Summer and autumn are the best seasons of the year for cold sea bathing—August and September being the best months. To prepare the skin for the cold sea bathing, it would be well, before taking a dip in the sea, to have on the previous day a warm salt-water bath. It is injurious, and even dangerous, to bathe _immediately_ after a _full_ meal; the best time to bathe is about two hours after breakfast—that is to say, at about eleven or twelve o’clock in the forenoon. The bather, as soon as he enters the water, _ought instantly_ to wet his head; this may be done either by his jumping at once from the machine into the water, or, if he have not the courage to do so, by plunging his head without loss of time _completely_ under the water. He should remain in the water about a quarter of an hour, but never longer than half an hour. Many bathers by remaining a long time in the water do themselves great injury. If sea bathing be found to be invigorating—and how often to the delicate it has proved to be truly magical—a patient may bathe once every day, but on no account oftener. If he be not strong, he had better, at first, bathe only every other day, or even only twice a week. The bather, after leaving the machine, ought, for half an hour, to take a brisk walk in order to promote a reaction, and thus to cause a free circulation of the blood. 306. _Do you think a tepid bath may be more safely used?_ A tepid bath may be taken at almost any time; and a bather may remain longer in one, with safety, than in a cold bath. A tepid bath from 62 to 96 degrees of Fahrenheit. 307. _Do you approve of warm bathing?_ A warm bath may, with advantage, be occasionally used—say once a week. A warm bath from 97 to 100 degrees of Fahrenheit. A warm bath cleanses the skin more effectually than either a cold or a tepid bath; but, as it is more relaxing, ought not to be employed so often as either of them. A person should not continue longer than ten minutes in a warm bath. Once a week, as a rule, is quite often enough for a warm bath; and it would be an excellent plan if every boy and girl and adult would make a practice of having one _regularly_ every week, unless any special reason should arise to forbid its use. 308. _But does not warm bathing, by relaxing the pores of the skin, cause a person to catch cold if he expose himself to the air immediately afterward?_ There is, on this point, a great deal of misconception and unnecessary fear. A person, _immediately_ after using a warm bath, should take proper precautions—that is to say, he must not expose himself to draughts, neither ought he to wash himself in _cold_ water, nor should he, _immediately_ after taking one, drink _cold_ water. But he may follow his usual exercise or employment, provided the weather be fine, and the wind be neither in the east nor the northeast.