heat enough, and in this part of his task he certainly succeeded; but the soot ascended in such quantities, that it became necessary to remove everything out of the room except the bath itself, undress in an adjoining apartment, cross a passage to the bath, and then, after taking the bath, recross the passage to dress. The nuisance having at last become unendurable, the bath was pulled down,' and provision made for the escape of the blacks, after which it worked fairly well. I never could learn the exact cost of all this, but I am sure it was very considerable. Lastly comes the objection, that the combustion of even a moderate amount of gas in a bath-room soon gives some persons a very uneasy feeling about the head, often ending in bad headache itself.

In the course of my inquiries I came upon accounts of various kinds of portable vapour baths, some invented by amateurs, others by professed mechanicians. The former had usually a history of disastrous failure attached to them. One gentleman had scalded his legs so badly with the steam, that he did not throw off the effects for some weeks. Another had ignited the chair on which he sat, and soon found himself enveloped in fire and smoke; while making frantic efforts to escape from the covering under which he had ensconced himself, he fell, sitting on the seat, which gave way under him, and he sank down amid the burning ruins, from which he only emerged in a very dilapidated condition. One after another, they seem to have been given up by their authors themselves; and a somewhat similar fate appears to have awaited the other class, as I believe no discovery in this direction has really

recommended itself thoroughly to public confidence, by showing that it possessed the essentials of success.

More success seems to have attended some economical attempts at a domestic hot-air bath, as, for instance, by means of a thin iron plate set over a spirit-lamp. The objections to such arrangements are, that it is not always safe to trust to the ingenuity of the person for whom the bath is ordered; that dry air is not always suited for skin diseases; that such baths, if gentle in their operation, do not give out enough heat; and if strong enough, are open to the drawbacks urged against the Turkish bath.

I myself essayed with one or two portable vapour baths, but found they threw out too little heat to be of service. In one, which I tested carefully, the heat did not rise above 83°. Naturally the patients did not get even warm whilst using them. It has been stated to me that there are baths of this kind which answer their purpose very well; the information, however, was of too vague a nature to admit of my acting on it, and I therefore restrict myself to an expression of opinion on those which I have tried. Consequently, after numerous trials, I finally adopted the bath about to be described, which I think quite effects the desired purpose.

CHAPTER III.

FORM OF BATH RECOMMENDED, AND HOW TO TAKE IT.

The Brick Vapour Bath.-The Portable Vapour Bath recommended. -The Reservoir.-The Ring-Flame Lamp.-Great Heat generated by it. The Russian, or Blast Lamp.-Experiments with other Forms of Baths.-The Spirit Fuel.-The Flanneled Hoop. -How to take the Bath.-Faintness avoided by the Use of the Portable Vapour Bath.-The Latter as a Remedy for Defective Circulation. As a Means of inducing Appetite-And Sleep. -How to take a modified Turkish Bath.-Scented Soaps.The Kneading and Stretching superfluous-As also the Rest after the Bath.-The Mercury Bath.-The Sulphur Bath.— The Galvanic Bath.-Cold, Warm, and Hot Baths in Diseases of the Skin.

OR those who can have a fire in the bedroom when

FOR ever

ever they choose, and, indeed, for all who can get access to a fire of any kind for the time necessary, the simplest and least expensive bath is a modification of the old-fashioned plan of simply heating a brick and putting it into hot water. Principally, however, owing to the entire ignorance which prevails concerning what is really requisite for a bath of this kind, it constantly failed, and, in consequence, the following plan was finally adopted. Two half bricks are procured from the nearest plumber's

shop or builder's yard. These are heated in the fire with a pair of bellows till they are as hot as they can be made, and then taken out with the tongs and placed in a zinc pail half full of hot water. Over this is set a canebottomed chair, and upon the canework is laid a thick Turkish towel folded. On this the patient sits, with the feet on a stool which has been heating in the fender, and a large blanket thrown around him. The bath is taken on an empty stomach, and is continued for about ten minutes, except with the very delicate, who need not keep it up so long. The blanket is then thrown off, and the whole frame well rubbed down with a Turkish towel. The bath should be used at least twice or thrice weekly, ample experience having shown that there is scarcely any, if any, disease of the skin, calling for the remedy, that is benefited by less than this, and that to take a bath every week or ten days is simply tantamount to taking none at all. The bather had better, after the process, remain indoors for the first few times, not that there is really any fear of his catching cold, but because it is just as well to guard against even a suspicion of such a result; for a patient who is going through the course is apt to forget that a cold is sometimes caught when the bath is not being used.

This plan, in the ruder form just spoken of as having failed so often, or some equivalent process, has often been prescribed as a rough-and-ready substitute for every kind of vapour bath; but with the almost uniform result of leading to so many failures, that I very much doubt whether those who professed to have the most faith in its

virtues have ever continued it long. But there is a still stronger objection; there is a large section of the community who cannot have recourse to it at all, and those who have prescribed it without reservation must have had little practical experience of the subject. For travellers and those who have to live in apartments, for those holding posts in large houses of business, it is even less within reach than the Turkish bath; and they must of necessity resort either to the portable vapour bath, or to the standing bath when this is within reach. The former was designed for those who can get neither the latter nor the brick bath; and simple as it may now seem, it was difficult enough to bring into thorough working order, the experiments requisite to secure efficiency having extended over more than two years. There were several problems to solve. It was absolutely necessary that the bath should be strong and yet light and portable; that it should be so simple as to leave no room for mistakes; that it should work so easily as to be readily lighted and extinguished, and yet of material that would not soon wear out; that the cost of it, as also the cost of taking it, should be so moderate as to bring it within the reach of all but the very poor; that the fuel should cause no disagreeable smell, and the working of the apparatus be free from danger both to the bather and the room in which the bath is taken; and that no pipes, fixtures, or other paraphernalia should be required.

The first object aimed at was, with a small bath, to expose the greatest possible amount of surface to the heat employed; and this I think is pretty well secured by the