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49
The Bath:
(1) Soaking, for the body as a whole, high efficiency ; for
any sectional soaking, very inconvenient or impossible.
(2) Rubbing, very low efficiency, does not assist in displaying or supporting the various parts of the body
while rubbing takes place above water level.
(3) Rinsing. After the hot bath with the polluted soapy
water, ineffective. With fresh clean water, effective
but extravagant.
Of the three processes rubbing seems to be the most important
and the most commonly used, but in practice connot be
quite separated from the other two processes, the preliminary
soaking, however short, and the final rinsing, however inefficient,
always accompanying it.
Rubbing, unlike soaking and rinsing, is always sectional,
and whatever appliance is used for the whole bathing process
the body has to be rubbed bit by bit, each part being gone over
in detail. It is obvious that an appliance which would facilitate
access to the various parts of the body, displaying each in turn
as attention is given to it, and at the same time supporting the
part operated upon wholly within the catchment area, would
have decided advantages, which would be much increased by
having a convenient central receptacle from which the soap
solution could with perfect ease be applied to the part being
washed.
It should be quite clearly recognised that certain parts of
the body ought to be washed at least daily, but that other
portions of the body might go unwashed for months or years
without much harm being done.
Millions of people depend for their bodily cleaning on the
fact that the body-clothes and the bed-clothes rub off the
exudations from and the dirt attaching to the body, and being
regularly changed and washed, the body is kept fairly clean
D