Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 August 1881 — Bathing. [ARTICLE]

Bathing.

Among the luggage of an English family tbe leather-covered hat bath is as inevitable as a portmanteau or a hat box, and is packed with movables of one sort or another, as if It were a trunk, and the well Englishman, women and child takes his ‘"tubbing” ad certainly and as much a matter of oourse as his breakfast. This bath is l usually a bedside affair. The. maid who calls you in the morning lays be/ aide the- bed a soft thick drugget, and places upon it the tub, fills it with water, and places your towels,one Ri»sian and one huckaback, within eapproach, and you step from your bed if to your bath. / People who have no opportunity to enjoy sea bathing will be glad to know that a substitute nearly, if not quite as strengthening, is found in an ammonia bath. A gill of liquid ammonia in a pail of water makes an invigorating solution, whose delightful effects can only be compared to a plunge in the surf. To weak persons this is an incomparable luxury and tonic. It cleauses the skiu and stimulates it wonderfully, and leaves the flesh as firm and cool as marble. More than this, the ammonia purifies the body from all odor of perspiration. Those in whom the secretion is unpleasant will find relief by using a spoonful of the tincture in a basin of water, and washing the armpits with it every morning. Many people find great comfort and benefit from salt water baths, arranged ■in this wav: A coffee cup of-fine distilled salt is mixed with a gallon of water, and-with a hair glove or Russian bath cloth, the body Is thoroughly bathed with the mixture, rubbing until the body is aglow. Then follows an exhilaration akin to surf bathing. Tbe druggists sell boxes of salt especially prepared, and weighing three pounds, for fifty-five cents. For a delicate child such a bath is recommended

as especially beneficial. Many people fiqd an occasional bran bath greatlv improves the condition of the skin. The French women find it leaves their dark clear flesh as soft as a baby’s. A peck of common bran, to be had at any of the feed stores, is stirred in a tub of warm water. The rubbing of the scaly particles of the bran cleanses the skin, while the glutefr in it softens and strengthens the tisues. The friction of the loose bran calls the blood to the surface, and nervous and irritable people find special benefit from it' for their minds as well as their bddies. Physicians say the habitual use of soap on the face leaves the skin brown, and recommend a little oat meal In the water, or the ammonia suggested above. Ladies who have moist or cily skins should use Suite hot water for their baths, and a ttle fine bay ram rubbed over the face or a . little of any of the fine toilet waters. A tablespoon ful in the wash bowl of water prevents that shiny appearance of the 'skin which is so annoying. ' -