The public baths in Turkey are mostly very old buildings, for, as in most towns, the Turkish population has not increased for many generations, only very few new baths have been erected. But in all the new houses of the well-to-do families there are miniature Turkish baths of two or three rooms. Still, notwithstanding their stuffy atmosphere, and the horrid-looking little vermin called 'bath locusts' that infest them, even rich people prefer to go to the large public baths. The baths in private houses are only occasionally heated, and so the temperature cannot be kept steady. They usually either get very hot throughout, or else some parts become so extremely hot that it is almost impossible to touch the wall or the floor, while in other places the marble is quite cold. Persons who wash themselves in these private baths in winter not unfrequently run the risk of taking a chill. A new feature which has been introduced into the old Turkish bath is the cold water douche, which it is becoming customary for the people to take after their hot bath. Whether the Turkish bath was originally modelled on the system used by Romans, or whether some of the bath-houses in Turkey were founded by the Byzantines, it is quite certain that all the good baths in large Turkish towns were constructed and organised by the Ottomans centuries ago; and although most of them are now owned by private persons, a certain portion of their revenue was originally assigned to mosques, schools, and other religious or charitable institutions. In Constantinople there are about seventy-five public baths.