th a
douche, needle, spray, or shower bath, graduated from warm to cold; and
the strong bather, by plunging into a bath of cold water, the object of
which is to contract and close the sweat-glands and pores of the skin
that have been swelled and opened by the high temperatures of the
calorific apartments. For these purposes a small room, with the various
appliances named, and a large chamber containing a more or less ample
plunge bath, must be provided. In small baths, provision for both these
operations is made in one general shampooing and washing room, where the
bather is "massed," rubbed down, washed, and takes the plunge or shower
bath. The plunge may, if thought advantageous, be placed partly in the
cool apartment and partly in the hot rooms, in which case, the bather
dives under a glazed partition of some sort, which, furnished with an
india-rubber flap dangling in the water, prevents the hot air of the
sudatorium from entering the cooling rooms.

The above description gives an outline of the cleansing and hygienic
processes, and of the nature of the requirements of those portions of
the bath devoted to their attainment. I have named them first as being
the most indispensable portion of the necessary suite of rooms, since
the bath may exist if it be merely in the form of an old Irish
"sweating-house," or a somewhat similar construction of the North
American Indian; but without the heated chamber and its appurtenances
there can be no bath.

The next important features to be considered are the dressing and
cooling rooms. Before entering the bath rooms proper, the bather must
divest himself of his clothing, and assume the bathing garment. The
dressing room or _Apodyterium_, and the cooling room or _Frigidarium_,
are generally made one and the same; but they may, with advantage, be
designed as separate and distinct apartments, the provision for dressing
and undressing consisting of a room or rooms with small dressing-boxes
around it. The frigidarium will then be a simple apartment designed for
the economical reception of the reposing couches, it being absolutely
essential that the bather rest awhile, after the bath, to allow the body
to gradually assume its normal temperature. Neglect of this precaution
may cause a renewal of perspiration, and possibly a "cold."

If a combined apodyterium and frigidarium be adopted, it must be fitted
with a number of divans to accommodate a given number of persons, or be
divided i