The eastern or Turkish bath : $b its history, revival in Britain, and application to the purposes of healthWilson, Erasmus, Sir
History
The eastern or Turkish bath : $b its history, revival in Britain, and application to the purposes of health
Wilson, Erasmus, Sir
Baths, Turkish
We shall suppose that our friends have enjoyed their bath, and have
agreeably spent three-quarters of an hour in the Calidarium:--the skin
is now warm and moist, and the whole frame, its muscles and its joints,
are softened and relaxed. This is the proper state and period, for
those operations on the muscles and joints which are called SHAMPOOING.
But as the art of shampooing is unknown in this country, or, if
attempted, is practised only in the public baths, we must be contented
in our private bath to pass over that process, the SECOND of the bath,
and betake ourselves to that which follows, the _rolling_ or _peeling_
of the scarf-skin.
We cannot, however, wholly pass by the process of shampooing without
a cursory glance at the nature of the operation and the manner of
its performance. In the _inner room_ of the Turkish bath, we have,
following the description of Mr. Urquhart, seen the bather laid upon
his back, on the marble platform under the centre of the dome, his
mantle converted into a sheet to protect him from the heat of the
marble, and his turban placed beneath his head in the guise of a
pillow. The shampooer, or _tellak_ as he is termed--and to perform the
operation properly there should be two,--"kneels at your side, and
bending over, grips and presses your chest, arms, and legs, passing
from part to part, like a bird shifting its place on a perch. He
brings his whole weight on you with a jerk, follows the line of muscle
with anatomical thumb, draws the open hand strongly over the surface,
particularly round the shoulder, turning you half up in so doing;
stands with his feet on the thighs and on the chest, and slips down the
ribs; then up again three times; and, lastly, doubling your arms one
after the other on the chest, pushes with both hands down, beginning
at the elbow, and then, putting an arm under the back and applying his
chest to your crossed elbows, rolls on you across till you crack. You
are now turned on your face, and, in addition to the operation above
described he works his elbow round the edges of your shoulder-blade,
and with the heel plies hard the angle of the neck; he concludes by
hauling the body half up by each arm successively, while he stands with
one foot on the opposite thigh. You are then raised for a moment to a
sitting posture, and a contortion given to the small of the back with
the knee, and a jerk to the neck by the two hands holding the temples."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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