannot be safely tnken as an amuse-
ment in  the middle age, nor later in life,  unless the
bather has been accustomed to it from youth, and has
not omitted its use.

   The facility of bearing cold is an affair of habit; at
least, in the early periods of  life it may be acquired
not only without inconvenience or prejudice, but with
advantage to the constitution.   Perhaps the best mode
of giving a taste for cold bathing is to do it gradually,
to let it be acquired by degrees from the tepid bath;
because   the  previous  use  of  the  tepid  bath,  as
has been stated, gives the  power  of enduring the
cold.   Whenever I have omitted to swim for a year or
two, and have taken to the water again.  I first resumed
the tepid bath, and have then returned to the cold. 
                      68
If a child unaccustomed to bathing be plunged sudden-
ly into a cold bath, it may acquire  such  an aversion
to the water as will not afterwards be easily subdued;
but if the child be first allowed to indulge in the tepid
bath, and be gradually introduced to the cold, it may
be brought not only to bear the  cold, but to enjoy it;
and the degree of cold  to which the  constitution may
be thus enured is quite astonishing.

  At Petersburgh the washerwomen break the ice  of
the Neva, and continue washing for hours afterwards.
At Paris in the Seine, I have  seen the washer-women
remain at their work through the day, when the sur-
face of the river was covered with cakes of floating ice.
 During the winter campaigns upon  the Rhine, and in
 Poland,  the  Austrian, Russian, and  French armies
 were exposed to piercing, dry, continued cold, without
 tents, and very often without that consolation which a
 little snow would have afforded them;  for  snow on
 such occasions  becomes to the warrior a comfortable
 blanket, he burrows in it like the cattle on the moun*
  tains, and can set the  foul fiend at defiance. 
                         69
   To a diminished sensibility of the skin towards the
 impression of sudden cold, occasioned by long habit,
 we  may probably attribute the ease with  which at-
 tendants on cold and sea baths remain for some hours in
 a medium,  which from its low temperature would ex-
 haust and benumb those not accustomed to this practice.

   The facility of TAKING THE WATER, as it is
 termed, is to be acquired ; a little determination and a
 few days practice give it;  the water is never to be en-
 tered  gradually by inches,  for the  sensation,  then, is
 unpleasant.  A beginner, who  always has some aver*
 sion to the element, should muster resolution and throw
 himself in ; for the same reason that any disagreeable
 medicine is not to be taken sip by sip, when it would'
-be tasted, but is to  be swallowed at a gulp,  because
 the rapidity with which it passes  over the organs of
 taste, the tongue and fauces, causes it not to be per-
 ceived.   The  power of  bearing  cold  can never  be
 sought with impunity by persons advanced in life, and
 unaccustomed to bathing; to them,  in diseases, the
 application of cold, as a remedy, may prove extremely 
                         70
beneficial when properly used} but to them, in health,
the cold bath taken suddenly, will not always prove an
innocent amusement.  An expedient more  grateful to
their feelings is, however, open to them. They may find
ample consolation in the tepid swimming bath,and
need not be under so many cautions and restrictions in
resorting to  it.  Of this luxury Women,  are  parti-
cularly fond, and when in health they may  be freely
indulged in it.

  If we consider the great difference  which there is
occasionally between our summer atmosphere and the
heat of the sea, the bleak open aspect of many of our
watering places, and the keen winds  to which bathers
are often exposed, we shall find reason to suspect that
a number of invalids, of young puny children, and deli-
cate females, have materially injured their health by an
injudicious use of the Cold Bath.

  To conclude :  the genial influence  of Warmth and
moisture in the earlier  periods of life, will be found
to favor growth and expansion, in the middle  ages 
                        71
 will prove invigorating, and when the pressure of years
 and infirmities steal upon us,  Warmth,  the great
 foster-nurse  of nature, combined  with  mois-
 ture, will still support the feeble, will  cherish and
 give health to the shattered constitution of man.

   Dr. Franklin was in the constant habit of  warm
 bathing  for many years before he died ; he used it to
 relieve the infirmities of age,  it answered his purpose,
 for it afforded him ease under  the excruciating tor-
 ments of the stone, and he lived to the advanced age of
 84.

   The practices  of warm bathing  and exercise in
 warm water, may therefore  be considered as condu-
 cive to the health and strength of the body, and to
 the acuteness and energy of the mind.

