25 JULY 1931, Page 16

A Hundred Years Ago " THE SPECTATOR," JULY 23an, 1831.

TEPID SWIDOdING BATH.

This improvement in the luxury of bathing is likely to render tha6 healthful and invigorating .practice more general than it has been, as the temperature of the water (about 70°) prevents any of those unpleasant effects which cold bathing, and even the warm bath, produce on some constitutions. It is equally agreeable, also, in. winter and in summer. This bath is situate in the York Road, leading from Waterloo to the Westminster Road : it is of a com- modious size—fifty by twenty-five feet, and is fitted up with dressing. boxes, &c. The water, which is soft, is supplied from a spring on the premises, and is slightly impregnated with magnesia. It is warmed by passing through the boiler of a steam-engine ; and is quite, clear, the whole body of water being changed about once in every. twenty-four hours. A powerful jet of cold water in the centre of the bath may be made to act at pleasure, so as to combine the stimulating effects of a shower-bath with the more comfortable: luxury of warm-bathing. The sensation is most agreeable.