The time passed in the Calidarium, with the occasional retirements already mentioned, may vary between twenty minutes and an hour; _a continuous moderate perspiration of a certain duration_ being the object which should be kept in view. Besides causing an active perspiration, the warmth and moisture of the Bath soften the epiderm or scarf-skin, and by gentle friction with the hand the softened epiderm is rubbed off in small elliptical cylinders. At the conclusion of the bath the skin should be gently rubbed over with soap, applied either with the kheesah or goat-hair glove, or with a wisp of lyf--the white woody fibre of the Mecca palm, commonly used for the purpose in the East. After the friction with soap, the body should be thoroughly rinsed by means of the warm shower-bath; and after the warm shower-bath follows a shower of cold water, or a cold douche. The idea of a douse of cold water upon a fully perspiring skin suggests a feeling of alarm in the minds of those who have not experienced it, or have not thought upon the matter; but in practice it is inexpressibly grateful to the sensations, and wholly free from the shadow of danger. The purpose of the cold douche is to cause a sudden shrinking or contraction of the skin, and this contraction closes all the pores, and tightens and braces the cutaneous vessels. The process is necessarily accompanied with a trifling amount of cooling of the surface, and the bather remains in the Calidarium for a few minutes longer, until this coolness has passed away, and the skin is everywhere warm to the touch. He then leaves the Calidarium, and enters the Frigidarium. When the bather possesses a separate Lavatorium, the process of soaping, with the subsequent ablutions, is performed in that apartment; and, being accomplished, he returns to the Calidarium to recover his warmth, and is then ready for the Frigidarium. The warming of the body after the cold douche is thus shown to be an important part of the bath--as, in fact, is every process, howsoever trivial each may seem when considered separately and by itself.