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Colonist, Volume V, Issue 465, 8 April 1862, Page 2

Mr. Doyne's fifth and last letter to the Launceston Examiner, enplanatory of the principles and advantages of the Turkish bath, is given below.

Before leaving the question, I think it desirable that I should explain the principal practical points connected with the construction and use of the bath, upon which its salutary powers depend. It is, before all things, necessary that the hot air chambers should be so constructed that while the temperature can be easily and steadily maintained and regulated to any required degree, tlie ventilation should be so rapid and perfect as to ensure tbat the bathers have pure air to inhale into the lungs and pores. This is the point that is most usually neglected and misunderstood. The most common system of heating apparatus which is in use is, to pass a series of brick or iron flues under a tile floor, and the temperature is maintained by the hot air which arises from the surface of tlie tiles, which are heated by fire in the flues under them. This plan, if the floor is quite air-tight, is free from objection, provided also that ample ventilation is maintained by a current of air passing freely through the rooms.

In practice, however, it is found so difficult to maintain the proper degree of heat with perfect ventilation that the latter is usually sacrificed, and tho first principle of health—pure air—is more or less withdrawn. To obviate this, sundry contrivances have been made for keeping dp the ventilation through the means of hot air poured through the chambers, and thus at the same time keeping up the heat. It is necessary, however, that the apparatus for heating the air should be so contrived as to ensure that the air is not in any way deteriorated in value. The two points to be guarded against are—that none of the products of combustion shall mix with the air, and that the air while being heated shall not be brought into contact with any substance which can deprive it of its oxygen. Tlie details of these arrangements require in practice much careful consideration and working out, and I wish to warn the public that neglect on these points may be followed by serious consequences ; and I would recommend persons about to usa any hot air bath first to ascertain whether these considerations have been attended to in the design, and whether the establishment is under competent management.

I should recommend persons suffering from diseases of the lungs or heart, or having a tendency to fullness of blood in the head, to use the bath only under the direction of their medical adviser ; and to enable this to be fully carried out, it has been arranged that all duly qualified medical practitioners residing in Launceston and its neighborhood shall have free access to the baths.

Dr. Casey has undertaken to give the working of the bath his general supervision, and to see that all the conditions which affect the health of those using it are carefully maintained. To persons not suffering from the particular diseases I have named, no inconvenience can ever arise from the use of the bath, if they will only attend to a few simple rules, which are the following.

Do not bathe immediately after a hearty meal, or having taken much strong drink. .Before you enter the tepidarium be sure to wet the head and the skin of the whole body, so as to prevent an unpleasant effect from the hot air suddenly striking the dry skin.

If perspiration does not commence within a few minutes, and if there is any unpleasant feeling in the head or stomach, go out and take a warm shower-bath and return ; and if this should not be found sufficient, envelope the whole body in a wet sheet until you feel quite soothed and that perspiration has set. in, when the sheet should be removed, aud the hot air allowed free access to the skin. It occasionally happens that persons whose skins are in a very clogged and inactive condition, will find that tht action can only be fully restored after several baths, and that they will at first require the treatment I have just described ; but the pores once thoroughly opened afterwards respond most readily to the bath, and no unpleasant feeling whatever is felt when in the hot chambers, while on the completion of the process you will find every nerve, muscle, and function of the body soothed and invigorated. On the completion of the bath, it is absolutely necessary that you should not dress until the pores have ceased to discharge moisture, and the skin becomes quite dry. If you neglect this and continue to perspire after you are dressed, so that you walk about and expose yourself to draughts with wet clothes on, you run considerable risk of catching cold ; but if you attend to this, you may with perfect impunity go direct from tlie bath, and expose yourself to any conditions that you might under other circumstances, without the least fear of catching cold. Before closing, I should remind the public that the cost of maintaining a Turkish bath establishment is so great that only a very liberal patronage on their part will render it possible to maintain one in Launceston. The rates of charges, which will be published in a few days, may appear high, but it will be necessary in the first instance to keep them up until the attendance at the bath will justify a reduction, when one will be immediately made. The proprietor assures me that she is prepared to reduce them to the lowest point that will enable her to manage the establishment in such a manner as to maintain its full efficiency, and at the same time leave her a moderate remuneration.

In conclusion, I beg to thank you, sir, for the spp.ee you have afforded me to explain the principles uf the hot air bath^ and to add that I believe that in bequeathing this institution to a young community, 1 confer upon them a great boon. 1 am much gratified to think that I can leave behind me, amongst a people by whom I have been most kindly and hospitably received during my stay in Tasmania, a token by which I hope to be remembered with feelings of kindness, and an institution wliich I hope may relieve the sufferings of many.