2-982-629 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Metropolitian Baths - the Vapour Bath, 1858. 'The elegance of a well-appointed dressing-room has been imported into every bath-room, which shines resplendent with mirrors, marble, and mahogany. Many of the appliances are exceedingly ingenious...if you take a warm bath, you can preserve its heat without...being scalded...because each bath is supplied from a cistern where hot and cold water are duly blended, and maintained at an unvarying temperature. The towels are kept in little cupboards warmed by hot-air pipes...The vapour-bath - we describe it for the benefit of the uninitiated - is a perforated platform forming the base of a sort of iron cage, which, when the patient is seated, is carefully enveloped in a flannel shrouding to prevent the escape of vapour. To this shroud or canopy are affixed several flannel sleeves, or leggings...through which may be extended a limb or two if you wish to undergo a little shampooing. Pipes run under the platform, and send up a delightful medicated vapour, the fragrance of healthful rosemary, which the patient inhales with intense complacency, until the attendant cries "Hold, enough!" when he may, if he chooses, plunge into the cold bath in the corner...and afterwards rise a renovated and rejuvenated man', From "Illustrated London News", 1858.