History of SanitationCosgrove, J. J. (John Joseph)
History
History of Sanitation
Cosgrove, J. J. (John Joseph)
Sanitation -- History
The two physicians, Galen and Celsus, differ in some respects as to the
order in which the baths should be taken; the former recommending first
the hot air of laconicum, next the bath of warm water, afterward the
cold, and finally to be well rubbed; while the latter recommends his
patients first to sweat for a short time in the tepid chamber without
undressing, then to proceed into the thermal chamber, and after having
gone through a regular course of perspiration there, not to descend
into the warm bath, but to pour a quantity of warm water over the head,
then tepid, and finally cold; afterward to be scraped with the strigil
and finally rubbed dry and anointed. Such in all probability was the
usual habit of the Romans when the bath was resorted to as a daily
source of pleasure, and not for any particular medical treatment; the
more so as it resembles in many respects the system of bathing still in
practice among the Orientals who succeeded by conquest to the luxuries
of the enervated Greeks and Romans.
Having thus detailed from classical authorities the general habits of
the Romans in connection with their systems of bathing, it now remains
to examine and explain the internal arrangements of the structures
which contained their baths, which will serve as a practical commentary
upon all that has been said. Indeed, there are more ample and better
materials for acquiring a thorough insight into Roman manners in this
one particular than for any of the other usages connected with their
daily habit.
In order to make the subjoined description clear, a reproduction from
an old woodcut of a fresco painting on the walls of the thermæ of
Titus at Rome, is here reproduced, showing in broken perspective the
general arrangement of one of the baths known as the thermæ. Heat was
supplied to warm the apartments and the water used in the baths by the
furnace shown extending under the entire floor of the establishment.
This furnace was known as a Hypocustum. To the right may be seen the
vessels in which water for the baths was heated. The topmost vessel,
the Frigidarium, contained cold water from which the hot water tanks
and the various baths were supplied. Next in order is the tepidarium,
in which water of moderate temperature was stored, and in the lowest,
the caldarium, was heated the hottest water used in the baths. After
the end of the republic, large establishments used to have a separate
steam bath, the laconicum, and in this apartment, or sometimes
adjoining the tepidarium, was the Clipeus, a small circular chamber
covered by a cupola. The Clipeus received its light through an aperture
in the center of the dome, and this aperture served also as a vent from
the chamber. The Clipeus was heated by means of a separate heating
apparatus, and its temperature could be raised to an enormous degree or
could be regulated to suit the bather by raising or lowering the shield.
[Illustration: Thermæ of Titus at Rome]
[Illustration: Clipeus. From an old woodcut]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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