Turkish Baths

ITS DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION. 37
work and glazed woodwork. Any piers
in these rooms
must be of brickwork, iron columns being inadmissible.
Masonry, too, must be discarded throughout,
or used with caution. Some stones such as red
Mansfield
others fare still worse.
become black with exposure to the heat, and
The employment of porous and
absorbent materials must be guarded against throughout
this portion of the bath, as it should be remembered that
effete matters, particles of waste tissue, and possibly
the germs of disease, are continually being given off
by the perspiring bathers, and must be prevented from
finding a lodgment.
The best woods fur use in the hot rooms are closegrained
and free from essential oils. Mahogany is
excellently adapted for the purpose, and so, also, is
teak. Pitch pine must be discarded altogether. Deal,
when employed, should be perfectly seasoned,
and may then give
trouble from the exudation of
turpentine.
The partitions, and the doorways in them, must be
so placed as to govern the flow of hot air. So long as
the main divisions be planned with this end in view, the
separate rooms may be divided and broken up
as the
architect may fancy. But the constant flow of the
heated air from the inlet in the hottest room towards
the lavatorium must not be interfered with by recesses,
nooks, and corners, or anything that would cause the
current to stagnate. And here we may see the practical
advantage possessed by a bath where the hot rooms are
en suite, and in a line with one axis. For here the
air sweeps uninterruptedly through the different