_In_ conjunction with the _Soap-bath_, daily exercise after breakfast is not only desirable but necessary: half-an-hour’s ride, a brisk walk, or an open air game helps to circulate the blood and raise the spirits for the day. If the accumulated effects of three hundred and sixty-five morning walks could be seen and judged, perhaps business men would not be in quite so great a hurry, after bolting their breakfast, to rush into the omnibus or train. Half-an-hour apparently thus wasted is gained twice over during the day in better work more easily done. _A celebrated_ physician was once heard to say that he did not much care what atmosphere his patients lived in during the day so long as they breathed pure air at night; but whether one resides in town or country, it is impossible to breathe fresh air if the bed-room window be kept closed. Many people appear to be afraid of taking cold if they sleep with the bed-room window open: never was a greater mistake. The most delicately constituted maiden may, with ordinary precaution, and without the slightest fear of injury, sleep with the bed-room window open almost all the year round, and with the certainty of health and vigour being materially improved. Even this uncertain climate is seldom bad enough to compel complete closing up of the windows: the bed must of course not be placed in a direct draught: _i.e._ between the open window and the fireplace. _SPONGE & SHOWER BATHS._ Many persons have to content themselves with a _Sponge-bath_, and although its invigorating effects are great, and cold water daily applied externally—no matter how—hardens the body, and keeps the system up to that high condition which makes the mere sense of living enjoyable, the application of cold water—sometimes nearly freezing—by fits and starts as it were, is not the most comfortable method of taking a bath, and the preference will generally be given to that which enables one to dip overhead at once. _However_, after a long continued course of the _Plunge_, the _Sponge-bath_ will sometimes be found a positive relief, and, like a change of food, will act as a whet to the appetite. In taking such a bath it is desirable that the sponge be of large size, and it should be placed in the bath, charged with water, ready for immediate use. _To_ obtain the fullest benefit in the most agreeable manner, the charged sponge, as the bather steps into the bath, should be lifted and carried quickly to the back of the head, which should be slightly inclined forward, so that the bulk of the water will run down the spine and back; the next spongeful should be almost instantaneously applied, leaning forward, to the top of the head, and the third, standing quite upright, to the chest; the arms and legs may then be separately treated: and if desire be felt for more, the application may be repeated to the back of the head and chest.