   The stupendous  magnitude and prodigious remains
 of the Roman Thermae, prove the importance the  Ro-
 mans attached to their warm  swimming baths,
which were considered by them establishments of the
first consequence, were eagerly frequented by people 
                       72
 of all ages, and assiduously  promoted by the empe-
 rors to preserve the health, strength, and courage
 of the citizens-,  and the Romans, from  their constant
 "se  and extensive experience of warm  baths,  must
 have been well acquainted with their virtues.

   In public calamities, the greatest privation the people
 of Rome could suffer, was the suppression of the warm
 baths.   On public rejoicings, after victories and other
 happy events, the warm baths were thrown open, (as
 the theatres are sometimes in foreign countries,)  gra-
 tuitously, to  the people;  and  every  countenance
 shone gratitude,  every  eye sparkled  with delight.
 Even at present, in the Levant, the days of bathing
 are considered festivals, particularly by the Egyptian
 women.

   Among the Romans some of the  hot springs were
dedicated to  Hercules, the god  of strength;  and a
great people so  experienced in baths, would not have
dedicated to the god of strength that which  is now
erroneously supposed to produce a debilitating effect. 
                       75
  The Steam bath may possess some advantages  be-
sides its powers, peculiar to itself; viz. the facility of
procuring and conveying it. There are other circum-
stances too, with respect to steam and its modes of
application, that may be mentioned as proper sub-
jects for speculation, to be decided upon by  future
experience. These relate to its medication, and to the
propriety of carrying  the exhibition of steam beyond
the external  surface,  the inhalation of medicated  va-
pour, &c. 
74
SEA   WATER  BATHS.
  The opposition to the Sea Water Bath Bill  in the
House of Commons,  and certain objections to the sea
water baths out of parliament, induced the gentlemen
associated for their promotion to print some  extracts
from a paper I had communicated, lest (as they stated)
incorrect opinions should be formed on matters of con-
siderable moment, which might prove  prejudicial to
their intended establishment*

  The objections which reached my ears were briefly
the following:

  1st.  That  the refuse sea water  running from the infir-
mary and other baths into  the river Thames would  conta-
minate the river, and would render its water unfit for our
domestic purposes, and for the service of the Navy.

  * The paper was printed originally for the House of Commons
in April 1813. 
                         7$
  ?dly, The second  objection came (no doubt face-
tiously) from an honest citizen,
        " In fair round belly, with good capon lined,"

viz. That in  consequence  of the river's being rendered
brackishjthe freshwater fishery would suffer,and perhaps be
destroyed. How the small quantity of salt water running
fromapipe of only seven or eight  inches diameter into
theriver-a* Barking, or indeed at any other place, could
produce these effects, could do all this mischief, (even
supposing it were constantly running, which it would
not be,) how it was to contaminate the river, or  to ruin
the fishery, I confess  my optics were too dim to disco-
ver, my understanding too dull to comprehend.

   Without noticing such objections I suggested that
the refuse salt water  instead of being sent immediately
to the river, might be usefully employed in the pre-
paration of manure, and in the irrigation of some of our
lands.

  The possibility or  expediency of its application to
such purposes has since been questioned, and even de-
nied. 
                      76
  In support of what I advanced  alluded to the lux-
uriant vegetation and rich pasturage in some of the
Lowlands near the sea in Italy, and likewise in the
salt marshes in our own country.

  That this subject which / had reason  to  consider
beneficial, should not. be abandoned, in consequence of
a few frivolous objections without argument, experi-
ment, or  any other support than the bare assertion of
those with whom they arose,  I became  anxious to
procure the most authentic information concerning the
application of sea water to irrigation and manure; and
I am  now able to rest my statements on an authority
no less respectable than the  President of the Board of
Agriculture.   My much  respected  friend Sir  John
Sinclair, whose time and attention are devoted to the
improvement of his country, has collected the results
of Lord Medowbank's, Dr. Rennie's, and Mr. MitchelVs
Experiments on Manures in the most  improved dis-
tricts of Scotland, shewing the excellence of sea water
for the purposes above mentioned.

  The result  of their experience and observations
may be seen in " the account of the system of husbandry 
                        77
in the most improved districts of Scotland"  published
by Sir John Sinclair, in 1S12.

  The observations shew that lime slacked with brine
(i. e. with sea water) forms  an incomparably fine ma-
nure, either when thrown over the land in its original
state, or when made into a compost with  earth, moss,
or other manure.  The  proportions and  further par-
ticulars may be seen in the work itself.

