H.—2

8

Cooling-room. The cooling-room, a large and handsome apartment, and one of the principal features of the building, is the spot to which eventually all bathers converge, no matter what kind of bath they may have taken. Here one sits and cools down before facing the colder air outside. Glass screens shut off all draught, while in winter incandescent electric fires suffuse the room with a comfortable glow. Ventilators in the ceiling remove fouled air, while the incoming fresh air is warmed by its passage over the electric stove. Comfortable arm-chairs and couches are dotted about the room, while tables are covered with papers and magazines. In sheltered corners are specially cosy nooks for those chilly mortals more than usually prone to catch cold, while others may prefer a seat at the great bay-window overlooking the garden. Inhalation Boom. On the first floor of the central block is the inhalation room, where patients suffering from bronchitis, asthma, laryngitis, and so forth, may sit and inhale "nebulized" Rachel water either pure or impregnated with various medicaments, the commonest of which is pine-oil. Round the wall are little boxes, much like the compartments placed for the public in telegraph offices. Taking a chair at one of these, you may receive a special spray to the throat, nose, face, &c, as required. Electric Department. Close to the iuhalation room is the electric department. Here one may obtain almost any prescribed form of electrical treatment. Before long I expect this will be a very busy corner of the establishment. Mud Baths. Descending a short flight of steps at the end of the main corridor, we come to the mud baths. To save labour and expense of manipulation, these have been built on the ground-level, so that the mud baths can be wheeled into position on tram-lines. The dressing-rooms are similar to those we have already visited, but each bath-room contains two baths. One of these is the mud bath proper. This consists of a wooden bath on wheels, which can be filled outside the building and run through a small door in the outer wall into the bath-room. The mud may be of varying degrees of consistency as prescribed. After immersion in the mud bath the bather steps at once into a bath of clear hot water alongside, the cleansing process being completed by a shower-bath. Such is a complete mud bath, but frequently a partial bath is ordered, one limb or part of a limb only being immersed. For this purpose special arm and leg baths are made, or the mud may be used in the form of a poultice. Sun Baths. The floor above the mud baths is used for the sun baths, being divided longitudinally into a male and female side. Here, under the care of an attendant, the bather lies exposed to the full sunlight. Round his head is a cool wet towel, and various precautions are adopted to obviate risk of sunstroke. After the bath a cool shower is generally taken. Caretaker's Boom. The corresponding suite of rooms in the south wing cannot, of course, be used for sun baths, and are occupied by the caretaker. Returning now to the central hall we pass through the arch beneath the stairs to the east wing. A short broad passage ends in a very fine stained-glass window. On either side is a small waiting-room for the attendants, while beyond this are the " local vapour rooms." Local Vapour Baths. These contain cabinets filled with vapour of mineral water at varying temperatures. Here the whole body may be enveloped, leaving only the head outside, or merely a limb may be put in the cabinet. Upper Story. Passing up the broad staircase we arrive at a landing overlooking the centre hall, and opening on the one side on to a gallery round the hall, on the other side on to the first floor of the east wing. This consists of the inhalation room and two very fine and handsome rooms, where eventually I hope to see installed a complete Zander Institute. Above this is a similar floor, leaving abundant space for stores and for future developments. Bathing Accommodation. Omitting these further and as yet undeveloped parts of the building, the present portion will afford sufficient bathing accommodation for some time to come. We can give at any identical moment, allowing each bather a separate bath and a private dressing-room, 14 deep, 42 shallow, 12 mud, 4 electrical, 8 massage-douche, and 4 local vapour baths, making a total of 84 baths. Allowing one hour for the use of each bath —a very liberal allowance —and a twelve-hours workingday, we could accommodate over a thousand bathers a day. In addition, we could give o sun baths and 10 inhalations at a time. It would not be possible to say how many of these we could put through in a day, as sunlight cannot always be depended on, and the time taken by an inhalation varies, but it would certainly run into large figures. I have made a very conservative estimate of the work-capacity of the baths, and if pushed we could accommodate over a thousand bathers a day.