The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-20 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE SUN.

Sra,—lt seems probable, though not desirable, that in-
discriminative eulogy of the " Tcuhisn BATH" may lead
to bad results. Few violent sanitary agents of this kind
require so much caution in their use, as the bath so
called Turkish. It may answer for the latitude of the
Mediterranean or the Levant, but surely it requires
serious attention, in such a London winter as we aro
now passing through, of fog and frost, whether it has
all the virtues ascribed to it.
Let us remember that the Turkish bath is admitted to
be of very doubtful advantage, if not directly mischie-
vous, in all nervous and cerebral diseases. It is equally
dangerous and equally useless in the cure of the class of
cases against which good Mr. Banting has, or has not,
in vain taken up his parable of late, and worked a not
small revolution.

On the other hand, there aro certain diseases allied,
so to speak, to dropsies, depending on renal disorders,
or blood poisoning, where the benefit arising from the
Turkish bath is beyond controversy. It is probable that
divers troublesome forms of dropsy, and even diabetes,
have been very much relieved, if not cured, by the
Turkish bath. As to its use in skin diseases, &c., the
subject is not a very inviting one; but the effect there
is also good, as in all cases where the good old water
"packing" has proved of service.
But the reader will say—What is the general average
result, not in disease, but in rude health ? Good well-
meaning reader ! Does he know that six out of ten of the
men he believes to be in rude health would not be insured
in any decent insurance office ? If they have been great
University men at boating matches, their weak point is
soon found ; they have dilated heart, and will be sure to
grow faint (though in " average" health) in the Turkish
bath.

Again, if they have been great smokers of tobacco, though
in so-called rude health, their nervous system is as un-
strung as a shipped mahogany piano after its arrival in its
box of deal in Australia from London. No doubt it is easy
to screw such men up to concert-pitch, but that is exactly
the thing they neglect. They expect the bath to do it all,
which it cannot do. "Average" health, indeed, of our
Young men now-a-days about or after the age of 36 !
What with gout or rheumatism, boat races, 15 or 20 cigars

a-day, gin and bitters, consumption, and other evils from
the use of nervous and other quack remedies! Average
health, indeed, of men who never seek good medical ad-
vice, but trust to any advertising charlatan or prescribing
chemist to poison and ruin their constitution, who have
been from
rcohoilindhs,ooord
aredru egmgepdtltonwydeitaihnadtp. hsoymsiec,uNtiVhheoalltZ3
work
norilkl
bitters,where
hgneos
what
laitbtsieint
he
strengthand
they may have had. Averguemlheerarnitl
reidniilneetod,, is often no
health at all, when it comes to be inquired
In a word, in some constitutions, the Turkish bath a
in average health in the not ambiguous, but very similarets
manner a coup de soleil would act in Bengal. The condi-
tions are nearly the same. Our hottest summer day in
London is a joke to the baker's oven wasting of the bath,
notwithstanding its kaleidoscope windows, celestial sham-
pooing, mow-whiter heavenly soap-lathering, delectable
plunge into cold water, &c.—the thermometer, anywhere
you wish, above or at the temperature for baking muffins.
In constitutions with gout lurking in them, the Turkish
bath may kill or cure, according as the patient is fit for the
bath or not. Many deaths have occurred in or because of
the baths, and such lurking disease and indiscriminating
zeal in their use.
Men in good health might avoid the bath as a
nf
too violent
coszpoounredvialdovtuet
o o
the on o
familyought
and unnatural experiment, in
to begin them without a little
or other physician.--1 am, ere.,
Saekville-street, Feb. 17.

CABLES KIDD, M.D.