_Cleanliness_ in connection with the bath should be strictly enforced: it should be cleaned and dried daily and occasionally scrubbed, and the washing glove well rinsed after use. _The_ delicately-soft skin of Egyptian women is said to be produced by the habitual use of the _loofah_, a fibrous flesh-glove woven by Dame Nature, the use of which is to be commended for finally cleansing the skin after the soap application with the ordinary washing glove. The _loofah_ not only readily removes every particle of soap, but acts as a mildly invigorating flesh-glove, increases the suppleness of the skin in a marked degree, and moreover possesses the happy faculty of completely rinsing itself the moment it is dipped into water. Some persons discard the washing glove altogether, and use a _loofah_ for applying the soap to the body: _loofahs_ are of different degrees of texture, and when thus used, a fine close quality should be selected. _The_ sponge after use should be dipped in clean water and pressed out—not wrung, which tends to tear it—as nearly dry as possible: if habitually left charged with water, or—as sometimes done with a vague idea of sweetening—put out wet in the sun to dry, it will not only rot quickly but probably smell offensively, and even become unpleasant to the touch. To restore its sweetness, the sponge should be placed for a day or so in a basin of water in which a large piece of washing soda has been dissolved: the water should be changed once or twice, or oftener if necessary, and the sponge well squeezed out each time. _A word_ about the soap:—the best, perhaps, is that known as “John Knight’s Primrose,” an ordinary yellow soap, sweet and sound, and apparently containing none of the foreign matter sometimes found in soaps of a commoner and cheaper description. Scented soap must be avoided, especially for using habitually and liberally over the whole body. _Decidedly_ unpleasant feelings, in some cases amounting to a positive loathing, occasionally follow the preliminary wetting of the feet on stepping into cold water: it may be taken for granted that such antipathy is by no means imaginary, but simply nature’s protest. The use is recommended, in conjunction with the _Sponge-bath_, of a broad stool (heavily weighted at the bottom, to prevent risk of upsetting) covered loosely with carpet, and high enough to reach above the level of the water when placed in the middle of the bath: the piece of carpet may be dried each day after use; or a _Sponge-bath_ may be readily constructed with a fixed raised centre of metal forming a portion of the bath, the bather standing as it were on an island: the feet may thus at first be kept dry, and the preliminary shock received on the head and shoulders; persons who in despair had almost given up the _Soap-bath_, are by this means enabled to enjoy it without discomfort.