yet the custom is by no means on the decrease; nor can any fear be
entertained, with propriety, that so excellent and so natural an
expedient should ever be suffered to decline, from want of consideration
of its benefits and advantages. But it must be owned, that while bathing
in many countries is resorted to as a matter-of-course affair among all
classes, in England it is in a great measure disregarded by most of the
middle classes, and almost entirely so by those in the lower station of
life, who perhaps require this exercise more than their richer
neighbours.

A medical writer of the present day observes, with some grounds for
complaint, that while "in almost all countries, both in ancient and
modern times, whether rude or civilized, bathing was a part of the
necessary and everyday business of life, in this country alone, with
all its refinements in the arts which contribute to the happiness or
comfort of man, and with all its improvements in medical science and
jurisprudence, this salutary and luxurious practice is almost entirely
neglected."[7] But in many countries, particularly in the east, bathing
is as much resorted to as ever; and its really powerful effects in
invigorating the frame and promoting the porous secretions, (without
which life itself cannot be long continued,) require only to be once
known to be persevered in.

Among the ancients, bathing was far more generally practised than at
the present day. In the city of Alexandria, there were 4,000 public
baths; and the height of refinement in this luxury among the Romans is
almost incredible. In addition to the private baths, with which almost
every house was supplied, public baths were built, sometimes at the
public cost, and often at the expense of private individuals, who
nobly conceived their wealth to be laudably expended in giving each of