New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-08-08
THR TURKISH BATH.
Description OF its Pecuiiarities and Ef-
frcts-Narrative Of a Victim, Of fhe
Byzantine Bnincntion - Un(o rtuunfc
Results of MussC I'M auic ExuJutsoa


our fducary apocalypse to you is--Dout
Few Of readers. presume for they are generally
persons OF instincts INDUCED in tho Byzan
tine Baneaticn parenthecay we suggest the adoption
OF this tito because being less ineligible than the more
common one, il will be proportionatey attractive and
enyable and therefore intend TO represent to them
the discomfort snd suffering they hsye escaped by the
high development OF their diviae iuiuitions.
Come with us placid peruser Of TIE TRIBUNE, to the
Bath of which we read such glowing accounts in crcn
lars and pamphlets and descend 10 the subterranean
apartments where this atmospheric and equeoos Queen
is supposed be SO luxuriany lodged. We decline TO
repeat the experiment we have 20 recently tried. and
rracously permit you to undergo None the elaborate
martyrdom OF Mussulmanic ablution.
You requested entrance to register your name,
and Of course ron do it.
Oar private impression is that the proprieors Of tho
Bath students of Humanity, and anxious to deter
mine. Whatever the average stupidity Of mankind,
whether any Nineteenth. Century mortal is foolish
enough to indulge ip the Eastern luxury" a second
time; which, for che consolation of those possessing
faith in the general intelligence, we will here state
10 man in the country is known to have done.
You then are invited to pay dollar and half and
If. at this pccuniary period you have imagination
deem yourself particularly favored by Allah
You are shown Immediately aiterward into q little
box with curtain before it. where you denudc and tic
a cloth about your waist. looking. whether OF
ono or the other SEX more picturesque than pure ia
this Soistitial costume.
You are invited into the room You fret entered where
you have leisure 10 contemplate several paid decrep
brokeu-down persons sitting in kind OF easy clair,
wrapped in Sheets and deluding themselves. doubt
with the idea that they re'uvcna,ing their health
You fancy You have been traserIe 10 hospital for in
ccrables and that you perceive in the atmosphere ema
nations from va-iousy infected bodies. CHASTITY and
desponden. and diseased do those patients seem.
With the delightful consciousness that you may have
contracted small pox or mGarious fever cholera yOn
step into the first chamber. where the temperature is
about 1909 to 1902 ard are solicited by Turkish gen
eman named C'Grady to battle your head under pipe
and quaf goblet Of water.
You sit upon leather seat hot almost to blister
ing. and the perspuation begins TO oozs on. Of
Your body protusely. You can hardly breathe. and
blazing Broadway as you remember &C. seems cool
promenade. You enabled to rcspire freely. but
you continue 10 feel most uncomfortable and marvel
when the pleasurablc sensations are TO commence
The distinguished Islarnc. with the blood. no doubt.
Of thousand Celtic kings IN his veins. Informs you
gracicusly that you viii feel "daligh;fn" In very
brief while; ard. you coves the daylight visible
only through stainedg window above your heated
head. you are somewhat encouraged.
For twenty thirty minutes you bake Ia the chamber
and listen TO the groans and maicdctions OF several
other victims in an adjoining apartment borrowing
consolation from the conviction that they axe in
much hotter place than you are.
~ lest they come out and yon go in and place your
self IN sort Of wooden frame covered with canefOr
the PRECIPITATION to run through. we suppose-nnd lie
there rolling and tossing. like man in deiirium-
tremens, for nearly hat an hour.
This new chamber Is about 100 20o hotter than the
other and nearly twice unpleasant burning body
streams with perpaon; the rcd covering about your
limbs is saturated and has grown brown with moisture
Your temples throb and your pulses leap your blood
is on fire. and sense of sitting ia in your throat and
lungs.
II you are not conscentlously opposed to the viola.
ton of the Commandments. you swear either Outward
l. or mentally and reflect. with sardonic effort 70
smile upon the descriptions You have read OF the de-
cious and dreamy langnor, the volupuous and extac
emotions the sot swoonng Of the mind in the Of
the delighted sense 10 which tho Turkish Bath gives
rise.
When viii soue O. those conditions be reached yon
think and il OF al nquring turn. you ask the Grand
vizier OGrady when the pleasant portion begins, TO
which lie replies with daInnable iteration in very
choice Arabic that you'll "fale Delightful in vary few
minutes, air." The possibility does not impingc on
your optics: but sou practice patience. ard determine
to go through the formula. even II it prove fatal
Now You are desired to place yourself on q marble
Slab after removing the crimson cloth face downward,
and three additional Bsshaws--whether OF three tails
or one We know not. rejoicing in such purely Oriental
paironyncs rs O'Tooe, McDermott and Phelan-ap-
pear upor thc rid scene and proceed to rub you in
the gentle nspner Characteristic Of the musculary.
developed sons Of the hilesian race
One seizes your arm. another your leg third your
head and the fourth thrusts his knuckles into yonr
ribs and for five minutes yonr joints cracked your
skin is peeled your bones bent until yon resolve 10
have satisfaction Of the lrs tlno-ant Turk you lind in
Broadway struggling with a bad brogue and worse
whisky
You are then turned your back and In your model
artist costume again submitted TO the rubbing and
pammeing and peaIing OF the quartet Of Mohamedans.
until nothing bat recollection that you Are lord Of
Creation prevents you from roaring with the pain III
ficted.
An application OF soap smelling strongly OF sassafss
with bard brush completes your scrubbn9. and you
are slid off the slab very mach after the manner Of
dressed hog in one OF the Western packing bonse and
placed upright under q shower.bath.
The water is warm at first but gradually changes 10
its n.tural temperature and this really seems pleasant
after your long baking process Yon enjoy the cold
shower and stand in It for fifteen minutes without any
perceptibe reduction ia the heat OF your blood, after
which YOU are wrapped in sheet anS resembling a
Danean shade and disguised reality you go out into
the apartment ytcIe you the hospital on small
scale and sit as the palid patients did in chair and
fan Yourself in the vain effort TO grow comfortable.