h houses.+ In the
fifteenth century it became the custom to bathe in rivers or at mineral
springs. Wealth, luxury, fashion, and new forms of vice attended this
change.[1531] The convents of the fifteenth century are described as
places of debauch.[1532] An English globe trotter of the beginning of
the seventeenth century describes the baths of Baden near Zurich, where
the old custom of the sexes bathing together had been modified somewhat,
but only for married women.[1533] If the custom of bathing together does
not still exist throughout Northern Europe, it must have been abolished
within a few years. Retzius[1534] describes it as existing in Finland in
1878, and many travelers have described the village bath houses of
Northern Russia and Scandinavia. Retzius says that the bath house is a
kind of sanctuary. Any misdemeanor committed there is considered far
more wicked than the same fault elsewhere. Here we see the mores raising
a special conventionalization to protect a custom which is expedient,
but which transgresses the usual taboo. The fact is that the complete
taboo on nudity in Central Europe is not over two centuries old. By
itself, nudity was not regarded as shameful or indecent. Therefore in
the bath, where it was in order, it was disregarded, just as now a
workmen's dress, an athlete's dress, or a bathing dress is disregarded.
During the centuries when the ecclesiastical authorities endeavored in
vain to stop the sexes from bathing together, it must be that public
opinion did not recognize in that usage any serious evil which called
for repression. The English now express surprise that the sexes at
American watering places go into the sea together, to which Americans
attach no importance at all. If Americans bathed in English bathing
dresses the sexes would speedily separate.

+470. Nudity.+ In early Christian drama Christ was represented by a
naked youth. Then he was represented by a youth who wore a breech cloth
only. In the sixteenth century, at Naples, in a representation of the
creation of Adam and Eve, the actors had only the privates covered. The
stage fell and many were hurt, which was held to show God's displeasure
at the show. The flagellants in the theater, in France, were represented
naked, as penitents.[1535]

+471. Alleged motives of concealment taboo.+ Herodotus says of the
Lydians and almost all barbarians that they considered it shameful for
one man to be seen by another naked.[1536] The Jewi