  Thus, therefore, nature and art concur in proving,
that vegetation  may be assisted—that much  of our
land may be fertilized by a proper application of brine
or sea water.
                                    M. L. ESTE. 
APPENDIX.
SEA WATER BATHS.
  The resolutionspassed at the Freemasons' Tavern on
the 17 th of June, 1812, were published by the promo-
ters of  the undertaking, at length, in several of the
newspapers.*

  On a request that an account of the proceedings at
the Freemason's Tavern might be annexed to this work,
I have drawn up from  memory, and from the Morn-
ing Post of  June 25, 1812, the following statement,
which, though short, will, I trust, be found by all who
were present, both accurate and comprehensive.
                                M. L. ESTE.

  • Vide the Alfred, of June ISth.
   ——the Statesman, of June 2 2d.
   ----the Morning Post, of 35th of Jane, 1812. 
79
 JUNE 17th, 1812. FREE-MASONS' TAVERN.

  At a Meeting held for establishing a Sea Bathing
Infirmary in London,
             His Royal Highness the
         DUKE OF KENT in the Chair,
        President of the intended Infirmary.
                  PRESENT,
  His Royal Highness the  Duke  of  Sussex, Vice
 President of the intended Infirmary.
 Col. Joliffe, M. P.         J. Newman, Esq.
 George Sinclair, Esq. M. P.  J. Palfreman, Esq.
 Joseph Hume, Esq. M. P.  C. E. Clarke, Esq.
 Dr. Fothergill           J. Steevens, Esq.
 M. L. Este, Esq.         Gen. Wemyss.
 J. L. Gautier,  Esq.  (in-
  vited)
 and  several other  gentlemen with whose names I
 have not been furnished.
              Mu. William  Vazie, Secretary. 
                       80
   The plans, drawings, prospectuses, amount of sub-
 scriptions, having been placed upon the table,

   Joseph Hume, Esq.  M. P. rose, addressed the meet-
 ing, and in an eloquent speech, opened the business of
 the day, by paying a tribute of gratitude to the zeal
 and benevolence of the Royal Personages present, who
 had honored this  intended establishment with  their
 patronage, and with the gracious promise of their en-
 deavours to excite a general interest in its favor;—and
 by stating that their Royal Highnesses had signified
 to him,  personally, their  anxious  desire to promote
 every public  institution calculated in any  degree  to
 be beneficial  to society, and  particularly if its object
 was to afford comfort to the poor and labouring  classes.

  Mr. Hume then proceeded, and said that in every
 capital which he had visited,  in Europe, and in Asia,
 he had every where found, except,in the metropolis of
 Great Britain, public  baths  upon  a handsome and
expensive scale; calculated to accommodate all  classes
of society at an easy expence ;—he  particularly noti-
ced those of Greece,  of  Rome, of Constantinople, 
                        SI




which he had frequented;  and in proof of the high



and general estimation in which they are held,  he



adverted to the enormous  profits from the baths in



the Levant, to which the admission was extremely low.








  Mr. Hume then  submitted to the meeting a sug-



gestion of his own—whether for the accommodation of



this immense metropolis, there might not  be  at least



three different establishments of  baths upon  a similarly



extensive scale: One  establishment in  the centre, a




second establishment  in the eastern extremity, and



a third establishment in  the west end of London.*
   * I have frequently thought that three establishments



of baths may prosper in this extensive city, according



to the suggestion of Mr. Hume.






   If a sufficient number of persons would unite  into



a society to form an establishment to the westward^ the



object might easily be accomplished.   I should have



pleasure  in joining such a society, and in promoting



its views.                               ^- L. K




                       M 
                       82
   The subject hpwewr to which he particularly  in-
 vited the attention of the meeting was the opportunity
 that had lately occurred, of appropriating a portion of
 the Small Pox Hospital to the purposes of a Bathing
 Infirmary.  As to the objects for which that excellent
 establishment were originally intended, had been in
 great measure superseded by the progress  of  vaccina^
 tion, tie  was authorized to state that the parties who
 proposed to apply to parliament in the ensuing session
 for an act to enable them to bring sea water to London
 likewise proposed  to supply the  intended infirmary
 with water  upon the most moderate terms-

   Mr. Hume concluded  his address, by recommending
 the measures to  the attention of the public; by as-
 serting his belief, from his own particular acquaintance
 with baths  in  foreign  countries,  that the  intended
 establishments *ould  become very productive to their
 promoters,—and  by promising (though he  did not
mean to be in any way  connected  with, or privately
concerned in the undertaking)  all  the assistance he
 could offeror command, both in and out of parliament,
in support of what  he considered a great  public ac
commodation,. 
                        83
  The following resolutions were then passed:

1st. That in addition  to the existing  hospitals,  and
    the present medical charities, a Sea-Bathing Infir-
    mary will proveeminently beneficial to the public.

