Turkish Baths

46 THE TURKISH BATH:
with shower or douche above, and any other kind of
spray bath that may be required. It should not be a
dark, cold, uninviting hole. For this reason, and also
because a corner is
admirably adapted to receive an
appliance of the shape of a needle bath, it is better,
often, to fit it
up in an angle of the lavatorium. But
of these additions I shall have much to say anon, as
one of the most important points about a bath is the
arrangement of the water-fittings. Needle baths will be
found indicated, on the plans given in these pages, by an
incompleted
circleṪHE
PLUNGE BATH.
Though, according to medical authorities,
this does
not form a necessary appendage to the hot-air bath,
it is
yet a feature that must be provided in the least pretentious
of public establishments. Ever since, and long
before, Cicero observed, in a letter to his brother Quintus,
" Latiorem piscinam voluissem ubi jactata brachia non
ofifenderentur," men who have taken the hot-air bath
have loved the ample plunge. But although
it should
be sufficiently large for any bather to take a dive, and
for an expert to take a true " header," it is a vast mistake
to overdo it, and construct a small swimming bath, out
of all proportion with the other features of the establishment.
One does not look for such an adjunct
: it is a
great expense to keep up, requires a lot of space, and
tempts many to stay too long in the cold water. All
purposes will be served by a bath which will allow the
bather to swim without touching the sides with his hands,