Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Bathing, in general

BATHING, in general, signifies the act of immersing the body, or part of it, into water, or any other fluid; and is a practice coeval with mankind.

The ancient Greeks, Romans, and Germans, as well as the Persians, Turks, and especially the modern Egyptians, enjoy the comforts and luxuries procured by bathing, in a degree of which we can scarcely form an adequate conception. Those who wish to amuse themselves with reading one of the most animated, nay, almost enchanting accounts relative to this subject, we must refer to M. Savary's "Letters on Egypt." From these it appears, that bathing is employed by those voluptuaries, not only for procuring the most delightful sensations, and removing that irksomeness and apathy which is the general concomitant of an idle or sensual life, but likewise with a view to prevent or cure rheumatisms, catarrhs, or such cutaneous diseases as their climate produces, by an atmosphere loaded with humid and impure exhalations, and highly unfavourable to insensible perspiration. The Egyptian baths are said to be heated by the steam of water artificially combined with odoriferous fumes, which penetrate into all the pores, so that they are, in some degree, similar to those of the Russians, before described. And though M. Tournefort is of opinion that vapour-baths have a tendency to injure the organs of respiration, yet if credit be due to Savary, there are no people on earth who are less troubled with asthmatic complaints than the Egyptians; and few nations so passionately fond of such bathing. In short, we cannot suppress the remarks formerly made on this important branch of dietetic regimen, that, "though the ancients could less dispense with the use of the bath, on account of the frequency of their athletic exercises, as well as from the want of linen, which was then much less in use than at present, yet in our times, it would be of great service, if the use of baths were, more general and frequent, and this beneficial practice not confined to particular places or seasons, as a mere matter of fashion. Considered as a species of universal domestic remedy, as one which forms the basis of cleanliness, bathing, in its different forms, may be pronounced one of the most extensive and beneficial restorers of health and vigour."