 2d. Thatajoint stock company be formed to apply to
     parliament  in the ensuing session for  a bill  to
    enable them to  bring up  sea-water in  a  copious
    and continued stream, from the coast of Essex to
    the  metropolis—to supply several large conveni-
    ent  baths for the accommodation of the public,
    and to afford to the intended Infirmary, abundance
    of water at the most moderate expence.

 3d. That the plans be submitted to the affluent and
     humane, and that  the attention of the  public be
     invited to support an institution which promises
     health and  comfort to the  community at large,
     and relief to the diseased poor in particular.

 4th. That the intended Infirmary be adapted, at  first,
    for  the receptiou of 100 in-patients, and of 200 
                        S4,
     oui-p.itients, where sea water  bathing, hot, and
     cold  may  be  liberally afforded,  and  that a
     part of the Small  Pox  Hospital be appropriated
     for the purpose.

 Mb. That a committee be immediately appointed to-
     gether with the  vice-presidents,  to  carry  into
     effect the measures proposed, and  to  obtain  the
     names of such noblemen and gentlemen as may
     be willing to support the infirmary.

   Their  Royal  Highnesses the  Dukes of Kent  and
 Sussex having withdrawn, George Sinclair, Esq. M.P.
 at the request of the gentlemen present, having taken
 the chair, the thanks of the meeting were voted una-
 nimously  to their  Royal  Highnesses the  Dukes of
 Kent and Sussex for their gracious attendance, and for
 the pa.tronage with which they had honored the Insti-
 tution ; and on a motion from the chair, the thanks of
 the r?ceting were loudly and unanimousv voted to
Joseph Hume, Esq. M. P. for his philanthropy, and for
his unremitted zeal and exertions both ia and out  of
parliament, in supporting this benevolent undertaking. 
It was likewise resolved that  the resolutions should
be inserted in the public papers.*
  June 17 th, IS12.
SEA WATER BATHS.
  The following professional gentlemen were applied
to;  and their sentiments concerning the intended sea-
water baths, and infirmary, were communicated to the
public, together with the Prospectus, Engineer's Re-
port, &c. in a pamphlet, entitled " An Account of the
Proceedings," &c.   April, 1812.
Doctors Baillie.	Messrs	. Everard Home
Morris.		Blair.
Maton.		Luxmore.
Lettsom.		Ingham.
Sims.		Abbs.
Stanger.		Edmonstone.
  *  The Resolutions were inserted at length in the Morning Post*
the A Ifred, the Statesman, see the Morning Post of June 25, 1812. 
86
s Tern pie.	Messrs	. Leigh ton.
Babington.		Este.
Rees.		PaK reman
Merriman.		/£hilver.
Fothergill.		Clarke.
George Pearson.		Pearse.
Dale.		Farr.
Martin.		Lee.
Bateman.		
  And in the prospectus, dated May, 1812, the com*
mittee of managers consisted of

Sir John Pinhorn.          Dr. Martin.
Alexander Anderson, Esq.   Robert Orford, Esq.
Robert Batson, Esq.        Jonathan Parker, Esq.
C. E. Clarke, Esq.
Dr. Fothergill.
M. L, Este, Esq.
C. Mace, Esq.
Richard Rowed, Esq.
John Surtees, Esq.
Samuel Thackeray, Esq.
Peter Young, Esq.
  The papers and particulars may be had of Messrs.
Baker and Sons, Church-row, Limehouse,  and 5, Ni-
cholas-lane,  Lomhard-street;  and at the office, 10,
Three-King-court, Lombard-street.
THE  END.
ft, Jtiiut, ttiuivr, Old Uaiky, Loudon, 
     dUpwing Publications by Mr. Este, may be Had of
   ulessrs/Gale, Curtis,  and Fenner,  No, 23, Pater-
   noster-row.

Observations on the Thermje of the Ancients, ap-
   plicable to Modern Baths, 4to. Price Is.

Letter to the IIoyal Institution of Great Bri-
   tain,  containing a complete Syllabus, or Plan of a
   Course of Lectures on Comparative  Physiology, de-
   livered there in 1810. 8vo. Price 2s.

Cursory  Remarks on Contagious Diseases. 8vo.
   Price Is. 6d.

Paper  printed by the  Committee for forming Sea
   Water Baths in the Metropolis on the Opposition
   in Parliament to the  Sea  Water Bath Bill. Folio,
   Price Is.   April, 1812.

              Preparing for the Press,
Remarks on  the Diseases, General and Topical
  Affections in which Baths may afford Relief.