



Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England




Turkish and Other Baths
A Guide to Good Health and Longevity
By Gordon Stables
Illustrations by Messrs Allen
Published by Dean and Son, London.

Turkish and Other Baths, by Gordon Stables.

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TURKISH AND OTHER BATHS, BY GORDON STABLES.

PREFACE.

No apology surely is needed for a work like this, and its preface need
be but brief.  Small is the book, in size little more than a pamphlet;
yet mayhap it contains hints that will not be thrown away on any reader,
and may be invaluable to many who wish to secure health, long life and
happiness.

The Author.

Christmas Morning, 1882.

CHAPTER ONE.

THE SKIN--ITS USES AND GREAT IMPORTANCE IN THE ANIMAL ECONOMY.

Apart from any consideration of the bath as a remedial measure, in cases
of disease, its importance as an agent for preserving the health, and
granting to those who use it judiciously a reasonable hope of long life,
cannot easily be over-estimated.  But in order to understand properly
the beneficial action of baths on the system, we must have some little
knowledge of the physiology of the skin.  Without such knowledge, all
arguments that we could adduce in favour of the constant use of the bath
in some shape or form, would be of the _post hoc propter hoc_ kind, and
therefore of little value.

What, then, we may ask, are the uses of the skin, for what ends has
Nature designed it, and what is its _modus operandi_?  Briefly stated,
the uses of the skin are as follows:--Firstly, it covers and protects
from violence the surface of the whole