On the modified Turkish and vapour bath, and its value in certain diseases of the skin / by J.L. Milton.

  • Milton, J. L. (John Laws), 1820-1898.
Date:
[1873]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the modified Turkish and vapour bath, and its value in certain diseases of the skin / by J.L. Milton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    traced out an establishment of this kind, it was only too often so far off, and of so costly a character, that at last I had a bath fitted up expressly for my own patients. Even to this, the same objec- tion in a more restricted form applies—people from the country cannot make any great use of it, and I was therefore driven to find out soipe method more generally applicable. The expense of fitting up a vapour bath in a private house, though infinitely less than that of the turkish bath, is still so great as to deter the majority of persons from attempting it. The bath itself, in the cheapest form likely to stand work at all, wall cost if so constructed as to avoid shrinking, and provided, as it ought to be, with a copper boiler, or diS niore will be required. A grate strong enough to bear the boiler must also be procured j it must be wider and deeper in proportion to its height than ordinary grates, and it must be strongly set by a skilful workman, or it will yield under the weight. One which I had fixed, as I thought, very securely, began to settle down in a few months, and I was compelled to have the work done over again; so that, taking all things into consideration, a man who secures a good vapour bath for an outlay of £2^ has, on the whole, made a very fair bargain. A very ingenious friend of mine, who is thoroughly at home in such matters, and who quite understands how to buy in the cheapest market, plumes himself on his economy in putting one up for this sum. On four or five occasions I tried to convey the hot vapour from the kitchen boiler by means of a pipe carried under a chair, on which the patient sat, covered with mackintosh in the shape almost of a very small tent; but the attempt resulted in utter failure. Although I employed the most skilful man I could hear of, the blast of steam even in the kitchen itself was far too feeble; great difficulty was experienced in preventing the entrance of water into the pipe, and the expense of carrying this to a more convenient apartment, which, of course, varies according to the size and construction of the rooms it has to traverse, was found to be considerable even in a small house. I then had a boiler made to fit over the kitchen fire, and for those who can manage to take a bath regularly in the kitchen, this is the most economical of the modes yet mentioned, as by substituting a light cane frame covered with mackintosh for the ordinary wooden box, a very