Hygiene of the Toilet Bathing
Home Decoration, September 15, 1888
Dr. Mary Taylor Bissell
The benison of mankind upon the man who first invented bathing! Luxury, however, has so overlaid his simple idea of a cool plunge in a neighboring stream that he would scarcely recognize his invention in the intricacies and elegant details of a modern Turkish or Roman bath. Civilization is not an unmixed evil, and many of these luxurious details are useful and hygienic as well as elegant.
Bathing, like other hygienic measures, must be regulated by the condition of the bather and the season of the year, and in this matter many people have idiosyncrasies which it is not prudent to disregard. A bath too hot or too cold will make some individuals miserable for a day, and such people will do well to familiarize themselves with the temperatures of simple baths.
A cold bath has a temperature of from 33 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperate bath from 75 to 85 degrees ; a tepid bath rises to 85 or 92 while a warm one reaches from 92 to 98. At 98 a bath is hot, but it may sometimes be raised as high as 112, under direction. Each of these temperatures has its useful function, but, as already intimated, cannot be used with the same impunity by all.
There is little fear but that my readers are in the habit of bathing often enough. I believe, indeed, that occasionally we meet with some delicate woman who bathes too often.
The amount of reaction that follows a bath is the general test of its healthfulness. The cold tub bath or plunge cannot be recommended to many women. Water below 65 degrees Fahrenheit is a considerable shock to most people, from which reaction is difficult. It is true that sea-bathing is generally much colder than the average cool bath at home, but there is the additional stimulation to the skin.