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120 P U B L I C B A T H S .
Till the year 1772 the sulphur bath was
merely a large cave, cut in the rock, and
divided by a wall into two apartments, one
for the men, the other for the women, with
an iron balustrade in front. At that period
the king of Sardinia caused the present
handsome building to be erected and fitted
up, expressly for the operation of douching.
The apartments for douching, to the number
of fifteen, are placed in a semi-circular
corridor, and in a lower story are two other
rooms, for douching, into which the water
falls with greater force.
On the south side of the building is the
large bath intended for the royal family,
with dressing rooms round it. There are
also apartments where the poor are douched
gratis. Each bath or cell is an arched
vault about thirteen feet long, eleven wide,
and twenty-two feet high from the top to
the place where the patient sits. There
are two apertures, or short tubes, by which
the water descends in columns, as large as
the arm, from the height of from eight to
ten fe e t; it is carried off by channels in
the floor, and runs down into the street.
There are two men, called douchers, constantly
in each cell, and two women, called
douchesses, in each of the women’s apartments.
Porters are also in attendance, to
carry the patients home in chairs provided
by the establishment. These chairs are
placed on poles, with cotton hoods and
curtains, so as entirely to cover the patient.
It is the general custom to begin with taking
one or two warm baths at home. A
great number of chamber-baths are kept
for the use of invalids, and they are filled
with water brought from the hot springs,
for which, with the use of the bath, only
one franc each time is paid.
To persons who take the douche for the
first time, the process is rather formidable.
On entering the cell, when the door was
closed, I seemed in darkness, and involved
in dense vapour and sulphurous odours;
but as my eyes became accustomed to the
gloom, I could discern a feeble glimmering
of light, entering by a little wicket above
the door, covered with canvas; I then discovered
two silent and nearly naked figures,
whom I had not before perceived, standing
with their bare arms extended, as if ready
to seize me the moment I was undressed.
It would have required no powerful aid of
the imagination, in such a place, amid the
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