dashing of the water against the wall or upper step, and the nuisance
created from the breaking of the water against it. The grooving would
remedy, I believe, this annoyance, as the little waves of water would
be made to take a curved form before reaching the step; consequently
the water would fall back into the bath instead of dashing over the
surrounding platform. And in the ends of every upper step but one, and
on the steps lower down, have been square sockets, cut in the stone
and filled up again with pieces of stone. These mark the position of
balusters to a hand-rail for the use of bathers that were removed some
time previous to the abandonment of the baths, and the stones were
inserted. These hand-rails were doubtless of bronze, and therefore of
value.]

[Footnote 17: A statue of some size doubtless stood on this pedestal.]

[Footnote 18: This deposit must, from the thickness, have taken
several years to form, and the fact of its being of precisely the
same character as the present deposit from the mineral spring is an
evidence of the unchanging nature of the water.]

[Footnote 19: With reference to the sculpture, one piece, of debased
character, has been found--a Minerva with a breast-plate, helmet, and
shield in _alto relievo_ within a niche.]

The hall enclosing the bath I have already spoken of as 110ft. 4½in.
long by 68ft. 5in. wide. It has been completely thrown open since
this paper was read at the British and Gloucestershire Archæological
Society, in 1884. These excavations are open to the sky, excepting on
the east end (over which Abbey Street, at a height of 23ft. is carried
on a viaduct, which I have erected).[20] The platform, or _schola_,