sense of smell is
peculiarly sensitive, and the slightest odour is detected. The worst
position for the closets is near the door by which the bather leaves the
lavatorium. Defects in this point may ruin an otherwise excellent bath.
If the cooling rooms and hot rooms be on separate floors, the closets
may be designed off a landing on the staircase. In the separate
accommodation for attendants and shampooers the same caution must be
observed.

Adjoining, under, or partly under, the laconicum must be placed the
heating apparatus in its chamber, with stokery and provision for fuel,
&c. The stokery should be large, light, and properly ventilated, and the
attendants should be able easily to communicate with the stoker. Of the
arrangements for heating and supplying the water to the lavatorium I
shall speak in another chapter. Laundry, linen and towel rooms, and a
drying room must be provided. They are important necessities, and should
not be cramped in dimensions.

CHAPTER III.

THE GENERAL DISPOSITION OF PLAN OF PUBLIC BATHS.

Although the process of the bath determines the position of the various
apartments in relation to one another, the exact disposition of the plan
must be governed by the shape of the ground to be covered, the nature of
the site and surroundings, and--if the bath be constructed in an
existing building--the amount of space allotted to it. The _relative_
position of chamber to chamber of the sudatorium, and of the latter to
the cooling rooms, must remain more or less constant; but the angle of
connection with each other, their shape, proportions, and floor levels,
must, together with the positions of the subsidiary apartments, be
determined by the exigencies of the site, and considerations of
convenience and economy. Frequently, the architect will be called upon
to design a bath in a given space in the lower floors of some existing
building. He may be given the ground or basement floor to make the most
of as best he can. His plan is thus considerably hampered. If the site
includes the basement and ground floor of an ordinary house, he may
arrange the offices and cooling and dressing rooms on the ground floor;
and the hot rooms, shampooing room, and bath rooms, in the basement.
Where possible, the hot rooms should be pushed out beyond the back wall
of the houses, and lighted from the top. In cities, the hot rooms will
often have to be in the actual basement. Where space is valuable a whole
house