Chapter I

THE BATH, an animal instinct; coeval with the earliest existence
of man; common to every rank; a ceremony of his
birth, and a funereal rite; discovery of thermal springs;
the Scamander; commemoration of the hot-bath by Homer;
the hot-baths of Hercules; estimation of hot-baths by the
Phœdrians; frequency of thermal springs; Hamâms of
the East, Hamâm Ali, near ancient Nineveh; Hamâm
Meskhoutin in Algeria; Baths of Nero in Italy; German
thermal springs, Carlsbad, Wiesbaden, Ems, Aix-la-Chapelle;
the Geysers of Iceland; thermal springs of Amsterdam
Island; of America; of England, Bath, Bristol,
Buxton, Matlock pp. 1-5

Primitive idea of the artificial hot-vapour bath; Bath of the
American Indians; ancient Irish Bath, or sweating-house,
the Tig Allui; Mexican Bath; Moorish Bath; the Hypocaust pp. 5-9

Eastern origin of the bath; Mr. Urquhart's discovery of the
vestiges of the Phœnician Bath among the ruins of Baalbeck;
Syrian Bath; Gazul, its nature and properties; Gazul and the
Strigil derived from Mauritania; probable irradiation of the
knowledge of the bath from Phœnicia pp. 9-12

Hypocaust of the Moorish, Mexican, Greek, and Roman Bath;
the only method of heating houses in Greece and Rome; the
common practice in China; Chinese vapour bath, pp. 12-13

Baths of Greece; Gymnasia; Gymnasium or Palæstra; Lyceum
Academia; Cynosarges pp. 14-18

Thermæ and Balneæ of Rome; Baths of Agrippa, Titus, Paulus
Æmilius, Diocletian, and Caracalla; magnificence of the
Roman Thermæ; Roman Baths of England; decline of the
bath in Rome; construction of the Roman Bath; excessive
indulgence in the bath by the Romans; Pliny's description
of his own bath; Seneca's reproof of the luxury and wanton
extravagance of the Romans pp. 18-29

Roman Baths of England; Uriconium; Chester pp. 29-33

The bath lost by the Romans; preserved by the Turks; the
Turkish Hamâm; construction of the Hamâm; costume of
the bath; mode of taking the bath; the outer Hall, or
Mustaby, the middle room, the inner room; shampooing;
rolling and peeling the scarf-skin; soaping and rinsing;
return to the Mustaby; the couch of repose; special characteristics
of the Turkish Hamâm--vapoury atmosphere,
low temperature; the Turkish process contrasted with the
Roman; the order, the decorum, the dignity of the Turkish
Bath; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's description of the
Women's Bath in Turkey pp. 33-46

The Egyptian Bath; the Bath of Siout; the Bath at Cairo;
Mr. Thackeray's experiences; Egyptian shampooing; M.
Savary's description of the Egyptian Bath and Egyptian
shampooing; its intellectual and medicative properties;
Tournefort's experience pp. 46-50

Introduction of the Turkish Bath to Britain; Mr. Urquhart
and the "Pillars of Hercules"; Mr. Urquhart's advocacy
of the Bath; Mr. Urquhart erects a bath at Blarney for
Dr. Richard Barter; spread of the Turkish Bath in
Ireland pp. 50-52

Pioneers of the Bath in England, Mr. Urquhart, Mr. George
Crawshay, Sir John Fife, Mr. George Witt, Mr. Stewart
Rolland; private Turkish Baths in England; Mr. Witt's
Bath; construction; process of the bath; costume of the
bath; "Companions of the Bath;" first impressions; effect
of the Bath in the removal of pain pp. 52-55

The delights of free perspiration; differences between the practised
bather and the neophyte; thirst; beads upon the rose;
counting our beads; freedom of perspiration in labourers
exposed to high temperatures; a nutritive drink pp. 55-58

Temperature of the bath; mutual relations between temperature,
size of apartment, moisture of atmosphere, and number
of bathers; temperature relative to these conditions; effects
of temperature in water, vapour, and air; man's capability
of supporting temperatures of remarkable altitude in dry
air; Mr. Urquhart's Laconicum; Sir Charles Blagden's experiments;
Sir Francis Chantrey's oven; Chabert, the Fire
King pp. 58-61

The best temperature for the purposes of Health; practice of
the Romans, who lost the bath, compared with that of the
Turks, who have preserved it; philosophy of the bath;
talking and thinking to be avoided in the bath; inconveniences
of the bath to the novitiate; the cause and its
remedy; advice; peculiarities or idiosyncrasies of constitution;
wisdom of the Turks pp. 61, 63

Duration of the bath; influenced by temperature and idiosyncrasy,
pp. 63-64

Second operation of the bath; shampooing; proper moment for
the process; the Turkish process; the Moorish process;
Captain Clark Kennedy's description of the Moorish Bath,
and the operation of shampooing; the British shampooer, pp. 64-72

Third operation of the bath; the peeling of the scarf-skin;
manner of performance; the camel's-hair or goat's-hair
glove pp. 72-74

Fourth operation of the bath; soaping; the wisp of lyf; the
warm shower; the cold douche; alternate hot and cold
douche; closure of the pores; restoration of the warmth of
the skin pp. 74-76

The Frigidarium; the process of cooling; the purified skin;
sensations after the bath; the ordinary dress resumed;
illustration of the use and effects of the bath in dispelling
the cravings of hunger and fatigue pp. 77-79

Mr. Urquhart's bath; the Laconicum; the spiracle of sweet
perfumes; the Lavatrina; the cold pool; the hot and cold
douche; breakfast; _kuscoussoo_; the chemistry of the preparation
of food; its value to man pp. 79-87

My own bath at Richmond Hill pp. 88-89