_Perhaps_ the very acme of luxurious bathing is reached in the _Soap-bath_, an application of hot water and soap to the whole body, followed immediately by a cold plunge, or a sponge-bath. A bath is at once a necessity and a luxury, and in order to obtain the greatest number of benefits, including increased health, appetite, vigour, and good spirits, the _Soap-bath_ is the most effectual, and moreover the pleasantest and least trying to the weakly or over sensitive constitution. _It_ is a simple and invigorating luxury as compared with the self-inflicted half-painful ordeal the cold bath is to many, which latter is too often taken, not for its own sake, but for the good supposed to follow its use. After a _Soap-bath_, however, one is ready for the duties or pleasures of the day: duty in fact becomes a pleasure, and pleasure itself is intensified. [Illustration: A hot Afternoon.] _The Soap-bath_ obtains a rapidly increasing number of adherents, and when once the habit of taking it is formed, it will not readily be abandoned, as it forms one of the pleasures, if not _the_ pleasure of the day, and moreover, can be indulged in all the year round. _The_ fair sex will find the _Soap-bath_ vastly superior to any cosmetic: it renders the skin as soft as an infant’s, and, with increased health, the complexion will appear more delicate and clear, tinged with a healthy colour beyond the power of art to produce. _It_ appears from the evidence obtained by modern scientific research, that hot water destroys the germinating power of malignant contagious diseases, and that soap chemically poisons it. These germs or spores are carried about by every wind that blows: and when it is borne in mind that, roughly speaking, a million of such germs will lie on a threepenny-piece; the value, as a preventive of contagion, of a thorough daily ablution with soap, may be estimated. _The_ Romans, according to Pliny, raised the temperature of their air baths to almost boiling point, and they were apparently well acquainted with the grateful and invigorating after-application of cold water. _It_ is no slight recommendation of the _Soap-bath_, that while being an absolute luxury both for the feeble and robust, it cannot be resorted to as a mere indolent indulgence: the lungs and muscles are called into full action, a moderate though pleasant shock is encountered, and the bather has the satisfaction of knowing that all the pleasure and advantages gained are actually earned.