An essay on the Oriental bath : read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, on the 29th August, 1857 / by Edward Haughton.

  • Haughton, E. (Edward)
Date:
1860
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the Oriental bath : read before the British Association for the Advancement of Science, on the 29th August, 1857 / by Edward Haughton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    of the human race; which is venerable from its antiquity, founded upon science, supported by authority, and confirmed by experience.'—March 26th, 1859. From the Dublin Builder.—On the Construction of Eastern B iths. It is very remarkable that the revival of Rutnan Baths should be due to Ireland, where we find no traces of their former existence; whilst those countries which formerly possessed them will now have to learn from us the manner of their construction. I have already made the public aware of some of the localities where their ruins exist, and of those countries in which they are still in operation ; and I have now to inform them that the details of their construc- tion are as varied as the different races and tribes which have employed them. 1 have spoken of the baths of the East on a former occasion as hot-air-baths, in order to draw as wide a distinction as possible between steam baths (which are known in this country, and so much used in Russia), and those in which vapour exists but in small quantity, and does not form the essential feature of the bath. But it must be admitted, that in some Eastern Baths the amount of moisture is often very considerable, so as to make it difficult to select a name which is not calculated to mislead. * * * * If we compare modern Turkish Baths with Roman Thernuc, under the Emperors, we shall find a very great change for the better in the comparative simplicity of Mussulman customs. Indeed, I should be the last man in the country to advocate the abuse of the bath, which undoubtedly took place during the decline of the Roman Empire, and which has led many to stigmatise the institution itself, as the cause of evils which could only exist in a people whose energies had been dwarfed by tyranny, and enfeebled by luxury and effeminacy. The numerous apartments of these mighty p;ilaces, whose ruins compel our admiration, can never, therefore, become objects of our imitation : but what is much better than external splen- dour, will be the practical utility and simple elegance of those ' temples of cleanliness,' which are destined, ere long, to spring up throughout the length and breadth of the Emerald fsleP—By Edward Haughton, M.D., 1st April, 1859. CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. In order to encourage private parties to construct for themselves or their neighbours a ldnd of bath which I have shown to be so useful, I may mention that upwards of 100 of them are already in operation in Great Britain and Ireland. When materials are at hand, a very few pounds will cover all expenses. In Rathlin Island the material is turf and loose stones. In Fer mauagh and Tipperary, stone and mortar, or clay and stones covered with sods; whilst (some twenty years ago) large slates, placed against a hollow bank, were used for the same purpose, near the slate quarries of Kilkenny. Edward Haughton, M.P. loth March, 1860.