THE custom of washing and bathing has existed from the earliest times. Among the Egyptians it was a part of their religious worship. Among the Jews it formed part of the ceremony of purification prescribed by Moses. The Greeks considered it a sanitary expedient, and among the Romans it was instituted for similar purposes. All virtues when carried to extremes degenerate into folly or vice, so bathing in the days of the Roman Empire, became immoderate and degenerated into enervating luxury and unbridled debauchery, in which indiscriminate bathing of both sexes was one of the demoralizing features. The bath was usually taken after exercise and before the principal meal, which rule holds good to-day, as the very best and proper time. The gorgeous splendor of the _Thermæ_, which was a palatial edifice constructed by Agrippa, was adorned with beautiful statues and fine paintings, while luxuriant green foliage of great variety formed enchanting bowers of fairy splendor. This was thronged by the Roman citizens for the pleasures of gymnastic exercises and bathing. In those countries which have adopted the religion of the Arabian prophet, Mohammed, people bathe as a part of their devotions, and a religion which has for a part of its ritual the washing of the body, goes a great way towards cleansing the spirit. Among the Northern nations the introduction of the bath dates back to the period of the Crusaders, although _Tacitus_ speaks of the river bathing of the Germans, which was one of the strengthening methods employed by the early Saxons. That filth and dirt generate crime and moral depravity seems to be apparent, where squalid misery has dulled the sensitiveness to unwholesome surroundings. Sanitary science has also demonstrated that filth is the most fruitful source of diseases that are called infectious, because their origin is due to germs of the lowest forms of vegetable life. The brightest page in the medical history of the nineteenth century is that which records the discovery of these micro-organisms as the cause of such diseases as septicæmia or blood poisoning, pyæmia, diphtheria, tuberculosis or consumption and others. All forms of fermentation and putrefaction are due to the presence of some germs, and upon this fact antiseptic surgery bases its scientific premises. The germ theory of disease, like every new discovery, which supplants the accustomed and deeply-rooted theories of the speculative philosophers, met with opposition, criticism, ridicule and misconstruction, but the brilliant achievements of Lister and Koch have established its founders upon a pinnacle of fame, which promises to be an immortal monument to their genius, and not only in surgery has its beneficial influence been exerted, but the entire field of medicine has been enriched by the germ theory, which plays so formidable a part in the causation of many diseases.